Why is my anime art style so weird?

Before long, Xu Ming reached the mountainside. Remembering the order Kato Megumi had instructed him to follow, he turned directly onto the path and headed deeper into Mount Enzo.

After walking along the path for about twenty minutes, a huge cave appeared in front of him.

Xu Ming activated his spiritual vision, observed the area, and found no traps nearby before entering the cave.

Upon entering the cave, Xu Ming instantly felt a sense of openness and clarity.

The cave turned out to be a hidden paradise.

Although the entrance to this cave is narrow, the interior is quite spacious.

Xu Ming turned on his phone's light, revealing a huge ancient Greek-style altar before him.

Upon ascending the altar, Xu Ming immediately spotted the 'chessboard' that Kato Megumi had mentioned.

At the very center of the huge circular disc, which is marked with a mysterious magic circle, is a round platform. On the platform is a square stone slab, which is divided into two halves, one red and one blue.

At this moment, the magic circle lit up, and the chessboard in the center shone with an incomparably dazzling light.

The red side shone brightly, completely suppressing the blue side.

Xu Ming felt a chill run down his spine.

In a parallel world of Fate, there was once a battle between the fourteen riders, one red and one blue.

But at least at that time, the red and blue sides were evenly matched on the surface, unlike the situation shown on the chessboard in front of Xu Ming, where the red side had completely overwhelmed and was about to crush the blue side.

Xu Ming let out a long breath, then walked over and placed his hand on the blue chessboard.

hum!

His movements seemed to trigger some kind of magic circle, and the blue chessboard suddenly lit up with a bright blue light.

Soon, a blue tattoo, resembling a Command Seal from the original work, appeared on the back of the hand he placed on the chessboard.

However, this Command Seal is useless; it cannot fully heal injuries, enhance attack power, or revive the user.

It was merely used to prove that Xu Ming was a participant of the blue side in the 'Holy Grail War,' essentially serving as a form of identification, nothing more.

Swish!

Just then, the magic circle on the ground suddenly lit up with a white light, and a girl wearing silver-white armor and holding a battle flag, whom Xu Ming found very familiar, emerged from the light.

Joan of Arc!?

Upon seeing the enormous human figures and the iconic long, golden braids of a village girl, Xu Ming immediately recognized her.

Upon seeing Xu Ming, Joan of Arc immediately began to introduce herself in a formal and meticulous manner.

"Hello, Blue Team participant, I am Ruler, the arbiter of the Holy Grail War."

Given that the Red team gained an advantage through cheating in this Holy Grail War, I will assist you to erase some of your disadvantages.

Xu Ming's eyes lit up immediately. Although the progress was behind schedule, having officials as henchmen was still a great thing.

Xu Ming seems to have been too happy too soon.

Joan of Arc seemed to read his mind and said directly with a serious expression:

"To ensure the fairness of the Holy Grail War, I will not directly intervene in your battle, but can only provide you with appropriate intelligence support."

"..."

Xu Ming's face immediately fell.

No, Zhenping is fine as it is, why would you want to change?

The blue team is already so far behind that it's almost impossible for them to win without external help.

Xu Ming tried to negotiate with Joan of Arc.

"No! If I join the Blue Team directly, it will seriously disrupt the balance of power between the two sides."

However, Joan of Arc's attitude was very firm, and Xu Ming was not allowed to refute her at all.

It was as if to thwart Xu Ming's little scheme.

Joan of Arc shrank to the size of a palm in a flash of white light, becoming a chibi-style big-headed doll, and then flew to Xu Ming's shoulder and sat down.

Joan of Arc, or rather, Joan of Arc, reached out her little hand and gently patted Xu Ming's face.

"Alright, Master of the Blue Side, I suggest you set off immediately."

You've fallen far behind; you need to hurry.

As for some details that need attention and the rules of the Holy Grail War, I will explain them to you on the way.

I don't know if it's just Xu Ming's imagination.

Xu Ming always felt that after being turned into a chibi version, Joan of Arc's voice sounded childish and childlike.

And... if you know I'm at a huge disadvantage, then join me!

He's clearly a love-obsessed guy in the parallel world, so why is he so rigid in this one?

Xu Ming thought with some resentment.

Well, although we've lost 'human kindness,' we've gained cuteness.

Unable to persuade the stubborn Joan of Arc, he can only console himself with the spirit of Ah Q.

Therefore, Lu Xun is an eternal god.

At least the chibi version of Joan of Arc exudes an adorable charm from head to toe.

