In Britain, the Noble Phantasm: Divine Key

Kenneth reluctantly squatted down, placed his hand on Kotomine Risei's wound, and used gravity magic to slightly pull out the bullet from Kotomine Risei's heart, handing it to Anan.

Yanan stared at the blood-stained bullet in his hand for a while, then suddenly asked, "Kenneth, do you remember what kind of gun Assassin used back then?"

"It's just a regular handgun, what's wrong with it?" Kenneth asked, puzzled.

“No, it’s nothing.” Yanan held the bullet in his hand. “It’s just that I’m pretty much certain of Assassin’s identity now.”

"Huh?" Kenneth was completely dumbfounded. How could Lancer have guessed Assassin's identity with just one bullet?

“You know what, Kenneth? Generally speaking, pistol bullets are about 3 millimeters long, but this bullet…” Yanan showed Kenneth the slender brass bullet, “is a 7-millimeter sniper bullet.”

“This…” Kenneth paused slightly.

"Wait here for a moment, I'll go track down Assassin." Yanan took the bullets and walked out of the church.

"Wait a minute!" Kenneth exclaimed hastily, "What if Assassin comes back again!"

“Don’t worry,” Yanan said without turning his head. “Since Assassin hasn’t attacked you, it means you’re not his target.”

Given that man's personality, he would never let go of any target in front of him.

Stepping out of the church, Anaen used bullets as a medium to outline the [Rune: Tracking] rune, and in an instant, a straight green line stretched into the distance.

To save time, he directly transformed himself into a spirit form and followed the traces of the runes.

He traveled all the way across the new capital to Fukayama-cho, where he stopped in front of an abandoned mansion located in the center of the old town.

It's hard to imagine that there are still such vacant houses in the old city where land is so valuable. If real estate developers knew about this, they would flock to it like vultures smelling carrion, using every means to take this piece of land into their own hands.

But that is on the condition that they can see the sun rise the next day.

As Yanan materialized from spirit particles, he looked at the building before him, which was both familiar and unfamiliar, and couldn't help but sigh softly: "So this is it."

Yes, where else could that man go but here?

Shaking his head, Yanan stretched out his hands and pushed open the old, mottled wooden door in front of him.

squeak-

The decaying doorway scraped against the floor with a harsh sound, and Assassin inside immediately sensed the arrival of the uninvited guest and ran away without hesitation.

"Bind him up, Judah."

With a snap of his fingers, Yanan unleashed thirteen golden spears, each with a long chain, which hurtled toward Assassin like menacing dragons.

Although Assassin's movement was skillful, he still felt quite pressured under Judah's tight encirclement. His space to move was constantly being compressed, and he clearly looked like he was about to give up.

"Gather ye roses while ye may!"

As the deep voice echoed, the scale of time was instantly stretched infinitely. The golden spear, which was as swift as the wind, suddenly became as slow as a tortoise in Assassin's eyes. He immediately seized the opportunity and rushed towards the outside of Judah's encirclement.

But then, a crimson feather suddenly fell from the void and came into his view.

Assassin's mind went blank for a moment, his eyes were dazed and empty, as if he had completely forgotten who he was and what he was supposed to do next.

The uncontrolled Noble Phantasm vanished instantly, time resumed its normal flow, and the golden spear roared upwards, binding Assassin tightly like a wrapped dumpling, and delivered him before Anahn.

Anan stepped forward and removed the other person's mask. Looking at that familiar face, a slight smile curved his lips.

"You've been a real pain to find, Assassin, or perhaps I should call you—"

"Emperor Emiya?"

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Reaching a Consensus

Although his true name was revealed, the Heroic Spirit Emiya remained expressionless. His gray-black eyes were less calm and more like a deathly stillness devoid of all emotion. Even face to face, he did not feel like a living person, but rather like a cold fighting machine.

This is the Heroic Spirit Kiritsugu Emiya, a "pseudo-Heroic Spirit" that does not exist in the correct human history.

Because he never experienced the pain of separation from Irisviel, he also never experienced the setbacks that came with it. He carried on with his heart of stone as the "Magician Killer" to the very end. After his death, his soul was absorbed into the Wheel of Restraint, becoming the agent of the Restraint Force.

"Lancer, since you know my identity, you should understand that there is no conflict of interest between us." The voice of the Heroic Spirit Emiya was exactly the same as that of Emiya Kiritsugu, but even less varied, with the tone remaining consistent, as calm and unmoving as his eyes.

