A journey into an infinite dimension

Life is unpredictable. Imagine you need to fight the puppet's maker one day. Who can guarantee they didn't build some kind of self-destruction mechanism into the puppet? Or perhaps, in a fight with someone else, the puppet's maker cut corners and destroyed it, leaving the unarmed puppeteer with nothing but regret.

There are many types of puppets in the world, including mechanical puppets, ball-jointed puppets, string puppets, automatic puppets, wooden puppets, human-shaped puppets, and special-shaped puppets. How to choose the type that suits your own tactics and habits is the basic skill of a puppeteer.

In addition, the puppets in the magic world cannot be confused with the puppets in the secular world, because the puppets used by the puppeteers in the magic world are actually engraved with various magic tricks. Although they are restricted by the limitations of magic, unless magic seals and magic bases are implanted into the puppets, or text magic such as "Runes" that can be engraved on objects is used, otherwise the puppets can only use the types and quantities of magic set in advance by the puppeteer during production.

Although they know that "only puppets made by oneself are the best", many magicians who specialize in puppetry still choose to purchase puppets made by other puppeteers, especially those produced by "Galan no Hall".

It's not just because the puppeteer of "Galan Hall" is called Aozaki Touko, a "Grand Puppeteer" who is ranked on the same magician rank as Jiaye, but also because the magic system she specializes in is the "Rune Rune", which can engrave runes on objects and release magic through the arrangement of words.

In other words, the puppets produced by "Galan no Tang" are all top-level puppets that can continuously perform various magic tricks as long as the puppeteer can provide enough magic power. At the same time, as the champion, Aozaki Touko has an excellent reputation in the industry, which is reassuring enough. The only pity is that Aozaki Touko does not accept all orders.

Having said so much, this does not mean that the dolls used by Jiaye are also produced by "Galanzhitang". On the contrary, all his dolls are made by hand one part at a time.

He has three main combat puppets, and each one is the same as the puppet made by Aozaki Touko, with the ability to use magic unlimitedly as long as the magic power is sufficient.

Although his magic system is not Rune, the Ruzuki family's inheritance is not limited to the Eight Steps and the living puppet of the ancestor Hong. The technology of using "telekinesis" to permanently engrave magic on the puppet also exists.

Although there are only three puppets, but with the combination of Hong and Jiaye's own combat power, his strength is fully worthy of the highest level of human magician rank "Grandmaster", and is even comparable to a servant.

Fenrir—named by Gaya after the Nordic god-killing wolf—is a giant wolf-shaped mechanical puppet. Its appearance is that of a five-meter-tall silver wolf, its internal parts inscribed with magic such as "rigidity," "magic toughness," "strengthening," and "absorption." It can use "absorption" magic to absorb the kinetic energy and air resistance generated by movement and running, thereby enhancing its speed and strength. Its teeth are made of dragon tusks, possessing an astonishing bite force.

Leviathan—named by Jiaye after the giant sea monster from the Bible—is a winged, sea-serpent-like mechanical puppet. Its appearance doesn't resemble any natural creature, but rather the product of Jiaye's imagination. Its body is inscribed with magic such as "Rigid Body," "Magic Toughness," "Reinforcement," "Vortex Creation," and "Liquid Flow." It possesses the ability to summon large quantities of seawater by consuming magic power, manipulate water currents, and create vortices that devour magic power. However, the amount of magic power it can absorb is capped; once it exceeds the limit of its core, it can no longer absorb any more.

Tenkai Ryuu—a fictional creature from the game, capable of releasing intense light through its wings, which have enormous membranes, and capable of flight. Magic such as 'Rigidity', 'Magic Toughness', 'Reinforcement', 'Dazzling', 'Laser', and 'Frenzy' are engraved on its interior. It can release powerful flashes of light that temporarily blind people, and it also possesses the ability to use surrounding light to create lasers. It also has magic similar to 'Berserker', which enhances various attributes of a person at the cost of causing them to lose their mind.

