---o---
On the light curtain, when the countless viewers saw this scene, their blood pressure instantly skyrocketed.
The Hassan of the Intoxicated Smoke had carved out a path of survival for the refugees with his own life!
Even though he was clad in black and was an Assassin lurking in the shadows, looked down upon by many, his actions had undoubtedly won him the respect of a great wave of people across the infinite dimensions.
After the Hassan of the Intoxicated Smoke vanished, countless viewers on the light curtain even mourned for him. Some chose to wear clothes as black as his to show their respect.
In stark contrast, Tristan, despite wearing magnificent armor, looking righteous, and bearing the title of "noble character," had committed an act of extreme evil.
Hypocrisy!!
Across the infinite dimensions, countless viewers, seeing Tristan's face, clenched their fists, wishing they could rush in and beat him to a pulp!
How could such a person be a Knight of the Round Table? How could such a person become one of King Arthur's renowned knights?
Throughout the multiverse, countless people developed a strong aversion to this version of Tristan.
Naruto Uzumaki: "Unbelievable! This… this man can be called a knight of noble character? A guy who attacks commoners like this is no different from the worst scum!!"
Gawain, the Sun Knight: "How could this be? How could something like this happen! How could Tristan do such a thing! What about your knightly spirit? Why would you attack unarmed refugees!"
Argenti, the Knight of Beauty: "…A Tristan like this is fundamentally unfit to be a Knight of the Round Table. No… he is not even worthy of the title of knight! In contrast, that Assassin named Hassan of the Intoxicated Smoke is more like a knight. His soul is one of pure beauty."
King of Heroes: "The Hassan of the Intoxicated Smoke, you say… He has truly earned this King's notice. To think that among that rabble of 'Old Men of the Mountain,' such a character exists."
Bedivere: "Why? Why do this? Could those refugees truly pose a threat to a Heroic Spirit?"
Tristan, the Knight of Sadness: "Ah… what sadness. To witness all of this, my heart feels as if it's being torn apart by a knife."
Utaha Kasumigaoka: "…You're the one who did it with your own hands, and now you're playing the hypocrite here. Don't you feel any shame?!"
"Tristan!? Why? How could he do something like this!? What in the world happened? Has he been corrupted by All the World's Evil!?"
In the Type-Moon world, Artoria shot up from her seat.
She was trembling all over, unable to believe that the cruel, bloodthirsty knight in the video was the Tristan she knew.
Artoria was both furious and utterly unable to comprehend it. No one knew Tristan better than she did.
Just as the historical accounts described, Tristan was a man of noble character who easily empathized with others. He was a knight troubled by his own emotions and a practitioner of the knightly spirit.
Artoria firmly believed that no matter what changes her own body had undergone, even if she had truly given the order to hunt them down, that kind knight… could never commit such an act!
Because the act of slaughter itself was something Tristan was fundamentally incapable of accepting.
You must understand, in history, when King Arthur chose to sacrifice a few villages to achieve a strategic objective for certain reasons, Tristan, out of grief and anger, had even declared, "The King does not understand the human heart," and subsequently left the Knights of the Round Table.
Although it was just a fit of anger, it was clear that in Tristan's heart, his knightly spirit, in some respects, even surpassed his loyalty to King Arthur. This was more than enough to prove Tristan's character; he would absolutely never commit an act of slaughter.
On the battlefield, no matter how valiant he was, no matter how many people he killed, it didn't matter. But when faced with unarmed commoners, a group of refugees no less, the noble Tristan would never be able to bring himself to strike.
And yet, the Tristan on the light curtain did it.
Without a doubt, while Tristan wasn't the strongest of the Round Table, his reputation was one of the best.
Just as even his enemy, the Hassan of the Intoxicated Smoke, believed in Tristan's character, he could be said to perfectly represent the knightly spirit and the good side of the Round Table.
And yet, it was this very knight, adorned with all sorts of halos, who could represent the Knights of the Round Table as a whole, who had committed an act that trampled on the knightly spirit and brought shame upon the entire order.
