Or, why don’t you find another savior?

First restrict their movements, then use the Command Spells to strengthen the Noble Phantasms of Altria and Mordred, and attack at the same time. Even if they cannot be eliminated in one go, it should be enough to cause irreparable damage.

After that—

When Shiomi raised his hand and prepared to use the Command Seal, he heard a vibration from the ground.

Just like the vines he had caused to grow before, pitch-black tentacles similar to the skin of the Demon Pillar pierced out from the already shattered ground.

It was exactly the same aura as when Artoria was attacked in front of the Great Holy Grail of Fuyuki.

He rolled over to avoid the attacks of the tentacles and launched a counterattack, cutting off and crushing the tentacles that were approaching his body, but more and thicker tentacles continued to extend from the ground.

Some of them continued to attack Shiomi, hindering Altria, while others entangled themselves around Barbatos' body.

The solid ice created by magic began to crack.

"Have you been aiming for that direction from the beginning?"

Shiomi raised his wand and was about to perform magic again, but was disturbed and hindered by the tentacles one after another, causing his ice magic to fall on these tentacles.

A huge fireball flew over quickly and hit the tentacles in front of Ximen.

The tentacles burned in the flames, spasming and twisting until they turned to ash.

Shiomi fell to the ground and saw Sakura holding the magic wand with a determined look in her eyes.

He and Lancer weren't the only ones on the battlefield, Sakura and Saber were also here.

"Sakura, cover me!"

The ice on Barbatos' body had shattered, and those ominous eyes glowed again. Dozens of magic beams streaked across the streets and buildings like sharp arrows, converging towards Shiomi.

It seems that Machiri wants to end the battle quickly and kill Shiomi. As long as Altria cannot touch Barbatos' body, the focus of the attack will fall on Shiomi.

Generally speaking, it is correct to solve those that can be solved first, and then solve those that cannot be solved. The opposite order may make an enemy that was originally not a concern become a problem.

Could it be that--

Shiomi had a vague idea of ​​the answer.

Chapter 31 Noble Phantasm

During the Fifth Holy Grail War, Shiomi fought against some of Solomon's demons.

Although they are disguised in postures that conform to the descriptions of some legends, the combat power of each demon god is comparable to that of a regular servant. If it were not for some restrictions in the Fuyuki Holy Grail War ritual itself, the seventy-two demon gods would not be able to appear at the same time and exert their full strength.

Otherwise, if all the demons appeared, Shiomi and Morgan might never come back.

The posture displayed by Barbatos, transformed by Machiril Zorgen, has a single strength that surpasses that of a top servant like Altria.

But Shiomi discovered that one of Barbatos' major flaws was that Machiri, the cornerstone, had not yet fully adapted to being a Demon Pillar, and the exercise of his power was just brute force.

Not only that, Machiri, who is supposed to be a seasoned magician, also showed impatience and recklessness in battle that shouldn't have existed.

Although Altria, Mordred and Sakura were there to interfere with their attacks.

As long as he couldn't get hurt, Barbatos' attention would always be focused on Shiomi first.

As the battle progressed, Shiomi also realized this.

After dodging and summoning the red spear to cut off the tentacles that were coming towards him, Shiomi leaned on the spear and pointed his magic wand at Barbatos. The difference in their sizes made this action like Don Quixote challenging the windmill.

"Barbatos, no, Machiri Zorgen, there is only one reason why you are so eager to kill me!"

At the sound of his voice, those bright red eyes fixed on Shiomi, flashing continuously and exploding in the direction where Shiomi was.

However, there was neither dust nor blood, and Shiomi was no longer there.

puff-

The sound of an eye being pierced was heard, and one of the Demon Pillar's eyes was pierced roughly by Shiomi, but no tissue fluid or the like flowed out, but it just shattered like a gem.

It looked soft, but suddenly became hard.

It's just like a non-Newtonian fluid. Shiomi couldn't help but complain in his heart.

He stared at the body stepping on the Demon Pillar, stared at the unbroken eyes and sneered:

"You can't maintain this form for long, right?"

Of course, Shiomi didn't really believe that Barbatos couldn't fight for a long time. He was just using this method to trick the opponent.

