Chapter 124: The Shadow of Ripping? The General Attack Order!
The sun's faint light pierced through the morning mist, casting a hazy, mysterious glow over the ancient streets of Trifas.
Arthur took three steaming hot breakfast items from the vendor, casually tossing them to Fou and Mordred, who were practically drooling beside him, his tone teasing.
"Why not build the workshop next to a restaurant? That way we can eat anytime."
"Fou-wuu!"
"Good idea..."
Mordred's mouth was full of fried cutlets, her brow, which had just relaxed, furrowed instantly. She shook her head vigorously.
"No, on second thought, forget it."
Arthur looked at her, a flicker of curiosity in his eyes at her sudden displeasure.
"What's wrong? Does Trifas's food not suit your taste?"
Mordred savagely tore off a large piece of the cutlet, her cheeks bulging, and mumbled indistinctly.
"My Noble Phantasm is an Anti-Army class. If we really fought, these few streets would all go flying. What would we eat then?"
Hearing this, the smile in Arthur's eyes grew more pronounced. He reached out and ruffled her unkempt but surprisingly soft golden hair.
"Ultimately, Magus are just a bunch of monsters who have broken free from worldly ethics."
"As long as they can win without exposing their mystery, they won't feel the slightest bit of guilt, no matter how many civilian lives are sacrificed."
The intimate gesture made Mordred, who was enjoying her meal, stiffen. She abruptly raised her hand and slapped Arthur's hand away, her tone unfriendly.
"What about you, Master? Do you also think sacrificing any number of civilians is fine?"
Arthur casually shook his hand, the smile in his eyes turning cold in an instant, yet his tone remained as calm as water.
"The value of life is never measured by numbers."
"Sometimes, the reason you feel pain is precisely because you made the right choice."
Mordred grunted, half-understanding, and quickly finished her fried cutlet. She looked up, her face returning to its usual flamboyant smile.
"Even though I don't quite understand, I think you, Master, are not like those gloomy Magus. Don't disappoint me!"
With that, she raised her hand and slapped Arthur's shoulder hard, the force making Fou protest loudly, scrambling onto her face and scratching wildly!
Arthur glanced at Mordred, who was wrestling with Fou, a slight arch to his brow, and reminded her.
"Alright, stop messing around. We need to go to the Clock Tower's intelligence outpost. We need an explanation about Berserker's capture."
Hearing about serious business, Mordred immediately stopped, rubbed the fresh claw marks on her face, and with a flash, transformed into a spirit body and vanished.
Fou, losing its footing, flailed its little paws in mid-air in a panic.
Before the pure white beast could let out a shriek, Arthur accurately grabbed it by the scruff of its neck, placed it back on his shoulder, and turned into a secluded alley.
After passing through several dark streets, away from the morning's hustle and bustle, he could clearly feel several wary, scrutinizing gazes upon him.
Arthur unhurriedly reached into his embrace and displayed the token issued by the Clock Tower.
A moment later, a slender, bespectacled man peered out from behind a low window and called out in a hushed voice.
"Arthur-sama, please come in quickly."
Arthur's lips curved into a self-satisfied smile, and he leisurely strolled to the front of the house, completely disregarding the intelligence agent's expression, which was on the verge of exploding from anxiety about being exposed.
Upon entering the outpost, the bespectacled man lit an oil lamp, its dim yellow light illuminating the mountain of paper documents piled on the wooden table.
He cleared his throat, about to report the past two days' achievements to this important figure who had come from afar.
"So, Arthur-sa—"
"Have you found the Black Faction's Assassin?"
Arthur unceremoniously interrupted him, sat directly at the table, picked up a piece of paper, and asked straightforwardly.
The bespectacled man choked, awkwardly pushing up his glasses.
"Regarding that... colleagues from the Japan branch confirmed the death of Yggdmillennia's Hyouma Sagara. Logically, his Assassin, who is skilled in stealth, should have..."
Seeing Arthur's brows furrowing tighter, the bespectacled man broke out in a cold sweat and quickly added.
"We have reason to suspect that the recent series of murders in Romania were committed by the Black Faction's Assassin!"
"Serial murders?"
Arthur twirled the paper between his fingers, looked up at the trembling bespectacled man, and nodded slightly, signaling him to continue.
