Honkai Impact: Dreams and the Holy Grail, but the Servant is Rei.

The best-case scenario is that you are in a dreamlike place, fighting a Holy Grail War that has no enemies, never begins and never ends.

The worst-case scenario is that he is immersed in an extremely powerful illusion that is actually a deadly trap, while his real body is in a very dangerous situation, and he may die in the next second.

In this illusory world that is extremely similar to the real world he came from, he knows the story of the Fate/Grand Order series, but he can't find the author named Xi Lian in the system panel, nor can he find any books, legends, movies, or games with the name "Xi Lian".

She, the servant in her own system panel, along with all information related to a certain game, was erased!

The strange familiarity with certain figures appearing around Meng Weiyu gave him a bad feeling and suspicion: the manipulator behind the scenes might be hiding somewhere, trying to completely numb or make him lose his way.

So he pretended to have complete amnesia, quietly observing the changes and developments around him. He took advantage of various hidden opportunities to secretly try to use the [Projection Magic] and the [Pioneer Memory] retrospective ability, constantly projecting and retrospecting extremely small things that were almost imperceptible, such as dust, and continuously improving his skill level.

Despite his incredibly realistic senses, he discovered that no matter how many times he used the abilities of these two terms, they were not depleted!

This further convinced him that this place was indeed an illusion!

In order to avoid being exposed, he could only force himself to do as little as possible things that would be easily discovered, such as upgrading the level of [Escape Sword].

When his Projection Magic was pushed to level 20, he discovered that he could project certain Noble Phantasms that did not belong to Emiya but existed in Fate, such as Shoot Down a Hundred Heads and Break the Commandments of All Things!

The new projection is no longer similar in appearance to the previous Zanpakuto, but comes with the unique effects of the Noble Phantasm itself!

However, he did not rush to try to project the [Symbol of the Laws of All Things] to immediately break this false world. Instead, he continued to accumulate power, constantly practicing and improving the levels of [Projection Magic] and [Pioneer Memory].

Meng Weiyu decided to wait until his own entry level was high enough or the danger was exposed before he made his move. Although this was risky, his experiences in the first half of his life over the past twenty years had taught him many life lessons, one of which was:

Wait, and hold on to hope!

他抓住一切能够利用的时间暗地里不被察觉的提升着【投影魔术】以及【开拓者·记忆】的等级——20级、21级、25级、35级、50级！

In this state where he can maintain [Emiya Archer] without consuming mana, using his projection and rewind abilities becomes much simpler.

Perhaps by now, the level of the entries in the system is sufficient; perhaps he has no power to resist the manipulator behind the scenes, but he is waiting for an opportunity, a moment when this illusory world will change!

Finally, he found it on the stairs in the underground parking garage!

The search history on my phone kept going back, revealing words deliberately hidden in a jumble of useless information—words like "Xi Lian," "Xi Lian," and "Xi Lian"!

They kept popping up on the phone's built-in browser like unclosable ads, obscuring his chat with "Miss Samuel"...

Inside the underground parking garage, he could no longer recall the thin, dust-like objects he had secretly placed while cleaning. The entire underground parking garage seemed to be blocked and enveloped by something!

Meng Weiyu took a deep breath, and a short, curved sword, the [Character of Breaking the Laws of All Things], which had been projected, was launched out and then, accelerated by the [Escape Sword], shot up the stairs towards the invisible thing that enveloped the entire underground parking garage!

With a single blow devoid of all magic, the monster immediately revealed its true form and let out a painful howl!

More [Symbols of Breaking the Laws of All Things] were projected and flew away, while layers of enchanted transparent barriers completely enveloped Meng Weiyu!

If we were to return to the Holy Grail, these methods would consume an enormous amount of magic power!

Without the assistance of [Xi Lian] to rewind, this level of continuous projection can only be used when Emiya is on a ten-minute trial card!

However, Meng Weiyu was unaware of these things at the moment; in his mind, various system values ​​appeared:

[Master]: Meng Weiyu

【词条】：【域外开拓者·白色·1级（7/10）】、【贪饕的赞许·紫色·2级（1/2）】、【投影魔术·金色·50级（121/1000）】、【开拓者·记忆·金色·50级（234/1000）】、【战斗续行·紫色·1级（0/1）】、【遁剑·蓝色·15级（742/1000）】

[Servant]: Xi Lian

[Servant Class]: Caster

[Noble Phantasm]: Unknown (All Servants, including Demi-Servants, are unable to use Noble Phantasms in this Holy Grail War)

[Command Spell]: 0 strokes

[Costume]: None available

[Enhancement Level]: ? ? ?

