Aozaki Aoko Case File

Credits: Nitorxs

After Aoko and the Chaldea duo clumsily managed to dress the stark-naked Touko back into a set of clothes, they lifted the avoidance ban that had been placed on the men present at the scene.

Given the way Touko had just made her entrance, no one present doubted that the Third Magician had been born. Unlike Aoko's case, where her magic and the sequence were misaligned, the disappearance of the Third Magic from this world meant that Touko was now indisputably the genuine Third Magician.

Aoko used some magic to probe Touko's condition briefly. The reason she was still unconscious wasn't because she was injured or mentally impaired—it was simply because she had fallen asleep.

Aoko speculated that this was likely due to the overwhelming amount of information Touko had received in such a short period, resulting in immense mental exhaustion. Even though Touko had achieved full soul materialization, it wasn't enough to prevent her from succumbing to sleep.

Considering that waking Touko up now might result in her being grumpy, Aoko simply hoisted her sister onto her shoulder and stood up, giving her a playful pat on the butt in the process.

Hmm… even fully materialized, her butt was still delightfully springy.

"Touko isn't awake yet, so I suggest you use your magical energy to sustain Solomon's mana consumption for now," Aoko said to Marisbury. "Once she wakes up, she'll be able to help Solomon manifest his physical form soon enough."

"No problem," Marisbury replied casually, looking rather pleased with how smoothly things were going. "This level of mana expenditure is something I can manage—"

Before he could finish his sentence, a gunshot rang out.

Marisbury turned around in surprise to see what had happened, only to be greeted by a second gunshot.

He staggered back two steps, discovering that his left chest had been stained crimson with blood. Blood poured from the wound, and Marisbury collapsed onto the ground on his back.

King Solomon, who had been standing on the throne maintaining the Great Temple's ritual, immediately used teleportation magic to appear at Marisbury's side. With a wave of his hand, Solomon extracted the bullet lodged in Marisbury's body and began using magic to heal him while inspecting the bullet.

Emerging from the shadows in the corner of the Great Temple was none other than Emiya Kiritsugu—or rather, the corpse of Emiya Kiritsugu, with only half of his head intact.

He was holding the short-barreled Thompson Contender that had made him infamous as a magus killer. Smoke still trailed from the gun's muzzle, confirming that he was the perpetrator.

Kirschtaria tightened his expression and, without a word, swung his staff fiercely. A barrage of razor-sharp blades formed from fierce winds sliced into Kiritsugu's body.

However, the shattered remains of the corpse did not bleed; instead, a black, viscous liquid mixed with eerie, eye-like objects oozed out.

Nearby, Mash and Ritsuka were stunned, their minds blank. What on earth was going on? Was the director of Chaldea doomed to be murdered no matter what?

Aoko watched Kiritsugu's corpse warily, ready to evaporate the pile of rotting flesh at the first sign of trouble.

"Heh heh heh heh," the corpse of Kiritsugu laughed with a voice utterly unlike his living self. "No matter the worldline, Chaldea should not exist… You should be grateful for the success of our plan and your luck…"

With that, the black substance leaking from Kiritsugu's wounds began to evaporate rapidly, disappearing entirely within moments.

The corpse of Kiritsugu collapsed to the ground, reverting to a shattered, lifeless husk.

The situation suddenly took a bizarre turn. Everyone gathered around Marisbury, surrounding him to assess his condition.

Marisbury was undoubtedly still alive, but with his heart injured, his life force was draining rapidly. Furthermore, the Origin Bullet had destroyed all the magic circuits in his body.

The only one capable of saving him was Solomon. However, as a Servant, Solomon's magical energy supply still depended on Marisbury. This made the situation far more complicated.

"I'll help you transfer the Command Spells," Aoko said to Kirschtaria. "You'll maintain Solomon's presence in this world for now, and we'll deal with everything else later."

Hearing Aoko's words, the severely injured Marisbury gave a barely perceptible nod. In his current state, his top disciple was undoubtedly the best choice.

Marisbury could only agree with Aoko's plan. As long as he remained alive, the contract between them would persist, and the Chaldea project could still move forward.

Aoko immediately got to work, using magic to strip Marisbury's three Command Spells and transfer them to Kirschtaria's hand.

"Transfer… my magic crest… to…" Marisbury coughed up blood as he spoke in broken sentences. "…Olga Marie… it must be done… quickly…"

Kirschtaria nodded solemnly to show his understanding. Since he had already inherited the Wodime family's crest, he had no intention of keeping the Animusphere crest for himself.

Nearby, both Waver and Kayneth were utterly bewildered. What on earth was going on? A Lord of the Clock Tower had been assassinated right before their eyes, and no one had noticed anything beforehand.

Wasn't the Great Temple under Solomon's control? How could someone infiltrate it without him knowing?

Could the culprit be…

"I couldn't see that thing," Solomon said, uncharacteristically breaking his silence. "It must be some kind of Demon Pillar… but it's not one of my Demon Pillars."

"So, including the nine I destroyed earlier, these Demon Pillars aren't from this worldline?" Aoko said thoughtfully. "Could they be from Ritsuka's worldline?"

"Huh? Me?" Ritsuka, completely confused, pointed at herself, utterly lost as to what was happening.

["That's impossible!"] Romani Archaman's voice rang out from Ritsuka's communication device. ["Our Solomon was already—"]

"Don't speak so definitively," Aoko interrupted, shaking her head. "I suspect the entity behind those Demon Pillars somehow learned that Ritsuka's Rayshift this time might encounter a still-living Marisbury. So, they must have found a way to cross into this worldline and attempted to kill Marisbury here."

Rayshifting wasn't supposed to allow cross-worldline travel. Yet somehow, Chaldea's trio had arrived in a different worldline and become involved in this Holy Grail War.

["Um…"] Dr. Roman was at a loss for words. In his current mortal state, he had lost most of his powers as the King of Magecraft. Naturally, he couldn't sense the state of his Demon Pillars—or rather, that authority had been left with his former self. As just Roman, he had no way of dealing with them.

"There's no helping it," Aoko said. "The Holy Grail War is over. I suggest everyone return to their respective workshops and rest for a while. We'll deal with everything else once Touko wakes up."