"Okay, that's perfect."
As he spoke, it seemed as if the Holy Grail sensed the call from this participant in the Holy Grail War. Emiya Kiritsugu's expression stiffened involuntarily. The magic seal that had been passed down from generation to generation by the Emiya family on the back of his hand began to transmit magic power crazily, and Kiritsugu slowly began to chant:
"Declare that you will obey my orders. My life is with your sword!"
... ... ..
"—Let us swear an oath here. I will accomplish all the good deeds in the world and I will destroy all the evil deeds in the world!"
... ... ..
"You are the Seventh Heaven who is entangled with the Three Word Spirits, and you came from the Wheel of Restraint! Guardian of the Libra!"
It was like thunder and lightning, or perhaps a door in time and space was opened. The magic power gathered from the atmosphere and formed a body. The knight king from the remains of the planet in ancient history slowly descended!
At this moment, the blonde girl was standing on top of the magic circle that was emitting strong fluctuations, and she shouted, "Are you my master?!"
As the crisp sound slowly fell, the filming of this scene came to an end.
... ... .
The filming of the heroic spirit summoning scene was finished. Just when Du Lin was about to let the staff on site take a rest while he stayed to deal with the traces on the ground, suddenly, the summoning array suddenly emitted a faint light again, and something no one expected happened.
The Servant Summoning Circle that was originally used by Durin as a decoration and was completely recreated based on the impression in his mind actually reacted and exploded with astonishing magic power! !
Yes, Leah's summoning was purely the effect created by Durin using the teleportation magic just now. The magic circle on the ground should have been useless.
However, at this moment, in the eyes of everyone, including the nobles who were watching the live broadcast, a vague figure actually appeared above the summoning array!
"this... .."
Feeling extremely unbelievable, Chase quickly protected the silver-haired woman beside him who was so nervous that she forgot to swallow her saliva. Because the two of them, as the protagonists, stood too close to the summoning array just now, at this moment they could be said to be facing this completely unimaginable horror scene, and then...
"!"
A gust of cold wind that sounded like laughter suddenly came, and the headless knight who was patrolling outside seemed to have sensed some extremely serious situation, so he picked up his sword and rushed towards the hall.
As for the blurry figure that slowly emerged from the smoke, Du Lin, who was originally certain that the summoning array would not work, swallowed his saliva and muttered, "Damn, what the hell? You can't really let a whole heroic spirit appear for me in a movie, right?"
Chapter 85: Lich? Undead? Saint
Chapter 85
"Heroic Spirit? Hehehe, this is the first time I've heard a human call me such a decent name. If it were in the past, I would have extracted your soul and turned you into a puppet."
In the smoke, a sharp sound like that of fingernails rubbing against a blackboard echoed throughout the hall, and then a dark figure slowly walked out through the smoke.
"Director Du Lin!"
The voice of the Headless Horseman came from a distance. In response, Durin immediately stopped the other party from trying to get closer. After all, he hadn't turned off the live broadcast yet. If the other party was allowed to appear on camera, it would be too chaotic.
Then, as the figure in the distance gradually approached, the other person's appearance was revealed.
It was a skeleton whose appearance was so rotten that even the flesh could not be seen. Only a few outlines were left. Although it looked very weak, Durin could sense an indescribable terrifying aura from it. Even though the other party seemed to be so rotten that even the concept of immortality had almost disappeared, the difference in levels made Durin completely unable to think of any resistance.
At the same time, the nobles who were watching the live broadcast also made a commotion at this moment. This group of nobles, who usually stayed in the imperial capital, saw the living undead for the first time in their lives. At the same time, they all showed great fear. At this moment, this group of people felt excited as if they were watching a movie. In fact, because the live broadcast was much more realistic than the movie, they were more excited than when they watched "Goblin Slayer" just now.
However, the expressions of the nobles were completely different. A certain bishop of the church who had never expressed any opinion on movies and video communications from the beginning seemed to have seen something incredible at this moment. He said in shock: "No... Impossible? How could it still exist? Isn't that a legend!"
"Legend? Bishop Morris, what are you talking about?"
"The Saint who bathed in fire... The Saint who bathed in fire... That's just a legend!"
After hearing Bishop Morris's crazy words, Wilhelm's voice had not yet fallen when the screen in the distance suddenly shook, and then the live screen turned completely black as if there was a problem with the network.
