Those time travelers that year

Therefore, for magicians, whether it's to gain power or pursue truth, there's a shared goal of seeking the Root. Under these circumstances, rituals related to the Third Law are initiated. The original intention was to gather sufficient power through a ritual to open a path to the "Root." However, in reality, it was discovered that humans simply couldn't possess such power, let alone the two major restraining forces guarding the "Root," Gaia and Alaya, who would not allow magicians to reach its location…

Finally, a new method was found to solve this problem: through the 'Heaven's Grail' as the Third Law. By materializing the spirit/soul of the Third Law, the spirits of the deceased Servants were summoned. By sacrificing their souls and infusing the souls of the six deceased Servants into the Lesser Grail, the power of their return to the 'Throne of Heroes' located outside the world was used to create a hole in the world. The vast magical power accumulated in the Greater Grail was then used to fix this hole, thus creating a gate to the outside world, that is, a gateway to the 'Root'.

However, the Third Sorcerer had long since vanished, and the Third Spell, the "Heaven's Grip," was lost. Thus, the concept of the Greater Grail—a homunculus, the Winter Saintess who possessed a portion of the Third Spell, was conceived as a sacrifice to dismantle her magical circuits and magically replace them, creating a human universe—but it became clear that Justeza alone was insufficient for the creation of the Greater Grail. The Greater Grail could be built, and its core could indeed be crafted, but activating it required an immense amount of magical power; therefore, the Lesser Grails, which controlled it, were necessary.

Ultimately, the Tohsaka family, the Einzbern family, and the Matou family—the three great magician families known as the "Starting Three"—united to complete a ritual called the "Holy Grail War."

Magicians, acting as Masters, use the Holy Grail to grant wishes as bait, providing magical power to summon Servants to participate in a war ritual, fighting to the death to open the path to the 'Root'. There were no surrenders, no regrets; of the seven Master-Servant pairs, only one emerged victorious.

This is the Holy Grail War.

However, while the idea is wonderful, it is far too difficult to implement.

In the first Holy Grail War, due to the lack of formally established rules beforehand, the Master's awareness as a "participant" was weak. Furthermore, the absence of Command Seals as they are now led to instances of Servants disobeying orders, causing the Holy Grail Summon to fail before even forming the ritual's formal structure. The Holy Grail descended at Ryutō-ji Temple in 1800 AD.

The Second Holy Grail War, around 1860, was a Holy Grail War held after the Industrial Revolution. It was convened after detailed rules were devised in response to the failure of the first Holy Grail War. Although the "Command Spell System" was completed, allowing Masters to freely command Servants, the ritual ended in failure for various reasons, and the Holy Grail descended at the Tohsaka Mansion.

The third Holy Grail War took place on the eve of World War II. However, due to various reasons, it ultimately failed, almost as if cursed, as the Greater Grail was corrupted by Angra Mainyu through the Lesser Grail. This resulted in a decisive and fundamental change in the Grail. Although this Holy Grail War was a "cancelled war," the "corruption of the Greater Grail" continued to influence subsequent wars.

The year is now 1990. After decades, the Fourth Holy Grail War has once again begun in a city called Fuyuki.

Compared to previous Holy Grail Wars, this one has become even more brutal and dark due to the personal reasons of the participants.

…………

……

...

.

Beyond the world lay a place utterly empty, devoid even of color, a void that appeared as nothingness. In this place, two little girls, sitting opposite each other at a table, opened their eyes at the same time. Simultaneously, the two identical girls, one dressed in white and the other in black, gazed into some unknown direction.

In their eyes, an endless starry sky was reflected. It was not the real universe, but a place in a conceptual sense, where each twinkling star was more like a crystal wall or a plane than a planet.

And in this endless galaxy, a comet streaking across the sky is heading towards their location.

"Outsiders?" The little girl in the black dress frowned and said, "Visitors from outside the crystal wall? Should we send guardians to deal with them?"

