Xyrin Empire
Chapter 501: The Mystery of the Red Moon

Chapter 501: Chapter 501: The Mystery of the Red Moon

Morning came, and it was a bout of tickling in my nose that woke me up.

"Sandora... stop it..."

Half-asleep, I tried to push the girl away, who was messing with me using her hair, but my hands swatted at nothing. Meanwhile, the faint warmth and touch beside me told me she was still lying obediently next to me.

Opening my eyes in confusion, the sight that greeted me was quite ridiculous.

Dingdang was holding a strand of Sandora’s loose blonde hair, waving it over my face like some oversized weapon, chanting "heave-ho" spiritedly. Who knows how long this playful little critter had been at it?

"Ha, Ah Jun, you’re finally awake~!"

Dingdang, holding that strand of hair, energetically stood on my chin and spoke, and the next second, the little thing suddenly cried out and leapt into the air.

Sandora was awake by now, lifting her hair with a semblance of a smile, while Dingdang, still clinging to it unconsciously, swung back and forth with the slight movements of Sandora’s fingers, continuously crying out in the air. Had this little guy forgotten he had something called wings?

Watching Little One cry out while desperately trying to climb up the hair was hilarious—both the Queen and I were about to burst into laughter.

Though the little troublemaker slightly affected our "honeymoon" with Sandora, seeing our pet goddess behaving so foolishly and adorably first thing in the morning was quite a nice treat.

Just what did this little creature accumulate over those billions of years? Did she really have nothing left in her brain except for candies?

Sandora and I had taken our relationship to the last level, and Dingdang was probably the first to notice—there was no way she couldn’t have. After all, she was literally thrown out that night.

But did she really understand what happened?

This thought might be a bit strange, but I genuinely started to doubt this issue now. The intelligence of this little thing had always intrigued me. Sometimes, she was incredibly sharp, able to explain life’s great philosophical questions, which the wisest humans spent their lifetimes unraveling, in just a few sentences. Yet, other times she was like an utter fool, with an IQ somewhere between a pet and a pet. But one thing was for sure—she definitely realized the changes between me and Sandora.

And she must have understood something, right? Thinking back, she seemed quite unhappy all day, even bizarrely snapping at me twice—though she calmed down easily enough, it was certainly unprecedented. Initially, I thought it was due to being upset about being thrown out to sleep at night, but now, it felt more like...

Well, the resentment and grievance of a little pet about to be abandoned by its master.

This realization made my face stream with tears.

Now, however, Dingdang seemed to have completely reverted to her usual goofy, cheerful self, showing no signs of loss. Perhaps she felt reassured that she wasn’t being neglected by me after all?

Really hard to understand those odd ways of thinking of the Divine Race.

Casually plucking Dingdang off Sandora’s hair and putting her into the lampshade beside the bed, I lost any desire to sleep. Some noises were already audible from outside the room, probably signifying that others were awake too.

Walking into the dining room, Tsuruya, still wearing an apron, was busy arranging breakfast on the table, while Red A, who had completely morphed into a house-husband in these few days, was helping with setting up everyone’s tableware. Surprisingly, among those helping with breakfast, there was also a woman in a cloak and a hood, busily preparing desserts for Little Baobao.

Medea? What was she doing here? And next to her, Mr. Ge Mu, who sat so rigid in his chair that he virtually became invisible when still, why was he here too?

"Ah, boss, you’re up?"

Hearing the noise from the staircase, Medea, Sasaki, and Medusa all looked up, saying in unison, and I watched in amazement as the dining room buzzed with Heroic Spirits and the Imperial High Level enjoying an unprecedented moment of harmony—it all felt eerily idyllic.

Goddammit, this scene is just too heartwarming!

"Medea, what brings you here too?"

I rubbed my eyes, yawning skyward, not at all concerned about ruining my image in front of the employees—after all, that had long been tarnished beyond repair in the Imperial High Level.

"Since I am already serving you, isn’t it only right that I come as called?"

The woman, still cloaked, replied calmly, though I could hear that her voice was much more relaxed and happy than when we first met—she must have been relieved to be able to be with the man she loves without any reservations, now that she had transformed into an Avalon Heroic Spirit.

"In fact, she just views this place as very secure and came seeking sanctuary."

Sasaki, finding a bottle of sake somewhere, was now leisurely pouring himself a drink in a corner of the dining room, not bothering to mince words about his former boss.

Is that so? Although Sasaki’s words weren’t sugar-coated, that was probably the case.

Medea wasn’t one for brawls. Her wish, which she had once hoped the Holy Grail would grant, had already been fulfilled, so now, guarding her hard-won happiness and living a peaceful life must be the most important thing for her. Unfortunately, the Inner World, which she had thought secure, had also proven unsafe, so naturally, she sought refuge here.

I can proudly declare that, although always under the shadow of being forcefully remodeled, the Emiya Residence is now definitely the most formidable stronghold on Earth—there’s no safer place than this!

