The magnificent sky courtyard is filled with colorful poisonous fog.
Ferocious beasts from various mythological times let out deafening roars.
The great sage Chiron, who was in charge of command and detoxification, was the first to die. He was targeted by the courtyard master Semiramis and was poisoned by Hydra as soon as he entered the palace complex. Influenced by the rumor that he "died of Hydra poison before his death", he did not even have time to struggle and turned into spirit particles and dissipated.
Soon, Siegfried, the brave warrior who had killed the most powerful dragon Fafner, fell down, stabbed in the back by the black priest.
Achilles, a great hero who had a similar myth and shone for an era, also fell. He was first poisoned by paralysis, then fell into a trap when he was distracted, injured his ankle, and finally was besieged by miscellaneous soldiers and died.
Having lost her best partner and vanguard, Atalanta went mad, put on wild boar skin and transformed into a destroyed demon, frantically attacking everything in front of her, tearing apart countless wild beasts, magical beasts, fantasy beasts, and divine beasts along the way, but in the end she was still torn into pieces by the fearless school of divine fish.
Seeing the bad situation, Avisbronn chose to rebel. He captured his master Roger, and used this child who had always admired him as the "core" to activate his treasure, the Crown of Wisdom.
Although he was soon killed by the sword of the angry Mordred, the Noble Phantasm was complete. The huge puppet, more than 15 meters tall, became the biggest obstacle for everyone to move forward.
In order to break through the puppet's obstruction, Astolfo and his Hippogriff were hammered into spirits by the puppet, Mordred was seriously injured, and Joan of Arc's holy flag lost its effect because it reached its limit.
However, before the group could recover from the huge price they paid, a new round of attacks followed. Karna pinned down Altria, and Mordred and Jeanne were manipulated by Semiramis, with Mordred about to die.
The black priest, confident of victory, showed Shinji a cruel and bloody smile: "You are finished, the world will be destroyed."
Shinji's eyes were bloodshot and he rushed forward with a roar, but he was stopped by the black-robed priest's action - he grabbed Justisa's soul from somewhere and stood between the two of them.
Without even giving Justisa a chance to curse, the priest pierced Shinji's back with his sword and then stabbed him in the chest.
Yustisa, whose soul core was pierced, felt her presence becoming increasingly weak. She reached out and gently stroked Shinji's cheek, her eyes filled with attachment, reluctance, worry, and pity, but without any resentment.
She moved her pale lips and uttered the words "Run" in an imperceptible manner.
Then, the closely connected contract was broken and severed, and the bond of destiny that had been shared for six years disappeared into the air along with the pure white spirit particles, leaving only the grief-stricken Shinji screaming at the top of his lungs.
"No!!!"
But this roar only lasted for a few short seconds, because his own soul core was pierced by the sword, and he could hardly maintain his existence.
My eyelids became heavier and heavier, my consciousness gradually blurred, and the whole world was swallowed by darkness.
The assassin, unwilling to die like this, tried hard to concentrate, stay conscious, and keep his eyes open.
Perhaps hard work pays off, his heavy eyelids were finally opened, and the dark world was replaced by light.
However, the scenery before him was not the sky courtyard filled with poison, but the familiar ceiling.
"This is... the city of Mirenia."
He rubbed his groggy head, his fingers inadvertently brushed across the corners of his eyes, vaguely feeling a hint of warmth.
"Tears? It was just a dream. Yes, it was a dream. Fortunately, it was a dream. No, wait—"
As soon as my tense nerves relaxed, previous memories came flooding back like a tide.
Many days of planning came to nothing.
The Greater Holy Grail that contained Justisa's soul was taken away.
And the time traveler who was similar to himself, wearing the skin of Amakusa Shiro Tokisada, and reached the pinnacle of sword (tachi) and footwork.
That person was clamoring to destroy the world.
Even though he had used all his strength, exhausted all means, and united with everyone he could, he still ended up fleeing in panic.
When he thought of this, Shinji's heart was filled with a strong sense of powerlessness.
He had not felt this powerless for a long time. The last time was at the end of the Fourth Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City, when Scathach voluntarily surrendered to Altria's sword and left the world.
At that time, he vowed to work hard. He never wanted to lose important people because of his own weakness again.
Therefore, even though there was no one to urge him to practice martial arts and no one to provide him with a Spartan-style education, he never slacked off for a single day and always exceeded his daily homework requirements and never fell short of them.
You know, in his previous life, he was just an ordinary person living in a peaceful era. Although his life was not smooth, it was not difficult either. The most difficult thing was the two difficult hurdles that most flower-growing students had to go through: the middle school entrance examination and the college entrance examination. But even in the time before the two major exams, he did secretly read some books or go to the Internet cafe to surf the Internet.
This little bit of hard work was nothing compared to the lessons Scathach had left behind. The only reason he had persisted until today, besides the man's innate desire for power and curiosity about the unknown, was for the people who were important to him.
In order to protect his talented sister and Fujino, for Orange, and to fulfill the wishes of Yustisa and Scathach, he has worked hard until today.
But now, let alone fulfilling his wish, he couldn't even protect the people who were important to him. What was the point of being a magician? What was the point of practicing martial arts? What was the reason for working so hard until today? He even took the initiative to get involved in the vortex of struggle in the Clock Tower and became an enemy of the "King of the Dead Apostles"
Does this mean that all the efforts over the past few years have been meaningless
All kinds of negative emotions came one after another, and Shinji began to doubt his life and himself.
He did not attribute the reason to Bao Shi Weng. If the old man really wanted to harm him, he would not have gone through so much trouble.
He did not blindly resent Shirou, after all, it was due to his own lack of strength and inconsiderateness.
If he had the same strength as Shirou, if he could think more carefully, and not take it for granted that everything was going smoothly and let his guard down, and start to change the so-called tragedy according to his own intentions, how could he have ended up like this
Everything was caused by his immaturity. If he could be more mature and stronger, the situation would be completely different - at least that time traveler would not be invincible. If he was, he would not need to follow Amakusa Shiro Tokisada's original script and could just rush over and rob by force.
However, it was too late to say all this now. Although they had managed to escape, they were already invincible with the Holy Grail and the home advantage. There were too many ways to undermine the so-called advantage in numbers and combat power.
The dream just now might be false, but it is enough to explain the problem - if even I, an immature person, can think of such a way, how could that unclear time traveler not think of it
Is he dumber than me? Haha, this joke is not funny. How can someone who dares to calculate his inhibitions be a fool
The stupid and powerless person is yourself.
Unconsciously, Justisa's voice and smile appeared in front of me, so beautiful, so clear, but it was getting farther and farther away. I wanted to chase her, but I couldn't catch up, until I was exhausted and my consciousness was drowsy.
—I’m really, really useless.
PS: Well, up to this chapter, the protagonist’s low period is over. From now on, he will just be a little depressed and harmless. He can finally start to show his true protagonist halo.
PS2: All the readers who have persisted till here are my die-hard fans. Thank you for your hard work. I am deeply grateful and have no way to repay you. I can only try my best to tell a good story.