Xyrin Empire
Chapter 504: Blocking the Way

Chapter 504: Chapter 504: Blocking the Way

"Oh, old man, first time meeting, got anything to say?"

From my high vantage point, I looked down at the withered old man thrown onto the ground like trash, and flashed a ghastly smile as I asked.

Protos Warriors don’t know how to treat elderly prisoners of war gently. The latter had practically been dragged all the way here by two ferocious aliens before being tossed in front of us, and with the sheer impact, he had almost lost the strength to rise, only able to gaze around with eyes wide with confusion and panic at the odd assortment of warriors.

"I already told you, we had you surrounded, yet you wouldn’t believe it."

"This... this isn’t fair!" Completely against our expectations, Makoto Zangyan still had the energy to protest, "How could the Holy Grail War... How could such peculiar things appear! What kind of monsters are you? Who summoned you? The old man has never heard of such things in the world..."

Ugh, does this antique really take Zeratul and the others for Summoned Beasts?

Before I could speak up, Tex casually flipped his Rotary Cannon upside down and used the base to smash it forcefully onto Makoto Zangyan’s leg, crushing both the leg and a large chunk of the ground beneath it.

"Keep quiet, you’re a prisoner!"

I watched with disgust as Makoto Zangyan twisted in pain on the ground, looking like a shriveled zombie long dead, emaciated throughout, with only his eyes shining with slyness. In reality, as a human, Makoto Zangyan had died long ago, an old freak from five hundred years back who would do anything for immortality, including the sucking of living flesh and blood, and turning an innocent girl like Sakura into a tool for himself. From this perspective, his humanity died off four or five hundred years ago.

Well, and from a biological standpoint, Makoto Zangyan seems to be dead now as well.

I sensed a peculiar aura emanating from him, familiar yet significantly inferior to the genuine article, more like a prototype luckily concocted after numerous trials—an undead.

Indeed, it was undead. I sensed the same presence in Makoto Zangyan that I often felt in Dark City. However, the latter had a rich atmosphere of undead technological research, teeming with Necromancers, and consequently, the undead creatures there tended to be more refined, whereas Makoto Zangyan couldn’t possibly establish an Undead Divine Sect within human society, nor could he bring together a bunch of Spiritualists to study the technology of death creature transformation. Hence, he now presented a state somewhere in between a Necromancer and human, possessing some of the undead creatures’ un-death traits, yet still aging continuously.

Really... What one wouldn’t do just to stay alive.

"Did you summon Octavian?" I asked, looking down at the silent Makoto Zangyan, "Then using the power of the Red Moon to summon the whole Roman Legion? Who gave you this opportunity? Yanfeng Qili? What is he planning?"

"Since you know it all, why bother asking the old man?"

Makoto Zangyan’s wrinkled face twisted, revealing a nauseating smile, "At worst it’s death, and frankly, the old man isn’t scared at all!"

Acting tough with words, but even a fool would know you are the most afraid of death! Just thinking that transforming into a "Necromancer" would render bodily harm practically ineffective against you, so you’re trying to gain a little advantage for yourself, right?

The fiery-tempered Tex naturally acted again, smashing the other leg into pieces just as easily, but this time, Makoto Zangyan didn’t pretend to be in any pain. Instead, the leg that was just smashed started to regenerate.

"Hmph, the old man possesses magic power of immortality, what use is this little physical injury? Perhaps you should just let the old man go; surely, eternal life is also something you desire, right? If you release the old man, you can naturally gain such skills..."

Sandora and I exchanged a speechless glance. Has this old geezer lost his mind? He really dares to wish for anything, who would want to turn into a living corpse like him! Does he really think everyone is just like him, so afraid of death that they would do anything to survive?

And this fellow’s so-called immortality—if you can even call it that—barely lasted four or five hundred years at most. He actually believes it to be some grand achievement, but to some of "us" here, those few hundred years don’t even count as an instant. Not to mention, just Pandora next to me took nearly sixty-six thousand years to grow from one meter nineteen to one meter twenty!

Wow, murder in the air!

"Even the Ten Tortures of the Qing Dynasty don’t scare you, huh?" I looked down at the old man who thought he had found our weakness and sneered, "The last thing you should have done was turn yourself into undead creatures, because now, I’ve got something even more painful to use on you—Alaya, get to work!"

The autumn wind was chilling, and the world desolate. For a whole ten seconds, there was complete silence around us.

"Alaya!?" I shouted again, only to be met with the sound of steady snoring from the depths of my mind—was this girl still sleeping? She hadn’t woken up since we arrived in the Fate World, right? Even when I spent the night with Sandora, she was snoozing away... Well, I had blocked the Spirit Sea back then, so I didn’t know if she had slept, but judging from the snoring just now, I could be absolutely sure that the dumb Angel had slept through everything!

"Alien uncle, who are you calling?" Tohsaka looked at me puzzled, "Alaya? Isn’t that name..."

