They've already fought their way through the Holy Grail War, and you still call them dragons?

Eri's fingers clenched around the edge of the bathtub, her gaze fixed on the inky black lines on her arms. Horrifying images of herself losing control and turning into a monster began to surface in her mind.

[The process is simple. I take a part of your soul, and in return, I will fulfill your wish!]

"A wish?" Eri's face was filled with disbelief, her lips trembling silently. She didn't understand the meaning of collecting souls, but the image of Aladdin's lamp in the fairy tale popped up in her mind—could the shadow also directly grant her wishes in the same way?

[That's right—just like I did last time, I'll remove those ugly lines on your body and even help you become a hero!]

[Besides, I can also help your beloved brother Emiya...] The black shadow's voice was hoarse and unpleasant, but it sounded like the whisper of a devil.

"You heard the call outside, didn't you? He's struggling with his investigation, but I can help you find the entrance to the Mirror World instantly! Your brother Emiya will be very happy then."

[You won't turn into a monster anymore, and you can still get his praise... How about a deal?]

In the bathroom, steam continued to rise.

Amidst the swirling mist, Eri's breathing quickened slightly, her chest rising and falling with her emotions. Her gaze flickered between the shadows and the lines on her arm, as if she were struggling, weighing the pros and cons.

【Trade?】

The shadow's voice sounded again, and Eri thought again and again -

Should she endure for a few days and ultimately lose the change she longs for? Or should she pay the price and keep everything?

Finally, when the water temperature had become noticeably cooler, Eiry couldn't help but look towards the shadow and nodded slightly.

Seeing this, the shadow's mouth curled up into a victorious smile.

----

The Great Void Under Tokyo.

Fenrir lost his usual chance to secretly watch his beloved TV because his sister no longer allowed it. His sister suspected that he was slacking off, which gave the White King in the Holy Grail the opportunity to tamper with the earth veins outside.

So now, Fenrir had to leave its daily entertainment environment and was forced to work as a miserable giant pit excavator, grunting and working hard in the large hollow strata and the dark caves below to explore abnormalities in the earth veins.

Now, only a faint light filtered through the vast hollow above, illuminating Fenrir's massive form. Its mountainous form crept deep into the earth, its sharp claws slicing through the solid rock. With a single movement, it breached the vast, deep cavity, easily demonstrating a digging efficiency even more terrifying than Xia Mi's.

At the edge of the cave, Xia Mi stood with her arms folded across her chest, watching over her foolish brother while asking Norton on the other end of the communication:

"Norton, why didn't you mention the possibility of such anomalies occurring in the ley lines when you mentioned the operational precautions for the Holy Grail War?"

In the mercury curtain, Norton's figure seemed a little blurry, but his expression was clearly visible - it was a face full of helplessness and irritability.

After hearing what Xia Mi said, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, and he even had the urge to slap her twice through the screen. This was because he clearly heard the intention in Xia Mi's words to put the blame on him.

"...Do you think I'm very experienced? Don't you think that this is my first Holy Grail War, how can it be smooth sailing?"

Norton raised his voice, "Besides, when it comes to ley lines, I'm not as familiar and professional as the King of the Earth and Mountains. The most I can do is provide the engineering design drawings, but the actual implementation depends entirely on you brothers and sisters."

At this point, Norton's tone was clearly filled with dissatisfaction.

"But what about you? One of you only knows how to put pressure on me and make demands all day long, while the other knows how to watch TV and slack off from morning to night. Now that a problem has occurred, upon inspection, we discovered: Oh, underneath the leyline we already laid, there is an even older leyline hundreds of meters deep..."

"Furthermore, these two previously unrelated leylines have been unknowingly modified and connected together, causing an unexpected incident in the Holy Grail War. So, they're so anxious to contact me... Could it be that they're counting on me, the King of Bronze and Fire, to provide a more professional leyline solution for you, the King of Earth and Mountain?"

