Chapter 1656: Return

The bright moon hung high, over the Fuyuki City Downtown Street, inside a church that was nearly completely destroyed by an explosion.

This was the Kotomine Church. On a charred bench, Su Xiao held a bouquet of white flowers in his hand.

“Father, I killed your only son. It’s a shame I didn’t get the chance to bring him to your grave.”

Su Xiao casually tossed aside the white flowers in his hand. Back when he first entered the Holy Grail World, Kotomine Lisei had helped him significantly, or rather, among the various Derivative Worlds he had experienced, the Old Priest was one of the two plot characters he got along with best. As for the others, most were just schemes against each other. Unfortunately, in the end, the Old Priest died at the hands of his own son.

The reason Su Xiao had the leisure to come here was that he hadn’t found any trace of Sakura Matou. After some investigation, he discovered that it wasn’t just the Magician Association meddling in this affair, but there were also traces of other Contractors involved. This made finding Sakura Matou and that Heroic Spirit even more challenging. Although Su Xiao was stronger than these people, he was not all-knowing or all-powerful.

The anticipated battle between sisters didn’t occur. What surprised Su Xiao even more was that the golden flash was killed by those Lone Wolves. As a price, nearly twenty Lone Wolves were involved, with only two survivors.

The demise of the golden flash made Illya’s situation even more unstable. Although the golden flash was not a Heroic Spirit in this Holy Grail War, he still had the nature of a Heroic Spirit. His death caused the Little Holy Grail to nearly overflow, meaning the Heavenly Hole was about to open.

There was no such thing as the ‘Holy Grail’, or rather, after the Third Holy Grail War, the nature of the Holy Grail experienced a qualitative change. The person who once came closest to the Holy Grail was Emiya Kiritsugu. He realized that the Holy Grail was no longer an omnipotent wishing device, which is why he had the Foolish King destroy it.

Rumble…

The sound of rumbling came, and Su Xiao rose, looking east of Fuyuki City. A ‘Dark Moon’ appeared, with a cyan halo around its edge—it was indeed the Heavenly Hole.

“Who exactly is snatching food?”

Although Su Xiao hadn’t found Sakura Matou, he wasn’t too disappointed, as his original goal was to settle the enmity with the Blood Gate. All other matters were additional gains, and not finding Sakura Matou was within expectations, given the vast amount of time he had wasted dealing with the Blood Gate Adventure Group.

Checking the current World Source, it had already reached 51.4%. Compared to before, this time’s World Source wasn’t much, but it wasn’t little either.

“Taking the Little Holy Grail so far away, does Rin Tohsaka really believe that once the Heavenly Hole is summoned, mud will immediately spurt out?”

“Woof.”

Bubu Wang, beside Su Xiao, barked, meaning: “Isn’t that what you said?”

“Did I say that?”

Su Xiao looked at Bubu Wang, whose expression turned awkward. Under the tyranny of pocket money, it shook its head, feeling a pang of guilt.

Su Xiao didn’t go near the Heavenly Hole because it was meaningless now. Or rather, Sakura Matou never showed up from beginning to end—not because she was cowardly, but because a high-ranking Clock Tower official had directly told her what the Holy Grail really was.

With the death of Stan, his contract with a high-ranking Clock Tower official was dissolved. From that point on, the Holy Grail War was reduced from a responsibility to merely a training experience for Sakura Matou. Since it was a Nightmare Difficulty Holy Grail War with Su Xiao involved, the protective mad magician couldn’t possibly allow Sakura Matou to continue participating in it.

Back then, Director Ken participated in the Holy Grail War not for the Grail, but because of his family’s rapid decline. He needed a victory or proof that would command respect to stabilize his position as the Monarch at the Clock Tower.

[Notification: Main Task has reached the time limit.]

Judging current progress…

Current plot progress is as follows:

1. Number of remaining Heroic Spirits: 2 (Comprehensive evaluation -5%).

2. Number of remaining Contractors: 4 (Hunter has temporarily disguised as a Contractor).

3. Heavenly Hole has been summoned (Comprehensive evaluation +16%).

4. Holy Grail War not completely concluded (Comprehensive evaluation -31%).

5. Little Holy Grail container remains (Comprehensive evaluation +3%).

6. Magician Association intervened in the Holy Grail War multiple times (Comprehensive evaluation +2%).

[Notification: As the Holy Grail War has not completely ended, the Hunter shall enter the Starry Sky Legacy to await the conclusion of the Holy Grail World and await the final evaluation.]

Seeing this series of notifications, Su Xiao was somewhat intrigued but not surprised. After all, his main task this time wasn’t completely accomplished, and it was within reason that he needed to wait a bit before returning to Reincarnation Paradise.