"Hmm..." The little girl in the white dress looked at what was in front of her in a daze and made a soft, weak sound.

"Gaia!" Upon seeing this, the little girl in the long black dress shouted in dissatisfaction, slamming her hand on the table. "You idiot, stop being so confused at a time like this! There's an intruder!"

"Yes, I'm not stupid, Alaya is!" Hearing the little girl in the black dress's words, the little girl in the white dress, Gaia, shuddered and retorted indignantly, "Alaya is the stupid one, Gaia isn't..."

"Then at least don't make a mistake at a time like this!" Alaya glared at Gaia. "Should we send out guardians to wipe them out or not?"

"Hmm... no way!" Gaia rubbed her face, slightly troubled. "It won't work. That guy has a pass; we can't stop him. The Root won't prevent him from coming here. Besides, the plane from which his power is copied is too dangerous. Leaving him in this world might attract the attention of that plane. We don't have anything here to block information exchange, and if things go wrong, we'll create a lot of trouble."

"What can we do? We can't let that outsider destroy our world!"

"Ugh... Ugh, so annoying, so annoying!" Gaia rubbed her hair and then slumped onto the table. "I don't want to deal with this anymore! It's too much trouble!"

"What kind of restraint is this, you idiot Gaia!" Alaya looked at Gaia, who was acting cute, with dissatisfaction, and then said helplessly, "Well, let it be! Anyway, he only came here for that damned ritual, so let him deal with those equally idiotic magicians... Oh right, we can take this opportunity to throw that non-combustible garbage out."

"Oh!"

51. Head to Fuyuki City

The world's suppressive forces wanted to use someone as a mobile garbage truck, a fact that Charles was completely unaware of. In fact, in his mind, a nobody like him probably wouldn't even attract attention. After all, in Skyrim, although he wandered around Skyrim, he didn't attract any special attention from the God of Time, did he? Although he didn't know why that great being, who was equivalent to the world's consciousness, didn't comment on Charles's intrusion, it didn't stop Charles from knowing that as long as he didn't do anything reckless, such as planning to destroy the world, he shouldn't provoke an attack from the world's consciousness.

And so, he happily arrived in the Type-Moon world through the pocket watch. To be precise, he arrived at the rooftop of a building in a city. After a series of distorted ripples appeared in mid-air, as if stepping out of a mirror, Ciel stepped out from mid-air and landed on the stone bricks of the building's rooftop.

"Wait... what's this?" Ciel, who had just arrived in the Type-Moon world, frowned and looked up at the sky. It was a clear day, without a single cloud, and hanging in the sky was only a huge fireball called the sun, radiating light and heat. However, what concerned Ciel was not these everyday phenomena, but rather the sense of unease he felt after arriving in this world.

No, it can't be said that he was not used to it. To be precise, after arriving in Type-Moon, he felt that the air around him was a little heavy. But Ciel thought that this was just his illusion. After all, the gravity in this world was the same as in other worlds, and there was no problem with breathing.

However, Charles quickly found what he felt was wrong with this world. Looking at the flames burning in his hand, Charles fell into deep thought; the flames were much weaker than expected. Moreover, the cost of spells had increased. A single Fire Tongue spell cost an extra 50% of its mana here. That is, casting a spell in other worlds would consume 10 points of mana, but here it would consume 15.

In addition, the rate of mana regeneration has slowed down, and the destructive power of spells has also been significantly reduced.

“A suppressive force?” Ciel muttered. “No, perhaps it’s the self-protective ability of this world itself…” The Type-Moon world is undoubtedly a high-level world. Although it can’t compare to Marvel, DC, and other high-magic worlds whose rules have collapsed, Type-Moon is still much higher in level than The Elder Scrolls.

Similarly, in this world, once a certain level of power is reached, beings who have mastered the rules will emerge. These could include mages or true ancestors. If these life forms, capable of influencing the real world, were allowed to use their abilities without restraint, the entire Earth could potentially be doomed.

