["This situation was already problemati the start."]

  [Sisigou asked, "That little girl's Mystic Code… what exactly is it?"]

  [El-Melloi II replied curtly, "Is this something I absolutely must expin?"]

  ["The Bck Dog clearly fears her Mystic Code. That could be an important clue for defeating it," Sisigou pointed out.]

  [With Gray's silent approval, El-Melloi II gave the answer.]

  ["That is King Arthur's Holy Lance—Rhongomyniad."]

  "Bang!"

  Upon hearing the name, Mordred suddenly stood up, her eyes bzing with shock.

  "So that's why… That's why I hate that box called Add so much—it's that nce!"

  Sisigou subsciously g Mordred, remembering the legend of her beied by King Arthur's Holy Lance during the final battle.

  "Ah, yes," Mordred muttered through ched teeth, her irritation evident. "It's that damned nce."

  Sisigou: "…"

  He didn't dare ent. If the Holy Lance Rhongomyniad was a "damned hen what could other ons even hope to pare to?

  Artoria: "The Holy Lance… I didn't expect it."

  Artoria frowned slightly, her expression plex.

  No wray's appeararuck her as familiar. But how had Rhongomyniad taken its current form? And how had it ended up in this young girl's hands?

  The resembween Gray and Artoria was undeniable. It was far too spicuous to be dismissed as mere ce.

  "This girl named Gray… there's definitely a deeper secret behind her existence," Artoria thought quietly.

  [Sisigou asked hesitantly, "The Holy Lance? You're saying that scythe is—?"]

  ["That's just a sealing form," El-Melloi II expined. "Add and the scythe are ceremonial structs meant to tairue Holy Lance."]

  [Add retorted indignantly, "Hey! Show some respect when you talk about me!"]

  [El-Melloi II ig and tinued, "Gray was born into a certain from Bckmore Cemetery in Wales, ohat deliberately gave birth to a child resembling King Arthur. That child… is her."]

  "A certain …" Artoria's voice faltered, her thoughts rag.

  Her suspis solidified into certainty. A attempting to replicate her owence? But why? What was their goal iing someone like her?

  "Could it be… Man?" Artoria muttered.

  She couldn't help but think of her estranged sister. Man had meddled with her legacy before, and Mordred was living proof of such schemes.

  "Mother," Mordred muttered under her breath, flicted as she thought of Man. "This… is your doing again, isn't it?"

  [Sisigou asked skeptically, "Wait, wasn't King Arthur a man?"]

  [El-Melloi II answered ftly, "No. King Arthur was, in appearance, a young woman of Gray's age. I witnessed her as a Heroic Spirit during the Holy Grail War. There's no doubt about it."]

  ["The Holy Grail War," Gray murmured, recalling what she had heard just days prior.]

  [A magical ritual in which seven Heroic Spirits battle one another for the almighty wish-granting vessel.]

  [Sisigou chuckled. "So you've participated in one. Seems the rumors about you are true."]

  [El-Melloi II corrected him, "I was merely a bystander."]

  ["But now I uand," Sisigou said, his tone shifting to seriousness.]

  ["In Britain, when we speak of storms apanied by the howls of the dead and lightning, there's only one ahe Wild Hunt, led by her than King Arthur."]

  [El-Melloi II nodded. "Indeed. In folklore, when souls uo asd to heaven or desd to hell bee spirits or fae, King Arthur bees the ruler of these restless beings."]

  ["The legend of King Arthur's death in Avalon," El-Melloi II tinued, "became the foundation for stories of a mythiderworld journey."]

  ["Wait!" Sisigou excimed suddenly. "I see it now! I uand everything. This hypothesis… it be proven!"]

  [The video abruptly paused.]

  [A question appeared on the s: "Who was the murderer in the Marbury Workshop i?"]

  [The system prompted: "Start answering!"]

  Tohsaka Rin: "Wait, what exactly did he uand?"

  Iskandar: "Uh… I don't uand anythi."

  Kotomine Shirou: "The answer must involve the Bck Dog or the fae."

  Gordes: "The murderer is that guy Wills."

