It's normal for an evil god to raise an Abyss.

Rider seemed to think that Archer's "offer" was too high, so he scratched his chin and turned his head away.

"But Archer, it doesn't really matter to you whether the Holy Grail exists or not. You're not fighting for the Holy Grail just to fulfill some wish."

"That's true, but I can't let go of the guy who tried to take my treasure. This is a matter of principle."

Archer continued,

"This is the law I have established as the king. If anyone breaks it, I will punish him."

"Um……"

Rider seemed to understand Archer's words and sighed deeply.

"He is a perfect king who can enforce the laws he has set. But I still want the Holy Grail. My way of doing things is to go get it if I want it. After all, I, Iskandar, am the King of Conquerors."

"As long as you come to attack, I will impose sanctions. There is no room for negotiation."

"Then we'll have to meet on the battlefield."

Archer and Rider inexplicably reached a consensus.

Saber watched Caster calmly drinking his wine, responding to the conversation between Archer and Rider with an attitude of watching a farce. She sighed slightly and asked Rider:

"King of Conquerors, since you have already acknowledged that the Holy Grail belongs to someone else, do you still want to seize it by force?"

“Hmm?” Rider was a little confused by Saber’s question, and then said as a matter of course,

"Of course. My belief is [conquest], which is naturally accompanied by [seizure] and [invasion]."

"So what do you want to do after you get the Holy Grail?"

Rider seemed a little embarrassed at this moment. He drank the remaining wine in the glass before answering:

"Want to be human."

Chapter 30 Confrontation

This was indeed an unexpected answer. Even his Master, Waver, cried out "Ah!" and rushed forward, shouting in an almost crazy tone:

"Don't tell me! You really still want to conquer this world——Ah!"

After flicking Waver back with a flick of his finger and forcing him to be quiet for a while, Rider shrugged and continued:

"How foolish! How can you rely on a cup to conquer the world? Conquering is your dream, and you can only achieve it with your own hands. You just entrust the first step to the Holy Grail."

"You... actually joined the fight just for something as boring as this?" Even Archer felt helpless.

Rider still maintained a serious expression and continued:

"I say, even if we rely on magic to appear in the real world, we are just Servants in the end. We no longer exist in this world. Although this statement sounds a bit ridiculous, are you really satisfied with this?"

"..."

For both Xueyue and Abigail, the body is something they have already obtained, so they don't have much empathy. However, Xueyue more or less understands Rider's obsession with this.

Even without receiving feedback from others, Rider continued his speech: "I am not satisfied. I want to be reincarnated in this world and live as a human being."

"..." At this time, Waver suddenly understood why Rider did not like to transform into a spirit body and insisted on appearing in a physical form. Indeed, even if a Servant can speak, dress, eat, and do other activities like a human, in the final analysis, it is just a more advanced "ghost".

"The body is the foundation of [conquest]."

Rider stared at his clenched fist and murmured,

"Having a body, marching towards the world, and carrying out my conquests - this is my way to be a king. But now I can't do without a body. Without it, nothing can begin. I'm not afraid of anything, but I just feel that I must have a body."

"If your goal is to conquer the world, then we are indeed rivals. Even if we are not the same King of Conquerors, I will not let your iron hoof set foot on my hometown." Xue Yue uttered quietly.

"Don't compete with me, Caster. I have to be the one to kill Rider with my own hands." Archer's smile also contained a hint of viciousness.

"Hahaha, I couldn't ask for more. If I want to conquer the world, I must surpass you. To be honest, I have been coveting your treasure house for a long time. When I really conquer it, I will definitely plunder it!"

In the face of Caster and Archer's declarations of murderous intent, Rider didn't care at all, laughed loudly, and spoke in a confrontational manner,

"But let's put the fight aside for later. Let's drink first today. We can't miss out on these good wines because of the fight."

Rider filled his own glass and clinked glasses with Caster and Archer.

“Hey, Saber, stop drinking alone and tell me what you want,” Rider called out.