Thinking about it this way, it's not surprising that this world has limitations. After all, there are two restraining forces here. Without these restraining forces, those beings who can control the rules would have already made a mess of this world.

……

"Hmm, first I need to figure out where this city is." After figuring it out, Ciel extinguished the flames in his hands and began to gaze at the city again. "Although based on my previous two transmigrations, I usually end up in places related to the plot, the Type-Moon world has several storylines, as well as the so-called timelines and parallel universes. Hmm, this is a bit troublesome..."

Although spellcasting is restricted due to the limitations of this world, Ciel doesn't care. After all, the Holy Grail War is mainly about battles between Heroic Spirits, and the Masters are just an afterthought... Besides, what kind of mages are these? A middle-aged man with severe chuunibyou, a self-pitying loser, a self-righteous guy who ends up getting screwed over, a rich second-generation who gets cuckolded, a student who wants to prove himself, a literary youth who is lost on his life path, and a perverted serial killer.

See? With all these problematic characters, it's a miracle that Fuyuki City was only burned down! Compared to the Fourth Shinobi World War, the Fifth Shinobi World War was nothing but child's play; it was basically a harem romance drama by some bulldozer.

Ciel remembered that when he was watching anime in his previous life, someone commented that the Fourth Holy Grail War was the only true Holy Grail War.

Although he didn't care about the Masters in the Holy Grail War, Ciel didn't intend to underestimate them. After all, there were powerful weapons like the Origin Bullet and the Fixed Time System; if he were to be hit by one, he would probably be instantly killed. Besides, the protagonists were the Heroic Spirits, and their Noble Phantasms with their incredible effects were not just for show.

For example, certain curry sticks, EA, and the "Ten Thousand Guys Group"... these would be as easy as slaying dragons in Skyrim, and might even smear the Daedric Princes of the original Skyrim. In this situation, Ciel felt it best to be cautious. Especially since he wanted to infiltrate the Holy Grail War for personal gain, he needed to be even more careful.

An hour later, Ciel chartered a vehicle and traveled alone to a city called Fuyuki.

……

The Masters in the Fourth Holy Grail War are almost all related to the mystical side. Whether it's the chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) killer who's a magician killer, the scapegoat who's always blamed, the rich kid who got cuckolded, a college student, or a confused artsy youth—all of these are characters from the world of magic. Even the worst student at least has some skill with hypnosis. The rest, the self-pitying losers, are from the world of magic and have some foundation in it. The only one completely unrelated to the mystical side is that psychopathic killer.

The easiest to deal with was indeed the last one—just an ordinary person. Although he was a serial killer, that couldn't hide the fact that he was, in essence, an ordinary person. Ryunosuke Uryu, as a deranged serial killer, committed acts of utter cruelty. He enjoyed experiencing death by killing others. Furthermore, he had no real interest in the Holy Grail and was unaware of its existence before summoning Caster. However, the Uryu family had magician blood, and Ryunosuke accidentally found documents on summoning "demons" in a warehouse. During a home invasion murder, he attempted to draw magic circles, finally summoning Caster on his fourth attempt. Therefore, his participation in the Holy Grail War was purely accidental.

Logically and emotionally, Charles felt no qualms about killing this lunatic. Besides, this was the perfect opportunity to burn that dead bug to death. Moreover, Charles was a sorcerer who manipulated souls; he had no choice but to find a way to eliminate that bug.

——————————Divider Line——————————

After a slightly drowsy drive, Ciel arrived at Fuyuki City, a famous city in the Type-Moon universe, as the sun was about to set. Although it was just a small city, the Holy Grail War was being waged in such an insignificant place.

As they entered Fuyuki City along the highway, the feeling of unease dissipated somewhat. After trying it out, Ciel discovered that the energy activity in Fuyuki City was significantly higher. At least, casting spells here only required an extra 30% effort, and the speed of magic recovery was also noticeably improved.

