Type-Moon, What Do You Mean You summoned Tiamat?! Chapter 50: What Will the Holy Grail War Ultimately Become?

When they heard the na "Shirou," Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash were clearly stunned for a mont.

The two girls' gazes then unconsciously darted back and forth between Emiya Alter and Matou Yuu.

A few seconds later, Fujimaru Ritsuka seed to suddenly realize sothing. Her beautiful eyes widened in disbelief as she pointed at the terrifying assassin and exclaid, "Wait a second, Mr. Matou… What did you just call him?!"

"Shirou…?! The Emiya-sensei from Chaldea Records?!"

Although Chaldea's records contained a file on "Emiya Shirou of Fuyuki City," the person standing here now was "Emiya Alter"—dark-skinned, white-haired, and completely transford. That was why Fujimaru Ritsuka hadn't recognized him at first.

"How did you know it was him?"

"Because when we were little, he was like a little brother to . We went to and from school together all the ti."

Matou Yuu stared at the man before him, shocked that his skin had turned black and his appearance had changed so dramatically. He couldn't help crying out, "…But Shirou, why are you so tanned? If it were Sakura or Rin, no one in town would recognize you."

The brown-skinned man looked slightly bewildered by the boy's natural, familiar tone. Even the killing intent that had surrounded him seed to fade a little. For a mont, he didn't know how to respond.

For years he had worked as a "Guardian" under Alaya, moving through the various anomalies of human history like an emotionless cog in a machine. He had slaughtered indiscriminately, casting away his own na, mories, and even the foolish ideals he once held onto a mountain of garbage.

But the instant the boy casually spoke the na "Emiya Shirou," countless warm mories of Fuyuki City rushed into the man's heart like a sudden downpour.

He couldn't help but recall everything that had happened in the past…

Sensing that the tension had eased, Tiamat also seed to soften her earlier hostility slightly. Her clear crimson eyes, filled with both vigilance and curiosity, remained fixed on the "Guardian" sent by the Counter Force.

The operating principle of Alaya, the Counter Force, was simple—everything for the continuation of Human Order.

Beasts, on the other hand, were calamities whose very existence must never be permitted.

When the Counter Forces dispatched a Guardian possessing the power of "erasure," it ant they intended to flip the table and physically sweep the board clean.

The aura the brown-skinned man had released at first had indeed been aid at Tiamat.

Feeling Matou Yuu's usual gentle gaze, Emiya Alter let out a long sigh after a lengthy silence. "This is… a long story. But given the current situation, we don't have ti to look back on the past, Yuu."

He finished speaking and turned his eyes toward Tiamat beside Matou Yuu, a faint trace of unease on his face.

"The reason I ca to this city is because far too many abnormal phenona have occurred here, causing the Alaya Consciousness to sound the alarm in desperation."

"Especially… this Mother."

Even before Emiya Alter departed, Tiamat—had already forcibly impressed upon him the extre danger of this target.

If Beast II descended in her true form as a symbol of return, the snowy city would not only be completely dissolved by black mud in an instant; the entire foundation of human society and the Earth's ecosystem would collapse.

Right now, the one standing beside Matou Yuu was rely an apparently harmless clone. Yet simply by staring at her, Emiya Alter could feel an oppressive pressure rising from the depths of his soul.

His right hand moved instinctively behind his back. As if by reflex, he gripped the highly compressed pistol forged from the famous blade Kanshou.

Should he kill her now, while he still could?

No… it was too dangerous.

There was no way to determine whether this clone was connected in real ti to the consciousness of the original existence floating in the sky. If the attack failed, or if the clone's death triggered the original's awakening, the consequences would be beyond imagination.

But if this dragged on any longer…

"Don't worry, Shirou."

At that mont, the familiar voice rang out again.

Emiya Alter snapped back to his senses and looked up. Matou Yuu had already stepped forward, placing himself between Emiya Alter and Tiamat.

"She has no intention whatsoever of harming this world. As long as I'm here, she will never beco a calamity."

Looking at the extrely tense man before him, Matou Yuu spoke calmly. "The reason this city has stirred up so much trouble and even drawn you and Chaldea here… you already know very well that the true mastermind is soone else, don't you?"

The ruthless executor of suppression stared silently at the calm young man in front of him, then slowly relaxed the fingers gripping the pistol's handle.

After a mont of silence, he spoke in a hoarse voice. "Faldeus Dioland. That's correct, isn't it?"

