Gertler has quite a reputation within the Clock Tower. However, it's not a good one. At least half of the Magus families show disdain or outright dismissiveness when the Gertler family is mentioned.
Similar to the Velvet family inherited by Waver, this family has only lasted for three generations. However, despite being such a young family, they have achieved a level of prosperity that many families of five or six generations have not reached. Their size even surpasses the three Archibald branch families that were recently punished by Shinji.
They don't rely on their strength, magical achievements, or "luck" like the "heretical" Velvet family. Instead, they rely on "sucking up" to the powerful, or in more derogatory terms, "being sycophants."
In the eyes of the long-established magus families, the members of this family have no dignity. They would do anything as long as it is profitable.
It is said that the first-generation head of Gertler served as a stable boy for a noble magus family's young lady. Through flattery and appeasement, he won the favor of the young lady and obtained a branch with a magic circuit from a second-rate family. This served as the capital for establishing their own family.
The second-generation head was a woman who surpassed the lack of dignity and boundaries set by the first generation. Utilizing magecraft and her attractive appearance, she seduced successful men everywhere and became a famous socialite in London. Her guests included high-ranking British officials, as well as influential figures from various countries seeking refuge during that special era. Of course, there were also heads of some magus families. It was during this generation that the Gertler family established connections with the El-Melloi faction.
The third-generation head, the one Shinji needs to purge, did not have the extravagant behavior of the previous two heads. However, they were an opportunist who maneuvered between various factions. When Kenneth was young, this person surrounded him, ingratiating themselves and tying their family to the El-Melloi faction. They showed dedication and effort in the following years, which earned them Kenneth's trust. Previously, when Kenneth went to Fuyuki City to establish a workshop in the Kay Hotel, this family was there to assist.
Unexpectedly, shortly after the Fourth Holy Grail War ended and news of Kenneth's disappearance spread, this family immediately turned their backs on him. First, they used Sola's name to align themselves with the Sophia-Ri faction. When they saw that the Sophia-Ri faction didn't respond much, they switched to the Trambelio faction, becoming the vanguard in Trambelio's fight against the aristocracy and the El-Melloi faction. They acted swiftly and ruthlessly, causing half of the damage suffered by the El-Melloi faction. Naturally, they became a target that Kenneth had to purge.
The Gertler family was aware that they were chosen as an example to deter others, so they actively took action after receiving news of Kenneth's return, trying to repair their relationship with him. In the end, they even reached out to Barthomeloi, the leader of the aristocracy, asking him to mediate.
Why does Kenneth remain determined to get rid of this unfamiliar wolf? After the Lord's meeting ended, he went straight home and cut off all possibilities of negotiation. Shinji had already learned about this story through various channels beforehand, and upon hearing the news of Kenneth's refusal to negotiate, he sensed that this would be the toughest challenge tonight.
How challenging was it?
The first line of defense, consisting of large-scale bounded fields and traps, was standard for every magus family and can be ignored for now.
The second line of defense startled Shinji. This family had hired an entire mercenary corps, turning their mansion into a fortress of war.
"Tsk tsk, truly befitting of the dishonorable wolf family without any magus pride. It seems I can't infiltrate like I did with the previous families. I have no choice; you've forced my hand. Let me, Shinji Matou, teach you what a true assassin is!"
Shinji stood silently above the Gertler mansion, expressing his disdain. He then released the levitation from his feathered shoes and descended with a weight of over 200 kilograms, including his equipment, under the influence of gravity.
"The Legendary Assassin Connor's (No) Kill (Double) Technique - Leap of Faith."
One second later, Shinji's presence was detected by both detection barriers and modern surveillance equipment. The mansion immediately sounded piercing alarms.
The seasoned soldiers who had spent years on the battlefield raised their rifles and began firing.
However, Shinji was faster than them. Before the mercenaries' AK47s could unleash a burst of gunfire, several silver streaks landed within their positions, followed by a dazzling blaze.
The flames, ignited by runic magic, were comparable to professional incendiary rounds. It was difficult for ordinary people without magical resistance to escape being burned to death by even a slight touch of fire.
Chaos erupted in the courtyard, filled with screams and curses in different languages.
Shinji, having broken through the firepower blockade and successfully landed, remained expressionless, unaffected internally. These so-called mercenaries were nothing more than war hounds who roamed battlefields. Since they had chosen to make a living by killing, they should be prepared to have their lives taken at any moment.
With the "Divine Guns Blade" in his left hand and the "Rune Silver Bullets" in his right, Shinji effortlessly took down two mercenaries blocking his path. As he opened his detection runes and maintained his one-step-per-second speed, he entered the Gertler residence.
As soon as he entered the door, he was struck by the Wide Anti-Infantry Landmine, triggered in the same manner as the Castle Battle between Emiya Kiritsugu and Kenneth Archibald, the Tripwire type.
Shinji's response mirrored Kenneth's. The heaviest Mystic Code on his body fell to the ground as he chanted, "Fervuis." ("Boil, my blood.")
The Volumen Hydrargyrum Zwie spread out in the form of a thin film, blocking the steel balls shot by the Landmine.
Immediately after, the murder steel balls, defended by the Mercury film, rebounded even more intensely, causing the grand entrance to be riddled with holes. This was a newly added feature of the second-generation Volumen Hydrargyrum Zwei, utilizing the properties of mercury to create a spring-like defense layer that could store the kinetic energy of projectiles and counterattack in the same manner.
When Shinji withdrew his defense of the Mercury film, the entrance of the mansion was in ruins. Several people wearing bulletproof vests, both superhumans and mercenaries, lay in pools of blood, their deaths a gruesome sight.
Shinji, still in a state of invisibility, smirked and ignored the overwhelming smell of blood. He bent down and picked up two grenades, throwing one toward the second floor and one toward the basement as he ascended the stairs.
In an instant, the shockwave caused by the explosions shook the Gertler mansion, concealing Shinji's next move.
"Autonlatopor: Iunlquaerere." ("Automatic target acquisition.")
Similar to the automatic defense, the automatic target acquisition spell had also been improved. In addition to capturing temperature and atmospheric vibrations with the properties of mercury, it added magical detection capabilities, further enhancing target acquisition accuracy.
"Exclude the Nelson-style structure of the barrier nodes, exclude various magic traps, and then use detection runes for filtering—found it."
As expected, the answer was the underground workshop.
"ire:sanctio!" ("Track and eliminate!")
The magical mercury responded with a resounding transformation into razor-thin blades, shredding the floor of the ground floor of the residence and destroying the magic nodes along the way.
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