"Simply a coincidence, it’s my dumb little sister." I replied irritably, and tossed and turned in the Spirit Sea, but that dumb Angel showed no sign of waking up. Apart from drooling and snoring, and occasionally turning over, she completely ignored me. Finally having no other choice, I gave up on trying to get the lazybones up and directly used my spiritual power to pluck a feather from her wings, which she had been quite scared of because of the Skill practice I put her through.

Still no response! Inconceivable, Alaya didn’t wake up even after I plucked her feather!

"What is that thing!" Makoto Zangyan, who had been acting fearless all this time, finally felt threatened instinctively when he saw a glowing feather appear in my hand, "Get it away from me!"

Holding the feather imbued with Holy Light, I gently poked Makoto Zangyan with it, and immediately, wisps of blue smoke emerged from where the feather touched his flesh. Accompanying this were his agonized screams, as the damage caused to undead creatures by Holy Light was absolutely a hundred times worse than physical damage, especially the strong Holy Light from Alaya.

"You have two choices, either cooperate nicely or—I’ll use this thing to copy a new English-Chinese dictionary on you. Your choice!"

"Wait! Put that thing away first!"

Makoto Zangyan curled up under the Holy Light’s irradiation, realizing not only could it kill him, but, more importantly, it could make his existence worse than death. The old man, who was already afraid of death, now had his weak point completely exposed, he naturally didn’t mind throwing Yanfeng Qili under the bus to exchange for his own life.

Just as Tohsaka had originally guessed, the person who gave the Makoto Family something as powerful as the Roman Legion was Yanfeng Qili, and the object he used was also a Crystal Dagger.

It was the second appearance of the thing we had seen, the Black Crystal Dagger that could open the gate to the Inner World. But under the same conditions, old Makoto was much luckier than Caster; the latter only summoned Sasaki, a swordsman who could be strengthened under the Red Moon and use Ghost Energy, whereas the former summoned Octavian, who possessed an invincible Skill, and with the enhancement of the Red Moon, gained the entire Roman Legion.

"What else did he make you do?"

"That Qili merely gave me this dagger, he told me nothing," Makoto Zangyan answered, then added, "I’m telling the truth! Moreover, he told me that the power of the Red Moon is very important, and if I could acquire it, I would obtain the true power of immortality!"

"Do you actually trust him?"

I looked at the guy in front of me, who thought he was about to ascend to heaven and asked with a chuckle.

"Of course not, the old man always has insurance. He only knows that I used a loophole to summon multiple Heroic Spirits, but he does not know that I have tens of thousands of troops ready to be summoned at any time! If the power of the Red Moon is released one day and he tries to get involved, the old man’s army of Heroic Spirits will surely make it so that he never returns... Alas, it’s a pity now..."

Hah, from the beginning you were planning a dog-eat-dog strategy?

Although I’ve obtained some more information, Yanfeng revealed very little about his dealings with Makoto Zangyan. The latter answered a few of our questions, then claimed to know nothing more, and his knowledge wasn’t much more extensive than Caster’s.

"Can I go now? I’ve told you everything I know!"

Makoto Zangyan answered our last question and, seeing only silence as we stared at him, he immediately felt something was amiss and hurriedly spoke up.

"He’s useless now," Sandora said in an even tone, "Reynolds, throw him into the reactor of your warship."

Although the antique before us didn’t understand what a "warship reactor" was, the cold expression on Sandora’s face made Makoto Zangyan realize instantly that it was something that could obliterate his current body. He screamed out loud, "Wait! Wait!! That’s not what you said at the beginning..."

"Right, and let’s seal your soul in this body as well," I said, inserting the feather of Alaya directly into Makoto Zangyan’s heart, "Don’t think I didn’t see through your little schemes."

With an expression of reluctance and horror, Makoto Zangyan’s body froze the moment the Angel Feather was implanted and then he was dragged out of our sight by two Marine Corps members.

"Phew, with that, the Makoto Family is dealt with," I clapped my hands and turned to Sandora, who was examining the Black Crystal Dagger, "Can you make anything out of this?"

"It’s just an ordinary crystal," Sandora shook her head, "A key-like object only needs to carry specific energy fluctuations; the material doesn’t matter. We can’t deduce anything from the shape and material. It could be made by Earthlings, it could be a product of Xyrin, or it could be a decorative item made by some bored Divine Race. Having just a crystal dagger means nothing."

"Then let’s go find Yanfeng, all other troubles have been neatly resolved for now," I sighed, "Reynolds, stand by in the Inner World, but keep the fleet away from the Red Moon. Human spaceships can’t endure its energy radiation."

"Understood." Reynolds nodded and then walked off to summon his Marines.

"Alien Uncle, who are you really? They mentioned the Emperor just now?"

It was only then that Miss Tohsaka found an opportunity to interject. While asking me, she was also covertly glancing at Zeratul, who stood not far away, his blue skin and tall, twisted form piquing her curiosity.

"The Emperor is just the Emperor," I scratched my head, "Our big family, we’re all Royal Family Members, that statement should be correct, right?"

