Shirou, who returned from the Fairy Kingdom

Duer paused for a moment, then continued.

"Later we heard that, because of your opinion, Lady Fiore was willing to liberate the androids of the Yggdrasil—"

Only then can we gain freedom.

As she said this, the silver-haired girl revealed a faint smile.

"Lord Saber, we want to repay your kindness... that's why we stayed, that's all."

“……I see.”

Duer nodded, and said with some pride, "The only wish we found in our short lives... is to fight alongside you."

Therefore, no matter how the "Red" swordsmen try to stop us, we will not back down.

"Mo...you really are something, playing the villain again," Shirou thought to himself.

"Um... wasn't what I just said a bit too arrogant and presumptuous...?"

"To dare to presume to fight alongside a great hero like you? That's incredibly overestimating yourself!"

The girl asked shyly, and Shirou denied it, saying, "Of course not, thank you."

Duer and the android girls around him all smiled.

Just then, Shirou looked up at the sky.

"There don't seem to be many stars tonight... I guess it's typical of a small town; the night sky is much darker than in the city."

"Lord Saber, let's go back to the castle."

"Ah, okay."

So, Shirou returned to the castle surrounded by the android girls.

The moment he stepped into the city of Mirenia, a very ominous feeling crept up the back of the boy's neck.

"This is……"

"Intuition" has been activated.

Is the "Red" faction launching an attack?

No, that's not right... This is...

Shirou observed the scattered crowd in the conference room, his eyes wide with surprise:

Joan of Arc and the others were mistaken!

The plan to go out and search for Lancer was flawed from the start.

How could the proud Vampire King possibly allow his city to fall into the hands of others?

That means... Lancer is back!!

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

Volume 5, Chapter 230: My wife's dowry hasn't even appeared yet, what's wrong with me using it in advance?

"Gold! Take me to the basement where the Greater Grail is stored!"

As Shirou entered the conference room, he grabbed Gold's shoulder, startling him quite a bit.

"Huh...huh? What are you saying all of a sudden?"

"Didn't you take the Greater Grail with you a long time ago? There's nothing there now!"

"I know! That's not what I'm talking about right now, never mind... Anyway, just take me to that room!"

Shirou realized it.

What is Lancer's most pressing thought right now that he's become a vampire?

There is nothing but the Greater Grail.

More than eliminating competition, more than increasing the number of blood relatives... the most urgent desire of vampires is to have the Greater Grail in their own hands.

When it was still the magician Darnick, it had been with the Greater Grail for sixty years.

For him, nothing was more important than obtaining the Holy Grail.

Then--

The vampire who left early last night due to injury probably had no idea what happened next.

It naturally assumed that the Greater Grail was still in the city of Millennium, kept by the magicians of the Yggdrasil.

In other words, this castle is Count Dracula's target tonight!

"I...I understand! Come with me!"

Gold could read the seriousness of the situation in Shirou's eyes.

Although he didn't understand what had happened, he decided to believe in the heroic spirit before him who had gained Siegfried's approval.

"Lord Saber? What's wrong? Is there anything we can do to help?"

The androids were also unaware of the situation.

"You should take refuge first, and I will explain in detail later."

Shirou looked at Duer, who nodded.

Just as the homunculus were preparing to evacuate, Shirou and Gordo headed to the basement—

A series of strange noises came from the corridor.

The conference room door opened, revealing several corpses with pale blue skin and stiff faces. Asashiro and his group staggered in.

"This is... a ghoul!?"

Gord cried out in alarm, "Ah! An enemy attack? Damn it! Are they Servants? Or those guys from the Mage's Association...!"

The red-haired boy beside him said coldly.

"They are humans transformed by Lancer."

"Huh? You mean Lancer...!?"

Gold was so frightened that his face turned pale and his legs trembled uncontrollably.

Shirou narrowed his eyes: "Have humans already been killed...?"

That's true. Even though vampires are much weaker during the day than at night, that doesn't stop them from attacking unarmed civilians.

If Lancer, who is severely injured, wants to regain his magic power, he must drink blood.

Then, because it was severely injured, it was unable to transform into a high-level vampire, and all the victims turned into mindless low-level ghouls.

really……

As Ruler said, Lancer is someone who cannot remain in the world for even a moment longer.

