Two days later.
The participants were successively heading to Romania, the location for this Holy Grail War.
This Holy Grail War was different from those in the past. It wasn't the usual seven Servants fighting each other, nor was it a special situation of seven against seven; it was a chaotic battle of forty-nine Servants.
Due to the increased number of participants, the rules had also changed slightly.
This Holy Grail War was divided into two stages:
The first stage was the faction war. The forty-nine Servants were divided into seven factions, and they would slaughter each other until only one faction remained.
The second stage was the internal war. The remaining Servants and Masters would engage in an internal war, and the ultimate winner would claim the Holy Grail.
As an aside, due to the severe overcrowding of participants in this Holy Grail War, the Holy Grail had automatically summoned a Ruler to act as the adjudicator for this Holy Grail War.
The Holy Grail transmitted the new rules into the minds of the Servants and Masters. Upon learning the new rules, the expressions of many participants immediately became incredibly interesting.
For example…
The Masters of the Black Faction, the seven Masters of Yggdmillennia, each had extremely interesting expressions.
If the previous Holy Grail War was easy mode, then the current Holy Grail War was hell mode, with the difficulty directly increasing several times.
It was impossible to calculate how many times it had increased, but it was at least seven times more difficult.
Oh, crap.
In addition…
Kotomine Shirou, also known as Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, also had an incredibly interesting expression.
Like the Yggdmillennia clan, he desperately craved victory.
However, the sudden change in the Holy Grail War rules caught him off guard.
Decades of preparation, sufficient for a Holy Grail War with the original rules, were completely inadequate for one with altered rules.
Yet…
The Holy Grail War had officially begun, and he had no time to make further arrangements.
But Kotomine Shirou, eager to win, wouldn't give up easily. Since his preparations were insufficient, he'd compensate with schemes and plots.
Thus, Kotomine Shirou released a large number of Familiars to gather information on the other participants, allowing him to formulate his plans.
In another faction, the head of the Millennia clan, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia, shared the same idea.
He ordered his entire clan to release Familiars to gather information. The advantage of numbers was revealed at this moment. Hundreds of thousands of Familiars flew all over Romania, at least a hundred times more than the Familiars released by Kotomine Shirou.
Compared to Millennia and Kotomine Shirou, the other participants were much calmer.
The members who had descended from other worlds had anticipated that there would be many participants, so they weren't too surprised.
Instead, some of the more war-loving members were extremely excited.
As for the group from the Clock Tower, the Jewelcraft Sorcerer had informed them of the relevant information in advance, so they weren't too surprised when the Holy Grail instilled the relevant rules.
Even the surprise they felt wasn't entirely due to the Holy Grail War. A few were surprised that there were forty-nine Servants participating in this Holy Grail War, but most were surprised by the changes within Romania.
"The magical energy in the air is slowly rising!" Waver pointed out an anomaly.
Lorelei looked at the sky and pointed out a second anomaly, "I can see a part of the barrier. It's unknown how wide the area covered by this barrier is for now, but I guess it covers the entire territory of Romania."
She guessed as much because the barrier was simply too vast.
At first glance, the barrier seemed close to her, but that was an illusion caused by its immense size.
The very second she saw the barrier, she sent a Familiar to fly towards it, which touched the barrier two minutes later.
Based on the average flight speed of a bird, the barrier's height above the ground was approximately five thousand meters.
As for the area it covered, Lorelei hadn't measured it, but using the Familiar's vision, she couldn't see the barrier's edge.
Luviagelita's murky gaze swept across the empty train car, pointing out the third anomaly, "All the ordinary people in the train car have vanished, overnight..."
The Clock Tower group had arrived in Romania by plane yesterday, then transferred to a train to head to the next city.
However, overnight, everyone else in the train, apart from them, had collectively disappeared.
Lio stroked the stock of his gun, his voice low, "Was it a Servant or a Magician?"
"Hard to say..." Inorai said. "We have seven top-tier Magicians and one first-rate Magician, plus eight top-tier Servants. Do you think a Servant or a Magician could have concealed their actions from so many people and silently moved the ordinary people in the train cars?"
"Magicians are unlikely, unless they're a Magician," Marisbury Animusphere said with a laugh. "Of course, a Heroic Spirit is also possible."
