52: Announcement! The Global Holy Grail War has begun!

Tokyo, Chiyoda Ward, late at night.

Inside the central security monitoring room of the Yasukuni Shrine, the atmosphere was somewhat relaxed.

The security captain on duty, Kenta Sato, was drinking hot tea and chatting idly with his colleagues about last night's baseball game.

On the screen wall, dozens of high-definition cameras took in every corner of the shrine.

Everything was as usual.

Suddenly, a young security guard pointed at one of the screens, his tone uncertain.

"Captain, look at the main gate... what's going on with that person?"

Kenta Sato cast his gaze over.

On the screen, a young man wearing a gorgeous kimono and sporting eye-catching red hair was walking leisurely and ostentatiously through the closed main Torii gate.

He didn't walk fast, his posture like that of a noble young Master out for a late-night stroll.

But this was the Yasukuni Shrine!

And it was currently after closing hours!

"Baka! How did he get in?"

Kenta Sato stood up abruptly, tea spilling all over the floor.

"The infrared sensors and pressure sensors at the entrance didn't trigger any alarms!"

"Was the system hacked? Or... is it a ghost?"

There was no time to think about these eerie questions.

A sharp alarm suddenly rang throughout the entire shrine area, and red warning lights flashed frantically in every corner.

"Level one alert! All teams pay attention! An unidentified person has intruded through the main gate! Repeat, intrusion from the main gate!"

"Proceed immediately to the square in front of the Haiden for interception! Authorization to use non-lethal weapons!"

Kenta Sato roared instructions into the walkie-talkie.

In less than two minutes, seven or eight patrol cars roared in from different directions, their blinding headlights completely enveloping the red-haired youth.

Over thirty security personnel holding riot shields and batons quickly formed a perimeter, their black taser muzzles pointed at the youth in the center.

"Stop! Put your hands up! Kneel down immediately!"

"You are surrounded! Do not make any unnecessary movements!"

Warnings rose one after another, and the atmosphere was tense to the extreme.

However, that red-haired youth, Shuten-dōji, turned a deaf ear to all of this.

He didn't even stop walking.

Under the illumination of dozens of strong lights, a playful smile slowly appeared on his face, which was handsome to the point of being monstrous.

"Truly... noisy insects."

Shuten-dōji said softly in pure Japanese.

From these nonchalant words, Kenta Sato felt a chill that came from the very marrow of his bones.

He no longer hesitated and issued the final command into the walkie-talkie.

"Fire!"

The moment the command was given.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Several high-voltage currents and tear gas canisters were fired at Shuten-dōji from different angles.

An eerie scene occurred.

Everything fired at him, whether it was electricity or physical projectiles, suddenly came to a halt in mid-air about a meter away from his body, as if hitting an invisible wall.

Next, those metal warheads and plastic casings began to twist and melt at a visible speed, turning into drops of glowing red molten iron and charred black liquid, dripping onto the ground with a "sizzle" sound.

Everyone was stunned by this sight that defied physical common sense.

The smile on Shuten-dōji's face became increasingly fanatical.

He raised his hand and lightly snapped his fingers.

"Snap."

A crisp sound.

The next second.

A dark red shockwave centered on him, spreading silently in all directions.

Wherever the shockwave passed, whether it was the security guards holding riot shields or the sturdy patrol vehicles, they all lost all color in an instant, turning into grayish-white powder.

Then, a night breeze blew.

The more than thirty security personnel and seven or eight cars, along with their final screams, completely turned into flying ash and dissipated into the air.

The whole world became quiet.

Shuten-dōji looked around with satisfaction and continued walking toward the core main building of the shrine—the Haiden.

He walked to the bottom of the stone steps in front of the Haiden and stopped.

Then, he slowly bent down and lightly pressed his fair and slender right hand onto the granite ground beneath his feet.

"Buzz—"

A low vibration came from deep underground.

With his palm as the center, a huge, complex, and sinisterly beautiful dark red magic circle instantly spread across the ground.

Countless twisted runes flowed within the magic circle, as if they were living things.

The edges of the magic circle expanded rapidly, soon enveloping the entire Haiden, along with the Honden behind it.

The temperature in the air began to rise sharply.

A thick, inseparable smell of sulfur mixed with blood appeared out of thin air, making one feel nauseous.

From the lines of the magic circle, countless black shadows like resentful souls began to seep out, emitting silent shrieks as they frantically surged toward the pillars and foundation of the Haiden.

At this moment, the periphery of the shrine was already in chaos.

Countless passersby and nearby residents, attracted by the alarm and the previous commotion, all held up their phones and pointed them at this terrifying scene.

