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

Rumble—at the same time, everyone felt the ground beneath their feet shaking.

"...This is an impact from underground! It's coming from underground!" Showing a hint of anxiety, and feeling the ground tremble beneath her feet, Jekyll quickly shouted to Mordred beside her, "Saber, I'm sorry, please be on your guard—!"

"Don't act like a magician! You half-baked idiot! Take care of yourself first!" Mordred didn't turn around, but gripped the blade in his hand, feeling the ground tremble beneath his feet. "I understand. If they dare to show themselves, I won't hold back."

OK, let's move on!

Everyone was on high alert, feeling the tremors coming from beneath the ground.

Immediately afterwards, Mordred and Nianzhuo opened their eyes at the same time!

"Here it comes—!" In an instant, Nian Zhuo took out the Time Gun Sword and spun the gun.

As soon as he finished speaking, several booming sounds suddenly rang out from the ground around them.

Thump thump thump thump—the ground was shattered, and dust and rubble flew into the sky.

What flew out from beneath the ground were four unexpected enemies.

The brownish-yellow cover and the slightly yellowed pages, apart from the color... easily reminded Nian Zhuo of that pink-haired 'girl' from before.

"A magic book...?" He was momentarily stunned, and this moment made Nian Zhuo pause for a second as he was about to pull the trigger.

"Buzz—!" Instantly, the seemingly dilapidated magic books rippled with blue magical light, just like Alice that Nian Zhuo and the others had seen before, forming a blue barrier around the books.

However, compared to Alice's magic, the barrier formed by these tattered books was so dim, as if it would shatter at the slightest touch.

"Master, multiple enemies have appeared!" Mash looked at the open page in the sky, nodded to Ritsuka behind her, and stepped forward with her shield in hand. "The magical energy is increasing—it's suspected that the enemy has entered an attack stance!"

"Since the opponent is a spellbook, everyone be careful!" Ritsuka, who had witnessed a battle with a spellbook before, also dared not relax, and poured her magical power into Mash's body. "Then, let's start by taking it down!"

"—" Nian Zhuo turned the gun around, aimed it at the magic book in mid-air, and kept pulling the trigger.

Purple light bullets flew towards the yellowed books and crashed into the barrier they had deployed.

The blue barrier rippled for a moment, then gradually returned to calm.

But the Demon Book seemed to be awakened by this attack, and began to flee in all directions. At the same time, various kinds of magic surged from its body, forming fireballs, wind blades and rocks, which shot towards Nian Zhuo's direction.

"As expected, ordinary bullets can no longer penetrate the opponent's defenses..." Nian Zhuo spun the gun, slightly turning his head to dodge the fireball fired by the opponent, which hit the ground behind him, reflecting the light in his eyes.

"Wow!" However, compared to him, Mash and Mordred's achievements were exceptionally good.

Mashu raised her shield, her high-heeled boots leaving craters in the ground as she charged onto a magic book, raising her shield high and slamming it down.

The book with the blue barrier instantly fell and crashed to the ground, the blue barrier actually developing huge cracks under the girl's power.

—Compared to Mordred on the other side, this side is still better.

—Because the blonde girl was wearing a smug smile, using the crimson lightning on her sword to chase after the fleeing demon book at a speed that was impossible to react to, and even shattered its barrier with a single blow.

However, it lacked the power to finish off the enemy—thus, the Magic Book was spared a fatal blow.

“…Hmm, so ordinary light bullets still can’t penetrate them directly?” Nian Zhuo stroked his chin, looking at the several magic books floating in the sky. “But now… using the power of other knights on them would be a waste.” Then, just as Nian Zhuo was about to cut the magic books with his sword blade, two unexpected figures walked up to him not far away.

"Hmm, let me lend a hand this time too!" Shakespeare suddenly exclaimed, one hand gripping his quill, the other opening the closed pages of his book. "The shield maiden dancing amidst the rubble—that certainly inspires my imagination!"

As if inspired, Shakespeare's pen flowed like a spring, writing something continuously on the pages of the book in his hands.

"...What is he doing?" Nian Zhuo looked at the other person's actions and was momentarily confused about what was going on.

He could sense that every stroke of Shakespeare's pen in his books carried a subtle magic, and that the magic of a sentence would increase with each completed sentence.

"Come on! Cheers! Applause! This is the opening!" Suddenly, he tore off the completed page and threw it into the air.

Then, the paper covered with his writing gradually turned to dust, forming a thick cloud in the air.

Buzzing sounds filled the air as three beams of light shot out simultaneously from the dark clouds, focusing on Nian Zhuo, Mash, and Mordred.

"Huh?!" came Mash, who had just smashed the magic book on the ground.

"Huh? What's this?" came Mordred, who was still confused about the situation.

"Is this... magic?" came Nian Zhuo, who seemed to understand somewhat.