Saber took a deep breath and firmly stated her wish:

"I want to change the fate of Britain's demise."

After Saber resolutely expressed her wish, the scene was silent for a long time.

The first person to feel confused in the silence was Saber herself.

Your wishes should be clear and understandable, no matter how unexpected they are. Whether it is praise or rebuttal, someone should bring it up.

"… I say, Knight King, did I hear wrongly?"

Finally, Rider broke the silence, his face full of confusion.

"You said you want to change the ending. Does that mean you want to subvert history?"

"Yes, no matter how difficult the wish is to achieve, it will come true as long as we have the almighty Holy Grail." Saber asserted proudly.

“Ah… Saber? I want to confirm… that should have happened during your era, right? During your reign?” Rider continued to ask.

"Yes, so I want to seek new hope." Saber answered firmly.

"Puchi! Hahahahahaha..." A vulgar laugh came out of Archer's mouth.

“Archer, what’s so funny?!” Saber’s face gradually became filled with anger.

Not minding Saber’s anger, Archer seemed to be laughing so hard that he could not breathe, and spoke incoherently:

"Calling yourself a king...being praised by all the people...such a person actually has such thoughts. It's really hilarious. It seems that Saber, you are the real clown."

Next to Archer who was laughing wildly, Rider also frowned visibly, staring at Saber with some displeasure, and continued to ask:

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, Knight King, do you want to deny the history you created?"

"That's right. If my becoming king led to the most tragic end of the country's demise, then it's only natural to deny it."

This was followed by another burst of laughter from Archer.

“Heh, I don’t know what’s so funny about this. From the moment I drew the Sword of the King’s Choice, I have only fought for the survival of my country.” Saber’s tone was as stern as iron.

"You are wrong,"

Rider firmly and seriously denied Saber's words.

"It is not the king who sacrifices for the country, but the country and the people who sacrifice everything for the king. Make no mistake about this."

"What you are doing is nothing more than that of a tyrant," Saber sneered.

"Indeed, but we are not only tyrants, we are also heroes."

Rider answered calmly without even raising his eyebrows.

"So Saber, if a king is dissatisfied with the results of his governance of the country, it only means that he is a foolish king, worse than a tyrant."

“Iskander, your vast empire was later broken up into four parts. Your so-called conquest was nothing more than a short-lived prosperity. In the end, nothing was left.” Saber retorted without giving in.

"If it was my decision and my ministers who led to this outcome, then destruction is inevitable. I will mourn and shed tears, but I will never regret it! If you attempt to subvert that period of history, it would be an insult to the human race of the era I created!"

Rider looked directly into Saber’s stern gaze and refuted with equal confidence.

Chapter 31 Questioning the King's Way

"Ah, ah, it's really noisy~"

Seeing Saber and Rider arguing more and more fiercely, Xueyue also became a little impatient.

"Stop arguing. This will not lead to any result. A king who is trying to save a country that is doomed to perish and a king who is wreaking war and conquest everywhere, the kingly way is incompatible after all."

"And even if you are heroes in history, the achievements you have made and the things you have been able to achieve are also deeply influenced by the nature of the conditions at the time. After all, even gods are mostly trapped by fate, let alone heroes. If you put yourself in the other person's situation, you may not be able to do better than them."

After hearing Caster's words, Saber and Rider, who were a little angry, calmed down a little. Knowing that they could not convince the other party, they just followed the way Xueyue gave them.

"Then Caster, what hope do you place on the Holy Grail?" Rider asked Xueyue.

"The answer is [No]. I don't have any wish to be fulfilled through the Holy Grail."

Xueyue’s answer surprised everyone again.

“Then Caster, why do you want to participate in the Holy Grail War?” Rider asked.

"Because from the moment I joined the Holy Grail War, my goal has been achieved. It's so interesting to fight against heroes from different eras~"

Xueyue's tone was quite "sincere".

