Xingyue, is Xiaokai also considered Kai?

In the thin mist, Lucius's attire began to change, donning the crimson robes of a Roman soldier, and even the figure of the Spear of Longinus slowly appeared in his hand.

Boom! Lucius pushed off the ground again.

He used the air as his foothold and jumped even higher.

"Interesting! Then let us witness the glory of the Holy Lance! Let us witness the true Anchor of Light!"

As Lucius said, the 'victor' of the Holy Grail War will also go all out.

"In DüRren BlaTtern SaUselt Der Wind" (This is the sound of wind blowing through withered leaves)

The rising fog took on shapes from Novia's words.

The fog transformed into a storm that ravaged the withered trees—

A massive tornado, over 100 meters high, rose up behind Novia.

The petite girl, possessed by an 'evil spirit,' walks among the tornadoes and smoke she creates, like a manifestation of a god, or a demon king eyeing its prey.

“Was ErlenkoNig Mir Leise Verspricht?

(What the Demon King said in an instant?)

"Longinus—"

"Stop, Lucius."

A woman dressed in a traditional black sailor uniform, with long, flowing silver hair and an air of refined nostalgia, slowly walked out from the side. This was Lucius's Master, Eri's grandmother, Chizuru Masato. With her cold words, Lucius's Noble Phantasm was immediately deactivated.

Of course, Novia did not use the 'fictional Noble Phantasm'. The reason she fought Lucius was simply because she hadn't seen him in a long time and wanted to play with him. Moreover, the girl's body could not withstand it. Therefore, the attack that followed, which was not sharp or fast and was more like a performance, easily hit Lucius's chest.

Then, Chitose's gaze fell on Eri, who had silver hair.

To Novia, that gaze seemed to be looking at her own reflection inside the girl, like a white snake eyeing its prey.

"I can't tell what it is at all. I didn't know there was such a situation."

When Chizuru Masato seemed to be talking to herself, Novia could feel that Eri, whom she was possessing, seemed to tremble instinctively.

Eri couldn't resist her almost cruel curiosity. She wondered how the evil spirit that had taken over her body would react to such a gaze. Would it be fear, hostility, or indifference?

Perhaps Novia and Eri are currently in a similar situation to Galahad and Mashu, so he understands the girl's thoughts perfectly.

However, Novia didn't have much time to react, as her body was already exhausted and she soon fell into a coma.

The next second, the five-year-old girl collapsed, and her hair quickly turned back to its original black color. Just as Lucius was about to hug Erise, Chitose Masuru caught the unconscious girl before he could.

"Um, you're acting a bit strange today..."

Lucius's sigh was not without reason. Although Chitose and Eri were grandmother and granddaughter, their relationship was so bad that it would not be an exaggeration to say that they were familiar enemies or strangers. Every time Eri fought with Lucius in order to suppress the evil spirit, Chitose would not care about her broken collarbone.

Therefore, upon seeing Chitose in this state, he was utterly astonished, as if to say, "Novia and Agrippina are really together."

Chitose didn't answer Lucius. First, she raised her hand as if to slap him, then for some reason, she gently stroked Eri's cute face with its many dark bruises, and murmured a line from "The Demon King" in that soft voice that could freeze one's blood—

"Willst, Feier Knabe, Du Mit MirGehn? (My dear son, may you join me?)"

……

A few days later, inside the academy nestled in the city of Shinjuku.

"Ms. Eri Se".

A teacher gently admonished the somewhat careless Erise Utsumi.

"You seem a bit tired. Would you like to go to the lounge and take a nap? I'll organize the course content so you can refer to it later, since you haven't been feeling well these past few days."

"Well……"

How embarrassing! This is the second time I've embarrassed myself since I was late coming in.

Seeing Eri shake her head frantically, the teacher nodded and then continued lecturing as if nothing had happened.

"I clearly reminded Eri that your teacher was coming."

"Shut up, you hateful evil spirit."