"Ten minutes ago, I infiltrated his underground command center and eliminated the crisis of this Singularity before it could fully manifest."

As an agent of the Counter Forces, Emiya Alter had spent years operating in the shadows of human history, performing the dirtiest and most grueling tasks for the Alaya Consciousness—violently eliminating any anomalies that threatened to derail the course of history.

In this Holy Grail War unfolding in the snow-covered city, Faldeus had been one of the most irregular existences.

"You killed Faldeus?"

Matou Yuu understood the implication and couldn't help glancing at the brown-skinned man several tis.

"Did you confirm it personally?"

Emiya Alter frowned. "My enchanted bullet definitely pierced his skull and damaged his brain. As a human, survival was impossible."

After he finished, he noticed Matou Yuu's increasingly strange and subtle expression and felt doubt rise in his chest. "Is there a problem?"

Matou Yuu gazed at the dimly lit arch of the bridge in the distance. The image of Flat being blown apart and then strangely reconstructed kept replaying in his mind.

"I've never t the Faldeus you ntioned in person, but I have had indirect contact with him before."

Matou Yuu spoke slowly. "The person who tried to assassinate at the amusent park was most likely him."

"Faldeus is a typical Arican bureaucrat with an extrely strong desire for control. Since joining the Holy Grail War, he has never once shown himself. Would soone like that leave his physical body in a place that can be so easily infiltrated?"

Matou Yuu paused. The mory of being dragged into an illusion barrier at the amusent park suddenly surfaced.

"If my mory is correct, he should have a magus highly skilled in illusions accompanying him…"

A magus highly skilled in illusions…?

Emiya Alter was initially surprised, then felt as if lightning had struck his brain.

In that instant, every detail of what he had experienced in the underground command center ca flooding back.

Faldeus with a gun to his head, pressing a button beneath the table, sticky blood spreading across the floor…

And then… the old man from the mountains who had suddenly appeared in the command center without warning.

After a long silence, Emiya Alter's pupils contracted slightly. As if he had finally understood, he murmured quietly, "So… that's what he ant back then?"

The old man living in the mountains had known about Faldeus's actions from the very beginning. Looking back, nearly everything he said had hinted at it.

But… the mountain elder had also co down to protect humanity. If he already knew Faldeus's location, why hadn't he simply killed him from the start?

Various thoughts raced through his mind. Emiya Alter's eyes wavered for a mont before he abruptly turned and began to leave.

"It's already too late to turn back. He won't stay there waiting for you." Matou Yuu reached out and stopped him.

Emiya Alter halted. He looked down at the black pistol he had modified from the blade Kanshou and let out a heavy sigh. "To be completely deceived by such a despicable trick… how humiliating."

Seeing the man's face darken, Matou Yuu comforted him. "It's only natural. Snowfield City has been a major military base for years. The information gap is overwhelming. The fact that you managed to seize his command center anyway is actually an outstanding achievent."

Emiya Alter shook his head. "A mistake is still a mistake… I never imagined that after living as an assassin for so long, I'd need soone to point out such a basic error."

He had spent years building his position under Alaya, traveling through countless eras of human history and assassinating countless high officials… yet the mont he arrived in Snowfield City, he had suffered such a massive loss without even realizing it.

If Matou Yuu hadn't reminded him, he might never have noticed until the war was over.

Matou Yuu simply laughed it off and gave the man's shoulder a light pat, speaking in an understanding tone. "It's normal… After all, your opponent isn't just one magus, but an entire national-scale machine. And you're always a little careless… Shirou."

Emiya Alter fell silent for a while. Noticing the curious expressions on the two girls' faces, his usual calm deanor clearly cracked. He sighed.

"…Maybe you two should stop calling Shirou."

Matou Yuu looked surprised. "Do you have another na?"

"…"

Seeing the brown-skinned man's socially paralyzed expression, Mash quietly leaned toward the orange-haired girl and whispered while narrowing her eyes, "I never imagined that the extrely dangerous Emiya Alter from Chaldea Records would have such a human side."

Emiya Alter remained frozen for several seconds.

Then he lowered the hand from his forehead and said, "Enough already, you two. Don't you understand how serious the situation is? After we send that Mother back to the heavens, then we can joke around."

Even though they knew he was clumsily trying to change the subject to hide his embarrassnt, the two girls from Chaldea had no choice but to refocus on the harsh reality the mont they heard the word Mother.

