Zongman: Evolution Paradise

For other Heroic Spirits, retreat is the best option, but when the Heroic Spirit is Gilgamesh, it becomes the worst decision to make.

Retreat is something Gilgamesh would never accept. Putting aside the possibility of whether persuading someone to retreat would succeed, the very act of doing so would worsen the already strained relationship between Gilgamesh and Kaguya Shinomiya.

Acts like Tokiomi Tohsaka, who nominally called himself Gilgamesh's subject but still used Command Spells on Gilgamesh without authorization, undoubtedly provoked his wrath and brought about his death.

Hearing Kaguya Shinomiya's words, Gilgamesh's anger subsided somewhat.

Chapter 190 New Heroic Spirits

In short, Kaguya Shinomiya's words are: I know you are wrong, but you are my king and I am your subject, so not only will I not blame you, but I will also fulfill my duty as a subject to follow you and walk with you on this wrong path.

Such soft words expressing loyalty and agreement were indeed very effective on Gilgamesh.

She is neither the young Gilgamesh nor the future wise king. For the present Gilgamesh, his subjects should always believe in him and always identify with him.

Similarly, as a king, Gilgamesh also bore the fate of his subjects.

Gilgamesh's anger subsided considerably, and he looked at Scáthach, only to find that she had also lowered the tip of her spear, signaling a temporary ceasefire.

Having roughly understood Gilgamesh's feelings, Scáthach conceded a step and said, "King of Heroes, a mutual destruction is a foolish end. I still want to win the glory of the Holy Grail for my Master. How about we leave this battle for the final showdown?"

Gilgamesh snorted coldly, put the Hegnis sword back in his hand, and replied without any politeness: "The Holy Grail is my treasure, and I will take it and give it to my subjects."

Scáthach didn't speak, but nodded, indicating that she had no objection to Gilgamesh's words.

In Gilgamesh's view, Scáthach's reaction was even more impolite than a direct confrontation.

With his chest heaving violently, Gilgamesh fell silent and directly released the restrictions on this area.

"Let's go." Gilgamesh glanced at Kaguya Shinomiya and commanded, but his body kept Scáthach a short distance away, protecting his retainer.

"Yes." Kaguya Shinomiya breathed a sigh of relief, realizing she had made the right choice. She and Ai Hayasaka glanced at the purple-haired Heroic Spirit and then quickly left.

Gilgamesh disappeared from this place after they left.

Scáthach waited a moment, and then her dog arrived.

"Can you beat me?"

Bond looked around for a while, and seeing that the enemy had left, he quickly asked Scáthach.

"This is Gilgamesh. Winning against her shouldn't be a problem, but I would also be injured in a real life-or-death battle. Her treasury contains many special Noble Phantasms."

Scáthach explained to Bond.

"Oh, oh." Bond nodded blankly.

As a dog that had never been to school, it didn't know what Gilgamesh was, but it understood that Scáthach could win, so it wagged its tail rapidly.

-

On their second day in the Fate world, everyone was playing their part in this unexpected yet inevitable battle.

Ultimately, everything came down to testing, with the murderous intent hidden beneath a mask of rationality.

After Scáthach and Gilgamesh's battle ended, Homurahara School returned to normal, and none of them intended to go back and check on it.

Jolyne and Yukino Yukinoshita were unaware of the battle taking place in this special space; they were dealing with Esdeath's affairs.

Saber and Medusa controlled Esdeath's body from either side, binding her in an unfavorable position with magical restraints.

Medea crouched down, cupped Esdeath's face in her hands, and used her Noble Phantasm, Manjushri's Wrath of the Law, to gesture towards Esdeath with her other hand.

"It looks like some kind of evil organization."

Watching this scene, Yukino Yukinoshita felt something was off.

"Relax, Miss Yukinoshita, we're not exactly good people to begin with."

Jolyne returned the favor to Yukino Yukinoshita, doubling down on what she had once said, while admiring Medea's bondage techniques.

When Medea bound Esdeath, her gaze remained fixed on Saber, causing Esdeath to be bound exceptionally tightly.

"Rule Breaker".

Medea possesses a unique skill called "High-Speed ​​Divine Words," which significantly shortens the incantation time before casting magic. Some powerful spells can even be cast instantly, just like normal attacks.

The release of their Noble Phantasms was also affected by the High Speed ​​Divine Word. Lily had to chant a release spell that could repair all flaws, while Medea only needed to chant the name of her Noble Phantasm.

The Mantra of Wisdom broke the contract and shone brightly, shattering the pact between Esdeath and Makoto Itō. Deprived of her magical power, Esdeath's resistance weakened. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Medea transferred ownership of Esdeath to Jolyne.