As the beam of light shone in, Nian Zhuo and the other two were surprised to find that their power was slowly increasing.

Not only that—Nian Zhuo raised the gun again.

At the muzzle of the gun, a bright red ball of light was flashing; needless to say, it must have been the work of Shakespeare.

Nian Zhuo pulled the trigger again. This time, the purple light bullet was mixed with red streaks and flew towards one of the magic books at an even faster speed than before.

This time, it also struck the barrier, but the red light seemed to have a life of its own, shattering the barrier directly. The purple light bullet hit the cover of the magic book, smashing it into countless pages.

"Alas!" Watching Nian Zhuo finish off the enemy with a single blow under his blessing, Shakespeare couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, "It seems that my talent is indeed boundless!"

Along with Nian Zhuo's attack, Mash and Mordred also noticed the changes happening to their bodies, and then easily dealt with the magic book.

Magic Enhancement: A This is a unique skill of William Shakespeare.

To endow with concepts. To add powerful functions to important items owned by others.

Basically, it's used to enhance Master's combat abilities. He himself watches the battle as a spectator, and even inquires about Master's state of mind in detail, which infuriates Master.

However, there are no problems now; at least I'm qualified to be a support player.

The battle ended so easily. Looking at the enemy lying on the ground, his body shattered into pages, Mashu felt a sense of unreality. She only breathed a sigh of relief after learning from Marie that the enemy's reaction had indeed been eliminated.

"The battle is over, senpai." Mashu nodded to Ritsuka, looked at her hand, and gave it a slightly uncertain squeeze.

"However, it's quite surprising..." After observing the disappearance of the hostile reaction, Mary relaxed a bit, recalling the appearance of the magic book that had been there just a few seconds ago. "There shouldn't be any Chaos Mechs around here, but some troublesome things have appeared... although they're not that troublesome."

“However, the appearance of these enemies…” Nian Zhuo looked at the only enemy in the field that could be considered a complete 'corpse,' which had been pierced through the entire book by Nian Zhuo’s shot, the large hole in the white paper particularly conspicuous. “Why do I feel… like I’ve seen this before?”

However, the other two books were not so lucky. The one that Mashu fought against was smashed into gray pages, covered in dust.

Mordred's second skill was completely neutralized by the opponent's crimson lightning, leaving not even a trace of its existence.

"Oh? You noticed it too? Good attention." Nian Zhuo, who had returned to the team, patted Ritsuka's head. Looking at the last enemy that had begun to dissipate into magical particles, he didn't pay too much attention. "The enemy's form is quite similar to the...magic book we encountered in SoHo District."

“However… this time is different from last time.” Mashu couldn’t help but glance at the blue-haired boy beside her again, then returned her gaze to the spellbook. “This time, our attack worked, and we easily tore through the enemy’s barrier. We didn’t even need Mr. Andersen to name it. We could have handled it with just ordinary attacks, and its form didn’t change at all…”

“Eh…” Mordred looked at the surrounding ruins and subtly clenched his fist. “I didn’t see those floating books when I came here last time…”

“…So that’s how it is.” Jekyll pushed up his glasses, a look of understanding appearing in his emerald green eyes.

His words successfully drew the attention of everyone except himself.

“Listen up, everyone. Perhaps this is just my guess.” His gaze swept over his companions’ faces and then over the surrounding ruins. “But perhaps it’s something that has been corrupted from some kind of magic book.” He picked up a page from the ground and flicked it lightly.

"It might be something treasured in the underground Mage's Association, which turned into this state under the influence of the magical mist." Sure enough, there was a trace of magical energy flowing on the paper he picked up.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Chaldea, Dr. Roman, who was about to share his conjecture with everyone, collapsed to his knees, utterly defeated.

"It was so hard... Mary finally allowed me to speak..." She seemed to have burned out completely, prompting Mary behind her to shake her head repeatedly. "That's what I thought too... but he beat me to it..."

"Sigh, you should be earlier next time." The only thing that comforted him was Leonardo da Vinci's hand patting his shoulder.

"However, compared to these..." Andersen and Shakespeare exchanged a glance, their gazes both fixed on the books the other possessed, "Will books attack us in hordes..."

“Ugh… what a nightmare.” Just imagining the scene made Shakespeare clutch his head in agony. “It was like being in hell.”

"Don't talk nonsense." Having seen the nursery rhymes, Andersen naturally looked down on these little books, curling his lip in disdain. "What's so great about those things anyway..."

"..." Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, Hans Christian Andersen fell silent.

“………………” Shakespeare did the same, slightly shifting his gaze.

"Haha, you two writers, what's wrong?" It was Mordred, smiling, standing in front of them with her sword on her shoulder, looking exceptionally smug. "Why aren't you chattering away like before?"

"...I was just enduring it." Gritting his teeth, Andersen suddenly exclaimed in despair, "No, I give up! Give up! Ah, how refreshing! I've never felt so good!"

