Cozman Special Correction Center.
“What do you mean the lesser grail just got lost, and that old fellow Prelati has also gone missing along with her?”
Hearing his subordinate’s report, Fadius was practically about to explode with anger.
He fancied himself always calm and composed; even when he personally backstabbed his teacher Langell at the Clock Tower before the opening of the Holy Grail War, he hadn’t even frowned.
But the Holy Grail War held on his own turf experiencing one mishap after another truly made Fadius anxious.
He hadn’t specifically sent people to track Francesca Prelati’s movements.
Snowfield City was a city specially built over decades for the Holy Grail War, with streets and alleys densely packed with surveillance cameras, familiars disguised as common animals, suggestive magecraft formulas, and so on.
He didn’t even need to track her; he could just casually check the equipment records to know.
Of course, there was another possibility, which was that Francesca deliberately used illusions to deceive the ‘world’, creating the illusion that she herself had also vanished from the face of the earth.
Given this chaotic, hedonistic old thing’s personality, there really was a chance of her doing this, and the probability was very high.
But so what?
Fadius couldn’t care less whether Francesca had truly vanished into thin air or was just messing with him; what he genuinely cared about was the whereabouts of the lesser grail!
If the lesser grail was truly gone, this Holy Grail War would be awkwardly stuck right there.
If they temporarily suspended the Holy Grail War, there was a hundred percent chance the Masters would never agree—
They had already summoned their Servants, and you the fuck are telling me to call a truce right at the start?
Are you kidding me!
And if they continued to hold it as if nothing had happened?
New problems would pop up—
In the event that a Servant departed from the field, if that Servant’s soul wasn’t collected by the lesser grail and instead returned directly to the Throne of Heroes, wouldn’t this entire Holy Grail War have been fought for nothing?
He would be severely reprimanded by his superiors for this.
America’s behind-the-scenes higher-ups: “Hey! Commissioner Fadius, are you strapped for cash lately or having your salary suppressed, that you even want to embezzle a piece of the lesser grail?”
What a joke!
All in all, being stuck in this awkward middle ground had turned into an impossible two-way block.
“I really shouldn’t have counted on that old bastard; he didn’t lighten my workload at all,” Fadius rubbed his temples and called over his assistant, Adela.
“Does the Intelligence Department have any new clues? Regarding the location where they disappeared.” Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
“A newly dispatched team of commissioners has already headed to the scene. Based on preliminary comparisons between records and actual conditions, nothing abnormal has been searched out, nor are there any noteworthy traces of magical energy left behind.”
The female assistant in formal attire replied.
“Is that so? As expected, it’s out of the ordinary—a situation even more troublesome than anticipated. But the lesser grail cannot just vanish into thin air like this; even if we have to dig three feet into the ground, we must find it!”
Fadius emphasized in a cold voice, setting the nature of the matter.
“How about this, hold an emergency meeting to discuss and see if there are any other investigation directions.”
“Be sure to give me a feasible plan before dawn, including three directions other than the current on-site inspection, while dispatching subordinates in advance to execute it and see the effectiveness of the pre-treatment.”
Assistant Adela almost went black before her eyes upon hearing this, fainting on the spot.
It truly is the boss moving his mouth while the subordinates run their legs off.
If they really played it like that, not a single person in the entire major department would be able to slip away tonight; everyone would have to desperately work overtime to cater to it.
Fortunately, Adela was able to climb to this position because her capabilities weren’t just for show.
She quickly pulled out a contingency plan to shut down Fadius’s increasingly outrageous demands:
“Mr. Dioran, we already have a plan. We suggest starting from the Holy Grail system, utilizing the connections among ley lines, the Greater Grail, and the lesser grail to track the flow of energy and closely monitor the birthplace of the abnormal phenomenon.”
“Currently, the lesser grail has not yet disconnected from the Greater Grail system; it is merely ‘out of contact’. We suspect that the lesser grail has not strayed far from Snowfield City, but is merely in a state of ‘otherworld isolation’.”
“However, regardless of how the ‘otherworld’ is constructed, as long as its location is nearby, it will inevitably be deeply connected to this land and the spiritual veins.”
“Detecting from this aspect? It really is a good idea. Conveniently, there is already ready-made equipment over at the Greater Hole (where the Greater Grail is located).”
Seeing that there was a direction, Fadius finally breathed a sigh of relief.
That was much better than buzzing around like headless flies, only to result in one mysterious vaporization after another.
With a single command, the entire monitoring center started running at full speed.
Although Fadius and his team held Mage titles, they also belonged to the America military, and their efficiency was something the old fogies of the Association couldn’t compare to.
Thus, in less than twenty minutes, they quickly reaped new progress.
It wasn’t that his subordinates were capable, but rather that the traces were far too conspicuous.
“An astonishing scale of unstable (magical energy) reaction has been detected at this location!” reported several men disguised as maintenance workers.
When a travel-worn Fadius rushed to the scene, the distorted magical energy reaction had expanded to a rather terrifying degree, and even sharp, ear-piercing sonic booms and lightning phenomena were occurring in the air.
It was as if an invisible thunderstorm was plunging from the sky and crashing onto the surface of the earth.
Several flying familiars that did not belong to their own network also appeared nearby.
That’s right; with a magical energy reaction of this scale, as long as you aren’t blind, even a fool could see it.
“Has the equipment started up? What’s the operating status?” he asked in a low voice.
“Over at the Greater Hole, the operator is analyzing the ley line flow of the target coordinates, except…”
The subordinate’s face was unsightly.
Clearly it was a normal probe, but upon touching the abnormal fluctuations, some of the magecraft formulas became abnormally chaotic and out of control.
The terrifying fluctuations trembled violently, even spreading to the outside world through the visualized spell link…
Except what?
Fadius instinctively wanted to press for an answer, but the next instant he froze.
Without any warning, mighty thunder descended from thin air right before his eyes.
Rumble!
Like countless ribbons of white silk hanging down from the nine heavens, it exploded into a dazzling sea of light.
Skyscrapers collapsed and disintegrated instantly, and the flying debris filling the sky was instantly annihilated by the thunderstorm.
Two figures sped across the charred earth intertwined with power grids; the rules of the Reality Marble trampled reality and dispelled mystery, while spirited divine aura and Great God Imprints intertwined into pieces, glowing brilliantly!
“Being this loud in the middle of the night, couldn’t it be a natural gas explosion like yesterday?…Holy crap, what a terrifying thunderstorm!”
“Wait, are there people over there? Could they be shooting a movie!?”
“Coooool! Today’s virtual imaging technology is just too awesome!”
“Whoa, is that guy with the spear Odin from Norse mythology? The one opposite him is Wolverine? Deadpool? Could it be… is the Marvel movie going to start a new series!”
The combat footage that should have been restricted to another world was thus recorded by the runaway, out-of-control reconnaissance spell, openly displayed in the void.
Because of this, it was exposed to the public view of the real world.
Fadius’s mind went completely blank.
As if he was likewise stunned dizzy by this cross-world battle.
It’s completely over…
The cover-up work for the Holy Grail War…