Nobody knows how to be a villain better than me.

"puff!"

However, just as the wound was being healed, it burst open again, spurting bright red blood. The pink-haired girl on the medical bed paled even more.

Hinako's expression changed slightly, and she subconsciously tried to salvage the situation.

But no matter how she tried, she couldn't heal the wound.

Furthermore, as magic continued to be injected, the wound actually began to widen, further depleting the pink-haired girl's life force on the bed.

Seeing this, Fufu, who was standing nearby, kept whimpering anxiously, her small purple eyes blinking with deep concern for the person on the bed.

"This wound doesn't look right, let me do it."

Samael patted Hinako Akuta's shoulder, switched places, and placed one hand on the wound on the girl's lower abdomen.

This time, however, he did not directly heal her. Instead, he aroused his divine power and injected a wisp of domineering magic into the girl's body.

"puff!"

The wound immediately tore open again, and blood spurted out.

The blood droplets scattered around were like bullets, piercing through the air and embedding themselves in the walls and floor tiles, leaving visible dents.

Samael then stepped back from the front of the bed and turned to remind Hinako Akuta beside him.

"Alright, the external force in her body has been cleared, and we can proceed with the next stage of treatment."

Hinako Akuta regained her senses and quickly stepped forward to cast the healing magic again.

Soon, the green vitality from the plants surged into the pink-haired girl's body, and the wound on her lower abdomen repaired and healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In the blink of an eye, the long, narrow scar healed, and her skin regained its former whiteness and smoothness.

Still worried, Hinako waited a while to make sure the wound wouldn't reopen before finally letting out a sigh of relief.

Samael looked at Hinako Akuta, whose face was beaming with the joy of success, and smiled with satisfaction.

This kind of treatment was just something he did casually, so he might as well leave the opportunity to show his skills to Lao Jie, so that she wouldn't develop a mental block because of her lack of success in everything.

Although the immediate problem has been solved, the burst of energy that I just forced out seems to contain some kind of... divinity?

"She's awake!"

Just as Samael was frowning in thought, excited cheers came from beside the medical bed.

After receiving treatment, the pink-haired girl opened her eyes and looked around in confusion.

"you……"

"Master No. 3, Hinako Akuta".

"Number 48, Fujimaru Ritsuka, we're here to report for duty. And you, little sister?"

Samael smiled gently and stepped forward to ask in a soft voice.

“Mash…Mash Kyrielight…Chaldea’s host…”

The pink-haired girl paused for a moment before subconsciously answering, reaching out her hand in a daze.

really!

The ancient snake held the soft, boneless little hand in its palm, its surface expressionless, but its heart was in turmoil.

The girl, snapping out of her daze, looked anxious, as if waking from a dream.

"By the way, Chaldea is no longer safe. It's very dangerous here. You all need to escape!"

At the same time, a dull thud was heard outside the medical room.

Chapter Twenty-Six: Rushing into everything will only hurt you.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The continuous impacts grew louder with each impact, and the alloy door leading from the medical room to the outside began to twist and deform inch by inch.

"Stab!"

Accompanied by a tooth-grinding metallic groan, a jet-black mechanical claw gleaming with a cold metallic sheen slowly pried open the deformed alloy door, widening the passageway.

"Oh no, they're coming in! Back off!"

Seeing that the transforming gate was about to collapse, Mashu, the pink-haired girl who was a Chaldea host, froze. She jumped up from the medical bed, urgently summoned a large black cross shield, and swung it forward in an attempt to block the gap.

At the same time, a monster's head, radiating a strange metallic luster, painted in blue and black, and resembling a hunting dog, growled as it squeezed into the crevice, its pair of sharp horns thrusting upwards.

In an instant, the two collided.

"boom!"

The sharp clanging of metal echoed and swirled in the closed medical room, piercing the eardrums.

Under this fierce impact, Mash, who was already at her limit, was sent flying backward. The large cross shield in her hand and the black light armor with purple patterns on her body turned into golden dust due to insufficient magic power and automatically separated.

Fortunately, her petite body landed in a strong embrace, thus avoiding secondary injury from the impact.

"Bang!"

The monster outside kept ramming against the door, its horns, gleaming with a cold metallic light, already piercing through the thick alloy.

Seeing the hideous, hound-like mechanical head squeeze in again, and the faint, eerie lights flickering in the corridor, Mashu pursed her lips, despair building within her.

"Are you still willing to fight, Mash?"

A deep question came through, and a concerned face came into view.

The girl's eyes were filled with shame. She gritted her teeth, shook her head to dispel the fear and hesitation in her mind, staggered up from the embrace of Master No. 48, raised one arm forward, squeezed out the last bit of magic power to materialize the cross shield, and whispered instructions.

"Listen to me, when the gate is breached, you must seize the opportunity to escape quickly. I will take care of drawing their attention!"

Clearly, she was prepared to risk her life to pave the way for those who came after her.

Ensuring the safety of the Masters is the duty of the reception staff.

However, before Mash could even take a step after staggering to her feet, her arm was grabbed by Master No. 48 from behind.

The girl turned around blankly.

“You seem to have misunderstood Mashu. This isn’t a battle you fought alone…”

Samael raised the corners of his mouth, forming a faint smile.

"Didn't Chaldea teach you that Masters and Servants should stand together?"

Suddenly, the girl seemed to have thought of something, her eyes lit up, she nervously pursed her lips, and reached out her hand to Master No. 48 in front of her.

