The journey of dragon transformation starting from Demon Slayer

Tokiomi did not find out any information about the contestants from the Clock Tower, which meant that perhaps other magicians had summoned unknown heroic spirits.

After listening to this, Tokiomi shook his head slightly and said slowly: "It's not just other magi, Kirei, but any 'Master' except you and me has this possibility..."

"After all, there is still a year until the Holy Grail War officially begins, leaving plenty of time for the Masters to prepare."

Having said this, Tokiomi paused, and then continued.

"All the 'Masters' have the desire to fight for the Holy Grail. Based on this commonality, we can infer their actions..."

Kirei narrowed his eyes slightly, lowered his head and thought for a second, muttering: "So that's how it is..."

The advantage that foreign magicians have over the three major families is that they stay in the dark.

After all, the villas of 『Tousaka』, 『Matou』, and 『Einzbern』 located in a forest have been assumed to be the bases of the three masters.

At this early stage before the Holy Grail War begins, the primary goal of each Master is to prepare the Holy Relics, then come to Fuyuki City to obtain the qualification of 'Master', and finally start a detailed investigation of the city and make sufficient preparations before the ceremony begins.

Summoning heroic spirits is just one of the many tasks a magician has.

Seeing that Kirei had already understood something, Tokiomi raised the corners of his mouth slightly, revealing a satisfied smile, and said to him softly: "That's good that you understand, Kirei! I have to say that your understanding is indeed quite outstanding!"

Then, Tokiomi raised his voice slightly, and continued with a hint of barely perceptible pride: "As your mentor, I am deeply pleased with this!"

After a pause, Tokiomi began to explain: "Just as you think, reporting the Heroic Spirits you summoned to the church too early does not have much practical significance..."

"The Holy Grail War has been able to 'continue to this day' because of the special existence of the 'Heroic Spirit'. What this ritual really needs is not a Master, but a 'Servant', that is, the soul of the Heroic Spirit..."

"The role played by the Masters here is merely to hold the 'Command Seals' that can forcibly command the Heroic Spirits, and to continuously provide magical support to the Heroic Spirits under their control... 'Making a Wish' is only to attract magicians from outside to participate in the ceremony..."

"The Holy Grail is real, the Heroic Spirit is real, and the wish is real..."

"But under the control of the Three Imperial Clan, this ceremony has always been under our control!"

The above words are easy to understand.

It doesn’t matter who the Master is. What matters is the Heroic Spirit and the truth behind the fact that this ceremony is controlled by the Three Great Families.

Kirei showed a look of understanding and nodded silently.

"..."

"It's just..." At this point, Shi Chen changed the subject, his tone became serious, and he looked at his apprentice with sharp eyes, "The current intelligence is unclear, so I can only trouble you to continue your investigation."

"learn."

Hearing his master's arrangement, Kirei lowered his head slightly and responded obediently.

As a disciple of Tōsaka Tokiomi, Kirei naturally had no reason to object.

Now Tōsaka Tokiomi and Kotomine Kirei are on the same side.

To them, all other Masters except the two of them are enemies!

It was precisely because of this situation that Kirei summoned the Heroic Spirits in advance under Tokiomi's arrangement to assist him in the intelligence war.

Assassins are heroic spirits who specialize in stealth and assassination.

This class may not be able to compete with other Heroic Spirits on the front lines, but it is an expert at gathering intelligence.

Assassins have a special ability that other professions do not have - "Breath Blocking". This skill can eliminate one's own breath to the maximum extent. It is a special skill that assassins rely on to become famous. It is very suitable for gathering intelligence and assassination.

For Kirei, who did not hope to win but to support Tokiomi, summoning such a Heroic Spirit was undoubtedly the best choice.

The original strategy was to have his "assassins" spy everywhere.

After thoroughly investigating the operations, action plans, and weaknesses of all other Masters, he would formulate a winning strategy for each enemy, and finally let Tokiomi use his Heroic Spirit to defeat the opponents one by one.

For this reason, Tokiomi's battle plan will be to summon a Heroic Spirit that completely strengthens the attack power. However, which Heroic Spirit the master has chosen, Kirei has no way of knowing for the time being.

