Fate: Hero of Justice Takeover-Chapter 641

Chapter 641: The Grand Summoning Ritual

Hakuno remained unaware of Sakatsuki’s confrontation with Leo. Yet the distant, surging roars of battle and the overwhelming, unmistakable clashing of magical energies clearly signaled that a pivotal fight had erupted at the academy’s far end.

"Beaten to the punch... Leo’s timing is impeccable."

No guesswork was needed. Among the remaining five Masters, Jinako had already lost her Servant, while Julius and Rin had each withdrawn. Aside from her—the unlucky little fool who’d been sent away—only Instructor Sakatsuki and the uncrowned king Leo remained.

"Damn it, they’re all looking down on this beautiful girl," the young beauty grumbled, clenching her fists as she rushed toward the battlefield. Hearing this, Nero asked curiously, "My Master, when thou sayest ’beaten to the punch,’ dost thou mean thou also wished to defeat the Director first and then face Leo in the final battle?"

"Something like that. Saber, have you heard of the duel of the three musketeers?"

"Hmm... Is that the gunfighter theory about multi-party competition? Ah, I see!" The golden-haired emperor’s ahoge perked up as she smacked her palm. "Thou meanest that we are the strongest gunfighter, so to secure victory, we must first eliminate the second strongest—the Director!"

"...Actually, I meant to say we’re Gunfighter B," Hakuno muttered under her breath, but soon mirrored Nero’s smile. "You’re right, Saber. We’ll definitely make Instructor taste the fruits of our special training."

"But first, we need to reach the battlefield. Once there, whether we join forces with Leo against the Instructor or team up with the Instructor to eliminate Leo first, it’s better than just standing by and watching OMO."

"OMO? What does that mean?" Nero tilted her head adorably. Just as Hakuno was about to explain, the rumbling of explosions rolled closer like distant thunder.

"Ahahahahaha!"

Following this came the unrestrained laughter of a young man. At this moment, Sakatsuki had one hand pressing down on Gawain’s head, his legs crackling with electricity as he charged forward like an unstoppable football player. Under Hakuno and Nero’s stunned gazes, the silver-and-red meteor tore through Tsukimihara Academy’s sturdy walls. Construction materials shattered mid-air, reduced to dust before they could even fall. Even the most solid load-bearing pillars exploded like golf balls upon impact with Sakatsuki, leaving gaping holes several meters wide.

The academy building groaned under the strain, while the lightning splitting the sky and the scorching heatwaves radiating across the ground became the final straw—as the two vivid forces collided, a storm of destruction erupted in an instant, dragging the first floor... no, the entire building into the vortex of battle.

Crack—

The terrifying sound of collapse assaulted their eardrums as violent tremors rippled outward. Hakuno clung tightly to Nero’s arm, feeling as though she’d been thrust into an apocalyptic disaster, watching helplessly as the building crumbled like a fragile toy before the two seemingly insignificant figures.

That bone-deep shudder drew a wry smile to Hakuno’s lips:

"Saber... these are the Gunfighter B and Gunfighter C we’re supposed to defeat. So... do you still have confidence?"

"O-of course! The combination of myself and my Master is invincible!" Nero forced a laugh, puffing out her chest with false bravado as she faced the two brutish men who resembled wild gorillas. But when Sakatsuki’s fierce slit-pupiled gaze turned her way, she yelped and immediately hid behind Hakuno. "Eek! The... the Governor is looking this way!"

"I know, but Saber, could you please stop using me as a human shield? I am your Master after all..."

These two girls clearly had their bond maxed out already. Truly the perfect official pairing.

Sakatsuki withdrew his gaze and stretched with a satisfied groan, his joints cracking loudly like popping firecrackers.

Meanwhile, Gawain of the Round Table lay peacefully on the ground—if one ignored the blood still spurting from his head.