"Hehe... hehehehe..." An eerie laugh suddenly emanated from behind, causing me to shiver involuntarily. I was just grandly contemplating the security level here, but what’s with this sudden chill?

Turning around, Miss Tohsaka was there, holding a calculator, chuckling foolishly as she walked towards me from across the hallway, muttering, "Another addition... Rent doubled, get the basement and stairwell ready for the Gunman and that silly Golden Shining tomorrow, collect twenty years of utilities in advance, and I’ll be set for life..."

"Bang!" "Wow!" "Gurgle gurgle..."

A collision was followed by Miss Tohsaka’s scream. I expressionlessly looked down as Miss Tohsaka, despite her low blood pressure from getting out of bed, didn’t forget to calculate the room rate and clumsily rolled to my feet after bumping into the wall. I felt every nerve in my body twitching. If the Asida twins and Silvia were even half as money-obsessed as Tohsaka, wouldn’t they have gotten rich by now?

I casually helped Tohsaka up from the ground, then applied a healing technique. It seemed that she was much more alert now.

"Alien uncle, why did you knock me?" Tohsaka scratched her cheek, asking very puzzled.

Well, although it didn’t heal, at least it could cure the dizziness, right?

In terms of status, we had all sorts from emperors and generals to princesses and heiresses. But when it came to dining, the moment Sandora took the lead, no one could possibly care about dining etiquette. So, whether it was back at the Emiya residence or now at Tohsaka’s place, our breakfasts were always dramatic. This scene naturally frightened the newcomers Sasaki and Medea and even made Kagari Ge Mu, who had been silently nodding at us, turn towards us with a look of horror. Meanwhile, I was busy wiping grains of rice off Pandora and Visca’s faces—I suspected they did it on purpose just to get a bit more attention from "Big Brother," I mean, who else could stick rice to the top of their head when eating?—while I asked Emiya, "Speaking of which, you guys don’t have classes today, right?"

Emiya nodded, "Yeah, Sasaki and Saber said they’d teach me combat skills, so we’re planning on training during the day."

"Stubborn guy," Tohsaka sighed, "With Alien uncle and so many powerful fighters around, what good does becoming stronger do you?"

"It’s not about that," Emiya retorted immediately, "I just want to gain the strength to achieve my own ideals, do you actually want to leave everything to Chen?"

"Hmph, idealist," muttered Red A, squinting his eyes, before quickly serving the cake before Little Baobao could start a fuss. Despite being a Heroic Spirit, he was genuinely afraid of the little tyrant beside him, having just suffered a brutal rib punch for being a slow in serving the jam. His lungs still hurt.

I bet he would never dare to sit with children for the rest of his life.

Humph! Little Baobao only behaves when she is with me and her "moms." A guy like that is certainly seen as an absolutely untrustworthy target by her!

Emiya was about to retort after being sneered at by Red A, but when he saw him being tormented by a girl aged around eight or nine years old like a grandson, he immediately lost interest in protesting and gave him a sympathetic look instead.

Originally, according to our initial plan, we should have taken action against the Makoto family early, considering the massive scale of the Heroic Spirit Army they controlled and who knows how long "Octavian" would take to reassemble an army. If it dragged on too long and they harnessed the power of the Inner World to cause mischief again, it might not be well-rounded but would certainly be a major inconvenience. However, after consideration, I decided to set the timing for this night. It’s not that the threat from the Makoto family had pushed us to sneak attack, but fighting the Heroic Spirit Army would definitely require using the Leaving World Garden to preserve Fuyuki City, and since the city residents are awake during the day, a massive anomaly would likely be noticed by certain special people, so I decided to postpone the operation till night.

Moreover, during the daytime, I could discuss with the think-tank at the back what exactly this Red Moon thing was.

Returning to my room alone, I connected spiritually with Shadow City, and Lin Xue responded.

"Hey, boy, do you still remember your mission?"

"Stop kidding, let’s talk serious," I tugged at the corner of my mouth, firing off a question in my mind before she could complain, "Miss Xue, any analysis results on that Red Moon and the Roman Legion?"

"You should be glad you have a team of madmen researchers, and an even crazier researcher," Lin Xue said with deep admiration. "Taville has already analyzed all the collected information and came to the preliminary conclusion that the Heroic Spirit Army currently opposing you was not summoned according to the normal rules. They are a product of a secondary summoning, similar to how Medea summoned Sasaki, but with lower quality and astonishing quantity. This conclusion is based on an analysis of their energy pattern, and the summoner is likely to be Octavian, the founder of the Roman Empire, which has left a profound mark in history. As ’Augustus,’ who founded Rome, it is very likely that Octavian possesses the ability to summon the entire Heroic Spirit Roman Legion."

"I and Sandora guessed that too because, after all, even if the whole Makoto Family reincarnates as Magic Gods and each one wears purple gear, it is utterly impossible for humans to summon tens of thousands of Heroic Spirits. Moreover, that Roman General mentioned that Octavian is fundamentally the one sustaining their existence."