As the agent of the Counter Force, the only guiding principle for Emiya's actions is to restore humanity. He has no personal motives whatsoever. In other words, although he occupies the Assassin class in this Holy Grail War, he has no desire for the Holy Grail.

“Hehe, I am naturally aware of that,” Yanan chuckled. “However, unfortunately, my purpose in coming to this world is not the Holy Grail. Rather, my purpose is actually the same as yours.”

As he spoke, he simultaneously activated the power of the [Savior], and a mysterious aura immediately rippled outwards.

The Heroic Spirit Emiya's eyes, which had been like a stagnant pool of water, widened slightly. After carefully sensing the aura, he nodded slightly: "I see, I understand."

From this aura, he sensed a subtle yet distinct flavor, a power that only those who bear the weight of the world possess.

Anan raised his hand, and the chains of Judah immediately loosened from Emiya's body and returned to him.

“Alright, now that the situation is clear, let’s move on to the next step. However, to avoid revealing your identity, I’ll refer to you as Assassin for now, how about that?” Yanan asked.

Emiya pulled his mask back up and nodded silently.

“Then,” Yanan’s dark eyes revealed an indescribable depth, “tell me, Assassin, what is the source of this crisis that affects the world?”

As the agent who signed a contract with [the World], the Heroic Spirit Emiya naturally carries the will of [the World], which allows him to see the source of the crisis more clearly and take reasonable measures to end it, saving humanity to the greatest extent possible.

In this respect, even Anan cannot compare to him, unless he is also willing to sign a contract with [the World] and become an agent of the restraining force.

But doing all that work for the inhibitor for free, haha...

After a moment of silence, Heroic Spirit Emiya slowly shook his head: "I don't know the source of this crisis either."

Yanan frowned slightly: "You still don't believe me?"

"No, you who possess that power could never be an enemy of [the world]." The Heroic Spirit Emiya's tone remained unchanged. "But I truly cannot see where this crisis comes from. However, I have encountered it before."

“Him?” Yanan paused for a moment, then suddenly realized, “You mean, you met with that guy who will cause a world crisis?”

“Yes.” Heroic Spirit Emiya nodded slightly. “When I was summoned to this world, I received the will of the Counter Force—[to prevent Caster Gilles de Rais from being summoned].”

Caster... Yanan frowned slightly, never expecting that things would come full circle back to the French Grand Marshal.

However, according to the normal trajectory, even if Caster is successfully summoned, the most outrageous thing he would do is summon a sea monster, which almost caused the mystery to be exposed. This is nothing compared to the crisis that would lead to the destruction of the world.

If the Counter Force sent its agents to stop the Sea Monster from going out of control, that would be understandable. However, sending agents just to stop Caster's arrival seems like making a mountain out of a molehill.

However, since the Counter Force did this, it means that Caster's arrival must be related to the crisis that could have led to the destruction of the world.

Thinking of the gunshot wound on Ryunosuke Uryu's back, Anain stroked his chin thoughtfully: "So you're planning to kill Caster's Master?"

"Since we want to stop Caster from descending, killing his Master is naturally the quickest and simplest way. I don't think there's anything wrong with that," said the Heroic Spirit Emiya calmly.

"Heh, as expected of you." Anan chuckled helplessly, then frowned slightly and said, "But since you've already killed the Master, why was Caster still summoned?"

“Unfortunately, by the time I identified Caster’s Master, he had already summoned Caster,” said the Heroic Spirit Emiya.

Anan's expression turned somewhat strange: "The Counter Force allowed you to stop Caster's arrival, but didn't it tell you about his Master's identity beforehand?"

"The Counter Force is only responsible for issuing commands and providing magic power. It will not interfere with anything else. We must decide what to do ourselves," said the Heroic Spirit Emiya, his tone unchanged.

As expected of a heartless company... Yanan thought to himself.

"At the time, I hid in the shadows using my aura concealment, and then found an opportunity to kill Caster's Master. I originally thought that Caster would disappear, but I didn't expect that the grimoire in his hand would temporarily maintain his existence."

"I immediately made a decision to activate my Noble Phantasm to destroy that grimoire, but then suddenly a guy engulfed in black flames appeared and stopped me."

The guy engulfed in black flames... Yanan's eyes narrowed slightly: "Is this the mastermind behind the world crisis you mentioned?"