What had just transpired was simple enough—Sakatsuki had grabbed Gawain by the head and unceremoniously used the knight as a battering ram to charge recklessly into the mooncell’s A+-rank defensive structures.

But during this process, Gawain’s half-hearted struggles and the numbing recoil transmitted through Sakatsuki’s arms with each shattered wall were just...

Absolutely exhilarating!

Ignoring the disgusted looks Nero and Hakuno were giving him, Sakatsuki placed his hands on his hips and silently laughed in triumph.

Not just anyone could serve as a battering ram, after all. For every action, there was an equal and opposite reaction—when you smashed a classroom wall with someone’s skull, the wall would return the favor with force comparable to a Noble Phantasm.

If Nero had been the one doing the charging, her pretty head would have exploded like a watermelon on impact unless she had supreme defensive abilities or damage immunity. The accumulated kinetic energy from the charge alone was terrifying enough, let alone the mooncell-reinforced walls with defenses rivaling A-rank Noble Phantasms.

Sakatsuki had been itching to try this move when facing Karna, but the "true hero who kills with his eyes" was too dangerous—he didn’t want his head blown off mid-laugh. In contrast, Gawain in his Saint Graph form had triple the defense and triple the thick-headedness, relying mainly on his holy sword for attacks. At close range, he could only throw punches weighing several tons—making him the perfect, most reliable punching bag!

Gawain-senpai, you’re the best!

Having instinctively mastered the Round Table’s love-hate dynamic, Sakatsuki nodded with a grin. Seeing that Gawain wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon, he mercifully refrained from kicking him while he was down and instead turned his attention to Hakuno and Nero, who were watching from a distance. The scene bore an uncanny resemblance to a certain Kamen Rider series’ second episode.

"Hakuno-san, why are you just standing there watching?!"

"Huh?" Startled like a student caught daydreaming in class, Nero trembled and looked blankly between the composed Sakatsuki and the unconscious Gawain. "D-does the Governor mean... we should go finish him off?"

Hakuno, who stood shielding Nero, sighed and massaged her temples. When she lowered her hand, her exasperated expression had been replaced by the calm demeanor of a proper Master.

"Enough joking around. Even if we were to help, we’d join forces with Leo to take you down."

"Waaah, Hakuno-chan is so scary~" Sakatsuki dramatically clutched his chest in mock fear. "This teacher’s heart is broken, QAQ."

"You’re clearly laughing! And stop reading out the emoticon letters, Sakatsuki!"

"You won’t even call me ’teacher’? Disrespectful, utterly disrespectful! Once I defeat you, I’ll educate you properly—just like how I dealt with the Alices!"

As for how Sakatsuki had dealt with the Alices... Let’s just say that on the night he caught them, accompanied by the sound of pah-pah-pah, the two little lolis collapsed onto the bed, flushed and panting, unable to move.

"You... you wouldn’t dare!" Hakuno clearly recalled that scene, her face burning red as she instinctively covered her rear before reacting with furious embarrassment. "I won’t let you beat me, Sakatsuki!"

"Hah, then come at—whoa!" With a startled cry, Sakatsuki ducked, covering his head as a scorching sword aura grazed past his scalp. A few strands of white hair drifted down, and upon realizing what had happened, the young man’s eyes narrowed into slits in sheer rage.

"You. Dared. To harm. My. Hair!"

All traces of his earlier teasing vanished, replaced by the explosive aura of a high-ranking dragonkin. An invisible gale kicked up dust as his flame-red robes billowed. Sakatsuki turned, his expression dark as he glared at the fully healed Gawain and the hastily arriving Leo.

"Are you prepared to pay the price?"

"Uh, my deepest apologies." Faced with Sakatsuki’s fury, Leo wore a complicated expression and actually apologized. "I didn’t realize you took your hair so seriously."

"Going bald is absolutely unacceptable—it’s a man’s bottom line!" Sakatsuki hissed. "Even if it makes me stronger, no way!"