"What happened? This..."
"That was an undead just now? Oh my god, this is the first time I've seen an undead in my life! God of Light, there are such terrifying beings in this world."
"By the way, Bishop Morris just mentioned a saint or something. What did he mean by that? It can't be that scary lich..."
All of a sudden, everyone present looked at a loss. After all, if the scene just now was not a performance, then Baron Durin Edward was probably in great danger.
... ... ...
In the winter castle in the Chaos Realm.
The live broadcast just now was not interrupted due to any external factors. It was just that Durin cut it off himself in order to allow the Headless Knight to come and help him.
That's right, just now, the lich in the distance suddenly burst out with an astonishing breath of death as if he was in a bad mood. Except for Durin, a great magician with strong mental strength, everyone else fainted on the spot and fell all around.
At this moment, after Durin took the initiative to cut off the live broadcast connection, Beldia rushed over from a distance and stood in front of Durin and the Lich.
However, even so, Durin could clearly sense that the headless knight in front of him, who was the strongest individual in his knowledge, was expressing a feeling of fear. This scene could be simply described as a strong lion being frightened by a skinny jackal.
"I didn't expect you to be still alive..."
After hearing Beldia's words, Durin, who was roughly certain that the lich was Beldia's former "master", quietly paid attention to him. Later, he found that although the lich looked rotten, the clothes on his body still withstood the vicissitudes of time. When he saw the clothes, even Durin couldn't help but feel a little familiar... ...
"Beldia? Oh, so that's how it is. No wonder these humans were able to break through the barrier I set up outside the castle. Hehe, don't think too much. With my immortal body and indestructible soul, I can't even destroy myself. It was just because I was too bored before, so I just went to sleep forever..."
"Eternal sleep..."
I didn't expect that the other party had erupted in such a devastating scene just to let me sleep well... Beldia felt a subtle emotion, and the lich in front of it slowly said: "I won't talk about your escape for now, I acquiesced to it, but you'd better give me a reason why you brought these people here to disturb my sleep? If you can't give me a reasonable explanation, even if you have served me for so long, I will use your stubborn soul that is harder than stone as a sacrifice to summon the evil god from another world."
Hearing the lich's words, Beldia's body trembled again. He had no doubt that if he didn't give a reasonable reason, the other party would really do so.
On the other side, Durin, who had roughly understood the situation, couldn't help but say quickly: "I'm sorry to disturb your slumber, Lich... Your Excellency..."
Because he didn't know how to address the other party, Durin just gave this name. Hearing his words, the lich in the distance nodded secretly, as if he was very satisfied with his name.
Knowing that his words would determine the life and death of his group, Du Lin considered carefully before slowly speaking: "We came to your castle mainly to complete a film production."
"Movie?"
"That's right. Since you still don't know what movies are, are you interested in watching our movie to better understand it?"
Obviously, Durin was not expected to say such a thing. The powerful lich, whose name was not yet known, moved his completely unrecognizable facial features and said, "Interesting, you are the first human who still talks to me as usual in the face of my deathly aura. Well, let me appreciate what new things you humans have come up with in recent years, don't let my expectations be in vain."
Chapter 86: The Illiterate Lich
Chapter 86
After Durin made the proposal, the lich in front of him actually agreed to it. Not only did he gather all the unconscious people on the ground and put them aside, he also invited Durin to enter the closed hall at the innermost part of the castle.
"When I first built this castle, I planned to use this hall to entertain guests. But later I realized that there would be no guests in this deserted place except chatting with those lonely ghosts, so I have never used it once."
The meaning and loneliness revealed in the lich's words made Beldia, who was so close to his terrifying master for the first time, seem a little overwhelmed. At the same time, Durin, who was standing beside him, tried to remain calm and replied: "Then I am honored, isn't it? To be your first guest..."
Hearing his words, the lich walking in front simply replied with a smiling spirit: "Haha, whether it is a guest or a dinner for those lonely ghosts outside my castle, it depends on whether the movie you give me can satisfy me."
Because the lich's body had completely decayed, it could not make sounds like normal human organs and could only communicate using the wizard's special mental vibrations. Therefore, even after chatting for so long, Durin was not even sure about the lich's gender before his death. Although there was no need to care about gender after becoming an undead.