"...Four already." After a moment of speechlessness, Yukino Yukinoshita couldn't help but blurt out her complaint.

"Only four? My magic supply should be able to hold up."

Jolyne felt the magical energy being depleted in her body; the normal energy consumption of a Berserker was comparable to that of two Medusas or three Lilies.

With limited mana, the allocation of mana among the four Servants in future battles will be a major issue.

Even so, Jolyne still accepted Esdeath as a Servant.

After all, that was time stop, the power to halt time, and Jolyne also wanted to become an emperor.

Overall, having multiple Servants is definitely more advantageous than having a single Servant.

As long as Jolyne can overcome the significant consumption of magic power under normal circumstances, when the time comes to fight, she will naturally be able to observe the battle situation and allocate magic power to the most correct choice.

Characters like Lily, aside from the maintenance costs, don't need to fight; they only need to provide magic power when unleashing their Noble Phantasms.

"Something seems off about this Holy Grail War. First, there's the outsider class that can keep resurrecting, and then there's this berserker who can stop time. It's unlikely that the Holy Grail War would bring together Servants with such a large power gap. Perhaps other classes will also be troublesome."

Saber straightened her face and said in a serious tone.

"With your sword sheath, you're, in a sense, one of those who exceed the limit."

Medusa whispered, as she fought alongside Saber and could clearly sense that Saber wasn't using her full strength.

Because of her unique method of descent, Lily can be considered a part of Medea. Apart from Lily and the Black Flash bestowed upon her by Jolyne, Medusa feels that she is the most normal Heroic Spirit.

If Medusa and Saber knew that a Hassan with a hundred faces had also appeared in this Holy Grail War, they would definitely change their minds.

Jolyne and Medea observed Esdeath's condition. After becoming Jolyne's Heroic Spirit, Esdeath no longer displayed such strong aggression, but her rationality remained unchanged, completely absent.

"Thinking about this is useless. We should try to regain Berserker's sanity."

The other Heroic Spirits' affairs could be put aside for the time being. Jolyne made a decision to have them all turn around and brainstorm solutions.

Chapter 191 Berserker

"Why not try to win her over with delicious food?" Saber suggested first.

In a food-themed anime, cooking could indeed save the world, much like a drug that inexplicably brings tears to the eyes after consumption, making the character cry out for their mother's cooking, and ultimately leading to a self-justification narrative...

"...Saber, are you hungry?"

Saber's suggestion drew everyone's attention, and Yukino Yukinoshita asked, rubbing her forehead.

"Eating is to replenish magic power; it is a sacred moment!" Saber said solemnly.

Unfortunately, her Master is Yukino Yukinoshita, who hasn't reached the point of lacking magical power yet, so such a statement has no persuasive power whatsoever. Instead, it arouses Medea's affection, "Small yet powerful, and hungry..."

"Forget it, let's leave here first. Who knows when other players might come over."

Jolyne glanced at the razed ruins around her, pondered for a moment, then turned to Medea and said, "Medea, give a psychological suggestion to the people nearby later."

Regardless of the circumstances, the fact that Suigunhara School has become like this in just one morning still needs to be explained to the general public.

Medea, greeted by Jolyne, suddenly straightened her back, looked over, and then regained her composure.

"What specific reason should we use?" Medea asked softly.

"Um... gas explosion."

Since it's the Fate world, of course we have to use the ancestral gas explosion method. The original story has already proven that as long as it's a gas explosion, no one will suspect anything.

Before Medea could ask for details, Yukino Yukinoshita couldn't hold back any longer.

"I said, where does the gas come from at school?"

"That was a terrorist attack on the school by terrorists with a large number of gas cylinders, um... they also kidnapped Mr. Soichiro Kuzuki."

Having come up with a "perfect" reason, Jolyne nodded and prepared to leave with the other Heroic Spirits.

"..." Yukino Yukinoshita thought for a moment and gave up the debate. Based on her experience in the previous world, Jolyne always knew too much strange information.

"Perhaps gas explosions are some kind of rule of this world."

Thinking this, Yukino Yukinoshita remembered her sister's teachings, and her heart suddenly calmed down. She didn't say anything more, but just walked beside Jolyne.

"What happened?" Jolyne turned her head strangely to look at Yukino Yukinoshita, not understanding what she had remembered and suddenly started to get emo.

Based on this reasoning, Medea, along with Lily, gave a wide-ranging psychological suggestion to the people nearby.

With Esdeath by her side, Jolyne returned to Taiga Fujimura's residence.

Sakura Matou and the old insect were both sleeping in Jolyne's workshop, so there was no need for them to go back. In some ways, the Matou residence was even more dangerous than the Emiya residence, and they might encounter some misfortune.

