” In the early morning, the first rays of sunlight pierced through the mist of Fuyuki City.
When Sakura walked out of her room rubbing her sleepy eyes, she thought she was still dreaming or had traveled into a fairy tale book.
The original Matou Residence—gloomy, damp, and filled with the smell of mold and decay—had completely disappeared.
In its place was a magnificent palace adorned with Gothic style and ice crystals.
The disgusting insect-eaten marks on the walls had turned into exquisite magical circuits, emitting a faint, ghostly blue glow; The dilapidated floors were covered with thick red velvet carpets; Even the air was filled with a pleasant, crisp fragrance that seemed to come from a snow-capped mountain.
“Awake?” Sitting on a luxurious high-backed chair, Morgan put down the teacup in her hand.
She had changed out of her military attire and was wearing a black set of casual home clothes, but her lofty queenly aura was not diminished in the slightest.
“A place like a pigsty is simply uninhabitable.
Since this is a temporary palace, I’ve ‘tidied it up’ a bit.” Tidied up…
a bit?
Sakura opened her mouth blankly.
This was practically a miracle!
Arthur walked down from the second floor, looking at the earth-shattering changes, and couldn’t help but marvel in his heart.
As expected of Morgan.
Although her class is Berserker, as the ruler of the Fae Britain, her magical attainment is top-tier even among the Caster class.
She directly used her massive magical power to rewrite reality here, rewriting the “Matou Residence” into a “Fairy Domain.” “Are you satisfied, my Majesty?” Morgan looked at Arthur with a half-smile.
“Impeccable.” Arthur walked to the table and naturally picked up a piece of buttered toast.
“However, a reality rewrite of this scale has probably been sensed by every Magician in Fuyuki City.” “So what?” Morgan’s eyes were contemptuous, as if to say there was nothing to fear from the gaze of a swarm of ants.
“If we are to fight, we must declare our territory openly.
Only rats hiding in the gutters would carefully hide their presence.” “Well said.” Arthur smiled.
He liked this kind of domineering attitude.
However, being tough requires strength.
Taking advantage of the gap while Morgan was teaching Sakura table etiquette, Arthur thought to himself: “System, open the panel.” [Current Dimensional Points: 6000 points.] [Consume 5000 points to increase the fusion rate of the ‘Arthur Pendragon’ template?] “Confirm.” In the Fourth Holy Grail War, one’s own hard strength is the capital for survival.
Although he has a powerhouse like Morgan, Arthur doesn’t intend to truly be a pretty boy who only knows how to shout “Wife, save me!” [Ding!
Consumed 5000 points.] [Template fusion rate increased to: 25%.] [Congratulations to the host for obtaining the passive skill: Instinct (A).
Description: A sixth sense bordering on precognition, allowing for the instantaneous insight of the best course of action in battle.] [Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Noble Phantasm skill: Invisible Air.
Description: A wind boundary wrapped around the blade that can hide the weapon’s form or be fired as a wind pressure cannon.] [host’s total magical power has significantly increased.] In an instant, Arthur felt the magic circuits in his body like a widened riverbed, with the surging Red Dragon factors cheering in joy.
Especially with those emerald eyes, the clarity with which he saw the world was completely different.
The flow of the wind, the trajectory of dust…
everything was within his perception.
“Hmm?” Morgan, who was elegantly cutting a steak, paused slightly and looked at Arthur with some surprise.
As a top-tier witch, she keenly sensed that Arthur’s aura had grown stronger in just a brief moment.
And that aura…
was becoming more and more like that “King Arthur” she loved and hated.
“It seems you weren’t just sitting there idly.” A satisfied curve hooked the corner of Morgan’s mouth.
“Very well, if you were too weak, you wouldn’t be qualified to stand by my side.” …
Night fell.
Tohsaka residence, underground workshop.
“This is simply reckless!!” Tohsaka Tokiomi looked at the sky-high magical reaction on the spiritual instrument disk, his elegant noble poise almost collapsing.
“What on earth happened at the Matou house?
This magical power…
it’s not something that old geezer Matou Zouken could produce!
And this is practically a provocation to all participants!” As the administrator of Fuyuki City’s ley lines, Tokiomi could not tolerate such behavior that caused such a huge stir before the war had even begun.
