Immediately after, the sound of feet landing came from behind Karna.
Sebastian himself hadn’t quite reacted after delivering that strike.
He had originally thought he had calculated Karna’s defenses perfectly; a blade that could even cleave through space should have at least left a profound lesson for the warrior in front of him.
As it turned out, a gash did indeed open up on the golden armor on his opponent’s back, tearing all the way from the shoulder to the side of the waist.
Fresh blood dripped down along the edge of the armor.
But that was all.
The wound wasn’t on the chest, but on the back.
Grayfia Lucifuge and the others watching from outside the arena saw it clearly.
In that instant, Karna had shattered four Summoned Swords, which instantly broke into blue specks of light.
However, these specks of light didn’t dissipate.
At the exact moment Karna thrust his spear, the light recombined and transformed into Sebastian himself.
Sebastian had teleported directly to the location of the Summoned Swords.
His blade had long been poised, and he slashed down without hesitation.
Drawing the blade, sheathing it, landing—the entire sequence was clean and efficient, without a single wasted movement.
However, what surprised Sebastian was the result.
“I can even slice through space, yet all I did was inflict this small wound on you?
I thought this hit would leave you seriously injured, and I was even thinking about how to treat your wounds after the fight.
As expected of Karna.”
Hearing his words, Karna turned around.
“This is nothing.
This was not a fight to the death, just a sparring match, and I have already lost.”
Sebastian glanced at his system notification; the check-in goal had lit up.
He nodded, now fully understanding the strength of Heroic Spirits.
After activating Devil Trigger, his Satan-class physical power was clearly higher than that of a Heroic Spirit like Karna.
The fundamental reason he was able to land that strike was simple: his speed was faster and his power was greater.
Coupled with Mana Burst, his physical capabilities firmly surpassed those of a top-tier Heroic Spirit.
In other words, they were fully qualified to participate in the Holy Grail War.
Once he summoned King Arthur, he wouldn’t have to worry about his opponent drawing their sword immediately.
“Thank you for the advice.
If this were a real fight to the death, I might not have the advantage from here on out.
But now, I have a good idea of how strong Heroic Spirits are.”
Sebastian smiled and deactivated his Devil Trigger.
A system notification sounded at the same time:
Check-in Reward: Morning Star
Effect: Complete immunity to Light-based damage.
Sebastian smiled.
This reward came at just the right time.
Kuroka and the others didn’t understand these matters at all and had no objections to Sebastian’s plan.
But Grayfia was different.
“Lord Sebastian, are you actually planning to move against the Church in Fuyuki City?” She was very clear about the gravity of this matter, and she believed Sebastian understood it as well.
For a Devil of the Lucifer line to personally step into the human realm and destroy a church was something the Angels of Heaven would never tolerate.
It was a direct provocation.
In the past, when small conflicts broke out, the Devil faction could shift the blame onto Stray Devils.
But this time was different.
If Sebastian truly took action himself, Heaven might initiate a full-scale war against the Underworld.
Grayfia stated her stance directly: “This time, none of you can pretend to be Strays.”
Surely the direct heir of the Lucifer line wouldn’t resort to the clumsy excuses of low-class Stray Devils.
“I am definitely going to take action.
That old priest has something I absolutely need,” Sebastian replied.
“But rest assured, Grayfia.
Just like those low-class Devils, I will still play the part.
I’ll give the Angels some face and maintain that fragile peace between the Three Factions.”
“I understand,” Grayfia said, dropping the subject.
She didn’t like to question Sebastian’s decisions.
Since he wasn’t intending to start an all-out war with Heaven, she saw no reason to interfere.
Besides, their target was just a Church.
In this era, the Three Factions were still bitter enemies, far from the peace they would eventually seek in the future.
Angels were still their primary foes.
“I originally intended to use conventional cover-up methods to handle this,” Sebastian added, “but now that I have Karna, things will be much easier.
After all…
he isn’t a Devil.”
The Holy Grail War had officially begun.
Those meant to summon Heroic Spirits had theoretically already done so.
However, the current situation was unusually quiet.
“All the Masters and their Heroic Spirits have gone into hiding, secretly gathering intelligence,” Tokiomi Amagiri noted in his study.
“We know the Einzbern family has a Master, and although the Matou family no longer has proper heirs, we cannot drop our guard.”
The Holy Grail War was originally created by the Einzbern and Matou families.
The Einzberns provided the technology for summoning Heroic Spirits and the Grail itself, while the Matou family created the Command Spell system.
Although Tokiomi never understood why those two families insisted on choosing Fuyuki, his Amagiri family had provided the land.
