Chapter 284: Final Session

Tohsaka Rin: "Brother Chihiro, did you really fight Solomon last night?"

News of last night's battle had already spread throughout the group chat, but Chihiro, the one involved, hadn't spoken up yet—he had been too exhausted.

Chihiro: "Yeah, I almost died."

Chihiro: "And that guy's in the group now, too."

Tohsaka Rin: "Huh? You mean the Demon King?!"

Demon King: "Hmph, boy, you catch on quickly."

Chihiro: "Your name is a dead giveaway."

Waver: "Wait! Is this Solomon?! But shouldn't he be the King of Magecraft? How did he end up calling himself the Demon King?"

Chihiro: "Well, when you're about to wipe out humanity, I guess changing to a more dramatic title isn't too much."

Emiya Kiritsugu: "Solomon… why do you want to destroy humanity?"

Demon King: "Insect, I have no obligation to answer your question. Be grateful that you exist in a different world, beyond my reach."

Emiya Kiritsugu: "…Tch."

With the arrival of such a major antagonist, the atmosphere in the chat grew noticeably heavier.

---

Siegfried: "Jeanne, did you give my heart to Sieg?"

Jeanne: "Don't worry, I've already implanted it."

Sieg: "Mr. Siegfried, I…"

Siegfried: "No need for words. If you want to thank me, then live well with my heart."

Sieg: "Yeah… I understand!"

Astolfo: "And me! Don't forget me!"

Sieg: "Oh… thank you, Rider."

Astolfo: "Ah, don't call me Rider anymore! Just call me Astolfo!"

Sieg: "Alright… Astolfo."

Astolfo: (＾－＾)V

Celenike: "Ka-ka… (grinding teeth)."

---

[Ding! The question-and-answer session will begin in ten minutes. Please be prepared.]

[Note: This is the final round of the quiz. At the end, special rewards will be given to each group member based on their accumulated scores from previous sessions.]

Tohsaka Rin: "So, even this quiz session is coming to an end?"

Tohsaka Tokiomi: "But the Holy Grail War practically ended with the first set of questions."

Waver: "Yeah, in the last Holy Grail War, we waited until the quiz finished before everything wrapped up."

[Ding! The first question is about to begin!]

[This is an irregular quick-answer round. Questions will appear at random intervals during the video, with formats alternating between multiple-choice and open-ended responses.]

[Each question has a one-minute time limit, and all group members can answer.]

[Correct answers award 3 Saint Quartz, while incorrect answers result in a 1 Saint Quartz deduction. If no one answers within the time limit, the question is void.]

[Please watch the following video.]

Waver: "So this time, there's no fixed number of questions, meaning we won't know how many will appear until the end."

Kayneth: "This really tests the reaction speed of the group members."

Chihiro: "Watch—right at the end of the video, they'll throw in a trick question."

Tohsaka Tokiomi: "That does seem likely."

---

[Video begins.]

[After a long night of battle, the Black Faction had suffered heavy losses, leaving only Chiron as their remaining Servant, aside from Astolfo, who had now become Sieg's Servant.]

[With no other options, Fiore accepted Jeanne and Sisigou's proposal, forming an alliance between the three factions.]

[Now, their remaining Servants consisted of Jeanne, Chiron, Mordred, Frankenstein, and Sieg, who could transform into Siegfried.]

[Even so, they were still greatly outmatched by the Red Faction, but there was no other choice, they simply had no more reinforcements.]

[Jeanne and Chiron relayed what had transpired in the Hanging Garden of Babylon. Upon hearing everything, Fiore felt a massive headache coming on.]

[The amount of information was overwhelming.]

[Fiore stated that they would go after the Hanging Garden, but it would take about three days to prepare.]

[Meanwhile, Sisigou and his team had to find a way to obtain an artifact that would allow them to reach the Hanging Garden,and deal with the Red Archer.]

[After all, with Atalanta guarding the skies, simply having the ability to fly wasn't enough to approach the Hanging Garden safely.]

[With their tasks assigned, Jeanne and Sisigou's teams split up.]

[Despite the exhausting battle, Fiore had no time to rest. With Darnic dead, she had to quickly take over as the Yggdmillennia family head and stabilize their forces.]

