FATE: Target of Grand Master

Boom!Boom!

The two fell to the ground together, and neither of them got up.

Nero, needless to say, was already pushing his willpower to its limit with his injuries, and Zenobi wasn't much better off.

Nero played a trick when he pierced her abdomen, stirring the greatsword to make her injury appear much more serious than it seemed. At this moment, Zenobia was also affected by the Guts effect from her unique skill called Aurelianus' Siege A.

All three matches ended in a draw.

As Masters, Xia Yan and Hu Xia were observing the three battlefields at the same time. However, while Hu Xia was more concerned about the battle between Artoria Altera (Lancer) and Morgan, Xia Yan kept an eye on Nero and Zenobi.

When he saw the two of them fall and unable to get up, Xia Yan rushed over without hesitation.

Seeing Xia Yan run towards Nero, Hu Xia did the same, and the two Masters thus converged in the middle from opposite ends of the arena.

The two first checked the condition of their respective Servants, and then stood facing each other beside their Servants.

"Xia Yan, it seems you really are my lucky star."

Xia Yan was completely puzzled by Hu Xia's praise.

"You should know that the conditions for activating Zeno's Noble Phantasm are extremely demanding. It requires her to recognize herself as an ideal queen. However, due to the humiliation of her life, Zeno has not activated this Noble Phantasm in the previous rounds, even after she has successfully defeated several Servants and I have been constantly encouraging and praising her."

Therefore, I suspect the root of the problem lies in the fact that the opponent cannot simply be an unrelated enemy, but must be a follower connected to Rome. Do you know how pleased I was when I saw your follower was Nero?

Xia Yan recalled the first round of the elimination tournament, when he was isolated by the other Masters, and in the end, only Hu Xia stood by his side.

"So, when you stepped forward, you were already planning this battle?"

"It was just a preliminary plan. Oh, right, there was actually another candidate, Romulus, who was supposed to be Li Zhuang. But I didn't like Li Zhuang, so I chose you."

It has to be said that the more Xia Yan interacted with Hu Xia, the less he could see through her. If Hu Xia had really considered this point back then, as she said, then her planning and analytical abilities were absolutely one in a million.

"Where was I? Right, I have to thank you, because in the battle just now, Zenobiya finally activated his Noble Phantasm. With this experience, it will be much easier to use it in the future."

"Oh? From what you're saying, you still want to win this battle, right?"

Xia Yan turned to look at the other two battlefields and said, "It seems that all three battles are currently tied. How about we have some practice too?"

"You seem quite confident in your skills, but please forgive me for refusing. My Master's philosophy is to never do things myself."

Hu Xia refused very decisively.

"At this point, you have no choice."

Xia Yan summoned Gan Jiang and Mo Xie and threw them directly at Hu Xia.

Just as the black and white swords were about to strike Hu Xia, the space in front of Hu Xia distorted, twisting Gan Jiang and Mo Xie into two pieces of scrap metal.

"Xia Yan, your behavior of forcing women into (combat) relationships against their will will not win their favor."

Xia Yan's eyes narrowed, ignoring Hu Xia's nonsense, and directly revealed her abilities.

"Twisted Demon Eye! Hu Xia, you still say you'll never do it yourself?"

Hu Xia replied innocently, "Did I lay a hand on him? I clearly only touched his eyes."

To be honest, Xia Yan sometimes really didn't want to talk to Hu Xia; this little girl always liked to play word games.

"Speaking of which, Xia Yan, you went too far just now. What if I really couldn't protect myself? You'd be a murderer!"

Xia Yan snorted inwardly. Even at a time like this, she was still pretending to be an innocent little rabbit.

"If you didn't have any ability to protect yourself, how could you have advanced all the way up to this point even though Zenobi couldn't use his Noble Phantasm? In the three rounds of the qualifying rounds and the first round of the elimination rounds, you only had Zenobi as your Servant. Besides, you chose to stand on my side by deliberately choosing the hard mode. If you didn't have some confident methods, you wouldn't have joked about your own life."

"All right."

Hu Xia shrugged, which was an admission of Xia Yan's statement.

"Alright, that's enough. Since you're going to take Zenoby away too, then a real fight between us is inevitable."

Xia Yan summoned Gan Jiang and Mo Xie again, looking ready to start a battle between masters.

"Wait a moment!"

Hu Xia quickly raised his hand to stop him.

"Why is it that you boys always have fighting and killing in your minds?"

"Otherwise, pacifists and the Virgin Mary wouldn't be alive today."

Xia Yan didn't really want to talk to Hu Xia right now; he always felt that this little girl was stalling for time and plotting something bad.

Hu Xia raised his hands in a gesture of surrender and said, "Okay, okay, I give up. I'll just be blunt, I surrender in this fight."

Xia Yan narrowed his eyes slightly, looking completely unconvinced.

"Give me a minute, let me explain. First of all, I'm not stalling for time. Secondly, you've helped me a lot in this battle—no, I should say this trial. Don't let my appearance fool you, I'm a person who values ​​gratitude and resentment. So, as a token of my gratitude, I'll surrender immediately, so neither of us will suffer any losses."

"But if you surrender, Zenobiako won't be able to return to the safe house with you."

"Oh my, even at a time like this, you still care about me. Xia Yan, you really have the potential to be a gentle, kind male lead. But don't worry, even if I surrender, I can still take Zenoby with me."

Xia Yan looked at Hu Xia with some confusion.

Although he couldn't think of a reason why Hu Xia could take Zenobiya away, seeing that she had been planning to enable Zenobiya to activate her Noble Phantasm since the elimination rounds, she certainly wouldn't be wasting her time, and maybe she really had found a way.

Just as Xia Yan was still pondering Hu Xia's plan, Hu Xia shouted loudly to Kirei Kotomine, who was standing at the entrance of the arena with his hands behind his back, "Father Kotomine, please summon the Candy Vine. Also, I hereby concede defeat."

The moment Hu Xia announced his defeat, the four Servants on the other two battlefields simultaneously stopped fighting and returned to their respective Masters.

"Hey, Hu Xia, I haven't had enough fun yet, why are you surrendering already!"

Katniss complained with a displeased look on her face.

"You won't gain much advantage if we keep fighting."

"Artoria Alter (Lancer) said coldly."

"Bullshit! I haven't even..."

"Ahem...ahem...excuse me for interrupting your enthusiastic discussion. My time is precious, could you please let your Masters state what they need me for first?"

After receiving the message from Kirei Kotomine, the Candy Vine appeared in the arena within seconds.

"Candy Vine, I'm taking Zenobi back to the safe house."

Hu Xia's tone was more like a notification than a request.

"Huh? Master Hu Xia, did Xia Yan knock your brains out?"

Hearing Hu Xia, who was clearly the loser, speak as if he were the winner, and say it so confidently, Candy Vine's expression twisted in disgust.