Chapter 21

In the end, either this world or myself has gone mad.

Xia Zhi wore a wooden expression, like a stagnant statue, maintaining a half-leaning, half-sitting posture amidst that pile of chaotic, shattered rubble; he did want to stand up from within it and dust himself off, but was unable to do so.

Moonlight passed through the antiquated window, cold and gentle, sprinkling into the building.

The dim, profound yet not completely dark lighting environment also allowed him to better observe the surrounding environment.

Although everywhere his gaze reached was broken, with fragmented rubble scattered all over the ground, as if before his eyes lay a scene of ruins left behind after a typhoon rampaged, under the wash of the bright moonlight, he could still faintly glimpse this place's former appearance——

That sofa and coffee table next to him that had been smashed to bits, although already damaged beyond recognition, could still barely be identified.

It seems…… to be a living room?

His gaze followed inertia upward; the ceiling that should have been flat as a mirror now revealed a huge, eye-catching crack, suddenly conspicuous and glaringly obvious. The edges of that gap were rough and shattered, clearly indicating traces of having once suffered a violent impact.

So——

I fell straight down from above?

Naturally, he constructed this series of causal relationships in his mind and arrived at this conclusion.

Such an entrance method, while it could not be called carefree and at ease, absolutely counted as being in a sorry state.

At the same time, Xia Zhi's gaze wandered to the not-distant wall, where a wall clock hung, which obviously had not escaped disaster either, caught up in the remnant waves, hanging there tilted and swaying as if it might fall at any moment.

Despite this, it still held to its duty, currently displaying the time:

——Two o'clock in the early morning sharp.

If there is no error, if this time can be believed, then right now is obviously the middle of the night.

As expected, performing Heroic Spirit Summoning in the middle of the night is destined to drop the ball……

Xia Zhi couldn't help pulling at the corner of his mouth; he had already more or less understood what was going on; that sound heard in his sleep, perhaps it wasn't a dream illusion, but exactly such a bizarre thing had occurred.

Recalling that he and Vivian had also performed Heroic Spirit Summoning in the middle of the night, yet erroneously summoned Index. Now someone else summons a Heroic Spirit in the middle of the night, and the result is erroneously summoning me?

What kind of sucker cycle is this?

While he was letting his thoughts wander in delusion on one hand, and just wanting to gather more information, intending to use the moon phase to estimate the current date, he heard a burst of urgent footsteps rapidly approaching, from far to near.

Thump thump thump——

Judging from the echo trajectory and direction of those footsteps, it seems they are running up from inside the basement; the owner's steps were filled with anxiety and desperate emotion, appearing quite reckless and impatient.

Probably that kind of reckless, rash personality…… and here's the problem: from the feeling, based on the contract and magical energy connection, this hurried comer is very likely the Magician who inexplicably summoned me here.

In that case, the true Summoning Ritual should have been held in that basement.

However……

Why would I appear here in this condition?

This question is obviously worth deep thought, but there's no time to think carefully right now; just nearby, that basement door leading to the living room suddenly emitted an unusual sound; the doorknob seemed to have suffered several consecutive violent twists from behind, yet did not open.

Hard to judge whether it was due to a broken lock or being stuck……

In the immediately following instant——

Bang!

Amid a huge noise, the door panel was kicked open like fallen leaves swept by a gale; the powerful impactful force made the door violently crash into the wall.

Subsequently, a figure appeared behind the door, striding into the living room with Mors Momentum.

The moment she stepped into the living room, her first reaction was to quickly scan the surroundings; where her gaze reached, what met her eyes was the badly damaged ceiling, disordered and shattered furniture, and decorations scattered everywhere……

This wretched, messy scene made a trace of profound heartache and regret quietly slide across the bottom of her eyes.

Then, her gaze finally stopped, focusing on Xia Zhi. The before-and-after order of this whole process, to a certain extent, also subtly revealed the priority ranking of the importance of things in her subconscious……

「……」

「……」

Quiet, dead silent.

The two stared at each other, neither breaking the silence for a good while.

The scene therefore became awkward for a time; the air seemed to have solidified.

In terms of mental fortitude, Xia Zhi obviously had a slight edge, so he could maintain a calm and composed state, examining this black-haired, pigtail-wearing girl with an unhurried gaze, while also unavoidably feeling a faint sense of déjà vu.

——Ugh, I remember……

——It seems I met Vivian this way before.

When he first transmigrated, he also unintentionally barged into the library where Vivian was reading alone, crashing into a whole row of bookshelves and mountains of stacked books; the scene was chaotic for a time. The scene before him now is naturally like a reenactment of that situation.

