Alchemy Principles of Type-Moon World

"He most wanted to be punished by you, but instead you forgave him." Xing Qingqiu continued, "The more he worshipped you, the more guilty he felt. Only if you punished him personally could he be redeemed."

It's time to start the fight now.

"That's right, my king. I came here for only one purpose." Lancelot gave Xing Qingjiu a grateful look, "Please punish that incompetent me—"

"Once, a knight said this before leaving: 'My king does not understand the human heart.' This absurd statement almost drove me crazy."

"Who on earth doesn't understand human nature?! Who has existed as a perfect king from the beginning to the end, yet has never received love?!"

"I'm angry. Angry that I clearly understood all this but was powerless to do anything about it. Angry at myself for doing nothing." Lancelot's emotions grew increasingly agitated. "The one who deserved understanding and love the most, the one who deserved salvation the most, was the king."

"But I betrayed the king's trust and shamelessly enjoyed his comfort. My sin has driven me mad."

"King, punish the man before you, this disloyal, unjust, and incompetent man."

"I understand, Sir Lancelot. If this is your wish—"

Artoria took a deep breath, her expression becoming resolute once more. She summoned her sword under the expectant gazes of Lancelot and Xing Qingfan.

—and then simply placed it on Lancelot’s shoulders.

Xing Qingwu was very disappointed. He thought a fight was about to break out.

"Sinful Lancelot, in view of your sins, I hereby pronounce judgment—"

"'Time alter, triple accel!-Inherent time control, triple speed'"

"—I will remove you from your position as assistant and expel you from the twelve seats at the Round Table. From now on, you will be the last seat of the next generation."

"Saber, in the name of the Command Seal, come to Eri."

————————————————————

When writing the next literary drama, I felt like I was stuck. I was mainly considering whether to write the literary drama so seriously, which might determine the future direction.

But then I thought, I've already used Charazaki Ryou VIII: 焐寺轳⒏奇伐 as the cover, so I guess I had that in mind from the very beginning. Let me sort things out tonight.

The above is a new book by a new author. Please vote and collect it. Thank you!

Volume 25: The Alchemist's Apprentice from the Fourth War: . Holy Grail Questions, but Asked to Einzbern

Fallen leaves blanketed the ground, and footsteps rustled softly across the dead branches and leaves. A man weaved between the trees. Though there was no snow covering the ground, the winter chill was still biting.

"Then I won't bother you anymore. I'll leave first."

Hearing Xing Qingjiu's shouting not far away, the man hiding in the shadows of the forest breathed a sigh of relief. However, Xing Qingjiu's proactive statement of his purpose did not dispel his inner doubts.

——Because it seems that the strongest Caster is not here.

“Maiya, is the evacuation going smoothly?” His voice came through the headset, weak but firm and clear.

"Everything is fine." Maiya's voice came from the headset, calm and powerful, like a warm current in this withered forest, making the man breathe a sigh of relief again.

If only it could be that smooth.

Judging from Saber's reaction, the other party should also be a Servant, Lancelot...

If the legendary records are correct, then even Saber in her prime would likely be no match for him. With Caster now missing, remaining inactive is the most advantageous option. His fingers gently touched the weapon he carried, feeling its texture and warmth.

But now that I don't know Caster's whereabouts, I can't be completely at ease.

"Kiritsugu, our evacuation was intercepted by Caster." Maiya's slightly panicked voice came from the headset, "But Caster's purpose is unclear..."

“…It’s a little later than I expected, you two.” Caster’s voice interrupted Maiya’s report, coming from the headset. “But this isn’t really a place to chat. Why don’t we go somewhere else and talk more slowly?”

Caster's goal is to intercept the evacuating Eri and the others?!

Did he see through the true nature of Eri's Lesser Holy Grail? Since he appeared as a Caster, it was only natural that he could see through that.

Calm down, Kiritsugu. He took a deep breath of cold air and forced himself to calm down. In this situation, he had to stay calm. He had to find the best solution in the shortest possible time...

"Time alter, triple accel!-Inherent time control, triple speed"

His thoughts raced, as if time itself were stretched out. According to the GPS data, Eri and the others had been evacuating at full speed on their motorcycles, and the straight-line distance from here was nearly twenty kilometers. If Saber's agility was used, it would take about five minutes to reach them at full speed.

In other words, for Lancelot here, it would take at least five minutes to get to Ellie.

Using the Command Seal to transfer Saber to protect Ai Li would buy her five minutes of evacuation time...

But this would leave me facing the other Servant alone. Oh, am I now being weighed on the scales? On the scales of this Holy Grail War, what is my true worth?

If the other party's target is indeed the Little Holy Grail, then when they called Saber to protect Ellie and realized that the strategy of luring the tiger away from the mountain has failed, their first goal should be to go to Ellie to provide support.