After arriving in Fuyuki City, Ciel went directly to the Fuyuki City Hall and, using the Soul Stealing Curse, spent over an hour controlling the minds of all the staff members in the city hall.

Don't be fooled by the fact that ordinary people are considered weaklings in the Holy Grail War; they are the most numerous group in cities. The Fuyuki City government is the largest administrative body in the city, while others like Tohsaka and Matou are essentially just landowners.

While this was true, it was only after spending time controlling the ordinary citizens of the city government that Ciel discovered some of them were actually aware of the situation. This explained why the Holy Grail War, despite its immense scale, could be suppressed and kept secret from the general public. However, these ordinary citizens were of no use to Ciel.

Then, in reality, the entire city of Fuyuki fell into Ciel's control in just one night.

52. Admission Ticket

"Huff...huff...huff..." Ryunosuke Uryu leaned against the sewer wall, panting heavily. Outside the sewer entrance, a series of alarm bells rang. "...Tsk, why are these cops so quick this time?"

As a deranged serial killer, Ryunosuke Uryu undoubtedly possessed exceptional counter-surveillance skills. In his previous series of crimes, he left not a single trace at the scene, leaving the Fuyuki City police utterly helpless against this serial killer. In a sense, this might also be due to the incompetence of the Fuyuki City police.

However, this situation changed drastically after Ciel secretly took control of the entire Fuyuki City government. Just because others couldn't find him didn't mean Ciel didn't know who he was. With Ciel's intervention, the entire Fuyuki City government was mobilized. In particular, after discovering the surname "Ayumi" through the household registration census, and after two or three days of continuous searching and investigation, they quickly located Ayumi Ryunosuke himself.

So the situation became much easier to handle. The Fuyuki City Police Department, which had already been heavily criticized for the psychopath's continuous killings, mobilized its entire force after receiving accurate intelligence. If Ryunosuke Uryu hadn't sensed something was wrong by chance and chosen to flee overnight, he would have been cornered at home by the Fuyuki City police long ago.

Even so, he himself was trapped in Fuyuki City. All vehicles and roads used to leave Fuyuki City were cordoned off by police, effectively sealing off the entire city. Furthermore, even the local yakuza were warned by government agencies and coerced into providing assistance. In the peculiar country of Japan, yakuza are arguably powerful and legitimate organizations, but no matter how powerful they are, they still have to obey the pressure from the city government.

Moreover, these gangsters didn't have any goodwill towards Ryunosuke Uryu, the serial killer. The gangs primarily made their living by collecting protection money and supporting powerful figures; they also valued social stability. But now, a guy who clearly disregarded the rules of the underworld had appeared, completely challenging the city's underground order. The gangsters were the ones who suffered the most. The government was merely embarrassed, but because of Ryunosuke Uryu, fewer and fewer people in Fuyuki City were choosing to go out at night recently. Various businesses controlled by these gangs, such as casinos and hotels, were affected.

Those in the underworld know that cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents, so you can imagine the consequences. In Fuyuki City today, neither the underworld nor the legitimate world has any goodwill towards Ryunosuke Uryu; he's now practically the enemy of the entire city. A warrant has been issued and circulated to cities surrounding Fuyuki.

It was incredibly fortunate that he was able to escape capture under these circumstances.

"Seriously, really, all I'm doing is pursuing the truth, why, why, why do those damn cops have to get in my way?" Having temporarily escaped capture by hiding in the sewers, Ryunosuke Uryu muttered to himself. "This world is full of boredom... so I'm just constantly searching. But the more I search, the more interesting and strange things I discover..."

"But, but, but that's not enough, not enough. This world, filled with so much joy, is far too much of a luxury for us as individuals, so I'm just searching for true happiness."

"Demons, gods—someone must be writing this. Writing the script for this world. Someone must be writing this epic novel with five billion characters… This person, perhaps, can be called a god!"

