Fate: Question And Answer System of Traversing Heroic Spirits

[But this unscrupulous approach was completely in line with Hishiri's style.]

[El-Melloi II noted that this was just a diversion. The enemy likely hadn't anticipated Karabo's Mystic Eye being driven up to such an exorbitant price. Now, they probably had no room to focus on anything else. This was their opportunity.]

["Waver, let me ask you, can you guarantee that this will be interesting?"]

[Melvin asked seriously, "Would this be worth risking bankruptcy for the sake of a friend's entertainment?"]

[At this point, the current price was beyond Melvin's control. To continue bidding, he would have to gamble his family's entire fortune.]

[So, he sought El-Melloi II's assurance, was it worth it?]

["I promise, you'll enjoy it."]

[El-Melloi II gave him a faint smile.]

Chihiro: "Wow, that smile looks like it was inspired by Gilgamesh."

Gilgamesh: "Hahaha, not bad, boy. You seem to be quite perceptive."

Gilgamesh: "Why don't you leave that barbaric King of Conquerors and join my army instead?"

Waver: "I... absolutely not."

Iskandar: "Hey, Gilgamesh, poaching my vassals isn't very sporting."

Gilgamesh: "Hmph, anyone I favor is already mine. It's their honor to be chosen by me, and they should be grateful."

[With El-Melloi II's assurance, Melvin immediately began mortgaging assets and borrowing money.]

[Just in case, El-Melloi II reluctantly took out the debt card Reines had given him.]

["All my years of hard work are about to go to waste," he muttered.]

[Afterward, El-Melloi II took Caules aside, clearly intending to take care of something.]

[Melvin, now armed with the funds, was visibly thrilled.]

[Gray: "Why would you go this far?"]

[Melvin: "You see, I enjoy witnessing the failure and downfall of others. I've always been this way, ever since I realized my physical condition would never allow me to be a proper magician. But even a flawed, inhuman person has his pride."]

["As long as I find it interesting, I'm willing to gamble everything, whether it's my parents' fortune or my own future. If I simply stayed out of this, I wouldn't even be human. I'd just be a coward."]

Gilgamesh: "Now this one has potential. He's qualified to be my vassal."

Waver: "You'd better stay away from him."

Waver was stunned to hear Melvin's reasoning. He hadn't realized Melvin's worldview was so extreme. Fortunately, this eccentric man still had his own dignity.

However, Waver shuddered at the thought of Melvin and Gilgamesh working together. That would undoubtedly result in a disaster comparable to Kotomine Kirei.

[The auction resumed, and the bidding war escalated rapidly.]

[El-Melloi II and Yvette took turns sniping at Hishiri, driving the price up by tens of millions at a time.]

[As El-Melloi II had predicted, Hishiri eventually withdrew.]

[But to everyone's surprise, Yvette then began bidding against El-Melloi II, and the price soared to 500 million.]

[El-Melloi II was momentarily stunned by Yvette's erratic behavior, but he quickly understood her intentions.]

[He abruptly interrupted the auction and began presenting his deductions about the case.]

[The video paused.]

[Question: Who is the real murderer in the Mystic Eye Collection Train incident?]

[Start answering!]

Kayneth: "So it's finally time."

Darnic: "The murderer is Heartless!"

[Ding! Congratulations to Darnic for answering part of the question correctly. Reward: 1 Saint Quartz.]

Chihiro: "Well done, Darnic. Even someone as serious-looking as you has learned to jump in quickly."

Darnic: "I appreciate the compliment."

Gordes: "But you only got part of it right. Does that mean there's more than one murderer?"

Kotomine Shirou: "The murderers are Heartless and Karabo."

[Ding! Congratulations to Kotomine Shirou for answering part of the question correctly. Reward: 1 Saint Quartz.]

Seramis: "Wait, does the Servant have to be counted as well?"

Kayneth: "The murderers are Heartless, Karabo, and Hephaestion."

[Ding! Incorrect. 1 Saint Quartz deducted.]

Kayneth: "!!!"

Tohsaka Rin: "Pfft, looks like Hephaestion isn't involved in this case after all."

Waver: "Teacher, I told you not to rush. We're still analyzing this!"

Kayneth: "By the time you finish analyzing, someone else will have answered."

El-Melloi II: "This is strange. Based on my deductions, the murderers should be Heartless and Karabo. Am I missing something?"

Chihiro: "Ahem. Seems like you're all falling short of the full picture."

Darnic: "Oh? Perhaps you already know the answer?"

Chihiro: "Haha, there's no third person. You've all been misled."

