Thanks for the invitation. I'm in Type-Moon, inheriting the legacy of Zi-O.

"It's here! This time the magic has been triggered!" Nian Zhuo quickly raised his sword and shattered the three arrows that were shot at him.

If it were only the opponent's bomb that exploded, then it wouldn't be too difficult for Nianzhuo to protect Ritsuka while supporting Mordred with the Time Sword Spear.

The real problem is the mansion left by Victor Frankenstein.

As mentioned before, Victor Frankenstein was a very vigilant old man and a genuine magician, so this mansion in central London had long been transformed into his own magic workshop.

To prevent thieves or anyone else from coveting the property, old man Victor completely transformed the area around the mansion into a series of traps with countless magical effects. Once triggered, these traps would unleash attacks from unseen angles.

Even Servants will be dealt with badly... This was the advice Mordred had given them at the gate, so Nian Zhuo dared not be careless at all and could only protect Ritsuka behind him.

Now, Vidocq is dead, but the magical spells that maintain the mansion still exist. The spells at the gate were indeed destroyed by Mephistopheles, but the spells around it are still perfectly preserved.

Now that Victor Frankenstein is dead, this enormous trap, now devoid of the correct answer, has become an even more deadly 'bomb' in the hands of the madman Mephistopheles.

"Hehehe...! Hehehehe...!" Noticing that Nian Zhuo was somewhat distracted, Mephistopheles, laughing wildly, simultaneously flung out several pocket watches in both hands towards Mordred and Ritsuka.

"Tch... Give it to me! Fight me head-on!" He clicked his tongue impatiently, but Mordred was still forced to retreat to the side, dodging the flying pocket watch. "All you do is run away and sneak attacks, what kind of Heroic Spirit are you!"

"Hehe, sorry~?" In a comical tone, Mephistopheles even leisurely wagged his index finger at Mordred. "I'm a demon, you know? Besides, as Caster, fighting Saber, one of the Three Knights, head-on is impossible, right?!" Several more pocket watches spun, but this time they all flew towards Ritsuka.

"Oh no, Mr. Nianzhuo!" Mashu cried out anxiously to the stunned Nianzhuo as he watched the pocket watches fly towards him. "This time, please leave the front ones to me! I'll leave the side ones to you!" Before Nianzhuo could answer, Mashu raised her shield and stepped forward, trying to block all the pocket watches flying towards her.

"...Ah, oh!!" Realizing what had happened, Nianzhuo exclaimed in surprise as he watched the pocket watch fly past. He immediately ran to the side, "I made it...I made it!" The pocket watch was almost flying past Nianzhuo.

Then, the light from the pocket watch illuminated Nianzhuo's turbid eyes.

"Eh—" Ritsuka, who was hiding behind the two, was suddenly lifted up by a hand and pushed aside. "What's wrong... Mr. Nencho!" After being pushed away from the two, Ritsuka raised her head without caring about the dust on her body.

A violent explosion resounded from where Nianzhuo and Mashu were located.

"What a pity~" Mephistopheles, who even had the leisure to observe the situation on Nianzhuo's side, watching the billowing black smoke, laughed gleefully, his plan seemingly complete. "I can control the timing of the explosion, you know~"

"You bastard!" Growing increasingly furious, even from several meters away, Mephistopheles could feel the tingling sensation in the air from the crimson lightning above Mordred's sword.

"Mash! Are you alright!" Shaking his hand, Nianzhuo emerged unharmed from the black smoke and helped Mash, who was still gripping her shield. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

Just as the shield was about to deflect the pocket watch bombs, Mephistopheles detonated them.

The violent impact, accompanied by flames, slammed into Mashu and Nianzhuo's eardrums, even making Nianzhuo's head spin for a moment.

Spots of scarlet blood pierced Nianzhuo's eyes deeply.

"It's alright... Mr. Nianzhuo... It's alright." Shaking her head dizzily, Mashu opened her eyes with difficulty. "Compared to these things, compared to these things... are you and your senior... alright?"

"It's alright! It's alright!" Ritsuka's skirt was covered in dust. She knelt on the ground and held Mashu's hand. "I'm here, I'm here, Mashu." The light of magic began to emerge from her body, and the magic for emergency treatment turned into a healing green light.

It was just a minor scratch; Mash was dizzy because of the huge impact.

—But even so.

“…” Nian Zhuo looked at the crimson blood dripping from Mashu’s head and unconsciously clenched his fists.

Then, he gently placed Mash on Ritsuka's lap and smoothed Mash's slightly disheveled purple hair, which had been disturbed by the impact.