After all, neither the Lesser Holy Grail nor Saber's apparent Master is here.

But...is this really the optimal solution? Doing so would very likely result in Saber being defeated and losing the right to participate in the Holy Grail War. If he evacuated with Saber and hid in the shadows afterwards, there would still be a slight chance of victory...

Time did not allow him to hesitate any longer. Every second was slipping away, and every second could change the course of the battle. Kiritsugu knew full well that now was the time to act.

I can’t think about it anymore, there’s no time left.

The man's fingertips lightly touched the Command Seal, and he finally made up his mind.

"Saber, in the name of the Command Spell, go to Eri's side and cover their evacuation."

In the silent forest, Lancelot knelt on the ground, his figure seemed particularly lonely in the shadows between the trees. Tears slowly slid down his cheeks, and every drop seemed to tell of the sin and regret buried deep in his heart.

"Lancelot," his voice was choked with sobs, but he felt a sense of relief at the verdict. "I have no objection to your judgment."

"Click, click, click..."

He felt the weight on his shoulders lift, as the sword—the sword of the king to whom he had sworn allegiance—seemed to be drawn back into its sheath. Ah, even with my pleas, the king's punishment remains so gentle. Truly worthy of the king to whom I swore allegiance.

"Click, click, click..."

"My king..." Lancelot wiped away his tears and finally mustered up the courage to raise his head, but the king he was loyal to was no longer in his sight. "I sincerely... Where is the king?"

Altria disappeared.

"Click, click, click..."

"My king!" His voice was filled with anxiety and uneasiness. He looked around, but only the silence of the forest responded to him. "Where is my king?!"

"Click, click, click..."

"Where is my king? He's still eating potato chips. I'm asking you, where is my king?! Where is the king?!" There was a hint of despair in his voice.

"Just left," Xing Qingfeng answered casually while chewing potato chips. "Just as your sentence was being read out."

"You just stood there and watched?!" Lancelot asked with a tinge of accusation in his voice.

"Seeing you so moved by yourself is really... puff. What I mean is that I can't bear to interrupt your life's highlight moment of fulfillment."

"Then where's our king?!" Lancelot practically shouted, "You were just watching, and I asked you where our king went?!"

"I don't know." Xing Qing continued chewing potato chips.

"Ah, my king, my king Arrrrrrrrr!!!"

At this moment, black mist began to flow out from the gaps in Lancelot's armor, lingering around him, as if to completely swallow Lancelot.

Xing Qingwu was still a little restless.

He was worried that Lancelot, who had gone berserk and didn't recognize his relatives, would beat him up.

"Don't worry, don't worry." Xing Qingyu tried to comfort Lancelot while drinking Coke. "Look, there are three of us here together. When we came here, the teacher deliberately triggered the alarm barrier, right?"

"Burp..." His words seemed to calm Lancelot down a bit. He burped and continued, "Then the teacher said someone from Einzbern ran away. It should be your king's master, right?"

"Calm down a bit, you should be able to figure it out yourself." Xing Qing said while chewing potato chips.

"You mean..." Lancelot, having calmed down, quickly figured out the problem. "With two Servants to one, the odds are definitely against us. So it's normal for the Master to retreat and leave the Servants behind to cover their retreat."

A glimmer of understanding flashed in his eyes: "Since Mr. Isaac took the initiative to intercept, there are only two possibilities:"

"One possibility is that Mr. Isaac failed to find them, and after they successfully evacuated, they used Command Seals to recall the remaining Servants."

"How is it possible that the teacher didn't find the person? Stop joking." Xing Qingyu said confidently.

"Then there is only the second possibility: Mr. Isaac intercepted the evacuating Master, and the Master urgently recalled the Servants to fight without knowing the Master's intentions."

"Bingo~" Xing Qingyu patted his hands covered with potato chip seasoning powder and tried to secretly rub it on Lancelot's armor, but the other party dodged him in disgust.

"Even though our side is over, how is it? Has your wish been fulfilled?"

"Although the method of achieving this was somewhat unexpected..." Lancelot smiled with relief. "I was expelled from the Twelve Seats of the Round Table by the King himself. I deserved the punishment for my sins. Perhaps I have finally been freed."

"My sins have been punished, and my king has granted me the final dignity."

"There's nothing else to do, so let's just go." Xing Qingwu suggested.

Yes, there's nothing else to do. The teacher went to meet the Einzbern people in person. According to the teacher's previous self-narration, it should be to reminisce about the past. Don't bother him at this time. It's a pipe dream for Artoria, whose left hand is injured, to want to hurt the teacher, so let's say -

——At times like this, it’s time to give yourself a good vacation.

"Qingli, can you hear me?" Newton's voice came from the air. "Go straight into the castle behind you. I'm here."

