Vol. 2 Chapter 55: Cthulhu! Cthulhu!

"It's all your fault!" Dracula stood atop a building by the riverbank, tugging at Nyaruko's signature tuft of hair, and pointed at the huge spatial portal linking to the underwater city of R'lyeh from another universe on the Mion River. He yelled, "What's the meaning of summoning your deity's high priestess here, under my watch? Trying to stir up trouble?"

"Let go! Ahh, my tentacles are going to snap!" Nyaruko struggled, tears welling up. "I promise I'll handle it, I won't let this world go down!"

"Won't you?!" Dracula tugged even harder. "Do you know what those two suppressors are doing? They're hiding outside the world crying! Araya even dragged out the coffin!"

"That's just a projection! A projection!"

"That sounds like a projection can't destroy humanity or something!"

Kuro, nervously, grabbed Dracula's arm. "Don't bully Nyaruko!"

But when Dracula first met Nyarlathotep, he was already almost equal to her in power. Now, Dracula was even stronger than Nyaruko. No matter how hard Kuro pulled, Dracula's arm didn't move an inch.

From a distance, it looked like a family quarrel — a husband beating his wife, and a daughter trying to stop her father.

"Hmph!" Dracula finally let go, and Nyaruko staggered away to hide behind Kuro.

Kuro spread her arms like a mother hen protecting her chicks, trying to shield Nyaruko.

"You planned this from the start, didn't you?" Dracula tidied his disheveled clothes after tussling with the two gods. "Replacing a Berserker to enter this world, you tampered with Caster Gilles de Rais's Noble Phantasm, the Rotating Spiral Castle Tome, so it could function as the original; then, you got close with lil Mo, egging her on to desperately prove herself in front of her father; finally, tonight, you timed opening the spatial gate so lil Mo could steal her father's position and use her Noble Phantasm to release the sea demon… Hmph, although power itself is neutral, dependent on the wielder, your magic sword in lil Mo's hands is one of betrayal, so the magic power leans towards chaos, perfectly charging the Spiral Castle Tome, allowing you to summon a projection of Cthulhu. What exactly are you trying to do by summoning him?"

"Honestly, I was supposed to be lying on my bed playing games right now," Dracula said gloomily. "I've done so many things these days, I've lost all motivation…"

Although Dracula has precognition, it has limits. First, he can only see two weeks into the future at most. Second, a deity like Nyarlathotep can't be accurately seen by his precognition.

Nyaruko's sudden appearance means Dracula must constantly refresh his prophecies. Since she appeared, the future scenes he saw changed nearly daily.

But despite saying he's busy, he really hasn't done much — mostly just going through the motions. Even today, when he came here, he only took a couple of steps; the spatial gate was opened by Nyaruko. The most exhausting thing he did was breaking up a fight when he took lil Mo out.

Mordred, that kid, fought ruthlessly. Even Kirei Kotomine, using magic for defense, almost got pummeled to death by her little fists.

"Oh, don't worry. I have my reasons for summoning him. A mere Cthulhu isn't Yog and Shub, so I won't let things get out of hand!" Nyaruko waved her hand. "Besides, if it does get out of hand, aren't you here? You're the newly crowned strongest Outer God of our pantheon, Lord Dracula."

"Stop flattering me. I don't care what you're up to." Dracula said. "I've spent my life being plotted against. I gave up on being clever long ago — especially against you, the chaotic god Nyarlathotep."

"Oh wow, Dracula actually complimented me so straightforwardly, I'm so happy!" Nyaruko acted coy, cupping her cheeks.

"Don't get excited yet. I gave up on cleverness because I found the root cause," Dracula said. "I don't know your goal or methods, but whatever goes wrong, the root lies with you."

He pulled a fork from his pocket and said, "When you play around, be careful. If things go wrong, you're responsible. If this Cthulhu gets out of control, I'll fix it and then come after you hard."

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He threw the fork into the ground in front of Nyaruko and Kuro.

Both their bodies shuddered.

"Yes, Commander Dracula!" Nyaruko stood straight and saluted. "Nyarlathotep will complete the mission!"

While they talked, the spatial gate changed again. A huge green claw reached out, grasping one side of the gate.

The claw was covered in many scales, seemingly radiating strange magical power. Just looking at it made many people feel dizzy.

By the riverbank, many people had gathered. Thanks to Arash's Stella clearing the mist, many saw the claw, and instantly suffered a Sanity (SAN) check.

Luckily, it was just a claw and only a projection. If the whole thing came out, the psychiatric hospitals in Japan would gain many new patients overnight.

Dracula frowned as he looked at the crowd by the riverbank. He snapped his fingers: "Go home and sleep!"

Immediately, the crowd seemed drugged, as if energized by adrenaline. They raced home at impossible speeds—some hurdled fences, others climbed balconies barehanded, some even flipped and dodged cars.

Under Dracula's hypnosis, they unleashed their hidden potential. Their minds retained only two commands:

Go home. Sleep.

Within half a minute, the riverbank was deserted, except for a few heroic spirits and lancers on the embankment on Dracula's side. On the rooftop of a nearby apartment was Kiritsugu Emiya.

Dracula spread his spiritual power through the contract to protect the few girls on his side. As for the lancers and Kiritsugu, they were on their own.

Kiritsugu was smart; when the claw appeared and he felt the psychic attack, he immediately put down his telescope and looked away.

As for the lancers, their willpower kept them from going insane from Cthulhu's projection, but if they failed their sanity checks, unconsciousness was inevitable.

Two claws grasped each side of the gate. Finally, the indescribable entity beyond the gate appeared in this world.

Its body was enormous, the Mion River reaching only its knees. Its whole body was covered in green scales, its head resembling a gigantic octopus with tentacles hanging like a beard. Its body was bloated, the front limbs soft and claw-like, with two ragged wings on its back that seemed undeveloped.

The representative of the Cthulhu Mythos, the high priest of the Cthulhu pantheon, the indescribable horror sealed under the Pacific Ocean in the city of R'lyeh — Old One Cthulhu — had finally appeared in Fuyuki City.

Today in Fuyuki City, as always, things were on the verge of complete annihilation.