Xia Mi frowned and fell into an indescribable silence... When the construction was started, she was in a hurry to complete the construction goals of the underground veins and failed to carefully explore the deeper environment. She really couldn't get rid of this blame.

Fenrir, still toiling away below, seemed oblivious to the dispute between his sister and Norton. In the vast cavern, only the sound of Fenrir's claws scraping at the rock echoed from the depths, making it seem particularly dull.

"Forget it! Let's talk about something more practical, such as an unexpected incident. The Rider team, the pseudo-Servant team we chose, disappeared on the night of the summoning and lost contact. It seems that they were pulled into another closed Nibelungen."

Xia Mi suppressed her temper for once. "Norton, you can think of something about this, right? Even if the White King's soul had the chance to occasionally touch the earth veins, it wouldn't be enough to instantly create the Nibelungen and pull people thousands of miles away into it, right?"

In the mercury curtain, Norton's figure swayed slightly. After a few seconds, he finally spoke:

"There's no doubt that since the White King's soul is still within the Greater Holy Grail, even if she had a chance to escape, at most she would only be able to escape with fragments of her soul. An incomplete soul is not enough to construct the Nibelungen. At most, she can rely on the existing Nibelungenen to interfere with reality."

Norton analyzed methodically, "The deepest ancient leyline must be used to maintain a special Nibelungen. Although this Nibelungen is closed, it is completely open only to the White King."

Xia Mi suddenly understood, "So the White King only needs to connect the leyline that maintains the Nibelungen with the leyline that operates the Holy Grail War, and he will be able to interfere with the masters and servants participating in the Holy Grail War!"

"Yes, but just thinking about this is useless. It depends on whether you can restore the abnormality of the earth veins and destroy the earth veins that maintain the Nibelungen, or find the 'tentacles' that split off from the White King's soul and kill him!"

"Then let Fenrir take care of troubleshooting the leyline system. I'll go look for the entrance to the Nibelungen. The White King's soul fragments that escaped are likely hiding there."

Chapter 188: Great, it’s Gong Hai, we are saved!

"How are you going to find it?"

Xia Mi didn't answer immediately. Her eyes dropped slightly, lost in thought. After a moment, she rolled her eyes twice, glancing at the Holy Grail next to her, which was being suppressed by Norton's new alchemy array.

She extended her finger and pointed at the Mercury Curtain, directly transmitting the information to the other party through the Blood Alliance Contract in the form of a dragon text message:

"When that thing first took action, it sought out Rider through the ley lines. Although it doesn't understand why it has such intentions towards the Servant, it will do so again if it does it once. And there will be another opportunity for the Servant to be summoned next time. It can't just turn a blind eye."

When Norton received the text from Long Wen, his eyebrows instantly raised, and he immediately realized that Xia Mi was worried about information leaks. Although in his opinion, this worry was completely unnecessary - the Great Holy Grail's blockade loophole was far from enough to allow physical sound waves to pass through.

He pondered for a moment and then sent the message. "I see. Choose a bait and place it in front to attract attention... But the problem is that the Servant is not an ordinary bait. If it is eaten by the Servant, it will be troublesome."

Xia Mi gritted her teeth, "That's easy. Just get one big enough so it can only look at it, but can't eat it or bite it!"

"Your requirements are really high. If this happens, there will be very few Heroic Spirits who meet the requirements."

"Of course I know that, but it's not a big deal! There are still vacancies for the Master position. We just need to draw a lucky Master and give him the difficult task, and that's it!"

----

Finger was dressed in a tight, multifunctional combat suit. His imposing physique and muscles were tightly wrapped in the special fabric and material, as if every inch of his skin was being squeezed, making it hard to breathe. A feeling of suffocation and discomfort kept flowing through his body, as if he were stuffed into an overly narrow can.