"Huh??" Mordred looked at him with a face full of question marks.

"Burning books! That is the most heinous act in the world!" Shakespeare, looking at the sparks rising from the books pierced by the burning books, said with a strange emotion, "Ah, how pathetic... but there is a certain pleasure in it!"

He watched as the books in front of him caught sparks and then disappeared into the flames, and both Hans Christian Andersen and he couldn't help but show a relieved expression.

"No, no! This should be an outrageous crime! An unforgivable act of violence! There should only be endless sorrow in this—" He looked at the pages of the book that had turned to ashes and disappeared, his hands clenched into fists and placed on his chest, with a smile that had never been seen before... the most simple and honest one. "But in this instant! I did indeed feel a sweet pleasure that came from violating morality! Ah—God!"

"Even if all the works of other authors besides me disappeared, it wouldn't matter!" Next came Andersen's honest words. He scratched his slightly messy blue hair, "Ah, to go further, I hope my works can be burned as well! If there were no books in the world, I wouldn't have to regret not being able to finish reading so many masterpieces in my lifetime!"

"Yes! Yes! If there were no books in the world, I wouldn't have to be indignant about some writers' rubbish works that are simply outrageous!" The more they talked, the more excited they became, and they even started to write down what they were saying, imagining a wonderful world without writing: "If there were no books in the world, I wouldn't have to be pressured by deadlines."

"How honest this gentleman is...!" Shakespeare looked at the blue-haired boy beside him, and unexpectedly felt a sense of shared sorrow. "Alas, however, however your words have deeply moved us!"

"Fou, Fuu..." As if it was a bit noisy, Fuu, who had been hiding on Nianzhuo's shoulder, wagged its tail, patted Nianzhuo's shoulder, and then quickly hid in Mashu's shield.

"What... what's going on with these two...?" Mordred was a little confused, looking at Shakespeare and Andersen who were still talking.

"You seem really impressive... really impressive..." Jekyll pushed up his glasses, looking at him without uttering a single swear word during their conversation, and nodded in surprise.

"Sigh...that's why." It was Ritsuka again, her orange hair in a side ponytail swaying, making her look full of energy.

Even so, Ritsuka stroked her chin, looked at Andersen and Shakespeare who were still talking, and finally chose to... nod.

“Writers… what a bunch of self-distorted people…” In the end, it all turned into such an insignificant murmur.

underground passage

Seeing the two authors' inexplicable interest in burning books, the others could only reluctantly look away.

"Well... anyway, there's a good side to it, isn't there, senpai and Mr. Nianzhuo..." Mashu gave an awkward laugh. "At least we have a clear direction for our future. Coincidentally, at the same time the book-shaped enemies appeared, they also formed an entrance to the underground level as they emerged from underground—"

Following Mashu's gaze, sure enough, not far away, there was a crater left when some book-shaped enemy suddenly appeared, and one could vaguely see the ancient stone steps below...

That's great! Just when Nianzhuo and the others were wondering how to get in, the book-shaped enemy cleared a passage for them, saving them a lot of effort.

“So, now that the passage is in place—” Nian Zhuo stroked his chin, his gaze shifting to Andersen and Shakespeare, who were still arguing. “The rest… are just two annoying things…” He sighed wearily.

"Well, once the two writer spirits have calmed down, let's hurry up and storm the underground!" Mary, located in Chaldea, was clearly relieved. Taking advantage of the break while Andersen and Shakespeare were arguing, she was finally able to lie on her chair and stretch.

"However, it's really something to look forward to." She murmured softly, memories of her time studying at the Mage's Association in her youth slowly surfacing. "Speaking of which, this place can be considered the headquarters of the Mage's Association. What's it like underground... tsk, I think Roman would rather go and see for himself."

"Ha, why don't you call that guy named Roman over too?" Mordred said casually, turning his head but still unable to find the source of Mary's voice. "And you too, stop just making noises, come out too."

“Ah…? (Nian Zhuo, you’re there too.)” Mary was clearly startled by the sudden conversation. Her words came through the communication device in fits and starts: “Ah… Hahaha, that’s true… But I… Roman and I… um… you know… I’m the director of Chaldea, and I’m responsible for observing and maintaining Chaldea… We’re short-staffed right now, so I’m very busy…”

As she spoke, her voice grew softer and softer, and in the end, she could only wave her hand to indicate that she was giving up.

"Alright, alright, let's try to persuade those two writer spirits first." Clapping her hands, Mary knew that she couldn't find the time to meet Nian Zhuo right now, even though meeting him was tempting. She clapped her hands and put her previous thoughts behind her. "We'll continue to observe from here, don't worry."

"The problem is, judging from how enthusiastic these two are, it's obvious that this isn't going to end anytime soon..." Nian Zhuo sighed, rubbing his forehead as he looked helplessly at the two who seemed to be getting more and more into a heated argument.