"They've been rescued?!" Shirou Emiya asked Morpheus, astonished.
"Yes, rescued. I'd hoped you'd be the one to save them, but unfortunately, some complications arose," Morpheus replied, his tone tinged with regret. Having Shirou personally save them would have been the best way to heal his psychological wounds, but it hadn't worked out.
"It doesn't matter who saved them. I know what you're thinking, and just hearing they're safe fills me with joy," Shirou said, smiling and shaking his head before asking with curiosity, "What were the complications?"
"The extra Servants summoned this time... among them was one extremely dangerous individual."
"Extremely dangerous?"
Morpheus turned to Cú Chulainn. "If you encountered an ordinary person, what would you do?"
Cú Chulainn replied, "Depends on the situation. If my Master demanded secrecy, I might silence them. But if possible, I'd prefer not to harm civilians."
Morpheus then looked at Artoria. "And you?"
Artoria frowned. "If possible, I'd discuss alternatives with my Master, like capturing and detaining them."
Morpheus glanced at Medea, who smiled. "I imprisoned my Master for the sake of those children."
Medea had already shared details about her current Master, so everyone understood her situation... a classic case of betraying an ally for unrelated innocents.
Regardless, it showed she had a firm moral line, willing to act decisively to protect children.
Finally, Morpheus looked at Medusa.
Medusa, indifferent to humans but not hostile, shrugged. "I follow my Master's orders, but I've no interest in killing randomly."
Morpheus smiled. "No need to ask about Heracles; as a Berserker, he only follows his Master's commands." He turned to Illya. "And as for his Master…"
Illya quickly interjected, "I'm not a murderer! Unless they provoke me!"
"See? Even Illya, who's had little exposure to normal upbringing, isn't keen on killing randomly. But that man, Gilles... his soul, warped by obsession and tainted by things he shouldn't have touched, cared nothing for murder.
"In fact, he reveled in it, especially in making his victims feel utmost fear and despair before death. He thrived on it.
"So, knowing the Caster this time was him, I had to act to prevent him from using the church's captives as sacrifices."
"Sacrifices?" Shirou was still puzzled. He knew sacrifices were deeply wrong, but why were they needed? Didn't the Holy Grail cover the cost of summoning Servants?
"It's Gilles's Noble Phantasm," Artoria, a veteran of the Fourth Holy Grail War, explained. "That Noble Phantasm is terrifying. It holds immense mana and can draw from the Greater Source. Using sacrifices, it can perform dreadful summoning magecraft, calling forth massive creatures recorded within it!
"Back then, several enemy Servants had to temporarily unite to face that creature. If Gilles summoned it without restraint, he might sacrifice an entire city to summon a monster none could defeat!"
Morpheus chuckled. "It's not that bad. If you seize the right moment, you can even turn the summoned creature against its summoner."
His words drew everyone's attention, with Artoria asking, "You're familiar with such things?"
Morpheus, recalling why he came to the Fate/Grand Order world, said wistfully, "Two outcomes are possible. One is summoning an eldritch deity's kin, but their combat strength isn't overwhelming... I can handle them easily.
"The other is summoning an actual eldritch deity, but their power would annihilate the summoner and everything nearby, whether through madness or other means. The moment they appear, the impact is unbearable.
"And after the summoner's death, the summoned entity dissipates. The cost is usually just the surrounding area."
Morpheus spoke lightly, but his words sent chills through the listeners.
Both Rin Tohsaka, the magus, and Shirou Emiya, the ordinary high schooler, echoed his term in shock: "Eldritch deity?!"
"Yeah, eldritch deities. Their true forms are certainly not in our solar system... maybe even beyond the Milky Way," Morpheus nodded. "Though their true bodies don't come, a summoner could call a fragment or avatar."
Seeing the group's alarmed expressions, Morpheus laughed. "No need to worry so much. His book isn't that advanced... it can only summon kin, which aren't too useful. It's far less impressive than my own book."
He waved the book in his hand.
Medea protested, "Your book was forged by Hephaestus himself, tailored to your specifications. Comparing it to an ordinary Noble Phantasm is a bit unfair, don't you think?"
"Not at all! His book is a translation of ancient eldritch texts, its essence derived from those deities. Mine's just a blank book crafted by Hephaestus... I wrote its contents myself!"
Morpheus spoke confidently, even boldly. "Besides, those eldritch deities' power far surpasses Hephaestus. I suspect even Sefar, the White Death that nearly eradicated the Age of Gods, would be easily crushed by an eldritch deity."
