"I'm back."
Almost at the same time, Lia, Scáthach, and Aoko returned together.
Aoko's face was somewhat pale, and there were still bloodstains on her hands; it was clear she had killed Uryu Ryuunosuke.
Seeing Aoko like this, Asagami Fujino could understand; when he first killed someone in the One Piece world, he was in a much worse state than Aoko. In this regard, Aoko was much better than he had been back then.
Asagami Fujino walked up to Aoko, took her blood-stained hand, and said softly, "It's okay now."
Feeling the warmth from his hand, Aoko's face flushed slightly. She shyly tried to pull her hand out of Asagami Fujino's grasp, but she was held tight by 'Zero-Nine-Three'. It was useless, so Aoko simply gave up resisting.
Ever since she had entered a relationship with Asagami Fujino, Aoko no longer felt like resisting him. It could be said that her whole heart was now set on Asagami Fujino.
"Alright, you two shouldn't be like this in public. Wait until you get home to hold hands," Touko said with a smile as she walked to Aoko's side, teasing her while her gaze lingered on their tightly clasped hands.
Fujino smiled and released Aoko's hand. Aoko looked at Touko with both annoyance and embarrassment, then huffed and turned her head away, ignoring her.
"Alright, let's get ready to start," Asagami Fujino said to the group.
"Throw those Heroic Spirits over here, and put that woman and that weakling further away."
The woman Asagami Fujino mentioned was Maiya Hisau, whom Lia had brought back; Fujino had previously instructed Lia to bring her. As for the weakling, who else could it be but Waver? In this Holy Grail War, Waver had the lowest combat power among the Masters. Even if he knew magecraft, facing Uryu Ryuunosuke would likely result in death; even if he luckily survived, he would definitely be injured.
As for Kayneth, Asagami Fujino had Scáthach knock him out and throw him aside. He was useless for now, but he could be squeezed for value as a Reincarnator later; after all, he did have some strength. As for the ransom note that lured Kayneth by claiming Sola-Ui was kidnapped, it was just something Fujino had scribbled. That woman Sola-Ui had been knocked out by Scáthach and left in the hotel's basement; calculating the time, she should be waking up about now.
Everything went according to plan. Placing the four Heroic Spirits in the center of the magic circle, Asagami Fujino contacted the two Little Lolis, Gaia and alaya, telling them not to resist later. Summoning Cthulhu's will to descend upon the world would cause the world to instinctively resist, and these two counter forces would be the first to feel it.
With everything ready, he had the girls retreat to the outermost perimeter. Asagami Fujino's finger cut a small opening, and blood radiating rich energy dripped into the center of the magic circle. The red magic circle instantly lit up, and the weak breeze in the ruins suddenly turned violent. The center of the circle emitted an eerie red light, which formed tentacles that dragged the four Heroic Spirits into the center, turning them into sacrifices.
Asagami Fujino's lips parted slightly, and an ethereal voice echoed in the center of the magic circle... "(In his house at Rlyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.)"
A massive spatial rift suddenly appeared in the sky, emitting a strange green light from within.
"This is it!"
Asagami Fujino looked at the rift in the sky with surprise. She had originally only intended to let a sliver of Cthulhu's will descend, and then use that sliver to let her own consciousness pass through the seal to the ancient city of Rlyeh. However, this method wasn't guaranteed to succeed. After all, success depended on Cthulhu responding to the summons. Sacrifices were necessary items, but sacrificing more didn't necessarily mean it would work. If there was no response, no amount of sacrifice would succeed. The reason for Cthulhu not responding was also simple: Cthulhu often slumbered, even missing opportunities for the seal to break multiple times.
Looking at the spatial rift, Asagami Fujino didn't bother thinking further. She sent a message to the girls waiting outside telling them she was going into the rift and not to worry, then jumped directly into the spatial rift.
After Asagami Fujino entered, the massive spatial rift vanished instantly. The magic circle on the ground seemed to turn into fine sand, blown away by the wind and dissipating into the air.
Rlyeh was an incredibly vast city, entirely submerged under the sea, with only a giant stone fortress protruding above the water; Cthulhu slept there. The city's construction resembled futurist art, with building structures that were abnormal and completely contrary to Euclidean geometry. Its unprecedented spatial structure and dimensional scale would cause a strong sense of revulsion. These buildings were constructed of massive green stones, too large to be from Earth, with dizzyingly high stone carvings, grand statues, and ornate reliefs; the entire city emitted a strong aura of impurity.
A strong sense of dizziness—something Asagami Fujino hadn't felt in a long time—hit her, but the feeling came and went quickly. Asagami Fujino opened her eyes and saw a massive building radiating light.
"Is this the place, the ancient city of Rlyeh!"
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