Chapter 594: Five Battles Concluded, Settlement Begins
The previous retrieval of Red A's soul had already caused the entire Unlimited Blade Works to fail, and in response, the Demon Castle reappeared in the sight of ordinary people.
As the Fifth Holy Grail War ended, the ley lines of Fuyuki City also completely dried up as the magical energy and curses were consumed.
Cheng was able to cause such a stir in Fuyuki City in the guise of a landlord primarily by relying on Fuyuki City's abundant ley lines, which were capable of supporting the descent of the Holy Grail. Now that the ley lines were depleted, the main structure of the Demon Castle naturally could not be maintained.
Without the need for others to attack it, Cheng Tian himself could complete all the demolition work.
Of course, the mass evacuation before the collapse was an unavoidable part of the Demon Castle's fate.
Anyone caught in the collapsing fragments of the Demon Castle would simply be out of luck.
Without external interference, the escape from the collapsing Demon Castle was very smooth, and there were no unfortunate incidents of people getting stuck in stone pillars and being unable to get out.
Just as everyone successfully escaped through the main gate of the Demon Castle, which was near the cemetery, the main body of the Demon Castle completely collapsed. Like the Servants whose Spirit Origins had dissipated, it quickly reverted to magical energy, ultimately causing the entire Enzou Mountain to transform into a massive crater.
At the same time, the entire instance space entered a specific state of temporal stasis.
Except for player-related elements, everything else froze, and a series of rapidly changing images appeared in the sky.
[Instance Settlement Initiated.]
[Instance Scenario: Fate/hollow ataraxia
Instance Difficulty: B
Silver Side Quest: "Kirei Kotomine! Bazett is back!!!" — Team Quest. During the Fifth Holy Grail War, kill the fake Holy Grail War supervisor "Kirei Kotomine." Completed √.
Bazett has achieved perfect physical manifestation, gaining a Heaven's Chosen Player status bar (including but not limited to inventory, equipment slots, etc.), and acquiring the additional talent 『Mimic Servant Manannán』.
Side Quest / Holy Grail Mission: "Arbiter of Selfish Desires" — Under the guise of an Arbiter, brutally defeat all Master-Heroic Spirit pairs. For each pair defeated, you will receive a 10% Heaven's Chosen Coin settlement bonus. You have cumulatively defeated the Saber group, Archer group, Lancer group, and Berserker group. Your Heaven's Chosen Coin settlement reward will ultimately increase by 40%.
"Magicians' Blood is Also Blood" — Collect as many blood samples from these magicians as possible. For each additional sample collected, your portable laboratory's research progress in blood-related studies will accelerate by 10%. You can continue to complete this quest during the remaining stay time.
"Half-human? Half-god? Qiu's Choice!" — Team Quest. Assist and guide Qiu to make a crucial decision. Completed √.
You have made the choice on behalf of Qiu by forcibly containing the black mud curse. Qiu will break free from the constraints of NPC status and officially settle in Heaven's Chosen Space, choosing to become either a "Heaven's Chosen Player" or a "Staff Member" according to her own will.
"The One-in-a-Million King Arthur" — Solo Quest. Attempt to gain recognition from "Type-Moon Arthur." Completed √.
Non-Quest Plot Summary: Killed Gilgamesh, participated in guiding the Clock Tower's intervention in the Fifth Holy Grail War, established a cooperative relationship with Aoko, built the Demon Castle in the core area of the corrupted ley lines, became the Black Holy Grail Monarch, and fulfilled the winner's wish.
Instance Achievements / Titles: The Clock Tower's Gaze Will Be Upon You / Designated Seal Undecided (Purple), It is Recommended You Pick Up That Conceptual Kitchen Knife / Holy Grail Monarch (Gold).
Quest Completion: 175%; Scenario Exploration: 50%; Instance Settlement Evaluation: -
Instance Settlement Rewards: Heaven's Chosen Coins {50,000 (Gilgamesh) + 15,000 (Shirou Emiya Blackened) + 20,000 (Heracles) = 85,000} * 1.4 = 119,000 (Bounty Targets + 40% Settlement Boost); Treasure Chest Zouken Matou, Treasure Chest Heracles, Treasure Chest Shirou Emiya, Treasure Chest Kirei Kotomine, Treasure Chest Artoria, Treasure Chest Black Mud Minions * N. These have been extracted with the collapse of the Demon Castle and await the player's opening and organization.]
[Because you intervened and completely ended the Fifth Holy Grail War while completing the kill of Kirei Kotomine, which is considered to have concluded the core main quest of this instance, your talent Game Expert can be settled immediately.]
[Game Expert Settlement Initiated —]
[You have obtained the template skill 『Smash the Cup as a Signal』 from the dual templates of "Vampire Count / Vlad Tepes Dracula + Soma Cruz."
This skill will break free from the constraints of the "Demon Castle" and be modified according to your own characteristics.]
[Your "Fate/hollow ataraxia" related experiences have been archived. Based on the conclusion of the Fifth Holy Grail War, you will only be able to re-enter by opening a derivative instance or by going to the "Cat Spirit Kingdom."]
[Your Servant unit "Bazett" has re-established a connection with this "Fate/hollow ataraxia" instance world. This instance world is considered Bazett's originating world, and Bazett can freely return to this world outside of the space's stay time.
You can also use the Command Spells' reverse summoning to bypass normal channels to enter this world.]
[Everything you have done in this world has already attracted the high attention of the Clock Tower and the entire magical world. Once the details of this Holy Grail War are disclosed, the Clock Tower will inevitably launch a series of special actions against you.]
[You can stay in the current instance for a maximum of 12 more hours. You can leave the instance at any time in a non-combat state.]
Cheng Tian and his group were not in a hurry to leave the settlement space; they had many things to organize.
The valuable chests could wait until they returned to the space to be opened, but the series of ordinary treasure chests obtained from killing the black mud minions still needed to be sorted out.
Even a mosquito's leg is meat, and these chests were worth much more than a mosquito's leg.
Since player-related units were unrestricted, Cheng Tian directly summoned all the subordinate NPCs of the Hammond Laboratory and assigned them the massive task of opening chests.
Especially Qiu. At this moment, she still needed some extra things to distract her abundant energy.
With the perfect adaptation of the Bio-Mech 2.0, Qiu personally experienced the feeling of merging with the black mud without actually being tainted by the curse of All the World's Evil. Instead, these things, which were highly poisonous to others, were absorbed by the Black Pearl, indirectly granting her the functions of the Black Holy Grail.
Qiu was very stubborn, but now she had to admit that surpassing her genetic progenitor was clearly not something that could be easily achieved.
And this thought had a considerable impact on her future choices.
Compared to the so-called more stable and unrestricted "Staff Member" identity, the "Heaven's Chosen Player" identity, which allowed her to advance to a higher level but faced more dangers, was clearly more appealing to Qiu.
Only this way would she have a greater chance to surpass her genetic progenitor!
Qiu looked at Cheng Tian with burning eyes, her mind filled with emotions akin to beating her father, but not quite patricide.