Xyrin Empire
Chapter 489: Annihilation, Encounter

"Injured?" I expressed my surprise, "If it’s because of being killed by Pandora and then resurrected, shouldn’t he have been restored to his best condition?"

"No," Ilya shook her head, "It wasn’t the injury from that death. Berserker was injured during the attack when the Einzbern Family was destroyed."

"Oh, I see," I nodded, then with a plop, I fell off the sphere, "What did you say? The Einzbern Family is destroyed?"

"Yes!" Ilya nodded with a smile. "The Einzbern Family was annihilated. Only Berserker managed to escape with Ilya. However, the family’s influence was huge, so perhaps there are survivors who were lucky enough to escape."

I stared blankly at the expression of the silver-haired little girl, seeing no trace of deceit on her face. But... was she serious? Discussing the destruction of her own family with the same tone one might talk about breakfast—wasn’t that a bit too morbid?

"The Einzbern came under attack? Was it the work of Heroic Spirits?"

The possibility immediately came to mind, but it still seemed unbelievable. The Heroic Spirits were indeed powerful, but the Einzbern, as an ancient Magic Family, also had considerable strength. Moreover, they had even summoned the strongest Heroic Spirit, Hercules, in violation of the rules. How could they have suddenly been wiped out?

Furthermore, even a monster like Hercules, when ambushed by the enemy, was only able to carry Ilya out alive, and he himself was seriously injured. Such formidable strength, even if it were Golden Shining... er, even if Silly Lady Shanshan herself exerted her full strength, she might not be able to achieve that, right?

"Perhaps it was Heroic Spirits," Ilya leaned on the swing rope to one side. "But there were very many of them. A servant who was lucky enough to escape to this place brought the information that about five thousand enemy forces, similar to Heroic Spirits, besieged Einzbern Castle and then wiped out the family’s remaining outposts in other locations. Immediately after that, my residence in the forest was attacked. Because the scene was too chaotic, Ilya didn’t see clearly how many enemies there were, but there must have been at least five hundred. Berserker was just holding me and rushing out when a javelin seriously injured him; by now, that place must have been leveled to the ground..."

I was already gaping halfway through Ilya’s story. Although I had just imagined how the Einzbern Family could have collapsed so quickly under such an onslaught, no matter how I imagined it, the scene of five thousand Heroic Spirits storming a castle wasn’t plausible, right?

Five thousand Heroic Spirits! That scale could easily devastate an entire country, and it could well be enough to overturn the world. If the entire Einzbern had been destroyed in the blink of an eye under such an assault, it would be normal.

A force of five thousand Heroic Spirits... damn, to what extent had this world been twisted?

Wait a second. If five hundred Heroic Spirits had brawled so close to Fuyuki City, what kind of disturbance would that have caused? Even if they were all the weakest Heroic Spirits without the ability to launch area-of-effect attacks, there shouldn’t be silence as there was now. Tohsaka and Red A were nearly searching the city every night, so how could they have discovered nothing?

But Ilya had no reason to lie about such a thing—it did her no good. And for hundreds or thousands of Heroic Spirits to form an army and attack a magician’s stronghold sounded a bit too sensational. Why would a little girl make up such an unreliable story?

Moreover, all of a sudden, I realized a very important issue:

If those Heroic Spirits who destroyed the Einzbern realized the most important person of the target family was still alive, what would they do?

Ilya’s current situation was extremely dangerous!

Maybe Ilya’s fortunate escape has not been discovered by the enemy yet, but as she wanders carelessly in the streets like this, it won’t take long for her to catch the attacker’s eye. What on earth is this little loli thinking? Doesn’t she have any sense of crisis at all?

"It’s okay," the silver-haired loli said with an indifferent smile in response to my nervousness. "Ilya is very special. If the attackers are Heroic Spirits, they would certainly only want to capture me alive. They won’t kill me before the end of the Holy Grail War, and if the Holy Grail War is nearing its end, then naturally, Ilya can’t continue to live anyway. So either way, the outcome is the same. Berserker is such an idiot, having injured himself for such a useless act. He’s already died once, wouldn’t it be too wasteful if he died again this time?"

What kind of cold-hearted attitude is this? Speaking about her own life and death with a tone even more detached than that of a bystander, treating death as something as mundane as the daily sunrise and sunset, and moreover, always with a smile on her face?

It’s really good that the Einzbern Family was destroyed!

"Maybe being captured by those Heroic Spirits wouldn’t be so bad," Ilya continued in a relaxed tone. "After all, I was always locked up in the castle before and had to undergo so many tests. Now, I also have to worry about the Holy Grail War. If I get captured, waiting peacefully for death would be much easier..."

"The Holy Grail War is over." Suddenly, I said in an eerily calm voice. Just such an ordinary statement made Ilya’s whole body tremble violently. She looked at me incredulously, as if she was seeing the person before her for the first time. I knew why.

