Chapter 108

"Today is our fifth day in this anomaly. At six in the morning, the bell has rung." Mashu came out of the bathroom, knocked on the door of the reception room to inform the male teammates to go out and wash up, and walked to the window to look at the rising sun in the distance. "Ruler Laplace's Demon did not appear, and no additional rules appeared."

"By the way, Senior Kirshtalia." Mash heard Fujimaru Ritsuka call Kirshtalia who had just left the bathroom, "White Stork Knight, have you noticed any changes?"

"It was just released..." Kirshtalia returned to the reception room, moved the three quilts on the floor to one side, activated the broadcast magic set up yesterday, and projected the images collected by the White Stork Knight onto the white walls of the reception room, "Ritsuka, it seems that there is indeed an incredible discovery——"

"The Stork Rider captured a giant chessboard."

By the time the new Group A members arrived at the banquet hall one after another, many had already finished their meal and left; but there were still a few who had not left - among them, Yicun Luansu, who always came early and left early, was also among them. He was enjoying today's breakfast in peace and quiet with Asclepius, a rare opportunity.

"It seems that Amura Ransu's body has recovered..." Fujimaru Ritsuka connected with his teammates' subconscious before leaving the room. While finishing breakfast, he exchanged his judgment on the situation of the members in the banquet hall with them. "As for Asclepius... It's hard to tell whether his resurrection potion was successful or failed last night."

"By the way, what is the situation with Amura Ransu's body? Ritsuka, you came in with them on the first day, right?" Ophelia, who was choosing breakfast in the corner of the banquet hall, asked Fujimaru Ritsuka, "Did you notice anything special? Compared to the other six groups in the Black Array, it is still very rare to be able to summon Asclepius based on the compatibility summoning. "

"I actually think they are just compatible as a doctor-patient relationship..." Fujimaru Ritsuka paused, recalling the scene when he met Amura Ranku in the Rose Labyrinth on the first day, "But when I saw him, it was the same as what we saw after the battle yesterday - he was vomiting blood. The last person we saw vomiting blood was Okita-san and Okita-kun with the sickly skill."

"If it was Asclepius himself, he would have definitely made a clear diagnosis." Kirshtalia, who had chosen the breakfast food, joined the conversation between the two. "But if it's just speculation... Ritsuka, what do you think the reason is? After all, Amura Ransu is an existence that can burst out with considerable fighting power in such a situation."

"Based on the information I first got from Amemura Ransuki, I thought he was the same as the android in Goff's father's house - but his weakness doesn't seem to be a problem caused by the aging and deterioration of his flesh and body." Fujimaru Ritsuka paused, turned his head and glanced at Amemura Ransuki who had not finished eating, "Considering the fighting ability he showed yesterday..."

"I think it's still an Einzbern type - it's just that his body was adjusted to this setting for easier control." Fujimaru Ritsuka calmly finished the last bite of breakfast and placed a blue rose on the tableware to represent the end of the meal. "Because the Mujik family's android is a degraded version of the Einzbern family, and the Einzbern family's model is the third magician."

"I see." Kirshtalia stood at the dining table by the window, looking out the window with her head tilted. "By the way, how should we plan today's operation? Two groups of participants were eliminated yesterday, so we need to send people to check the basement; we must also go to the newly opened chessboard; and we also need to leave people in the guest room that serves as the workshop base..."

"Cadoch and I will stay here." Peperoncino joined the conversation and looked at Cadoc who was hiding in the corner. "After all, Anastasia and Taigong Wang are the leaders of the guest room workshop. If we stay, we can keep the workshop safe. The next question to discuss is who goes to the basement and who goes outside the castle. After all, Samson was sent out to keep an eye on the actions of other participants like yesterday."

"Then, considering the distribution of combat power - either I and Ritsuka are on one team, or I and Mashu and Ophelia are on one team." Mustard, who was already drinking her after-dinner drink, joined the discussion, "Although Ortenaus allowed Mashu to retain the combat power of a sub-servant, she can only exert her full strength when fighting as Ritsuka's Servant - and if I and Wodem are on one team... the combat power is still a little overflowing."

"Why can't we go to the chessboard area together? It won't take long to go to the basement." Mash asked, "We have stopped pretending not to know each other, and at this time, it doesn't matter whether we continue or not."

"Someone still has to go to the new area first," Kadoc said pertinently.