Mhm, it should be a coincidence, definitely a coincidence.

While Xia Zhi was persuading himself like this in his heart, the black-haired pigtail girl confronting him finally moved.

The corner of her eye seemed to have seen something; she frowned doubtfully and looked toward the wall, then stared straight at that tilted wall clock; her expression suddenly couldn't hold, her eyes obviously widening a bit.

As if suddenly remembering something, remembering a crucially important matter.

「Heh…… hehe…… ag-again messed up……」

Her eyes stared blankly, her complexion darkened, she dry-laughed while swaying a few times on the spot, like a soulless wooden puppet.

Hm?

Xia Zhi unintentionally cast his gaze toward the wall clock; combining this black-haired pigtail girl's strange reaction, a rough possibility had already taken shape in his mind.

Although not yet completely certain, he could try guiding things in this direction……

How sharp a person he is; the girl merely revealed a slight flaw and handle, and he immediately prepared to pinch the other party on this aspect, to grasp the initiative in the upcoming negotiation……

The person involved, or rather the prospective victim, did not realize she had exposed a flaw; she just stared blankly at that wall clock, vexed and angry at herself, angry at why she was so stupid!

Why didn't she think of such an important thing!

————

————

Rin Tohsaka's mood was collapsing, self-loathing to the point of almost wanting to die.

For this day...

For the arrival of this moment, she had been preparing nervously all along.

All so that she could summon the strongest Servant—Saber—in the most perfect posture.

Since there was no Holy Relic to precisely designate the summoning, she had to make up for it in other ways; her original plan was to perform the summoning at two in the morning, which was also the time period when her wavelength was at its best.

This was the first and last opportunity within her limits, and she had to exert her full effort to do her best as much as possible.

However.

The plan had no problem; it was just that a tiny little accident occurred during implementation...

Just yesterday, while she was in the final preparation stage, she made a discovery while interpreting her father's last words, finding an ancestral Gem Pendant in the basement with over a hundred years of history, an existence far ahead among the gems at Home.

Especially for a girl practicing Jewel Magecraft, this Gem Pendant would surely bring unimaginable assistance.

She was naturally extremely delighted about this, but she did not expect that when she brought the Gem Pendant out of the Magic Workshop, the pendant's Powerful Force seemed to disturb the clocks at Home, making them all speed up by one hour.

—Interpreting the last words wore her out for a night...

—Her magical power was also consumed a bit excessively...

—Plus all the clocks were in disorder, causing the alarm to ring one hour early...

All these elements gathered together by a strange twist of fate, and as a result, she was listless and lacking spirit all day.

And the worst part was that in the morning, she still barely remembered that "the Gem Pendant forced the clocks at Home to go haywire," but after returning home from school in the evening, her muddled self completely ignored this important detail in her exhausted trance.

Until the clock struck midnight, she began executing the summoning ritual according to the predetermined Time Node...

Immediately following was what had just happened.

At this decisive moment of victory, she committed an unimaginable act of negligence.

Right now, the black-haired Pigtails girl stared fixedly at the tilted and displaced wall clock on the wall, feeling bitter as if her heart was bleeding; clearly it was only one in the morning now, with one hour left before she reached her best state, yet she actually ignored this crucial Time!

You see, just the materials for drawing the Summoning Circle had already exhausted half of her precious gems, and this action could not afford failure even financially...

But why did she still drop the ball at the Critical Moment!

Is this some kind of hereditary Curse?!

After taking a few Deep Breaths, clenching and unclenching her Fist, she spent quite a while organizing her Thoughts, shifting her Gaze back, and glaring at that Fellow who seemed to have no intention of speaking first, in a very bad Mood...

She didn't get the card she wanted, and seemingly summoned an uncooperative Servant?

Such a development... could truly be said to be Terrible.

The girl inexplicably felt like crying, but the words her father left before dying, and the Glory and obligation of carrying the Tohsaka Family alone, gave her absolute reason not to retreat just like this, no matter what... no matter what...

She stubbornly glared at her Servant, trying to express her Attitude: "Aren't you going to say something? Who are you?"

"Before asking this question, why don't you introduce yourself first?"

Xia Zhi was very composed, not rushing to answer, but instead directly throwing the question back.

Obviously, this Magician girl displayed an active and forceful personality trait, so he had to adopt a different Strategy.

Moreover, this time was the Holy Grail War, so naturally there were established rules; the Opposite Side very likely had a natural Cognition and Attitude toward this, and would subconsciously want to control everything, so in this situation he had to make the other side wake up a little.

