Simultaneous Transmigration: We Share a Role-Playing System

Chapter 126 Join the Glorious Evolution!

While the outside world was in turmoil, Fuyuki City remained shrouded in the deathly silence following the end of the Holy Grail War.

The autumn wind swept through the mottled walls of the Matou residence, carrying withered yellow leaves. This mansion, which had witnessed countless darkness and battles, was now nothing but a shocking desolation.

Locke, leaning on his cane, stood before the rusty wrought iron gate, a place he had been away from for many years, and the starting point where his fate intersected with that of others.

He raised his hand and rang the doorbell.

Ding-dong—Ding-dong—

The monotonous doorbell rang again and again, piercing the empty courtyard and stubbornly drilling into the depths of the mansion, like a dull knife, repeatedly testing the patience of the people inside.

Finally, the dragging footsteps, filled with impatience and frustration, moved from the dimly lit entryway to the front door.

With a bang, the observation window was flung open, and a sinister, twisted face loomed over it. A desperate, defiant roar echoed through the iron gate: "Who the hell are you? Are you crazy?! There's no one here, get lost!"

Locke's gaze paused slightly when Shinji Matou's utterly devastated face appeared before him.

Five years ago, he was a sunny and cheerful boy, but now he is no longer human. His hair is greasy and tangled, his eyes are sunken and dark, his face is full of dejection and numbness, and he is shrouded in an inescapable darkness. He is completely different from the boy in my memory.

He swallowed lightly, suppressing the fleeting ripple of emotion. His voice was calm and gentle, yet carried an undeniable power, echoing through the iron gate: "No, the person I'm looking for is here. I am Victor, the teaching assistant in the Clock Tower El-Melloi classroom. I've been sent by Shirou Emiya to find Shinji Matou."

"Please sit wherever you like. No one has been here for a long time. Ever since my sister Sakura started searching the world for the person in her dreams four years ago, I haven't stepped out of this house."

Shinji Matou's voice rang out in the dark study, hoarse from years of not communicating with others.

He casually brushed aside the pile of draft papers on the chair, his movements revealing the nonchalance and numbness of someone who had lived in a closed space for a long time. Only when he mentioned Sakura did a hint of melancholy slip into his voice.

Locke followed him into the study, where a damp, musty smell mixed with the scent of paper and ink hit him.

The floor was covered with haphazardly spread draft papers. The yellowed magic books collected by the Matou family were piled up haphazardly everywhere, the pages densely covered with magic calculation formulas and mechanical structure drawings, leaving almost no room to stand.

Looking at this madman, consumed by obsession and isolated from the world, Locke's mind was instantly filled with images of those obsessive magicians in the Clock Tower who trapped themselves in piles of books, working tirelessly and obsessed with magic. A strange sense of déjà vu suddenly surged up in his mind.

"Have you been researching the combination of magic and mechanics all these years?" Locke asked softly, his gaze sweeping over the blueprints scattered on the floor.

"What else can I do?" Shinji gave a self-deprecating smile, bent down and pulled out a stack of blueprints from the pile of books. His eyes suddenly lit up. It was his only obsession for the past four years, and the proof that he had finally gotten rid of the label of "a useless person with no way out".

"Five years ago, after the Holy Grail War ended, magical circuits suddenly appeared on my body. Although they were all imaginary attributes, not the water attribute that the Matou family had passed down for hundreds of years, I finally no longer had to live in the shadow of others, and I was finally qualified to uphold the name of the Matou family."

His fingertips traced the edge of the blueprints, his tone filled with undisguised disgust: "I don't want to touch those filthy insect magic tricks, the rotten stuff left behind by Matou Tsunekimi. I want to walk my own path, so I've plunged headlong into this research."

As he spoke, he slammed the blueprints in his hand heavily in front of Locke. It was a complete set of exoskeleton magic costume design drawings, with sharp technological lines and intricate magic array diagrams perfectly integrated.

However, in Locke's view, this magical costume had many similarities to the Mark Armor of Astartes. Even though his memories had been erased, the deep-rooted power still led him to make the corresponding design.

Locke looked up at him, his tone solemn and serious: "You're telling me this life-or-death secret so easily? Creating a magic circuit out of thin air is an anomaly that violates the fundamental laws of magic. Once the Clock Tower's Legal Affairs Department finds out, you will be immediately placed on the list of those to be sealed away."

Shinji froze, suddenly realizing that he had revealed a secret he had kept for five years to a complete stranger.

He clenched his fists instinctively, his eyes instantly filled with vigilance, and he went into a state of alert.

But the next second, Locke's gentle smile made him loosen his grip, his tense shoulders slowly slumped, and his heart, which had been hanging in suspense, settled back into his stomach.

