Chapter 031 [Inverted V] 31

“Is this… a special spot?!”

After the soul particle transfer was over, Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at the overly lively scene inside the anomaly in astonishment. Among the anomalies that Chaldea determined to have a major impact on human history, she had never seen such a lively scene in any other anomaly except the city of Uruk of King Gilgamesh.

Most of the servants accompanying him also had serious expressions - after all, no one knew what kind of changes would be hidden under the bright and beautiful surface of the special point.

"…The communication with Chaldea has been cut off again." Fujimaru Ritsuka checked the communication and found that he had lost contact with the control room again. "I'm almost used to the situation where the communication is cut off every time I enter the special point - regardless of the communication problem, has anyone observed anything unusual?"

"The atmosphere is wrong." Okita tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword, his sharp eyes piercing through the crowd around him. "It looks like a festival, but... I feel like it's dangerous here, like a battlefield - I even suspect that there are several corpses under my feet."

"Even though there will be a tourist parade in Shibuya on Halloween, there are too many people." Abe Haruaki put his hands into his wide sleeves, and his blue eyes took in the entire Shibuya area. "My clairvoyance hasn't seen anything abnormal yet - rather, the only part that can be called abnormal from what I've seen is the excessive number of people here."

"After all, my fighting instincts are no match for that genius swordsman over there."

"In addition, I do not recommend that the Master ask the locals inside the special point for information as he did in the past." Emiya followed Abe Haruaki and reminded him, while pushing everyone to a more secluded corner, "At least I do not agree with the Master asking for information from the group of people in front of us."

"There's something wrong with these people, or—"

"They are not living people." Fujimaru Ritsuka scanned the crowd in front of him and made a firm judgment, "Let's wait a while before taking action - at least we can't get directly trapped in these living dead. The current time in the anomaly is eight o'clock... Let's wait until half past eight before taking action. I'll leave the work of preliminary investigation to Mr. Emiya."

The red Archer transformed into a golden spirit, infiltrated the crowd that almost filled the entire Shibuya, and began to collect information about the anomaly.

The clock hands slowly moved to half past eight.

Changes within the singularity also occurred at this moment.

There was a huge commotion in one corner of the crowd of living dead that filled Shibuya, but it soon died down completely - just like the fleeting fireworks on a summer night.

For the Chaldea exploration team, the incident in Shibuya was undoubtedly the signal for the start of the action - Okita Souji undoubtedly rushed to the front, clearing the fastest way for Fujimaru Ritsuka to the site of the incident; Abe Haruaki fell behind, easily passing through the crowd like a nimble fox, and stacking Yin-Yang Jutsu to increase the movement speed for his companions.

Emiya released his spirit form at the location where the change occurred, revealed his body, and began to examine the living dead who had completely collapsed and stopped moving.

"Mr. Emiya!!!"

Her voice reached Emiya before Fujimaru Ritsuka himself. The battle-hardened Lord of the Underworld didn't wait for the Servant to report the results of the on-site inspection. He just glanced at it briefly and frowned seriously.

"This is a worse situation than just being a living dead..."

"The time since death is not long, but it is not short either." Okita Souji, who was squatting next to a corpse, stood up and held Kikuchimonji tightly by his side. "Most of the fatal wounds on the corpse are similar to those caused by cold weapons - swords. Master, do you have a conclusion?"

"Let's hold off on the sword speculation for now - after all, it's 2018, and the sword ban has been in effect for 142 years... At least in this era, no one should be able to cause such casualties with a sword." Fujimaru Ritsuka reached out to touch the huge wound on the corpse, "I think it should be caused by non-humans - for example, the demon claw."

"Also, given what happened before - I think the people who killed the people and the people who caused the formation of the singularity may not be the same group."

"Puppets... is that what you mean, Master?" Abe Haruaki casually burned a piece of talisman paper, allowing threads of magic to appear before everyone's eyes. "The crowd before should be almost entirely made up of puppets made of corpses - assuming that the holder of the Holy Grail wants to kill everyone, then the Shibuya district that appeared before us should not be the same as it was half an hour ago."

——If you want to kill everyone, why go to the trouble of turning the corpses into puppets to pretend that everything is fine?

"...For the mastermind behind the scenes, the existence of a crowd is a must." Fujimaru Ritsuka glanced at Abe Haruaki, and seeing that she was not prepared to say anything else, he continued to organize his thoughts along this line of thought, "I remember that Teacher El-Melloi II once said that for the Crown Servant - no matter which one it is..."

“You are strongest when you are alone.”

——Any existence other than the enemy entering the battlefield is a burden and a nuisance to them... and there are also restrictions.