“Once you meet that guy, you’ll understand why I say this. He has absolutely no rationality or intelligence, only pure destruction and madness. I’ve dealt with quite a few like that before, but compared to this target, they’re nothing.” Heroic Spirit Emiya shook his head slightly. “That guy has basically already transcended the realm of ‘humanity’ and degenerated into a species from another world.”

“How can you be so sure that guy is human?” Yanan asked.

“Because he has magic circuits.” The Heroic Spirit Emiya took out an ordinary dagger. “This dagger is engraved with the origin of my magic. As long as it hits a magic circuit or magic crest, it will cause fatal damage. When that guy took a hit from me for Caster, I clearly felt that I had cut into his magic circuit.”

"If that's the case, why didn't you choose to press your advantage?" Yanan still remembered that, according to the police investigation, there were no signs of a fierce battle at the scene, indicating that Assassin did not choose to fight Caster and the mastermind behind the scenes to the death.

"My sword only affects the magic circuits near the wound. It's just a minor injury, which won't have much of an impact on that guy. Besides, Caster was also there at the time. I'm just an Assassin, and I can't possibly deal with two powerful mages at the same time. Once the Noble Phantasm's duration ends, I'll immediately be at a disadvantage. In that situation, what other choice do I have but to run away?" the Heroic Spirit Emiya said calmly.

Yanan looked Assassin up and down and nodded: "That's true. Facing two casters at the same time is indeed a bit difficult for you."

Emiya frowned slightly. For some reason, he felt that the other person's words seemed to have a hidden meaning.

Just as I predicted, someone foresaw Caster's arrival. No, perhaps it was that guy who arranged Caster's arrival in the first place... Considering the attitude of the Counter Force and the mysteriously appearing Rokujin Castle manual at the Matou residence, Anaen realized that Caster's arrival this time was probably not a simple coincidence.

The mastermind behind this probably had Ryunosuke Uryu from the very beginning, intending to use him as a medium to summon Caster Gilles de Rais.

Although he had figured out the mystery of Caster's group's deaths, even more questions arose in Anan's mind.

What exactly is that guy's goal? What is it about Caster that makes him go to such lengths?

Was it for the Rokujin Castle grimoire? But if so, why did he so easily transfer this grimoire to Matou Zouken? Or was this all part of his plan?

But there's still one crucial question... who exactly is the mastermind behind it all?

After a moment's consideration, Yanan looked at the Heroic Spirit Emiya and asked, "Is Kotomine Risei the mastermind behind all this?"

"No." Heroic Spirit Emiya shook his head decisively.

Yanan asked in confusion, "Then why did you kill him?"

After a moment of silence, the Heroic Spirit Emiya said, "Although it sounds unbelievable, it is indeed true... Every time I encounter difficulties during a mission, a strange voice echoes in my mind, guiding me to do certain things, and judging from the results, these things will have a very large impact on the final outcome."

Isn't this [revelation] and [intuition]? Strange, I remember that Kiritsugu Emiya shouldn't have this ability... As Anann was pondering, his vision suddenly blurred, and he saw a white silhouette flash past behind the Heroic Spirit Emiya.

Judging from her physique, it appeared to be a woman.

He turned to look at the Heroic Spirit Emiya, who was still staring at him expressionlessly, seemingly unaware of the white silhouette.

"What's wrong? Is there something behind me?" Heroic Spirit Emiya glanced back, but apart from the old mansion and the overgrown courtyard, there was nothing there at all.

A complex look appeared in Yanan's eyes. He waved his hand and said, "No, it's nothing. I just wanted to ask, besides killing Kotomine Risei, what else did that voice instruct you to do?"

"Kill that homunculus next to Saber," Emiya said emotionlessly.

Yanan's lips twitched slightly: "Are you sure this is the instruction that voice gave you?"

Emiya nodded silently.

"...So, did you do it?"

"I tried it once this morning, but it failed."

“I see…” Yanan paused for a moment, then asked, “So what are you planning to do next?”

“Naturally, we need to drag out the mastermind behind this.” Heroic Spirit Emiya pulled down his hood. “That guy was cut by my sword, and his magic circuits won’t be able to recover in a short time. Once we find that, we can determine his true identity.”

Anaen pondered for a moment, then narrowed his eyes slightly: "Have you considered that that guy might very well be a participant in this Holy Grail War?"

“I have naturally considered this matter, but those guys are all protected by powerful Servants, so even if I wanted to investigate them, I wouldn’t know where to start,” said the Heroic Spirit Emiya.