"Hand me that book."
In the Clock Tower's library, Zuke pointed to a book on the shelf, then casually said to a passing magus.
"Huh? Who are you? Why should I..."
The passing magus naturally didn't recognize Zuke. He frowned, looking somewhat puzzled as he spoke, about to refuse, when he suddenly felt his body begin to move on its own.
Immediately after, he closed his mouth, then obediently went to retrieve the book Zuke was pointing at—it was a book about summoning rituals that recorded information about Holy Grail War ceremonies.
After handing the book to Zuke, this magus also didn't make a fuss like at the beginning. Instead, he bowed to Zuke, then left.
Throughout the entire process, his actions and thought transitions were incredibly swift—from initial incomprehension to respect for Zuke. The transition was very stiff, clearly not a normal thought process.
"Even people who have never met you must obey commands as long as they're part of the Mages Association... This is quite an impressive ability."
Waver stood right beside Zuke, watching as the magus who didn't recognize Zuke at all finished acting on his command and then left on his own, somewhat amazed.
Although Zuke had already controlled all the Clock Tower's Lords, Waver was initially still somewhat worried about whether the magi would obediently listen.
But now it seemed that this worry was completely unnecessary—Zuke had used some ability he didn't know about to completely turn the Mages Association into Zuke's force, and everyone in the force was unable to resist Zuke's commands.
Because in terms of ability alone, Zuke's "King's Army" had undergone considerable changes from Iskandar's "King's Army," so Waver hadn't detected that this was the ability of "King's Army."
"However, doesn't this mean that even that Gem Old Man..."
Waver then thought of the Gem Old Man in the TYPE-MOON world—Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, that renowned wielder of the Second Magic.
The Gem Old Man was also a member of the Mages Association. Didn't that mean that as long as Zuke was willing, he could also command the Gem Old Man at will to complete his orders?
"Perhaps, but I only control the 'Mages Association' of this world, and the Gem Old Man has joined the Mages Associations of many parallel worlds."
Zuke also knew about the Gem Old Man's situation. However, the Gem Old Man was clearly not in this world right now, so Zuke was too lazy to figure out a way to test the Gem Old Man's situation.
"Perhaps my control over him would be relatively weak... but that doesn't matter anymore. I've already achieved my objective."
Even if his control over the Gem Old Man might be relatively weak, it didn't matter—the Gem Old Man couldn't possibly find a way to free the Mages Association's people from Zuke's control either.
This world's Mages Association, along with its members, already belonged to Zuke. This was already an established fact that couldn't be changed no matter who came.
It was just that, apart from the Mages Association's Lords, most magi didn't yet know that they had acquired a master above their heads.
"This Holy Grail War is really quite peaceful, much more peaceful than I imagined."
On the rooftop of the ghost mansion that Bazett lived in on the outskirts of Fuyuki City, Cú Chulainn, who had been summoned as Lancer, stood above, gazing at Fuyuki City shrouded in the night, and couldn't help but sigh.
In fact, following Bazett's requirements, he frequently went to Fuyuki City to scout for intelligence, and a few days ago, he did occasionally encounter a few Servants, probing them before leaving.
Originally, Cú Chulainn thought that in the following days, he would frequently contact those Servants, and battles would break out—which was what should happen in a Holy Grail War.
But unexpectedly, after the probing a few days ago, he seemed to never encounter other Servants again. Those guys seemed to have suddenly disappeared, vanishing without a trace.
"The way you're talking, it sounds like you've participated in many Holy Grail Wars before?"
Behind Cú Chulainn, Bazett had also somehow emerged from inside the house and come to the rooftop—she had obviously heard Cú Chulainn's complaining voice and asked curiously.
"Haha... The world is quite vast. You should have heard of the parallel world theory, right?"
Hearing this, Cú Chulainn laughed heartily and casually explained.
"As a Servant, I am merely a projection of my true self on the Throne of Heroes—so in parallel worlds you don't know about, I may have participated in many different Holy Grail Wars."
"I see, so that's how it is..."
Hearing this, Bazett also nodded. Because the Second Magic was "Parallel World Interference," Bazett of course couldn't be unaware of the parallel world hypothesis.
"What's wrong? You seem to be in a bad mood."
Cú Chulainn noticed that Bazett's expression didn't seem very good and showed some concern—after all, Bazett was his Master, and if the Master had problems, his power would be affected too.
"Yes, I have this strange feeling that something just happened... but I can't say specifically what it is."
Bazett nodded, her expression somewhat worried, very puzzled by the strange feeling that suddenly welled up from the bottom of her heart.
Of course, she didn't know that just now the Mages Association had been swallowed by Zuke's "King's Army," and as a member of the Mages Association, Bazett had actually already become Zuke's person.
However, Bazett didn't want to delay matters related to the Holy Grail War because of her strange feeling. She shook her head, driving that strange feeling away.
"Speaking of which, Lancer, you didn't discover any other Servants again today?"
"Yeah, it's like all the Servants already died in these few short days."
Cú Chulainn grinned as he spoke—little did he know that his joking words had actually guessed the truth.
"That's really unfortunate. I was originally planning to ally with other Servants first and take down that Berserker... but now it seems quite difficult."
The Berserker that Cú Chulainn mentioned naturally referred to Zuke—after Reines brought Zuke to visit last time, Cú Chulainn and Bazett realized they were no match for Zuke.
Cú Chulainn was a very proud hero, but he wasn't a fool. Under such a huge power disparity, he couldn't possibly say something like "I alone can take down Zuke."
Therefore, their idea was to ally with other Servants... but unfortunately, they recently couldn't find any other Servants at all.
Just as the two were pondering how they should act next, a slight magical power fluctuation came over.
Bazett's expression changed slightly. She suddenly stood up and looked toward the ghost mansion's courtyard gate, saying to Cú Chulainn:
"Get up, Lancer... someone's coming."
To be continued…