"If it's a Heroic Spirit that took the humans, what do you think the reason would be?"
Marisbury asked this, and the faces of the Magicians present didn't look good.
This place was about to become a battlefield. A Magician, unwilling to let ordinary people be caught up in the war, had instructed their Servant to go to various places to save people before the Holy Grail War began, transferring the ordinary people outside of Romania.
The above content was impossible to appear in the minds of the eight Magicians.
What the eight of them were thinking at this moment was: A certain Magician's magical power was insufficient, and they had gone mad, capturing ordinary people to act as batteries to supply magical power to their Servant.
"I hope it's not the worst-case scenario," Lio said.
"Me too," Waver agreed.
Although they were concerned about the others' whereabouts, neither suggested a pursuit.
Mainly because there wasn't a single clue. Hundreds of people had vanished without a trace.
It was... absurd!!!
"Let's go and join the other team."
There was silence in the carriage for a moment before Marisbury spoke, and no one else objected.
The Clock Tower had two teams. One was composed of seven Lords of the Clock Tower, and the other consisted of Clock Tower staff and hired Magicians.
According to the current situation, the priority is naturally to rendezvous with teammates.
Although the strength of those teammates is generally mediocre, more a burden than a help, their Servants possess formidable combat power.
The media used to summon Servants in the other team, except for one person, were all provided by the Clock Tower. Therefore, the Clock Tower team had some guesses about the Servants summoned by Team Two.
With fourteen Servants gathered together, they didn't believe that the Servant who stole people would dare to come.
"I'll make contact."
Lio used his Familiar to send a message to his teammates, arranging a meeting place.
At the same time...
The remaining participants were also contacting their teammates, but their methods of communication differed from those used by the Clock Tower.
In the chat group...
Edogawa Conan: "Blue Faction, where are the friends of the Blue Faction?"
Itadori Yuji: "I'm from the Blue Faction."
Fushiguro Megumi: "Me too."
Kugisaki Nobara: "Me too."
Uchiha Madara: "Where are the people from the Yellow Faction?"
Kamijou Touma: "Where are the brothers of the Blue Faction?"
Sasori: "I'm from the Green Faction."
The atmosphere in the entire group was like players in a game shouting in the world channel, calling for teammates to go to a dungeon, lively and extraordinary.
Looking for teammates, establishing temporary discussion groups, and pulling teammates into the discussion groups.
Information exchange and appointment of meeting locations were all carried out in the discussion groups.
Each discussion group had seven people, with no instances of one or more extra people.
After all, everyone in the group were familiar faces, and no one played any small tricks like disguises and infiltration to cause trouble.
The reason for this was, on the one hand, the fear of being beaten up. Playing those annoying little tricks would definitely lead to a beating after being discovered, with mixed doubles, triples, quadruples, and quintuples… all being highly possible.
On the other hand, there was the fear of being "taken care of" with special attention.
As the saying goes, you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time.
Which Faction you belong to would be revealed the moment you meet.
The outcome after exposure goes without saying; you'd definitely be the focus of attention and the first to be eliminated.
If you dare to be a nuisance, then you must be prepared to pay the corresponding price.
Therefore, no one made any trouble.
After finding their respective teammates, the communication method immediately changed to discussion group communication, and the group gradually became quiet.
Within each discussion group, the participants were all doing the same thing, which was discussing subsequent actions.
Some members, thinking that there was strength in numbers, planned to team up and share their locations in the discussion group. They wanted to see who was closest to them and planned to meet up with them first, and then meet up with other teammates.
Some members were bold and daring, not even considering regrouping with their teammates. They directly announced their intention to act alone in the discussion group. Uchiha Madara and Mihawk were the leading figures.
The discussion about the action plan didn't last long. Everyone knew that plans could change quickly, so they didn't make detailed plans, only briefly discussing their intentions.
Inside Romania.
Fifteen minutes after the discussion group meeting ended.
Kamijou Touma and Emiya Shirou walked through the deserted city.
Emiya Shirou's gaze swept over the empty city, his expression not very pleasant.
What he was thinking at the moment was not much different from the Clock Tower group's speculation. After all, they were all Magicians, so their thought processes were similar, which was normal.
