Behind-the-scenes video of the beginning of Honkai.

With each piece of truth she learned, Mei felt an increased sense of responsibility.

Yesterday and today, her best friend Kiana Fujimaru hasn't come to school. The homeroom teacher said she took sick leave at home, but that's not what the rumors in the class are saying.

A classmate from my school seems to have gone missing because he hasn't come to school for two days.

To ensure the accuracy of the information, Mei went out of her way to investigate.

"Please don't let anything happen to you, Kiana." Mei Tohsaka prayed anxiously, taking out a pocket watch-like device with a ruby ​​tip that glowed red.

He opened the cover of the magic dial watch in his hand, but the ruby ​​hand was spinning wildly, as if a compass had gone out of control, without a fixed direction, and was spinning madly in place.

"What's going on? I've never seen such a reaction before. Does this mean there are traces of magic everywhere?"

This is a magic detector that Ryoma Tohsaka made for his daughter, Mei Tohsaka. It can detect magic reactions at a certain distance. When multiple magic reactions occur at the same time, it will point to a larger magic reaction. Mei Tohsaka is also counting on this pointer to help her.

Although she was just as terrified, Tohsaka's family values ​​and her friendship sustained her and she successfully found a suspicious woman.

To ensure the operation's success, she calmly and boldly followed her into a certain place, all in order to save others...

"The number of children has increased...why?"

Mei Tohsaka observed from around the corner, the pointer on her magic meter pointing towards the woman.

Although it's unclear how the woman controlled the child, it's certain that he's the child abductor! ...Should we really chase after him? Judging from the magic meter's reaction, he's someone I can't handle.

"Go ahead and don't worry, Mei, I'll be with you!"

At that moment, a gentle voice appeared in Mei's mind, which gradually calmed Mei down.

"Thank you, Archer!"

With the comfort of the Archer Servant, Mei Tohsaka calmed down.

"With Archer by my side, I can definitely do it!"

Overcoming her inner weakness, Tohsaka Mei mustered her courage and chased after the woman, guided by her magic.

"Ok!"

At this moment, the woman also turned her head to look in the direction of Tohsaka Mei who was following her, but Tohsaka Mei reacted quickly and dodged.

When the woman turned her head, some people in the space recognized her.

"Raven, when did you become interested in kidnapping children?!"

The jackal then directly teased the raven, whose face had already darkened.

"That happened in a parallel world. How would I know why I would do those things in a parallel world?"

Raven was also puzzled by her parallel world counterpart's kidnapping of children. After all, she really liked children. Otherwise, she wouldn't have adopted those orphans when the third collapse occurred in Changkong City in the original story. She would never do something like kidnapping children.

"Who knows? Maybe you're the same as your counterpart in a parallel universe?"

"Jackal, do you want to fight?"

"Alright, Jackal, stop talking. As a member of the World Serpent, Raven wouldn't do such a thing!"

Gray Snake then spoke up to stop the two from arguing further, and Jackal and Raven, out of respect for Gray Snake, immediately stopped arguing.

Chapter 123 Reality and Illusion

【"interesting!"

Raven also noticed that someone was following her, but she didn't alert them. Instead, she pretended not to know and continued to leave with the hypnotized children.

The Tohsaka family has the responsibility of managing the spiritual veins of Changkong City, so the disturbances caused by the Holy Grail War also need to be handled by them and the Church.

Fortunately, the mayor of Changkong City was acquainted with the Tohsaka family, so after a series of serious incidents, he took the opportunity to issue a curfew order.

However, even without the curfew, there probably aren't many citizens who enjoy going out at night. It seems that something bad is lurking in the darkness of the new capital, and human instincts have made Mei Tohsaka aware of this.

However, Mei Tohsaka still chose to continue chasing after it. With the help of the magic meter, she kept a certain distance from the raven and followed it until she arrived at a dark and narrow alley.

"Strange, something's not right!"

When Mei Tohsaka looked at the abyss-like entrance, she felt something was wrong, but she still mustered up her courage to try to go forward and check, only to find that the raven was gone.

Just as Mei Tohsaka was searching for the raven's location, a voice came from behind her.

"Are you looking for me, little girl?"

Raven appeared behind her, and she never expected that the person who had been following her was actually a child.

"Where are you, sir? Why are you following me?"

However, Mei Tohsaka seemed to be stunned and didn't make a sound. Just as Raven was about to grab the child who was following her, a greatsword burning with flames appeared and slashed at Raven.

"who?"

Raven was also taken aback by the sudden attack, and could only watch helplessly as the greatsword struck her, cutting her in half at the waist.

Just when everyone in the space thought Raven was dead, Raven's body, which had been cut in half at the waist, transformed into a flock of crows.

"That was close! That was close! I almost died straight!"

The crows reassembled themselves in the dark alley, and the raven reappeared before the two men, perfectly intact.

"I never expected that an eighth Servant would appear in the Holy Grail War!"

