Wu Ling, Alaya, and Gaia had spoken for some time inside the space of consciousness, but in the outside world, only an instant had passed.
This time, before Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others could react, Wu Ling waved his hand. The space around them shattered, and a black red throne appeared behind him.
"Then let us begin. The Holy Grail War."
Wu Ling's voice rang out. When Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others came back to themselves, they had already arrived in an open area.
Fujimaru Ritsuka shook his head. He felt a little dizzy. Part of it was because Wu Ling had moved them there directly. Part of it was because he had received too much information in too short a time, leaving his mind unable to catch up.
"Ritsuka... Ritsuka, can you hear me?" After a short delay, Little Da Vinci's voice came through the screen again.
"Yes, I can hear you, Da Vinci. Is everyone okay?"
"Yes. I am fine, Senpai."
"I am fine too."
"I may no longer have the power of the Three Goddesses of Fate, but this much is still no problem."
After receiving everyone's replies, Da Vinci let out a small sigh of relief. After all, Wu Ling had acted suddenly just now. Even if he had not intended to harm them, they still had to be prepared.
"Right, Kadoc. Can the two of us form a contract now? Whatever else I am, I am now one of your assets." Moriarty raised the contract request to Kadoc again. It was clear that he still minded Kadoc's earlier refusal.
Kadoc stared at Moriarty with gloomy eyes for quite a while before finally agreeing.
"I can accept that. But I still need to ask Chaldea. My status as a prisoner has not changed."
The moment Kadoc's status came up, Goredolf appeared on the screen.
"No. I refuse to allow Moriarty and Kadoc to form a contract. Kadoc has performed well during this journey, yes, but the real issue is Moriarty. He is the Napoleon of the crime world. No one can say whether his surrender is another performance he staged himself. If the two of them form a contract, the consequences will not be as simple as one plus one equals two."
Kadoc looked at Moriarty. His gaze seemed to say, See? I told you.
At that moment, Fujimaru Ritsuka spoke up.
"New Director, I trust Kadoc. Moriarty was our enemy before, but with an Evil of Humanity in front of us, I do not think this is something he staged. So I trust him too."
Goredolf still held his position.
"No. If someone has to contract with him, then he can contract with you. Besides, the priority right now is this nine on nine Holy Grail War. We will attempt to summon Servants on the level of Gilgamesh or Karna here, then send them over to you."
Moriarty cut in. "Now, now. What happened to trust between people? I had a clever plan I wanted to share with all of you, but if this is your attitude, perhaps I will keep it to myself."
"Then say it. If it truly is a good plan, I may loosen the condition."
Moriarty looked displeased. He had already realized that Goredolf was deliberately targeting him. Still, he understood why. He had just killed Holmes, an important member of their group, and now wanted to join them immediately afterward. On top of that, his role overlapped with Holmes in certain ways. If Moriarty were in their position, he would have reservations too.
But this was not the time to sulk.
"Very well. I will be direct. That Evil of Humanity said he would not attack us unless we attacked him first or all nine of his Servants died."
"In other words, after we defeat eight Servants, we can deliberately leave the ninth alive but gravely wounded. Then we can use the rule itself to prepare attacks that require a long charge time. That would let us wound him before the real battle even begins."
After hearing Moriarty's plan, everyone looked surprised. Until now, their usual method had been to gather combat power and push through directly. At most, they had made broad strategic plans. This was the first time they had considered exploiting a loophole in the rules like this.
Goredolf also thought over the plan's feasibility, and his resistance to Moriarty weakened a little. After a while, he raised another issue.
"But will that Evil of Humanity truly follow the rules?"
"He will," Little Da Vinci said, appearing on the screen again after a long silence. "Our time with him was short, and he is a weirdo, but I can tell he is not the type to go back on his word. I also agree that Kadoc should contract with Moriarty."
Before Goredolf could question her, Little Da Vinci gave them bad news.
"Ritsuka, while you were talking, I relocated your position. I originally planned to prepare transfer coordinates, but I discovered that your world has been sealed by some kind of power. In other words, we cannot provide powerful Servant reinforcements the way the New Director suggested."
"What? Then what are we supposed to do? Without powerful support, forget defeating that Evil of Humanity. We may not even defeat his nine Servants." Goredolf sounded dejected.
"Oh? Did I just hear someone say powerful support?" A beautiful but slightly exaggerated voice suddenly rang out.
"Who is there?" Moriarty became alert at once, but Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash widened their eyes in surprise.
"Huh? Ritsuka and Mash did not forget me, did you? If you did, I really would not know where to go cry."
Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash followed the voice. A woman wearing red and blue clothes, with two swords in her hands, stood there.
The moment they saw her, Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash shouted in joy at the same time.
"Musashi!"
Miyamoto Musashi laughed brightly. "See? You did not forget me."
Mash and Fujimaru Ritsuka ran over to her, looking her up and down.
"Musashi, you are alive?"
Musashi slid her swords back into their sheaths. She did not mind the clumsy question, because she could hear their concern inside it.
Then she explained, "To be honest, I am not completely sure either. Back then, I had already swung that strike at the orange giant eye. I clearly felt that I would die the next moment. But for some reason, through some strange twist of fate, I ended up here. Then I heard your conversation."
"And now that my state has fully stabilized, I understand my mission here."
After saying that, Musashi raised her head and looked into the distance.
Far away, beside a certain stone, Sasaki Kojiro, who was holding a sword, suddenly looked in one direction by instinct.
"Is that you, Musashi?"