Chihiro: "The murderer is Heartless, who disguised himself as Caules. He manipulated Karabo into committing the crimes."

[Ding! Congratulations to Chihiro for answering correctly. Reward: 5 Saint Quartz.]

Caules: "!!!"

Darnic: "..."

El-Melloi II: "I see now. Hatres wasn't hiding in the shadows, he was right beside me all along, disguised as someone I trusted."

Waver: "Unbelievable. The murderer has been by my side this entire time."

Iskandar: "Boy, didn't you agree to take me with you? Why didn't you guide me to the answer?"

Chihiro: "How could I guide you during a quick-answer round?"

[The video resumed.]

[At the start of the case, El-Melloi II had pointed out that while Hishiri's reasoning was riddled with flaws, her general conclusions were correct.]

[Trisha was indeed killed by Karabo, and the method Hishiri described was accurate.]

[But the key issue was the motive.]

[Simply claiming Karabo was mentally ill was absurd.]

[El-Melloi II then asked "Caules" to bring Trisha's head.]

[There was also an unresolved question about Trisha, why had she hidden her head? Was it purely to stay alive and identify the murderer?]

[No, there was another reason. She wanted to convey a vital message.]

[That beheading doesn't necessarily result in death.]

[The assumption that decapitation equals death is a common misconception among ordinary people. But magi operate on entirely different principles.]

[For skilled magi, it's possible to keep a severed head alive.]

[El-Melloi II explained that in the case from seven years ago, the murderer hadn't taken the victims' heads to harvest their Mystic Eyes. Instead, the victims had been kept alive.]

[This way, the murderer didn't need to go through the trouble of transplanting the Mystic Eyes. They could simply use them directly.]

[Trisha had been investigating the seven-year-old case and the Holy Grail War. The murderer could access this information as long as they had her head.]

[But Trisha had managed to thwart their plans.]

Tohsaka Rin: "What? A person can survive with just their brain intact?"

Kayneth: "Certain magi can achieve that, though it's not truly living."

Kayneth: "It's similar to the Headless Man of Southeast Asia, a type of familiar that is no longer human."

A familiar is just a euphemism; to put it bluntly, it's a walking corpse.

Chihiro: "This is what you'd call 'bringing your head to see me.'"

Illya: "Hey, is that even the right way to use that expression?"

Chihiro was equally amazed by Heartless's methods.

Using severed human heads as tools, this technique seemed like something out of a story involving Kratos.

[El-Melloi II then retrieved the Laughing Buddha pendant.]

["If visual recognition is the oldest form of magic in human history, then Mystic Eyes must have countless countermeasures to deal with it."]

[El-Melloi II swung the pendant gently, muttering, "For instance, using an obscene amulet to disrupt perception."]

["The stronger the opponent's Mystic Eye, the easier it is for this to reflect back at them."]

["There's only one person who could have pulled this off and had the motive to commit the crime, and that person is…"]

[Before he could finish, Hishiri suddenly launched an attack. However, her target wasn't El-Melloi II.]

[Trisha's head abruptly opened its eyes, unleashing a burst of purple magic energy. The power transformed into chains that bound the 'Caules' holding her.]

["Wait a second, teacher. What's going on here?"]

['Caules' looked confused, but Hishiri swiftly took the head from him and retreated.]

[El-Melloi II remained calm. "You are the true murderer, the one who manipulated Karabo into killing Trisha."]

Gordes: "Oh no, this was a trap all along."

Iskandar: "Haha! I've always been the one being schemed against, but this time, we're the ones outsmarting them!"

Kayneth: "Hmph, not bad. The boy knows how to work with the Department of Policies to achieve his goals."

Fiore: "Caules, how do you feel about being arrested like this?"

Caules: "Sister, that's not me at all!"

['Caules': "Surely you're joking, teacher. You don't have any proof."]

[El-Melloi II: "I'm waiting for the proof."]

[Just then, the door creaked open.]

["I'm completely exhausted. If Svin hadn't found me, who knows what would've happened."]

[Two figures entered the room, Caules and Reines, the real ones.]

[They had arrived using Touko Travel.]

[In order to send them here, the four casters—Sisigou, Luvia, Svin, and Flat—were utterly drained.]

[Touko Travel allowed the users to set a predetermined destination and then travel to it as if being yanked by an elastic band, reaching speeds far beyond Mach-level velocity.]

[However, the process of being propelled like this was far from pleasant.]

***

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Drift of the Multiverse: [Marvel][Resident Evil] [DC] [Bleach] [Dragon Ball].

GOT/ASOIAF: Ruler Beyond the Ice.

DC: Rise of the Kryptonian Tyrant.