However, although Tokiomi had not yet been formally summoned, now that he had really encountered this kind of strategic enemy, Kirei could not help but sigh in his heart at his master's foresight.

Having studied under Tōsaka Tokiomi for three years, Kotomine Kirei knew his master very well.

When doing things, Tokiomi is usually very thorough and meticulous in his preparations beforehand, but once it comes to the actual execution he becomes careless and basically leaves all the details to him to worry about, giving people the feeling that he is treating his apprentice as an assistant.

Just like the scene now, Kirei was used to it.

Kirei turned his head, looked at the dark Heroic Spirit and said coldly, "You should have heard it too, 'Assassin', continue to gather intelligence!"

"Since there is information about the 'Adventer' on the 'Spiritual Instrument Disk', it means that the 'Adventer' and its Master are staying in this land called Fuyuki..."

"No matter what, you must pay close attention to the 'Adventer' and its 'Master'! Report any situation immediately!"

"As ordered!"

After receiving Kirei's instructions, the black shadow turned into a ball of black mist and dissipated, escaping into the void again and disappearing from the workshop.

Seeing the "assassin"'s miraculous departure, Tokiomi and Kirei did not show any surprise, but instead looked somewhat accustomed to it.

But it is true, they are both 'Masters', it's just that Tōsaka Tokiomi has not yet summoned a suitable Heroic Spirit.

Since he has decided to participate in the Holy Grail Ceremony, he must have some understanding of the existence of Heroic Spirits.

The essence of a Heroic Spirit is a spirit, and it can flexibly switch between physical and non-physical forms. This ability is called "spiritualization."

Most Heroic Spirits have the skill of "transformation into spirit form", but there are exceptions.

"By the way, Master, I have another piece of information here, about 'Matou'..."

Kirei's voice attracted Tokiomi's attention. He frowned slightly and murmured.

"From 'Matou'?"

When mentioning Matou, Tokiomi immediately thought of his lovely daughter who had just been adopted.

The atmosphere in the Toosaka family has not been good these days.

Ever since she learned a week ago that Sakura was going to be adopted, Aoi often sobbed in front of him.

As a husband, Tokiomi naturally had to shoulder the responsibility of comforting his wife.

Besides that, he now had to pay attention to Rin's mental state, comfort her in daily life, and try his best to ensure that she would not be affected by the departure of her sister.

Fortunately, the mother and daughter were much stronger than Tokiomi had imagined, which comforted him greatly.

Studying magic, preparing for the Holy Grail War, investigating the situations of other Masters, taking care of spiritual places, comforting his wife and daughter, and spending his daily life peacefully with them, this is all that Tōsaka Tokiomi is doing right now.

Of course, Tokiomi was also very nervous.

But unlike the sentimental Aoi and Rin, as a man, he does not show his emotions on his face, but hides them in his heart.

After all, this matter is a foregone conclusion, and he as a father can't change anything. He can only pray in his heart that Sakura can live a better life over there.

Then, Tokiomi shook his head, dispelled the thoughts in his mind, and waited for his apprentice's next report.

Under Tokiomi's gaze, Kirei organized the words in his mind and relayed the information that the "Assassin" had discovered.

"Hmm? You said there was a gas leak?"

Soon, after listening to his apprentice's report, Tokiomi's pale blue eyes revealed a hint of astonishment, and his voice unconsciously raised two tones.

It turned out that at noon today, the news channel in Fuyuki City reported that a brief fire suddenly broke out at the "Matou" house located in a high-end residential area.

Because a huge cloud of smoke suddenly rose from the mountain in broad daylight, the Fuyuki Fire Department immediately started moving and rushed to the scene from the fire base.

The unusual movement of the fire brigade attracted the attention of reporters, so both parties arrived at the Matou residence one after another to confirm the specific situation at the scene.

However, when they arrived at the scene, the fire at the Matou family had already been brought under control and they had nothing to do with it.

Later, after the head of the Matou family told the story, the TV reporter was able to learn the cause and effect of the incident.

