Fate/Magus Path

At the secret chamber in the El-Melloi family mansion.

The closed underground chamber was incredibly spacious, far larger than the Ryougi family's training grounds. This was the designated location where Kayneth tested his mystic codes and jewel magecraft.

Thus, the place was very safe and concealed.

Since it was a secret chamber, only a few people in the entire family even knew of its existence. Its excellent concealment and high safety level perfectly met Roy's criteria.

Roy stood silently at the center of the chamber, closing his eyes and allowing his consciousness to re-enter the dream world.

Once again, he found himself in the familiar sea of flowers and towering spires, along with a certain white-haired trickster napping nearby.

"You're back again, huh~"

Merlin, who had long since grown accustomed to Roy treating this place as his home, wasn't surprised at all.

Seeing Roy approach, Merlin simply greeted him before continuing with his own business.

Merlin knew that Roy wasn't here to see him this time but to meet another troublemaker. So, with tact, Merlin left the area.

Roy then turned to the elegant lady seated at a tea table, enjoying a cup of floral tea.

"We meet again, Lady Morgan."

Morgan was dressed exquisitely, no longer appearing in the hasty attire of the simulated Morgan. This time, she presented herself in her true form.

Her face bore a striking resemblance to Artoria's, about 90% similar. She had long, beautiful white hair and wore a noble gown in shades of blue and black, topped with a silver-black crown. As she saw Roy appear, she walked toward him with regal steps.

However, there was a playful smirk at the corner of her lips. She glanced casually at Roy with her pale blue eyes and then snapped coldly in anger.

"You little thief who dared to steal the power of Avalon, how dare you come here in person? Are you here to provoke me?"

To this, Roy shook his head.

"Lady Morgan, you were the one who made the first move back then. If I hadn't fought back, I wouldn't be alive right now."

"Hmph, I'm not interested in wasting words with you."

Clearly, Morgan had no intention of engaging in a lengthy conversation with her enemy. Her disdain for Roy was evident, her expression openly showing her disgust.

"Now that my sister has been revived, that village built for the ritual is no longer of any use. The experimental subjects there can do whatever they want."

But out of respect for Artoria, Morgan still explained the matter of the Gravekeeper's Village before decisively leaving.

And as a final act of simple revenge against Roy, Morgan deliberately shattered the dream world on her way out, forcibly severing Roy's connection and ejecting him from the realm.

...

"Ah? She really is a witch who does things her own way... I was hoping to ask her about bounded fields."

Roy, who had been expelled by Morgan, rubbed his slightly dizzy head.

He couldn't help but grumble inwardly about how petty Morgan was.

She was clearly the one who made the first move, and his counterattack had been purely in self-defense.

At the same time, he felt a bit regretful for not being able to get her guidance.

Though Merlin had helped him a lot with magecraft, that guy, for some reason, preferred solving problems with a sword rather than with magecraft.

When it came to knowledge about bounded fields, Merlin wasn't very skilled. Even during training, when explaining certain aspects of bounded fields, Merlin would often be vague. For example, he had no concrete answers on how to develop a Reality Marble.

All he could do was offer some general advice and let Roy figure it out on his own.

However, magecraft knowledge in this area was vast and complex, and Roy had learned magecraft quickly and intensely, leaving his foundational knowledge still quite lacking.

Even though Kayneth and Eulyphis had opened up all of their family's most important magical books to Roy without hiding anything, Roy didn't have a superhuman memory system capable of quickly organizing all that knowledge. Even if the Third Magic allowed him to study tirelessly without sleep, understanding the content remained a significant challenge.

Improving his knowledge of magecraft had its limits. Even with a well-organized Heroic Spirit summoning ritual, it had taken him half a year of personal research just to understand the basics. In the end, it was only thanks to Merlin's hands-on guidance that he completed the summoning ritual and successfully summoned Artoria.

That was still within the realm of spirit summoning magecraft, which Merlin was proficient in, but when it came to Reality Marbles, Merlin was truly out of his depth.

The essence of a Reality Marble is a powerful magecraft that manifests the inner world of the magus. But for Merlin, an incubus who lacks emotions, constructing an inner world is unnecessary, as he doesn't even have true feelings. How could someone without emotions build a world based on their inner self?

Asking Merlin how to create a Reality Marble was less effective than asking him to teach swordsmanship. He'd definitely teach that thoroughly, and it would be far more practical than a broken Reality Marble.

In areas Merlin wasn't good at, all he could do was offer some suggestions and leave the rest up to Roy.

But how difficult is it to develop a Reality Marble from scratch?

For a typical magus, the development of a Reality Marble should begin by understanding their Origin. However, Roy had no clue about his Origin, and the white mist surrounding it even obscured Merlin's clairvoyance.

Thus, his plan had come to a standstill.

So, when Roy saw this witch from the Age of Gods, he had hoped to have a deep conversation with her and ask about Reality Marbles.

But...

"Looks like she won't give me a chance…"

Roy sighed quietly, feeling a bit helpless about Morgan's dislike for him.