The orange-haired girl took a deep breath and looked at the boy before her with hopeful eyes. "Um, Mr. Matou… Do you have any ideas on how to appease Tiamat?"

"Senpai, you forgot to introduce yourself," Mash whispered while raising her cross-shaped shield.

The girl snapped out of her daze, hurriedly stepped back half a pace, and bowed at a perfect ninety-degree angle.

"How rude of ! I completely forgot sothing so important—I'm truly sorry… My na is Fujimaru Ritsuka, and the girl beside is Mash Kyrielight. We are from Chaldea who ca here to save humanity… This concerns the survival of the human race, so please—lend us your strength, no matter what!"

Such sincere words and impeccable earnestness would move even the coldest magus.

"I'm afraid I must decline."

Matou Yuu refused flatly.

When Fujimaru Ritsuka looked up in shock, he continued, "I've decided to take Tiamat around the world in the future and let her experience all kinds of lives."

"Huh?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka blinked blankly, as if her brain had montarily overloaded. She looked completely lost.

It took a full five seconds before she finally processed the enormous amount of information in the boy's words. Then she couldn't help but cry out in disbelief.

"Huh?!?! "

"Take a Beast on a world tour!?"

"Wait, wait a minute!" Mash covered her mouth in shock, but her beautiful violet eyes, fixed on the pair, seed to burn with the flas of intense gossip.

"Are you and the Mother Goddess of Creation… perhaps… in a romantic relationship?!"

Matou Yuu recalled the kiss on the overpass earlier. After a brief mont of thought, he gave an ambiguous nod.

Hearing the word "romantic relationship," Tiamat, standing beside him, tilted her head slightly as if trying to understand the unfamiliar term.

The instant she sensed the gentleness in the boy's eyes, a deep blush spread across her beautiful, refined face.

She quietly approached Matou Yuu and murmured in a soft, lodic voice, "Aaaaah…"

At that extrely dependent expression, Emiya Alter—standing nearby—was left stunned, as if struck by lightning.

Then, as if suddenly rembering sothing very important, she hesitated, looking as though she wanted to speak but couldn't, and glanced at the boy once or twice more.

The very idea of Tiamat falling in love with a human magus was shocking enough. But what truly changed Emiya Alter's perspective was sothing crucial he had only just recalled.

…If his mory was correct, the old man of the Matou family had already decided on Yuu's marriage to Sakura when she was still very young, hadn't he?

If Sakura, far away in Fuyuki, ever found out about this…

Just imagining that scene made Emiya Alter's long-dormant heart suddenly race with an indescribable sense of anticipation.

Logically, as an assassin, he shouldn't care about such things.

Yet the thought of the boy one day bringing Tiamat back to the Matou household and running into Sakura… was strangely amusing.

Emiya Alter quickly shook his head to dispel the stray thoughts.

When he had worked as a Guardian during the bloodiest periods of history, his mind had been filled only with thoughts of efficient killing. There had been no room for trivial matters like romance or gossip.

For so reason, the mont he saw Matou Yuu, his vigilance had relaxed—and even in this critical situation, he found himself thinking about gossip.

"By the way…"

Matou Yuu's voice pulled the three of them back from their thoughts to reality.

"What I said earlier was about leaving Tiamat's spiritual avatar in the present world."

He looked up at the three people before him.

"But if you want to return that original body floating in the sky to the Sea of Imaginary Numbers… I have a good idea."

…

The city was shrouded in darkness. A faint mist gradually spread through the streets.

Wherever the mist passed, whether sleeping civilians or patrolling guards, every face contorted in extre pain.

Cold sweat beaded constantly on their foreheads, and their cheeks burned with high fever—clear signs that a severe fever was imminent.

"Ah… As expected of you, Rider?"

"This level of plague is of little use against noble and powerful heroes, but it's remarkably effective against fragile human bodies…"

"I still don't understand how Matou Yuu managed it. Why is he immune to your plague and able to enter Tsubaki's dream unscathed?"

"But none of that matters… Drag every lanting soul in this city into that eternal dream… and build a harmless dream kingdom for your beloved Master!"

In the vast, pale mist… or more precisely, inside the dream world where Tsubaki Kuruoka was trapped.

A silver-haired boy who looked about seven or eight years old stood there. Arms crossed, imrsed in blissful ecstasy, his childish voice was filled with madness.

…It was Jester, the Dead Apostle who had fled after being threatened by the mountain elder earlier.