One main attacker, one disruptor, and one auxiliary. Although there are only three of them, under Jiaye's control, they can also exert powerful power through battle formations and tactics.

The battle taking place in front of the church at this moment proves this.

They used the magic of 'rigid body' and 'strengthening' to strengthen their bodies, and 'magic toughness' to increase their attack power. Combined with the magic engraved in their bodies and Jiaye's superb manipulation skills, for a while the servants were actually suppressed by Jiaye and Hong.

The Tenkai Dragon carries Jiaye and wanders in the sky, releasing strong and dazzling flashes from time to time to interfere with the servants, and using dives and lasers to force a servant to stop what he is doing to deal with the attack. This tactic can basically be said to be as dirty as it can be.

Because Jiaye uses the "Heavenly Eye" to see things, he is not affected by strong light; the puppets have no life and rely purely on Jiaye's control to move, and the eyes are just decorations; Hong can also use the "Heavenly Eye", so the strong light of Tenkai Long will not harm his teammates. The only ones who will be disturbed are their enemies.

Fenrir was entangled with Saber. As time went by, his speed and strength were increasing. At the same time, his fearless attack style was giving Saber a headache.

Because Fenrir is a puppet, he has no sense of pain and cannot die, so exchanging injuries is a piece of cake for him. However, although Saber is a servant, she can also be injured, and her movements will become slow due to injuries. She also has to guard against Fenr's strange attack methods, as his entire body can be used as a weapon. Therefore, although her attributes have been strengthened by the Command Spells, she still fights very uncomfortably.

Rider was entangled by Leviathan. Although summoning seawater in Fuyuki City, which was surrounded by fire, would consume more magic power, Leviathan was unable to use its most powerful tactics. However, Rider, riding on Pegasus, also had no good way to deal with it. Because her combat skills were basically used to deal with humanoid enemies, she was really powerless to deal with a seven-meter-long sea snake.

———No, she still has two, or even more abilities that can be used to deal with the sea snake puppet in front of her.

The Noble Phantasm is the Servant's ultimate weapon, a materialized miracle. It is the proof of a Servant's heroism and the crystallization of humanity's desire for miracles. It is known as the 'Noble Phantasm', the strongest weapon.

A Noble Phantasm can take the form of a weapon, a symbol, a special move, or even a skill. Since the strength and effectiveness of a Noble Phantasm are determined by the legends surrounding it, it is also interpreted as "weaponry built with human fantasy as its framework."

Noble Phantasms can be activated by shouting their true names and injecting magical power, but the amount of magical power required for most Noble Phantasms is enormous. If it is during the Holy Grail War, then apart from relying on Command Seals, most Masters will find it difficult to use their own magical power to support their Servants in activating their Noble Phantasms.

Rider's real name is 'Medusa', and Medusa's most famous legend is her most famous and rare Noble Phantasm with low consumption. The "Mystic Eyes of Petrification (Cybele)" that can unconditionally petrify creatures with a 'Magic Resistance' below C rank within her field of vision is one of her Noble Phantasms that can deal with the current situation.

However, her opponent seemed to know her real name and refused to give her the chance to remove the blindfold and release her Noble Phantasm. Even if she sometimes seized the opportunity, the sea serpent had already disappeared from her sight before she could take off the blindfold. There were even several times when the opponent used this to set traps, causing her to almost be knocked off Pegasus.

So her frustration will only be more, not less, than Saber's.

But the most aggrieved are the other five servants.

On the one hand, they need to guard against the tiny silk threads that can penetrate every hole, and on the other hand, they are forced to close their eyes from time to time, otherwise they will be blinded by the flash, so they still haven't been able to see what their opponents look like.

Although there are top-level Servants like Berserker 'Hercules' among them, there are also Servants like Avenger 'Angora Mainyu' who were neither heroes nor demigods in their lifetime, but were just ordinary, unarmed humans.

