35 The Appearance of the Mastermind
Facing the fierce wolf-headed monsters, Shirou raised his magical staff and cast an illusion. In the monsters' eyes, the entire space was filled with a mist that obscured the prey's figure, instantly causing them to lose their targets.
The boy, relying on Merlin's A-rank mastery of illusions, confused the monster group. Illusions are originally a magic that only affects the mind and creates virtual images; there is no such thing as a useless skill, only useless users.
No matter what type of skill, when perfected, it will be elevated and gain incredible power.
For example, a hero's A-rank Clairvoyance skill can already read minds, see through objects, and catch glimpses of the future.
Basic magic projections placed in the right hands can be used to mass-produce Noble Phantasms. Of course, if it were Chinese martial arts, A-rank would only be the beginning.
This magician, possessing Crown-class strength, had mastered illusions to a degree that could fool reality itself, change the environment—if Merlin were here, he could even conjure a full Camelot castle out of thin air. However, once discovered by the world, it would be restored.
With the assistance of Mash and Shirou, Yui transformed into the fox JK Suzuka Gozen and completed her Noble Phantasm's charge.
The fox-eared girl, enhanced by multiple buffs from her comrades, held a large channeling sword that emitted a dazzling golden light, splitting into hundreds of swords that circled in the air, forming concentric rings of beams of light.
The girl swung down the sword, and the blades instantly fell.
[—Heavenly Demon Rain (Tenkiame)] Hundreds of golden meteor-like swords descended, piercing all the surrounding wolf-headed humanoids.
[Appear, my loyal vassals, my comrades, my armor! The Four Heavenly Kings under the Genji banner—Ushi-O Thunder Summon, Tenmou Kaikai!!!]
A cool woman clad in armor, standing in an invincible pose wielding a sword, manifested four shadowy figures holding different Noble Phantasms: a golden axe, a longbow, a spear, and a white sword, each glowing with different magical colors.
In an instant, they launched hundreds of attacks on a massive ghostly demon, devouring it in thunder and lightning.
Thus, another large red dot indicating a hostile area on the FGO system's map of the interdimensional space disappeared.
"Senpai, that was amazing! At this rate, we'll clear all the monsters in the interdimensional spaces soon," Mash happily said, clutching her phone.
"Yeah, that's great." Shirou nodded.
But despite the increase in battle strength, the current trouble wasn't the monsters but something on his side.
For some unknown reason, sometimes Asuna's summoned Minamoto no Raikou would appear as a Berserker-class instead of her usual class.
The EX Berserker's maternal madness completely suppressed Asuna's mental efforts to stop it.
"Shirou, when will you finally give mom your answer about last time's proposal? Your silence means you agree, right? Right? Right? Right?" The Berserker-class Raikou, wearing a tight catsuit, locked her affectionate gaze on the boy, clearly refusing to give up if he didn't agree.
"Let's just hear your wish first," Shirou pleaded.
"Well, this time mom wants to hold her child tight in her arms and shower her with love.
After all, mother and child need skin contact to truly connect spiritually.
Then, Shirou, you'll definitely understand mom's love." The Berserker Raikou blushed as she spoke.
"..." The three girls stared at the boy, feeling the pressure was a bit overwhelming.
"Yui! You're the one then!" Shirou said, pushing Yui forward.
Raikou hugged the bun-haired girl, her gaze toward Shirou somewhat melancholic but soon softened by the overflowing maternal instinct as she gently stroked the girl's head.
"Eh? Daughter? Mom actually wants Shirou more, but Yui... Yui? I feel like if I had a daughter, I'd want to name her that, so obedient..."
"Hehe, Raikou mom? But the body is still Asuna's, huh? Being hugged and having my head patted by classmates like this is a bit embarrassing," Yui said shyly while being held, though she seemed to somewhat enjoy the head pats.
"Sorry, Yui."
Later, the recovered Asuna joined her hands and apologized to the girls.
She originally intended to summon a Lancer-class servant but didn't know why the Berserker-class kept appearing on its own—this had been happening frequently lately.
"It's okay, really. I'm actually used to it and kind of comfortable with it," Yui smiled and waved it off.
"..." Mash looked enviously at Yui-senpai.
"But really, this transformation is pretty amazing! The texture here seems even softer than the first time. Could it have stretched?" Yui said, diving again into the girl's arms to confirm the feel.
"Eh? Really?" Asuna looked down in surprise.
"!" Yukinoshita's eyes suddenly brightened as if she saw hope. Silently, she resolved herself, muttering, "When is the next CCC collaboration rerun? I'm going all in! I really want Passionlip! I already maxed out Meltlilith's NP, so why won't she come out? The lower tier replacements are Skadi and Gorgon..."
Shirou, wiping sweat, thought, You don't need to be so anxious. From a genetics perspective, your future still holds great possibilities.
Shirou had learned many team battle tactics, but since he had Merlin, it was just a matter of supporting the right servants to deal high damage.
At that moment, Chaldea's monitoring detected a new reaction from behind the scenes.
"Director! We've detected a special magical reaction that wasn't there before!" Staff B shouted.
"Lock on immediately! The mastermind finally shows up!" Da Vinci shouted excitedly.
"Understood! Magical reaction locked!" Staff B operated the machine.
On the screen appeared a male servant, entirely black as if covered in mud, resembling Ushiwaka from Mesopotamian times. A Holy Grail reaction was also detected on him.
Behind the man crawled waves of magical beasts—the ones continuously produced from the cave, attacking Chaldea's forces.
The man walked into the cave, which then sealed, and the magical reaction disappeared.
"Tch, lost him. Keep monitoring!"
"Yes!"
In the void, the black servant held a rein-like object in one hand and a Holy Grail in the other, summoning new magical beasts. With the Grail's help, the beasts entered various nests and began devouring each other.
It was like the traditional "Gu" technique: poison masters put five poisons—snakes, scorpions, spiders, centipedes, and silkworms—into a sealed space without food. The starving poisons fight to the death, and the survivor becomes the king of poisons.
The nests here were the same. The monsters that survived grew large, gained enhanced abilities, mutated attributes, and their eyes turned an insane red.
"Go in there! Find our enemy!" The black servant pointed toward a black hole-like tunnel, which led to the world Shirou was in.
"Roarrr!"
Leading the pack were three gigantic beast shadows, followed by a horde of monsters, who all entered the black hole and surged inside.