Seeing the young man's elegant movements and feeling the magic power circulating in his body in perfect coordination, Hippolyta was convinced of one thing.
All of the dozen or so young people who appeared in this room were like Tohsaka Rin, rough stones that had been polished to a level beyond what they should be at their age.
On the other hand, from other aspects, the common points beyond this are completely invisible.
Therefore, Hippolyta raised this issue first before the contract and her own wishes.
"You don't look like a unified organization. What kind of group are you?"
It is precisely because of Hippolyta's status as queen and the experience of commanding many warriors that she is curious about how this wonderful group was formed.
After hearing this question, Tohsaka Rin thought for a moment and answered.
"How should I explain it to you? We are disciples from the same school. I can't think of a better way to explain it."
Hippolyta confirmed the answer and spoke with admiration.
"So he must be a very good teacher. Just like the famous Chiron in my time."
As soon as these words came out, the group of people looked at each other - a few of them nodded naturally, while most of the members shook their heads with an indescribable bitter smile.
"Well, maybe I think the teacher is the completely opposite type to the famous Chiron in mythology, right?"
············
Lord El-Melloi II.
If the magic power possessed by an individual is compared to a river or the sea, his level is that of a "puddle", and he is such a magician.
He once participated in a magic ceremony held in the Far East. Although he was still a young trainee magician at that time, he survived the dispute.
If it were just a magic ceremony, the ceremony would have come to an end as long as no life-threatening accident occurred.
The problem is that that ceremony can be said to be a life-threatening magic duel. Although it is suspicious, the wishing machine will appear in Fuyuki. To put it more deeply, it is a very important ceremony for the magic world that cannot touch its roots——
It is said that this is the 'Holy Grail War'.
El-Melloi II, who survived that ritual as a boy, soon became the Lord of the Clock Tower.
Kenneth El-Melloi Archibalt, who was also a participant in the Holy Grail War and died in Fuyuki.
The young man who inherited Kenneth's status and all the debts of the Archibald family arising from his death encountered many incidents and embarked on grand adventures - these are not things that should be said here.
, nor is it something directly related to Snowfield's ceremony.
In Snowfield's Counterfeit Holy Grail War, the most important thing was that Kenneth, the former head of the family, lost everything in Fuyuki. Then there were the students trained by the man who inherited the name of El-Melloi.
El-Melloi Classroom.
As a lecturer of modern magic, students trained by El-Melloi II.
The second person may have a weak awareness of 'nurturing'.
"Talented people become willful, and I just help them find a path" - he himself once complained that he once envied the talents of his students from the bottom of his heart.
In fact, El-Melloi Classroom has gathered many talented elite magicians.
Because El-Melloi II has the least power among the monarchs of the Clock Tower, and also due to the influence of factions and other factors, there are very few people who are completely subordinate to the classroom.
However, it is said that students who can stay in the classroom and graduate in the end can be promoted to the higher level of the Clock Tower magic level - the title of canon or color level. Even if they have not graduated from El-Melloi Classroom, they have studied under
El-Melloi II, and later students who graduated from other disciplines were also rated as famous magicians.
As a result, although there are currently only about fifty graduates from what is called the 'El-Melloi Classroom', in addition to hundreds or thousands of other academic forces, 'when that classroom sneezes, the entire clock
The tower needs to shake' - with such an evaluation, all forces are strongly vigilant about the developments in El-Melloi's classroom.
For Nishi himself, this is a rather troublesome evaluation, but he still reluctantly assumes the position of monarch. This is probably due to his personality as a magician.
The stances of Nishi's disciples also vary greatly. Some of them seem to believe in Nishi crazily, while others hate him from the bottom of their hearts and even have murderous intentions. Some even talk about wanting to be his lover but betray Nishi indifferently.
People, in short, there are all kinds of people.
However, most students regard Nisei as a good teacher.
He is not a teacher who never makes mistakes.
He is not an omnipotent superman.
Far from being a saint and a gentleman, he is a weirdo who is trying to find a way to prosper with bad money while using bad money.
Because of this, if someone asked the students in El-Melloi's classroom, "What are the shortcomings of Lord El-Melloi II?", everyone would point out the shortcomings of that man with a wry smile.
However, most of them understand.
What I am now, whether good or bad, is all because of a teacher named El-Melloi II.
The term "puddle" to ridicule teachers is indeed one side of the truth——
That is a 'water puddle' that is far more valuable than the sea or the river.
The 'puddle' reflects the silhouette of the peeping person, and the subtle fluctuations of the water body distort the image.
With some kind of care, a life-changing 'puddle'.
This is indeed a blessing for those who continue to grow as magicians.
It is also a very troublesome curse.
············
distant past
There are several ways to reach the spiritual temple.
Looking back from the end, it can be said that it is the same road.
It is not only the bell tower that blesses the end of destiny, but also the mountain spiritual field that is rumored to be the entrance to the underworld.
It is the embodiment of the concept that anyone who has gained life in this world will reach it. However, it is a place that is rejected by all people and cannot be entered without crossing the deep valley.
——The Temple of Azrael.
Among those who actually walk towards that mountain, there are extremely few who can actually reach the peak that is both the starting point and the end point.
No, no one in this world knows whether anyone has ever reached that place, and whether it really exists.
Because reaching there means the end of life in this world.
Maybe someone will die because of the dangerous road.
However, this is not the essence of the matter.
It is precisely because you can get there safely that you lose your life.
Because as a reward for those who arrive at the temple, it is literally a bell of blessing for fulfilling one's destiny - in other words, it is the ringing of the evening bell, the light of the sword that leads people to rest.
There is only one person who has always existed in the temple.