Barbatos' attack was filled with an undisguised impatience, and even if that wasn't the reason, Machiri had her reasons for having to end the battle as quickly as possible.

Then, Shiomi's words touched Barbatos.

The unbroken eyes began to tremble wildly, and then burst out with endless magical light, trying to devour Shiomi who was so close.

"The magical power of this attack is unexpectedly huge, and it has surpassed the level of most top magicians." Shiomi appeared in the sky more than ten meters away. "Although I don't know where your 'king' comes from, it is commendable that he can make a magician achieve this level."

Since words are useful, we must continue to attack with words.

Although he said that he had given up his human body, he was unable to give up his human heart in the process. Machili's weakness and ending were doomed from the beginning.

As expected, Barbatos, who was provoked by the words, had more tentacles emerge from the ground and rushed towards Shiomi from all directions. This time, he was completely tied up with no way to escape.

"In the end, it's just that mouth that's more eloquent, so go to hell!"

The words that sounded flat and didn't resemble Machiri's voice could not hide the anger that could not be concealed.

It was not because Shiomi mocked himself, but because he mocked their "King".

Barbatos, who issued the death sentence, immediately felt something was wrong.

"what?!"

Although Shiomi was tied up and there was no possibility of escape, unexpected changes occurred.

The tentacles seemed to be deprived of their power. They gradually began to lose color, wither, and then broke apart and turned into powder.

"Original Rune No. 4, Rune of Liberation." Shiomi lowered his eyes and spoke lightly, "No matter what kind of magic or physical means, they can't restrain me, not even tentacles."

Barbatos' huge body began to tremble, and each of its eyes moved and twitched irregularly.

Fear and panic began to spread.

"It's actually the original Rune, a magician from the Age of Gods! Is this what my king meant by invincibility?!"

The roar of someone unable to accept reality sounded like the roar of heavy machinery.

"what?"

Shiomi narrowed her eyes, realizing that her inference seemed not to be accurate enough.

The king that Machili mentioned seemed to have foreseen the failure here from the very beginning, but for some reason, Machili and his companions stood in the way of Shiomi and his companions in order to atone for their sins.

Perhaps that was not an order from the king at all, but the result of Machiri and others' own request.

No matter what, as long as you meet the king that Makiri mentioned, you will be able to find the answer.

Who is this person that can command King Solomon's seventy-two demons and give the power of the demons to human magicians?

Thinking of this, Shiomi raised his wand.

There was enough time, Mordred and Altria once again released the magic of their Noble Phantasms and launched an attack in coordination with Shiomi's magic.

"Dissipate, Demon God Barbatos——"

It was a more powerful attack than the previous attack on Paracelsus, a full-strength attack.

Barbatos, whose judgment was disrupted by Shiomi, had a window of time in which he could not defend or counterattack well, which allowed him to save more magic power to recover the Holy Grail of the singularity and complete the repair work here.

“——『Noble Phantasm』.”

True ether compresses and releases.

It combined with the Holy Lance, the Demon Sword, and Sakura's imaginary magic to sweep over Barbatos.

At first, a magic barrier was opened for defense, but in the blink of an eye, the defense collapsed, and then it was unstoppable like a collapse. The surge of magic power engulfed the towering pillar and burned all the tentacles that had not disappeared on the street.

When the aftermath faded, at the end of the devastated street, at the intersection leading to the museum, Machiri Zorgen fell there. He struggled to do something else, but he couldn't even move a finger, and no magic circuit could work.

"Give up, your body has reached its limit." Shiomi's gun blade was against Machiri's neck.

"You... just... defeated us... our king—" Machili uttered with his dying breath.

Xijian flipped his arm, and the gun blade flashed with a cold light. Machili was immediately beheaded and could not utter a word.

"It's not your turn as a dead man to comment on what happens next."

Chapter 32 Revealed Ideas

The fact that there is a secret passage leading to the clock tower in the basement of the British Museum is something that only a small number of core magicians, such as the monarchs of the twelve disciplines and related personnel, know even inside the clock tower.

Shiomi was able to know about this because he had some connections with both democratic monarchs.

This secret is neither big nor small.

As the base camp of magicians, even if the Holy Church tried its best to attack it, it might not be able to take it down successfully, so it seemed very useless.

Situations like the London singularity were completely absent from any previous assumptions.

