The goddess slowly wiped away Harley's tears with her beautiful fingers, and asserted while gently touching her cheek.
"I promise you to enjoy life, bless you with joy, and fall in love with this world. The joy and pain in it will all be polished by your hands...let them gain various values, and dedicate everything to me.
?”
Using a voice like a mother coaxing her child, saying things that a mother would never say to a child, Ishtar quietly let her body leave Harley's shoulder.
Even so, Harley didn't stop crying.
She just bent her knees and continued to shed tears while maintaining her squatting position.
Ishtar was neither ridiculed nor surprised by this, but just stood aside and watched her.
"Strive and be depressed with all your strength, and you can continue to dance in the world. Even if the dance steps are ugly, as long as you don't give up being a human being, I will continue to watch it happily."
It's like a mother who loves her children.
"Although I won't teach you how to dance...but I can still give you a dress and shoes as gifts~"
Or - like a harvester looking at the golden wheat he cultivated.
"Think of it as a blessing that can crush almost everyone who stands in your way..."
It's not like there's "anything special".
It was neither a chance to save Harley's life again, nor a chance to fight together like before in the factory area, but even so it didn't matter - Ishtar's words were like a blessing or a curse.
It generally brought about a huge change in Harley's heart.
Just wrap her up with magic power and talk to her at the same time.
However, just such a thing, even in a few minutes, has changed a magician's outlook on life.
If you think about it, this fact can be said to be crucial evidence that she is slowly regaining her godhead by building a temple.
Or maybe it was the magic power of the heroic spirit named Gilgamesh that was injected into the body of Philia, who was the Lesser Holy Grail.
Ten minutes later.
"I'm so sorry for such a rudeness!"
Harry finally calmed down and apologized to Ishtar again.
"Well, no matter what, I originally planned to protect you after the temple is completed... In short, as long as you can do your job as the chief priest!"
"I see, but what exactly should the chief priest do?"
"Yes... If it were in the past, you would be responsible for managing the tributes and so on... Basically, you would be responsible for staying behind when I went out. After that, it won't work if I don't build the pagoda temple... Modern architecture
The continuous upward extension of technology looks quite good, right? If you consider adding my protection, you will build an awesome spire with a height of more than two thousand meters! It's really exciting!"
After Ishtar finished speaking like an innocent young man, his voice suddenly dropped.
"But, before that..."
"?"
Ishtar suddenly looked towards the entrance of the temple.
Harley also looked over there to see what was going on, but to her eyes, she felt that no one was there.
However, Ishtar turned her consciousness towards the outside of the entrance - the depths of the forest, and declared in words to the miko who had been given her divine power.
"It looks like a pilgrim is coming to the temple soon...so you should accompany him first, right?"
············
Outside the temple.
"What's this?"
Jesta Caltore was stunned by the sight in front of him.
He is now standing in the forest with the same handsome young man's appearance as he was seen in the police station.
When I came here to inspect before the Holy Grail War, this place was probably just a forest.
However, a completely different scene from before is spreading outward.
Appearing in the forest plains is a huge building that can be mistaken for a hill.
The first thing is a huge glazed door decorated with lapis lazuli, and inside there are stone steps that extend to the temple part on the foundation.
On the stone steps, a building with a cultural style that reminds people of the ancient ruins of the Mesopotamian circle was built. At the climbing entrance of the stone steps, there are side by side imitations of the buildings that are rumored to bring in the United States.
Gold and silver statue of Kokopelli doll of wealth and taste.
That's okay, but the problem lies with the statue placed further outside.
The figure placed there like a guardian statue looks like a monster flying out of an Oriental fairy tale. Its shape makes people uneasy just by looking at it.
"Am I still in the illusion created by those guys...?"
Jesta hid under the shade of a big tree and peered at the temple.
Although it was indeed a scene that could only be thought of as a joke, there was also a feeling that it was undoubtedly reality.
The bottomless aura that overflows in the temple cannot be easily generated even by Prelati and the others' illusions. Jesta understands this very well.
"Why is there such an out-of-time...out-of-time yet extremely strong temple in a place like this...?"
Although Jesta had no scruples in admiring him after seeing the fierce conflict between archers and spearmen in the desert on the first day of the Holy Grail War, he would not want to incorporate his beautiful assassin into this.
In such a joke.
Judging from the design and theme alone, it can be accepted as a 'museum holding an Oriental-style event', but from the perspective of him as a vampire, the real aura covering the temple is even more terrifying.
It feels like a joke.
——This aura... is the same as the one that Junqiu Chun felt before swallowing everyone in front of the hospital.
It seems that just as Pletia and the others said, there is indeed a god from an outsider's perspective, or something similar to it, mixed in.
——Ah, the heroic spirits can't do it.
——Under the foundation of the Holy Grail War, it should be impossible to summon such a rich mystery...
——If that’s the case, then he must be an ‘outsider’ who came from somewhere else.
——...just like me.
Even though they were both inhuman, Jesta could also understand that the aura of God that filled the temple in front of him was a far higher existence than his own demonic nature that denied human reason.
——This kind of thing cannot be competed by the ‘ancestors’ yourself!
If it were me in my prime, I should be able to disrupt it to a certain extent.
However, the current me is in a state where every part of my body has been shattered, and I have also been abandoned by the vampire who was my 'ancestor'.
