In the deep of night, Nono jolted upright from the bed. Her breath came quick, cold sweat beaded on her brow, and her fingers clenched the blanket unconsciously.
Lately, she often dreamed strange dreams. Dreams where she sat high upon a lavish palanquin, countless subjects bowing like harvested fields at her feet. Yet she offered no mercy, only gazed into the horizon, seeing all lands touched by sunlight as hers to rule.
The dreams faded quickly, like mist. Slapping her cheeks, she forced herself awake.
She changed smoothly into a shrine maiden's robes, tied her scarlet hakama sash, and tapped the bedframe with her finger, asking quietly to the spirit form beside her:
"What's happening outside?"
From the void came Melusine's calm reply: "The building has been invaded by unknown enemies. Gen Isshin's office or the conference room may have details, but the enemy has summoned Servants. If I draw near, I'll be discovered."
"I see."
Straightening her robes, Nono asked again, "And the ones monitoring us—have they left?"
"They departed not long ago. Likely called away to handle the attack."
Melusine answered coldly.
Normally, Eriyi was guarded by a riot-control unit patrolling 24 hours a day. Any sign of instability, and they would strike. The medical team only came for periodic checks.
While pretending to be Eriyi, Nono had mapped their routines. Only the riot patrol had been a serious problem.
"Perfect." Her eyes lit up, pupils shrinking with excitement. Finally. The chance I've been waiting for.
"Let's go. Time to investigate the hidden shadow walls in this building—"
She grabbed a ceremonial shrine sword from the rack and slipped toward the door.
Melusine manifested in armor and gauntlets, grasping the doorframe.
Crack—!
The reinforced lock disintegrated under her magic, steel melting into glowing droplets that hissed on the floor. Alarms blared, but with the building already in chaos, no one paid attention.
"Let's move!"
Nono crossed the threshold, following the path Melusine had scouted days before. She glided down emergency stairwells, floor after floor flashing by, until she stopped at the 13th floor.
There, she pushed open a door.
A faint perpetual lamp cast dim light. Beyond it stood a massive shadow wall, like the one outside Eriyi's ward—but larger. Nearly four meters tall, wide as a wall section torn from elsewhere and hidden here.
Painted in ocher and indigo, the mural showed snake-bodied monsters in procession, an eight-headed beast cleaving mountains with its tails, naked women, twisted serpents—bizarre, ominous images.
Nono tapped her blade twice against the floor—her signal for Melusine to guard her. Lifting the lamp, she scanned the cavernous chamber. Pillars dotted the space, shadows flickering…
Then she froze, blade rising.
From behind the mural stepped a figure, clad in black, blending with the dark. Only a stark white aristocrat's noh mask betrayed him.
As she neared, he raised two small black sticks—wooden clappers—and began tapping them, rubbing to produce a rasping sound, like some odd tribal music.
"…?"
Nono blinked. She had expected guns, or a strange tool—not this.
He waited here… just to perform bad street music?
Should she ignore him? Or mock him as a failed performer?
Neither. She simply beckoned coldly: "Melusine."
The masked man froze, realizing too late his mistake. His "performance" had no effect. This "Eriyi" was a fake. He had been wasting his chance.
Snarling, he lunged like a beast.
But Melusine blocked him, her armored blade slicing once.
Before he could act, his body split apart, scattering to the floor—anger and fear forever etched on his broken face.
"Pathetic. You almost made me laugh."
Nono dismissed him, turning back to the mural.
"Path of Yomi… Road of the gods… Divine blood and bone…"
—
Elsewhere, Wang Jiang strolled through a Genji Heavy Industries tea room as if it were his home. Suddenly, the porcelain teacup in his hand shattered, crushed under his furious stomp.
"Damn it! A fake!"
Herzog's plan had been clear—use Wang Jiang and the Mōkizu to exploit the gap before Tachibana Masamune's crimes were exposed, staging his "assassination" by Bundalev's faction to bury scandals and frame others.
And also, seize Eriyi—the real weapon. With Gen Isshin no longer controllable, the girl was vital.
Herzog knew Bundalev might still lurk in the shadows, manipulating the Grail War. He dared not risk himself as a Master. Instead, the Genji brothers were his chess pieces.
But with Isshin lost, he needed Eriyi to replace him.
Like her sister, Eriyi had undergone a callosotomy—severing the corpus callosum once used to treat epilepsy. Patients often developed split-brain symptoms.
Herzog's research showed that through special clapper sounds, such patients could be controlled—forced into alternate personalities. Under constant clapping, Genji Onna would switch to her Kazama Ruri persona. This was why Herzog felt secure.
Eriyi, though without a second personality, was still susceptible.
Or so it should have been.
But the intruder in the shadow wall room, disguised as Eriyi, was completely unaffected!
Wang Jiang roared, kicking the tea table across the room.
"Dragon King. Go to 13th floor, Section D. Eliminate the impostor. Take your Servant."
Into his communicator he spoke to Kazama Ruri. Meanwhile, his clappers rasped in his hands, pressing down her rebellious will.
"Don't disappoint me."
(End of Chapter)
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