Nobody knows how to be a villain better than me.

"While the result of 374 bowls is astonishing, it is still impossible to surpass the absolute advantage established by the first place. Up to this point, the two of them have eaten a total of 400 bowls of ramen, which is simply a miracle!"

After successfully sending off the invincible Queen of Conquest with ramen, Cat Princess quickly livened up the atmosphere and praised the powerful Bazett team.

However, the two who were firmly in first place almost simultaneously put down their chopsticks, stretched their limbs, and got up.

"I'm stuffed……"

"Me too……"

Seeing that something was about to happen again, Cat Princess quickly jumped up the steps and warned the two of them.

"The game isn't over yet!"

"That……"

Suddenly, Bazett seemed to have thought of something, and his eyes filled with hope.

"...Can I get takeout if there's no food left?"

Cat Princess stumbled, nearly collapsing from the shock of the question.

"……cannot!"

After a moment, the host stood up, supporting himself on the corner of the table, and gritted his teeth in refusal.

"Then forget it, no problem."

Bazett yawned, looked around, and then his eyes lit up when he saw a row of seats near the wind. He immediately gave a reminder and walked over.

"There's air conditioning here. I'm going to take a nap. Remember to wake me up when the game is over."

"..."

Cat Princess was speechless as she watched the contestant skillfully fold her coat into the shape of a pillow, place it behind her head, and lie down peacefully.

Before Cat Princess could recover, Scáthach glanced at her glass, spoke with lingering relish, then stepped off the stage, sat down, and quietly waited for her drink to be served.

"By the way, the drinks on the table are good. Give me two more bottles of mead, and remember to add ice."

"..."

Cat Princess's cheek twitched slightly, her face stiffening.

So these two really did come to the stadium for a meal?

Holy Grail! Have you forgotten that you should be striving to obtain the Holy Grail?

However, the two who couldn't hear Cat Princess's complaints were quite different. One of them had already lay down in the audience and started to sleep, while the other was leisurely sipping his mead and watching the battlefield with a bored expression.

In reality, neither Bazett nor Schaca had an overly strong desire for the Holy Grail.

After all, one of them was a working person who came to investigate on behalf of someone else; the other was a queen who took the opportunity to leave the Land of Shadows and go on a tour.

Seeing that she had successfully cursed another favorite to win the championship to death, the cat princess, whose cart had been tipping over repeatedly, was already numb.

Fortunately, as time went by, a new top three emerged, allowing Cat Princess to change the subject and ease the awkwardness.

"Now, due to the mid-race withdrawal of the Bazette group, Koyanskaya has broken the first place record of 400 bowls and reached an amazing 450 bowls!"

Saber is not to be outdone, having already eaten a total of 430 bowls, placing her in second place!

Finally, there's Pretender from the Tokiomi team, who has already achieved an impressive 405 bowls. His performance has been consistently solid since the start of the competition; no one expected him to possess such astonishing eating power!

As Cat Princess pondered, the gazes of the audience turned to their respective chosen ones, cheering and encouraging them.

"Go Saber-chan!"

At this moment, Irisviel, having witnessed the mistakes of several Masters, no longer insisted on forcing things. Surrounded by a group of cat fairies, she sat obediently in the audience, waving her glow stick and excitedly cheering for her Servant from the sidelines.

"Saber, victory is certain!"

"Saber, victory is certain!"

"Saber, victory is certain!"

Under the influence of Irisviel, the new generation of Winter Saintess, all the cats in the audience were infected and stood firmly on Artoria's side, cheering and shouting for the legendary Knight King.

"Tch, no matter how loud you are, it's useless. In the face of absolute power, any struggle is futile!"

Koyanskaya, who had originally risen to first place but was relegated to a supporting role in terms of momentum, gritted her teeth inwardly at this neglect. Her eyes flickered and changed unpredictably, and nine ripples faintly appeared in the distorted air behind her.

"...The time is almost right, isn't it? It's time to show you what despair is!"

The pink-haired secretary snorted and sped up again. The tonkotsu ramen on the table vanished in a flash, and the scarlet numbers on the counter behind her scrolled wildly.