From the side of the ravaging strong men to the side of the fleeing rats.
Then he fell from the one who controlled everything to the one being manipulated. Jesta unconsciously showed a bitter smile.
——Haha, I hate boredom and pursue the Holy Grail, but I didn’t expect to feel fear.
——If this god counterfeit is also someone who was guided by this ritual, then I have to reflect on it.
——It seems that I mistook this thing called the Holy Grail War as 'just a human ritual' and underestimated it too much.
Jesta had rare thoughts of approval and respect.
He thought that he must be more cautious here, and should hide himself within the limit while peeking at the opportunity to contaminate the temple, but——
"...Zabaniya"
This sound.
Such a beautiful voice.
Such a lovely voice.
This sweet voice instantly awakened Jesta's spirit, which was about to sink to the bottom of the mud.
"Ohhhhhh!!!"
Jesta let out a roar of joy, twisted her body and jumped up on the spot.
And in the gaps between his limbs, countless hairs that turned into black blades passed through.
The soaked hair blade kept moving in order to grab Zesta's body and tear it apart, but Zesta avoided it with movements that ignored the laws of physics and flew in the air.
"Excellent! Beautiful! Great! Sure enough, you are so sexy and at the same time render the world beautiful with your beauty! Those beautiful and sophisticated movements! Yes, cute, really cute!"
Jesta jumped up in front of the temple's glass door with the momentum of erasing the word "lurk" from his memory, shouting loudly not to the assassin or himself, but to the world itself.
"It's you! It has to be you! It's you! You taught me the joy of existence! You gave me everything! You can only pull me up from being buried in the sand of despair!"
"..."
As if his words were worthless, the nameless assassin who controlled the hair blade continued to unleash combos of hair blades.
Jesta avoided all of them with a hair's breadth while continuing to sing.
"Beautiful fanatic! I didn't expect you to pursue me until it is so dangerous... Come to a place filled with the power of the heretic god for you!"
Jesta shouted with joy and jumped to the big tree next door.
He put his hand on the trunk of the tree, and the tree instantly deteriorated - it made a crunching sound and twisted, then turned into a huge wooden tentacle and attacked the assassin with its branches and leaves.
"...?!"
Why do vampires who are supposed to be weakened have such power?
The assassin was surprised by this, but this must be because she failed to understand the part when Jesta explained "the power of love".
In fact, Jesta's actions are beyond the ordinary from the perspective of the world. It seems as if he is gradually reducing his existence while reluctantly activating his power.
The nameless assassin continued to unfold the Noble Phantasm, using countless hair blades to smash and cut the wooden tentacles.
But during this time, Jesta also reached out to the new trees, manipulating the new tentacles and preparing to attack the assassin——
"Quiet--"
Suddenly, a majestic voice sounded, and both the assassin and Jesta stopped their movements.
The two of them turned their sights in the direction of the sound at the same time, and there was a female figure standing on the stone steps of the temple - standing at the entrance to the interior.
She had a young figure that could be called a girl, and because she was wearing a suit that was completely inappropriate for the temple, she looked like a tourist in the ruins of the temple.
However, her voice was somewhat shrouded in aura, and through the sound of the strong wind blowing around, her voice penetrated into the surrounding area.
"In this forest that is the courtyard of the goddess Ishtar, my great lord, no more messy actions will be allowed!"
············
Snowfield Central Church.
"The atmosphere of the land has clearly changed..."
Hansa Cervantes, the vicar of the Holy Church, murmured while sitting in the personal lounge in the church watching TV.
Although he understands that the land has been changing from the west since yesterday, it feels as if the circuit has been reorganized and replaced compared to the past, giving people the impression that "we are just entering the state now."
This was of course changed by Ishtar's appointment of Halli as "chief priest", but Hansa in the church would not know this.
Now Hansa, in addition to the nuns, has also summoned church-related personnel inside and outside the streets, desperately collecting information.
Although he went to track Jesta almost as soon as he returned from the dream world, he soon heard about Flatt being shot, including that his body stood up and killed all the snipers.
Light information was also obtained from witnesses.
"Flat Escalde... is a really kind man for a magician... Considering that one of the ancestors is paying attention to him, isn't it surprising that he contains some secrets?"
Although they only dated for a day, it seemed that he unexpectedly fell in love with this young man who did not look like a magician. While thinking this, Hansa quietly made the sign of the cross.
If the reason for his resurrection was "resurrected as a Dead Apostle," he should at least purify his soul with his own hands.
"But... given the current situation, when the Masters who were defeated in the Holy Grail War come one after another, this place cannot provide complete protection."
The roof of the church's chapel collapsed due to the previous battle between the archers and Saber, and the surrounding area was surrounded by tape prohibiting entry and was set aside.
The original manager of this church was summoned to the Master in Las Vegas through the recommendation of the Holy Church. When he came back and saw this scene, he must not be able to stand up straight.
"Of course, this is also what happened after 'there are still cities where he can go back'."
Hansa has received a secret notification from the Holy Church that "there is a possibility that the entire town will be wiped out."
From the point of view of the Holy Church, which will deal with the aftermath of the apostles who destroyed a town, it is naturally possible that the mastermind behind this Holy Grail War will deal with the 800,000 humans here together.