"Then why don't Mashu go to the chessboard area with Ophelia-senpai and Nakadashi-senpai." Fujimaru Ritsuka made the final decision and walked out of the banquet hall. "Kirshtalia-senpai and I will go to the basement first, and then go to the chessboard area. Nakadashi-senpai didn't realize that the doll was lying there when she went to the basement with Pepe-senpai. I'm not sure if Nakadashi-senpai will go to the basement again."

"Besides, Senior Kirshtalia is one of the three anchor points, the 'sky'. I want to see if the basement itself will be affected by this - thereby exposing some parts that we haven't noticed before."

——This is the whole story of why Fujimaru Ritsuka is standing at the entrance of the basement with Kirshtalia.

After breakfast, the seven members of the new Group A split up in front of the banquet hall and headed in three different directions. The only thing that connected them was a special communication network like a Heroic Spirit chat room that Fujimaru Ritsuka had built in their subconscious using the power of the "human" corner.

According to the plan, Kirshtalia and Fujimaru Ritsuka, together with their servants, stepped onto the stairs leading to the basement - Kirshtalia walked behind Fujimaru Ritsuka, asking the Moon Goddess to use the moonlight to illuminate the way forward for them; and the spiral stairs in front of them, which seemed to have no end, filled the two people's vision.

"Ah, that's not unexpected."

After the two walked down the last step, they saw three life-size dolls lying side by side in front of them. They were almost indistinguishable from real people. The only feature that proved they were dolls and not corpses was the gaps at the joints... Other than that, the dolls in this basement were no different from real people.

"The corresponding data for the doll corresponding to Katarina Kraais was collected yesterday..." Kirshtalia glanced at Fujimaru Ritsuka and took the responsibility of collecting data. "Then, the remaining two are Shirogane Lily and Kanzaki Hideo. Ritsuka, do we need to collect the data for all three dolls?"

"Let's collect them all." Fujimaru Ritsuka thought for a moment and made his own judgment. "The data of the doll corresponding to Katarina Kraais needs to be compared with yesterday - in addition, I hope to compare it with the known fluctuations of the Holy Grail magic. The instrument can be found in Mashu's room, after all, all of your room cards are left in my room."

"Okay." Kirshtalia nodded briefly, and turned around to find Fujimaru Ritsuka standing in the basement next to a workbench filled with puppet-making tools. "Ritsuka, what do you see?"

"I once saw the Rose Mother inside a Rose Girl." Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at the diary spread out on the workbench with a serious expression, recalling what happened when he saw the Rose Mother glowing pink in the Rose Labyrinth. "At that time, I heard a man's voice--"

"The soul of the rose girl, 'Rose Mother', contains the love of the creator for them."

——"My daughters, I love you deeply."

"Ritsuka, what are you doubting about?" Kirshtalia was still standing beside the three dolls lying together, collecting the necessary data, and looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka worriedly, "Didn't we discuss the information about the rose girl at the beginning? Later, we also confirmed the identity of the Holy Grail holder..."

"Galatea." Fujimaru Ritsuka suddenly mentioned the name of another hero who was not present. "Pygmalion poured all his energy, all his passion, and all his love into this statue, and only then did the goddess of love and beauty look at him. Then the statue turned into a real girl and married him."

"The magicians of Baruye have devoted their lives to the pursuit of the highest beauty - but they have not been able to give life to the puppets." Fujimaru Ritsuka turned back to look at Kirshtalia and asked the genius magician who was famous in the All-Clock Tower and was able to create the 13th discipline, "Then, without the mercy of God, how can we give life to the puppets?"

"Or in other words - how do you give a doll a soul?"

Life has a length - but non-human beings can always exist regardless of the length of life.

Well, under the premise that life no longer has a limit on its length, strengthening the power of the soul itself and using the soul to create a body is the third magic; but for a doll that has already had a body but no soul, this is another problem... Galatea was blessed by the gods and thus had life, and the part that constituted her soul was undoubtedly Pygmalion's love for her.

Kirshtalia looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka and accurately grasped the key point in the chaotic thoughts in her mind - creating a soul.

However, even though she knew that the third magic was the materialization of the soul, and even had some understanding of the other four magics, Kirshtalia realized another problem - magic, that is, the level of human technology is not enough to create a brand new soul; and the third magic among the five major magics, which is clearly related to the soul, is to create flesh and body based on the soul.

——In their world, there is no power that can create souls out of thin air.

——Or rather, even if there is such power, it is definitely not something that a puppeteer from another world can master.

--so……

"…The puppeteer divided his soul into seven parts and gave them to his beloved daughters." Fujimaru Ritsuka turned around and calmly read out the last paragraph left in the diary, "My dear daughters, please never forget that I love you deeply until the end of the world."