In their lenses, the sky above the Yasukuni Shrine was already enveloped in an ominous dark red glow.

Just then.

"Boom!"

A mountain-sized ghost hand, composed of pure dark energy, suddenly burst out from the center of the magic circle!

That hand was covered with hideous bone spurs and eerie patterns; its five fingers spread out, and with unmatched power, it grabbed the entire Haiden.

"Crack—Crack—"

The wooden structure emitted an overburdened wail.

The next second, this building, which symbolized countless controversies and hatreds, was crushed into pieces by the giant ghost hand like a fragile toy model!

But before those pieces could hit the ground.

"Whoosh!"

Dark red flames, seemingly from hell, erupted from the ghost hand, instantly swallowing all the building debris.

A pillar of fire shot up into the sky, dyeing the night sky of Tokyo a monstrous blood-red.

Shuten-dōji slowly rose into the air, floating above the raging flames.

He spread his arms like a demon king embracing the whole world, and spoke in a clear and loud voice to all the trembling, fearful, and excited cameras below.

His voice spread to every corner of the world through countless livestreams.

"Listen well, mortals of this world."

"My true name is Shuten-dōji."

"Class, Berserker."

Shuten-dōji paused, his golden beast-like pupils full of arrogance and bloodthirsty pleasure.

"From this moment on, the 'Holy Grail War' officially begins!"

"Seven chosen Masters will sign contracts with us seven Servants."

"We shall slaughter and fight on this land until only one pair remains!"

"The final winner will hold the omnipotent wish-granting machine—the 'Holy Grail'—and realize any one wish!"

As his voice fell, the entire world seemed to have been pressed with a pause button.

Shuten-dōji let out a frantic laugh, his laughter echoing in the blood-colored night sky.

"Hahahahaha!"

"The other six pieces of trash, and your Masters hiding in the gutters!"

"Watch closely! This is my proclamation!"

"Come! Come and entertain me!"

Amidst the wild laughter, Shuten-dōji's entire body suddenly disintegrated, turning into billions of black butterflies.

The storm composed of butterflies circled once and then completely disappeared into the soaring firelight.

Leaving behind only the leveled ruins and countless stunned faces around the globe... At the same time.

Tokyo, Chiyoda Ward, penthouse apartment.

Jiang Ming sat on the sofa, with dozens of virtual screens floating in the air in front of him.

Every screen showed livestream footage of the Yasukuni Shrine from different angles.

[emotion points +120,488]

[emotion points +256,771]

[emotion points +301,999]

...On the system panel, the emotion points numbers were jumping frantically at an unprecedented and terrifying speed.

[Current emotion points balance: 14,570,000]

Jiang Ming picked up the red wine on the table and took a small sip.

After this night passes, breaking through twenty million shouldn't be a problem... China, Kyoto, Ninth Bureau Command Center, inside a meeting room.

Chen Jianguo sat in the main seat, his brow furrowed into a deep frown. In front of him were over a dozen top experts from various fields such as physics, information, and sociology.

On the other side of the conference table, Jiang Ming's Mirror Image No. 1 was spinning a pen out of boredom.

"Everyone, regarding target 'A-002' that appeared in the Magic City, namely that so-called 'White-robed Sword Immortal', our current analysis is..."

A military representative was pointing at the PPT on the large screen to report.

Suddenly.

"Bang!"

The door of the meeting room was slammed open.

A young operations staff officer even forgot to shout his report and rushed in with a pale face, holding a laptop in his hand.

"Director Chen! Something big has happened! Over in Sakura Country... something big has happened!"

Chen Jianguo's sharp gaze swept over.

"What's the panic! Speak clearly!"

"You... you should see for yourself!"

The operations staff officer hurriedly connected the laptop to the projector.

The next second, on the main screen of the meeting room, the picture switched.

What appeared was the livestream recording of Shuten-dōji floating above the soaring firelight, announcing the start of the "Holy Grail War" to the world.

"...My true name is Shuten-dōji..."

"...The 'Holy Grail War' officially begins!"

The demonic proclamation echoed in the meeting room.

On the screen, the scene of the Yasukuni Shrine turning into a sea of fire and ruins clearly entered everyone's eyes.

The entire command center instantly fell into a suffocating silence.

All the experts, including Chen Jianguo, widened their eyes, their bodies stiff as they looked at the images on the screen, their minds going blank.

And Mirror Image No. 1 Jiang Ming, sitting in the corner, leaned forward slightly.

He looked with great interest at the arrogant red-haired ghost king on the screen, a barely perceptible curve forming at the corner of his mouth.