I don’t think of myself as having any sort of leader’s presence, nor do I have the air of a tyrant. I even lack the decisiveness essential for a leader. But anyone who has been through so much will always accumulate something.

In the battle at the Kepulu Star Zone, a race with a population in the trillions was annihilated under the iron hooves of the Imperial Army. Tens of billions of human refugees were sealed within a star system on the brink of destruction by a single command. Whether it was a good thing or not, when it was all over, some things left indelible marks.

"Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you," I realized that Ilya was looking at me with a nervous expression and that I might have lost control of my emotions due to anger. The awful feeling of having ordered the seal on the Kepulu Star System returned to me. After shaking off these unpleasant emotions, I placed my hand on Ilya’s head. "Don’t mind it, it was just a joke—do you have a place to go now?"

I figured that since the entire Einzbern Family had collapsed under the attack of the Nameless Force, the temporary residences they had prepared for Ilya must have been destroyed as well. In other words, the little girl must be homeless now, right?

"I haven’t found a place to live yet," Ilya finally frowned when mentioning this reality. Not even the destruction of her own family caused her any sorrow, yet now, the girl was distressed about not having a place to live. This showed to what extent those cold-hearted magicians who raised Ilya like a disposable tool were cruel to her. "And Berserker needs to recover. He’s big and doesn’t have anywhere to live either."

"Then come with me," I made the decision, "You’re essentially out of the game now, and I don’t think that Yanfeng Church can offer you any protection against the assault of thousands of Heroic Spirits. It’s better to let us protect you instead."

"Big brother, are you also after the Holy Grail?"

Ilya immediately looked up and asked curiously.

"That thing is worthless to me," I curled my lip. "Just come with me. Aren’t you envious of Pandora and Visca? From now on, I’ll treat you as my sister, how about that?"

And so...

"That’s the whole story."

Facing Miss Tohsaka, who was about to explode due to a certain tenant blatantly stuffing an enemy magician and a monster-like Berserker Heroic Spirit into her home, I informed her very calmly of the entire situation.

Tohsaka looked doubtfully at Ilya who was next to her, busy playing with Little Baobao and sneakily watching the Pandora Sisters nearby, completely oblivious to Tohsaka’s gaze.

"Alien uncle, did you really make this decision because the soul of a Loli Fan struck you?"

"Bam!" As the saying goes, once bitten, twice shy. After the initial explosion, now I am an old hand at knocking on Tohsaka’s head with a karate chop. Even Emiya, that good-natured guy, openly admits that a certain alien photographer named Chen Jun is indeed the natural bane of that little demon Tohsaka. No beating around the bush.

"Can’t you be serious?!"

"Uh, that hurts," Tohsaka, holding her head, shed her usual good girl act, now looking more like an ordinary girl who was just slightly punished by her parents for a prank. Uh, since when did I imagine myself in the role of a parent?

"Alright then, what do we do now? If everything Ilya said is true, what can we do?" Tohsaka spread her hands, displaying a helpless expression, "An army of thousands of Heroic Spirits, who would believe that?"

"Humph, it’s enough that big brother believes me!" Ilya, with sharp ears, immediately called out from afar. Then, just as she finished speaking, Pandora and Visca instantly teleported in front of Ilya, startling her with a scream, "Ah! I’m not competing with you!"

Ignoring the interactions among the kids, I think it’s better to consider the issue of the demise of the Einzbern family: "There’s a huge clearing in the forest that’s turned to scorched earth, with a crater nearly a hundred meters deep, all confirmed by Archer just now. How do you explain that?"

"I can believe that the Einzbern family faced a direct assault from powerful Heroic Spirits, but an army of thousands of Heroic Spirits is hard to believe," said Tohsaka as she stepped back, lifting a cup of black tea from the table, "But having you all here, we can have Ilya temporarily take refuge. Any random child among you could instantly kill a Berserker. Also, regarding the fall of the Einzbern family, the Magician Association will definitely not turn a blind eye. Since my sources are thin, it’s better to wait and see how things unfold, maybe even profit from it. The war has evolved to a point beyond my control, but it’s still too early to make me give up... uh, alien uncle, why is there a tooth mark on my cup?"

My scalp tightened, and then I seriously looked at the Queen who was snuggled in my arms, giggling softly.

"My last set of English porcelain ahhhhh!!!"

Miss Tohsaka Rin, the poor noblewoman, decisively burst out in indignation, letting out a cry of bitter despair. But I brought her back to reality with one sentence, "Stop fussing. The bottom of the cup is even marked ’made in China’."

"Oh," Tohsaka instantly reverted to her normal state and continued sipping her tea calmly, "Let’s talk about how we’ll investigate the disturbances at Yododani Temple next..."

Ah, not a single change in face, no stiffness in switching tactics, this Miss with no morality.

