[Double North] Fate

It was a few minutes before nine o'clock, and He Jiong, who was almost late, sat down in a chair exhausted.There was still a little while until the time to officially start the recording of the program. He dug out the script that he had little time to prepare recently and did an urgent review. He glanced over the manuscript several times before finally settling down.

On the way back from the tea room after making coffee, he met several young girls gathered together, discussing a new mind-testing mobile phone software that had started to circulate on the Internet.He Jiong, who practices mental magic, knows very well that those so-called effective psychological tests are all opportunistic nonsense.In addition, his own interest in this kind of popular software is only limited to the level of understanding the conversations of people around him, so when the girls of the younger generation are discussing enthusiastically, he just casually leans over to have a look.

"Teacher He!" Seeing him, the girls happily made way for him to join the circle.Young people are always full of energy, trying to bring everything around them into their non-stop rhythm of life; so they introduced the functions of the software to him in chirping.

"This software is really fun! It is said that you don't need to answer all kinds of weird questions like other tests. I would say that all test software should learn this advantage!"

"And as long as you download the free software, hold your phone and look at the opened interface for three seconds without blinking, it will automatically read your thoughts and tell you your current secrets and troubles! This is amazing, right? ?”

"The practicality is not bad, and it also comes with psychological counseling and treatment functions, which can help solve many psychological problems."

He took a sip of hot coffee: "It seems to be quite interesting, are you all playing?"

One of the girls replied: "Not yet, my boyfriend just sent it to me yesterday, saying that it would be more interesting for everyone to play together. Hehe, we are going to try it during our lunch break today..."

There is actually a supporting treatment process, this function is relatively rare.He Jiong thought about it, even a magician who is proficient in mind magic can't achieve complete mind reading, so this is mostly a new gimmick to gain temporary popularity.The girls still wanted to chat a few more words, but the director's team heard the sound of a trumpet, and the recording was about to start.So everyone returned to their respective positions, He Jiong also returned to his position, took the materials and walked towards the studio with the crowd.

The morning's intensive recording was over, and it wasn't until noon that everyone could temporarily unload their burdens and take a breather.The crew members were excitedly discussing the vacation that was rarely vacated in their busy schedules.He Jiong also thought that the arrangement for the weekend was to take Caster to buy clothes. He checked that the time was close to twelve o'clock, and he hadn't received any contact from him in the morning.He took out his mobile phone and typed while thinking about the style he would buy for him.

"How is the morning? Is it going well? Do you need my help? My afternoon may end early.

何」

He presses the send button, and the text message sign is showing "Sending".At this moment, the exclamations of several people suddenly sounded neatly, all the lights in front of them were extinguished, and the entire preparation room was plunged into darkness and darkness.The "sending" in his hand also broke at the same time, changing to "sending failed".

"Hey—? Why is there a power outage at this time..." The long-drawn-out complaints of the female juniors drilled into his ears.

"I just downloaded the installation." Said a girl who had talked with He Jiong earlier in the morning.Another person pursed his lips: "At least you're still downloading, I'm just halfway through the download process." A third girl also joined the conversation: "It's not only the power outage, but also the wifi - hey, it's like a phone call The signal is gone."

This is also something that He Jiong finds extremely strange.The router device of the wireless network does need to be plugged in, so when the power is out, usually only mobile phone traffic can be used.However, the traffic cannot be connected at the same time as the power outage, and even the mobile phone signal suddenly changed from full to zero, which is too strange.

It's almost a coincidence to the point of anomaly.Not far away, the director's angry voice came: "Why can't I make a phone call? The props are not in order. I'm waiting for the scene in the afternoon... What are you doing! Hey, you, go to the office of the network maintenance department down below and ask what's the answer. What happened. Why did the power cut off and the mobile phone signal completely cut off?"

The intern who was called ran out in a panic. He Jiong left the crowd discussing the next plan and went to the window, looked down at the phone, and resending the text message still failed.

Last night Caster did say that he was going to a place farther east this morning, and the magic connection was still maintained, which meant that he was still safe there.Then contact him when the signal comes back?This power outage delayed the progress, and I'm afraid I won't be able to leave the crew early in the afternoon.

He Jiong thought, and the hand that put back the phone froze.He narrowed his eyes vigilantly, almost into a slit like a cat's eye, and his scrutiny glanced back and forth across the crowd.

Everything seemed to be the same as it was half a minute ago.The director was still losing his temper at the assistant next to him, and the rest of the staff were chatting, discussing work, complaining about power outages, and some just lying on the table and dozing off.Among the more than 20 people, there were no faces he was not familiar with.

