Chapter 428: The Legacy of Twenty Thousand
"Fuhahahaha! Shirou-kun, you are still too young." Moriarty summoned the platinum coffin, standing it upright in front of him to block Shirou's downward strike. Two panels on the coffin facing Shirou retracted, and two cannon shells emerged, aiming directly at him.
"Shirou! Retreat!" Artoria shouted.
At that moment, a heavy blue shield was thrown through the air, landing perfectly in front of Shirou and blocking the shells from Moriarty's coffin. With a loud boom, the explosion erupted in front of the shield, kicking up a thick cloud of black smoke.
Moriarty, however, took the opportunity to distance himself, retreating behind his mechanical soldiers.
"Honestly, don't be so reckless, Shirou!" Kay, not far away, said with a huff. He was still maintaining his throwing posture.
"Thank you, Kay!" Shirou felt a sense of relief.
"Forget it. It's not like I can't understand your feelings—she is your sister, after all." Kay dusted off his hands, feigning indifference while glancing at Artoria.
However, feeling his gaze, Artoria merely cast a fleeting look at him before turning her head away. On the battlefield, there was only the aloof King; there were no familial ties.
"How can this be..." Kay seemed somewhat crushed, but he quickly rallied, muttering to himself, "Well, she's cold on the surface, so she must be a tsundere inside, or perhaps she's just shy. She was never very frank when she was alive, so I can understand her feelings."
"Shirou, are you alright?" Artoria jumped off her horse, walking to Shirou's side with concern to check if he was injured.
"I'm fine, thank you, Artoria," Shirou said with a gentle smile to put her at ease.
"..." Kay silently lowered his head and picked up the shield he had thrown, feeling an inexplicable urge to weep. 'My sister... what is this difference in treatment?! And Shirou! It was me who saved your life, wasn't it?!'
Looking back, when this child wasn't yet King, she was such an innocent and cute girl. How did it end up like this? Whose fault was it anyway?
"Damn it all!!!" Kay directed his resentment at the enemy, raising his shield and smashing it into the cluster of mechanical soldiers.
"Antonio! It's up to you now! Send more soldiers! Bring them in endlessly! And don't stop production at the factory—this is a tough battle! I'm going to exhaust them with human-wave tactics! If we win, I'll hand over my Academy City and go work full-time playing with my daughters," Moriarty said with a sinister chuckle.
"Understood. Though there is no need for a principal. The music continues!" Antonio Salieri raised the rapier—acting as his conductor's baton—once again, unleashing his musical magecraft. Various orchestral sounds rang out, notes propagating through the air toward Shirou and his companions.
This time, the Knights of the Round Table were also caught in the sound field, caught off guard. For this type of invisible magecraft—which affected anyone who could hear the sound or feel the air vibrations—even the Knights of the Round Table found it difficult to resist.
"Again!" Shirou watched the sonic attack, looking like he was facing a formidable enemy. This was not an opponent one could face head-on, but by now, follow-up forces of mechanical soldiers had arrived, surrounding the newly arrived Knights as well. Two rows of soldiers stood ready, firearms raised and aiming at everyone inside.
However, the Knights were no strangers to war. Even though they hadn't seen such heat-based weaponry in their time, they had faced archers and dragons that could unleash beams of light or breath attacks; naturally, they had their own methods for dealing with such situations.
Bedivere made the call, leading by example and charging forward while shouting, "Charge in!"
"Oooooh!!!" The others instantly understood.
The Knights of the Round Table trampled forward, plunging directly into the ranks of the mechanical soldiers, forcing them to hesitate for fear of harming their own comrades.
"Fire! Fire! Don't worry about the cost! We have as many reinforcements as you need—just keep attacking! Execute the order!" Moriarty smiled dismissively and commanded.
The mechanical soldiers turned their guns toward the Knights, but their muzzles often ended up pointed at their fellow soldiers, with the hollow black barrels creating a constant risk of accidental discharge.
The mechanical soldiers—half of whose faces remained human—showed expressions of terror. But the other half, where the machinery had been implanted, showed no emotion. Instead, the mechanical side of their mouths twitched the human side, replying: "Yes, Sir!"