"Hahahaha... Yes, I am merely following in the footsteps of the gods. Yes, while the gods delight in human praises of courage and hope, they must also delight in the cries of blood and despair. Otherwise... the hymns of life would certainly not have such vibrant colors."

"So, you've been taking other people's lives with this kind of thinking all along?" A cold voice interrupted Ryunosuke Uryuu's mutterings, and as the voice rang out, footsteps echoed through the sewers.

"Ah!..." Interrupted from his mutterings, Ryunosuke Uryuu turned his gaze to the newcomer with displeasure. "Who are you, kid?"

"Ha!" A pair of dark golden eyes appeared before Ryunosuke Uryu. The visitor was a somewhat handsome man. "My name is Ciel, Ciel Gretel... Hello! ~The serial killer from Fuyuki City!"

"Tsk, what? A foreigner? Kid, are you trying to meddle in other people's business?"

“No. You’re mistaken. In fact, the one who got the whole city’s government agencies and gangs to hunt you down…” Charles paused, then continued, “…was me.”

"What?" Ryunosuke Uryu squinted at the person in front of him, and said indignantly, "It's you? Who are you? Are you from some big conglomerate...? Because of you, I've lost a lot of fun!"

“Fun? Hahaha…” Charles laughed. “To be honest, you really are a pure villain, a standard villain, no wonder… no wonder the Servant you summon has the Necropolis Bible that can be linked to the Cthulhu Mythos.”

"What are you talking about? What Servant? What Cthulhu Mythos?" Ryunosuke Uryu said, looking at Ciel's smile with displeasure. "And you're the one who interrupted my fun, aren't you? So... what exactly do you want?"

“It’s very simple…” Ciel pointed to the back of Uryu Ryunosuke’s left hand and said, “The Command Seal on your hand…”

"Huh?" Ryunosuke Uryu looked at the back of his left hand, where there was a strange pattern—a mark that had inexplicably appeared on his hand a day ago. "You mean this... this inexplicably appearing... demon mark?"

"To be precise, it should be—the qualification for war! The qualification for the Holy Grail War!"

"Hahahaha! What? Just for this? Seriously, really, hahahahaha..." Ryunosuke Uryuu burst into laughter, clutching his stomach. "...Hahahahaha, since you want this so badly... then trade your life for it!" Suddenly, Ryunosuke Uryuu lunged forward, a sharp knife in his right hand, and stabbed at Ciel.

"Boring!" Boom!

However, before the knife could even touch Ciel, Ryunosuke Uryu was sent flying as if he had been hit by something.

"Ugh... Ahhhhh..." Before Ryunosuke Uryuu could even react after crashing into the wall, several sharp ice spikes pierced his body, pinning him to the wall. "...Ahhhhh, who... are you?"

"Me? A demon! A demon that specifically targets villains like you...!" Wings formed from a cloud of black mist unfurled from behind Sharl, and the power of shadow began to spread outwards.

"You...a demon!" Ryunosuke Uryu stared in shock at the scene before him. "It really exists...a demon...hahahaha...this is the reality of the world! God...uh..."

The translucent sword of restraint pierced Ryunosuke Uryuu's chest, and blood flowed out in large quantities from the wound.

"So, ...cough cough...so, what I've been searching for isn't with anyone else, it's hidden inside my own body! I've finally found it! I've searched so hard for it, if it was inside me, wouldn't it have been better if it had told me sooner?~"

……

Absorb Souls

Ryunosuke Uryuu's soul was directly captured by Ciel and turned into soul fragments.

"Sorry! You're out before the game even starts!" He reached out and pressed his hand on the back of the hand engraved with Command Seals. In a burst of red light, the Command Seals on Ryunosuke Uryuu's hand disappeared, while the Command Seals appeared on Ciel's left hand.

"I got the admission ticket!"

53. Another filler chapter is coming.

"It has been reported that Inspector Megure of Fuyuki City announced at a police press conference that the perpetrator of a series of murders has been apprehended..."