Neither Norton nor Summer were as naive or innocent as their twin counterparts. Both instantly realized that the gift of fate had already been marked with a hidden price—the only truly expensive things are those that appear free.
"Free?" Lu Mingze had to cover his mouth, pretending to suppress a chuckle. "There's no such thing as a free gift in this world. I'll collect the price in the future, of course."
"Norton, Jormungandr, remember the path to deification I mentioned before? I can only give you one piece of advice now: humanity will eventually bid farewell to the gods. So no matter who ascends to divinity through the World Tree, they will only be able to gaze upon the lights of human civilization from within the world itself."
That was Lu Mingze's final warning, and with that, he disappeared from before the two Dragon Kings.
——
…Though he hadn't truly left. After vanishing, he reappeared in a far-off location—still within the Nibelungen. From there, he could still see the elevated bridge standing over the sea.
…But Lu Mingze no longer carried the breezy, casual tone he had when speaking to Norton and Summer.
"Hiss…"
His face turned deathly pale. Blood dripped continuously from his right arm and chest—the wounds incurred during the ritual. Despite his extreme regeneration, they would heal only to split open again.
In the end, he could only wave his hand and mask his injuries. The bloodstains and pale complexion were perfectly hidden beneath illusionary magic.
'As expected, interfering with the World Tree doesn't come without cost. A mere piece of Black King flesh wasn't nearly enough. Adding an extra seat to the Throne required me to vacate my own.'
'Looking at it closely, this trade cost me far more than anticipated.'
'But then again… Heroic Spirits are reflections of human history. Countless legends elevated into eternal records. One supreme divine seat lost, yet a place for humanity gained. Finally, there's hope for the foundation of mankind…'
——
Lu Mingze's schemes were unknown to the two Dragon Kings. But for Norton, now that a massive workload had been lifted, everything seemed easier and more pleasant.
Even Lu Mingze's ominous final words felt like distant worries compared to the joy of seeing an impossible engineering problem vanish in an instant.
Norton sent Melusine's spirit into the void, using the White King's soul as a linking keyhole—she disappeared just as the Black King's flesh had moments before. Then, using the remaining physical body as a catalyst, he carved and activated an intricate alchemy circle.
Norton's mood had clearly soared—he felt like he had conquered a monumental alchemical feat… even if he'd mostly just stood next to Lu Mingze during the whole thing.
He muttered under his breath, "Just one last verification… Heroic Spirit summoning… Heroic Spirit summoning!"
Summer finally couldn't hold back and reminded him, "Shouldn't I be the one doing this?"
"Hm? You think so?"
"Hey, don't forget—blood pact, blood pact! I'm the one who's supposed to lead the Heroic Spirit army as Hela!"
Summer still clung to her ungrasped hopes, shouting insistently. She felt that if she stayed a background character any longer, she wouldn't even get leftovers—she wouldn't even get a sip of soup!
That bastard Norton definitely looked down on her lack of R&D skills. He was probably planning to quietly sideline her, and eventually "optimize" her right out of the Holy Grail War project team!
"Got it."
Norton muttered a half-hearted "tch," and though Summer clearly heard it, she pretended not to notice and just stared as Norton pulled out a paper document and tossed it at her.
"This is the chant for Heroic Spirit Summoning. Read it exactly—don't screw it up."
"Oh oh… 'Fill. Fill. Fill…' Wait a sec, why the hell is this chant so long!?"
Summer stared at the massive block of text. Couldn't they keep things simple?
"What did you expect?"
Norton wasn't in the mood to argue with someone who didn't care about technical research.
The more intricate and precise the spell, the more complex the activation procedure needed to be. As for simplified summoning rituals—that would require several generations of iteration and optimization.
Expecting a first-run prototype to function like a streamlined final version was like asking a game dev to "make a multicolored black" or a "rainbow white." It was the classic clueless-client behavior.
"My password is built that way. You haven't even started the summoning chant yet. The three lines from 'Fill' onward are just for activating the array. The actual summoning starts with the 'Declaration' line."
"Well, then let me ask—why the hell are your summoning lines… so cringy!?"
"Cringy?"
Norton obviously didn't understand this particular piece of human social culture. Even Tang, who sometimes liked to act cool, never said stuff like "Be devoured by the pitch-black flames sealed in my right hand!"
So no, Tang wasn't cringy. And Norton had no clue what being "cringy" even meant—he just figured he could copy-paste whatever was available.
"..."
Summer's face collapsed into that of a disgruntled kitten, but she had no choice. She had to recite this ridiculously long and socially suicidal chuuni summoning chant exactly as written.
——
Boom!
Emiya stared into the distance. The explosive power of the Phantasm Collapse had not diminished in the slightest. Even though the white whale had sensed the danger and immediately dove beneath the waves, it still suffered severe external and internal injuries from the heat and shockwaves.
A sorrowful whale song echoed from beneath the surface, mingling with blood that spread through the vast sea. That noble, ancient bloodline attracted a frenzy of feeding fish swarms.
The white whale carried the genes and Kotodama (mystic words) granted by the Dragon King Leviathan. Its body coursed with highly concentrated dragon blood.
The dragon blood, leaking from massive external wounds and fat layers, created a highly contaminating source of genetic mutation. Beneath the unseen sea, countless fish were instinctively drawn to devour the blood—ingesting dragon genes into their own bodies.
Those fish began to mutate with bizarre traits—sharp fangs, armor-like black iron scales. Some even reversed the natural food chain, devouring one another. Their species and biological forms had evolved into something else entirely!
And this chaos also attracted even larger predators of the deep—beings deployed by the Water King.
At that moment, several tentacles—thicker than the white whale's tail, covered in dense suction cups—quietly wrapped around the pillars beneath the elevated bridge. With one mighty pull, the ground beneath Emiya's feet began to quake violently!
(End of Chapter)
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