"470...480...490! Koyanskaya has once again demonstrated her amazing eating ability, and is aiming for 500 bowls! She's too strong. Despite her slender figure, her stomach is like a bottomless pit, and it never seems to be filled. She's simply an inexplicable glutton!"

"puff!"

Koyanskaya, who was diligently slurping her noodles, nearly spat out her noodles when she heard this malicious analogy from a feline.

Gluttons? Gluttons your whole family!

At this moment, Koyanskaya's pretty face turned purple, and her eyes were filled with murderous intent. However, with the rankings about to be determined, the scumbag fox was cautious. After cursing inwardly, he adjusted his state and picked up his bowl and chopsticks again.

When Koyanskaya saw the regret in the eyes of the cat princess beside her, and the several cat fairy guards that had inexplicably appeared around them, her lips twitched violently.

Are you kidding me? The referee is cheating! He's really trying to screw me over!

Just wait, once I get the Holy Grail, the first thing I'll do is wipe out all of you wicked felines!

Realizing she was being targeted, Koyanskaya gritted her teeth in resentment and coldly extended her pale wrist.

"Bring me the 500th bowl!"

Really good at eating!

The cat princess turned around dejectedly, waving to the deliverymen behind her to continue delivering food. Seeing the gap between the first and second place widening, she was extremely frustrated as she leaned towards a certain humanoid Holy Grail.

Logically speaking, even for a deity, a body of this size would be limited to about 200-300 bowls without using any special powers.

How can this stinky fox eat so much?

Cat Princess clearly didn't know that the fox in front of her, strictly speaking, wasn't a fox.

At this moment, the nine ripples behind the pink-haired secretary stirred up the air, and she glanced up at the depressed cat princess, a cold smile appearing on her lips.

But you think you can trick me? You're too green. Do you even know how I make a living?

"The five hundredth bowl!"

Just as Koyanskaya was feeling smug after winning a round, a steaming bowl of tonkotsu ramen was served. As soon as Koyanskaya lowered her head, she sneezed loudly.

What came into view was a blood-red hue, a color resembling hell.

Chapter 153 Qili, you scoundrel, you schemed against me! (5k)

"Did you take the wrong one?"

Koyanskaya stared at the ramen in her bowl, which was clearly of a different type, then turned to give the cat princess a long, menacing look.

Your tonkotsu ramen looks like this? Are you trying to mess with me?!

"That's right. To increase the difficulty of the game, starting from 500 bowls, every hundred bowls, the original tonkotsu ramen will be changed to a new variety that combines the strengths of all the sponsors—Mapo ramen!"

Cat Princess answered seriously, then narrowed her eyes and looked disdainful.

"After saying all this, you're not afraid to eat it, are you?"

"Are you kidding? What's there that I wouldn't dare to do? I'm super brave! It's just a small bowl of noodles, you think you can stop me with that?"

Hearing the little thing's malicious sarcasm, Koyangskaya pursed her lips and snorted coldly. Then she picked up the Mapo Ramen with a thick layer of red oil, confidently picked up her chopsticks, and opened her mouth to slurp it up.

The next moment, as the ramen slicked with Mapo soup entered its stomach, the canine creature with a sensitive tongue was struck dumb, its face turning from white to green, from green to red, from red to green, until finally its vision went completely black.

"boom!"

With a dull thud as a heavy object fell to the ground, a beautiful head plunged straight into the soup bowl, splashing out scarlet broth, and remained motionless, never to rise again.

"0! Koyanskaya is out!"

The mischievous cat princess jumped onto the table, counted to zero, and excitedly and loudly announced the defeat of a certain canine.

Immediately, the cat fairies in the entire venue cheered wildly, but the medic was nowhere to be seen, leaving that scoundrel fox soaking in the soup bowl, getting marinated.

Tsk tsk, this scumbag is such a loser.

Samael looked at Koyanskaya, who seemed to have risen from the morgue, her muscles twitching occasionally to prove that she was still alive, and shook his head inwardly.

I had long heard that Japanese people prefer the natural flavor of food, so their diet tends to be light and most of them have a low tolerance for spiciness.

It seems that this trait is not only reflected in ordinary people, but even in indigenous gods and ghosts.

The ancient serpent sighed, its eyes filled with pity, and a pleased smile played on its lips hidden in the shadows beneath its hood.

Now you know why I didn't aim for first place, right?