Shirou closed his eyes in anguish, and at the same time, swords appeared from the void, piercing and killing the attacking ghoul.

After eliminating the ghouls that had invaded the conference room, the group encountered more enemies in the corridor, as well as Koles and the housekeeping artificial lifeforms being besieged by ghouls.

Shirou and Dürer exchanged a glance, then nodded in unison.

The android combat force was responsible for clearing out the ghouls that had invaded the city, while Shirou went to search for Lancer's whereabouts; the two sides went their separate ways.

"Gold, does this castle have any magical artifacts that can fight vampires? The kind from the Church?"

Shirou doesn't think he'll lose to Lancer, but letting it escape again like it did last night is absolutely unacceptable.

Shirou needs a decisive weapon that can truly eliminate vampires, such as a Holy Weapon like Ruler's banner.

"...How could we have foreseen that we'd be fighting vampires! We don't have weapons like that!"

"It doesn't necessarily have to be a weapon; any catalyst or relic with a mystical aura will do."

After thinking for a moment, the magician said:

"While searching for Chiron's catalyst, fragments of the sword that killed the monster Gorgon were discovered...!"

　It should be stored in the warehouse, on the way to the basement!

"Okay, let's go! By the way... you should probably start thinking about losing weight."

Shirou glanced at Gold, who was panting behind him, and said.

The warehouses in the city of Millenia were filled with items deemed useless in the current stage of the Holy Grail War.

Among a pile of junk, Gold found a piece of metal in a box.

He stated that this was a fragment of the Harpe, the sword used by the Greek hero Perseus to slay the Gorgon.

It is said that this scythe-shaped sword has the power to nullify immortality, and any wounds it inflicts will never heal.

Perseus used the "Blade of the Undead" to behead the undead monster Gorgon.

"Will this stuff work on vampires?" Shirou asked suspiciously.

Gorgon... you mean that monster that shoots petrifying beams from its eyes?

The middle-aged magician, sweating profusely, said, "Uh, is that alright...?"

"Look, isn't the Gorgon a monster who went berserk and turned into a demon because she drank human blood?"

Did Medusa actually drink blood? This is the first time I've heard of that.

While remarking that he really needed to read more books in the future, Shirou stared at the metal fragment with a mixture of belief and skepticism, and began to analyze its structure.

—"The Blade of Slaughter and Immortality".

Although nominally a sword, it actually appears to be a long-handled sickle.

However, this is not a problem for Shirou, whose "projection magic" includes swords in a very broad range.

For example, when Shirou went on a trip with Irisviel and the others, he secretly copied the "Vajra" made from the bones of a holy being and kept in a temple.

Like the "Harpe," that thing, in Shirou's eyes, is a "sword" with the appearance of a gun.

"All right……"

"So fast!?"

Shirou handed the carefully stored catalyst back to Gold, who looked incredulous.

Just by observing it up close, it was able to perfectly recreate the immortal killer from the mythical era?

Gold felt that his magical worldview, built up over so many years, was about to collapse.

After leaving the warehouse, the two rushed to the basement where the Greater Grail had once been stored.

"Tsk... Am I too late!"

Lancer was nowhere to be seen in the basement, which was exposed due to Spartacus's Noble Phantasm; there were only two ghouls wandering around.

Just as Shirou was about to test the effects of the new weapons, a scream came from the large hole above, followed by the sound of shattering glass.

The voice just now wasn't from an artificial life form; it was a voice filled with intense emotion... It must have come from Fiore.

"These two ghouls are yours."

Shirou patted Gold on the shoulder, then his body floated into the air.

"Huh? Wait, wait a minute...! Don't leave me here!"

Gold hugged the boy's leg.

Even if Gordes is incompetent, he is still a magician who can be chosen as a Master, so two ghouls are certainly no threat.

What he feared was encountering more ghouls, or even Lancer himself.

Gold, who has always been afraid of Danic, would probably lose control of his bladder on the spot if he encountered him now that he's turned into a vampire.

"If you're also a Master of Yggdrasil, then fight... Stop relying on Servants and Homunculi!"

After saying those words, Shirou flew into the darkness.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it! Why is every hero so...so fond of talking to himself!"

Gold gritted his teeth: "Siegfried too... just vanished without a word! Don't be ridiculous!!"

Okay... I'll prove it to you!