FATE: Target of Grand Master

"Let's go check out the situation in the south first."

When Xia Yan and Diao Yunshang, the two pairs of master and servant, arrived at the south side of Lyon, the battle there had already ended.

Hu Qiu, Joan of Arc, and the great dragon-slaying hero Siegfried were all unharmed.

"Our enemies were teleported away halfway through the battle, and neither side suffered any casualties. Their Servants were Saint Martha and a berserker clad in jet-black armor, roaring madly."

After Hu Qiu's description, Xia Yan knew that it was Lancelot of the Berserker rank.

"I don't know why, but as soon as that Servant saw me, he started attacking me like crazy, mumbling 'Arthur, Arthur' and other similar things."

Joan of Arc also shared her experiences.

"Yes, the servant's words sounded like he was calling for Arthur, and the only person I can think of is King Arthur. But Joan of Arc was French, and King Arthur was English; they're completely unrelated."

Yes, it's really hard to guess why these two people would be linked together.

Knowing the reason, Xia Yan and Diao Yunshang exchanged a glance and tacitly refrained from explaining.

"There was no reaction from enemy Servants nearby, so it seems they were moved to a very far place."

After patrolling the city, Siegfried dispelled his spirit form and appeared before everyone.

Xia Yan looked at the dragon-slaying hero wielding the holy sword Balmonk and found that he was not seriously injured as in the original story, which was a rare piece of good news.

"Brother Xia Yan, who is this person next to you?"

Hu Qiu suddenly realized that Diao Yunshang was not a Servant, but a Master like Xia Yan and himself.

Diao Yunshang took the initiative to introduce herself: "My name is Diao Yunshang. I am also a Master, and my Servant is Lu Bu, who is a Rider."

"Lu Bu! Is it the Lu Bu we all know, the number one warrior of the Three Kingdoms?" Hu Qiu asked.

"Exactly."

Lu Bu immediately dispelled his spirit form, and his heroic and upright figure filled Hu Qiu with envy.

Diao Yunshang looked helplessly at Lü Bu, who loved to show off, and gestured for him to step back.

This time, Lü Bu behaved very obediently and immediately disappeared in spirit form.

Now that the enemy had temporarily retreated, the citizens of Lyon returned to the city.

Joan of Arc and Siegfried voluntarily assisted Gilles, directing the soldiers to help the citizens with post-war reconstruction.

"Miss Mink, we haven't had a chance to ask you yet because of the battle. Could you please tell us about your situation since arriving at the Singularity?"

Xia Yan, Diao Yunshang, and Hu Qiu, the three Masters, found a secluded corner and began exchanging information among themselves.

Without hesitation, Diao Yunshang frankly recounted all the actions she and Lü Bu had taken since arriving at this singularity.

In turn, Xia Yan also told Diao Yunshang about their experience.

After the two sides checked each other's accounts, Xia Yan finally understood why Hei Zhen had retreated in such a hurry.

If she had been any later, Diao Yunshang and Lü Bu would have stolen her house, and anyone would have rushed back immediately.

"Have you ever met Mary and Mozart?"

Diao Yunshang shook her head.

"No. I specifically asked Fei Ge and the Marshal before, and they hadn't seen it either. Moreover, I remember that in the original story, this singularity also summoned Saint George, the Dragon Girl, and Kiyohime, but neither we nor Lyon's Servants have seen them."

Oh no, it seems that Xia Yan's third prediction, which he least wanted to happen, has come true.

This singularity doesn't seem to have any restraining force intervening, and the number of Servants who should have been part of our forces has decreased significantly. Perhaps this is why it requires three Masters to work together.

Xia Yan made a simple estimate of the combat strength of both sides in his mind.

Our side has six Servants: Morgan, Lu Bu, Hassan the Hundred-Faced, Jeanne d'Arc, Siegfried, and Gilles, who is human but has power close to that of a Servant.

The opponent currently has six known Servants: Jeanne Alter, D'Eon, Sanson, Vlad III, Martha, and Berserker Lancelot.

At first glance, they seem evenly matched, but don't forget that on the other side there is Jeanne Alter's mount, the dragon Fafnir, as well as the Caster Gilles de Rais and Atalanta, who have not yet appeared but are very likely to exist.

Based on this calculation, we are still at a disadvantage.

The only ones we can rely on are Morgan and Lu Bu, two exceptionally powerful Servants.

"What are you thinking about?"

Seeing Xia Yan frowning and remaining silent, Diao Yunshang comforted him, saying, "Don't think about it. No matter how you look at it, we are still at a disadvantage. The only thing we can rely on to clear this singularity is our own servants."

"You're quite optimistic."

Hu Qiu also had a serious expression.

Although he didn't know much about the Type-Moon universe, he wasn't stupid. His past experiences had been fraught with danger, so he knew that no matter how you looked at it, they were at a disadvantage.

"What else can we do? Will sighing and complaining give us one more follower? If it did, I'd grab a megaphone and sigh all day long."

Although Diao Yunshang looks very young, still a girl, she has an extremely open-minded mind.

Influenced by her, Xia Yan and Hu Qiu no longer showed their worries. After all, the girl was still being positive and motivated, and as men, they would be too unmanly if they didn't show some backbone.

"Let's discuss our next steps."

Xia Yan steered the conversation toward the upcoming arrangements.

"Brother Xia Yan, have you come up with any good ideas?"

Along the way, Xia Yan has established a reliable veteran player image in Hu Qiu's mind. Whether it was counter-killing Camilla or helping Lu Bu kill the Phantom of the Opera, our victory was brought about by Xia Yan's participation in the battle.

"It's not exactly a good idea, but rather than waiting here idly, we should try to persuade Joan of Arc and Gilles to gather all the remaining humans in France, organize them into a large army, and then go to Orléans for a decisive battle."

"But what's the point?"

Xia Yan's words were questioned by Diao Yunshang.

"We've already traversed the entire territory of France, so it's impossible for us to encounter any more lone Servants. Simply gathering some ordinary humans won't be of any use against the enemy's Servants and magical beasts."

Diao Yunshang's words made sense; ordinary humans were utterly helpless against Servants and magical beasts.

"It does have some effect. First of all, this is the national defense of the French people. Although Servants are not something ordinary humans can contend with, those skeleton soldiers and wyverns still have a chance to be killed by their numerical advantage. The first thing an army needs in battle is morale. Given the current situation where they are being suppressed by monsters everywhere, the morale of the armies everywhere is extremely low. Look around, even if they have only defeated one enemy Servant, the morale of these soldiers has been greatly boosted."

Diao Yunshang looked into the city. Under the command of Joan of Arc and the Marshal, the soldiers were no longer as panicked as when they fled the city, and their eyes had regained some of their spirit.

This is the power of hope.

"By bringing these soldiers together, we can create a force. Besides, we might be able to lure out the Servants from Jeanne Alter's side and defeat them one by one."