"A gas leakage accident caused by aging pipelines."

"However, because the house was well-equipped with firefighting equipment, the fire was quickly brought under control with the help of bodyguards and servants."

The head of the Matou family, Matou Tsuruno, reported truthfully to the reporters. The reporters and firefighters easily believed the sincere answer of the head of the Matou family.

After a series of inspections by firefighters, they confirmed that this was a very common "gas leak accident".

Finally, under the reporter's report, the captain of the fire brigade stood in front of the camera, reminding the citizens of Fuyuki City to pay attention to hidden dangers and raise their awareness of fire prevention.

That's where the story ends.

"..."

There was silence in the air.

There is no doubt that this is the message conveyed on the surface of this news report.

However, behind this seemingly clear picture, there are still unknown secrets and complex plots hidden.

Miraculously, Tōsaka Tokiomi and Kotomine Kirei knew nothing about this. Does this mean that they are both incompetent?

Well, that’s not really the case.

Today is the day that his beloved daughter Sakura is adopted, which is of great significance to Tokiomi. It is also of great importance to both the Tousaka and Matou families.

Even the head of the Matou family, Matou Zouken, came in person. This alone was enough to show his sincerity.

In order to avoid the suspicion of the old man of the Matou family, Tokiomi deliberately removed the surveillance measures on the Matou residence and along the way, just to pave the way for Sakura, which was also a way to express his trust in the old man of the Matou family.

Here, Tokiomi has three methods of gathering intelligence: spies, magic, and the "assassins" summoned by his disciple Kirei.

There is no need to say more about spies. There have always been such people since ancient times. Even in the magician industry, there are still such people. They make a living by accepting commissions.

Now let's talk about magic.

There are generally two methods of magic that can see far away.

One is to use clairvoyance magic, which can observe distant places through crystal balls or mirrors. As long as there is a certain medium, it is possible to monitor the outside world in a safe workshop. Most magicians have learned this magic.

Secondly, the magician can also use familiars to monitor the outside world.

"Familiar" is a magic that creates a replica of a living being by doing some tricks on small animals or one's own body. The familiar is connected to the master through a causal line, and can share the five senses with each other. This is also a basic magic that ordinary magicians will learn.

Under normal circumstances, Tokiomi used bird familiars made of gems to roughly control Fuyuki City.

Because Fuyuki City is the territory of Toosaka, in this city Toosaka Tokiomi's jewel magic can get the greatest support from the land.

However, even so, Tokiomi only let his familiars monitor the important areas, and the Matou family was temporarily abandoned.

The reason for saying this is mainly because of the special nature of the Matou family and the current time.

There is still one year before the Holy Grail War officially begins, and deliberately sending familiars to monitor allies is simply a major instigation of war.

The positions of Matou, Toosaka, and Einzbern are basically fixed by default, and no matter how much reconnaissance they do, no one will abandon their own workshops.

Furthermore, Matou does not have a Master who is qualified to participate in the Holy Grail War, which means that Matou will "miss this Holy Grail War".

It is precisely because of this that Matou needs to inject fresh blood into his family, which is why Matou's father-in-law came to his ally Toosaka and asked him to adopt his beloved daughter.

However, if you put yourself in Mr. Matou's shoes and think about it, they want to train your daughter as the heir, but you are tracking and monitoring her instead. This will definitely leave a grudge in their heart.

Magicians are inhuman beings, and their anti-tracking methods are totally incomparable to those of military soldiers.

It is normal for a father to worry about his daughter, and he can use this excuse even if he is discovered. However, doing so also carries the possibility of igniting a powder keg.

As mentioned before, there is an unwritten rule among magicians that prohibits them from prying into each other's magic.

If Tokiomi sent someone to monitor him, and he was discovered, what would the Matou family think? Would they do something bad to Sakura?

He, Tousaka Tokiomi, sent his daughter away because he wanted her to be properly nurtured, not to be tortured.

On the mystical side, there are cold-blooded magicians. It is better to say that most magicians are inhuman monsters, each with their own quirks, and the word "freak" alone is not enough to describe these magicians.