“Kirei.” “Present, Teacher.” From the shadows, Kotomine Kirei responded expressionlessly.
“Have your Assassin go and investigate.” Tokiomi swirled the red wine in his glass, a hint of ruthlessness flashing in his eyes.
“If it’s an outside Magician who doesn’t know the rules, deal with them directly.
If it’s still the Matou Family…
then probe their depth.” “As you command.” …
The Matou Residence…
no, it should now be called the “Fairy Queen’s Detached Palace.” The courtyard late at night was silent.
A black shadow merged into the night like liquid, silently vaulting over the wall.
Hassan of the Hundred Faces (Assassin).
An assassin with countless clones and a maxed-out Presence Concealment skill.
“This is the Matou house?
The intelligence must be wrong…” The Hassan clone wearing a skull mask looked at the castle emitting a ghostly blue halo before him, his heart filled with terror.
This wasn’t a magical workshop; this was practically a temple!
But he did not retreat.
As an Assassin, his mission was infiltration and reconnaissance.
He activated [Presence Concealment A+], and his entire being seemed to vanish from the world as he carefully stepped onto the seemingly undefended courtyard lawn.
One step.
Two steps.
Nothing happened.
“Hmph, just bluffing.
Is it only grand on the outside?” Hassan sneered in his heart, preparing to accelerate toward the residence windows.
Just then, on the second-floor balcony, Arthur was leaning against a lounge chair, feeling the evening breeze.
“Instinct” was jumping wildly in his mind.
Although he couldn’t see it, he clearly perceived that a nauseating “rat” had broken in.
“Morgan, we have a guest,” Arthur said without turning his head.
Morgan’s lazy voice came from the room, seemingly in the middle of telling Sakura a bedtime story: “I’ve already set the courtyard’s defensive spells to ‘automatic.’ This kind of low-level trash isn’t worth my personal attention.” As soon as the words fell.
A sudden change occurred in the courtyard!
On the originally peaceful lawn, those decorative ice-blue flowers suddenly came to life.
Crack!
Crack!
Countless sharp ice crystal thorns burst from the ground, as fast as lightning!
“What?!” Hassan turned pale with fright, and just as he wanted to jump back to dodge, he found the surrounding air seemingly frozen—gravity had been altered!
This was the “Fairy Domain” set by Morgan; any unauthorized intruder would be stripped of their mobility.
“No—!!” Puchi!
Puchi!
Puchi!
There was no suspense whatsoever.
Dozens of ice crystal thorns instantly pierced through Hassan’s body, pinning him to death in mid-air.
Blood dripped along the ice crystals, instantly freezing into red beads.
Arthur watched the scene, his eyes showing no ripple of emotion.
“Too weak.
It seems Tohsaka Tokiomi just sent a piece of cannon fodder to die.” [Ding!
Killed Servant ‘Assassin (Hassan of the Hundred Faces clone)’.] [Obtained Dimensional Points: 500 points.] [Note: Your actions have caused high alertness among the Three Founding Families and the Holy Church.] Arthur stretched and turned back into the room.
“Only 500 points?
It seems clones aren’t worth much.” He looked at Morgan, who was sitting on the sofa holding a grimoire, teaching Sakura with a serious face “how to use magic to blow enemies into fireworks,” and couldn’t help but smile.
“It seems I can get a good night’s sleep tonight.” “Hey, Arthur.” Morgan suddenly closed the book and lifted her eyelids, her beautiful blue eyes appearing exceptionally enchanting under the light.
“Since it’s just the two of us, and Sakura is almost asleep…” She pointed to the spot beside her.
“Come here.
I need mana replenishment.” “Don’t get the wrong idea; maintaining this territory consumes a lot of mana.
Or…
do you want to use another, more primitive way of mana replenishment?” Arthur looked at this Queen whose face was practically written with “I’ll kill you if you dare refuse,” and calmly walked over.
“As a master, it is an obligation to satisfy the Servant’s needs.” He sat down and took Morgan’s outstretched hand.
The magic circuits of the two connected the moment they touched.
But neither let go of the other’s hand, even though the mana replenishment had already ended.
Outside the window, the corpse hanging on the ice crystal thorns was slowly dissipating under the moonlight.
This was just a small footnote to the cruel prologue of the Fourth Holy Grail War.
The true slaughter had only just begun.