The raven, realizing what had happened, looked at the Servant who had almost killed her. The Servant had a high white ponytail, a heroic and composed expression, and looked like a battle-hardened warrior. This was to be expected, since the Holy Grail War summoned famous figures from human history.

She was dressed in a black and white combat suit that perfectly showed off her exquisite figure. She held a greatsword burning with flames in her hand, and there was a cloak fluttering behind her.

However, Raven discovered that this Servant did not match any of the ones in her memory, and she also did not know the identity of the person in front of her.

The raven might not recognize it, but everyone else in the space did.

"Is this me?"

Kiana looked at herself in the image above and didn't know what to say. She felt like she had the same face, but the difference was so huge!

"Kiana, why don't you change your hairstyle from now on?"

Mei noticed that Kiana looked much more mature than the other insects she knew, and seemed quite well-behaved.

"Bronya deduced that the person above is unlikely to be Kiana... After all, there are people who look alike, and the Holy Grail War summons historical heroes and even famous figures from mythology, so it can't be that idiot Kiana!"

"Bronya! How could it not be me up there? Explain yourself!"

Kiana has been going against Bronya for a long time, but she still gets angry every time.

"Idiot Kiana..."

However, Bronya didn't have any lingering thoughts about arguing with Kiana this time, because she had a suspicion she didn't want to believe and didn't voice it.

The Servant in the image above who looks like Kiana hasn't changed much from Kiana's current appearance. If it is Kiana, it should be one or two years, or two or three years from now.

If Kiana were truly an idiot, then in such a short time, she must have grown to the level depicted in the scene. Perhaps something happened that caused a significant change in Kiana.

Of course, since it concerned the possibility of parallel worlds, Bronya didn't say anything, after all, it was questionable whether the person above was Kiana.

However, Bronya kept this possibility in mind.

"I never expected you to summon a Servant, little girl. Should I say you're lucky or unlucky?"

After all, the Dean wants to obtain the Holy Grail, and he will definitely kill all the Servants when the time comes. The Dean won't do anything to you just because you're a child.

"Then I'll play with you guys for a bit!"

As a member of the Atlas Institute, Raven possesses Servant-level combat power, and can even defeat some weaker Servants.

The entire alleyway changed in an instant after the raven prepared to fight the unknown servant.

Mei Tohsaka felt as if her magic circuits were being electrocuted in that instant. It was an indescribable slippery and nauseating sensation, like an instinctive reaction when being targeted by some kind of predator.

"This is a protective barrier! How could this be? When did she become one of our subordinates?!"

Archer also sensed the changes in her surroundings, which surprised her greatly. After all, as a Servant, she was very sensitive to the Honkai energy around her. Raven had actually set up a large barrier right under her nose.

Mei, are you alright?

Archer looked at Tohsaka Mei with concern. She would feel extremely guilty if anything happened to Mei because of her carelessness.

"It's alright, Archer! This isn't your fault, I'm fine now!"

The indescribable slippery and nauseating feeling she had experienced before only lasted for the moment the barrier was activated. Now that the barrier was complete, Mei Tohsaka no longer felt any discomfort.

"Archer, where is this place?"

Mei Tohsaka observed her surroundings and noticed the biggest change in the alley's environment. The once dark alley now had an old street lamp, which also helped to dispel the surrounding darkness.

There is also a hotel that is open only at night, and across the street is a small shop that sells adult products at self-service.

However, perhaps due to the curfew, the hotel had no business, except for a middle-aged man who was dozing off; judging from his clothes, he was probably the owner.

The adult products store was covered by a curtain, so the contents inside couldn't be seen, but the two of them weren't interested in it anyway.

"Something is wrong here!"

Although it didn't seem particularly impressive on the surface, Archer knew that this was a magical barrier created by Raven. Raven might launch a sneak attack at any moment, and having come from the future, she knew that Raven was extremely skilled in illusion magic. However, she had never seen Raven manifest illusion magic as a barrier before, which was why she fell for it.

Chapter 124 The Clown Returns

"Archer, what should we do next?"

Mei Tohsaka fearfully reached for Archer's hand. After all, no matter how mature Mei Tohsaka was, she was still just a child, and it was normal for her to be afraid of unfamiliar environments.

"Don't worry, I'm here!"

After calming Mei down, Archer began to lead Mei on an exploration of the magical barrier set up by Raven.

“I remember the ravens disappeared from this side before.”

Archer looked at the equally dim alleyway on the right, and led Mei Tohsaka straight in without hesitation. After all, she knew very little about magic, and in her opinion, magic was only for fighting.

Therefore, she knew nothing about magic tricks involving illusions and could only take things one step at a time.

After passing through the narrow passageway, Archer and Mei Tohsaka arrived at a new... no, it was still the same alley.

"What...what's going on?"

Mei Tohsaka stared in astonishment at the familiar scene before her: the same empty hotel and the same adult store.

"Is this an illusion or reality?"