Especially when she had just given Xu Ming a stern lecture, telling him to hurry up.

Fortunately, Xu Ming is a tough guy (self-proclaimed). If Joan of Arc were in her current state and met a girl who likes cute things, she might immediately pounce on her, hug her, and press her face against his.

Xu Ming still didn't give up trying to persuade Joan of Arc, but Joan of Arc was nothing like her current soft and cute self; her attitude was very firm.

Having intelligence support is always better than being completely in the dark.

Left with no other choice, Xu Ming could only leave the altar with Joan of Arc's charcoal.

On the way, Jeanne d'Arc kept her promise and began to tell Xu Ming a lot of information about the Holy Grail War.

"The original rules of the Holy Grail War were that fourteen participants would each choose one side, summon one Servant according to the seven classes, and then the two sides would fight each other, with the winning side winning the Holy Grail."

However, the previous rules were disrupted by your opponent in an unknown way, and now the Holy Grail War has changed drastically..."

Tiny Jeanne sat on Xu Ming's shoulders, her small body swaying up and down with his steps, making one wonder if she might accidentally fall off.

Xu Ming glanced at her, then quickly looked away.

This little guy has no idea how adorable he is.

To prevent himself from doing anything inappropriate, Xu Ming could only keep telling himself, "I'm a tough guy! I don't like cute things!"

To divert his attention, Xu Ming quickly changed the subject.

"So what are the current rules? How is victory in the Holy Grail War determined?"

Jeanne's small face scrunched up, her eyes closed, as if sensing something.

After a while, she opened her eyes.

"My sense of the red side is vague. It seems that the red side needs to summon a Servant and then fight with the other six Servants to win."

As for your position on the blue side... you need to complete trials for seven classes and obtain seven class tokens.

Chapter 507 The Strange Buddha Statue (Bonus Chapter)

After Jeanne d'Arc's detailed explanation, Xu Ming roughly understood.

Simply put, it used to be a 7v7 mode similar to 300 Heroes, but with the addition of a gacha system.

It's not about micro-management, but about who has better luck and draws the strongest Servant.

The red team has now adopted the old rules from the Fate series – a seven-player battle royale mode.

Xu Ming's blue team was forcibly changed to a longer RPG adventure mode.

Why is it said that the blue team takes longer?

Because of the mandatory rules, Xu Ming must fight against seven Servants of different classes one by one and win against them all in order to win.

On the red side, anyone with an IQ over 80 wouldn't think about how to defeat six opponents at once, but would instead use stratagems to make the enemies kill each other.

One side will have to play at least seven games, while the other side might not even have to play a single game in the best-case scenario.

The difficulty levels of the two sides are simply not on the same level.

After listening to Jeanne d'Arc's explanation, Xu Ming felt even more that this mission would be fraught with difficulties.

He not only had to complete his mission, but also race against the enemy.

Nevertheless, Xu Ming had no intention of giving up halfway.

How will you know you can't do it if you don't try?

After leaving the cave, Xu Ming felt a little itchy on his face. It turned out that Jeanne d'Arc had tapped Xu Ming's face with her little hand.

"The closest chess piece to you is on this mountain."

A hint of surprise flashed in Xu Ming's eyes. He nodded, then turned and followed the directions given by Zhen Detan, heading towards Ryudong Temple atop Mount Enzang.

About ten minutes later, Xu Ming climbed the long steps and finally reached the top of the mountain.

A dilapidated temple appeared before him.

The temple gate was half lying on the ground, and the other half hanging diagonally on the door frame, as if it would fall down if a gust of wind blew by.

Weeds stubbornly pushed their way out from the gaps between the bricks, covering the ground near the door frame.

The low wall, with pieces of white plaster peeling off, exposed the gray-white stone bricks underneath.

Before even stepping through the temple gates, Xu Ming felt a wave of desolation and eeriness wash over him.

A gust of wind swept by, and from some unknown corner came a series of strange wailing sounds.

The Ryudong Temple in front of him was completely different from what he remembered.

Although the real test has not yet begun, Xu Ming felt it was better to be cautious in the face of such a strange temple, so he summoned the shikigami from the Hyakki Yagyō (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons).

The three had just been summoned. Erina and Asagami Fujino were alright, but Haruyuki Arita was so frightened by the strange scene around them that his legs went weak. He hid behind Xu Ming, grabbing his trouser leg and refusing to come out.

A hint of helplessness appeared on Xu Ming's face.