He chuckled, relaxed again, and said with complete trust in his voice, "It's alright. You're the person Shirou asked me to send. He trusts you, so I trust him."

As soon as he finished speaking, Shinji subconsciously bent down to tidy up the mess on the floor, hurriedly sweeping the draft paper on the chair aside to make room for Locke to stand.

Four years of seclusion, relying solely on blueprints and formulas, had already drained his once robust body. Even this simple movement left him panting heavily, his chest heaving violently, and even his ears turning a sickly red.

"I heard Shirou say that the ultimate goal of the three starter families in the Holy Grail War is to realize the Third Law."

Locke lowered his voice even further as he looked at him.

"But you spent four whole years researching weapons for killing. What exactly drove you down this path?"

Shinji was stunned.

He sat down on the edge of the table piled with drawings, his eyes lowered, his fingertips unconsciously tracing the designs on the pages, seriously considering the problem for the first time.

The study was eerily quiet, with only his slightly rapid breathing echoing repeatedly in the empty room.

After a very long time, long enough that the setting sun outside the window was slanting into the study, he finally raised his head, his eyes vacant, and spoke, his voice hoarse like sandpaper rubbing against wood.

"I feel like I'm going crazy for power. I can't remember why, I just remember a feeling of powerlessness, a powerlessness that goes deep into my bones."

Every night, when the whole house quiets down, this feeling envelops me, gnawing at my skin, making it hard to sleep and suffocate me. There's no escape; it's like being thrown into a swarm of insects and being devoured.

He forced a smile, a smile tinged with self-deprecation and exhaustion: "I've seen the best psychologists and spent a fortune on hypnotists, trying to cure myself, but nothing worked."

"Until I discovered that only when I was drawing these blueprints and researching these weapons could I catch my breath and have a moment of peace. It was as if I could only sleep when I was prepared to use force to achieve my goals."

He couldn't recall all the horrors and despair of the Holy Grail War five years ago.

I can't remember how I watched helplessly as everything slid into the abyss, I can't remember how powerless I was, unable to save the people I cared about, nor could I change any predetermined outcome.

Reality was rewritten, memories were erased, but the sense of powerlessness etched into his soul remained, gnawing at him day and night.

Locke picked up his design drawings, looking at the ingenious and almost stunning designs, his fingertips tightening slightly.

Every line on the drawing hides a boy's restless fears and obsessions.

He fell into a long silence, a heavy sense of guilt slowly surging and spreading in his heart. He knew better than anyone that he himself was the one who caused Shinji to become like this.

In the dimly lit study, the silence stretched on for what felt like an eternity. Finally, Locke gently put down the blueprints in his hand, made a firm decision, and slowly walked step by step to Shinji's side.

"Shinji, there are two things I need to apologize to you for."

"First of all, I did not accept Shirou's request; I came to see you myself."

"Secondly, I am deeply sorry for altering your memories."

Before Shinji Matou could recover from this earth-shattering shock, Locke's hand had already gently landed on his head.

The next second, a vast power originating from Locke's life core surged out, obeying his will, and swept over Shinji's entire body like a tide of light.

This is not a brutal transformation, but a redemptive reshaping—a decaying body is reforged, chaotic magical circuits are thoroughly sorted out, and even the wound deep in the soul called "powerlessness," which has been suppressed for five years, is gradually soothed and rewritten in this arcane power.

[Bound Character Card: Arcane Herald Viktor (Hextech Core Status: Beginner)]

The erased memories return in the tide of light.

He finally understood where his four years of obsessive pursuit of power came from, and what the emptiness that gnawed at him day and night really was. Tears silently streamed down his cheeks, not because of pain, but because the confusion that had been building up for five years had finally found its answer.

Arcane power forged a bridge of souls between the two, and through this connection, he touched upon Locke's ideals.

That is a grand vision belonging to the Lord of Humanity, spanning the stars, a belief that will enable all humanity to break free from its shackles and achieve ultimate evolution.

At that moment, all his grievances and blame vanished, leaving only a burning desire to stand shoulder to shoulder with his dearest friend.

He raised his hand and gripped Locke's wrist tightly, his bloodshot eyes shining with an unprecedented light. His voice was hoarse yet resolute, each word carrying a do-or-die determination: "Come on, Locke! I'm willing to be your first test subject. Let me join—the glorious evolution!"

Meanwhile, under the strong urging of her older sister, Ayaka Sajou, Ayaka returned to the Clock Tower. The moment she returned to the Clock Tower, Princess Ayaka Sajou, the Root Princess, instantly showed a look of surprise.

"I never expected it to be the case that it was right under my nose, but I still managed to find you, my dear white horse prince~"