“You don’t look like a battle maniac. Could you be a Berserker pretending to be Caster…” Rider scratched his head.

“Unlike you, I don’t want the Holy Grail to fulfill any wishes. That’s not what I want. Destiny should be in our own hands, so I won’t pray for the Holy Grail to fulfill anything. On the contrary, if you want to obtain the Holy Grail, you must defeat me.” Xueyue made a declaration like a villain.

"Heh, it seems like you treat the battlefield as an amusement park." Archer sneered.

“I see. Is this your way of kingship…” Rider thought.

"Not really..." Xueyue shook her head and said, "I've said it before. If what you call the kingly way only refers to the principle of the king, then it is only one aspect of history. What I witnessed is something more lofty than that."

"Let's make an assumption. If a king ruled a country or even a planet for thousands of years, and nurtured civilization from barbarism to the level of exploring the starry sea, and the people were sincerely convinced and worshipped him as a god, what would that be?"

“It sounds like a wonderful country, but unfortunately, it is difficult to achieve.” Rider sighed.

“It’s certainly difficult, but it doesn’t mean it can’t be done.”

"With such a long time and countless people, how can we ensure that all the subjects are used to their full potential?" Archer asked arrogantly.

"No one has ever been useless. If there is, it is the king's fault for not being able to make him useful. Of course, if resources are abundant enough, then the subjects must be given the right to enjoy them."

"Is such a king for ideals or justice?" Saber asked.

"You may think it is these things, but this needs to be regulated. What you think of as justice is sometimes different from what can actually bring happiness to more people. So what follows depends on the king's decision."

"Although I would like to chat with you more, it seems that some people are already impatient..." Xueyue tapped the wine cup with her fingertips.

In fact, there was no need for Xueyue to remind others, as they also felt the strangeness of the air around them.

Several figures gradually emerged around the atrium, and their number continued to increase, soon reaching dozens, spread all around the atrium and on the surrounding eaves.

They all wore white skull masks and black robes, but their body shapes were different. Such a strange group was undoubtedly Assassin.

"What...what's going on? Didn't Assassin leave the stage a long time ago?!"

Unlike the panicked Waver, Irisviel and Saber had already received the news from Kiritsugu. Xueyue and Abigail also knew about Assassin's faked death a long time ago. The four of them were not too surprised by this.

“Did you do this, Archer?” Rider directly asked Archer, who looked the most suspicious.

"Who knows? I never try to understand the thoughts of those miscellaneous practitioners." Archer shrugged innocently.

However, mobilizing so many Assassins at once was obviously not the idea of ​​Kotomine Kirei alone. It was probably an order from Tōsaka Tokiomi.

To pull off such a dirty trick at a banquet where all the kings were gathered was simply to smear his own face... Archer's expression was somewhat gloomy. He was becoming more and more dissatisfied with Tokiomi's behavior.

"What's going on?! Why are Assassins appearing one after another? This number is too much! Isn't there only one Servant of each class?!"

Waver's exclamation seemed to please the Assassins, who replied with a wicked smile:

"You are indeed right. We are individual Servant as a whole, and the individual is just a shadow of the whole."

Assassin, who usually lurks like a shadow, now appears in such a large scale, the meaning of which is obvious.

"They're getting serious."

Saber gripped her sword tightly and looked around vigilantly.

This was a mob that relied solely on numbers to gain an advantage. If they were attacked head-on, Saber would definitely not lose, but the current situation was clearly not a normal battle.

Even if Saber can defeat so many Assassins, Irisviel cannot. Assassins are weak relative to Servants, but one is enough to be fatal to Irisviel.

The key to the problem is not how many Assassins Saber can kill, but if she misses just one, Irisviel may suffer a serious blow, causing them to be defeated directly.

“Rider… Hey, hey…”

Even though his Master's voice was trembling, Rider still sat there and drank leisurely.

“Kid, don’t be so embarrassed. It’s just that there are some guests at the banquet. Just drink the wine.” Rider said calmly.