"Senior, if you don't mind, please form a contract with me and become my power!"

"Then, as you wish, the contract is established..."

Samael smiled and took that soft, slender hand in his, murmuring softly.

Seeing the figure striding forward, Hinako, standing by the medical bed, quietly withdrew the crimson sword tip that had emerged from her palm, her gaze filled with disdain.

This guy is fooling children again!

At this moment, under the power of words, an unseen connection was established between the two, and three Command Seals, like crimson wings, appeared on the back of Samael's hand.

At the same time, a massive amount of magic surged into Mashu's body, bringing a strong feeling of being filled.

In an instant, the girl's hidden injuries and weakness were swept away, and her body returned to its original peak state, with the disintegrated black light armor also appearing.

Along with it, there was also the basic information in my mind about the nameless spiritual foundation within my body and the armor on my body.

With the surging magic power within her body, a feeling of fullness and stagnation washed over her. Unable to contain herself any longer, Mashu looked ahead at the mechanical hound that had squeezed half its body through the alloy gate, let out a low growl, brandished her cross shield, and charged forward with a stomp of her foot.

"We're fully armed, time to go, senior!"

"boom!"

The giant shield crashed down, sending the monster trying to squeeze through the door flying backward with metal fragments, whimpering as it slammed heavily against the metal wall of the corridor.

"Bangdang..."

The hound-like metal monster, over two meters tall, slid down to the ground from the deep dent. Flickering sparks and flashing arcs of light emanated from its body, and its eye sockets were completely black, as if it had fallen into some kind of paralysis.

However, at the same time, the overburdened medical room door was also mostly broken, leaving it with no protective function.

Two mechanical hounds, one red and black and the other blue and black, roared as they charged out from the shadows on either side of the door, lunging at the figure standing in front of it.

"Aha!"

Mashu gave a low shout, first swinging her cross shield to send the mechanical hound on her left flying, then using the recoil to twist her waist, the blade extending from the shield's outer edge slashing through the air.

With a sickening metallic groan, a massive mechanical head rolled to the ground, while the mechanical body, its cuts sparking, crashed to the ground.

After easily defeating the three mechanical hounds, the girl, still with a childlike heart, was overjoyed. She turned around and excitedly reported her victory.

"Senior, cleaning is complete! We..."

"Bang! Bang!"

Just as Mashu turned her head to announce the good news, two cursed bullets grazed her cheeks.

At the same time, two muffled thuds came from the corridor behind the girl, like heavy objects falling to the ground.

Mashu turned around in astonishment and was shocked to see that the heads of the two mechanical hounds had been blasted open with huge holes. They had been paralyzed, but somehow regained their mobility and had already crept up behind her.

Looking at the sharp steel claws less than a centimeter away from her, the girl couldn't help but feel lingering fear.

"Well done, but remember to finish him off next time."

The Master stepped forward, patted the Servant on the shoulder, and offered advice as if he were an experienced person.

Mashu, somewhat dazed, nodded her little head blankly and confusedly.

By the time she realized what was happening, her Master had already passed her and arrived in front of the remains of the three mechanical hounds, crouching down to examine them.

Unlike alchemical artificial life forms, these are purely programmed mechanical entities...

Chaldea has imported this type of guard mech? How come I don't know?

As Samael observed, he tapped and tinkered with the remains of the three mechanical monsters, a thought quietly forming in his mind.

However, before he could observe further, the surface of the three mechanical monsters' remains pulsed with light patterns, and their massive bodies transformed into red and black interwoven code modules, instantly disintegrating and disappearing.

It was as if they had never existed.

Strange, so strange...

Samael was completely baffled and turned to look at Mashu behind him.

As the first living person she encountered after entering Chaldea, she should know something.

But to his surprise, Mash, who had come to her senses, also shook her head in confusion.

"I don't know what happened. I just woke up in the infirmary and found that everyone was gone. The whole of Chaldea is full of these monsters that appeared out of nowhere."

"What about your injury?"

“I was very worried about everyone’s situation, so I took Fufu out to look around, hoping to find survivors. But we ran into a strange woman, and she chased us relentlessly…”

When asked about her previous experience, Mashu was completely bewildered. She touched her lower abdomen, which still throbbed with pain, and after calming down, she continued to elaborate.

"After I got injured, Fou and I ran back into the infirmary, hoping to find some medicine and bandages. But before the bleeding could stop, I passed out. When I woke up, the first thing I saw was Master and Akuta-senpai..."

Samael listened attentively, but his doubts only grew stronger instead of being resolved.

Marisbury's plea for help, the unexplained disappearance of Chaldea members, and Fou and Mash, who are exceptions...

There are too many suspicious points.

Along the way, if I remember correctly, the basic infrastructure of Chaldea was basically intact, only the people were nowhere to be found.

Even the great catastrophes of burning and freezing human reason failed to completely annihilate all the gods in Chaldea, let alone silently erase them, leaving only a complete empty shell of Chaldea.

What exactly is going on?

Unable to find a solution, Samael gave up racking his brains and instead started looking for clues.

"Let's go to the infirmary and take a look..."

Mashu stood there, somewhat confused, while Hinako Akuta, who had just stepped out of the infirmary, also looked bewildered.

Seeing his two teammates looking completely bewildered, Samael twitched his lips, realizing that he seemed to be the only one in the team with a reliable IQ. He had no choice but to act as an external brain and patiently explain the reasons.