What
What did he just say
Little Holy Grail
But didn't the Holy Grail fall during the transfer? When did he-
No, that's not right. The "Holy Ark" was prepared before the Holy Grail began. More importantly, he just said that it was a "complete small Holy Grail", which means that it already contained enough Servant souls!
What is going on
To answer these questions, we must start with the Subspecies Holy Grail War.
After the Third Holy Grail War, Fuyuki's Holy Grail War system became known to magicians all over the world, and in the following sixty years, subspecies Holy Grail Wars were held all over the world.
Although the ritual of the Subspecies Holy Grail War is not complete due to the lack of the crucial core Holy Grail, the maximum number of servants summoned is only five. Even if the ritual is successfully completed, it is impossible to become an omnipotent wish-granting machine, let alone open the door to the "root".
However, the number of five knights is exactly the condition for creating the Lesser Holy Grail. As long as the ritual constructed by the Three Great Families is not arbitrarily modified, the Subspecies Holy Grail War will end with the achievement of the Lesser Holy Grail.
Shirou belongs to the Eighth Mystery Society and is responsible for the supervision and recovery of holy relics, including the supervision of the increasingly rampant sub-species Holy Grail War. Shirou's activities in the Middle East are particularly frequent due to various complex reasons, which also provides Shirou with ample opportunities to collect intelligence about the Holy Grail War and witness the birth of the Lesser Holy Grail.
In a certain subspecies Holy Grail War, five groups of combatants ended up fighting to the death. Naturally, this small Holy Grail was taken by the supervisor Shirou and sealed in the "Holy Ark" that had been prepared long ago to prevent the loss of the magic power and soul inside. Until today.
"Although these are two different rituals, they normally cannot be used interchangeably. However, the production of this small Holy Grail strictly follows Fuyuki's rules, so it is almost the same as the original small Holy Grail. By connecting the two through my Noble Phantasm, it can perfectly replace the original small Holy Grail - ahahahaha, I really admire my brain for coming up with such a perfect idea."
"Stop laughing, it's ugly."
Semiramis poured a bucket of cold water on the complacent Master.
"You just said 'replacement'; then the original Holy Grail contained the souls of Spartacus and Vlad III—"
"—Unfortunately, there is only one small Holy Grail that matches the Greater Holy Grail. Their souls can only stay in that small Holy Grail forever until they naturally dissipate."
"That means there are only five Servant souls left, one short of a universal wish-granting machine. Or, as I said, kill that useless writer as a sacrifice."
"Wooooooooooooooo!!!"
Feeling Semiramis's malicious gaze, Shakespeare, speechless, shook his head desperately.
"That's not necessary." Shirou waved his hand, "A Servant can do anything. Joan of Arc can sense the changes of the Greater Holy Grail through the ruler's privilege, and Chiron and the others will not let me 'destroy the world'; no matter what, I can kill anyone I want when the time comes."
"That's why you deliberately used the phrase 'destroy the world' and deliberately delayed time to let them go."
"I guess so."
"But if we let all nine go, wouldn't that be too many?"
"Without that, I'm afraid they won't dare to come."
"That's not the case. A hero will fight for what he believes in, even if he's alone and knows he'll lose."
Karna, who was leaning against a pillar, stared at Shirou with his godly eyes. His heroic posture gave an overwhelming impression. Shirou even had the illusion that he was being stripped naked by his gaze.
"You are not unaware of this - so you are lying, or at least not telling the whole truth."
"Master? What's going on?" Semiramis' eyes widened immediately. "What are you planning?"
Shirou tried his best to resist the urge to bang his head against the wall. "Fuck you. Your human lie detector is so sharp that it can see through this. Can we still have fun together?"
"Sorry." Karna bowed his head and apologized. This was his only character flaw, because his eyesight was too sharp and he would often ruthlessly expose the surface and point directly to the essence, making people feel that he was too cold, sharp and difficult to get along with.
"Forget it, I've already said it, just keep talking."
Karna did not refuse and continued, "You give me a very contradictory feeling. You have made a lot of preparations for your wish and are in control of everything, but you deliberately slack off at the critical moment, and even delay time to give the enemy a chance. I really don't understand what you want. You can't be trying to stop yourself by using the enemy's hand, right? Then why are you going through so much trouble?"
"Just take your time to guess." Shirou said no more. The more he said in front of Karna, the more mistakes he would make.
Karna did not ask any more questions. He left a message saying "I am leaving now. Call me if you need anything" and then disappeared in spirit form.
"Master!"
Semiramis wanted to ask more, but was interrupted by Shirou.
"Hey, Semiramis, was this Holy Grail War interesting?"
"Well, interesting, very interesting." Semiramis was slightly startled, and then she smiled a smile that had nothing to do with coquettishness.
She understood what Shirou wanted to say. What she was looking for was just fun, and her Master and this Holy Grail War gave her more pleasure than she could have imagined. Although her Master made her angry from time to time, and Achilles and Atalanta were a bit annoying, this was also part of the fun, at least much more interesting than the monotonous palace life, but—
"I still want to know your true thoughts."
"I see. All I can say now is that I have no intention of losing... Just treat the rest as a puzzle. If you really solve it, I will tell you everything. This is also a kind of fun, isn't it?"
Shirou turned his head and looked at Shakespeare, who nodded vigorously. Unlike everyone else, he had doubts in his heart, but never asked the parties involved. He just watched silently, recorded silently, and enjoyed the whole process silently.
"Solving puzzles? It's a new experience for me."
Ever since she ascended the throne and took control of the Assyrian Empire, only her servants had to figure out her, and she never had to figure out others. It wasn't bad to try occasionally.
"Okay, I promise."
"That's it, I will start the work of connecting and replacing the Lesser Holy Grail with the Greater Holy Grail right away, you draw magic from the Greater Holy Grail to repair the courtyard, Caster, you go back to your study and write. It will take Joan of Arc three to five days to organize a counterattack, this is our last leisure time."
"I understand." Semiramis glanced at the mess and activated the space transfer. Although the Holy Grail was stored here, it was not the center of the Sky Garden. The center of the Sky Garden was always the King's Chamber. Only there could she mobilize the power of the entire garden to the maximum extent.
Shakespeare hurriedly chased after the empress, the poison in his body had not yet been cured.
After everyone left, Shirou let out a long breath, sat down on the stone steps in front of the Holy Grail without any image, and muttered quietly:
"Finally, I managed to trick them away temporarily. As expected, none of these heroes who stand at the top of human history are easy to deal with. I wonder if the black side is also like this - what do you think?"
Shirou suddenly turned his head and looked at the golden face in the center of the Holy Grail with a half-smile.