How come the Ace of Cups isn't considered the Holy Grail?

After changing her clothes, Fujimaru Ritsuka turned her back to Da Vinci, patted her skirt, and after confirming that the card in her pocket was safe, firmly gave her response.

"Well, I definitely will!"

Chapter 120 Your thigh is reconnecting...

"So, are we going to drive this, uh... thing to our destination next?"

In a place resembling outer space, Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mashu had already arrived at this space, the location of the Final Singularity, through spirit particle transfer.

Fujimaru Ritsuka changed back into the Mystic Code that granted her seven single-draw chances, pointed a finger at the car parked in front of her, and asked.

"Ah! This was specially made for this operation! You're used to the driving style now, right? Get in! Get in!"

Hearing Leonardo da Vinci's enthusiastic voice coming from inside the clothes, Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at the four-wheel drive vehicle, which, although its appearance had changed drastically, still vaguely resembled the sail-decorated vehicle she had ridden in during the Sixth Singularity.

but……

She remembered that the car seemed to be made entirely of wood, right?

Is this thing really okay?

With a slight sense of unease, Fujimaru Ritsuka got into the car with Mashu and drove towards their destination as shown on the navigation system.

They set off from a location approximately 20 kilometers from the center of the temple, which was the location Chaldea had planned for Solomon to be hiding.

Along the way, they were on guard against the possibility of being attacked by the Magic King, but neither Mashu's naked eye observation nor Chaldea's heat source observation could detect any trace of the enemy.

This is clearly abnormal.

The eerie silence lasted until Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others saw a stone door emitting a faint white light, before it was broken by a sudden surge of heat.

"Heat source detected! It's the Demon Pillar!"

A series of scarlet round pupils split open on the giant tentacles, as if awakened by the arrival of Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others. Magic rays shot out from those pupils toward the four-wheel drive vehicle speeding past them on the ground.

"Shield deployed!"

In a series of quick maneuvers, Fujimaru Ritsuka maneuvered the mini 4WD to dodge most of the ray attacks, while the remaining few that she couldn't avoid were blocked by Mashu's shield.

They walked straight toward the stone door that emitted a white light.

Although Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't know what the stone door was, it was clearly unusual.

Just as the two were about to reach the stone gate, a figure that they recognized walked out of the gate and waved his hand, releasing two almost invisible blades that slashed vertically at Fujimaru Ritsuka.

"senior!"

Mashu's keen intuition and excellent eyesight allowed her to escape the sudden attack with Fujimaru Ritsuka.

However, the four-wheel drive vehicle that brought them there wasn't so lucky. It was cleaved in two by the invisible blade, and the blast from the explosion knocked the tires to the side.

Fujimaru Ritsuka quickly looked up at the figure attacking them in front of the stone gate.

A green coat and top hat, and a head of hair that looked too thick.

"Rafe Lenore!"

Faced with the culprit who planted bombs in Chaldea, causing heavy casualties and even nearly taking Mash's life, Fujimaru Ritsuka found it difficult to remain calm.

There's no need to hesitate any longer; now is the time to act!

"Indeed, the Chaldea technicians, and also the vanguard sent by the Magic King, the traitors who laid the final straw in the destruction of humanity—"

“Declare—!”

Wait a minute, what are you doing?

Rafe, who was just proudly introducing himself, noticed the commotion at Fujimaru Ritsuka's side and immediately stopped talking. He looked at her with a puzzled expression as she clenched her left fist and gently tapped a circular device on her right shoulder with the first knuckle of her thumb.

There are seven such devices embedded from her right shoulder to her wrist.

After Fujimaru Ritsuka began chanting the incantation, the pipe behind her, along with several other devices, lit up, and pale blue data fragments and barcodes appeared in a ring around her body.

"You shall obey my commands!"

"My life is entrusted to your sword!"

"The soul is entrusted to the Holy Grail, and responds to the call through the principles of humanity!"

This is... a summoning of heroic spirits?

Rafe naturally recognized the incantation that Fujimaru Ritsuka was chanting, but what he didn't understand was... why now?

Or should I summon him in front of him?

Does she think she'll just stand there and wait for her to finish the summoning?

A cane appeared in his hand, and Rafe casually created a massive wind pressure that struck Fujimaru Ritsuka.

The surrounding demon pillars weren't idle either; they abandoned the magic rays that would be blocked and directly used their massive bodies to smash towards the two of them.

Seeing this, Mashu quickly grabbed Fujimaru Ritsuka and dodged to the side, but the Demon Pillar was too big. Even though they dodged the direct attack, the ground beneath their feet was smashed into rubble, causing them to fall down.

"You are all bound by the spirit of stargazing for seven days!"

Even when her back hit a boulder during the fall, Fujimaru Ritsuka gritted her teeth and continued reciting the Chaldea-specific summoning incantation as if she were completely unaffected.

"Forge, duel, and bring victory!"

"The Guardian of Libra!"

Three blue rings, ranging from small to large, encircled his outstretched right fist, and golden magic began to gather around them.

nourish - nourish -

A blurry, ghostly figure appeared before Fujimaru Ritsuka, accompanied by golden flames, but flickered intermittently, like a television with a poor signal.

Fujimaru Ritsuka, who had just successfully summoned Yuuto, exchanged a joyful glance with him when, in the next second, Yuuto vanished from her sight along with the flames, as if the internet connection had been interrupted.

Fujimaru Ritsuka: "Huh?"

Why……

Faced with this sudden situation, not only Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mashu, but even their enemy Rafe was taken aback.

Although the figure just now was only a phantom, it still gave him an extremely strong sense of oppression.

He thought that Fujimaru Ritsuka, the last human master, had summoned something amazing, but he didn't expect it to be just a pretty but useless thing.