It was said that this combat uniform was specially customized for the Holy Grail War by the Kassel Academy's Equipment Department. It was equipped with advanced night combat technology and a gear mounting system—a modular load-bearing system capable of mounting equipment bags. It also had built-in wiring, a communicator, and sensors, allowing it to connect directly to the headquarters' super artificial intelligence, Norma. Finally, it had multifunctional tactical pockets...

Damn, it's so bloated that it looks like a mobile warehouse filled with equipment when I wear it.

Finger cursed inwardly. And judging by the equipment department's quirky style, this thing probably had some kind of hidden explosion function.

He glanced to the side again and saw that Principal Angers was still dressed in a suit and tie, his tie was tied meticulously, his leather shoes were polished to a shine, and his demeanor was elegant and unrestrained, just like an elderly gentleman who happily accepted the invitation of a friend.

Compared with the opponent, looking back at his own battlefield-style combat uniform, it was so shabby that he looked like a half-baked fourth-rate cavalry soldier who was temporarily pushed out to be used as an animal, with no dignity at all.

Fingel felt deeply deceived. This didn't seem like he was here to participate in a serious Holy Grail War, but rather like he was being secretly "sacrificed" after his efforts had been over. He had clearly been an A-grade top student who had made great contributions to the academy, yet now, for some unknown reason, he had fallen to such a state. How could this be possible?

Could it be that all of this was planned in advance? Did the school board discover the little tricks he'd been doing during his junior and senior years?

Oh my God, if that's the case, this is terrible! Fingel was heartbroken and regretted it!

If he had known earlier, he wouldn't have offended the school cafeteria waiter just to get a free midnight snack of braised pork knuckle, mashed potatoes, and sauerkraut. He also shouldn't have been a paparazzi taking secret photos just to lead the charge. As a result, in addition to earning a large sum of money from the vice-president and a group of male students, he actually offended the entire female student body of Kassel College...

"Fingal, Fingal!"

Principal Ange's voice called out from the side, "Come back to your senses, we're here."

After saying that, Ange looked at the bear-like student with a strange look on his face. He saw that his eyes were dull and shiny drool flowed from the corners of his mouth, quietly dripping onto the pure black combat uniform and sliding smoothly off the waterproof fabric, as if he was daydreaming.

Fingel, still lost in thought, reminiscing about his sinful life, suddenly sobered up. He looked out the window at the neon lights of the night and finally remembered that he had arrived in Tokyo. The bustling and peaceful atmosphere of fireworks didn't even hint at the approaching Holy Grail War.

This further intensified Finkel's suspicion.

"Principal, didn't you say we were going to participate in the Holy Grail War? Why doesn't this look like it?"

Finkel looked left and right. This place was not only unlike the war zone, but also peaceful and ordinary. It had nothing to do with war. In the United States, any economically backward area would look more like a war zone than this place.

"Of course not here, because before I join in, I need to find an old friend of mine in Japan. Luckily, this guy has recently started using a mobile phone, otherwise I wouldn't be able to find him through the Internet."

Ange turned on the radio in his Maserati, and the Tokyo Radio host's rhythmic voice came from the car speakers:

"Good night, Tokyo! Another deplorable accident occurred in Shinjuku last night! A fight broke out between two gangs in a nightclub. According to the on-site investigation, both sides used illegal firearms!"

"As luck would have it, the natural gas pipeline along the road where the incident occurred hadn't been repaired yet. Perhaps one gang member's bullet was too enthusiastic—boom! The nightclub's luxurious building was gloriously sacrificed, and in its place was the beautiful night view of Shinjuku, and another beautiful fireworks display!"

"Damn it!" Finger couldn't help but shudder after hearing the broadcast. How could this place be even crazier than the "Free Day" gunfights at the academy? They were calling bombing a building a fireworks show? He decided to change his opinion of Tokyo—it really wasn't peaceful here.

Ange pulled out his phone and called Norma, reconfirming the location of his old friend's signal source. He then looked towards the passenger seat beside him, "Fingal, is the 'stigma' still there on the back of your hand?"

