"Sad… Lily doesn't even trust my skills."
Aslan wiped at the nonexistent tears in the corners of his eyes, speaking with exaggerated sorrow.
"After all, I tested it countless times on Merlin, and only used it on you after making absolutely sure there were no issues."
Merlin: "I'm so grateful (while grinding my teeth)."
Watching Aslan grow increasingly shameless—gradually transforming into another Merlin—Artoria began to regret becoming his knight.
She now seriously doubted whether this Arthur standing before her could truly be relied upon to take her place as King Arthur.
Wouldn't the Knights of the Round Table collapse simply from this man's mouth?
"Calm down, calm down. This time, I'm only going to transfer your original Heroic Spirit."
"Nothing bad will happen. Trust in my expertise."
Aslan said confidently. He had already mastered transferring Merlin's Original Body from Avalon by using Merlin's Servant body as a conduit.
The only pity was that there was no Merlin present in the Throne of Heroes. Otherwise, Aslan could've run another experiment.
Just hearing Aslan's words made Artoria's expression gradually turn strange. She stared at him with a gaze bordering on horror.
Stealing a Heroic Spirit directly from the Counter Force? That was pushing it.
And her contract with the Counter Force wasn't something easily broken. She didn't believe for a second that the Counter Force would just let her go without resistance.
"Master, is this really possible? Can you really pull my Original Body from the grasp of the Counter Force?"
Artoria had signed her contract with the Counter Force at the moment of her death, allowing her to participate in the Holy Grail War.
Because she contracted with her physical form, she couldn't naturally shift into Spirit Form. But that didn't mean this Servant body was her Original Body.
Other Servants' Original Bodies and Heroic Spirits consisted of a Spirit Core and Spirit Origin, allowing them to naturally assume Spirit Form.
Artoria's case, however, was more like pulling her past self from this world's timeline to participate in the Holy Grail War.
But Aslan was too lazy to dwell on such details. After all, later he'd make a Gift for her together with Sakura, merging all these fragmented versions into one unified individual.
"Who knows if the Counter Force might go crazy and try to interfere?"
Aslan stroked his chin, thinking briefly. Honestly, who could predict what the Counter Force was thinking?
Like how they treated him as an Outer-Demon God and even summoned seven Grand Servants to make him the final boss.
"What if the Counter Force shows me a little respect this time?"
Aslan waved his hand, signaling Artoria to step closer.
The next moment, an empty Magic Card appeared and sealed Artoria inside.
As insurance, if anything went wrong, he could still save her.
Intricate magical arrays formed in Aslan's palm. The Magic Card containing Artoria floated above his hand.
With the aid of a Servant, the Greater Grail, the "Hole," and the connection to the Throne of Heroes beyond the Hole,
Aslan gazed upon Artoria's Original Body sleeping on a throne within the Throne of Heroes—as well as countless other versions of Artoria from across alternate realities.
Seeing all these variations, Aslan's lips twitched.
How obsessed was the Counter Force with Artoria's face?
Saber, Saber Alter, Lancer Artoria Alter, Lily, Lancer Artoria, Mysterious Heroine X, Mysterious Heroine X Alter, and so on.
There was also Jeanne, Jeanne Alter, Okita Souji, Nero and her variants, Morgan, etc…
All of them were gathered together.
It even gave Aslan the idea to package them all at once.
The only pity was that right now, he could only package the various Artorias.
He couldn't even locate the Throne of Heroes, much less break in and rob it outright.
After all, it was the one-of-a-kind Throne of Heroes across the entire Type-Moon cosmology—so Aslan was slightly hesitant to provoke it.
Better not to stir up trouble at a time like this.
*BUZZ!*
The next instant, the Magic Card in Aslan's hand and the Original Heroic Spirit bodies of the Artorias in the Throne of Heroes switched places.
Since Heroic Spirits were essentially pre-integrated results, Aslan easily granted Artoria her Original Spirit.
However, among all the different Artorias, only Saber possessed a physical body. The others remained unchanged—merely alternate personalities of Artoria.
Finally, Aslan recalled his Magic Card.
With that, Artoria had been successfully packaged.
"Huh… strange. Why hasn't the Counter Force reacted at all?"
Aslan scratched his head in confusion. Everything had gone too smoothly—it felt unnatural.
After all, he was used to the Counter Force acting wisely. Now, their sudden lack of interference felt oddly unsettling.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Contrary to what Aslan thought, here was the current situation at the Throne of Heroes.
"Gaia! My Artoria~!"
Within the Throne of Heroes, a voice rang out—pitiful, mournful, and heart-wrenching.
It was painful just to witness or hear.
"Alaya, it's fine. Don't you remember last time?"
Gaia's voice pierced through Alaya's final defenses as she wept.
Instantly, Alaya burst into even louder sobs.
She remembered. She remembered everything. Last time, Heroic Spirits in the Throne of Heroes had also been stolen like this.
Half of them were taken in one fell swoop...
Oh right—the culprit's last name was Ying.
"My Heroic Spirits, my figurines~!"
Did these people really think the Throne of Heroes was their personal playground—free to come and go as they pleased?
If the Counter Force weren't forced into passivity, they would've already punished that group of people who had long since graduated from the world.
People like Scáthach, rejected by the world, who had completed the unification of the Type-Moon worldview, transcending countless Parallel Worlds.
For example, Second Magician Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, the Jewel Mage.
Yet for existences who had transcended Earth, Second Magic was merely basic knowledge.
"Seriously, why does every annoying person have to steal my figurines~?"
"Let us mourn."
Quietly, Gaia made the sign of the cross over her chest and held a moment of silence—0.0003 seconds—for Alaya.
But what could they do?
Though they were the consciousnesses of the Counter Force across infinite Parallel Worlds, they lacked the ability to intervene in the Counter Force of each individual world.
Or rather, without the Throne of Heroes, whether they could even exist was questionable.
Instead, they were often blamed for the foolish actions of the Counter Forces in those Parallel Worlds.
Generally speaking, they were the number one punching bags. Every day, either being blamed or waiting to be blamed.
Right now, for instance, they both felt like they were about to get beaten up.