Abnormal Type-Moon

Taigong Wang silently sensed the surroundings.

His Master's magical energy remained overwhelmingly abundant.

Even if his Master was an exceptionally gifted homunculus, unleashing an attack of that caliber should have drained his magical energy like water down a toilet. And yet—the magic reserves remained as full as before, as if completely untouched.

Taigong Wang shot Roy a subtly meaningful glance.

As expected.

The source supplying him magical energy wasn't Roy himself.

He hadn't felt any changes in the magical energy supply line.

In other words, before he was even summoned, Roy had already rerouted the supply line, diverting it from himself to something else—something providing a copious, seemingly inexhaustible stream of magical energy.

The preparation was nothing short of meticulous.

There were only two possible sources that could supply such power.

Either the Greater Grail itself.

Or the leyline of Fuyuki City.

Thinking it over carefully, the latter seemed by far the likelier.

Given Roy's Mystic Eyes, achieving such a feat wouldn't be difficult.

Taigong Wang smirked to himself.

Does that little girl from the Tohsaka family even realize her family's leyline has been turned into a sieve?

But perhaps it was just as well.

With this much magical energy backing him, he could truly go all out.

"Quite the audacious play, strategist of the Middle Kingdom!"

A voice, proud and domineering, rang out from midair.

Familiar arrogance. Familiar sharpness.

Taigong Wang turned his head.

Before him appeared a golden ship gliding through the sky, an awe-inspiring vessel forged of gold, lavishly adorned with vast emeralds. At its fore sat a singular throne—and upon that throne lounged the most ancient of kings.

Gilgamesh.

"Had this king not reacted in time, I might well have been burned to ash by your flames," Gilgamesh laughed heartily. "But alas—for I shall ever stand above you! Hahahahahaha!"

Truth be told, his heart still pounded in his chest. A moment of careless distraction had nearly seen him consumed by those unrelenting flames. He'd barely managed to react, quickly retrieving a flame-repelling treasure from his vault to escape unscathed.

This Samadhi True Fire might have been a Taoist technique in name, but in essence it was more akin to a divine power—impossible to predict, impossible to defend against.

Taigong Wang gave an exasperated shrug.

As expected, the King of Heroes was a troublesome opponent.

His treasury truly defied reason; it held every manner of treasure imaginable. Without that Gate of Babylon, Gilgamesh would've been slain a hundred times over by now.

"All right then, Roy, you little brat. You still haven't answered this king's question!"

Gilgamesh sat proudly atop his golden ship's throne, his voice carrying toward Roy.

"And what question would that be, at a time like this?"

Roy gripped the little flag in his hand, eyeing the King of Heroes warily.

"What else?" Gilgamesh scoffed. "The same question as before!"

"Though we were interrupted by those mongrels earlier, this king has yet to receive a satisfactory answer! Continue now. Tell me—what is your true wish? What is it you seek to remake? What grand design do you aim to achieve?"

"…You're awfully curious about my Master's wish, aren't you, King of Heroes?"

Taigong Wang's gaze narrowed.

Without hesitation, he invoked a movement technique and appeared at Roy's side, shielding him behind his own figure, a wry smile curling his lips.

"Foolish question! This is this king's greatest amusement, reserved for the final act!"

Gilgamesh raised his chin, regarding Taigong Wang with an expression one might wear toward a simpleton.

"Or what's the matter, strategist? Have you no faith in your own Master? Worried he'll fall into despair under this king's words? Or perhaps be seduced into corruption?"

To describe his own words as 'seduction'…

"Hmph!" Taigong Wang hummed noncommittally.

He was indeed concerned.

Gilgamesh was unlike others. Though he bore the title of king, through the eyes of ancient China, he was a tyrant no different from the infamous King Zhou of Shang. Every utterance from his lips carried a peculiar, insidious power.

"No need."

Roy shook his head and gestured for Taigong Wang to step aside.

His gaze dropped toward the massive hollow in the earth below.

The most crucial thing was—the Greater Grail had already restarted.

With the Grail functioning once more, time was on their side.

In that case, he might as well indulge Gilgamesh's word games.

"I'll tell you, then, King of Heroes. I'll tell you what my wish truly is."

At these words, Taigong Wang hesitated, then quietly retreated several paces.

Roy stood face-to-face with Gilgamesh.

Staring into the gaze of that golden sovereign, he understood well—should his answer displease the king, he would face swift, merciless wrath.

Roy drew a deep breath, as though exhaling the turmoil within his heart.

"What I seek is to recreate the great work of King Solomon."

"Oh?"

Gilgamesh's interest was piqued.

"That fool of a king merely inherited the will of the gods. He systematized magecraft, refined it, spread it amongst modern man…"

Before Solomon's era, magecraft had been the exclusive province of the divine.

But Solomon, by the wisdom granted him by God, established magecraft as a system humans could control. It was from him that magecraft began its widespread practice and development.

"In that case… what you seek to remake, could it be—"

Gilgamesh narrowed his eyes, as though glimpsing the shape of Roy's ambition.

"I cannot abide the rules by which this world functions."

Roy's voice was calm and cold, as though he were speaking of another's fate.

"In the end, why is it that the deeper a magus delves into magecraft, the more twisted their mind becomes? Why do they cease to regard human life as meaningful, forsaking everything for the Root, to the point of sacrificing not only others, but their dearest kin—and even themselves—without a second thought? Why is it that, in their pursuit of purpose, they would consign the entire world to oblivion without so much as a frown?"

"I believe this world is already rotten to its core—and magecraft, as it exists, is the most visible symptom of that decay."

Humanity is an imperfect species. Yet no matter how much they struggle, they cannot amend that flaw. Thus, external power is needed to improve them.

But that external force cannot be this corrupted system called magecraft.

Look, for instance, to the neighboring lands of China.

Magecraft never spread across that land.

When the age of mystery declined, China's deities banded together to forge miniature Roots upon the earth, creating an alternate system of arts: Taoist Techniques—also known as Fangshu, or in their most advanced form, Immortal Techniques.

In the West, such practices would be called Philosophy Magecraft.

Chinese Taoists may pursue deeper mysteries of the Dao, but they do not pursue the Root.

Compare a Taoist to a magus, and the difference becomes plain.

The system of magecraft itself is karma incarnate.

"What I intend to reset is the very concept of magecraft. To overthrow the existing paradigm, rebuild the fundamental theories from the ground up, and recreate the great work of the King of Magecraft. To complete humanity with a new system!"

Roy spoke his final answer.

"The tragedies born of magecraft—I shall end them by my own hand."

This is the first step.

***

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