As Mulan raised her fist to smash at the Sorcerer, the Sorcerer instinctively turned himself into a cloud of red mist to dodge.
Just as Mulan’s heavy slash had failed to hit the Sorcerer before, her fist also couldn’t touch him.
But…
This was clearly a mistake!
As the Sorcerer’s body turned into red mist, his control over the Heart of Dawn weakened.
In almost an instant, arcs of electricity appeared around the Heart of Dawn. Affected by the magnetic field vortex, the Heart of Dawn instantly flew up, spinning continuously with the wind vortex, heading towards Bai Ye.
The Sorcerer roared in anger, “Stop him!”
In a flash, everyone gave up resisting the suction of the magnetic field vortex and instead used the suction to rapidly approach Bai Ye.
But it was too late!
The moment Bai Ye saw the Heart of Dawn flying towards him, his eyes lit up, and he then punched the ground.
With a boom!
Bai Ye’s fist hit the ground, and immediately, an explosion sounded.
Amidst the explosion, a large amount of flames erupted from Bai Ye’s fist, spreading outwards along the ground in all directions, then shooting upwards to form a ring of fire, forcibly intercepting everyone.
Then…
Bai Ye leaped up, grabbed Mulan’s greatsword that was floating in the magnetic field, raised it high, and fiercely swung it towards the Heart of Dawn.
“Break for me!”
With a clang!
Bai Ye struck the Heart of Dawn with his sword, directly smashing it towards the ground.
The moment the Heart of Dawn hit the ground…
Crack!
A crack appeared on the Heart of Dawn, and then…
The sound of something shattering echoed!
The Heart of Dawn didn't crack; instead, under that sword strike, it directly turned into crystalline powder, scattering in all directions.
And as the Heart of Dawn was destroyed…
The ancient mechanical giant’s body suddenly stiffened.
Its scarlet eyes suddenly lost their glow, its body still in a forward-leaning posture, its right arm raised high, clenched into a fist, poised to strike.
Except, that fist would never come down.
And…
The ancient mechanical giant’s body began to decompose, and the giant rocks floating nearby, as if losing their anchor, gradually drifted away from the altar.
“You have successfully prevented the ancient mechanical giant from activating. Reward received: Fragment of the Heart of Dawn x1, Qualification to enter the first level of the Hero’s Tomb x1.”
The mission was complete!
As the ancient mechanical giant fell silent once more, it signified the failure of their plan.
The Sorcerer’s gaze was grim. After looking at the others, he retreated to the edge of the altar.
Seeing this, the others immediately moved towards the Sorcerer.
“We will meet again!”
The Sorcerer curled his lips. Then, a gust of wind blew, and peony petals swirled from somewhere.
Red mist also began to appear, enveloping everyone, and then…
The red mist dissipated and gathered, and the Sorcerer, along with the others, quickly disappeared within it.
Mulan picked up her greatsword from the ground and stood at the edge of the altar, looking down, but she couldn’t see any sign of them leaving.
The mysterious swordsman, holding his wine flask, came to Mulan’s side and said, “It seems we have won.”
Mulan said in a deep voice, “But he said they would return.”
The mysterious swordsman burst into laughter, with a hint of unrestrained freedom, and said nonchalantly, “Then let him come.”
Mulan couldn’t help but smile as well, then turned to look at the others, “Since this matter is settled, let’s head back… Huh… Bai Ye, why are you glowing?”
Mulan’s words trailed off as she looked at Bai Ye in surprise.
At this moment, Bai Ye was emitting a golden radiance, his body flickering and gradually becoming translucent.
Bai Ye was also astonished, looking at his body. Then, a screen of light suddenly appeared before his eyes.
“You will be teleported in ten seconds…”
“10, 9, 8, 7, 6…”
Bai Ye almost spat out a mouthful of blood. Could it be as he suspected?
In the next instant…
Amidst the golden radiance, Bai Ye suddenly vanished without a trace, leaving Mulan and the others stunned.
On the other side…
As the golden light faded, Bai Ye found himself standing at an intersection. As the traffic light ahead turned green, the vehicles on both sides stopped, and pedestrians began to cross on the crosswalk.
A seemingly prosperous city…
Then…
Bai Ye patted his forehead. It was indeed as he suspected.
“A participant has triggered a wish-granting quest. The first Holy Grail War is about to begin.”
“Within the World Battlefield, the seven chosen ones with the highest kill counts will participate in the Holy Grail War.”
“Your kill count ranks sixth.”
…
Bai Ye sighed. This kind of sudden mandatory teleportation could only be a wish-granting quest.
Of course, normally, being able to participate in a wish-granting quest was a good thing. It was just that often, the timing of wish-granting quests felt very awkward.
For example, with the battle against the ancient mechanical giant not yet over, a wish-granting quest was suddenly triggered…
Wouldn’t his hidden mission be wasted?
Fortunately, this time the wish-granting quest came at just the right moment. Bai Ye had just completed his hidden mission, and then the wish-granting quest appeared.
And unlike the previous selection of participants for the Twelve Great Battles through a forbidden zone mission, this time the selection was based on kill count. In essence, it was the seven individuals with the highest kill count among the chosen ones in their skirmishes.
This made Bai Ye quite dissatisfied. How could his kill count only be sixth?
He was clearly approachable, kind, benevolent, and a ruthless killer…
Huh?
Did some strange idiom slip in there?
Bai Ye scratched his head and continued to look at the screen.
The rules of the Holy Grail War are as follows:
“Rule 1: Seven participants will receive a magical crest and summon a Servant of their own through a summoning ceremony. When the Servant refuses a command, the magical crest can be consumed to force the Servant to obey. Each magical crest can be used three times.”
“Servants are divided into seven classes: Saber, Archer, Rider, Berserker, Lancer, Caster, and Assassin.”
“Rule 2: The seven participants must find and seize the Holy Grail. The one who ultimately obtains the Holy Grail will become the victor of this Holy Grail War and receive a reward.”
“Rule 3: The trigger for this wish-granting quest has fully granted the wish. The victor’s reward is: to randomly receive one Noble Phantasm of their summoned Servant.”
“Gentlemen, for the Holy Grail, for the desires of your hearts, for the wish.”
“Let the city of Fuyuki…”
“Flow with blood!”
…