Several people quickly took their seats in the hall. Although this reception room seemed to have not been used for a long time, it was almost spotlessly clean, perhaps due to the castle's own barrier and the icy environment.
This also made Durin more aware of the lich's loneliness in a certain sense. After all, living in such an empty place day after day, Durin himself would have been bored to death. It took the other party hundreds of years to put him into a long sleep. The lich's mental strength and endurance were simply terrifying.
In short, in this situation, after Durin walked into the hall, he began to look around, in order to find clues about the identity of the lich. After all, he didn't want his life to be controlled by others, so he had to at least find out the identity of this "enemy".
And he did gain something from this, that is, he happened to see a heavy book that was pressed under the table in the middle of the hall and used to pad the corner of the table.
"The third edition of the Bible? There's a third edition of the Bible?"
Putting aside why a religious book like the Bible has ever been updated, just the fact that a Bible was found in such a chaotic and barren land is enough for Durin to make countless associations. After all, the only publisher of such a thing is an organization that has existed since the development of the human race - the church. In other words, the lich in front of him seemed to have had a connection with the church during his lifetime
Thinking of this, just when Du Lin wanted to take a closer look at the publication year of the Bible while the other party was not paying attention, the lich in the distance turned around and said, "Why? Are you also interested in such boring religious readings? Obviously, no one knows what kind of God that humans have always believed in is..."
"Uh, from what you mean? You know?"
"I don't know. If I knew, I would have killed all those gods who deceived the world right away!"
"... ..."
Realizing the lich's hostility towards the gods, Durin wisely stopped talking about this matter. However, when setting up the crystal, he still couldn't help but say, "Since you hate the gods so much, why do you keep this Bible? Wouldn't it be better to just burn it? It can't be that you are so bored in this place that you can't even find a storybook, so you read this thing to kill time?"
"Are you insulting me?"
"How dare I, I'm just asking a logical question. After all, normal people have the instinct to read books."
"I can't read."
"Oh, no wonder... huh?"
Hearing what the lich said, Du Lin suddenly showed a surprised expression. The next second, as if thinking that Du Lin didn't hear clearly, the other party repeated again: "I can't read, so what you said is impossible."
“… … .”
No matter how much Du Lin imagined, he could not have imagined that this person in front of him, who had such a terrifying aura and looked like a super-class magician, could not read!
To put it in a metaphor, this is just like an ace pilot who can fly a Gundam saying that he has never been to school...
"What? I've told you straight out of this, do you still think I'd read this Bible written by some religious idiots? Even if the illustrations are pretty, I can't possibly read it!"
Although he felt that the other party's words just now seemed to reveal something, the dazed Du Lin subconsciously ignored it.
Yes, putting aside for the moment how an illiterate guy could become a lich, or even a high-level being beyond comprehension, at least Du Lin already had some deep understanding of the fact that he hated the church very much and had a very stubborn personality.
To be honest, although Du Lin himself is a senior atheist who has received basic quality education in another world, after coming to this world, he has to admit that there may indeed be some higher-dimensional existence called God in this world, otherwise many things simply don't make sense.
Therefore, under this circumstance, Duhring did not have much aversion to the so-called "Bible". In fact, apart from those obvious exaggerations, the morals of some stories in the "Bible" are indeed good and can lead people to do good.
Du Lin personally does not reject the existence of religious beliefs in this world, although he himself does not believe in them. The only thing he hates are those fanatics who do inhumane things for the so-called religious interests.
"Well, although I placed a dining table like this according to custom, I forgot that I can't eat at all. Oh, by the way, a bunch of knights from the Orc Kingdom came to my place to die. What they left behind at that time..."
As he spoke, the lich slowly stood up. Just as Du Lin was worried that the other party would carry out a few corpses to show what it meant to be a big boss's self-cultivation, the lich in the distance held up a bottle of wine that looked like it had been stored for who knows how many years and said, "Why, do you want to drink too?"
“No, no, no, no…”
Not to mention Durin, even Beldia did not dare to accept the "good intentions" of this lich. Under such circumstances, as Durin slowly adjusted the angle of the imaging crystal, the two imaging crystals he brought this time slowly broadcast the two movies that had been well received in human society before.
Chapter 87: Without Fate, I’m going to die!