"Tsk..." Xing Qingwu smacked his lips, "I always feel like the teacher is reading my mind..."

"Hmm...people hiding in the forest," Xing Qingyu shouted halfway through his walk, as if suddenly remembering something. "No need to hide anymore. Just go in. They should all be inside."

"Although I don't know how the teacher did it."

----------------------

The golden sword light flickered in the dim reception room, and Artoria's figure was like a flash of lightning, quickly protecting Irisviel behind her.

"Eri, stand back!" Artoria glared at the man who was leisurely drinking afternoon tea in front of her. "You deliberately diverted me to attack the defenseless Master. Aren't you ashamed of your actions?"

"No, it's more like you're so obsessed with direct confrontation that you don't even have the slightest strategy in your head?" Newton sat upright on the sofa in the reception room, his gaze shifting from his cup of tea to Altria. "No wonder your own son started a rebellion."

"Strategy is the resistance of the weak against the strong. Don't you have any awareness of this, Your Excellency?"

"No, because you are not qualified to comment on my approach." Newton put down the teacup in his hand and said in a calm and firm voice, "Let me introduce myself. Isaac Newton."

"Ah! Really?!" Irisviel exclaimed.

"There's no need to mention the rest. After all, I'm not like the other people in the Holy Grail War, whose fame is so poor that I need to look up information to know their achievements."

"Little girl from Einzbern, can you represent Einzbern?" Newton ignored the angry Artoria and said, "Why not let Eubusta Kuhaid come to see me?"

"Hmm... Which Ahad is this generation?" Newton's gaze traveled through time and space, returning to the era where he had once had a profound influence. A hint of nostalgia lingered in his voice.

"Are you really the one..." Irisviel's words stopped abruptly. She seemed to be trying to digest the reality before her. "I often heard your story at home, and I have your portrait at home, but..."

"Aren't you familiar with me like this?" Newton's lips curled up into a kind smile. If Xing Qingfeng saw it, he would definitely exclaim that he had never seen such a gentle Lord Niu.

"The Wuyi-Yilingji I used this time is a reflection of my younger self. By the time I spent the rest of my life in the Einzbern household, I was already quite old."

Irisviel's expression betrayed a hint of confusion, and her hand gestures seemed to trace a vague image in the air. "But I've also seen a portrait of you when you were young," she said with a hint of doubt in her voice. "Shouldn't you have long, wavy, double-helix brown curls?"

"...That's a wig." Newton didn't care about the curiosity of the woman in front of him. To him, Alice was just like a younger generation in the family.

His eyes were filled with gentleness and kindness. Looking at the descendants of the Einzbern family in front of him, he suddenly felt a little fortunate. Fortunately, the androids of the Einzbern family did not seem to have fallen yet.

Newton remained unmarried and childless throughout his life, his life filled with research and exploration. Perhaps it was precisely because of this unbearable loneliness that he chose not to continue his solitary research after announcing his death, but to spend the rest of his life among the Einzbern family, with whom he had a certain connection.

“Oh, oh, I see…” Irisviel seemed lost in thought, but she soon noticed Altria and Maiya, who were still nervous, and soothed them, “It’s okay, this is a distinguished guest from our Einzbern family.”

"He likes to call himself the Messiah. Ah, this also corresponds to the story!" Irisviel smiled and introduced Newton to the others. "If it really is that Isaac Newton, he won't attack us. Please rest assured."

"Because, to that third magician, the Holy Grail, a fake object, is completely meaningless."

"Indeed, the Holy Grail is of no value to me. I came here just to confirm one thing."

Newton put away the smile on his face and looked at Irisviel seriously.

"Successors of Einzbern, what exactly are you pursuing now, the Holy Grail, the Third Law?"

Newton hadn't intended to question the Einzberns' aspirations from the outset. In his eyes, it was perfectly normal for the Einzberns, a group of artificial beings with intelligence exceeding that of humans, to maintain their purity in isolation, and he had nothing to worry about.

But the tragedy of Machili haunted him.

After coming into contact with the outside world and walking out of the isolated Einzbern Castle, can they stick to their sad wish after more than two hundred years?

If they still hold on to their sad aspirations, persisting in their meaningless efforts on the wrong path, perhaps they can still be called happy. But if they have already lost themselves...

"Why would we need someone to answer on Einzbern's behalf?" Irisviel smiled. "If we're going by the legend, and conduct routine questioning and rebuttals like you did during your lifetime, then I truly have no way and no right to answer on Einzbern's behalf."

"But if it's just this question, anyone in Einzbern is confident they can answer it—"

"—After all, this is our family's mission."

"The Einzbern family exists to carry on the wishes of that magician's disciples. We exist to save all of humanity."

"This is not only the wish of the Einzbern family, but also my husband's wish." Irisviel's face was filled with a happy smile. "I exist for this reason."

------------------