How could this not break Artoria's heart?
She would rather believe Tristan was being controlled by the black mud of the Grail than believe this was of the knight's own volition.
Of course, what terrified Artoria even more was that she herself had given such a cruel order.
And what about the other Knights of the Round Table who had appeared earlier? If even she, as the King, had become like this, then what atrocious acts were the current Knights of the Round Table committing?
---o---
[On the light curtain, Ritsuka Fujimaru and the others sprang into action, heading toward the site of the massacre to see if there were any survivors.]
[The massacre just now had been too sudden, too fast. No one had anticipated that that Tristan fellow would launch a dishonorable sneak attack from behind, and a merciless, instantaneous one at that.]
[By the time Ritsuka wanted to stop it, it was already too late. Besides… even if she had tried, Da Vinci wouldn't have allowed it.]
[The difference in power was plain to see.]
[Due to the unknown blessing, the current Tristan was terrifyingly strong, with a Spirit Origin scale more than ten times his normal state.]
[Da Vinci would absolutely not let Ritsuka Fujimaru go to her death. She bore the great mission of saving the foundation of human order. Although it was regrettable, if she died here, the entire history of humanity would be finished.]
["Tristan… I am very familiar with that name."
[Standing beside Ritsuka, Guinaifen's face was grim. For her, who had just witnessed a great massacre, it would be strange if she were in a good mood.]
[But more than the depression, what concerned Guinaifen more was this person named Tristan.]
[Brother…]
[Guinaifen bit her lip, her heart filled with shock and disbelief.]
[On Planet Camelot, one of her twelve siblings was named Tristan.]
[Later, after they settled on the Xianzhou, to adapt to the local customs, Tristan changed his name to Cui Sitong.]
[This knight who slaughtered commoners, although he looked completely different, just happened to share the same name as her brother. Could this be a coincidence?]
[Thinking of the second mission on her phone, Guinaifen's expression grew even more melancholic.]
[Lancelot. Just a moment ago, she thought she might be able to meet her long-lost brother, but now it seemed… that was a bit unlikely.]
[What was this? A prank by the Aeon of Elation?]
[A cruel knight who massacred commoners actually shared the same name as her brother, and it seemed… he wasn't the only one.]
[The Lancelot her phone wanted her to find, could it be…]
[Guinaifen sank into a sorrowful mood. Ritsuka noticed her strange behavior, but she didn't think too much of it, simply assuming Guinaifen couldn't accept that a historically noble knight would commit such an act.]
[After all, Lucius, standing beside them, was even more worrying.]
[Thinking of this, Ritsuka's gaze fell upon Lucius.]
[At this moment, Lucius's entire expression was gloomy, to the point where he seemed to be on the verge of depression.]
[He was trembling all over, his good left arm gripping the prosthesis of his right, as if recalling some immense pain.]
[Without a doubt, Tristan's actions had dealt the greatest blow to this "traveling knight."
[This kind of spiritual impact was absolutely something no one else could understand.]
[No, perhaps Mash could understand.]
[Having witnessed the massacre firsthand, Mash could feel the Spirit Origin within her body burning.]
[It was a reaction of sorrow and anger. The knight coexisting with Mash, that knight of equally noble character, could not accept this reality, and thus, the reaction was reflected in Mash's body.]
[Before long, they arrived.]
[The thick stench of blood made Ritsuka subconsciously want to cover her nose, but her hand stopped halfway. She lowered it, her expression grim, her lips pressed tightly together as she stared ahead.]
[The ground was littered with corpses. Due to Tristan's method of attack, most of the bodies weren't even whole; many had even been reduced to chunks of flesh.]
[Their faces still bore the joy of having escaped death, the reverence for the deceased Hassan, yet they had died in the blink of an eye. Perhaps they didn't even know how they had died.]
[Lucius, with a heavy heart, quickly got out of the skiff to inspect the bodies. After walking a full circle, the silver knight could only stand amidst the corpses and clench his fists tightly.]
[Da Vinci sighed, then took out a few flasks and poured their contents onto the bodies.]