Most importantly, he also had to examine this Magician girl's situation to see if Cooperation was suitable.

If she wasn't a good partner choice, then Xia Zhi felt he might have to consider whether this Holy Grail War was still worth participating in.

After all, according to Vivian's explanation, the Holy Grail War was like an illegal Organization's underground boxing match, where only the person who survives to the end is the Victor, and the difficulty was unimaginable... he originally didn't think an Ordinary Person like himself could match the legendary heroes.

If paired with a hopeless Master, it would be better to break up early.

"Hey, wait, aren't you my Servant?" The girl widened her Big Eyes, a hint of vigilance in her words, "I am your Master; the master-servant relationship should have been clear from the beginning..."

As a summoned Servant, this person looked completely like a Human.

But she was very clear that she couldn't be deceived by the other's appearance; this was absolutely something beyond Human, an Undead who reached the spirit realm with a human body.

So subconsciously, the girl instinctively felt that as a Master she must firmly grasp the initiative and not let the Servant suppress the Master's status; otherwise, this would definitely be very Dangerous.

He is mine!

Make him understand this relationship!

—In this regard, she actually had more Realization than her unlucky father who had submitted to his Servant and was eventually killed.

"Theoretically, that's indeed correct..."

The youth Opposite Side responded to the girl's forceful questioning in a carefree manner.

"What do you mean theoretically?" Rin Tohsaka perceived his implication, and her Tone immediately became somewhat annoyed.

"It means that in reality it might be a little different... after all, you understand, right? New era, new atmosphere; now everyone emphasizes mutual choice, and a forced melon isn't sweet."

Xia Zhi answered with a smile, implying something.

However, he put it very tactfully and politely, without directly saying something like "A man born between Heaven and Earth, how could he remain depressed and live under others."

"Impossible! I can't understand!"

The girl shouted excitedly and stepped forward.

She felt her ominous premonition had indeed become reality; this Fellow seemed to have no intention of acknowledging her Master status at all!

"Look at this! See? As your master, the proof is this; aren't you going to acknowledge it?" She angrily raised the Back of Hand of her right hand, revealing the three-stroke Command Seal on it, the three absolute command rights of a Master over a Servant.

"Hey—! Calm down a bit..."

Xia Zhi pulled the Corner of Mouth, feeling that this Magician girl seemed so excited she wanted to use the Command Seal to command him right away; had her Mindset completely collapsed due to some consecutive blows?

"—Confirm, you are my Servant, right."

The girl had no intention of calming down, staring at him while speaking forcefully.

…………

…………

A moment later.

After some friendly negotiation, both sides finally reached an agreement on the most basic positions.

However, in the disordered and messy living room, the negotiation continued, only it wasn't progressing very smoothly.

The black-haired pigtails girl's expression had just eased up, but now it began to darken with increasing dissatisfaction: "That's what I'm saying! You still don't plan to properly introduce yourself to me? Like your name, your origins, things like that!!"

"Don't know……"

The youth shook his head, answering quite calmly.

Having just been slightly suppressed by the other party, he now had to think of a way to make up for it, to KTV this reckless Master Lady a bit.

"You——!!"

"It's really that I don't know, glaring at me is useless…… I appeared here in the blink of an eye, who knows what happened, name, origins, whatever, I have absolutely no impression of any of it, my mind is a complete blank."

Xia Zhi explained lightly, simultaneously looking at the girl opposite with a pointed gaze.

"If you really don't believe it, you can try using a Command Seal to order me to remember, it might just work." Lying is all about mindset, the more you don't blush or pant, the more even you believe it yourself, the more persuasive it is.

"You…… how could you……"

Rin Tohsaka opened her mouth, subconsciously thinking of her own failed summoning, and instantly became shocked and suspicious, could it be because of this reason?!

"It's just like this, I can't remember anything right now, can you tell me a bit about what this summoning is all about?"

In a few simple sentences he turned the tables, Xia Zhi gazed seriously at Rin Tohsaka, preparing to analyze the intelligence of this new world.

He actually thought it over carefully, and felt the catalyst for this matter should be not long ago, when he summoned Index, he came into contact with the Heroic Spirit Summoning system.

If that was a terminal for communicating with the "World", then theoretically it shouldn't only be able to download information, it should also be able to upload information…… he might have uploaded his own intelligence at that time.

So——

He wanted to order takeout, downloaded a takeout app, and then…… registered as a rider?

(Chapter End)