But just now, he felt a slight magic power from the direction of the crowd.The reaction was not obvious, fleeting, but the magic had an ominous feeling.At least he knew that it was completely different from the friendly atmosphere his Caster exuded.

He Jiong pretended not to notice anything, and returned to the crowd as naturally as possible.Several people greeted him when they saw him walking over. He Jiong responded gently while exploring the source of the new magic power.He has never encountered any magician in the work of the watch profession, and traditional magicians will never do this kind of work that is frequently photogenic.This is also the reason why he safely believes that his identity will not be easily exposed.

Since the colleagues in front of him are still those who do not understand magic, then this malicious force must be external.The sudden power outage, the sudden loss of signal, and the sudden strange magic all pointed to the same thing.He Jiong was taken aback when he realized this, but soon he couldn't continue to be as calm as he appeared on the surface.

"I'm not feeling well, so I happened to go to the bathroom while the power was out. If the power comes back, please tell Director Lu to wait for me for a while."

The young people nodded, and while they didn't feel anything strange about themselves, He Jiong turned out of the door pretending to be in unbearable abdominal pain.The moment he stepped out of the door of the preparation room, cold sweat broke out from the back of his neck, making his skin chill as if being licked by a damp and cold wind.

Since it is possible to achieve this level and let ordinary people be involved in these abnormalities, the leaders of these incidents undoubtedly do not shy away from the purpose of coming directly to He Jiong, and do not mind that their methods may affect the non-magical world of innocents.

They are not afraid to expose the mystery.He Jiong came to this conclusion that made him shudder.If He Jiong had to be killed at that moment in order to win the Holy Grail War, they didn't care about doing it in front of countless pairs of eyes, or clearing away all the obstructing crowd.

He Jiong further compressed his brisk walk into a trot, and ran straight to the usually unused bathroom in the corner of the first floor of the TV station.He was sure the killer was on his way.If he didn't leave, within five minutes, the people who had worked with him for years and didn't know what was going on at this moment would all be lifeless corpses.

He would never want to risk the lives of those around him.

He Jiong rushed into the cramped bathroom and quickly checked the four stalls on either side, none of which were in use.He turned around and slammed the door of the bathroom entrance, plugged it from the inside and locked it, leaning his back against the wall next to the door and panting heavily.At this time, he felt a little relieved, at least now he was as far away from the crew as possible, so that they would not be implicated in the next incident.

After making sure that everyone else was safe, he finally started to think about his own affairs. Caster is not around.Moreover, it is impossible to communicate with him.He Jiong noticed that his palms were completely wet with sweat, and his heart was beating violently.

He is a magician.However, this does not mean that he is good at using magic to fight, nor does it mean that he is ready to participate in the cruelest and most dangerous war among magicians at any time.

The iron rule of the Holy Grail War is that the victor is king—"As long as you can bring yourself victory, sneak attacks, traps, assassinations, betrayals, any despicable means and strategies are fine, as long as the mystery will not be exposed. allowed".It is such a rule that can be said to have no restrictions, and it cannot be completely obeyed in this Holy Grail War of the subspecies that does not know where to avoid the non-magic world.The cold feeling of the wall eroded his back, and He Jiong felt that he couldn't imagine how the other party could use an attack method that smashed the magician's bottom line and deviated from human morality.

But in any case, several consecutive nights of surprise research on the Holy Grail War in the past made him clear that it is by no means a rare method to take the servants away from the mountain and assassinate the only master who can provide magic power to the servants when he is not prepared.First, use the clues of the Lesser Holy Grail to lure Caster to a location where he cannot meet him quickly; then lock his position, block all his means of communication, and leave him unknowingly isolated and helpless.Those who made the plan knew as well as he did, and now was the time to execute the final link of that plan.

Be regarded as the prey in the bag by the opponent.Wherever He Jiong is, no matter what space it is, it will become a bloody battlefield.

I can already feel someone's breath.He couldn't see where the enemy was, he only knew that the enemy was approaching, only twenty or thirty steps away from him.To be able to reveal a trace of magic power at such a short distance must come from a certain class of servant.

The toilet was located at the corner of the building, and the only window on the outer wall was closed, facing the unoccupied alley behind the building.There is a layer of frosted paper on the window glass. If someone walks outside the window, he will cast a blurred and scattered black shadow on the window.But the enemy is a servant who can transform into a spirit body. They don't need to reveal their bodies before launching an attack, and they can even enter through walls at will.

He Jiong's eyes fell on the window.If the other party was facing him right now, it should be behind that window.

He forced himself to calm down and think about countermeasures.