"If it really made me stronger, I wouldn’t mind," the young Holy King admitted candidly. "But let’s table that discussion for now. Sakatsuki, I must admit, your strength has exceeded my expectations. I never imagined even Gawain would be no match for you."

Sakatsuki didn’t respond, but soon, he heard the expected pivot.

"However—"

A pure mass of magical energy shattered, and a whirlwind swept through Leo’s golden hair, carrying with it an ancient stellar magecraft. Under the watchful eyes of Sakatsuki and Hakuno, moonlight cascaded onto the woven magic circle, illuminating the mystical radiance swirling around it.

Amidst the shifting, interwoven light, Leo’s smile grew indistinct—only his voice remained, solemn and impassioned, as if it could pierce through the barriers of time and space, reaching all the way to the distant Throne of Heroes.

"Hear me! Through the dust of millennia, across countless battlefields—your sword, your shield, your will, all shall be eternal!"

An incantation he had never heard before.

That was Sakatsuki’s first thought, but he quickly realized that summoning never required overly rigid phrasing.

A directional ritual, sufficient mystery, and a will capable of resonating with it.

Those three things alone were enough to open the gates of the Throne of Heroes.

As the magecraft unfolded, the ritual path to the Quantum Time Locks was confirmed, and Leo’s will needed no further elaboration. As for the second requirement—sufficient mystery—

"Gawain!"

"Yes, my liege."

At Leo’s command, Gawain unhesitatingly threw the most important weapon of a knight—his most treasured Noble Phantasm—the legendary Star Holy Sword, embedding it at the center of the ritual. Simultaneously, Leo waved his hand, sending countless precious mystic codes and artifacts flying, refined by a special magecraft into pure magical conductors that merged into the ritual’s patterns.

"Hey hey, Master." Nero, dazzled by the sight, couldn’t help tugging at Hakuno’s sleeve. "No wonder the supply department’s been out of stock these past few days. Leo’s been competing with us for materials..."

"Shh, Saber. We need to keep our mission secret too. Don’t let Professor Sakatsuki hear you."

Hakuno stopped Nero from leaking more information, but when she looked at Leo and the enormous magic circle behind him, she couldn’t hide her curiosity either.

A mystery comparable to Excalibur, such vast magical resources, plus these chant lyrics that clearly signaled something major was about to happen.

Just which Heroic Spirit was Leo trying to summon?

"This is a grand ritual array I compiled after spending three days and nights in the library," Leo explained while simultaneously operating the summoning ceremony and conversing with Sakatsuki. "Though it’s theoretically impossible to execute on Earth, this is the Moon Cell - a supercomputer core where any theoretical knowledge can be perfectly reproduced."

"Wait, you..." Sakatsuki had been busy too, analyzing the gradually forming ritual framework. With his exceptional talent, he reverse-engineered the core of Leo’s ceremony until suddenly, his eyes widened in shock. "This directional focus... it’s me?!"

"Yes, exactly. It’s you, Sakatsuki." Leo smiled as he produced an object - a certain ’essence’ encased in magical crystal. Even just this wisp had dyed the colorless crystal crimson. "To be precise, it’s you in that form which inherited the traits of a Beast."

"...I see your plan now, Leo." Enlightenment dawned on Sakatsuki as he exposed the truth. "What you’ve set up is a ritual array to summon a Grand Servant."

These words struck like thunder. Hakuno and Nero stared in shock, their minds blank.

A Grand Servant?

An existence that breaks all norms in both spiritual foundation and power - if Leo truly succeeded in summoning one—

This would indeed be a trump card capable of turning the tide of battle, even reversing certain defeat!

Leo seemed slightly surprised that Sakatsuki had discerned the ritual’s true nature, but it was already too late to stop now:

"Breath of the world, chronicle of time. Here I stand, with the Beast’s essence as proof, the holy sword of the stars as witness, and desire as my guide. I summon thee—Grand Servant!"