[Gordes, despite his sharp tongue, went to treat the wounded homunculi.]

[Seeing this, Chiron approached Caules to ask about Fiore's condition.]

[He was concerned that Fiore would struggle to maintain control over the remnants of Yggdmillennia and might suffer for it.]

[Caules shared his concerns and recounted a childhood memory.]

---

[Back then, Fiore had a puppy she cherished deeply, but their father cruelly sacrificed it to demonstrate the family's magecraft.]

[Fiore was forced to suppress her grief, unable to show her sadness in front of her parents. She could only cry in secret, confiding in her brother in the dark.]

[For a long time after, she fell into depression, and it was Caules who stayed by her side, comforting her.]

[Their parents, indifferent and obsessed only with Fiore's magical potential, never once cared about her emotions.]

Caules: "Sister..."

Chiron: "Master, are you alright?"

Fiore: "Don't worry, it's in the past. Don't underestimate me."

Fiore: "Besides, I'm not your Master anymore. Just call me by my name."

Chiron: "Understood. Then, from now on, you may call me the same."

Fiore: "Alright."

---

Reika: "I have to ask—are all magi this cold-blooded and heartless?"

Tohsaka Tokiomi: "..."

Kayneth: "..."

What could they say? The truth was that most magi from established bloodlines were like this. In fact, compared to many other noble families, Tohsaka and Archibald were already considered relatively restrained.

---

[Astolfo followed Sieg and Jeanne back to their residence. After some lighthearted chatter that gave Jeanne a headache, they all returned to their rooms to rest.]

[After enduring a grueling night, sleep was an absolute necessity.]

[Without hesitation, Astolfo curled up beside Sieg and went straight to sleep.]

Celenike: "Crack… (sound of teeth grinding)."

---

[In his dream, Sieg found himself transformed into Siegfried, standing alone before the legendary dragon, Fafnir.]

[The overwhelming power of the demonic dragon made him realize just how invaluable Siegfried's dragon-slaying ability truly was.]

[He was then abruptly woken by Jeanne—apparently, he had slept for half a day without realizing it.]

[Jeanne, thinking he was having a nightmare, had woken him up out of concern.]

[Then, an unexpected scene played out. As Astolfo emerged from the shower, his towel accidentally slipped, causing Jeanne to turn beet red.]

[All this time, Jeanne had assumed Astolfo was a girl.]

Jeanne: "RIDER!!!"

Astolfo: "Hahaha! You can't blame me for that. You're the one who misunderstood!"

Jeanne: "Do you have any sense of modesty?!"

Astolfo: "Huh? I don't care if I'm naked why should you?"

Jeanne: "..."

She regretted it. She should never have tried to reason with this airheaded lunatic.

---

[After much chaos, Jeanne and the others finally settled down when Chiron arrived.]

[Chiron had only one purpose for coming, he needed Jeanne to help deal with Jack the Ripper.]

[The night before, dozens of Yggdmillennia magi in Trifas had been brutally slaughtered. The culprit was Jack.]

[Black Faction had determined that Jack had gone completely rogue. The situation had to be resolved immediately, but with only Chiron remaining, they couldn't handle the problem alone—so he had come to Jeanne for assistance.]

[However, they only had three days before the final assault on the Red Faction's stronghold.]

[Thus, the group split up: Jeanne and Astolfo would search the new city, while Chiron and Caules would investigate the old city, hunting for Jack's whereabouts.]

[Jeanne and her team visited the home of a missing magus and found his corpse hidden in the basement.]

[His heart had been carved out. He had been tortured, forced to confess, and then dismembered while still alive.]

[There was no doubt about it, Jack was responsible. Her methods were cruel and utterly merciless.]

[Later, after regrouping, they found another victim, a magus who had been burned alive. He, too, had been tortured before his death.]

[In an attempt to uncover Jack's objective, Caules decided to use magic to replay the deceased's final memories.]

[However, there was a major risk, he would have to personally experience everything that the victim had suffered in their last moments.]

[Judging from the corpse's condition… it wouldn't be anything short of excruciating.]

***

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