"No... stop it!" Amidst the panicked screams of the soldiers, their modified mechanical arms pressed the triggers against their own will, automatically disengaging safeties to launch missiles and throw grenades.
For a moment, severed limbs and fragments flew everywhere; the mechanical soldiers inflicted more damage on themselves than the Knights did.
But this insane offensive served its purpose as a distraction. Antonio's musical magecraft reached its crescendo, and its power grew stronger, affecting even the high-magic-resistant Knights of the Round Table.
"What is this music?" Lancelot swung his blade, his aim deflected by the intense fire from the mechanical soldiers in the distance. He had to—
"A miscalculation! This music is giving me a headache. If it were midday, I should have been able to withstand it, clear the field with my Noble Phantasm, and decide the outcome," Gawain groaned, struggling to swing his longsword as he cut down the mechanical soldiers reinforcing the line from outside.
Antonio's music provided heavy interference, mixed with various irresistible debuff spells that prevented them from performing at their full strength. Just when they needed it most, more soldiers arrived.
"Heh, muda, muda (useless, useless)! This is all part of the plan. As long as the mechanical soldiers serve as a wall, it doesn't matter how strong you are—and we have the boost from the Holy Grail!" As Antonio's summoner, Moriarty held the Grail, continuously pouring vast amounts of mana into him.
The effect of the music grew even stronger. Mechanical soldiers that were once defeated in a single blow now seemed impossible for the Knights to cut through.
"Damn it! These soldiers are so annoying! Think of something, Merlin!" Kay shouted.
"No, there is already someone more suitable for this than me," Merlin's voice echoed from his hiding place.
Just then, the tall, heroic woman charged in on her steed like a human tank. Her spear powerfully pierced the abdomen of a soldier blocking her path, tossing it into the air.
Artoria's cold, majestic voice rang out: "Sir Tristan! What are you still hesitating for!"
"Understood! My King, leave it to me! Besides, I don't care for his musical style; this sound is filled with dissatisfaction toward the world, malice, and resentment." Tristan, who had been keeping his eyes closed, opened his sharp pupils, stepped forward, and raised his harp-like bow.
Antonio, transformed into the red masked hero, noticed Tristan and pointed his rapier at him.
This was the clash of music against music, and it had officially begun.
Tristan plucked the strings of his demonic bow, playing a melodious and ethereal tune. Although the volume couldn't compete with the loud, intense Viennese symphony coming from the enemy, Tristan's music gradually became clearer, resonating deep within people's hearts.
The cyan, natural sound waves and the crimson, vengeful ones passed through each other, colliding. The two melodies merged into a jarring noise; the waves pushed back and forth, one side advancing, then the other striking back.
Under mutual influence, they gradually leveled out, eventually canceling each other out and turning into nothingness.
The surroundings fell silent—even though Tristan and the masked knight across from them had not stopped playing.
At that moment, Shirou and the Knights acted decisively, using their respective techniques to knock down all the mechanical soldiers. Artoria unleashed a black light cannon from her Holy Spear toward Moriarty, forcing him to put away the Grail and dodge.
"It's over!" Tristan seized the opportunity, quickly and continuously playing his bow. The moment he opened his eyes, the outcome had been sealed.
Sound cannot be hidden.
"Waaaaah!!!" Antonio screamed.
"Next time, let me hear music of a peaceful heart," Tristan said softly. The invisible blade light struck Antonio, causing the armor covering his body to crack and shred in a continuous barrage of wind blades.
"Ugh! So I really lost, after all. Perhaps my defeat was fated the moment I summoned this King. Abandoning further summoning to avoid being defeated by the two girls I summoned like last time seems to have been a mistake, too," Moriarty mused, as if summarizing the battle. "No—if I had summoned more uncontrollable Servants, it would have been a headache. Not to mention, if they were female Servants, they might have been swayed over to Shirou-kun's side."
"You turned this city into such a mess for something like this—don't you feel any shame at all?" Shirou asked.
"No, not at all!!!" Moriarty replied, mouth wide open with righteous indignation.
"Still unrepentant!" Shirou said angrily.
"As a middle-aged man, what is wrong with wanting a cute daughter! Didn't you also get momentarily obsessed when this King suddenly grew up and turned out to have such a great figure? You couldn't help but want to get intimate with her, right!" Moriarty pointed at Shirou.