After all, he had just fought her in a tunnel, and it was only by using Artoria's scabbard that he managed to kill her at the brink of death. Otherwise, if he had been hit by the Rhongomyniad, he wouldn't have survived or would have been seriously injured.

That battle had served as a wake-up call.

It made him realize the gap in his abilities. Against Morgan Le Fay wielding the Rhongomyniad, relying solely on his large magical energy reserves and random combinations of spells wasn't enough to defeat her.

This was his flaw, a massive one... he lacked a powerful, decisive finishing move.

In that battle, Morgan would never have conceded because of Avalon. With her independent and willful nature, she wasn't the type to bond with someone through combat, like Cú Chulainn or Iskandar.

It was inevitable that she disliked, even resented him.

In fact, it was probably only out of respect for Artoria that she was willing to meet with him and lift the curse on the Gravekeeper's Village.

So, it all came down to his own efforts…

'Forget it. No point in dwelling on it now. I should try out the new treasure I just got.'

With that thought, Roy began channeling magical energy to activate the Logos React simulation device he had brought back from the Gravekeeper's Village.

Zepia had said that he could use this mystic code for a while, but he would come and collect it later.

Though he didn't know when that would be, Roy was still very interested in it, especially since it was one of the seven great artifacts of the Atlas Institute.

After all, he had witnessed its power firsthand in the Gravekeeper's Village.

First, he infused it with enough magical energy, then linked it to his memories.

Next, he simulated a battlefield.

As Logos React began to operate, the surroundings quickly transformed into the streets of Fuyuki City, though the streets were empty, without a single figure in sight.

Roy stood beneath the Hyatt Hotel building.

Next, the opponents.

Since it was based on his memories, he would start by simulating Lancelot and Fionn.

In the simulated barrier, Roy engaged in combat with the two knights, boosting his magical energy.

The simulated Lancelot and Fionn were completely identical in strength and skills to the real ones he had fought.

However, since he had never seen them fight with their full strength, the simulation could only replicate the abilities he had witnessed, recreating the power he was familiar with.

"Well then, let's begin."

As soon as his words fell, the replicated golden-haired knight and the black knight immediately sprang into action, rushing toward Roy from two different directions with incredible speed.

*Boom!!*

About an hour into the battle, the simulated streets of Fuyuki City had been reduced to a chaotic ruin by their reckless fighting.

*Swoosh!*

With the sound of crystal shattering, Roy pierced through Fionn's saint graph while enduring the barrage from Fionn's Noble Phantasm, and then quickly took down Lancelot as well.

He had won.

But it was by no means easy.

Even though the two knights were merely simulations, their strength was very close to what he knew of them. Their unique skills and combat styles were strikingly similar.

First, Fionn swung his magical spear, controlling water to create significant trouble for him. In close combat, Fionn's martial skills were extremely formidable, and his spear attacks were relentless, aiming precisely at Roy's weak spots, managing to leave several cuts on him.

What was worse, Lancelot pulled out two submachine guns from who-knows-where. Strengthened by his Knight of Owner, he unleashed a barrage of gunfire that put Roy under intense pressure.

Submachine guns, grenades, Gatling guns... an array of modern firearms, all enhanced to Noble Phantasm level, were unleashed upon him without mercy.

Roy had no choice but to run and hide within the city, dodging and maneuvering while looking for opportunities to take them down one by one.

However, things got even worse when Fionn suddenly activated his Noble Phantasm.

The Mac an Luin, releasing the power of the war god Nuada who ruled over the waters surged towards him in a powerful torrent. It almost cost Roy dearly and made him realize just how terrifying the power of this Celtic legend was.

Luckily, at that moment, Lancelot launched a carpet-bombing assault that interrupted Fionn's Noble Phantasm halfway, preventing it from reaching its full destructive potential.

Thus, Roy, enduring the remaining surge of magical energy, forcibly shattered the saint graph of the simulated Fionn. Facing Lancelot, whose abilities he knew well, was a bit easier.

Without a commander, a Berserker like Lancelot posed less of a threat than Fionn. Besides, since Roy had once fused with Lancelot's saint graph, he was well acquainted with his abilities. Before long, Lancelot too was defeated.

But despite his victory, Roy was left battered and felt lucky to have won.

If these two knights had worked together instead of fighting independently with the sole goal of defeating him, the battle would have been much tougher...

In fact, he might have been defeated.

After fighting for so long, Roy couldn't help but marvel at the wonders of this mystic code.

It could simulate environments and enemies with such realism that, as long as he had enough magical energy, it could serve as an excellent training tool.

However, it was also dangerous. If one wasn't careful, they could easily die in here.

But there was no doubt that it greatly improved the user's combat abilities.

Next, Roy began simulating more opponents based on his memories...

Artoria without her scabbard, Hundred-Face Hassan, Iskandar without his Reality Marble, and the Count.

He excluded Gilgamesh, who was simply too powerful.

In the simulated world, one battle after another unfolded.

The more he fought, the more Roy came to realize the strength of these Servants and his own weaknesses.

Iskandar's Gordius Wheel's superior mobility gave him endless trouble. Artoria's swordsmanship, combined with her Instinct skill, allowed her to dominate close combat. Meanwhile, the Count's speed and black flames made Roy feel like he understood how Morgan felt when she faced him.