"It's still there, but I really don't agree with its artistic style. I strongly suggest that the organizers of the Holy Grail War take a body tattoo master class first."

While complaining, Finkel stared at the bright red mark on the back of his hand with wide eyes. This thing appeared when he first arrived in Tokyo. At first, he thought it was some kind of paint and planned to wash it off with water. As a result, a layer of old skin was almost peeled off to a bright red color, but the mark still stubbornly took root on the back of his hand.

"You can comment on the organizer's tattooing skills after you summon the Servant and transform the stigmata on your hands into Command Seals."

Ange glanced at his watch and said, "Remember to not forget the holy relics in your bag. When I come back, we will set off to the designated location to summon the servant."

"When you come back?"

"Norma gave me the location of that old friend of mine. It's not far away." Ange pulled out the car keys. "Just sit in the car and don't move. I'll be back in a little while."

Finger watched Ange's dark-suited figure retreat. Like a fleeting shadow, it vanished into the vast night market. The possessor of the Word Spirit "Time Zero" could come and go without a trace, freely wandering the world.

He could only huddle in his seat in his shabby combat uniform, listening to the host on the car radio telling hellish jokes while counting sheep out of boredom, like a defeated dog abandoned in a sea of ​​people.

However, Ange did not return until the crowds disappeared and the night market became quiet.

"Huh?" Finkel looked up in surprise. He suddenly heard that the clear broadcast voice was no longer coming from the car radio, but the noisy sound of poor signal.

As he scanned the streets, he also discovered that the night market around the Maserati seemed to be covered by a filter of the ancient Edo period. The flashing neon lights were gone, and instead, there were shabby and paint-chipped wooden signs with some crooked and illegible old characters written on them.

Something is wrong! The wind is blowing!

Finger's nerves tensed instantly, and his body bounced up from the passenger seat like a spring, flipping over and jumping into the driver's seat, ready to start the car and drive away. His fingers quickly touched the keyhole, but suddenly remembered that the car key had been pulled out by Principal Ange!

“Bad luck, bad luck, bad luck…!”

Finkel reached under the steering wheel to find the wires of the ignition switch and tried to force start it, but Principal Ange's car was obviously not the traditional old car that appeared in the movies. It was equipped with an advanced ECU anti-theft system and even multiple anti-theft mechanisms. Without the chip of the car key for electronic matching, it could not be started even if the wiring was connected.

But this did not pose a problem for Finkel, who possessed top-notch hacking skills. He pulled out equipment and circuits from his combat uniform and began to forcibly crack the system. However, this process took a short while, so...

"Please spare my life, my dear men. Can you please give me some time to prepare for surrender?" Finkel said with a mournful look. Just now, he had glanced through the car window and noticed a large number of dark figures approaching the Maserati. It seemed there were at least a hundred of them...

Damn! What kind of Nibelung is this? Why did they force the transfer of people and cars?! I was sitting in the car, but bad luck fell from the sky!

"Is there anything I can use to give you first aid—"

Finkel opened his combat uniform backpack with sweat on his forehead. Among the fancy guns and ammunition, there was only a black box lying quietly at the bottom.

He hurriedly opened it and found that it was a piece of ancient Hydra's skin. According to Principal Ange, this thing was purchased from Greece and has extremely high collection value. It is the skin left by the nine-headed Hydra killed by Hercules. It was specially used to participate in this Holy Grail War as a holy relic.

Fingel's eyes lit up, as if he had grasped the last straw. He held the remains in his hands and muttered, "Well... Hercules, the mighty one, bless me, Fingel, to escape and move forward! May I have rolling fortunes and endless encounters with beautiful women—"

In a hurry, Finkel even forgot to say the proper summoning words for the heroic spirit. He just started to make a wish and summon the spirit with nonsense, just like burning incense and praying to Buddha for God's blessing.