"Damn it, how ruthless," Emiya Shirou muttered under his breath, simultaneously making a firm resolution in his heart to kill the Magician responsible for such evil deeds.
"What did you say? Who's ruthless?" Kamijou Touma asked, puzzled, as he hadn't heard Emiya Shirou's muttering clearly.
"Master, I mean the Magician who kidnapped the ordinary people in the city is ruthless," Emiya Shirou replied.
Emiya Shirou was quite satisfied with this Master. He got along with him well.
"The people in the city?" Hearing Emiya Shirou's words, Kamijou Touma was stunned for a moment, feeling something was amiss. Then, after a little thought, he understood that Emiya Shirou must have misunderstood something. So, he explained, "All the ordinary people within Romania have been transferred abroad by Boss Mu. After all, this place is about to become a battlefield for a bunch of Heroic Spirits. If ordinary people get caught up in the battle between Heroic Spirits, they'd have to rely on luck to survive."
Emiya Shirou: "..."
That was unexpected!
It was completely different from what I had guessed.
But…
Someone who could move an entire city overnight, it happened right by me, and I didn't even notice!
That Boss Mu really is something!
"Who is this 'Boss Mu'?" Emiya Shirou asked curiously. "Is he your Master's boss? Is he participating in this Holy Grail War?"
"Uh…" Kamijou Touma carefully considered his words, then explained vaguely, "He's the owner of a special shop, not my boss. As for whether he's participating in this Holy Grail War…"
After thinking for a moment, Kamijou Touma wasn't quite sure. "Probably not participating… right?"
"Not participating." Hearing this, Emiya Shirou breathed a sigh of relief, patting his chest lightly. "That's good, that's good."
To be honest, Emiya Shirou was genuinely happy not to have to deal with such a powerful Magician, who might even be a Magician.
After all, fighting a Magician who could steal right under his nose without him noticing, the probability of him getting beaten up was over eighty percent. The remaining percentage wasn't his chance of turning the tables, but rather the probability of being instantly killed.
As for losing... Emiya Shirou didn't care much. He hadn't exactly been undefeated.
What he cared about was his Master. This time, his Master was a good person, and he didn't want his Master to die in the Holy Grail War.
Gotta work hard! Emiya Shirou thought.
He didn't need to win the Holy Grail War, but he at least had to ensure his Master's safety.
That's what he said, but honestly, Emiya Shirou wasn't very confident.
After all, his Master's special constitution made it impossible for him to escape with his Master.
One touch, and they'd disappear. It was quite absurd.
Thinking of this, Emiya Shirou sighed, marveling at the vastness and strangeness of the world.
The power his Master controlled was practically the nemesis of all mysteries.
Even magical energy was no exception…
Emiya Shirou observed Kamijou Touma. Within his field of vision, centered on Kamijou Touma, there was an oval area with a radius of 30cm, which could be called a vacuum for magical energy.
After staring for a while, Emiya Shirou suddenly had an idea.
Does Master's power work on Noble Phantasms?
Noble Phantasms are also a form of mystery, right?!
If it works on Noble Phantasms, then wouldn't Master be able to be used as a shield?!
Such a rebellious thought surfaced, and Emiya Shirou shook his head fiercely, banishing it from his mind.
At the same time, Kamijou Touma inexplicably felt a chill, a stream of cold air rushing up his spine to the back of his head.
Some villainous subject wants to harm me!
For some reason, Kamijou Touma's mind conjured up that very sentence.
"Archer, I feel an enemy. Take a look around and see if there are any enemies nearby," Kamijou Touma instructed.
Emiya Shirou's expression stiffened, then immediately returned to normal, covering his guilty tone with a low voice, "Understood, Master."
Before his voice had even faded, Emiya Shirou jumped onto the roof of a building, using his C-rank Clairvoyance, also known as the Hawk Eye visual skill, to observe the surrounding area.
After confirming that no one was present, Emiya Shirou returned to Kamijou Touma's side and reported the situation.
Kamijou Touma frowned. He trusted his instincts, and since they were warning him, someone must have harbored ill intentions towards him.
But Archer hadn't detected any enemies nearby...
So, there were two possibilities. Either the enemy was good at hiding, or they were watching him from a distance using some method.
Whatever the case, it was not safe to stay here.
-----------------------
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