Eri muttered softly, afraid that her classmates or teachers would hear her, "Can you talk less? It's too noisy. I don't want the teachers to hear me."

In the various mosaic cities, the teachers responsible for instructing students are not human, nor does it mean that they are new humans born after the war, but rather artificial intelligence, or 'AI'. Because the Holy Grail cannot communicate directly with citizens, humanoid terminals came into being.

It is a hybrid intelligent entity that combines a summoning technique similar to the descent of heroic spirits with the highest level of information engineering technology.

“I only spoke twice today; the rest were said by other guys.”

"How can I tell the difference! Aren't you all evil spirits?"

"You really can't tell the difference, Eriri?"

Novia's tone carried a hint of pleasure, "But that's your business, it has nothing to do with the Demon King."

"...Damn demon king, sooner or later I'll go to the church and get you holy water to thoroughly wash away this imposter."

The day after that, Eri learned from Lucius that the evil spirit was a 'Demon King', a fictional being that had fallen into the form of an evil spirit because of its weak foundation in the real world. In general, it was no different from the evil spirits that were eyeing her body, except that it had a little more rationality.

"Oh, you know that so well."

Novia said this, seemingly with admiration.

"Of course, after all, I am the master of this body."

"But there probably aren't any churches in Shinjuku, right? Or rather, there aren't any churches in any of the mosaic cities of Japan."

Hearing the voice of the 'evil spirit' beside her, the little girl wanted to swing her right arm and hit it hard, but she tried her best to control herself and stay calm. After all, there was no one beside her, and she didn't want to be looked at strangely.

Although Eri was already used to it, after all, she was the only one without a Servant, so calling her a freak wouldn't be an exaggeration.

"Online shopping is fine, it's very convenient now. If I pay extra, I can even have a Servant from the Mythical Era deliver the goods for me. It could arrive from Rome, the city of mosaics, as early as tomorrow."

In this world rewritten by the Holy Grail, there are no airplanes flying in the sky because the previous war was too brutal.

"Money makes the world go round."

Novia paused for a moment, then said, "But do you have any money? I've seen you get beaten up by Lucius these past few days, and Masuru doesn't seem to care about you either. It doesn't feel like she's going to give you any money."

"Don't mention that guy's name to me..."

Erise, contrary to her usual self, shouted loudly, "She took everything from me!"

"Wow, they've actually been stripped of everything."

"Ms. Eri Se".

The teacher reminded him again in a gentle tone.

"terribly sorry."

After that, Eri fell silent.

This course on the history of humankind is still ongoing; it is a course that tells the stories of historical figures.

For Eri, the class was actually quite fulfilling, except that she didn't pay attention throughout the entire lesson.

"Finally, I would like to briefly introduce a person who exists in both reality and mythology. His great achievements can be said to have influenced the world for thousands of years and are still relevant today."

The classroom screen changed its display to match the teacher's explanation.

It was a place of great cultural difference for them living in Japan. The white church and many red roses were a 3D representation of 1st-century Rome created by AI using data. A human-shaped sculpture stood in front of the former Pantheon in Rome.

"This is the first pope of the Holy Church. He can be considered one of the most representative believers and propagators in human history."

"What……"

Eri, who was listening attentively, heard the evil spirit next to her let out a cry of surprise, but not of admiration.

"This is Novia? I don't know her. Isn't there a big discrepancy in the big data from artificial intelligence? And Lucius isn't here? Shouldn't he see an eye doctor? Is he that old?"

That ancient Greek-style human figure sculpture does indeed evoke the image of a pope that people have of him, such as being kind, gentle, and benevolent... But Novia said that even when she died, she was only in her early twenties, so why did they give her a beard that could drag on the ground? This must be some kind of aging special effect.

"Pfft...hehe..."

From his words, Eri could even picture him staring blankly at the screen, looking completely dazed, which made her burst out laughing. But she quickly stopped laughing.

Because her hair was turning silver, in other words, Novia had possessed her, and she also showed a resentful expression.

"This is outrageous! This is utterly absurd!"