The workshop's time flow is the same as the main world's. This is because the workshop is connected to the Infinite Castle, and the Infinite Castle is connected to the main world. Therefore, the workshop's time flow is not the same as the Demon Slayer world in the previous world, but is anchored to the main world.

Jolyne wasn't sure if the workshop would encounter the same situation in other worlds, as she hadn't visited enough worlds to have enough variables for experimentation.

After Esdeath was brought to Taiga Fujimura's house, the Heroic Spirits surrounded her again.

"The principle of the Berserker class is Berserk, which, in exchange for the loss of rationality, enhances the Servant beyond the capabilities of a Heroic Spirit."

"Theoretically, any Heroic Spirit can fulfill this class, but the more suitable the Heroic Spirit, the higher its Berserk level will be. The innate conditions that a Heroic Spirit must meet include: a story of going mad or losing rationality; a warrior from the Norse cultural sphere; a mental structure similar to an animal or a machine; an intense obsession sufficient to distort one's personality; and an irrational, insane personality..."

"The higher the berserk level, the greater the increase in strength; similarly, the more difficult it is to regain sanity."

Medea explained the principles behind Berserker in the Holy Grail War, prompting Lily to raise her hand and ask, "So who is this guy? Is there any legend about him in the history of the Fate world?"

Let alone time stop, there aren't many Servants in the Fate world who explicitly possess time-related abilities.

The Count of Monte Cristo's Noble Phantasm allows him to transcend time, creating a subjective stop in time; Kiritsugu Emiya's Inherent Time Control allows him to manipulate the flow of time; and King Hassan's Noble Phantasm, Angel of Death, is also connected to time...

The power that Esdeath possesses, which can so simply and directly stop time in an area, leaving only herself capable of movement, is indeed quite rare.

Jolyne sat on the sofa, not letting them worry about the issue, and said bluntly, "Her name is Esdeath. She is indeed not a native Heroic Spirit of the Fate world, but rather an outsider in a certain sense."

[Rule 4: After finding the summoning item, you can choose to unseal one of your followers and make them a Heroic Spirit to become your Servant.]

[Note: Once the heroic spirit that your follower has become dies, the follower will no longer belong to you.]

[Rule 7: Deceased players have the opportunity to be transformed into heroic spirits in this world and join the Hall of Heroes, but this also means that you will lose your player status.]

By examining Rules 4 and 7 declared by Paradise in this Holy Grail War, it's easy to see that the two Counter Forces in the Fate world are collecting players and followers from Paradise, and their tastes are quite discerning.

To say "there is an opportunity" is too euphemistic; to put it bluntly, the Hall of Heroes in the Fate world has the requirements for joining.

These players and followers who died in the Fate world are like job seekers, while the Fate world is like a company.

After being approved by the two major suppressive forces, if they approve of you, they will expend the power of this world to revive you and enlist you in the Hall of Heroes; if they don't approve of you, you will truly die.

Esdeath, who can stop time, is undoubtedly a high-end item sent by the park.

"According to the rules that Paradise introduced to us players, she was probably a follower of some player, and then died in a game in the Fate universe. She was pulled into the Hall of Heroes by those two Counter Forces, which is why she was summoned by other players in this game."

After some thought, Jolyne explained the reason for Esdeath's appearance and also told them about the rules of the Paradise.

After listening, Saber put down her snacks and asked with some confusion, "Why are you so sure that she died in the previous game and became a Heroic Spirit? According to Rule 4, Esdeath could also be a follower of the player in this game, right?"

Chapter 192 Everyone Has Something on Their Mind

Upon hearing Saber's question, Medea turned her gaze away from Lily in Jolyne's arms and offered an explanation to Saber.

"The reason for this is that I was able to sever the contract between her and her Master."

“If Esdeath were still a follower of a player, like the one between Steve Rogers and Souichirou Kuzuki, my Noble Phantasm wouldn’t be able to sever that bond so easily, because beneath the ordinary contract between Master and Servant lies a hidden contract between player and follower established by Paradise.”

"This relationship between players and followers is something my Wanfu Biying Biejie (a martial arts technique) cannot break yet."

Paradise is not a place where magic can be manipulated at will in the Fate world. It is precisely because of this that Medea did not attempt to use the Mantra of Victory to break the rules and defeat the Hydra captain during the battle.

"Like this?" Medusa glanced at Esdeath, who was completely out of her mind, sat on the other sofa, brandished her short sword, and said strangely, "It's hard to imagine that a Heroic Spirit like this would die in a game."

Esdeath's time stop is basically a god-tier skill that can kill on first meeting. As long as you hide your presence and find the enemy's position, even if you can only use it once a day, you can perfectly break through the Holy Grail War and create a mysterious legend of serial killing in the magic world.