In short, aside from the somewhat disappointing Hundred-Face Hassan, each Servant had their own unique talents and special moves. Their various Noble Phantasms and combat skills emerged one after another, and simply watching them in action wouldn't reveal their true power.

After much effort, and through several hard-fought battles, Roy finally managed to defeat each of the Servants one by one.

The cost was significant... his body was pummeled for half an hour by Iskandar's Gordius Wheel, he narrowly avoided being sliced to pieces by Artoria's Excalibur, and he engaged in a fierce battle of flames and speed against the Count.

Through these intense exchanges with powerful opponents, Roy made considerable progress in his combat abilities and became better equipped to handle different crises.

Unfortunately, since he hadn't witnessed Iskandar's ultimate Noble Phantasm, Ionioi Hetairoi, he couldn't experience the grandeur of that moment or draw inspiration for developing his own Reality Marble.

After greeting these old acquaintances, it was time for something new.

Closing his eyes, Roy began feeding data of two more individuals into the Logos React system.

Gilgamesh.

Morgan Le Fay.

Aside from the false angel created by Amakusa Shirou, these two were the strongest opponents he had faced so far.

He started with Morgan. As a witch from the Age of Gods, her mastery of magecraft was unparalleled. Perhaps in battling her, he could find some inspiration for developing his Reality Marble.

As Roy's thoughts took shape, the scene before him quickly shifted.

In an instant, he found himself inside a grand palace. Morgan sat on the throne, her eyes slowly opening as she noticed his presence.

The moment she saw Roy, her turquoise eyes flashed with a strange light, like a venomous snake locking onto its prey.

Instinctively, Roy sensed a powerful danger emanating from this simulated Morgan.

This deadly threat was completely different from the simulated Servants he had faced before... it felt as though she truly had her sights set on him.

It was as if he were facing the real Morgan Le Fay again!

He began to wonder, Was this simulation really just a copy?

Sensing Roy's hesitation, the simulated Morgan smiled faintly. She raised her hand, and in an instant, magical energy began manifesting on the ground.

*Swish!*

With a swift, two massive stone arms suddenly erupted from the palace floor, swinging towards Roy.

"What?!"

Caught off guard by the simulated Morgan's sudden attack, Roy couldn't dodge in time. The powerful punch struck him like a spinning top, sending him crashing into the wall.

"Heh, you audacious fool, I can't believe you dared to simulate me as your training dummy. Don't you know? I left fragments of my soul in Logos React long ago." Morgan Le Fay said with a cold sneer as she stood up. "As long as a suitable body appears, I can possess it and manifest here."

"So that's how it is… It really is Morgan herself…"

Crawling out of the wall, Roy quickly used magecraft to heal his injuries, a wry smile on his face.

"No wonder I felt such overwhelming pressure, and that sudden sneak attack... it's exactly your style."

"You brought this on yourself." Morgan scoffed.

"Daring to use me as a whetstone for your training… A disrespectful wretch like you wouldn't be punished enough even if you were killed a hundred times."

"If it were in the past, I would've turned you into ingredients for my magic potions by now."

As she spoke, Morgan's hand never stopped casting spells. More stone arms erupted from the ground, reaching out to grab Roy. Not wasting any time, Roy dodged swiftly.

Morgan then raised her fingertip, drawing a blue circle of light in the air, gathering compressed magical energy, and fired it at him.

Roy didn't hesitate. With a sharp swing of his arm, he unleashed his true power.

Dark, scorching flames rose, causing the temperature in the throne hall to skyrocket instantly.

"Those flames again… the ones that can burn through magical energy?"

The deep blue magical blasts collided with the black flames, filling the battlefield with dazzling new flashes of light as the fight erupted once more.

"I've heard from that fool Merlin that you're struggling with developing your Reality Marble. Well then… let me help you gain a deeper understanding of it…"

"Of course, you'll learn it through your body." Morgan added, her voice calm but barely hiding her excitement.

It seemed that she was more than happy to deal with Roy in such an interesting manner.

With a flick of her fingers, she formed hand seals and chanted an incantation. A completely different barrier immediately covered the simulated scene created by Logos React.

In the next moment, both of them were transported from the palace to a dark, twisted forest.

And then...

More magical blasts, fiercer and more terrifying than before, began raining down on Roy.

The eerie forest began to writhe, the ground underfoot softening and collapsing. The trees around him, as if alive, lashed out at him with their branches like whips, striking at his body.

Seeing this, Roy had no choice but to desperately evade.

Meanwhile, outside in the bustling streets, Artoria and her companions continued to enjoy their carefree stroll.

But in the dark, secret chamber of the El-Melloi household, Roy and Morgan had once again engaged in an intense battle.

Strange and unpredictable magecraft continued to flow from the hands of the Witch from the Age of Gods.

"Yes, yes, fight! Keep fighting!"

Far away in Avalon, Merlin was munching on popcorn, cheering loudly as he watched the rare spectacle unfold.

Merlin loved nothing more than a good fight.

Especially if it involved women fighting.

___

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