His words bordered on blasphemy, but Medea knew Morpheus didn't speak lightly. She turned serious. "Are these deities that powerful?"
Though she hadn't lived through Sefar's era, she'd fought giants born from Sefar's corpse... enemies even the gods dreaded. She'd also heard how Sefar nearly annihilated the divine, hastening the Age of Gods' end.
If these deities could crush Sefar, their full arrival on Earth would be unstoppable by anyone today!
Not even the Sword of Promised Victory at full power might stand a chance!
And that sword was in her hands.
Medea glanced at Artoria, sighing.
"Though I know she's the legendary King of Knights, can she truly unleash the Sword of Promised Victory' full power?"
Sensing Medea's gaze, Artoria looked back, puzzled. "Something wrong?"
"No, just wondering if you'd show Morpheus the Sword of Promised Victory."
"The Sword of Promised Victory?" Artoria blinked, and Medea clarified, "Your Noble Phantasm, Excalibur."
Morpheus shook his head. "No need. My Sword of Promised Victory magecraft is based on its legend, amplified by its mythos. Its mechanics are entirely different from the original in Artoria's hands."
Hearing them discuss the Sword of Promised Victory magecraft, Artoria seized the chance to ask something that had long puzzled her.
"How did you create that magecraft? That weapon is mine…" she asked.
"Simple. As I said, I crafted it from the legend. The terrifying Sefar, who nearly ended the Age of Gods and decimated the divine, was defeated by the Sword of Promised Victory.
"Your Excalibur, forged from the planet's collective prayers for survival, is the grandest, most supreme Noble Phantasm on this world... the Sword of Promised Victory.
"You wield only a fraction of its power in battle. Unleashing its full strength requires specific conditions. I don't know the exact ones, but from using the Sword of Promised Victory magecraft, I sense the true blade's full power activates only in a crisis threatening humanity's survival."
"A crisis threatening humanity's survival?!"
"Exactly... an enemy aiming to eradicate all of humanity or civilization itself. Against such a terror, the sword should unleash its full power.
"You could think of it as a specialized attack, like my own anti-dragon specialty."
With the school emptied by the chaos, there was no class that day. As Morpheus told his tales, time passed. After handling necessities like eating, he found Sakura Matou and asked, "Where are the Grail fragments?"
"Here." Sakura produced the Holy Grail fragments and handed them to Morpheus. As he took them, she asked, "Are you planning to use these to craft a new Lesser Grail, Morpheus-nii?"
"Something like that. If I can achieve my goal without crafting a Lesser Grail, that'd be ideal," Morpheus nodded. "If I must, I could use special magecraft to create a vessel or even a small cup."
"Different choices?"
"No, different hypotheses. I've studied parts of the Holy Grail, but my current methods are theoretical. I'll need to test them."
As he spoke, Morpheus tossed the Grail fragments onto the ground and began carving a magic circle around them.
The fragments themselves held a portion of the Holy Grail's power. As remnants of the Greater Grail fully manifested in the Fourth Holy Grail War, their contained energy was still vast.
They could easily serve as material for a Noble Phantasm.
Morpheus attempted to seal the fragments completely, then used their connection to the Greater Grail to construct a special channel, aiming to supplant Illya's direct link to it.
But after trying, he found he'd failed.
"Illya's connection to the Greater Grail is too strong. This method alone can't replace it. Even if successful, the channel would prioritize Illya…" Morpheus muttered, reaching into his pocket to pull out a small clay figure.
The figure wasn't fresh; the clay had dried, coated with a layer of glue to maintain its human shape.
Sakura blinked excitedly. "A substitute doll?"
"Yes, a substitute doll. In many folk traditions, such dolls divert harm meant for their owner by deceiving curses.
"I collected some of Illya's hair and used it as the core, now inside this figure."
Morpheus placed the clay figure with the Grail fragments.
A miraculous scene unfolded: the fragments fused tightly with the figure, inseparable!
"To enhance the effect, I drew on a specific myth... God crafting man from clay, giving clay figures human essence, though lacking a soul.
"Illya's hair serves as that soul. With the Grail fragments' reinforcement, this figure now has flesh, soul, and the Lesser Grail's magic circuits. Let's see if this works."
Morpheus began forging a connection between the figure and the Greater Grail.
This time, he smiled.
"Perfect result. It worked. The Greater Grail can't distinguish this from Illya. With my interference, it now recognizes this as the Lesser Grail it's been linked to!"
***
If you enjoyed this story, don't forget to drop 5 stars and your power stone. And if you want to read more than 70 chapters in advance, feel free to visit: pat reon . com / KangTL