Everyone had grown accustomed to Tohsaka taking every opportunity to gain something from us, but now a more pressing issue was whether the enemy who had destroyed the Einzbern family would target Tohsaka next. Undoubtedly, the enemy was a participant in the Holy Grail War, or at least someone targeting other participants, a mysterious enemy capable of destroying an entire ancient Magic Family within a day—and according to Ilya, the enemy also commands a vanguard of five thousand Heroic Spirits. Imagining such military force alone made Tohsaka feel despair, which is why she initially took Ilya’s information as a joke. If someone could possess the power to summon five thousand Heroic Spirits, they could easily create a Fake Holy Grail on their own. Tohsaka did not really believe in the existence of the Heroic Spirit Army Ilya mentioned.

But we cannot underestimate the need for caution. Even though I believe that even if there really were five thousand Heroic Spirits charging here, they couldn’t breach the barrier of floating cannons laid out by Pandora and Visca. Tohsaka doesn’t know that. Miss Tohsaka is destined to spend a sleepless night tonight with little faith in our detection devices. She must prepare her residence to be as solid as a rock overnight, or at least make sure the alarm barrier here can respond to any little disturbance.

It looks like Sandora and I can’t just sit idle either. The distortions of the world in the Fate universe are gradually surfacing, which might be here today and buried deep in the layers of the world tomorrow. Thus, we must seize the opportunity. The targeting system of the Leaving World Garden is ceaselessly scanning the two critical locations, Yododani Temple and the ruins of the Einzbern Castle. Doubtless, these places are the most likely to be struck first if those mutations appear again.

It was late at night, nearing eleven o’clock. All around was eerily silent. Other than the brightly lit living room, the entirety of the Tohsaka Family residence was engulfed by the thick darkness of the night, with only occasional flashes bursting from the rooftop. That was Tohsaka busily fortifying various defensive and alerting barriers. Nevertheless, the occasional low exclamations of "Wow! Failed again!" and "Eh? Why is there no response?" made one really doubt the reliability of those things. Tohsaka is well-known for being occasionally careless with details, and it’s a mystery how she manages not to get killed while studying magics that are no less powerful than high explosive bombs.

"Saber, why haven’t you gone to bed yet?"

The golden-haired girl, who suddenly entered the living room, was clad in garrison uniform. Her silver-white armor skirt reflected a cold glint. Altoria glanced at me and Sandora, who were playing King of Fighters in the living room (weren’t we just analyzing the intelligence from Avalon?), and said gravely, "I’ve been feeling restless since a while ago, and Shirou insisted on going home to check on the workers’ situation."

"Emiya?" I turned my head, just in time to see the half-baked magician descending from the second-floor staircase, "What’s going on?"

"The news brought by Ilya worries me. Those enemies who attacked the Einzbern killed all her family members, not sparing even the innocent servants and guests, and even those abandoned, uninhabited Einzbern properties were leveled," Emiya’s tone was thick with unease, "If the enemy launches indiscriminate attacks, wouldn’t the workers fixing up my house be in great danger?"

This was indeed something we hadn’t considered before. Emiya’s concerns were not unreasonable. Since leaving Emiya Mansion, Pandora had already retracted the space dark mines set there. If there really were hostile Heroic Spirits attacking Emiya Mansion, and they were like those who attacked the Einzbern Castle, killing anyone they saw, the ordinary workers there would be done for.

"Since we’re free anyway, let’s go with you."

After defeating Sandora, who could only crouch in defense, I turned off the console, stood up, and said.

Sandora immediately shook my arm in dissatisfaction, "Ah, Ah Jun, you’re cheating! We agreed on a hundred rounds, with fifty-one wins determining the winner!"

It was best out of three from the start, you King of Fighters idiot!

The Emiya Mansion was already silent deep into the night, tranquil at this moment. The Fujimura Labor Team had a strangely high efficiency, or perhaps it was the pressure of sinking into the Sea of Japan that spurred them on. With their frantic work pace, the Emiya Ruins, which were originally smashed into post-earthquake debris by three landing craft, had been cleared. The corners were filled with neatly sorted building materials. It seems, despite being employed by the underworld, these workers had indeed regular and qualified construction company backgrounds.

The temporary housing for the workers was peaceful, with no signs of an attack.

"It seems like nothing has happened."

Emiya let out a sigh of relief. While it was unlikely to coincidentally encounter an enemy attack, the moment he saw that everything was fine, he couldn’t help but relax.

"That’s because they were waiting for your arrival, Shirou Emiya."

Suddenly, in the darkness of the night, a male voice emerged.

Saber instantly gripped the invisible Holy Sword in her hand, cautiously looking towards the direction of the voice. As that figure gradually revealed his true form from the darkness, stepping into the clear moonlight of the open courtyard, Emiya immediately let out an astonished cry, "Shen Er! Why is it you!?"

"Yo, Emiya, your Servant, and these two unfortunate ones who got dragged into this... are they your friends? You really are a guy who brings misfortune to his own relatives and friends," said the blue-haired male named Makoto Shinji, with a tone of smug superiority, looking down at us. (To be continued; for more, please visit www.qidian.com. More Chapters available, support the author, support genuine reading!)