"What!? No, that's not it! Artoria, listen to my explanation," Shirou looked nervously at Artoria.
"Shirou, there's no need to talk to him. Just finish him off," Artoria said, glaring angrily at Moriarty.
She wouldn't have been so mad if he hadn't spoken, but his words only fueled her irritation. If this guy hadn't come to stir up trouble, she would have been happily finishing her midnight snack with Shirou, and could have moved on to the next, more intimate step. Now, everything was ruined.
Moriarty suddenly burst into laughter and took out a pocket watch. "Fuhahahaha! I may have lost, but I never said everything was over! Look! Just a moment ago, the countdown for my
plan ended. This is the center of the new city I designed—the headquarters of our great criminal organization, 'Snake': the Tower of Lost Paradise!"
Behind Moriarty, the beam of light from the black tower he had been resonating with the Holy Grail finished transmitting all its energy. A massive, materialized structure broke through the ground, instantly dwarfing the food factory and expanding to the size of a football field—and it was still growing at an alarming speed.
This monster of a building looked like an upgraded version of the tower Shirou had previously infiltrated—upgraded in every sense, from its structural integrity to its sheer scale. It had already surpassed the height of the tallest building in the world. Even more strangely, this skyscraper had black walls on all sides—no windows, no doors, and the top was sealed. Yet, it represented absolute rule, a command tower controlling everything.
Under Moriarty's plan, all of Tokyo would center around this command tower and gradually transform into the city he envisioned. The world had begun to transform into a Singularity. Once recognized by humanity, the world would undergo a cataclysmic change. Turning into a Lostbelt was not entirely impossible.
"Do you think you can get away with this? Watch me destroy this tower!" Artoria stepped forward and raised her Holy Spear. Even if she was tainted by blackness and had become a tyrant, she remained a hero who had fought to the bitter end to protect her country.
"I'll help too!" Shirou placed his hand over hers, joining his grip on the spear, aiming it at the phantom of the black tower looming behind Moriarty.
In that moment, with Shirou's addition, the magical energy surrounding Artoria seemed to soften. The black mana on the Holy Spear was unsealed, reverting to its original color—a brilliant, symbolic gold.
"Rhongomyniad—Anchor!" Artoria commanded.
"Round Table Conference, open!"
The five Knights present took their oaths. The Holy Spear released its seals, one after another, manifesting a portion of the power of the Pillar of the World.
The brilliance of the Holy Spear pierced through the black tower. Moriarty spread his arms, mouth wide, shouting—only to be engulfed by the golden light. The impact of the golden radiance broke through all obstacles, covering a quarter of Tokyo.
People outside the perimeter stared in amazement. In their eyes, a golden pillar of light appeared, stretching from the ground to the sky, surrounded by pale golden aurora-like colors—beautiful and divine.
Everything concluded. Before this brilliance, no matter how powerful a Servant was, they could not resist. Moriarty's wish to become the father of all the cute girls in the world ended before it had even begun.
"Shirou-kun," Moriarty looked deeply at Shirou at the very last moment, musing, "From the third to the seventh floor underground of the building—I leave my twenty thousand daughters to you."
"Wait... eh? What?" Shirou stared blankly as Moriarty vanished amidst the fluorescence. It took a while for him to regain his senses. "Ha... ah???"
Merlin, who had been hiding in the background, walked over with a cheeky grin and patted Shirou on the shoulder. "Isn't this quite good? An older brother is like a father; raising them is like opening twenty thousand savings accounts. If that really doesn't work, you can always pivot to domestic sales."
"Hmph...!" Artoria glared coldly at Merlin, tightening her grip on the Holy Spear. The Knights of the Round Table, who were about to say something, all went silent.
"Just kidding! I was just kidding. Let's hurry over to Moriarty's company and see what's going on with those twenty thousand little sisters," Merlin said, waving his hands and quickly putting distance between himself and Artoria.
"I suppose we have no choice," Shirou said helplessly. Twenty thousand lives—one had to admit, that was a heavy burden.
"Shirou, I actually have some experience on how to get along well with younger sisters," Gawain offered kindly as he walked over.
"It's not like that." Shirou shook his head. To be honest, he was at a loss; he didn't know how to face twenty thousand lives.
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