Becoming a heroic spirit and a follower means that one's own magic power and combat power have been greatly improved and strengthened corresponding to the legend.Therefore, it is almost impossible for a human magician to fight head-on with any servant, not to mention that the magic he has practiced for many years belongs to the non-offensive category, and its practicality in actual combat is too limited.Once the opponent finds a flaw in the defense, He Jiong will turn into a corpse in an instant before he realizes it.

In less than 10 minutes since the power outage, he has already experienced the process from vaguely perceiving danger, to clearly recognizing the crisis situation, and then to almost despairing about the imminent death.

The overhead light in the restroom went out due to a power outage.The external source of supplementary light is a few rays of skylight filtering through the window panes.The servant dissolved in the sky and quietly approached, like a transparent silhouette with self-consciousness, like a wandering shadow of death.

It's now!

He Jiong put his hand into the inner pocket of his coat, took out the expected item, and scattered it in three directions around his body——

"Shield Magic Rosa Field!"

(Defense Shield Magic Rose Field!)

The moment the translucent golden barrier wall unfolded in front of him suffered a heavy blow, it vibrated and made a crisp sound.He Jiong lowered his head in fear, and saw a dagger and short knife on the ground directly below the sound.As long as the speed of casting magic was half a second longer, he would have died under the flying dagger that flowed with silver cold light.

The best class servant who can kill He Jiong silently in seconds, the last step in carrying out the master's assassination plan.

"Assassin—"

In the small space where he was with him, he relied on the class-specific skill "Breath Blocking" to hide his position.Even if Assassin's "Breath Blocking" skill level was forced to drop the moment Assassin attacked, for the servant who was attacked, it was only just enough to be alert and defend.As a human being, He Jiong couldn't even see the trajectory of the dagger, and the assassination weapon wrapped in magic power and accelerated by magic couldn't defend against it with his reaction speed.

On the ground, with He Jiong as the center, a triangle outlined by a golden line was drawn. Along this triangle, three golden magic defensive walls perpendicular to the ground and connected to the top ceiling were extended. The prismatic barrier space tightly surrounded He Jiong.At each vertex of the ground triangle lies a rose petal which is used to initiate and sustain the magic.

—— "Where there are my roses is my position. They will protect you at critical moments."

Using the petals taken from Caster's rose as a medium, this enchantment-type defensive shield can be summoned briefly.

Claiming that in order to maintain the magic effect in the best condition, Caster would pick new petals for him every day from the rose that had just bloomed in the early morning of that day and still had tears of morning dew.He Jiong thought that he had no chance to use this self-defense enchantment magic, so he just asked Caster the words of the spell and how to use it, and simply recited it.

He thought that Caster would never leave him.

Previously, they believed that according to the rules, there should not be large-scale battles during the day, so He Jiong was often so busy that he ignored the fact that the servants were not by his side.After get off work, Caster always has countless reasons to cling to him with a playful smile, or to stay in a place where he can see him when he looks up at any time.

The too peaceful daily life made him underestimate the danger of the Holy Grail War.When the daily tranquility was broken, he re-realized as if he suddenly recalled his memory, whether it is the master or the servant, they are all participating in this war with their own lives as a bet.Any battle can come so abruptly, fiercely, and unreasonably.

If I die here, He Jiong thought.There is no doubt that Caster will disappear soon.His magical power is not enough, and the moment he loses his master, he probably won't be able to maintain his spirit foundation.Although as a servant, theoretically, he still keeps the spirit base record of his own heroic body in the Heroic Seat; but the next time he is summoned is already his "other self", he will not have the same experience as the master He Jiong in Xingsha City. Memories of fighting together.

He Jiong felt that he needed to be a qualified Master.The life of a Servant is a miracle of magic that only appears due to people's prayers during the Holy Grail War.What his Caster has is such a precious thing that cannot be copied, once it disappears, it is as irretrievable as a fragile human life.That is not a weapon or prop that can be used, worn out, or discarded at will.

For He Jiong, Caster is alive.

The enemy has not yet revealed his body in front of his eyes.However, he could not hesitate for a second.He showed the back of his hand, showing the engraving that he would never use lightly until the last moment. It was also irrefutable evidence that he was closely connected with the fate of his followers.

"I order you in the name of the Command Seal——appear here, Caster!"

The pattern of thorns and broken leaves wrapped around the bird's feet gradually faded from blood red, becoming as dull as the skin color.The magical effect contained in a stroke of the command spell can instantly teleport servants tens of kilometers away to him.

However, the chanting of using the Command Seal has already taken one second, and the time it takes for the Command Seal to take effect is unknown.It should be very fast, otherwise it would not be possible to often become the life-saving means used in the finale of the Holy Grail War; but for He Jiong who lacks defense methods at this time, even a second of delay is enough to be fatal.