"Hss—" Emiya hissed through his teeth, then cautiously sought confirmation from Tsuruya, who was usually easy to talk to, "That can’t be true, can it?"

"Of course, it’s true," Tsuruya nodded cheerfully, "Even though he doesn’t look like an Emperor at all."

Hey! You don’t need to say the last part out loud!

"Emperor... Emperor of an Alien Empire..." Miss Tohsaka murmured to herself, her gaze firmly fixed on me and Sandora, "And such a powerful army..."

Her expression at that moment sent a shiver down my spine. I hurriedly asked, "Hey, Tohsaka, what’s wrong with you? You’re drooling!"

"Hehe, it’s nothing," Tohsaka wiped her drool, still with that odd, sparkling look on her face, "You must be very rich, definitely very rich, right?! I’ve struck it rich, truly, truly struck it rich this time! We can raise the rent by ten times... no, eighty times... six thousand times shouldn’t be a problem, right? The Royal Family surely throws money around like dirt, so a little more rent won’t matter, right?"

I decisively pushed Tohsaka’s head down and gave her three good flicks on her forehead: "Have you gone crazy thinking about money?"

How could this Miss’s first thought be about striking it rich?!

And I’ve suddenly realized something, when excluding examples like Reynolds and Sylvanas who came into contact with me in the highest-end way from the beginning, everyone else’s attitude was so speechless after learning of my identity.

Mikoto Misaka didn’t feel the slightest pressure facing an Alien Emperor, and directly treated me as a nanny for her more than ten thousand sisters, while Shirai and Chichun, one saw me as a sworn enemy, the other as a kindly Passerby A, in front of Tsuruya, I was still the same old Director Brother, and even in front of Miss Tohsaka, I still couldn’t escape the role of a mobile piggy bank, and when it came to Ilya...

I looked down at the silver-haired Little Loli with her head tilted back, her gaze brimming with happiness and pride, I could be completely sure that she had no clue what an Alien Emperor was.

So, there wasn’t a single person who showed the proper respect, could my Passerby Halo really be that strong?

Carrying this sad reflection, I left the Inner World with Tohsaka and the others and without hesitation, headed straight for the Yanfeng Church.

The focus of the matter had long since turned to the man referred to by Tohsaka as the Fake Priest. Rightfully, we should have acted early to capture him, but we held off because we wanted to see what his plans were, and see what else was hidden in this Inner World. But now it seemed, our target’s caution was no less than that of the old man Makoto Zangyan. Unless we took the initiative, he seemed to have no intentions of showing himself.

And our target clearly knew of our arrival and had made preparations, but if this was meant to be a welcoming party,

wasn’t it a bit small?

Seeing the Blue-armored Gunman in front of me leaning against a telephone pole with a gloomy face, who just claimed he was supposed to intercept us and got collectively taunted by us, I couldn’t help but wonder.

"Are you alone?" Tohsaka asked the man who had reportedly vanished from sight after getting hit by a landing pod, seemingly amused, "Intercepting more than a dozen of us by yourself? Aren’t you overconfident?"

"That’s why I say, it’s better not to fight if it can be avoided," Cu Chulainn shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, "Considering I wouldn’t win the fight, my master merely asked me to stall for time. How about we chat for a while, and then you can carry on passing through?"

Is this guy really the Child of Light from Ireland?

"I’m very sorry, but we can’t agree to such a request," Saber had already drawn her Golden Holy Sword, and at that moment, Cu Chulainn’s gaze sharpened, "It seems your master has already started his own actions, so we must get through here as quickly as possible. If you insist on stopping us, let us continue the unfinished battle from last time!"

"Heh, looks like a fight is inevitable today."

The Blue-armored Gunman shrugged his shoulders and held his Long Spear in front of himself, "It’s said that the old man who summoned the entire legion with all his Heroic Spirits got crushed in an instant by another even stronger legion. Tsk, this Holy Grail War seems to have become a farce... But maybe thanks to this farce, I now can fight with all my strength unleashed!!"

As his words ended, an unprecedentedly intense Magic Power suddenly swept across the now evacuated empty streets.

The power was increasing, obviously, and Cu Chulainn’s strength was growing exponentially, with every chain and restriction upon him being lifted!

Though the violent Magic Storm was invisible, the surging pressure made Emiya, standing at the forefront, almost unable to stand, while Tohsaka cried out in shock, "This level of magic power... how is that possible..."

"Much better this way."

The fierce Magic Storm came and went quickly, subsiding in less than a minute. Cu Chulainn, now radiating a strong presence, stretched his arms thoroughly, taking a contented breath, "With this, perhaps I can stall for a bit more time, huh?"

Although he said he was only going to stall for a little while, the confidence oozing from him was absolute.

A Heroic Spirit at 100 percent, standing before us, was a Heroic Spirit in a state of total victory. Moreover, it was the original form, with all class restrictions removed! (To be continued. For the following story, please visit www.qidian.com. There are more Chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)