"...Sure enough, most of the magicians left for various reasons, especially the monarchs in charge of various subjects. They all left before the monsters covered London for various reasons." Shiomi looked through the records of people entering and leaving the clock tower and suddenly realized.

The number of magi who died along with the above-ground portion of the Clock Tower was only a very limited number.

The really important people all left for completely legitimate reasons.

What practical significance does such a change have? Shiomi wanted to discuss this with Morgan.

However, the interference in the underground library was extremely severe, and it was impossible to communicate with Chaldea.

If Shiomi didn't know how to unlock the self-activated magic book familiar defense line, Mordred and Altria would not be standing guard outside the door, but would be responsible for fighting to block the defense mechanism of the underground library.

I can only write this down and talk about it when I get back.

Xijian thought about it, and stood up to ask Ying who was helping to search for information: "Ying, do you have any results?"

"Eh? Ah, I've found it..." Ying seemed to be thinking about something, and she quickly came to her senses, "Regarding the information related to the realm record tape that Dad mentioned, it seems that someone has sorted it out and put it in the same place. It's easy to find it."

"Has it been sorted out by someone?" Shiomi looked at the documents Sakura placed on the table.

Before them, there were people who had come here and, after looking at the same things, judged that they would be useful to later generations, so they put them together.

Who is it? Xijian's heart is full of unknowns.

But since he didn't show up and didn't even leave any traces to investigate, Shiomi had no way to track him down.

When he picked up a file, he glanced at Ying and said, "You are also concerned about the purpose of the person who compiled these files?"

"...No, I didn't." Sakura was a little embarrassed. "I was just wondering, is it really okay to let Saber and Lancer stand guard together?"

"If you're worried, you can go out and take a look." Xi Jian smiled, "Since someone has sorted out the information, the investigation will be quick."

"Although they are our servants, it is not our turn to interfere in the parent-child relationship." Sakura thought about it and felt that it was not appropriate, but she could only describe it this way, "A little bit, I don't quite understand it."

"Don't quite understand?" Xijian turned over a page of information and checked the content he needed.

"Saber is just like me. She has no choice as to whose child she will be. Her life is determined from the moment she is born." Sakura's tone was empathetic.

Shiomi immediately understood that it was the previous encounter with Machiri Zorgen that made Sakura remember some things that had happened in the past.

"We can't choose our own birth, but I have always hoped that both you and Kallen can at least choose your own future path," said Shiomi.

It was the same when he came to Chaldea. He just felt that civilized society in Antarctica was too far away. Even for a magician, it would not be easy to travel there. It would be difficult to see his family, so he wanted to refuse.

But in the end, Sakura and Kallen chose to become members of Chaldea and his colleagues based on their own wishes and abilities.

"That's why I don't quite understand." Sakura asked a question she had never asked before, "Why did Dad choose me? Kallen is the child of Dad's friend, and she was so young, so she was adopted... What about me?"

Never asking does not mean not caring. The more you become a magician, the more you will have questions. As you gain a deeper understanding of the environment and the world you live in, you will naturally have questions.

But Shiomi had never owed her anything, so Sakura had always kept the question to herself and not asked about it.

"There's no special reason." Shiomi felt that it was difficult to explain. After all, it was BB who pushed it for unknown reasons. But for Sakura, she had to explain it well. "...I just want to pass on what my master taught me. Rather than giving birth to a child whose qualifications are unknown, it's better to choose a child with extraordinary talent..."

He felt a little guilty when he said this: "Very lazy, right?"

"It sounds like something Dad would do." Sakura gave a distressed but pleasant smile, "But why don't you get married first and try having a child?"

"The main reason was that I had just separated from Orange at that time... Although we did have a close relationship, it was a stretch to say that we were dating." Shiomi flipped through the information in her hand. "But even so, it would be difficult for me to find someone to marry all of a sudden. I can't think as completely utilitarian as a magus, and I don't want ordinary women to become guardians of magic circuits."

"I see..." Sakura agreed with some melancholy.

"And I knew exactly where I was going. When I reached the end of my human life, I would return to the Kingdom of Shadows." Xi Jian shook his head, "So I didn't want to leave too many complicated traces... Although in the end, it didn't go as I wished."