293 [293] Leyline

"Meow~"

Under the sunlight, a little cat stretched lazily, yawned, and looked at the siblings playing nearby... no, the brother and sister seemed a bit bewildered...

It felt like a long time had passed.

Since Kurokawa Kazumi disappeared somewhere, that guy had been too lazy to take care of it.

As long as it wasn't starved to death, it was fine.

Afterward, he simply threw it here.

Threw it into the Emiya residence.

Watching the playing siblings, it leaped lightly against the wall and ran away.

"Mumei! Kohana ran away again!" Illyasviel called out, watching Kohana running along the wall.

"Yes, yes, let me see."

Emiya Mumei smiled, slowly stood up, and said, "Kohana? Where are you?"

"I want to see too!" Illyasviel quickly followed, "I want to see too!"

"Sure, sure."

Kohana turned around slowly, opened its mouth slightly, made a few jumps, and disappeared.

In an unknown alley—

(MENACING)

An unusual aura continuously emanated.

Inside, countless... cats gathered!

"Meow, meow~ (So, it begins!)" Kohana in the middle of the crowd said, and all the cats began to breathe slowly—

Ripple—

Kohana looked at the situation in satisfaction, smiled, and swayed its tail behind it in a posture much more agile than an ordinary cat.

Smiled.

Just like this.

Before long, it would return with its own army—

An army of cats that could create ripples!

"Meow~"

"Kohana? Is it here? Kohana."

Kohana shivered all over and hurriedly said, "All cats, disperse—"

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—

After a while.

Emiya Mumei and Illyasviel walked over, "Is it here? What's around here? Is there something?"

...

Clock Tower—

"Did you hear? The Clone squad was completely wiped out in this Holy Grail War."

"Not only that, the Holy Church, and the Dead Apostles as well, it's too tragic."

"Have you seen the pictures of the big pit in Cairo? So huge, they say it was created by Servants!"

Such voices filled the entire Clock Tower.

This was currently the biggest news.

It directly concerned everyone here.

If the leyline disappeared, magus would cease to exist, so the continuation of the leyline naturally attracted the attention of countless magus.

In this Holy Grail War.

All the Dead Apostles who participated were wiped out, and there were even several high-ranking Dead Apostles among them.

The countless Executors sent by the Holy Church were almost killed, with only a few surviving.

As for the Mage's Association...

Several magus who were deployed, except for one who left midway... and Barthomeloi Lorelei, the rest were all wiped out.

Waver Velvet looked at the few pictures in front of him, lit a match, slowly lit a cigar, and took a puff, "I have never encountered such a thing, I don't know whether to say fortunate or not..."

Such an attack, he couldn't survive.

"Should I say Barthomeloi Lorelei is indeed Barthomeloi... Even in such a situation, she is unscathed, and even her wish is fulfilled, continuing the leyline. Compared to that, I'm really far behind..."

The Lord of the Clock Tower...

That was his target now.

He was very close to that position, just one step away.

The last step...

...

The Clone squads was wiped out.

This matter did not affect Balthasar in any way.

Moreover, Barthomeloi Lorelei was surprised to find... her reputation had even risen.

Although she was the head of the Barthomeloi family, the Lord of the Clock Tower, the leader of the aristocratic faction.

But, after all, she was still young.

There were still people who looked down on her, and respecting her was just based on the name "Barthomeloi" rather than "Lorelei."

Although she didn't mind.

To her, the important thing was still "Barthomeloi" rather than her own name "Lorelei."

The people of the Clock Tower were all amazed at the tragedy that happened in Cairo, the war that completely changed the terrain, and the attack that sent half of Cairo into the sky.

This was the Holy Grail War.

This was the battle between Servants. No matter how much information they knew beforehand, no matter how much they bragged about the combat power of Servants, it couldn't compare to this. It couldn't compare to the Cairo that showed everything.

Everyone could see it.

Anyone could see it.

The original Cairo, the current large lake.

...

The Leyline Measurement Room—

"How is it going?" Barthomeloi Lorelei, who had been here for several days, asked the personnel in charge.

"Yes! It's almost done! The rate of decline of the leyline has a clear slowdown. It has been preliminarily determined that it has changed half the speed of the original 2000 years. In other words..."

"Can the leyline that was supposed to decline by 2000 now last until 2008?"

"Yes..."

"Eight years..." Barthomeloi Lorelei wrinkled her brows slightly.

However, this was already the limit.

The Holy Grail also had its limits.

If the Holy Grail allowed others to realize the Third Magic, it meant that there was no need to keep it when the Holy Grail disappeared, and it would have shattered.

And now...

The situation was similar.

The Holy Grail continued the leyline, but it was not a simple matter that could be achieved with enough magical power.

Such a method could only be used once, and the Holy Grail disappeared completely, shattered.

In such a situation, even Einzbern probably did not anticipate it.

That's right...

Jubstacheit was currently in great distress.

"This shouldn't be the case!"

In Einzbern's castle, Jubstacheit von Einzbern, leaning on the table, said with an unpleasant expression, "The Holy Grail has not yet completed the Third Magic. How could it disappear like this?"

But he also knew very well that it was impossible for Barthomeloi Lorelei to hide these things, and there was no need for her to do so.

"It must be like this... I understand, it must be like this? Our technology is not enough!" Jubstacheit clenched his fists, "The Holy Grail in Fuyuki City has been broken to a certain extent. The repair we made is not complete, it is not the original, so it shattered. It must be like this... it must be like this!"

...

Tick, tock—

Tick, tock—

"Did it fail?" The only surviving Dead Apostle, Isaac Barnes, looked at his healed hand and asked the magus Louis Schmidt next to him.

"Well... maybe." Louis Schmidt sighed slightly, "Indeed, there was no sound, it seems to have failed."

"If it failed, then start the next one." Isaac Barnes said with an unchanged face, "Continue the next experiment!"

---

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