"Wait!"
Gray instinctively called out, trying to stop the masked girl and ask more—but before she could, another wave of skeleton soldiers surged forward, surrounding the group.
They were deep in an underground cavern. While it had held steady for centuries, that durability depended on normal conditions.
Neither Shiomi nor Aesc would have trouble wiping out the undead, but using Grand Magecraft here would trigger a collapse—bringing down not just this chamber but the entire church above it.
The aftermath would expose everything. The whole village would be thrown into chaos.
So Aesc focused on holding the undead at bay with precise, defensive spells, while Shiomi handled the rest from the opposite side.
"Aesc!" Shiomi suddenly shouted. "I'm sending these broken souls back to their world!"
Aesc hesitated, then pulled Gray close. The girl stumbled back, leaning against her.
At the same time, Lord El-Melloi II also retreated behind Aesc, now enveloped within the barrier she had cast.
The skeleton soldiers struck with their weapons—but their blows hit the barrier like steel against invisible glass, ringing out with dull, useless impacts.
On the other side, Shiomi lifted his spear overhead, spun it once, and slammed it into the ground.
"Open, gate!"
A shimmering, spectral door began to materialize. As it opened, a blinding white light burst forth, too intense to look at directly.
A cold wind laced with death swept through. Gray and Lord El-Melloi II both felt it—without Aesc's protection, their life force would have been stripped away in an instant, leaving them as fresh corpses on the floor.
...
When the light finally faded, Gray slowly opened her eyes.
The ground was still covered in bones, just as before—no room even to step. But this time, she was sure: these bones would never rise again. No more waves. No more attacks.
In the vast silence of the cavern, only Shiomi remained standing. He leaned on his spear, silent.
After a brief pause, he finally lifted the weapon and walked toward them.
"What was that just now?" Lord El-Melloi II asked, curiosity unmistakable.
He had always thought of Tenkei Shiomi as a walking grimoire—always able to pull out some impossible Magecraft when least expected.
"Just a large-scale anti-spirit spell," Shiomi said, brushing dust from his clothes like it was nothing.
Lord El-Melloi II rubbed his chin. "You've even mastered spirit-based Magecraft... No, I suppose that was to be expected."
He wasn't surprised. Talented Magus always had more than one specialty—and Shiomi was no exception.
Aesc snapped her fingers, and the protective barrier slowly faded away.
"Not bad," she said quietly.
"It's alright," Shiomi replied, resisting the urge to scratch his head.
Strictly speaking, what he'd done wasn't proper Magecraft. It was more like tearing open a small rift between the Shadow Realm and the real world—just enough to suck in wandering undead.
It wouldn't work on Servants. It couldn't affect anything but the dead. And anyone alive caught in it without protection would have their mana and life drained in seconds.
Most importantly, it only worked in places with a connection to the Shadow Realm.
This underground crypt, for example, had been constructed as a replica of the underworld. Only after centuries of accumulation did it begin to mirror that Realm's properties.
In short—it was a crude magical imitation of another Noble Phantasm held by his master.
Shiomi wasn't the true master of that domain. This was the best he could do.
Once he realized that during the battle, he acted immediately.
Aesc didn't comment on his choice.
She knew better than to ask him to abandon something he'd spent years mastering. Just feeling a small twinge of jealousy was enough.
She had no interest in being laughed at someday by a woman who might not even be that much older than her.
"But really… I didn't expect to run into Artoria's 'spirit,'" Aesc sighed. "What a well-laid plan."
Lord El-Melloi II's eyes widened in realization. "So it's King Arthur's spirit—that explains everything."
He looked down at Gray. Her hood had been blown back by the wind, and she hadn't had a chance to pull it up again. Now, he finally understood the meaning behind that face, identical to Artoria's.
This girl, raised as the next gravekeeper, was the "body."
"The three components that make up a person—body, spirit, and soul. Any two alone aren't enough to form a complete human being," Shiomi nodded. "And that's especially true for legendary heroes."
But…
At that moment, he stole a glance at Aesc.
As a familiar bound by a renewed contract to remain in the world, Aesc could maintain a physical form—but it wasn't a true body, only a temporary construct held together by magical energy.
When that energy ran dry, the form would vanish.
The thought that he had spent years sharing a bed with her made Shiomi feel awkwardly self-conscious. It was enough to make it difficult to meet Aesc's gaze while talking about such things.
"Gray, you should already know this—your clan was raised as vessels for King Arthur's body," Shiomi continued. "But only you resonated with the soul of the manifested King Arthur during the Holy Grail War nine years ago. That's what caused the transformation of your body and appearance."
"Mm…" Gray pressed her lips together and gave a quiet nod.
She didn't know much about this so-called Holy Grail War, but she understood what the changes in her meant.
"But just a few days later, King Arthur's soul disappeared with the end of the war," Shiomi went on. "The Holy Church didn't have time to confirm anything. That's why your face mirrors hers, but your hair stayed the same."
A replicated spirit of King Arthur.
A flawless body, prepared to house that spirit.
And finally, the summoned soul of King Arthur.
With all three—body, spirit, and soul—combined…
The resurrection of King Arthur, Artoria Pendragon, would be complete.
"But if Artoria ever found out about this," Shiomi said, shaking his head, "she'd definitely be the first to reject it. That king never cared about herself. Her only concern was Britannia—and this world."
At that, Lord El-Melloi II remembered something else.
"Even if all three components are gathered… Gray still has her own soul and spirit inside her. If we can't extract them without harming the body—"
"This is probably what we'd need."
Aesc extended her hand, revealing a golden dagger.
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
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