Snowfield City is a city located in the northern part of Nevada, United States.
It is surrounded by endless wilderness and desert. It was not naturally ford, but created through the cooperation of relevant U.S. governnt departnts and Western Magus.
However, most people do not know the true situation. Many are ordinary families who moved here or gamblers seeking thrills in this mini-Las Vegas.
These humans, used as fuel or audience, had no idea that a mythical war was already unfolding in the desert on the outskirts of Snowfield City on the eve before the bell signaling the start of this fake Holy Grail War rang.
Even those behind the scenes of this war had not expected the situation to completely collapse so thoroughly on the very first night.
...
Snowfield City Police Station.
Inside the heavily soundproofed and bulletproof-glass-enclosed command room, the air was stiflingly heavy.
The wall clock ticked monotonously.
Police Chief Orlando Reeve leaned back quietly in his large leather office chair, hands clasped under his chin, eyes closed.
This stern-faced man seed to be gathering strength to face the coming storm in this brief silence.
"Ring ring ring—"
Just then, the internal phone line suddenly rang, shattering the deathly silence of the room.
"What is it?" Orlando picked up the receiver, his voice completely flat.
"Oh my, don't be so cold, Supervisor."
From the other end of the line ca a sowhat frivolous, slightly careless young man's voice… it was Faldeus, head of the Arican intelligence agency for this Holy Grail War.
"The oldest king who made such a grand appearance tonight, followed by the divine weapon, seems to have caused quite a commotion in the northern desert. The radar and magical surveillance network are practically smoking."
Faldeus chuckled quietly. "Unfortunately, Chief, it looks like you'll have to handle the dia response and citizen cover-up again tomorrow morning."
"Hero King Gilgash and the son of the earth, Enkidu… hmm."
Orlando slowly opened his eyes, a serious expression appearing in his sharp, hawk-like gaze. "It seems this Holy Grail War has far exceeded our expectations from the very beginning."
"Exceeded expectations?" Faldeus let out a slightly mocking laugh over the communication channel. "Chief Orlando, haven't you been playing police officer in your comfortable little station for too long and beco a bit cowardly?"
He paused, his frivolous tone carrying a chilling arrogance. "So-called Heroic Spirits, no matter how great a hero they were in life, are ultimately just weapons forcibly controlled by Command Spells in this ritual."
"The appearance of the oldest Hero King is indeed a bit surprising, but as long as they're still fighting each other, aren't they still within the board we drew? Or are you already rethinking things on the very first night of the war?"
Orlando's lips twitched into a mocking smile as he replied coldly, "Faldeus, it's truly delightful that you can maintain such foolish optimism."
"But I'll warn you: stop the petty tricks. Tonight's destruction has already reached its limit. I absolutely will not allow the situation to worsen any further."
"…Continuing to escalate?" Faldeus chuckled as if he had heard a joke. "You an the legendary battle tonight already has the power to change the fate of this land, yet it could still escalate further?"
"Please, what could be greater than this? Could a true god be descending upon this desert?"
Orlando fell silent for two seconds, his voice carrying self-mocking fatigue. "…Thank you for the praise. In that case, I'll arrange for the dia to adopt a unified statent. The anomalous events in the north tonight were caused by an unscheduled military exercise and a series of gas pipeline explosions."
Orlando's tone returned to a cold, calm register. "As for the magical waveform data from the battle between those two Heroic Spirits, you…"
"Don't worry. As soon as the supercomputer analysis is complete, I'll send it straight to your terminal. Good night, goodbye."
"Aaaaaah—"
Just as Faldeus was about to end the communication.
There had been no warning signs at all.
A faint, ethereal voice like a siren's song suddenly flowed into the sealed office through the receiver—no, through the air and the ground beneath their feet.
SMACK
Almost the instant the sound rang out, the hand holding Orlando's receiver began to tremble violently. His statue-like rigid body was enveloped in a chill as if he had fallen into an ice cave.
"Faldeus…"
"Ah… you heard it too? I thought there was a problem with the soundproofing in this underground base…"
On the other end of the line, Faldeus's voice could no longer maintain its previous frivolity and composure.
Inside the special operations command center, hundreds of ters underground in Snowfield City.
Faldeus stared blankly at the huge main screen in front of him, which displayed the magical surveillance system covering all of Snowfield City.
The mont the song began, the blood-red warning lines representing danger thresholds on the screen were shattered by incomprehensible values and replaced with strings of text reading "System unable to analyze."
The head of Arican intelligence swallowed hard.
This was a top-secret facility buried deep underground, layered with multiple magical barriers.
Yet that sound had pierced through hundreds of ters of rock strata and barriers without obstruction, resonating directly in people's hearts.
Furthermore, judging from the coordinates fed back from the magical source… it was the northern desert.
If his mory served him correctly, just ten minutes ago, the frontline team had reported that the Master-Servant pair he had designated as Level 2 surveillance targets were wandering the edge of that area.
The image of the gentle figure with long blue hair captured on the surveillance cara involuntarily surfaced in Faldeus's mind.
That woman who had shown no magical reaction at all… could it be her?!
The glaring red alarm lights illuminated Faldeus's face. Cold sweat beaded thinly on his forehead. He forced a smile and muttered toward the still-connected phone, "It seems… the gods took my joke seriously."
"Chief… I don't think this Holy Grail War is rely troubleso anymore."
…
User Comments
0 comments from readers