Because of this, he remained deeply cautious of both families.
“Kirei, the task of gathering information is entrusted to you.
Your Heroic Spirit is better suited for stealth than head-on combat.”
“Understood,” Kotomine Kirei replied with a slight nod.
As he turned to leave, Tokiomi called him back.
“By the way, Kirei, if you find no new leads tonight, proceed with the plan we discussed earlier.”
“Yes, Teacher.”
Kirei walked out of the Amagiri residence, his face completely emotionless.
Tokiomi was thoroughly satisfied with his disciple, believing Kirei was the one person who truly understood his goals.
In reality, Kirei didn’t understand Tokiomi’s methods at all.
To be precise, he couldn’t understand how normal people thought or felt.
He knew he was an anomaly.
He was a man who had never experienced joy in his entire life.
His heart was empty, devoid of enthusiasm for anything.
Occasionally, when he caught a glimpse of emotion during his duties, he only felt worse.
It was as if he were standing on the edge of a bottomless abyss, where one more step would turn him into a monster he couldn’t recognize.
That feeling unsettled him, but after so many years, he had grown used to it.
Even if he didn’t care about his teacher’s ambitions, he would still carry out his orders dutifully.
It should have continued like this forever—until he reached the street outside.
“I’m not mistaken, am I?
Are you Father Kotomine Kirei?”
Kirei stopped at the intersection as a young man called out to him.
The youth had black hair and wore a bright, friendly smile.
“Have we met?” Kirei asked.
“It’s normal that you don’t know me, but I certainly know you.”
Kirei remained silent.
He wasn’t the conversational type and had no recollection of this boy, assuming he had simply seen him at the church once.
He intended to brush him off, but the youth’s next words stopped him in his tracks.
“I know everything about you, Kotomine Kirei.
You are an outlier.
You can’t feel joy at all, can you?”
The young man stated it not as a question, but as an absolute fact.
It was the first time in Kirei’s life that anyone had spoken his deepest truth so directly to his face.
His pupils narrowed sharply.
Before he could demand an answer, the black-haired youth was already walking away.
“If you want to solve your problem at its root, go back to the church right now and you’ll understand,” the young man called over his shoulder.
“Next time we meet, if you’ve finally awakened, remember to thank me.
Goodbye, Father.”
Kirei watched the youth’s back until he disappeared down the street.
In that direction lay only one place: the church, where his father was currently waiting for him.
A realization slowly formed in Kirei’s mind.
For the first time in decades, his calm, dead heart began to beat wildly.
That terrifying feeling of standing on the edge of the abyss returned, pulling at him.
He took a deep breath, forced his face back into its usual emotionless mask, and walked toward the church.
Sebastian hadn’t planned on running into Kotomine Kirei so soon, but things had worked out perfectly.
He looked down at his arms, which were now covered in dozens of red Command Spells that looked like glowing vines.
His objective was complete.
“It might have been safer if we had eliminated that priest back there,” Karna remarked quietly as they walked away.
He didn’t understand why Sebastian had only stolen the Command Spells while leaving the old man alive, especially after raiding the Church.
Sebastian smiled faintly.
“At first, I planned to kill him.
But then I realized someone else could take the blame for us.
There’s no need to dirty our hands.”
He raised his eyes, his Observation Haki clearly sensing the church in the distance.
Of the two life signals inside, one had just vanished.
The survivor certainly wasn’t the old priest.
Check-in Goal: Help Kotomine Kirei experience joy.
[Completed]
Check-in Reward: Devil Trigger (Sin Devil Trigger)
“Someone else will take the fall,” Sebastian murmured.
“A heavy scapegoat is just what we need to distract the Church and Heaven.”
BOOM!
A massive blast of blue demonic flames erupted in the courtyard of the Einzbern castle.
The intense fire burned through hundreds of protective barriers instantly, only dissipating when it hit the outermost Great Barrier.
Grayfia and Kuroka, both experts in barrier magic, could tell immediately that the flames hadn’t been stopped by the defenses.
The person who set the fire had simply stopped attacking.
“Ha…
ha…
ha…”
Sebastian lay flat on the ground, gasping heavily for air.
“I couldn’t even hold it…
for a minute…”
After receiving the reward, he had gained the Sin Devil Trigger.
Having played Devil May Cry in his past life, he knew exactly how powerful this form was.
For Dante and Vergil, it represented the absolute release of their demonic power—an invincible state that could crush any attack.
However, the strain was immense.
Activating the form risked overpowering his mind, turning him into a mindless beast that destroyed everything in sight.
Even with full preparation and warning his companions beforehand, testing its power had pushed him straight to his limit.