Chapter 87
During the three or four hours of the movie, terrifying laughter could be heard from the castle's hall from time to time. Completely different from its previous disdainful attitude towards the movie, a certain lich was completely immersed in the story of the movie without even realizing it.
Yes, when I was watching the movie just now, a certain lich showed great involvement, and when the plot was getting better and better, even though he was just a skeleton, he still showed a nervous expression.
Even though Durin had told her from the beginning that this was just a performance, due to the highly immersive nature of the movie itself, the lich as a viewer was still unconsciously immersed in the story presented in the movie.
After "KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World" and "Goblin Slayer" were played, the lich, who showed nothing because of his skeleton appearance, seemed a little dissatisfied with the sudden end of the story, but slowly said: "Human over there, this thing called a movie is really interesting... .. Uh, ahem, I mean I think this thing looks pretty good, so is there any more? If you can give me a similar performance again, I can allow you to do these messy things in my castle..."
Yes, after staying in this godforsaken place for who knows how many years, this was the first time that the undead observed the changes in the world in this wonderful way, or it could be said that this thing called movie was the first time that even though it was illiterate, it could experience the joy brought by interesting stories.
Therefore, in order to watch more movies at this moment, it even made concessions and allowed these humans to act freely in its castle.
After all, even before it became undead, it had only heard some stories orally from bards and bishops of the church.
As for this expected scene, Du Lin remained calm and nodded with a smile, saying, "Thank you for your compliment, but unfortunately, I only have these two imaging crystals that recorded the movie. If you still want to see it, you can wait for me to finish shooting the new movie."
"The new movie is ready? How long will it take you?"
"One or two months, or a little longer."
The reason why Du Lin answered this way was because he had decided to finish filming the movie before the Mage's Tower started recruiting students. The Mage's Tower would start recruiting students in early summer three months later, so he set this time.
After hearing Durin's answer, the lich in front of him immediately showed disdain, and then said: "Only one or two months? Although one or two months may be a long time for you humans, for an undead like me, it is just the time to sleep..."
Seeing the lich in front of him being so free and easy, Durin, who originally only intended to ask the other party to lend him the castle, couldn't help but have a bold idea at this moment.
He first slowly took out a half-made imaging crystal, and then, as Beldia looked surprised, he said to the lich in front of him: "By the way, I also have an imaging crystal that records a movie. Are you interested in taking a look?"
"Oh? Didn't you only have two pieces just now?"
"Well, there are only two pieces of finished imaging crystals. This one is just a semi-finished product that has not yet been completed..."
"Semi-finished product?"
He couldn't help but become interested. The lich, who was already very interested in movies, naturally would not choose to refuse at this time.
Therefore, the image of the imaging crystal was projected onto the wall again, and in the image, the story of "Fate Zero", which had just been filmed as a prelude and had not yet been completed, was presented to everyone present.
Before coming to the Chaos Realm to film the summoning of heroes in Einzbern Castle, Durin had already filmed most of the pre-war preparations. It can be said that as long as the filming of the Einzbern scene is completed, he can take everyone directly to the filming town of "Fuyuki City" to film the Holy Grail War.
At the same time, although the content of "Fate Zero" has not been localized too much, and for the people in this world, the heroes in the story are completely fictional characters, but at least from the perspective of watching the movie, the logic of "Fate Zero" is quite clear, and the previous plots that quickly understand the characters can serve as a certain foreshadowing.
In just over half an hour, the scenes go from the Tōsaka family cooperating with the Templar Church to participate in the Holy Grail War together, to Tōsaka Tokiomi giving his daughter to the Matou family for adoption, to Matou Kariya being forced to participate in the Holy Grail War in order to save Matou Sakura, and finally the Einzbern family and Emiya Kiritsugu being strangled by the lich just after the Heroic Spirit Summoning is filmed. It can be said that as much information as possible is given in a very limited time.
Of course, even so, the first chapter of "Fate Zero" is estimated to be more than two and a half hours long. Fortunately, the film industry in this world is almost monopolized by Du Lin alone. As long as he wants, it doesn't matter how long a movie is.
When broadcasting this film, Du Lin was actually not 100% sure. After all, the biggest difference between "Fate Zero" and previous stories is that "Fate Zero" is a group portrait drama. It does not have a fixed group of protagonists. For ordinary audiences, such a movie may bring an uncomfortable viewing experience.