The bespectacled man frantically rummaged through the pile of documents, explaining rapidly.
"Initially, it was just ordinary citizens, but soon, even the Magus responsible for transmitting our intelligence were successively murdered."
He pulled out several developed blueprints and autopsy reports from the pile of papers.
"Subsequent investigations revealed that the hearts of all victims were cruelly removed. Now the news is exploding, saying that Jack the Ripper has reappeared..."
Before he finished speaking, Arthur's heart inexplicably skipped a beat. He tossed aside the useless report in his hand and posed another question.
"And what about our Berserker? Even if a Berserker Servant cannot communicate, the Master can still forcefully command him with Command Spells."
"A fool who commits such a basic error, watching his Servant be captured, does he even deserve to be called a top-tier Magus of the Clock Tower?"
The sweat on the bespectacled man's forehead became more profuse, his voice trembling.
"Re... Reporting to Arthur-sama, I sent a request for negotiation to Sighisoara yesterday, but... but there has been no response to date. I was just about to report to headquarters..."
He hadn't finished speaking when the magic communicator on the wooden table suddenly glowed with a faint light. After a series of strange squirming sounds from within, it abruptly spat out a brand new piece of paper.
Before the bespectacled man could react, Arthur had already reached out and intercepted the paper.
His gaze quickly scanned the information on it, a terrifying cold light flashing in his eyes. Without a word, he stood up and walked out of the house.
The bespectacled man numbly caught the paper drifting down from the air and looked down.
"Tomorrow morning, we will launch a full-scale assault on Millennia Castle from Sighisoara. The Saber team is requested to prepare immediately."
"Full-scale assault!?"
The bespectacled man cried out in alarm, suddenly looking up, only to find that Arthur's figure had already vanished into the end of the dark alley.
...
At this moment, at the mountain-top church in Sighisoara.
Kotomine Shirou stood respectfully outside the door of the five Masters, weaving false battle reports in a gentle and humble tone.
"The battle is now completely under our control. Five of the enemy's seven Servants have been eliminated, while our forces remain strong."
"Furthermore, the Master who fled the battle has also been captured. It's just a pity that Saber refused to change Masters and chose to end his own life."
Behind the curtain, five shadowy figures swayed in the intoxicating magical smoke, their words filled with arrogance and complacency.
"Saber is out? How boring."
"That coward who ran away, who wants him? I happen to be short on some excellent experimental materials."
"Do as you please, I just want to end this farce quickly and claim the reward with the head of the Yggdmillennia traitor."
"I never expected this Holy Grail War to be so easy, Father Shirou, you're doing a good job as Overseer."
Kotomine Shirou's lips curved into a perfect smile, and he spoke at just the right moment.
"Thank you for your kind words, then, regarding my previous proposal to transfer Command Spells, how have you all considered it?"
At these words, the relaxed atmosphere behind the curtain instantly solidified.
After a long silence, a wary voice drifted out faintly.
"Father Shirou, we do trust you, but transferring Command Spells... it's a serious matter, so let's not."
"That's right, the reins of a Servant must be held in one's own hands to feel most secure."
Rejected once again, the smile on Kotomine Shirou's face did not waver in the slightest. He still bowed respectfully.
"I understand. Then, I won't disturb your enjoyment."
With that, he turned and left, his steps neither hurried nor slow, murmuring softly to himself as if in a soliloquy.
"Still not working, huh... It seems I'll have to add more fuel to the fire."
Ethereal blue particles rose from thin air, and Semiramis's figure appeared to his right, a barely concealed mischievous smile on her face.
"So did I not warn you earlier? These rigid Magus simply do not know how to adapt."
Kotomine Shirou shook his head noncommittally, his lips once again bearing that calm and philosophical smile.
"Then, Semiramis."
"I'll ask you to act once more and bring the reins of all Servants into our hands."
"With pleasure, however—"
A hint of playfulness flashed in Semiramis's light-colored pupils. She meaningfully looked at Kotomine Shirou, who remained composed, and asked flippantly.
"That strongest child of the Sun God, he reported 'an anomaly in the Servant.' Are you truly going to disregard this warning?"
The smile on Kotomine Shirou's face instantly vanished, replaced by a cold, emotionless indifference.
"Everything is for the Holy Grail. All else is trivial."