【Pioneer·Memory·Gold】: Creates a special area with a radius of 20 meters that can switch between two effects: Effect 1: Enemies within the special area are in a time-stopped state, ceasing all actions. Effect 2: Can revert the state of non-living entities within a 20-meter radius that possess the user's 【Magic】; if the target is a non-living entity without 【Magic】, the range expands to 800 meters!

[Projection Magic - Red]: 1. After gaining sufficient knowledge of the relevant objects and materials, one can use [magic] to materialize the image of inanimate objects in one's mind. The effect lasts up to 10 minutes, depending on the level of mastery. If the projected object possesses certain special effects, the same effect is achieved based on the skill level and the level of mastery of the relevant information!

2. You have 10 minutes to automatically acquire all the stats and abilities of the Servant [Archer Emiya] at peak condition! The cooldown is 24 system hours in-game!

Meng Weiyu still doesn't remember that [Battle Continuation] was reset to an unused state due to the previous time rewind.

But it doesn't matter. As the last palm-sized fragment of the monster completely dissipated, Meng Weiyu regained all her memories!

[Ding! Host cleansing of contamination triggered [Gluttony's Praise], gaining the white attribute [Super Strength - Level 1 (0/100)]!]

Chapter 39 Just Wait

"Stop, stop, stop! What exactly was that 'you' projecting just now?!" Inside the "tavern," Giovanni, the Masked Fool, suddenly lost his leisurely state from watching a boring soap opera and showed a slightly out-of-control shock.

When Meng Weiyu inside the Holy Grail entered the second layer of the illusion, at first, the Meng Weiyu in the "tavern" could tell Giovanni about some Onpharos characters who made cameo appearances in the illusion, as well as some local customs and traditions of his hometown.

But as the plot gradually turned into repetitive daily life, the viewing experience became boring. Then Giovanni was surprised to find that Meng Weiyu could actually speed up the projection of the Holy Grail!

He had told me before that the flow of time inside and outside the Holy Grail was different, but he was able to continuously speed up the projection of the Holy Grail. His connection with the Holy Grail was much closer than he had told me, Giovanni thought to himself as he witnessed this.

The changes in the underground parking garage happened as quickly as a rabbit leaping and a falcon swooping. Coupled with the unrestricted playback speed, Giovanni didn't even see what Meng Weiyu in the Holy Grail launched with the [Escape Sword] before the monster suddenly revealed its true form, then struggled to shrink until it completely dissipated.

"Oh?" Meng Weiyu looked at him, raising an eyebrow slightly, and the image projected by the Holy Grail froze at that moment!

It just froze like that?! Giovanni felt a shock no less than when he saw the amnesiac Meng Weiyu in the Holy Grail quickly defeat the monster!

"What I mean is, what method did 'you' come up with to kill this monster, which most Fate Walkers would find difficult to deal with, so easily?" He continued to ask the question that Meng Weiyu had not answered directly earlier.

"【The Symbol that Breaks the Laws of All Things】. Caster's Noble Phantasm in the Fifth Holy Grail War, which we also have another name for—【The Symbol that Can Break All Laws】!" Meng Weiyu looked at the Masked Fool in front of him. He did not explain the function of the 【The Symbol that Breaks the Laws of All Things】, but for the first time, he showed an inscrutable expression in front of Giovanni.

"Excuse me for a moment, Mr. Giovanni. I've had a bit too much to drink lately and need to use the restroom," Meng Weiyu said quietly. Before the latter could speak, he walked to the small door in the corner of the VIP room, gently pushed it open, and then slowly closed it.

In the nighttime scene projected by the Holy Grail, perhaps due to the intense energy collision between [Perception·Destruction] and [Pseudo·Spiral Sword], rain began to fall from the sky.

But would such a simulation object, which is the very place where the Holy Grail of dreams is constructed, also undergo such changes? Assassin [Kafka] wondered.

