Chapter 227: Too Great, Ha-Saint
Marisbury Animusphere, a pseudo-human who one cannot tell is a man or a woman.
He is also the Lord of the Astronomical Faculty at the Clock Tower of the Mage's Association. Furthermore, he is a madman who was heavily sanctioned by Hayek's "invisible hand" and, in many parallel worlds, had to abandon his idea of wanting to destroy the universe.
That's right, destroy the universe. Just like the Atlas Institute and the Wandering Sea—two organizations that can continue to exist on their own strength even when the Human Order is incinerated, yet are ranked alongside the Clock Tower (which was completely wiped out during the incineration of the Human Order) as the three major organizations of the Mage's Association.
It is certainly not just because Zelretch is in the Clock Tower that the Clock Tower, where most ordinary mages could be single-handedly killed by modern firearms, is elevated to a rank equal to the former two.
In the Clock Tower, even as late as the 20th century, bloodline theory is still preached.
Even though Waver, after succeeding Kenneth and becoming a new Lord of the Clock Tower, began to cultivate a group of anti-bloodline mages who shared his philosophy and held high positions within the Clock Tower. Yet, bloodline theory did not exit the stage of the Clock Tower after time entered the 21st century.
This is not just because Waver lacked the resolve to thoroughly reform the Clock Tower. It is also because the profession of a mage is one where the achievements of predecessors can be inherited by their descendants; the longer the family's history of inheritance, the more abundant the legacy of research and Magic Crests passed down.
They truly achieved a state where the destination of a genius mage from an ordinary mage family is merely the starting point for these established families. It is precisely because of this that these truly ancient mage families can pull off massive feats that other ordinary mages cannot. For example, the aforementioned "Grand Order," inherited through generations of the Animusphere family, was created to ensure humanity is protected from alien invaders by destroying the entire observable universe.
In most parallel worlds, Marisbury could not achieve this wish—a wish inherited throughout generations of the Animusphere family—like he did in the FGO world line. Simply because he didn't have the money. Or rather, after observing the truth that the Greater Grail in Fuyuki City was contaminated, Marisbury felt that the Greater Grail might not be able to fulfill his wish. He could not bring himself to make the resolve to "all-in" and invest all of the Animusphere family's thousands of years of accumulation just to exchange it for an opportunity to raise a large amount of capital and resources.
But conversely. As long as there is one parallel world in the Type-Moon universe where the Greater Grail is not contaminated. Then Marisbury is very likely to take action, leading that world line to eventually become the FGO world line... no, perhaps even worse.
After all, in the Fate/Apocrypha world line, There is no Saber, a Servant who just happened to respond to the Fifth Holy Grail War summoning, who can use [Avalon] to preserve the true historical record in Avalon where it cannot be interfered with by time and space. Nor is there Archer (Emiya), a local of Fuyuki City whose past self (Emiya Lily) was a personal witness and victor of the Fuyuki Holy Grail War, who could discover something was amiss the moment he responded to the summoning of the Fifth Holy Grail War.
Without these two Servants, once Marisbury successfully completes his plan in the Fate/Apocrypha world line, allowing the Lostbelt he created—which he participated in the Holy Grail War and won—to successfully replace the original history of the Holy Grail War... Then a perfect crime is achieved: the culprit cannot be found, the murder weapon cannot be found, and even the corpse cannot be found.
The world, too, will be thoroughly converted by Marisbury, who has completed the [Grand Order], into an immutable Lostbelt. A new world where there will be no intervention from the Counter Force, no alien threats, where even the [Root] is created by him, and where humanity can continue forever—and only humanity can continue.
—"Is this the reason why I, along with Saber, was transmitted and traveled here, and then accepted by this parallel world?"
Even after awakening his previous life's memories, Shirou Emiya felt more than once that the group known as mages were no good. He had never, until now, after inferring the potential future this parallel world might face based on their current situation, so strongly agreed with Kiritsugu Emiya's methods.
Therefore, the reason why Shirou Emiya came here was very simple. He came here to find an ally who could help him. At the very least, he needed to use the backdoor left by the Einzbern family for the Greater Grail, allowing them to intervene in this Holy Grail War as participants!
"Saber, can you break through this barrier?"
The thinking in his heart did not stop Shirou Emiya's footsteps. On the contrary, as his thought concluded, Shirou Emiya and Saber arrived at the Einzbern family estate, standing before the barrier they had set up outside their mage workshop.
He then pretended to speak loudly: "It doesn't matter if you can't break it. I authorize you to use your Noble Phantasm to clear out this entire area!"
Just as Shirou Emiya flashed his Command Spells, Saber also took the opportunity to release the [Invisible Air] (Wind King Barrier) wrapped around her Holy Sword, looking as if she were about to condense magical energy to release an energy blast. In the world where Shirou Emiya stood, the mage barrier of the Einzbern family, which had kept Kiritsugu Emiya locked out for
years, immediately opened its gates. Along with a voice transmitted rapidly via a familiar, they shouted anxiously to Shirou Emiya and his party: "Guests from afar, I wonder why you have graced us with your presence?
If you are looking to participate in the Holy Grail War, then you have likely come to the wrong place.
We, the Einzberns, are not participating in the Holy Grail War hosted by Yggdmillennia, and furthermore, the location for that Holy Grail War is not Germany, but Romania."
Seeing Shirou Emiya and the others stop their actions through the perspective of the familiar, the voice became exceptionally humble: "If you intend to obtain some supplies before arriving in Romania, I can send you the resources you need and transport you to Romania."
Obviously, the moment they saw Saber, the Einzbern family, who are very familiar with the Holy Grail War system, immediately recognized that this was the real deal—a genuine Servant. Thus, they immediately surrendered and labeled Shirou Emiya and his party as robbers. The one thing the Einzbern family does not lack is money!
To this, Shirou Emiya simply said: "In the Clock Tower, someone has reproduced the Third Magic."
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