FATE: Target of Grand Master

Li Zhuang was clearly dissatisfied with the civilized behavior of those around him who "only talked and didn't act." Just as he was thinking about how to stir up the emotions of those around him again, the follower next to him automatically deactivated his spirit form.

"Nero, son of Rome, what a coincidence!"

Li Zhuang looked at the attendant beside him in surprise and whispered, "Your Majesty, why did you come out?"

The muscular servant smiled and said, "Naturally, I've come to see my child."

"I see."

Li Zhuang outwardly agreed, but inwardly cursed the servant beside him.

He originally only wanted to stir up the emotions of those around him to see if he could cause Xia Yan some trouble, but he didn't expect his follower to show up on his own, exposing his information for nothing.

The moment Li Zhuang's follower appeared, Xia Yan and Nero immediately recognized him as Romulus, the founding emperor of Rome.

Compared to Nero's shock, Xia Yan felt more fortunate, because the other party, the God Ancestor, was only using a "small account" of an ordinary spirit origin.

However, upon closer examination, this makes perfect sense, as Grand Spirit Origins are not so easily summoned.

"My ancestor, I never expected to see you here."

Nero immediately lost his fierce aura and stood obediently in place like a child seeing a family elder, his hands nervously shifting positions, but no matter how he changed them, they didn't seem natural enough.

"Hehe. No need to be nervous or worried. We are just servants here. If we meet again, let's fight for our respective masters."

Romulus spoke as if he were a kind elder.

"Mmm!"

Nero immediately nodded in response.

Romulus and Nero's actions subtly changed the atmosphere, which had been one of universal condemnation, and even brought a touch of warmth to the scene.

In particular, Romulus was Li Zhuang's follower who led the criticism of Xia Yan, which immediately made Li Zhuang lose his position to continue to verbally attack Xia Yan.

As the tension at the scene gradually dissipated, Kirei Kotomine, who had been teleported over with him, finally spoke softly.

"Masters who have advanced to the knockout stage, please follow me to the stadium. We will announce the specific rules for the knockout stage there."

Xia Yan was the first to follow Kirei Kotomine, with the others following behind them. However, there was still a visible gap between Xia Yan and the others.

Upon arriving at the stadium, everyone immediately took in what it looked like inside.

In the clean venue, a young figure was standing on the stage adjusting the height of the microphone, with the words "Knockout Round Rules Explanation Meeting" displayed on the large screen behind him.

The young figure wore a yellow school cap, and beneath his short purple hair was an extremely pretty and adorable face.

Candy vines!

One of the members of SAKURA FIVE, and one of the Alteregos who separated from BB, along with Dissolved Lilith and Passenlipe.

As everyone gathered around the stage, Candy Vine addressed the Masters below: "I'll skip the pointless opening remarks. I am Candy Vine, the host of this elimination round, and Father Kirei Komine will continue to act as the supervisor and shopkeeper, overseeing the Masters' behavior while providing assistance."

The candy vine paused slightly before continuing, "Now, I'll explain the rules for the elimination rounds. Similar to the qualifying rounds, each Master will engage in one-on-one Holy Grail Wars. However, there are two differences: firstly, the elimination rounds will only consist of two rounds. Secondly, astute Masters should have already noticed, your opponents will no longer be AI Masters and Servants set up by the system, but rather real Masters present who have also participated in the Master Trials up to this point."

The candy vine's words immediately caused a stir among the crowd below, with many Masters becoming wary of each other, while a small number of Masters did not react at all.

Xia Yan is one of them.

When he was teleported here and saw so many Masters participating in the trial, he already had a pretty good idea of ​​what was going on.

The purpose of BB's trial this time is to eliminate a large number of Masters while selecting those with strength. There is nothing more effective than letting the Masters fight each other directly.

"As for how to choose your opponents, I'm sure everyone is already tired of the purely random mode of the BB slot machine. So, I've come up with an interesting way to draw lots. All Masters, please form two teams first."

Ten seconds passed, but the candy vines did not see anyone move.

There are sixteen Masters below at this moment. When entering the gymnasium, Tengman noticed that Xia Yan and the other fifteen people were standing at a clear distance apart. After Tengman finished speaking, the line below remained the same.

The vines squinted and asked, "Have you already divided it up?"

There was still no movement from the audience.

Originally, Tengman wanted to balance the number of people on both sides in the confrontation, but after seeing the scene below, how could she not understand that the Masters below the stage were intentionally targeting Xia Yan? This made Tengman change her mind.

Just as Tengman was about to announce her plan with a dark expression, a petite girl wearing a beret, a T-shirt, and overalls walked out of the crowd and slowly approached Xia Yan.

As she walked, she said as if explaining, "Oh dear, it's too crowded here. I'll go stand over there."

Seeing that someone had left their side, Li Zhuang said, "You'd better think this through. Once you stand there, you might not be able to come back."

The girl in the beret stopped and turned to glare at Li Zhuang. Although she didn't say anything, her deep eyes sent a chill down Li Zhuang's spine.

Just a moment later, the girl in the beret flashed a bright smile.

"Okay, then I won't be coming back."

Xia Yan and Nero, who were standing to the side, also looked at the girl in the beret with some surprise, not understanding why she wanted to distance herself from the others at this moment.

Logically speaking, even if there were to be any action, it should have been taken after the Candy Vine had announced the rules. Coming to my side now would only gain me favor, nothing more.

Xia Yan didn't think he had such great charm that he could, in less than twenty minutes without saying a word, raise a girl's favorability to the point where she could directly turn against the other fourteen Masters.

Did she really believe Li Zhuang's words, thinking that she could get some "cheating techniques" by getting to know him better?

No, Xia Yan's intuition told him that this girl was not simple, because after she stood next to him, she did not show any goodwill towards him, as if standing next to him was just a casual decision she made.

The fact that she has this confidence shows that she is confident enough in her own abilities.

Perhaps, the girl in the beret is the one he should be paying the most attention to in this trial.