Lu Mingfei is transforming into the final boss.

Minutes before the Pale Knight awakens...

"Do you want me to protect that girl...?" Sigma recalled the voice that had just rang in his mind. He wouldn't forget that voice; it was Lu Mingfei's voice. "I'll do it without you saying so."

Thinking this, he looked at the man standing in front of him.

That was Kuangqiu Chun's father, and one of the murderers who caused all of this.

"How on earth did you summon this Servant?" Sigma stared at the man who was about to push open the door. This man had lost his will; when the Pale Knight was first summoned, they were pulled into this underworld and subjected to some kind of mental attack similar to memetic contamination. "Finally, the very act of implanting a Command Seal into a comatose girl is strange."

This was also a question he couldn't understand. Sending a comatose girl to participate in the Holy Grail War seemed pointless from any angle. It was simple: a comatose Master was just a stationary target, unable to even put up a fight. Even dancing around her bedside wouldn't elicit a response, let alone participating in a highly intense magical war where most people would stop at nothing to gain traction.

It's impossible for such a Master to win. And if the goal is to kill her, there are plenty of ways to do so without having to lift a finger or participate. There's no need to go to such lengths to have her participate in the Holy Grail War. It's not worthwhile from an economic and time perspective.

But the man simply turned his head away indifferently.

"I've found it, the lighthouse. Do you know how many bacteria reside in the human body? Trillions of them, and among them, I've found one that can forcibly awaken the magical circuitry of a human host. To make its 'habitat' more comfortable, we've begun searching for the most efficient method."

The man went into the house, and Sigma followed him in. He was now fairly certain that as long as he himself was not hostile, he would not be attacked by the barrier's master within this barrier.

"If you just blindly follow the rigid, established path, you will never surpass others. What I pursue is a form that goes beyond that, a symbiosis with magic! The discovery in the Latin American ruins is truly amazing! It's incredible that we can find bacteria that are suitable for humans in a magical sense."

The man continued his mad scientist pronouncements, the words of which were unacceptable to any normal person with sound values; this man was simply not human.

"So you implanted that fungus found in Latin American relics into your daughter?"

"Although it was unexpected that it eroded the brain, it remains our dream."

This person has become twisted. If possible, I'd kill him right now, but Sigma has his own things to do. First, he needs to check on Kuangqiu Chun's condition. She's the key to everything. If something happens to her, nobody knows what will become of this barrier.

Tsubaki was taking a nap when she was awakened by a flock of crows flying around outside. The cawing of countless crows disturbed her already fragile young heart. But then she heard a voice, which opened a hidden door to the house, concealed by magic, and led her into a basement that felt completely foreign to her.

The further she went, the more fear and dread she felt towards those unknown instruments.

"Oh, you found out." A soft, ethereal female voice gently rang in her ear.

The girl turned around and saw a beautiful woman dressed in luxurious clothes, looking like an aristocrat.

She gently bent down and handed a scallop to the girl. It was filled with sweet syrup.

Children love sweets and all sorts of fancy toys and objects. Kugaoka Tsubaki's expression shifted slightly as she stared at the beautiful seashell. Anyone could tell she liked it, but instead of reaching for it, she asked, "Um, are you a very capable person?"

"Unfortunately, my greatness is a thing of the past, and... I am not human either," the elegantly dressed woman said with a smile.

"What?"

The young girl clearly couldn't understand what those words meant. She couldn't comprehend what it meant for a beautiful, well-dressed older sister to say that she wasn't human.

"Ah, sorry, that's a bad habit of mine. After all, I haven't spoken to anyone for thousands of years." She subconsciously touched her chin, but her palm was transparent.

Kuang Qiu Chun had never seen a transparent palm before. With her limited understanding and meager knowledge, her first thought was that this older sister was sick.

"Your hand... is transparent...? Are you alright?"

"You're so gentle." The elegantly dressed woman gently placed her hand on Kuangqiu Chun's small palm.

Sigma stared at the open hidden door that should have been concealed by magic.

Perhaps this was also a kind of fate, because since Kuang Qiuchun's father went up to the second floor, he naturally couldn't see the opened hidden door.

Without much hesitation, he went inside. Based on his experience, he could basically tell that this was the magic workshop of the Kuang couple.