The plague spread by the Pale Rider was an absolutely lethal toxin to humans.

But as Dead Apostles, they possessed complete immunity to this instant-death curse.

After all, a body that never truly dies no matter how rotten it beca had no reason to fear illness.

At this very mont, he was using that privilege to sneak into Tsubaki Kuruoka's dream.

Moreover, the mist the Pale Rider had scattered across the city had beco a massive surveillance network covering all of Snowfield City for Jester.

Within that mist-covered network, he had already located the target he sought.

"Matou Yuu…"

The mont Jester sensed the black-haired boy walking the midnight streets, pathological frenzy and longing suddenly ignited in his previously vacant eyes.

More precisely… what he longed for was the Servant currently residing inside Matou Yuu's body—the Servant that should have originally belonged to him.

"Assassin… my beautiful, sacred Assassin…"

"Why did you hide her inside that filthy human body?"

"But it's fine… I just need to destroy this vessel."

"As long as this guy dies… my Assassin will bloom once more from this body, won't she?"

Jester's eyes were filled with affection. He clasped his hands and manipulated the pale white mist. It quietly enveloped Matou Yuu as he walked along the street.

But the very next instant, sothing unexpected happened.

The pale mist, which would cause instant organ failure in any human, rely drifted past Matou Yuu the mont it touched him.

"Huh…?"

Inside the dream, Jester tilted his head. An expression of disbelief and shock appeared on his youthful face.

Notably, even as a high-ranking Dead Apostle, when he had first been directly struck by this god-level plague, he had been forced to sacrifice his life to reconstruct his body.

Yet… the Pale Rider's terrifying plague had no effect whatsoever on this human boy?!

Sothing was wrong…

Jester imdiately frowned and stared intently at the images fed back through the white mist, his eyes filled with doubt and anxiety.

Was there sothing else hidden inside this man's body?

Yes—at that mont, through the mist's feedback, Jester could clearly see that every ti the Pale Rider's plague attacked the boy's body, the boy's physique actually endured the assault. The lethal bacteria truly entered his bloodstream.

But the instant they entered… they were swallowed by sothing.

What was that…?

Jester's eyes wavered slightly. Finally making up his mind, he gathered his courage and linked his consciousness to a mass of the pale mist. The mist quietly entered the boy's body along with his breath.

He traveled through the boy's blood, attempting to uncover the hidden truth.

Gradually, his consciousness touched a dark space.

And then he saw it.

The very instant he saw it——

"!!!"

Inside the dream barrier, the silver-haired boy with the eerie expression suddenly let out a piercing scream.

He clutched his eyes. Blood stread from the corners, quickly staining his clothes red.

"Damn it… damn it! What the hell is that?! Why is sothing like that… sothing like that… inside him?!"

Jester collapsed to the floor, gasping heavily, his body trembling violently as if he couldn't stop shaking.

This was a completely different kind of terror.

When he had faced the mountain elder, he had felt deep helplessness and fear.

But upon learning what lay inside Matou Yuu's body, he couldn't even think of running away.

Not even when facing his superior, Van-Fem—the 14th of the Twenty-Seven Dead Apostle Ancestors—had he ever felt such an emotion.

What on earth was that…?

The silver-haired boy sat on the ground, lost in thought, muttering to himself.

…

In a certain building in Snowfield City, a bone-chilling night wind swept across the empty rooftop.

A cute silver-haired girl in a pure white dress sat defenselessly on the outside of the railing, which lacked any safety asures.

She dangled her slender legs hundreds of ters above the night wind, gently swaying her toes while humming a cheerful nursery rhy she had heard sowhere.

Click.

The sound of a gun being cocked echoed. A black military pistol erged from the shadows, its muzzle pressed against the girl's temple.

Francesca, however, seed completely unaware. She continued to enjoy the night view of the desert city now swirling with countless conspiracies.

"Oh my, is this your usual attitude toward your savior… Faldeus?"

Imdiately afterward, a voice brimming with joy and coquettishness drifted lightly on the cold wind.

Without turning around, Francesca rely tilted her delicate face slightly and glanced at the man behind her from the corner of her eye. She smiled and said, "If I hadn't kindly used illusion magic to create a perfect double of you, that cleaner Alaya sent might have already blown your head to pieces, you know?"

"And… you should know these latest weapons don't work on at all, right?"

Faldeus let out an ambiguous snort and silently holstered the pistol inside his trench coat.