"Hahahaha! This is hilarious! Fujimaru Ritsuka! Is this your Chaldea's ace?"

Rafe laughed, and for a moment he was even reluctant to kill the other man.

"Well, this has certainly been quite a show... but unfortunately, you're all going to die here!"

"The summoning ritual is not large enough!"

Inside the control room, Leonardo da Vinci, who created this magical costume, quickly discovered the cause of the situation. Seeing that the demon pillars were attacking Fujimaru Ritsuka, he hurriedly told Fujimaru Ritsuka about it.

"Fujimaru! The spirit origin of the Heroic Spirit you are about to summon far exceeds that of a normal Servant. A single Heroic Spirit Summoning Ritual is not enough to fully summon him!"

Isn't once enough?

Fujimaru Ritsuka quickly regained her senses and did not hesitate. Seeing that she had already wasted one summoning opportunity and the attack of the Demon Pillar was imminent, she did not have time to try to summon other Heroic Spirits and could only continue down this path.

"Since once isn't enough, let's use the rest—"

Before she could finish speaking, just as Fujimaru Ritsuka was about to disregard the pain radiating from her nerves and forcefully use up her remaining six summoning opportunities, a golden flame flashed across her vision.

The summoning ritual, which had been interrupted, was forcibly resumed. Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mashu could even hear the appearance of the magic circle, which made a piercing sound like steel being forcibly compressed by a hydraulic press.

creak-

Realizing something was wrong, Rafe frowned, took a step back, and cautiously summoned a few more demonic pillars.

In the next instant, golden flames suddenly rose up and engulfed the entire space.

In this sea of ​​fire that seemed to burn even the soul to ashes, he looked with suspicion and uncertainty toward Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was at the center of the fire, only to hear a strange male voice coming from it.

"Rag, soar through the skies—!"

Chapter 121 Mashu, save me!

In the dark space.

Yuwatari was a little confused when he opened his eyes as the countdown ended and briefly made eye contact with the falling Fujimaru Ritsuka before being suddenly bounced back.

"what the hell?"

[The summoning ritual failed due to insufficient scale. Would you like to try again?]

The system pop-up window then made its presence known and explained the situation to Youdu.

The summoning ritual was not large enough?

Is there such a thing?

This was the first time Yuuto had encountered such a situation, but even though the spherical Winged Rathalos had eaten his brain, he could guess that this situation was definitely related to the Egyptian God Cards.

Although he was only teleported there for a moment, he saw quite a few things in that instant.

For example, Demon Pillars, Demon Pillars, and more Demon Pillars...

These tentacle monsters that cause sanity loss look quite interesting in games and anime, but when you actually see them with your own eyes in real life, they just give you the creeps.

The skin, resembling chapped skin, looked truly disgusting when magnified...

However, even based on the information he obtained in that short moment, it was enough for Yuuto to conclude that Fujimaru Ritsuka was in danger.

"Has she already reached the Grand Temple of Time? Those Demon Pillars... were they stopped by Leif?"

Based on the known information and through simple deduction, Yuuto quickly determined the environment in which Fujimaru Ritsuka was currently located, and guessed that the other party was probably summoning him by means of the magical costume she was wearing.

"No wonder the summoning ritual was too small... Really, how could Gudako be so bold as to gamble her life on a Servant whose summoning success is uncertain at such a critical moment?"

After figuring out the reasons for this situation in his mind, Yuto smiled and shook his head.

However... since Fujimaru Ritsuka, as his Master, has entrusted his life to him, he must respond in some way!

The summoning scale is simply insufficient! Watch me force my way in!

[Transmission has resumed...]

【3, 2, 1...】

A familiar darkness engulfed him, and then Yuuto opened his eyes to see Fujimaru Ritsuka looking utterly bewildered, followed by a system pop-up that covered her face.

[Teleportation successful. You will remain in the present world for 6 seconds.]

So you were able to come out with me... But, only for 6 seconds?

enough!

There was no extra time for reminiscing, and they didn't even have time to see what kind of clothes they were dressed in this time.

Yuto twisted his body in mid-air, his eyes, now plated with golden light, staring directly at the demon pillars hurtling towards them from above. He raised his hand and drew a card from the top of his deck, placing it on the Duel Disk.

There was no need for further examination, because the moment the card was drawn, it was already destined to be the one he wanted.

"Rag on, soar through the skies—"

【5...】

light.

Fujimaru Ritsuka stared in surprise as she saw golden lines outlining an inverted pyramid pendant with an eye pattern on Yuuto's chest, from which a dazzling light suddenly burst forth.

Golden-red flames rose out of thin air and burned fiercely on the empty ground, on the hard rock surface, and in the void where no matter existed.

Phew——!

After that, a large bird enveloped in flames appeared. She was born from the flames, and the blazing flames condensed into her body.

Emerging from the depths of the abyss where Yuwa was falling, it carried him, Fujimaru Ritsuka, Mashu, and a Fou that appeared out of nowhere, soaring into the sky and scattering the sunlight across this dark space.

【4...】

Despite being engulfed in flames, Fujimaru Ritsuka, perched on the back of the Winged Rathalos, inexplicably felt no burning sensation whatsoever. Instead, she felt warm all over, as if she were under the warm spring sun.

"So warm..."

Fujimaru Ritsuka squinted her eyes in comfort, but unfortunately, this wonderful experience could not last forever.

The remaining time was not long, but it was enough for the Winged Dragon of Ra to launch an attack that covered the entire space. After being carried out of the crack by the Winged Dragon of Ra and flying into the sky, Yuto saw Leif blocking the way in front of the stone gate.

But... why are there so many demon pillars around him?

Yuto was puzzled, but the rapidly decreasing countdown gave him no time to think. He spoke, issuing the attack command to the Winged Dragon in a flat tone devoid of any emotion.