Although he, known as Angra Mainyu, possesses extremely high special attacks against humans, 'A'-level agility, which is extremely high among all Servants, and a passive Noble Phantasm that can reflect damage, their enemy, Kurenai, is neither human nor has combat power comparable to that of a Servant. She seems to know his Noble Phantasm and initially just gently strokes his hand with a silk thread.

Although this stroke has been identified as an attack by the Noble Phantasm and rebounded, there is no difference at all between having this damage and not having it!

Because his Noble Phantasm can only be activated once against one person, he basically poses no threat after it is successfully activated. Moreover, because he is the weakest among all the Servants, he feels as if he is being targeted.

Because there were so many silk threads coming towards him, although he could still rely on his advanced agility to dodge, judging from the current situation, he would be killed sooner or later.

"Forget it, I don't mind being killed. I don't want to be controlled by a little girl and be her dog!"

Because of his own peculiarity, Angora Mainu, who was able to retain some sanity from Ai Ge's control, thought angrily. Then, after another flash of strong light, he deliberately exposed a flaw, allowing the silk threads that came from his perception to entangle him like a spider's prey.

"Even though I don't know who you are, just kill me now. I'll begrudgingly thank you!"

"We've caught the weakest one and will deal with it later."

A clear female voice sounded. After hearing this voice, Angola Mainyu's first reaction was "So the enemy is a woman", and his second reaction was that he was so depressed that he wanted to vomit blood.

What's wrong with the weakest? The weakest have human rights, too, okay?!

And why did you leave it until the end? This isn't the way to humiliate me!!

Just as Angra Mainyu was helplessly hung upside down by the silk thread, a barely familiar voice suddenly rang in his ears—no, in the ears of all the servants.

"Use the Command Spell. Everyone, defeat your enemies."

Along with this sound came the feeling of power surging out of nowhere.

Tsk, looks like I’ll have to be a dog for a while.

With a slight shock in his heart, Angora Mainyu's consciousness immediately fell into chaos.

"Verg Avesta (False Transcription of All Things), Aa ...

"Excalibur Morgan (Sword of Promised Victory)——"

"Gae Bolg (Piercing Deaththorn Spear)————"

"Bellerophon (Knight's Reins)——"

"Ho ho ho ho!!!"

Broken Phantasm

"Swallow Returns——"

"Thunder summons——"

Chapter 11: Desperate Situation and Turning Point

The light of the Noble Phantasms lit up one after another, and the number of them was even more than the number of servants visible. Upon discovering this, Jiaye, who was standing on the top of the Tenkai Dragon's head, suddenly changed his expression.

“Yinang!!!”

The Tenkai Dragon under his feet suddenly stopped in mid-air and stretched out its magnificent wings to the maximum. The dazzling white light originated from the Tenkai Dragon's wings and filled the entire sky and earth in the blink of an eye. Below, Hong, whose tacit understanding with Jiaye had almost reached the level of telepathy, had already left the battlefield as soon as the incident happened, and the moment the Tenkai Dragon made a move, he quickly changed his position with ghostly and strange steps, while trying his best to distance himself from those servants.

At the same time, eight miracles that only exist in myths and fantasies fell at the same time: a light cannon made of magic power, a gun shadow like lightning, a pure white horse that turned into a meteor, three swallow-slaying blades that ignored time and space, a scorching and brutal punishment from heaven, a swing full of violent aesthetics, the ultimate destructive power sublimated from the crystallization of fantasy in the moment of breaking, and the rampant bite of a dark beast.

In the vision of the Heavenly Eye, Jiaye saw it.

Half of the town had everything on the surface completely obliterated by the terrifying energy; Red's figure was unable to dodge and was severely knocked back by the aftermath; Fenrir and Leviathan were caught up in the devastating attack; and the blazing light was approaching him.

At this moment, Jiaye only had time to make one move, so he——

Boom boom boom boom!!!