The result was that they saw a beautifully dressed woman talking to Kugaoka Tsubaki.

Is that the real form of the Mr. Black that Tsubaki Kugaoka mentioned...? Probably not, the color is too different, and it feels completely different from the Servant he saw in the courtyard who was all black and couldn't understand anything.

"Who are you?"

"Sigma asked."

"Hmm...? It seems you haven't had your will stolen by that black Servant. So, are you her ally or her enemy? I want to confirm that."

"For now, my only plan is to protect her."

Sigmar strictly limited the time, as he always did when he spoke, and he usually spoke very carefully to avoid unnecessary ambiguity.

That person named Lu Mingfei could easily destroy or kill him; he doesn't like to put his life under the subjective judgment of others.

But that woman was an exception. She possessed extraordinary combat power, easily vaporizing the legendary three-headed dog of the underworld. Her detection capabilities extended for hundreds of kilometers, and her speed was so fast that even her afterimages were not clearly visible.

She set herself a mission: to protect Tsubaki Kumagai. And that wasn't all; protecting Tsubaki was also a necessary task to maintain the alliance with Kyoko.

"That's great! The look in your eyes was more like a murderous intent than a protective one, it worried me. I'm her comrade too, you know."

Well, Sigma had to admit that his eyes didn't look like those of a good person. As a mercenary who had survived, it was perfectly normal for his eyes to have a hint of murderous intent.

In the past, he would have been considering whether to kill or run away. There were only two options: kill if he could win, run if he couldn't. It was a simple and practical rule.

But now, should he kill her? He felt he would be killed first by that woman who could transmit her voice over long distances; perhaps she was already monitoring every move here.

He would be killed the moment he dared to disobey her will, whether it was the first moment or after everything else, but the order didn't matter at all; he never thought about dying.

"What's wrong with you compared to that?"

The figure of the woman in the luxurious clothes gradually faded away, like a mirage appearing here.

"Oh... this means I'm sinking again."

"Sinking?" Sigma found it a bit puzzling.

"Ah... I originally planned to come and bring her something, but it turns out I don't need it at all. She's already being protected very well."

"What?"

This woman has been talking nonsense since the beginning; it's all completely illogical.

However, he was well protected... He could only think of that woman named Lu Mingfei, so she had already made arrangements. The so-called coming here was just a trust test. If he had any ulterior motives, she could just kill him.

"Hey, what are you talking about?"

"We were saying that Tsubaki is a very cute and well-behaved girl." The beautiful woman patted Tsubaki's head, looking at her with loving eyes. "Does Tsubaki still want to play hide-and-seek?"

But before Kuangqiu Chun could respond, the beautiful woman's figure disappeared.

Because a boy's voice came from behind Sigma.

"Hey, Tsubaki, who is that older brother?"

The boy, who was actually Jesta, walked up the steps and spoke mockingly in that distorted voice.

He's that vampire.

Lu Mingfei's voice suddenly rang out again. It wasn't a pleasant feeling to have such a voice shoved directly into his brain, but he could still accept it. Unambiguous and vague instructions were just wonderful.

This person has been monitoring everything that's happening here. Her desire for control is too strong. You can't tell from her appearance that she's that kind of person.

"His name is Sigma."

Sigma felt himself breaking out in a sweat. On one side was a high-level vampire, and on the other was a woman he could never defeat. He was caught in a dilemma, unable to advance or retreat.

He can't afford to offend either side, so asking him to fight a vampire in close combat is practically suicide.

Jesta laughed as she listened, then gently moved closer to Sigma and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear.

"I'm her friend. Attacking me will get you eliminated by Tsubaki's Servants."

Sigma didn't plan to do anything either. His task was to protect Xiaochun from injury. Everything else had to come second. If nothing unexpected happened, Jesta wouldn't be able to do anything either.

Otherwise, he would have already attacked Tsubaki, the Master who knew nothing about her. The way he is now seems more like he wants to use the power of Tsubaki's Servant to bring him an unprecedented victory.

What should I do?

Sigma tried to communicate with Lu Mingfei.

"Let him talk. At most, he'll just try to entice Tsubaki to order her servants to do something."

As expected, a response came.

Is this entire house within your surveillance range?

"It's the whole city!"