"Ritsuka, I'm leaving her in your care." Nian Zhuo pointed at Mashu and stood up. "I'll go and take care of something."

"Hmm!" With anger also flashing in her own eyes, Ritsuka nodded to Nencho. "Good luck, Mr. Nencho. Please be careful."

"..." Without answering, Nian Zhuo simply carried his sword and slowly walked towards the scene where Mordred and Mephistopheles were locked in combat.

"Stand still, you demon." Nian Zhuo gripped the sword blade so tightly that it made a hissing sound. His brows were furrowed, and his eyes were filled with rage.

"My ordinary-looking blade might hurt you a little..."

"Hehe, hee hee hee hee!" Mephistopheles wasn't flustered at all. Instead, he laughed even more happily. "Yeah, yeah, come play! Let's play together!"

Nian Zhuo raised his sword, took a step, and the cold light of the sword tip pointed directly at the clown's head.

The blade glowed with an unusual light, and Nian Zhuo arrived in front of Mephistopheles in an instant.

A hiss—a strange light cleaved the surrounding lawn in two, and a sharp blade shot straight toward Mephistopheles' head.

"Gah!" With a scream, Mephistopheles immediately threw a bomb to his side, using the force of the explosion to successfully fly away.

After rolling around on the ground, his already comical clothes became even more laughable after being stained with mud. One corner of his double-horned hat had been wiped off by Nian Zhuo's sword light, and it still smelled slightly burnt.

"But, but, but, but!" Without fear, Mephistopheles opened his eyes wide. "You're here, those two girls, those two girls—hahahahaha!" He pulled a pocket watch from his pocket and showed it to Nianzhuo as if to show it off.

Mephistopheles' index finger swayed slightly in sync with the minute hand.

“It starts here! Then it starts here! And finally it is—” His index finger went past the minute hand and stopped at the next quarter mark.

At the same time, it seemed to echo Mephistopheles' words.

Ritsuka, cradling a slightly dazed Mash, watched Nencho fight.

A rustling sound came from the surrounding lawn.

"Huh...?" Drawn by the sound, Ritsuka looked around at the lawn. "What... happened?"

The soil rippled, and then a small, golden pocket watch emerged from the earth.

"Eh—" Ritsuka's eyes widened suddenly as she looked at the golden pocket watch. "This is—!"

Tick-tock, tick-tock, the hands on the screen keep turning.

"Look, look! What a magnificent desperate situation this is!" Mephistopheles grinned savagely, watching Ritsuka's terrified eyes as bombs suddenly appeared around them.

"This is it! This is it!" At the same time, he frantically pulled out several pocket watches and threw them around Nianzhuo.

From the very beginning, when he saw Nencho and Mashu surrounding Ritsuka, he never thought he could win with the bomb in his hand.

Although he was crazy, he wasn't stupid. He didn't think he had the ability to kill the opponent's Master while being protected by three Servants and a monster whose identity was unknown.

Therefore, we must use some clever tricks, such as burying something in the surrounding soil while dropping the bomb.

To avoid being detected by Nianzhuo, he deliberately adjusted the number of bombs. Some bombs were buried in the soil afterward, while most of them exploded directly to interfere with Nianzhuo's actions.

Even so, they almost got exposed.

The bombs that were detonated earlier were simply measures taken by Mephistopheles to prevent detection.

Through continuous actions, bombs were dropped into the soil around Ritsuka each time, eventually forming the current—final trap.

"...How is it! How is it! Arrogant heroic spirit!" He laughed maniacally, his index finger moving with the second hand. "This is the last moment! Hurry, hurry, scream out your despair!"

However, Nian Zhuo, instead of being intrigued, sheathed his sword and knocked the several pocket watches that flew towards him behind him. The violent explosion kicked up dust and black smoke, and amidst the intense flames... Mephistopheles seemed to see a disdainful smile on the lips of the heroic spirit before him.

"No... he's just at his last gasp!" For a fleeting moment, Mephistopheles had the illusion that he would lose, but then he shook his head fiercely. "This guy can't get back now, hahaha! At this point, he's mine—!"

"—It's our victory, not yours." Nian Zhuo's calm voice came, and as he spoke, the second hand of Mephistopheles reached its last moment.

A loud rumble came from behind Nianzhuo, and the soil beneath his feet trembled.

"Just as I expected! Just as I expected!" Mephistopheles clapped his hands happily, looking at Nian Zhuo in front of him. "You can't beat me! You can't do anything just watching them die! Ahh~ I really want to see their expressions when they die!"