Almost instantly, after Meng Weiyu and Caster [Xi Lian] entered the body of that indescribable monster, which was four stories high, the monster's body changed:

It convulsed like an epileptic seizure, like an empty shell devoid of a soul, with parts of its body, such as human-like arms and razor-sharp wings behind it, constantly expanding and then collapsing into fragments.

The fragments did not fall to the ground; as they scattered in the air, they vanished as if evaporated.

Throughout the entire process, it kept letting out desperate roars, not even having the energy to vent its anger on the nearby assassin [Kafka]...

A warm sensation suddenly appeared on Assassin [Kafka]'s face. She reached out and touched it, only to find that it was actually bright red blood!

The same blood appeared in several other places on her body, instantly staining the white clothes under her trench coat red.

The pollution that had been clinging to her body had all disappeared, leaving only a gaping, enormous wound.

It seems they succeeded, assassin [Kafka] smiled helplessly.

That's fine too; it's a not-too-bad ending, she thought to herself.

More and more raindrops fell on [Kafka], soaking her hair, cheeks, and all her clothes.

She still had something to say to him, and some important things to do...

I just don't know if I'll make it in time to see him...

The monster not far away was still struggling on its own, but Saber [Yun Li] was no longer inside the purple crystal in its belly.

With a crisp snap of the fingers, time seemed to stand still in the Holy Grail. The entire world, including the monster whose life was about to end, turned black and white, except for Assassin [Kafka].

In her field of vision, a young man dressed in white with a mask covering the upper half of his face reappeared out of thin air in front of her.

"You're about to die." The young man's eyes behind the mask seemed to hold a hint of pity or sadness.

"Hmm." Assassin [Kafka] looked at him with an ambiguous expression.

"Are you really not going to consider becoming my servant?" The young man removed his mask, revealing a face exactly like Meng Weiyu's.

"Not considering it." [Kafka] shook her head with a faint smile. "Actually, I could guess what you look like even without you taking off your mask, but from beginning to end, you are not him, and he is not you, right?"

“Yes.” [Meng Weiyu] sighed. “As expected, you guessed it. But in your eyes, in what way am I inferior to him?”

“You are better than him in every way.” [Kafka] covered the wound on his waist with his hand. “But he is more like a pioneer than you. You don’t feel human at all. You and I are both monsters through and through.”

"You're a monster, and I'm a monster too. Shouldn't monsters cherish each other even more?" [Meng Weiyu] said, as if joking, yet also as if earnestly advising.

“But sooner or later, you’ll be locked in a life-or-death struggle with him, so I won’t help you,” Assassin [Kafka] said seriously.

"It's an unexpected yet perfectly logical answer." [Meng Weiyu] offered no explanation or denial. He snapped his fingers again, and gauze and bandages appeared on several of Assassin [Kafka's] most serious wounds, as if manipulated by someone to provide makeshift dressings.

In fact, Meng Weiyu understood that doing so was useless. If she was regarded as a Servant from the original Holy Grail War, the core of a Servant—the Spirit Origin and Spirit Core—was incomplete due to the removal of contamination, and the injury and bleeding were just the surface.

“I respect your choice.” After a long silence, Meng Weiyu said softly, “Then let’s wait for him to come back. I think you two still have a lot to talk about.”

"Thank you," Assassin [Kafka] whispered back.

After another moment of silence, the young man in white waved goodbye to her and disappeared from [Kafka]'s sight as if he had appeared out of thin air.

The time-stopped state was lifted, and raindrops fell like a torrent. Assassin [Kafka] now held a purple-red, open umbrella in her hand—a projection of the young man's parting gift to her.

Chapter 40 What is Towards Death

Within the second layer of the illusion, Meng Weiyu, who had just regained her memories, was studying newly acquired entries in her mind system that differed slightly from the original "Dreams and the Holy Grail":

【Super Strength - Level 1 (0/100)】: Each level increases strength by one jin (a unit of weight), and can consume additional 【Mana】 to make oneself possess superhuman strength, up to a maximum of ten jin (a unit of weight).

The moment the entry popped up, Meng Weiyu couldn't wait to open it, only to be somewhat disappointed to find that the entry she drew was just white.

But after reading all the effects of the entry, he felt that the effect of this white entry was not weak, and even very promising!

If you train to level 1000, wouldn't you have the strength of a thousand jun just from your passive ability? One jun is thirty jin, that's thirty thousand jin!

