Ma Yuanzhang

At a thought from Bai Cangshu, currents crackled within his body. Fine electric arcs spread across his skin, but dissipated less than a hundred meters away from him.

He raised his head and looked around. There was nothing unusual about Fuyuki City’s night sky, yet his Mantra ability had been severely restricted.

Bai Cangshu was unsure whether this was a constraint imposed by the Restraining Force after placing him within a class, or whether someone in this city had already set up a ritual that limited perception.

Both possibilities made sense in this world.

"Mercenary Tao… is that your true name?"

"Strange. How come I’ve never heard of your deeds?"

Ma Yuanzhang frowned and pondered for a moment, but quickly gave up. He was not good at history, and the notebook only said that the summoned Heroic Spirits were heroes who had achieved great feats in history and mythology. That history certainly was not limited to Japan.

He barely knew Japan’s history, let alone that of foreign countries.

The two continued toward the residence of that annoying female teacher from his memories. Bai Cangshu looked at this "hunk of flesh" that could still move. Yes, after the other party had summoned him, Bai Cangshu had already decided that he had to kill him.

The relationship between a Master and a Servant was an extremely dangerous contract because of the Command Spells.

Whether due to his identity as a Reincarnator or the additional enhancement panel of his current class, Bai Cangshu’s magical energy attributes were extremely low. This Master did not seem to be a proper magus either, making him completely useless to Bai Cangshu.

"What wish do you want to fulfill by participating in the Holy Grail War?"

Bai Cangshu behaved like a good Servant opening his heart to his Master. Ma Yuanzhang sensed no malice at all—or rather, he was dull enough that he had not even noticed the unmistakable killing intent Bai Cangshu had revealed when they first met.

"A wish? What’s that…?"

Ma Yuanzhang turned back and gave his strange Servant a strange look. He kept his head lowered, searching the black-covered notebook for more records.

Beneath his bangs, his eyes burned with fanaticism.

Bai Cangshu froze for a moment. At that instant, he clearly sensed utter indifference within this Master who called himself Ma Yuanzhang.

No wish he wanted to fulfill, no particularly intense impulse—only a lack of understanding toward all sorts of common sense in the world.

For example, he did not understand why his parents had constantly argued and fought ever since he was little;

He did not understand why those people always looked at him with strange eyes;

He did not understand why, after parents like that died, the people from the welfare office asked him why he was not crying;

He understood even less why that family had led him, a stranger, into their home at night;

He did not understand why that annoying teacher wore such a concerned expression.

"Tch…"

Bai Cangshu clicked his tongue inwardly, then unconsciously chuckled. He had noticed the ingenuity of the arrangement made by the Restraining Force—or rather, Infinite Dimensional Space.

When they arranged for something to happen, they did not crudely force it into being. Instead, they set up more suitable causes, then allowed the development of the rules to lead him naturally toward that result.

They had not forcibly decided that he would be summoned by this Ma Yuanzhang. Rather, they had found someone who happened to share certain traits with him and had that person perform a Heroic Spirit summoning.

Thus, he had naturally become the Servant called forth by the other party.

A Servant was absolutely not a good role in the Holy Grail War. Even with the additional panel granted by a class, one could not escape the fact that it was the role with the highest death rate.

The purpose of the Holy Grail War had never been some classically romantic tale of several families of magi summoning legendary heroes to battle and determine a victor.

From the very beginning, the Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City had merely been a grand ritual established by those three families in pursuit of the secrets of the Root.

None of the process of this Holy Grail War mattered. The only thing that mattered was that enough Servants died. When the Heroic Spirits returned from the Lesser Grail to the Throne of Heroes, the Greater Grail would use the magical energy accumulated over decades from Fuyuki City’s exceptional spiritual vein to pierce through space-time and stabilize a passage, allowing the magi of the Three Founding Families to reach the Root.

It was not a heroic drama, but a dark and absurd sacrifice.

The smile at the corner of Bai Cangshu’s mouth was mocking. By locking him into the Assassin class, they had not only forced him into an unavoidable fight to the death, but also restricted his strength.

And there was not a single flaw in the rules.

He could not help but applaud the game between the Restraining Force and Infinite Dimensional Space.

Thinking of it that way, it was no wonder the Reincarnators who had pursued others into the Type-Moon World had such a high death rate. It was like entering a game while two GMs watched you and tailored negative effects specifically for you.

Afterward, Bai Cangshu asked Ma Yuanzhang several more questions, but the other party truly was not from the world of magecraft and knew nothing at all about the details of the Holy Grail War.

Thus, he could not determine the current timeline. However, judging from the era, this was probably around the timeline of the Fifth Holy Grail War.

It was currently 2004, precisely when the Fifth Holy Grail War was supposed to take place. Of course, it was also possible that the current course of events had changed due to the interference of Reincarnators or differences in the development of this Derivative World.

Bai Cangshu’s body rose lightly into the air. The next moment, he had leaped onto the roof of a shop beside the street. Then, with a flash, his feet landed lightly atop a streetlamp.

His movements made no sound, and Ma Yuanzhang, walking ahead, noticed nothing at all.

Bai Cangshu tilted his ear. Although his Mantra ability had been restricted, the senses of this terrifying body remained. As a humanoid dragon with a Constitution exceeding fifty points, Bai Cangshu’s vision and hearing far surpassed anything ordinary humans could imagine.

He heard continuous explosions in the distance. A fierce battle was probably underway.

Judging by the sounds, it was more than ten kilometers away from them, and the battle was extremely intense. Every strike radiated considerable destructive power.

Based on the fighting style of this world’s Servants, Bai Cangshu believed that if this followed the plot of the Fifth Holy Grail War, there was a high chance it was Berserker Heracles.

"We’re here~"

Ma Yuanzhang’s voice unconsciously rose, carrying an emotion that even he himself could not understand.

He pointed at a standard Japanese detached house in the distance and said, "That woman should live here. Mercenary Tao, go kill her!"

This was probably the first person to command Bai Cangshu so forcefully. Even that Fox Outer God had mostly used benefits to entice Bai Cangshu.

Bai Cangshu withdrew his senses from the distant battle. He had always been curious about the combat power of the Servants in this world.

Under the Type-Moon World setting, factors such as compatibility, special advantages, and other idealistic elements played a greater role in battle.

It was vastly different from worlds like Dragon Ball, where victory was determined by pure power.

As a result, before actually fighting them, Bai Cangshu could not determine where his strength ranked among these Servants.

He currently lacked a Noble Phantasm, and his Magic Resistance attribute was quite weak. He likely could not withstand the power of those Servants unleashing their Noble Phantasms and clashing at full force.

But at the same time, Bai Cangshu’s destructive power against the world, his mobility, and his martial ability that had entered the Grandmaster realm—an ability born entirely for fighting others—all surpassed the displays of many Heroic Spirits from the anime he remembered.

Bai Cangshu extended a finger. He had no interest whatsoever in even confirming who he was about to kill. The Dodon Ray had already condensed.

Bzzzt!

But the next moment, Bai Cangshu suddenly withdrew his hand and turned around with an amused look.

A spear had already been pressed against Ma Yuanzhang’s lower back.

"If you don’t want to die, order Mercenary Tao to kill himself."

Pfft!

The spearhead pierced less than an inch into flesh. Only then did the pain make Ma Yuanzhang realize that an enemy had appeared.

He raised his hand, and the Command Spell flashed with light.

Bai Cangshu merely spread his hands, his smile bright.

"Seeing me and choosing not to run, instead trying to kill me this way… it seems you’re a Master now?"

"Where is your Heroic Spirit? Hurry and call them over…"