But for some reason, the surrounding shadows that were about to close in on them subconsciously retreated at the last step, as if sensing some invisible deterrent. A massive aura poured out from the roof of the Maserati, like a mountain pressing down from nowhere.

"Damn it!?"

Finkel felt the car body shake violently, and then the roof of the Maserati was instantly pierced, and a majestic man with a height of more than two meters and five and bulging bones fell heavily from the hole in the roof. He pushed the car aside casually, tore it into two halves like a toy, and stood in front of Finkel, who looked like a petrified man.

"Archer, Hercules, obey the call."

After saying that, Hercules' eyes noticed the dark shadows around him. He casually took out a bow and drew his arrow.

Boom!

Several arrows flew in all directions, like heavy cluster bombs thrown down, instantly destroying groups of black shadows and setting off a sonic storm that stretched for several kilometers!

Chapter 189: Ordinary people who accidentally enter the Holy Grail War is a classic segment

That night, Kabukicho in Shinjuku was still bustling with song and dance, drums and music blaring, and the neon lights lining the streets flickered with an ambiguous glow, casting shadows on the faces of passersby. The red-light district's clients, some flushed, some exhausted, came in and out, their faces gleaming with revelry.

Aso Makoto recently changed jobs again. Although the location of her part-time job is still in Shinjuku District and is almost the same as before, the night shift job in this comic book store has the advantage of less traffic and is stable and has no work... She stood behind the counter, her fingers gently fiddling with the buttons on the cash register.

But no matter what, it's still strange to have a comic book store in Kabukicho, Shinjuku, right?

This is what Aso Makoto thought when he was free.

As an ordinary person, she just thought about it and did not dwell too much on such things. Compared with these trivial matters, the salary she could get was the most real thing.

Aso Makoto sighed softly, turned and walked towards the bookshelf, adding a few copies of Kadokawa Shoten's "Koga Ninja Scrolls" to the comic bookshelf with brisk and skillful movements.

There were still a few copies of "The Kindaichi Case Files" and "Yu-Gi-Oh" scattered on the bookshelves and display racks beside her... She looked back hurriedly, estimated the number of copies missing, and thought she still had time to spare.

So Aso Makoto jogged back to the counter with brisk steps, turned on the radio and tuned it to the local news station. The host's exaggerated tone immediately broke the tranquility of the comic book store at night. The tragic accident of "the bombing of the nightclub building in Shinjuku District" was narrated from the mouth of the news anchor, with a sense of absurd comedy hip-hop.

Aso seriously suspected that this host had switched careers from the fields of manzai or rakugo (similar to crosstalk and stand-up comedy). She could even imagine how the director team appreciated this style of hellish jokes and decided to take a different approach to recruit such a person.

At the same time, the situation revealed by the host also shows that there are fewer and fewer signs of peace in Tokyo these days. There is a trend of impending storm everywhere. Aso Shin hears similar "serious accidents" on the radio every day -

Nightclubs, gang clubs, underground bars... explosions or mass bloody conflicts, each more tragic than the last, as if we had returned to the war years overnight.

Fortunately, these incidents and conflicts occurred in places that were somewhat tainted with the gray industry. For Makoto Aso, who prided himself on being a good student, these were places he should have avoided completely.

"Furthermore, it seems that the nature of these incidents is far less serious than the Shinjuku incident." As Aso Shin was tidying up the shelves, he recalled the back of a red-haired man, and a complex emotion flashed in his eyes.

Aso Makoto once wanted to find the mysterious red-haired man who saved her in the Shinjuku incident, but the problem was that she didn't know his name or his photo. This alone posed a huge problem.

She tried asking her best friend and senior classmate, but received no response. She then tried asking several shop owners she knew in Shinjuku, hoping to find out if they had seen any customers with red hair recently. But after a few days, only one video game store owner kindly told her that a red-haired man had indeed bought an NDS from his store a while ago.