"I say, aren't you mistaken about something?" Looking at the ecstatic Mephistopheles in front of him, Nian Zhuo raised an eyebrow, his tone sounding somewhat comforting.

"Huh?" Gradually recovering from his ecstatic state, Mephistopheles looked at Nian Zhuo in front of him and tilted his head.

“We’re missing someone, aren’t we?” Nian Zhuo pointed around, his tone barely concealing a smile.

"—" In the blink of an eye, Mephistopheles had anticipated this.

"—That damn armored woman, she's not here?!" Mephistopheles looked around in surprise, and gradually felt an ominous premonition.

"Are you looking for her?" Nianzhuo finally smiled and turned slightly to the side.

"—!" In an instant, Mephistopheles saw the scene behind him.

There was no black smoke from the explosion, no blood everywhere, and no girl's cries.

Before Ritsuka and Mashu, crimson lightning flickered continuously on the surrounding grass.

"Hmph~" The girl with golden hair pulled the bright silver blade out of the soil and slung it over her shoulder, staring at Mephistopheles, whose expression had changed drastically, with the same mockery. "With your little tricks, you don't really think we can't see through them, do you?"

The surrounding lawn had been dented by the sword blade swung with all her might by the girl, and the pocket watch in the soil was enveloped in crimson lightning, its hands frozen at the last moment.

Then, it was crushed by the girl's foot.

Ticktock Bomb

Ah, the demon! The demon! The demon is coming!!

It's Mephistopheles! The most terrifying demon ever!

Mephistopheles is the seductive devil who appears in Goethe's masterpiece "Faust." He bets with God whether Dr. Faust will fall into evil and leads Faust down the path of wickedness.

He was named Mephistopheles and loved very much, but in the end, of course, he was betrayed and died.

All of this has nothing to do with the clowns on the battlefield today.

"Damn it... damn it, damn it, damn it—!" She kept scratching her face with her fingers, staring intently at Mordred, who was blocking Ritsuka and Mash's path. "One by one, one by one—"

Before he could finish speaking, a sword was already close to his neck. Nian Zhuo, equipped with the Decade armor, arrived in front of the Joker with a speed that exceeded the Joker's dynamic vision.

"That's enough." He said softly, the faintly silver blade slashing towards the clown's neck. "Die right here, you ridiculous bastard."

"Hilarious! Hilarious, hahahahaha!" Unexpectedly, even under a deadly threat, Mephistopheles still wore a morbid smile, and one could even see a hint of anticipation. "That's right! That's right! That's how it should be! The so-called heroic spirits of justice!"

He seemed to have thrown something, like a tiny bean, which stuck to the blade of Nian Zhuo's sword as it swung towards his neck.

With the help of Decade's armor, Nian Zhuo could see the black dots attached to his sword blade—they were tiny insects with sharp teeth, like spiders!

Moreover, the places where these insects' bodies were placed were replaced by tiny clocks.

"Hehe, hehehe!" Mephistopheles snapped his fingers with delight, opening his palms. "Come on! My lovely little bugs!"

Then, Nianzhuo saw that the tiny insects on his sword blade gradually became shiny.

Boom—a series of small explosions traveled from the blade to the palm of the hand, and even Nian Zhuo had several of these tiny insects appear on his body.

"Ugh—" Although the explosion was not very powerful, the cumulative impact still caused Nian Zhuo's sword to deflect, only striking Mephistopheles' shoulder, and hot blood gushed out.

The tiny insects on Nian Zhuo's body also exploded, but they only froze his movements for a moment.

Covering his bleeding wound with one hand, Mephistopheles grinned maliciously and tossed aside several pocket watches. He used the impact of the explosion to create distance between himself and Nian Zhuo.

"Ah...this is it, this is it~ It always makes me unable to stop~" Mephistopheles removed his hand from the wound, looking at his palm covered in blood, and happily stuck out his tongue to lick it. "You're great, Nianzhuo~"

Nian Zhuo stood quietly in place, retracting the Time Gun Sword with one hand, and then planting the serrated heavy sword upside down into the soil.

“I’ll use this trick to get to know you—” Nencho drew the Heisei Sword and began to turn the clock hand above with one hand.

"Kill me? Kill me. Kill me!" With a morbid laugh, Mephistopheles seemed completely oblivious to the wound on his shoulder, placing his hands behind his back and pulling out countless pocket watches again. "No, no, no! The real show is about to begin!"