"Of course, that was easy to guess, but there is some information you might not have thought of with your wooden head: according to Bubbles’ calculations, even if Octavian has the skill to summon the Roman legion, and even if the Holy Grail itself provides him with all the magic power it can gather, it is impossible for him to summon the entire Roman legion. In fact, based on the energy intensity of those infantry spirits, the upper limit of Octavian’s summoned legion is only a thousand men, and they cannot be maintained in the present world for more than fifteen minutes; otherwise, the fragile magic structure of the Fate world would collapse due to local depletion, possibly even causing a magic storm that sweeps across the entire world."

"This means that theoretically, no one has the magic power to summon and maintain ten thousand Heroic Spirits, not even the ’Holy Grail,’ right?" I frowned, not out of doubt for this conclusion, but because it contradicted the facts we had experienced.

"Exactly, and it’s absolutely impossible. It has exceeded the maximum flow of the existing magic system in the Fate world. The world’s energy system cannot support the magical flux required to summon ten thousand Heroic Spirits to the present world simultaneously."

"So, apart from Octavian himself, has the Makoto Family found him an unprecedentedly powerful energy source?!" After much thought, there seemed to be only one conclusion that fit the facts. "Wait, could it be..."

"The Red Moon," Lin Xue’s voice confirmed my suspicion. "It wasn’t observed by the system. Taville still cannot scan the structure and operational principles of the Red Moon, but my eyes saw some truth. The Red Moon is an exceptional energy source, capable of producing almost any form of energy to power nearby energy-consuming units. The Heroic Spirit Roman Legion was summoned by Octavian, but the magic power driving them originates from the Red Moon. This is also consistent with the phenomenon you observed of the Red Moon’s light resurrecting Heroic Spirits. Furthermore, it is worth noting that although the energy attribute of the Red Moon’s light is still undetermined, Taville’s analysis shows that it matches the wavelength of Ghost Energy perfectly, yet the waveforms are completely the opposite. They now refer to the Red Moon’s light as ’Anti-ghost energy,’ but further properties remain unknown."

The Red Moon, again the Red Moon. The appearance of an Inner World in the Fate world was already confounding enough, and now there’s this Red Moon that even Taville can’t analyze. How many secrets does this world hide?

"Miss Xue, do you think it’d be viable to send an expedition ship to land on the Red Moon?"

I thought about it and this method seemed to be the most direct and straightforward. Although at first it was decided that such a minor world crisis shouldn’t require military involvement, it now seemed that the distortions produced by the Fate world were far more troublesome than we had imagined. Whether or not it was related to my tragic halo, using our warships now seemed to be the best option.

Lin Xue fell silent for a moment, then negated the idea: "At first, Sivis indeed proposed this motion, but I immediately vetoed it. Although it’s not very clear, I’ve seen some very dangerous things hidden in the Red Moon. If we rashly send out an exploratory team, it might collapse, possibly even affecting the Outer World."

"Damn—" I winced in pain. "That’s really troublesome, can’t we just destroy it, or not even go there to take a look?"

"It’s best not to attempt such a thing. The surface of the Red Moon is a boiling sea of energy. That layer of red isn’t solid but consists of something akin to high-pressure plasma. Its structure is inherently unstable. What if you accidentally blow it up?"

Oh, speaking of blowing things up, you’ve dismantled so many of my things without worrying about blowing something up?

Knowing the connection between the Red Moon and the Roman Legion was significant for me. At least now I could be certain that the old man from the Makoto Family didn’t just coincidentally ascend to become a Daluo Golden Immortal; his incredible advantage was entirely dependent on a mysterious celestial body. So, it seems Yanfeng Qili also does not have the ability to transform ordinary people into Long Aotian.

Speaking of Yanfeng Qili, I wonder if Lin Xue has seen something?

"Of course, that guy is the mastermind behind everything." As expected, the Prophet had known about Yanfeng’s schemes all along, but this damn girl just wouldn’t say!

"Don’t worry; you guys didn’t suffer any damage, right?" Lin Xue faced my resentment unperturbed. "Relax, relax, woodhead. If something potentially harmful to you were to happen, I would naturally warn you. As for that Yanfeng, I only started observing him yesterday when you mentioned that he was suspicious. I’ll tell you this: that guy had long discovered the existence of the Inner World and obtained some related objects and knowledge, such as the Black Crystal Dagger that can open the gate. He seems to be using the old head of the Makoto Family and Caster to gradually decipher the secret of the Red Moon’s power. But his specific goal is still uncertain, though it definitely isn’t anything good. Probing into powers that don’t belong to him, that’s just human nature. Could Yanfeng Qili be planning to follow the Cultivation path?"

Me: "...You really dare to speculate!"(To be continued. For more, please visit www.qidian.com. More Chapters are available, and support the author, support genuine reading!)