I no longer know whether he is always alive or a 'faceless man' who is always dead.
He is the messenger of death who is most respected and feared by the leaders of the assassins known as Hassan Sabah.
Curse wrist.
Drunk from cigarettes.
Quiet.
Shadow peeling.
Shock tube.
Hundreds of appearances.
These are the priests who have a second name in the Order of Assassination, and have great achievements in assassination worthy of their name.
The "Old Man of the Mountain" is the first generation and the only one who does not have the title of a successor leader of the sect. It can be said that it is both the starting point of the sect and the existence of its concept itself.
Even for the eighteen patriarchs who are his successors, it is a guiding star that can never be reached, a norm that can never be seen, and an executioner that they can never escape.
The Hassan Sabahs of the past generations were not allowed to fall.
If people who approve of things that violate morality indulge in the happiness of being human, then justice will fall into selfish desires at that moment and turn into a denial of the doctrine itself.
Because this kind of thing cannot be allowed, the Lord of the Mountain will appear where Hassan and others are with the sound of the evening bell.
Perhaps he is a man whose assassination career has become dusty due to aging and depravity.
Or maybe they are depraved people who are addicted to desire.
In order to be like the end that will eventually come to all people, use the blade of end to lead them into the eternal darkness.
Anyone who assassinates the religious leader will seal everything he has into his name and dedicate it to the doctrine.
Regardless of the reason, when one cannot fulfill his oath, his life will come to an end.
Not only in the temple, no matter what the occasion, the Lord of the Mountain will stand behind Hassan who has gone astray.
It seems that it can be said that the place where this old man is located is the real ‘Holy Temple of Azrael’.
Therefore, even if the patriarchs of the Assassination Order have heard of the existence of the temple, almost no one has actually gone there. Even those who arrive at the temple will only realize that their mission has ended and go ahead on their own.
To sacrifice the person's head.
However, in eternity, there will always be examples of deviations from common sense.
In this example, the illusory figure is slightly different.
In the valley filled with thick fog despite being located in a dry area, there is a shadow moving forward like the sun.
That shadow is indeed a living person, but it is on the boundary between the real world and the underworld. It is wrapped around the body as if both sides are integrated with the general aura. The figure just keeps moving forward, forward, forward——
After overcoming many difficulties and trials, Shadow arrived at the holy temple.
The figure finally arrived at the guardian of the temple - the 'faceless man'.
Bathed in the aura of the 'old man' who seemed to be the embodiment of death, the figure just knelt down and prostrated on the ground, telling something——
Therefore, this figure who was not the leader of the cult, or even an assassin, ended his life without even hearing the sound of the evening bell.
Then, time passes.
200 years, 500 years, or years enough to eliminate the shadow of the big tree.
When the shadow of continuous destruction is deeply imprinted on the world.
············
a few days ago.
"What is your wish for the Holy Grail, Shadow Assassin?"
In the Holy Grail War, which is between hypocrisy and reality, the Master who made a contract with the "Shadow" asked him a question.
We have learned that this servant has been silent from the beginning.
However, in order to understand as much as possible the nature of his servant - or its weakness - as the master of the 'Shadow', the man immediately questioned him after the contract was concluded.
In a normal Holy Grail War, most heroic spirits are summoned by the Holy Grail as a wish-making machine with certain wishes.
The purpose of the 'Shadow' master is to understand the other party more efficiently by knowing the reason why the other party is here.
The 'shadow' that appears here as the assassin - the heroic spirit who calls himself Hassan Sabah - is an extremely alien existence even in the eyes of a Master who is familiar with the Holy Grail War.
After all, even I, as its master, cannot even control its physical abilities or magical power.
The way he spoke was almost like he was testing the Master. If he responded incorrectly, he might kill himself as the Master.
Although there is a way to use the Command Seal to restrain his actions, if you use the Command Seal to restrain this heroic spirit, you have to be prepared to have everything taken away from you. Faldius always has a feeling that he can't help but let
The discomfort he felt thinking this way.
There is no room for error in the instructions given to him.
——This heroic spirit has no fear of self-destruction...and a second death.
From the moment the contract began, this was the only thing I understood.
Therefore, Faldius felt uncomfortable.
Since there is no fear of death and no nostalgia, why does this existence appear here?
Whether it is to use this heroic spirit or to prevent it from treason, the information currently held is too little.
I don’t know if the other party will see through the master’s intention, but as the master, Faldius, even faced with this situation, still chose to ask the heroic spirit questions.
"Can you tell me? If your wishes conflict with mine, I have plans to give in."
Faced with such a sincere question from the Master, Shadow said nothing.
However, noise continued to appear on the monitor in front of Faldius, and in the gaps between the noise, only text like a subtitle appeared.
It's almost like I'm tired of even saying it.
'A wish-making machine is not what I should do.'
"...?"
'My path, which is originally a fallen body, does not require this, so I exist here.'
I don't know if he is deliberately avoiding the 'Holy Grail', but he is using the wishing machine, which can be said to be just a scene of the Holy Grail in this ceremony, and the mysterious words are shaking in the noise.
Without waiting for the Master's words, the 'shadow' just left the words, and its aura melted into the darkness of the town.
‘The stream of wishing machines cannot illuminate my inner being, and they will never be able to touch this body that has turned into a shadow’.
Then, the shadow blended into the darkness of the Holy Grail War.
It was as if they were equally measuring the shadows of the people illuminated by the Holy Grail.
Even at the moment when Shadow is summoned as a heroic spirit, his understanding of himself will not change.
The glow of the blade that beheaded him.
The 'individual' here is just the shadow of the 'weng' illuminated by that light——
He is not the master of the mountain, but merely an existence that outlines his will as his shadow.