"Hmm? Eri, aren't you a big fan of the first Pope? You said Lucius would introduce you to him, I thought you'd be happy today."

Teacher Ai looked thoughtfully at Erise, whose expression had changed, and asked, "And what do you mean by 'reckless'?"

"His appearance is a bit strange. Besides, he was only in his twenties when the first generation disappeared. How come he looks like an old man? I need to request a revision."

"Yes, that's true."

The teacher looked at Eri with great admiration, who had changed from her usual somewhat aloof demeanor. She smiled and said, "But Lucius said he had seen Novia in her old age, and that's pretty much what she looked like. This is based on his description."

After saying that, the teacher deliberately drew another line down, creating a short video of the human-shaped sculpture walking around while humming a very modern and upbeat tune.

"..."

Erise's shoulders twitched, and she muttered the name of the video's producer, "Lucius Longinus..."

……

After the class, Eri, whose hair had returned to black, went straight home.

After all, she didn't have many friends.

"I am back."

After calling out once in her empty house, Eri turned on the light, put her empty backpack on the sofa, walked to the window and watched the people coming and going outside, while drinking the freshly squeezed orange juice she bought on the way, which made her whole face scrunch up from the sourness.

The girl stretched her legs out on the ground, turned her body, and gripped the railing with her wrists. She had been watching the Servants and humans below, talking to each other, for a full hour. She watched the people talking to each other until she finally disappeared into the edge of the city.

In the distance, the sounds of trams crossing the sea bridge and entering the city, along with their whistles, could be heard. The railway stretched out and disappeared above the sea, with the other end leading to Akihabara and Shibuya.

Half an hour later, Eri got up, took out a packet of instant noodles from the kitchen, and started cooking.

"Why are you the Demon King?"

Suddenly, Eri asked.

"Instead of this, how about adding an egg and some vegetables to the instant noodles?"

"Oh."

Eri was taken aback. "Normally, in this situation, shouldn't you say something like cook me a big meal?"

"How could that be? I'm just someone who can live on food. I only reminded you because you're so small, after all, I'm the Demon King."

After she finished speaking, Eri felt her body go out of control. She turned into her silver-haired self and went to the kitchen to fry an egg and cook some vegetables... Then she found herself eating instant noodles. The evil spirit hadn't returned control of her body.

So, more than ten minutes later, Erise, with her hair back to black, stared blankly at the clean bowl and reached out to touch the feeling of fullness in her stomach.

To be honest, she had a strong urge to kill someone.

"You really are a devil."

"It's the Demon King."

"Then let me ask you..."

Eri's lips curled up. "How come you don't have a spirit origin or a body? As a demon lord, you're far too weak. You're so useless. You can't even overcome the limitations of the Throne of Heroes. You've been reduced to an evil spirit that only knows how to mutter all day long, and you even have to steal a child's body."

"This is it."

Novia wasn't angry at the little girl's teasing. "If someone told you you were nearsighted and had poor eyesight, but you weren't allowed to wear glasses, how would you feel? If everyone took the tram or bus, but someone told you to walk, how would you feel? If you came to an unfamiliar place, and your phone's navigation app was faulty and useless, how would you feel?"

"……Shut up!"

Eri retorted, her face flushed with embarrassment.

The reason for this was entirely because it was actually one of the many responses she received when asked 'What does it feel like to not have the Holy Grail?' How to describe this feeling? In short, even though she wanted to laugh it off, Erise felt it was too embarrassing to hear it from someone else, especially from this evil spirit.

"I am merely a form of entertainment, satisfying their philanthropic feelings or temporarily relieving their boredom."

"That's enough!!!"

The young girl buried her head in the pillow, practically grinding her teeth to powder.

"Heh, even if I told you, you wouldn't understand."

Honestly, I don't know what the point is of repeating what I said.

Although she was so agitated that she wanted to kill someone, Eri also felt that it was nice to have someone to talk to.

After taking a deep breath, Erise peeked out from under the pillow and tilted her head slightly.