Despite being furious at this old monster who always spoke in a sarcastic tone, he couldn't deny that the girlish-looking Francesca was indeed physically an immortal heretic.

Rather, it was more accurate to say she had been killed countless tis over the past few centuries by every imaginable thod, only to reappear before people each ti as if nothing had happened.

"The current situation appears even worse than you, the chess player, anticipated."

Francesca turned around, looked the man up and down, and poured oil on the fire with a smug tone. "Not only did the Goddess of Creation in the sky refuse to leave, but the blond boy nad Flat is still alive! Moreover, the monster that took over his body seems to be hunting for prey all over Snowfield City right now~"

"If I were you, I'd be panicking by now… but you seem far calr than I expected. Or are you just putting on a brave front?"

"The blond boy regenerating after being killed by a bomb… that certainly exceeded my expectations. However, judging from the residual magical energy waveforms sent back by the drones, that monster's paraters probably haven't even reached the level of a third-rate Heroic Spirit."

Faldeus slowly raised his head and looked up at the enormous object soaring high in the distance. "Compared to this… she is far more important."

"The Mother Goddess of Creation…" Francesca let out a theatrical sigh. "I see. After all, that flower magus also manifested because of her influence, and the Counter Force even sent Guardians to forcibly interfere with the present world."

The girl suddenly covered her face, her shoulders trembling slightly as she sobbed, "What will beco of the Holy Grail War we orchestrated?!"

Faldeus maintained remarkable composure, but in his heart he couldn't stop thinking about the dark-skinned man he had just seen.

If Francesca hadn't hidden him with illusion magic, he really might have been killed by that Guardian.

But…

"Enough with the pathetic act, Francesca. The situation hasn't completely collapsed yet. At least for now, it remains under my control."

The man walked against the cold wind to the rooftop railing and casually tossed his long-extinguished expensive cigar into the night sky.

"Whether it's Chaldea, the Guardians sent by the counterattack force, or Flat who has beco a monster… they are all, at their core, nothing more than Servants. And under modern military control, Servants ultimately beco just another type of cold weapon."

"Rather than these weapons I can use whenever I want, I want to know how to shoot that most troubleso nuclear bomb in the sky down into the sea."

"Pfft… Ahahahaha!"

Hearing these words, Francesca—who had been sitting on the railing—suddenly burst into loud laughter while clutching her stomach.

She pointed at Faldeus's face and rcilessly mocked him. "Eh? This is hilarious! Just monts ago you were grandly declaring that Heroic Spirits and Noble Phantasms are rely cold weapons, yet the mont the Goddess of Creation is ntioned, you get this flustered—what's going on?"

Francesca wiped the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes with a finger and spoke in an especially amused voice. "It's true she's floating in the sky… but she's nothing more than an insubstantial illusion, you know. Are you scared too, Mr. High Official?"

"Don't you understand yet, Francesca?"

The man turned his face and coldly stared at the girl. "Unless absolutely necessary, I have no intention of reporting this matter to the Departnt of Defense."

If the higher-ups intervened, his incompetence would be exposed—and that would almost certainly mark the end of Faldeus's political life.

Therefore, he had to use every possible ans to thoroughly cover up the situation within the city.

"I see. You're worried about losing your position? How humble and realistic of you, as an adult."

Francesca gently touched her delicate lips with a fingertip. Then, with a smile full of deeper aning, she said, "If you want to eliminate that biggest nuisance… do you know why the illusion of Tiamat's true form appeared above this city?"

Faldeus remained silent and listened quietly.

"In other words, even if soone forcibly pries open a rift in the Sea of Imaginary Numbers, under normal circumstances the sleeping beast cannot accurately find an exit into the real world. However…"

A mischievous light shone in the silver-haired girl's eyes. "She has an anchor point in the real world."

In other words, Faldeus lightly tapped the railing with his fingertip and whispered, "Close the rift in the Sea of Imaginary Numbers and sever Matou Yuu's anchor point. Is that correct?"

"Would you like so help…? Though it feels like we're a bit short on manpower," Francesca said with a smile.

"Of course, the two of us alone aren't enough."

Faldeus spoke slowly. "Recently Bazdilot was killed and the Avenger Alcides has gone missing… but the military has confird his location using drones."

He turned toward Francesca.

"Now that beast is… burning with revenge."

…

PS: Support and read advanced chapters at patreon/AbsoluteCode