[Instantly, blue magical flames began to incinerate the corpses.]
[This was to prevent the corpses from being devoured by wild beasts or ghouls, and also to grant the deceased a final peace.]
[Lucius returned to Ritsuka's side, watching in silence. Mash also held her shield tightly with her right hand, her left hand placed over her chest, sharing the grief and sorrow with the Spirit Origin inside her.]
[Guinaifen clenched her fists, having made up her mind. She would make that knight who did evil using her brother's name pay the price.]
[Finally, after all the bodies had been incinerated, Da Vinci returned. She said nothing, only shaking her head, then gestured for everyone to leave.]
[What followed was the image of the group leaving with heavy hearts. Ritsuka took one last look at the land being burned by the blue flames, clenched her fists, and turned away with a heavy heart.]
[Just as Tristan had said, it was truly sad. But such sadness, what an irony it was.]
[After all, this sad scene was created by Tristan himself!]]
---o---
[Light Curtain Barrage]
[Even though the current scene was sad and ironic,]
[The audience's attention was drawn to something else entirely.]
[Planet Camelot, twelve siblings! Lancelot and Tristan!]
[This is bad. Both of these Knights of the Round Table are actually Guinaifen's brothers, albeit from the Honkai: Star Rail universe.]
[Twelve… that number seems a bit deliberate, doesn't it? At this moment, the audience outside the light curtain thought of an astonishing fact.]
Detective Conan: "You're saying… Lancelot and Tristan, and even the entire Order of the Round Table, have counterparts that exist in the Star Rail universe?"
You All Should Just Explode: "I'm not an expert on history, but I have read the epic of King Arthur. Although the current Tristan's state is very different from the historical one, he shouldn't have a sister."
King Arthur: "…Tristan does not have a sister. And even if he did, she wouldn't share a sisterhood with Lancelot."
In the Type-Moon world, King Arthur was also stunned. Twelve siblings? Who were they? Could they all be members of the Round Table?
Then what about her? Could her counterpart actually be Guinaifen's eldest sister?
Theresa Apocalypse, Principal of St. Freya: "The Star Rail universe is truly a magical place. Himeko and Welt are one thing, but to think you can even find counterparts to the Knights of the Round Table there."
Saber: "Sigh… I am now more curious about Guinaifen's true name. Planet Camelot… I truly don't know how to evaluate it."
Merlin: "Oh my, this looks very interesting. I wonder what my counterpart in the Star Rail universe would be like?"
---o---
[On the light curtain, after burying the forty-plus refugees, the group from Chaldea and Guinaifen continued on their journey to the Holy City.]
["Thank you so much. It's all thanks to your help."
["Not only did you help us drive away the bandits, but you even served as our guards…"]
[As the scene reappeared, a female refugee came into view. It seemed there were many refugees in this area.]
["No, there's no need to thank us. Rather, we should be thanking you for pointing us in the right direction. You are all inhabitants of this land, aren't you? With so many people, where are you all headed?"]
[Being bowed to by the female refugee, Mash quickly waved her hands and asked.]
["Where are we going? To the Holy City, of course…? It's the only safe place now."
["The invaders came, the land burned, the holy ground was taken… but thankfully, the Lion King drove away those merciless Crusaders and opened the gates of the holy land to us."
[The female refugee recalled the hardships they had endured before Chaldea arrived here.]
[Although those knight-samas came from who-knows-where, the fact that they killed all the Crusaders was worthy of gratitude.]
["Although some people complain that they shamelessly built a city on the holy land… the teachings of God are unchanging. No matter what the city becomes, our prayers will not change."
["So you are all refugees heading to the Holy City? Does the Holy City allow outsiders to enter?"] Da Vinci asked.]
["Yes, of course. I heard the great Lion King does not refuse anyone." The female refugee's voice was filled with yearning.]
["Once a month, the Holy City holds a ritual called the Saint Selection to accept refugees. As long as we reach the Holy City before that day, we have nothing to worry about."]
---o---