  ["Incorrect," the system replied. Gordes was deducted 1 Saint Quartz.]

  Caules: "Why did you even think it was Wills? He's the t!"

  Gordes: "I assumed he was just pretending to be clueless."

  Darnic: "That's pusible. Wills does seem like the prime suspe the video."

  Caules: "But he was exoed earlier."

  Roche: "In that case, the only other possibility is Sisigou."

  Sisigou: "Hey, e on! Even if that's me in another world, I wouldn't have the guts or the means to do something like that."

  Darnic: "Wait a moment…"

  Darnic: "The murderer is the fae in the workshop!"

  Caules: "Yes, that makes sense!"

  ["Incorrect," the system replied agaiing 1 Saint Quartz from Darnic.]

  Darnic: "What? Even that wasn't right?"

  Caules: "Then could it really be Sisigou?"

  Sisigou: "..Uhh"

  He didn't know what to say ial.

  Mordred: "It's obviously Sisigou!"

  Sisigou: "…"

  ["Incorrect," the system replied once more, dedug 1 Saint Quartz from Mordred.]

  Mordred: "What? How is it not him?!"

  Tohsaka Rin: "Then who else could it be? It 't be that woman from the Department of Policies, right?"

  Kayh: "No, the Department of Policies is stri in their personnel sele. It's unlikely."

  Waver: "Damn, the time is running out. Who's the culprit?"

  Chihiro: "Stupid, have you fotten there is another person?

  Tohsaka Rin: "There's another person? Who is it?"

  Chihiro: "The murderer is Trevor."

  [The system chimed: "Correct! Chihiro is rewarded with 5 Saint Quartz."]

  Tohsaka Rin: "The murderer was the creator of the Marburry Workshop?"

  Tohsaka Rin: "But… wasn't he already dead?"

  Kotomine Shirou: "Who says death disqualifies someone from being the murderer?"

  Darnic: "Trevor… the creator. Of course."

  Tohsaka Tokiomi: "It's a simple answer, but we were all led astray."

  Emiya Kiritsugu: "Uime straints, it bees harder to think clearly. That's the trap."

  Waver: "So that's the difficulty of this question."

  [The video resumed.]

  [With the answer in mind, El-Melloi II led the group into the workshop basement for further iigation.]

  [He proposed holding another séance, summoning everyoo the workshop to participate.]

  [The séance was ducted by El-Melloi II, Wills, Sisigou, and Reines, while Gray and Hishiri Adashino observed.]

  ["Ready," Wills said hesitantly. "But…"]

  ["It's just a ge of location," Sisigou said. "I still doubt it will work."]

  ["It doesn't o summon anyone specific," El-Melloi II crified. "This is a ritual spell, not a séance."]

  [Reines interjected, "But my body isn't in a state for perf rituals."]

  ["Just stand still," El-Melloi II instructed. "Trimmau, support her."]

  [Trimmau, the mercury maid under Reines' and, plied.]

  [Reines pouted slightly, clearly dissatisfied but pliant.]

  [El-Melloi II began the intation: "We gather here to ighe bea of fire."]

  ["May those oher side traverse the white veil ahis bea."]

  ["A hammer that shatters illusions, a boat that crosses the o, a dder that spans the chasm."]

  ["O you who are blessed, O child of fertile earth, O eternal fme, reveal the truth and summon the guest beyond the veil!"]

  [The room was engulfed in fmes, with a fiery glow refleg in Reines' Mystic Eyes.]

  [A magic circle formed, and the fae from earlier was summoned into the space.]

  ["Who are you!" Wills excimed, startled by the maion.]

  [El-Melloi II: "As I thought."]

  ["I didn't expect you to use such magic," the fae remarked, its tone eerily calm.]

  [Wills excimed, "You speak properly now!"]

  [El-Melloi II: "Wills' Mystic Eyes and Reines' plement each other. That's why this worked."]

  [Reines: "So you used me as a catalyst?" she asked, frowning.]

  ["Just as a focal point. You're not being trolled," El-Melloi II reassured.]

  [Reines pouted indignantly. "Hmph!"]