The powerful explosion lasted for a long time, and all the clouds within a few kilometers were blown away, revealing the long-lost bright moon and starry sky in the sky. However, it did not look dreamy and beautiful. Instead, it was creepy, as if a huge hole had been broken in the sky.

There was no smoke or dust, because even the invisible smoke and dust had been shredded by the powerful energy aftermath.

After everything calmed down, what appeared in the eyes of all the servants and Ai Ge who had just arrived was a circular crater with a diameter of tens of meters, like the trace left by a falling meteorite.

The surface of the pit was smooth and bright, and could even faintly reflect the brilliance of the full moon in the sky. It looked like glass - no, not like, but the stones in the pit had indeed been completely melted into glass by the high temperature.

Eight servants and a master slowly came to the edge of the glass pit that was still emitting terrifyingly high temperatures, looking down at the scenery at the bottom with indifference. Then, a hint of surprise flashed in the servants' eyes, although the eyes had different colors, the cold emotions inside were the same.

Even Ai Ge, who has always been elegant and confident, couldn't help but reveal a hint of surprise on her delicate face.

At the bottom of the glass pit, the glazed flames continued to burn fiercely. A crescent moon, dyed the same color as the flames, hung high in the sky. An enchanting and strange aura continued to spread. Amidst the flickering stars, Tianhuilong's legs were upright and his wings were spread wide, as if guarding something. His body was slowly turning into burning embers and drifting away.

A strong wind blew from nowhere at the bottom of the pit, accelerating the dissipation of the Tianhui Dragon's remains and exposing the things it was guarding to everyone's sight.

"retreat!"

Without warning, Saber, Assassin, and Archer, who possessed the skills 'Intuition' and 'Mind's Eye', shouted simultaneously and suddenly retreated.

After a brief delay, the other servants immediately chased the three figures and quickly retreated. However, this hesitation of less than half a breath became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

A gaze from below swept over the servants who were a beat slower, and then...

"Ah ah ah ah ah!!!!!!"

Angora Mainyu, whose reaction nerves were only at the level of an ordinary person and whose action time was basically the slowest among all the servants, suddenly let out a shrill scream. The servants did not look at him, but moved away from the huge pit and away from Angora Mainyu at a faster speed.

After the three who first sensed the danger stopped, the rest of the servants, including Medea who was holding Aige, stopped and turned to look in the direction of Angra Mainyu who had not caught up.

Originally shrouded in shadows, he was vaguely revealed in the light of the blazing glazed flames that enveloped him, revealing the figure of a black-haired young man covered in evil patterns. However, this situation only lasted for a moment, and then he suddenly turned into golden particles and dissipated into the air, leaving only the glazed flames still burning in the air.

Although Angra Mainyu ended his life in an extremely brilliant way, except for a few specific people, the other servants only kept their gaze on him for a moment, and then looked at another scenery that was more gorgeous and brilliant than him.

It was a vast plain burning with lapis lazuli flames; it was a sky stained with lapis lazuli light; it was the two crescent moons hanging in the night sky instead of the original full moon; it was the indescribable huge shadow hiding behind the moon, baring its fangs and claws.

That was not the scenery that should exist in this world, even if this world had become a singularity.

It was a fantastic scenery that even Ai Ge, who had traveled through countless parallel worlds, had never seen.

It was a scene created by a single gaze.

Just like the world behind an invisible door, nothing else has changed, but the scenery in this location has changed from the ruins of the town to a world full of magic, fantasy and weirdness.

In the world of magicians, there is only one word that can be used to describe the strange scene before their eyes.

"Inherent barrier...?"

Archer calmly uttered the term.

"Inherent Barrier" is a great magic that rewrites reality with the caster's "mental landscape". Once activated, it will change the surrounding space into a completely different landscape.

