FATE: Target of Grand Master

While Xia Yan was confronting the purple-haired hoodie youth, the black-bearded man was also busy.

Blackbeard, who was furious that Xia Yan had killed the only two female members on his ship, didn't even have time to retaliate before he saw that on the other side of the ship, Drake's "Golden Deer" had already started shelling his "Queen Anne's Revenge".

At this moment, their own ship was still docked at the shore, making them an easy target for the "Golden Deer" on the opposite side.

Using his Servant abilities, Blackbeard deflected all the cannonballs that hit the ship in the first round. He didn't even have time to settle his "little cutie" Euryale before ordering the crew to weigh anchor.

"That wretched 'old woman,' ruining my plans at this crucial moment!"

Seeing that his ally had tied down the enemy's Master, Blackbeard hurriedly ordered Bloodaxe Eric to return to the ship to help defend against the second wave of bombardment from the Golden Deer.

As for Asterius the Calf, Blackbeard didn't have time to deal with him. Anyway, Euryale was already on the ship, and the badly injured Calf was neither useful nor a threat to him.

Drake directed his crew to fire three rounds of cannon fire, but apart from the occasional hit on a small section of the mast, they did not cause much damage to the Queen Anne's Revenge.

"It seems that after joining the ranks of Servants, my personal combat power is enough to change the entire battle situation," Drake muttered to himself.

If the people on both ships were ordinary people, Drake was 100% certain that the Queen Anne's Revenge would already be half submerged in the sea.

Seeing that the other side had also set sail, Drake immediately ordered them to move away from the coastline. Her job was to keep Blackbeard occupied and give Xia Yan time and space to fight alone.

Back on shore, all four activated simultaneously, Servant against Servant, Master against Master, engaging in fierce battles.

Desperate to avenge his previous defeat, Cú Chulainn held nothing back, unleashing a dazzling array of spear techniques, each strike aimed at the enemy's vitals.

Diarmuid dared not be careless in the slightest, wielding his red and yellow magic swords to defend himself. The strips of cloth originally used to cover the magic swords had long been thrown to the ground. Facing the famous Son of Light, he dared not be careless in the slightest.

Both Servants have an A-level Agility, and their speed in attack and defense appears to be like afterimages to onlookers. Such high-speed combat not only prevents either of them from having a chance to unleash their Noble Phantasms, but also makes it impossible to determine who is stronger in a short period of time.

Actually, there is quite a connection between these two.

In Celtic mythology, Cú Chulainn was active around the first century, while Diarmuid was active around the third century. However, Cú Chulainn's grandmother was Dectale, a princess of Ulster, Ireland. Dectale's mother was one of the daughters of Aphrodite, the god of love, while Diarmuid was the adopted son of Aphrodite.

In summary, although Diarmuid lived much later than Cú Chulainn, he was of a higher generation, probably Cú Chulainn's great-grandfather.

In addition, both of them had fought Artoria in the Fourth and Fifth World Wars. Although Diarmuid was a Lancer at the time, both of them felt the same excitement as when they fought Artoria.

On the other side, the Masters of the two Servants were not idle either. Since the Servant battle was evenly matched, the Master battle would be the key to determining the winner.

Xia Yan immediately brandished Gan Jiang and Mo Xie, slashing at the purple-haired hoodie youth.

"The Tin Soldier's Steadfastness!"

The purple-haired hoodie youth leaned back, his feet firmly planted on the ground like steel nails, dodging Xia Yan's slash. Then, he clenched his fists and punched Xia Yan's chest with both fists.

Seeing this, Xia Yan quickly withdrew his twin swords and held them to his chest.

Boom!

With a muffled thud, Xia Yan was blasted two meters away, leaving two marks on the beach left by Xia Yan's shoes.

Without pausing, Xia Yan moved closer to his opponent again, his twin blades slashing even faster.

This time, the purple-haired hoodie youth had no time to dodge and directly tightened his arms to block with his bare body. Xia Yan, who originally thought that he could at least cause some damage, was surprised to find that the other party's body was as hard as diamond. The sharp black and white double blades only cut through the sleeves of the hoodie outside the other party's arms.

A sharp pain shot through Xia Yan's abdomen as he was struck by a near-ninety-degree kick, sending him flying backward.

Suppressing his discomfort, Xia Yan performed a somersault in mid-air and landed safely five meters away.

Gently rubbing the spot on his abdomen where he had been kicked, the pain and injury were healing at an extremely fast pace thanks to the effects of Avalon.

Now it was the purple-haired hoodie youth's turn to be puzzled.

His previous move could have directly knocked enemy Masters to their knees, and some Masters would even lose their fighting ability on the spot, but this Master in front of him was not only not knocked down, but was even rubbing his stomach as if nothing had happened.

This person is strange!

This was the shared thought in Xia Yan's and the purple-haired hoodie youth's minds at that moment.

"Friend, you've witnessed my strength now. Do you think you can easily defeat me?"

Xia Yan tried again to win the other party over.

"It is indeed very troublesome."

The purple-haired hooded youth looked with pity at the sleeve of his hoodie that Xia Yan had previously slashed, and said, "Sigh, I actually quite like this hoodie. However, I don't like betrayal. Besides, would you abandon your prey now to go find that third Master who's nowhere to be found?"

Xia Yan put himself in the other person's shoes and realized that he wouldn't easily trust him either.

After all, the Holy Grail that the other party stole should have originally belonged to him. Now that the culprit has been found, he should be eliminated first. It doesn't make sense to abandon the nearby and seek the distant.

"Then there's nothing we can do."

Xia Yan got into position, ready to attack again, but this time it was the opponent who made the first move.

"The Dream of a Matchstick!"

Suddenly, the purple-haired hoodie youth produced a box of matches, lit one, and Xia Yan felt a wave of dizziness.

After an unknown amount of time, Xia Yan finally regained his vision, and everything was exactly the same as before.

The purple-haired hoodie youth had appeared in front of him and launched an attack. Although his movements were still very stiff, Xia Yan did not want to take the hit head-on, having learned from his previous experience.

"The Petrifying Demon Eye!"

Xia Yan immediately activated his Demon Eye.

The purple-haired hoodie youth froze instantly, and his entire body, starting from his feet, began to petrify at a visible speed.

Although Xia Yan's magical abilities are only so-so when using Mystic Eyes on Servants, the Petrification Mystic Eyes are extremely useful when facing a Master who is also human.

Without giving the opponent a chance to react, Xia Yan raised his twin blades and slashed the opponent's throat.

The purple-haired hoodie youth, whose body was still petrifying, covered his neck, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"I'm sorry. I really didn't want to kill you."

This was Xia Yan's first time killing someone on his own initiative. Although from a subjective point of view, killing Uncle Hu Qiu in the Orleans Trial could be considered his first time having murderous intent towards someone, Morgan had done it on his behalf that time, and he was the one who was betrayed, thus holding the moral high ground.

But this time it's different. Both Xia Yan and the other party are only trying to pass the trial, and there is no distinction between right and wrong.

The only thing to blame is their differing stances and BB's design of the Master Selection Trial, a kind of "breeding poison" system.

Xia Yan wasn't the type to wallow in self-pity. Just as he was about to search the Master for the Holy Grail, the young man, who had been completely petrified, suddenly spoke.

"I see, it's the 'Petrifying Eye'. You really do have an extremely useful ability."