**HAPPY NEW YEAR 2026 GUYS**
Rewind forty-five minutes.
Teacher Pu — one of the platform's recognized top streamers — had not lacked reasons to play Holy Grail War. Good games get noticed. The network-wide enthusiasm had done its work, his viewers had done the rest, and Teacher Pu had started playing.
Unlike Maverick's freewheeling approach, Teacher Pu had followed the story mode systematically. His progress was already past the one-third mark — further than David, who specialized in game analysis. So when Shark Platform offered him a spot in the Streamer League, he'd said yes immediately.
This game was simply too good. The strategy, the art, the human-computer interaction — all of it exceeded expectations. And the physical sensation of movement through the VR system: flying, diving, the momentum of a body in actual combat. Other VR games provided versions of this. Holy Grail War provided the real thing.
So from the start, Teacher Pu had known exactly what he wanted.
He'd watched Iskandar's King's Army in the story mode — the Three Kings' Council sequence, thousands of Heroic Spirit-level soldiers across an open desert, the raw feeling of commanding that scale of force. He'd sat there experiencing the scene and arrived at a conclusion that no man would reach differently.
The army of tens of thousands of Heroic Spirits. Anyone who wasn't moved simply lacked a certain essential component.
So: Teacher Pu would summon Iskandar. He needed a Holy Relic. Unlike Maverick's approach of flying directly to Fuyuki and compatibility-summoning whatever he got, Teacher Pu went to Persia to find a catalyst.
A black market vendor. A stone, allegedly chipped off by Iskandar himself.
The mist cleared. The blue light faded.
Something large and black stood in the summoning circle.
"..."
"ROAR."
"...Hello."
"ROAR."
Teacher Pu looked at the summoning circle documentation. Looked back up.
"Is this right? It said guaranteed Iskandar. What is...?"
[Chat]: IS THAT A DRAGON
[Chat]: why is it black
[Lore_Drop]: wait. someone's looking it up.
[Researching]: the stone from "Iskandar himself" — Iskandar conquered Persia and defeated Darius III many times. Cyrus II, before that, conquered Babylon. The Gate of Babylon collected the world's treasures. A stone "chipped off by Iskandar" near a Persian monument was far more likely to have come from a pillar outside the Gate of Babylon than from anything Iskandar personally touched.
[Conclusion]: Teacher Pu did not summon Iskandar. Teacher Pu summoned Darius III. Iskandar's sworn enemy. The last monarch of the Achaemenid Persian Empire.
[Chat]: TEACHER PU
[Chat]: you went to Persia and came back with the man who LOST TO ISKANDAR
[Silver_Lining]: I mean Darius III fought Iskandar many times before losing. that's not nothing.
[Also_Silver_Lining]: the elephant. look at the elephant.
The black dragon — Darius III, it turned out, had simply never learned to produce human speech, which in Berserker class terms was standard, except he hadn't been summoned with a madness enhancement and his emotional state was entirely stable — appeared to notice Teacher Pu's confusion. He smiled, revealing gold teeth, and wrote his name in the concrete with one finger.
"Darius III. That's you?"
"Roar."
"Okay. I'm Teacher Pu. The Holy Grail should have transferred basic knowledge to you. Work together?"
"Roar."
Darius III seemed satisfied with this exchange. He raised one hand. From somewhere that defied convenient explanation, an elephant appeared — white cloth, golden armor, winged seat on its back. The NPCs on the street scattered. Then the elephant raised its head and headbutted the wall of the building they were in, filling the space with daylight.
Before Teacher Pu could speak, the elephant's trunk curled around him and placed him in the seat.
An unprecedented novelty surged through Teacher Pu's chest.
[Chat]: TEACHER PU IS RIDING AN ELEPHANT
[Chat]: look how happy he is
[Honest]: I'm a little tempted by this Servant
[Warning]: please make sure you want the elephant and not just the elephant
[Road_Conditions]: guys he's driving on this broken road right now
[Lore_Nerd]: Darius III, last Achaemenid monarch of Persia. fought Iskandar multiple times, was defeated. the stone Teacher Pu used was almost certainly from the Gate of Babylon's approach. first-class intelligence failure in catalyst acquisition.
[Chat]: is this guy the author's alt account?
Teacher Pu was settled in the seat, Darius III was nodding approvingly at his new Master's posture, the elephant was navigating Fuyuki City with surprising authority—
And from the end of the street, a wall of water.
"...What."
Teacher Pu turned his head. The flood from David's furnace was already at the intersection, moving fast, several stories high.
"...Oh my."
[Chat]: THE FLOOD FOUND HIM
[Chat]: DARIUS CATCH HIM
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Next BONUS CHAPTER at 300 powerstones