In truth, all those official documents Zhou Yuxuan had handed out were primarily intended for dealing with clueless muggles—a way to maintain secrecy without resorting to direct magical enforcement.
When Emiya first received them, he found the process rather tedious. If this were a proper Magus family, they'd have simply cast a large-scale illusion barrier to repel ordinary civilians. Why bother with the bureaucratic shuffle?
Zhou had admitted that normally it wouldn't matter if some random people wandered in—after all, who would dig around an abandoned construction zone for ancient relics on a whim? But right now, the timing was far too sensitive. It warranted caution.
So, Old Tang took position with a rifle at a high vantage point, Zhou Yuxuan stopped the front vehicle, and Emiya handled the rear.
"Why was the car in front allowed through, but ours isn't?" Su Xiaoqiang pressed, her tone clingy and suspicious. Her gleaming eyes seemed to say, You're definitely hiding something.
"No, they weren't allowed either. Someone's already intercepting them," Emiya replied as he stepped sideways to block her view.
Suddenly—
Boom!
A sharp sound rang from up front—shattering glass.
"What was that? Is this also part of your archaeological protocol?" Su Xiaoqiang asked.
Emiya whipped around to see Old Tang drawing his gun and shouting: "Bro! Get back here, it's urgent! These people are nuts—they're trying to smuggle in a truckload of monsters!"
"What kind of monsters!?"
"Death Servants! Berserk dragon-blood monsters!" Zhou Yuxuan shouted, blasting his alchemical shotgun. "They refused to negotiate—then activated the cryogenically sealed Death Servants in the truck!"
That day, Su Xiaoqiang would pay a soul-shaking price for her baseless curiosity.
From her window, she watched the truck's windows burst again. An orange fireball ignited up front, like someone had thrown a Molotov cocktail. Two burly men leapt from the cabin. One chanted rapidly—and then it happened.
Air compressed into formless spheres, then exploded with thunderous force, blasting apart chunks of concrete.
A young man with drooping eyes fired a HK416A5 calmly, almost like a soldier. Another, slimmer man charged into the fray, wielding what looked like a door-sized greatsword in one hand and firing a strange cannon in the other, scattering shrapnel rounds as he moved. Metal dust and shattered rebar swirled up around him.
Crash!
Su Xiaoqiang's worldview shattered into pieces.
Superpowers? Magic?
Before she could process it, monstrous claws pierced through the truck's shell. Metal was torn apart as though made of paper. Out crawled a hideous creature, covered in black-blue scales.
Its skin reflected a cold, metallic sheen. Its face twisted between human and inhuman, its limbs long and deformed, and its lower half a serpent's tail.
Their golden eyes glowed—bright and dim like eerie lanterns of death piercing the night. Gunfire echoed—but most bullets merely sparked off the monsters' armored scales.
And then—
That deep, ancestral fear. Her body froze. Mind and soul trembled.
In that moment, Su Xiaoqiang understood the helplessness of civilians in horror movies. Her wealth, beauty, and social status—all meaningless now.
She was just a scared girl facing death.
The only familiar face amidst the chaos—Emiya Shirou—charged into battle. His alchemical blade clashed mid-air with the outstretched claws of a serpent-like Death Servant, sparks flying with brutal grace.
Whoosh!
Her vision blurred as Emiya's leg runes lit up. He burst forward, twisting mid-air past the monster. The katana in his off-hand arced from a blind spot in a flawless silver slash. Black blood sprayed. The blade severed the creature's spinal cord—it collapsed, paralyzed like a puppet with cut strings.
BOOM!
The rear door of the truck blew open. A massive, muscular arm lunged from the darkness.
Before Su Xiaoqiang could scream, Emiya reacted with instinctive precision—spinning around and blocking the claw with his blade.
A furious roar followed. The monster forced Emiya back with sheer brute strength. The truck's roof exploded open as a towering Death Servant, over five meters long, rose from the shadows.
It stood upright, supported by powerful lower limbs, and lunged downward with crushing weight. Its shadow blanketed Emiya. Its fanged mouth spewed rank slime between sharp snarls.
Old Tang's cover fire arrived just in time. Armor-piercing M995 rounds hammered the creature's back, forcing it to loosen its grip.
Emiya seized the moment—plunging his blade into the creature's neck, then leaping off its body. With a twist mid-air, his blade spun more than 180 degrees.
Landing on the beast's back—
He severed its monstrous head in one clean strike.
Even as its limbs twitched reflexively, Emiya stared down with a chill in his heart.
These berserk, dragon-blooded Death Servants craved blood and carnage. They reminded him of the "Crimson Lords" in Tsukihime—when Tohno Akiha gave into inversion impulse, becoming addicted to killing and feeding.
Yet even the Crimson Lords retained human form. These Death Servants had mutated grotesquely—snake-like features twisting their very bodies.
Was this the result of dragon blood… or a deeper inversion?
Emiya had no time to think further.
A scream pierced the chaos behind him.
He turned—Su Xiaoqiang was frozen in place, trembling. One leg was gripped by a sharp claw.
The earlier "paralyzed" Death Servant had slithered away from the main fight and crept toward defenseless humans—preying on the weak.
Uncle Li, though shaken, tried to help. He kicked the beast repeatedly—but it was like hitting steel.
"Move!" Emiya shouted.
I'm literally being grabbed—how the hell am I supposed to move?! Su Xiaoqiang thought, but then realized he was yelling at Uncle Li, who quickly backed off.
In the next instant—
Crack-BANG!
Two brilliant flashes shot straight into the Death Servant's skull and neck, pinning it to the ground.
Arrows.
Its grip slackened. Su Xiaoqiang broke free and looked up—
Emiya Shirou stood there, bow raised, radiating like a beacon in the pitch-black chaos. He looked like a god of war—handsome, fierce, and unstoppable—like something out of a movie.
Like a true hero.
Until he shouted:
"GO! DRIVE AWAY!"
Su Xiaoqiang saw the swarm of black shadows descending on him—monsters surrounding Emiya like hunters closing in on a rare and precious kill.
The fire in her chest boiled over.
No way. I'm not some spoiled brat who leaves her savior behind to save her own skin.
If we leave—we all leave together!
But Uncle Li knew better. The situation was dire. Staying meant death. He shoved her into the car and floored it in reverse.
Bound by her seatbelt, Su Xiaoqiang could only watch helplessly as the dark tide engulfed Emiya Shirou.
And then—
He vanished from sight.
(End of Chapter)
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