Livia's hand was still trembling slightly, but she didn't stop to rest. She immediately picked up the communicator and dialed a number.
"We did it."
Just three words — and on the other end, an eruption of cheers and elation.
Within minutes, everything went into motion with rapid coordination.
The Grail's base was personally escorted into the vault by Adrian and Elise, where the fragments they had recovered earlier were already being stored. The chamber was dimly lit, filled with an oppressive, mysterious aura — as if every stone in the walls was silently watching.
Adrian gently placed the base next to the fragments.
The moment he let go, a faint humming seemed to ripple through the air.
A soft glow began to shine from the runes carved beneath the base, and the fragments responded with a light vibration. Then — to everyone's astonishment — the shards began to levitate, slowly drifting toward the base like metal to a magnet, slotting themselves into its gaps with uncanny precision.
Click. Click.
The sound echoed in the vault — crisp, sacred.
The pieces fit.
Though the Holy Grail remained incomplete, the once-scattered fragments had now fused seamlessly with the base — as if they had never been apart.
A subtle, yet powerful energy radiated outward — the kind that whispered of something ancient and slumbering, waiting to be fully awakened.
"…Don't touch it," Livia said quietly, shaking off her own awe. "The more mysterious something is, the more dangerous it is to act recklessly."
Everyone nodded. None of them dared to lay a hand on the reassembled Grail — as if destiny itself lay sealed within its form.
But there was one thing they had to take with them.
The yellowed journal.
When they arrived at the hospital, Marcellus nearly leapt out of his bed.
"You… you're really okay?" he asked, voice low, his eyes locked onto Livia's — just like she had once stared at him when he awoke from his wounds days ago.
Livia smiled, exhaustion clouding her eyes, but the relief there was unmistakable.
"I'm fine. We did it."
Marcellus exhaled, his throat bobbing as if trying to say something. But in the end, he simply nodded.
He knew — just the fact that she was standing here was already a blessing.
"Well then," Livia said with a smile, breaking the silence, "time for a report. I ran into Jim at the hunting lodge. We probed each other a bit… but I managed to get what he called Eryx's troop patrol routes and defense layouts."
She handed a spread-out map to Elias and Marcellus.
"Still — whether it's real or not, you two will have to verify that yourselves. Don't trust it blindly."
The two immediately took the map, analyzing and cross-checking its credibility as they spoke.
"He definitely has his own plan," Livia added. "Everything he said — it was all laced with subtext. He was clearly trying to figure out whether I'm working with you. But… it seems like he still hasn't seen through me completely."
Marcellus fell into thought. "Jim won't settle for just gathering intel. He's waiting for a bigger crack to open."
"And the fact that he's still interested in Livia isn't necessarily a bad thing," Elias said calmly. "We might be able to exploit his willingness to 'collaborate'… and feed false leads into his intelligence network."
Livia nodded, a sharp gleam flashing in her eyes.
Then it was Adrian's turn to speak. He recounted, in full detail, the encounter he and Elise had near the well — including the moment of inner conflict triggered by the Grail's base.
"I… for a second, I truly thought it wouldn't be so bad to just keep it for myself…"
His voice shook as he said it. "But Elise pulled me back. If she hadn't— I don't even want to imagine."
He looked down with a small, embarrassed laugh.
Livia placed a hand on his shoulder.
"The fact that you can admit it means you won. The Grail distorts the soul — it's something we should have been wary of from the beginning."
At that moment, Marcellus, upon hearing the words "Grail's temptation," subconsciously clenched his fists. His expression didn't change — but Livia noticed.
She said nothing.
"But," Adrian continued, looking around, "we've secured the base in the vault. I'm fine now. The important thing is — we find the remaining shards and finish the restoration."
Livia nodded. Then she reached into her bag and pulled out the old journal.
"Then let's take a look at this," she said.