Su Xiao was rather nonchalant, but far away in a canyon, the Masked Man had quite a reaction. She managed to snatch food from Su Xiao and gained huge rewards from a hidden task.

“Wait, I…”

The Masked Man’s words were cut off as she was enveloped by space-time power, and when she regained her senses, she found herself amidst a starry sky, similar to Stellarspace Transit Station. Below was a beautiful view of the Star River, with an inky black chain spanning across the sky, breathtakingly awe-inspiring.

The Masked Man rubbed the back of her head, just recovering from the feeling of teleportation, only to find four pairs of eyes staring at her.

“Hello there.”

Silently praying in her heart: ‘He doesn’t remember me, doesn’t remember me, doesn’t remember me, please don’t let him remember me.’

“Masked Man.”

“Ah～”

The Masked Man moaned quietly as if a thousand alpacas had just stomped across her mind.

“Besides you, there are two other people, which means one of the three of you took Sakura Matou.”

Su Xiao’s expression was calm; it was all about capability, he had no regrets about not finding Sakura Matou.

“…”

The Masked Man shrugged noncommittally at Su Xiao.

“It’s all about one’s capabilities; no one would hold a grudge over such a thing.”

Su Xiao was about to light a cigarette, only to find that flames wouldn’t ignite here.

“You’re right, it’s all about one’s capabilities; there’s no need to hold a grudge over trivial matters.”

“So, you indeed took Sakura Matou.”

Su Xiao suddenly shifted his gaze, internally exclaiming ‘damn’ as the Masked Man cursed inwardly: ‘This guy’s so sinister.’

“I wouldn’t say I took Sakura Matou; it was an old fellow from the Magician Association. After you flattened the Liu Dong Temple, his expression was remarkable. The banshee he placed high hopes on was clearly unable to withstand it, which is why he resorted to this desperate move. To that childless old guy, Sakura Matou was very precious. By the way, what’s your grudge with the Blood Gate that you fought so fiercely?”

“Who knows.”

Su Xiao finally figured out the situation. This Holy Grail War basically ended with heads knocked hard, dragging the Magician Association and the Holy Church into it all, leaving the masterminds unable to stay snug in the background.

As Su Xiao pondered, two more Contractors were transported here. Both were covered in blood, glaring at each other. One had a cold expression like a venomous snake, half his head smashed, while the other had his hands in his pockets, with a dagger, shaped like a snake’s fang, stuck in his head.

“I *****.”

Cold-voiced man immediately bombarded the dagger-man with profane greetings related to his female relatives. Dagger-man merely chuckled and ignored the cold voice man.

[Notification: The Holy Grail World has ended.]

[Notification: After participating in the Fifth Holy Grail War, re-entry into the Holy Grail World will not occur.]

[Teleportation commencing soon.]

[Teleportation completed. Hunter returns to the exclusive room.]

[Settling Derivative World rewards…]

Derivative World: fate/stay night

Difficulty: Level 30～Level 37

World Source obtained: 51.4%

Tasks completed: 2 (Main Task ×1, Hunter Task ×1.)

Comprehensive Evaluation: A+

Team Skill 1: Chapter of Glory (activated).

Skill Effect: During the settlement of Derivative World rewards, the comprehensive evaluation is raised by one level (cannot raise the comprehensive evaluation to S+).

Comprehensive evaluation boosted to S-

Commencing collection of World Source…

World Source collection completed, beginning to calculate rewards.

Rewards gained: 7 True Attribute Points (including those obtained in Derivative World), 34,000 Paradise coins.

With a comprehensive evaluation of S-, the current Hunter Level is Level 39. Hunter Level increased by +2 (Derivative World Tier × Task Completion Quantity + Comprehensive Evaluation – Task Completion Time). Hunter Level has been increased to Level 40.

Hunter Level has reached Level 40, and the main attributes of Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Intelligence have not broken through 99 points. Unable to undergo Fifth Tier promotion assessment.

Notification: When a Contractor progresses to the Fifth Tier, there will be gradual contact with the High Tier area ‘Void’, where more than 67% of the areas suppress Ordinary Attributes. True Attributes ignore this suppression (even if located in highly adverse environments like the Black Abyss · Bottom, True Attributes will not be reduced or suppressed).

Settlement completed, rewards have been stored inside the Hunter’s Brand.

PS: (The weather has gotten colder these days, and my cervical spondylosis has relapsed. It seems a bit severe today, so only two chapters were written. I hope my lord readers can understand. However, I will adjust my state as soon as possible.)