It is the embodiment of mental landscapes, able to replace oneself and the world without changing the state. At this time, the size of oneself and the world will be exchanged, and the world will be completely enclosed in a small container. Originally, it was a near-magical ability that only powerful creatures such as elves and demons could wield. However, after years of magic that can create personal mental worlds, some senior practitioners have also made it possible to create an "inherent barrier".

Apart from the spirits born from nature, the alien worlds created by others will be destroyed by "nature". Therefore, maintaining the "inherent barrier" requires huge energy and cost, resulting in the barrier lasting only a few minutes.

However, what appeared in the eyes of the servants at this moment seemed to deviate from the conventional interpretation of the 'inherent barrier'.

First, they did not feel the power of "nature" coming. Second, they did not feel any magic from this "inherent barrier", nor did they feel any sense of disharmony with the world that every inherent barrier has.

Finally, the essence of the inherent barrier is "replacement". Perhaps there is a small replacement of the scenery. However, the scene before us is not so much a replacement as it is more like forcibly embedding another world into this world.

Not to mention the suspicion and doubt of his followers, at this moment, below the pit, in the plain scenery that first appeared, Jiaye's body was covered with burn marks licked by flames. Even his blood could not flow out due to the high temperature. He slowly closed his eyes, and a ray of flame quietly dissipated from the last gap between his upper and lower eyelids.

The magic power in the body is exhausted.

Three puppets——all destroyed.

Physical injuries—serious.

The number of enemies—decreased by one.

Even though the severe pain in his body was enough to make a strong-willed adult collapse, Jiaye was still calmly analyzing the current situation and conditions in his heart.

He slowly lowered his head and saw that there were some damages on the gorgeous red kimono. Apart from that, his fair skin was stained with some dust. Overall, Hong was not seriously injured. He struggled to pull out a not-so-good-looking arc at the corner of his mouth.

Red—safety.

At the last moment, he only had time to make one move, so he chose to use telekinesis to pull Hong to his side, and then use his body as a shield to block all damage for her.

Although what affected him was only the Tenkai Ryuu in its enhanced state to the limit, and the aftermath that could not be blocked by the hastily activated 'Inherent Barrier', it was, after all, the aftermath formed by the energy of multiple servants' Noble Phantasms. Not fainting, or being able to survive, was already Jiaye's greatest luck.

"Did you faint again? Today is really a disaster day for you."

Noticing that the beauty in his arms didn't move at all, Jia Ye smiled bitterly in his heart, thinking with a sense of trying to find joy in suffering.

Although they managed to survive, it did not mean that they were safe.

After all, Jia Ye did not forget that what caused their miserable situation was actually just a killer weapon launched by the enemy that had no side effects.

Moreover, the consumption of activating the Noble Phantasm was completely borne by the Command Seals. Basically, each Servant did not actually use his own magic power. If it were not for relying on an unexpected trump card to successfully kill a Servant, the situation would have been even more desperate.

"Ahhh, it looks like there's really no escape today."

After years of almost instinctive daily use of the "Heavenly Eye", the energy consumption required to use the "Heavenly Eye" is now negligible for Jiaye. Therefore, in his current state, he can still open the "Heavenly Eye" normally. It's just that due to the lack of magic power, the range he can "see" is not too wide.

But this was enough for him to "see" the servants slowly approaching them.

"If possible, I really don't want to die with you. Even if I die alone, I really want you to survive."

Jia Ye said quietly in his heart as he gently helped Hong comb her slightly messy soft hair.

"Don't worry, I'll try to get a few more people to bury us with me. After all, we can't afford to lose too much money."

Like a robot with old and worn parts, Jiaye slowly stood up amidst the wails of his body, turned around and looked at the servants who had stopped three meters away from him, and then his "gaze" was focused on the blonde girl surrounded by the servants, whose presence and the atmosphere around her were extremely unusual.

"Nice to meet you, handsome yet scary big brother. My name is Sajo Aika."

As if noticing Jiaye's gaze, Aige pinched the hem of her skirt with both hands and bowed gracefully to him, introducing herself with a chuckle.