It wasn't because of insufficient food or inefficiency.

Rather, I know that there's some kind of pleasure offender involved, and there's definitely a trap hidden behind this game.

As is well known, in long-distance running, following behind the leader can effectively reduce wind resistance and conserve more energy.

Samael turned to look at Kirei Kotomine, who had disappeared from the judges' panel, then glanced at Koyanskaya, who was still sobbing, and smiled with a "sad" expression, silently making the sign of the cross on his chest.

Fox, thank you for your sacrifice. The Lord will remember your fearless dedication. Amen...

Just as the scoundrel was earnestly praying for his friend who had been tricked, a gasp of surprise came from the crowd.

"499 bowls! Wait, Saber put down her chopsticks and stopped eating! Could it be that she also gave up on the legendary Mapo Ramen?"

At this moment, Artoria closed her eyes slightly, ignoring the commotion and questions from the audience.

“470…480…490…495…499！追上了！Pretender选手，真的追上了！不可思议！”

The timing was perfect!

In an instant, Artoria, who was sitting at the dining table, suddenly opened her eyes. Her golden vertical pupils opened, and she turned her head to look solemnly at the powerful opponent whose appearance was not clearly seen under the blue and white hood. She spoke solemnly.

"You ungraceful man, I acknowledge your strength. As a sign of respect for a formidable opponent, you deserve my full strength. Now, only you and I remain to contend on the field. Let us begin our true final battle!"

"Oh! It's not that we're afraid to move forward, but rather that we're waiting for the Pretender to catch up so we can formally declare war on equal footing! What a chivalrous statement, what an upright king!"

Seeing the situation suddenly turn around, Cat Princess cheered excitedly, trying her best to create a tense atmosphere for the final battle, pushing the atmosphere to a climax.

"Furthermore, if I heard correctly, Sabe's declaration just now also implied that 500 bowls is not her limit at all. So far, no one has been able to force her to use her true eating power! Now, the pressure is on the Pretender contestant!"

As the camera switched, Samael, who had become the focus of the match, smiled slightly and nodded demurely in the face of the formal declaration of war, but his words were sharp and scathing.

"If you want to fight, then fight."

Then, the ancient serpent paused, pondered leisurely, and as it approached the end of its sentence, its voice rose in pitch.

"Although I don't really like binge eating, when it comes to food, I've never lost!"

"It seems you're about to experience your first failure!"

Artoria, not to be outdone, retorted with a cold laugh.

Almost simultaneously, both of them picked up the hot, spicy food on the table, buried their heads in their mouths, and swallowed the scarlet Mapo noodles.

"hiss!"

"hiss!"

In an instant, the spiciness, flowing and interacting with each other, explodes on every taste bud along with the broth and ramen, forming a chain reaction like nuclear fusion. The complex and stimulating sensations of numbness, spiciness, heat, and so on split into two streams. One stream flows down through the esophagus, throat, stomach, and intestinal wall, as if pouring a bowl of magma directly into the abdomen, burning the internal organs.

Another stream, flowing from the throat and tongue, through flesh and blood, through nerves, rushes straight to the brain, forming a rising steam. The soul within the skull feels almost ethereal, and large beads of sweat stream down the back of the neck and temples.

"boom!"

However, in an instant, accompanied by a dull thud, the two simultaneously placed their empty bowls on the table, their bloodshot eyes staring intently at each other.

They are indeed formidable rivals!

With a hissing sound, similar thoughts simultaneously surfaced in the minds of Samael and Artoria.

As the birthplace of bizarre cuisine, Britain is also a country with an obsessive love for spicy food, a battleground for spicy food warriors.

In fact, Britain even has a famous "Super Spicy Burger Contest," where the chili peppers in a burger contain 920 million Scoville units (a unit of spiciness), while a regular chili pepper only has 500.

This competition is a carnival for the whole nation, with many people actively participating. Every year, Song is so spicy that she faints or even suffers a stomach perforation from the heat, but this does not diminish her pursuit and challenge for the championship.

Moreover, many places in Britain hold all sorts of strange and wonderful events every year, such as spicy chef competitions, chili festivals, chili markets, and chili knowledge lectures.

In short, this is a country that's somewhat fanatical about spiciness.