"This statement can also be applied to other worlds." Emiya leaned against the wall, thinking of his other black self, and sighed deeply, "The so-called strongest, the guys standing at the top of the pyramid - they are all like this, unless they meet an opponent who is their natural nemesis. I guess the holder of the Holy Grail is a troublesome guy like Kiara of the Seijuuin."

"It shouldn't be as troublesome as a murder house." Abe Haruaki blinked and pointed at the puppets falling like dominoes in the distance. "Living people are troublesome. It's easy to deal with dead people and puppets. In fact, although they are puppets, these guys are more like Shikigami in Onmyoji... Tsk, what a tasteless guy."

Okita Souji: "What should we do next, Master?"

"Since the crowd in Shibuya exists to restrict a certain person--" Fujimaru Ritsuka looked in the direction pointed by Abe Haruaki, but found that there were no more puppets standing within his sight, "Then there must be someone in this special point who understands the situation and has the same goal as us!!!"

The sound of applause echoed in the dead silent streets of Shibuya——

The three Servants immediately surrounded Fujimaru Ritsuka and looked in the direction of the sound with serious wait.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Iwanaga Kotoko - I am a youkai, ghost, devil, demon, monster, ghost... In short, I am the god of wisdom of the monsters that exist in this world." The girl who called herself the god of wisdom of monsters lifted the hem of her skirt to reveal the prosthetic limb on her left leg, then opened her eyelids and tapped her right eye with her fingertips, "This time I came to Shibuya to accept a request from the monsters..."

"There is a complex divine reaction - judged to be Ishinagahime and Hisayumu." Abe Haruaki averted his gaze from Iwanaga Kotoko and struggled to maintain a serious tone. "But if it was just the God of Wisdom, then they wouldn't prepare such a big battle, right?"

"'Just'...?"

Before anyone else could react, Iwanaga Kotoko answered Abe Haruaki's question.

"Of course. After all, Your Highness the Princess shouldn't be the first to go to the frontline - not to mention that I'm the God of Wisdom." Iwanaga Kotoko let go of her skirt, loosened her eyelids, and turned around lightly with her cane. "The target that needs to be dealt with this time threatens everyone's survival and safety - if we fight head-on, I'm sure I can't beat that guy."

"So—I picked this day on purpose!"

Iwanaga Kotoko clapped her hands and smiled, then tilted her head towards the four people.

"...I see. You are planning to help this guy's enemy defeat him while he is fighting his enemy." Emiya moved his gaze to the shadow behind Iwanaga Kotoko. "Princess, since you have made a gesture of open and honest negotiation, why don't you invite the person in the shadow to come forward as well?"

——So terrible, so terrible, so terrible, so terrible, so terrible!!!

Abe Haruaki's eyes were fixed on the shadow pointed out by Emiya, but he didn't notice that he was shaking uncontrollably because of what he saw.

Ritsuka Fujimaru noticed Abe Haruaki's abnormality first - she tugged at Okita Souji's haori, signaling Saber to stop the trembling Alterego; then, Ritsuka Fujimaru also looked towards the location of the shadow.

——A...person?

An ordinary adult male walked out from the shadows and stood behind Iwanaga Kotoko.

“I said they would find out.”

"Senior!!!" Iwanaga Kotoko turned around and yelled at the man, "Didn't I tell you that you can only come out when I call you? Really! Whether it was before or now, senior always disobeys my arrangements--"

"No, I mean - hasn't everything been discovered by the other side..."

——will be killed.

Abe Haruaki, who was pulled behind by Fujimaru Ritsuka to block the situation, trembled even more violently.

"...He looks like a very frail man." Okita Souji glanced at the trembling Abe Haruaki, then looked at the opposite side, and finally swallowed back the words he had not said.

"No, I have an idea." Fujimaru Ritsuka blinked slowly, and the past that was casually mentioned by a servant with the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception emerged in his mind. "You should still remember that her skill is the son of a white fox, which is specialized from a hybrid? I suspect that the family opposite is the same as the family of Wasashiki and Asakami Fujino... No, strictly speaking, this level of intimidation effect..."

"The one that's closer should be the already destroyed Nanaya family."

"Ahem, excuse me." Iwanaga Kotoko cleared her throat, indicating that the previous argument had come to an end. "Well, indeed, if we want to seek cooperation, we must be open and honest - then, let me introduce you to my senior."

"The senior's name is Sakuragawa Kuro - ah, is there a monster over there?" Iwanaga Kotoko tilted her head and noticed Abe Haruaki who was blocked by three people. "If it is a monster, it is understandable that you are scared because of seeing Kuro-senpai. After all, Kuro-senpai was in the past -"

"I ate two kinds of monsters, and it was a full meal."