It feels like in the near future, I'll have to set aside a fixed amount of time every day, like doing calisthenics, to upgrade my skills. Meng Weiyu thought to herself inexplicably as she relived the memories she had just regained.

The change in scenery immediately brought his thoughts back to reality: as the monster was completely defeated, the surrounding scenery began to disappear, and the illusion began to collapse...

Not far away, Caster [Xi Lian]'s figure appeared amidst the shattered scenery. She walked towards Meng Weiyu, her expression calm, and extended her hand to him again:

"Friend, let's go, it's time to leave this place."

"Mmm." Meng Weiyu gently grasped her hand and nodded firmly.

Hand in hand, they traversed the shattered, vanishing world, but did not leave immediately. Instead, they lingered in the crumbling world, and Meng Weiyu could sense that [Xi Lian] seemed to be searching for something…

He was about to speak when he immediately realized: the illusion he and [Xi Lian] entered at the beginning was an illusion composed of Saber [Yun Li]'s memory fragments and the Holy Grail's corruption. The two of them entered the body of that four-story-high behemoth to search for and awaken [Yun Li]!

But Meng Weiyu's heart sank quickly. He clearly remembered that [Super Strength] was Yun Li's exclusive term in the Dream and Holy Grail mini-game!

He obtained this entry, which means...

"You've finally arrived. I thought I was never going to see you again," Saber [Yun Li]'s voice rang out at that moment.

Meng Weiyu suddenly turned her head to check the "rear, left, right, up, and down mirrors" that had just been projected, and saw Saber [Yun Li] dissipating not far to the left.

He watched silently as the girl vanished into white-gold light, the previous life-or-death battles leaving him momentarily speechless...

He was somewhat hoping that Xi Lian beside him could start a suitable conversation at this moment, but the girl with pink hair and purple dress, looking at the girl whose figure was about to disappear, also fell silent, which was unusual for her.

It's just unknown whether she was recalling some experience or past that he didn't know about, or perhaps it was a sense of shared suffering between fellow Servants.

"Goodbye." After a moment of silence, Meng Weiyu uttered only these two words.

"Goodbye, I hope you can leave this place," Saber [Yun Li] said.

After spending some time in the second layer of the illusion, Meng Weiyu realized that when he first came here, [Xi Lian] had already transmitted some of his information to the sleeping female swordsman in the purple crystal in the form of [memories]. After he woke up, they even fought side by side.

"Yes, if I can leave here, I will go to the [Zhu Ming] Immortal Ship to see Yun Li, who shares the same memories as you," he solemnly promised her.

"Try some real shiitake skewers for me, and remember to practice your swordsmanship!" The girl's voice, seemingly a casual farewell, echoed from the last wisp of light.

Xi Lian remained silent, her expression tinged with obvious sorrow. In her other hand, the ethereal, transparent crescent-shaped ritual sword emitted a powerful light.

The dazzling light swallowed everything in sight, completely shattering the last illusion...

Meng Weiyu opened his eyes with difficulty. A feeling of exhaustion from not having rested for a long time suddenly came over him, but the cold raindrops falling on his face and body instantly woke him up.

A transparent barrier was projected, shielding him and [Xi Lian] from the increasingly heavy rain. Not far away, the four-story-tall monster had disappeared.

Where is assassin [Kafka]? Meng Weiyu looked around at the ruins and saw no one else standing besides himself and [Xi Lian].

Suddenly, the grip on his fair little hand tightened. Following Xi Lian's gaze, Meng Weiyu saw a humanoid figure whose magic was constantly dissipating behind some ruins not far away, thanks to the special vision provided by Xi Lian for the Caster to observe magic.

Meng Weiyu rushed over without thinking, and then saw the scene he least wanted to see:

Leaning against the ruins was Assassin [Kafka]. Her clothes, which had been well-preserved, were now completely soaked by the heavy rain. Although her wounds were simply bandaged, there was a large patch of dark red blood on the ground beneath her. Her hands hung limply at her sides, and not far from them was an open, purplish-red umbrella.

She gently opened her eyes, which had been closed not long ago. Her face was paler than paper. When she saw Meng Weiyu and Xi Lian running towards her, the corners of her mouth twitched, as if she was trying to force a smile.

"You've come," she said softly, like a mother in a hospital bed finally welcoming her child.