Assassin on the opposite side was not willing to wait needlessly for the disappearance of the defensive shield.During the few seconds of his short thinking, several daggers flew from the shadows in all directions, and a mountain of dagger corpses had already piled up near the Rose Triangle.Another two daggers were thrown from the front left. He Jiong still couldn't see the materialized figure of Assassin clearly, but the defensive shield made a different sound this time.

The attack was not fully deflected.In the position directly in front of He Jiong's eyes, there was a crack in the brilliant and hard gold that seemed to be nailed by the fangs of a poisonous snake.

At that moment, only the sound of the dagger falling was left in He Jiong's world.

He was in a cold sweat.You have to catch up.Silently, the only name that could save him was uttered from the lips trembling slightly due to fear.

Sabine.

A dazzling white light flashed, the golden wall shattered like glass, and the tip of the knife lying in front of him was only a few centimeters away from He Jiong's neck, but stopped abruptly in mid-air.The dark thin shadow was submerged by the rapidly growing dark blue vegetation on the ground, and the hands, feet, and body were all intertwined and intertwined with layers of vines as thick as the baby's arms.

"—Could you please stay away from my Master, Assassin."

As if his prayers had worked, a familiar man's voice came from the next cubicle.

He walked out of the compartment and walked from behind the enemy servant to the front.The flickering flames in his eyes proved that he was suppressing the anger caused by He Jiong's danger at the moment.

"Caster, you...are still alive. Over there...failed." Assassin, wearing a silver-white mask, said with a sigh of resentment, and then bit his lips tightly to prevent himself from making any unnecessary noise.His arms were twisted behind his back by the vines, and he looked pitiful, like a delicate purple morpho butterfly strayed into the predator's spider web, struggling to escape, and the bones of the whole body cracked and cracked from time to time.

But the owner of the thornbush knew very well that the person in front of him was not a weak and kind person.That seemingly thin arm can cut off the head of a burly man with a knife in the blink of an eye, leaving a perfect oval planar incision on the neck of the corpse.He Jiong stared blankly at Caster, he had never seen such a frightening and stern expression on him.

"Struggling will only increase your pain for no reason, Assassin. I must kill you, but I hate killing. I will not torture and torture defeated opponents to obtain the information I want, but if you want Tell me about the Master who holds the Lesser Holy Grail, and I promise you that I will ensure the safety of your Master until the end of this Holy Grail War."

Assassin still clenched his teeth, refusing any communication.From the vines that wrap around its arms and feet grow tender serrated leaves and tiny rose-pink flower buds.Buds ripened quietly in the air, and the initially bare vines were covered with pale pink flowers.The flowers seemed to be whispering, and He Jiong heard the chuckles of some low-pitched girls, and his eyes widened in disbelief.

"They will constantly absorb the magic power around them during the growth process. This will not kill you immediately, but just take away part of your power, but——even if the body of a servant made of magic is covered by the barbs of roses It still hurts to pierce into the skin. So please keep still, at least that way the wound won't continue to expand." Caster's tone eased a little, he explained to Assassin.It could be heard from the words that Caster was unwilling to use this somewhat cruel attack method.This may be one of the reasons why he hates fighting.

Assassin, who was entwined by the flowers, obviously couldn't appreciate the thorny beauty, coughing as if the magic was sucked from the rose's thorny tips.The mask that covered most of the face could no longer be maintained by the magic power, a crack appeared, and then crackled and completely shattered, revealing the next face of a young girl who matched her petite figure.

She is in her youth, her dark skin is delicate and delicate, and her face can be described as pure and beautiful.The eyeballs are amaranth purple similar to the hair, reminiscent of the distant and empty night sky.However, those eyes were lifeless.What resides in it is not the soul of a girl as people usually think.

"Master..." She breathed weakly, and lowered her head among the vines surrounding her, as if she had lost consciousness.

Seeing that she had no ability to resist, Caster quickly walked towards He Jiong, his worry and anxiety squeezed all the decisiveness he had when facing the hostile girl into the corner. "Teacher He, are you okay?" He checked the other person's body with his eyes, eyes full of sincere concern, "Sorry, I'm late. I should have thought that they are not afraid to attack in front of the crowd during the day .”

"How can I blame you. I was negligent myself, and I just realized it. Besides, you came in time. Fortunately, the activation of the Command Seal does not take too long."

"I also encountered some situations in the east this morning. Things seem to be more complicated than we imagined. This is really not a place to talk. You go back to your colleagues to protect them. Assassin will be handled by me. Alright," Caster thought for a moment, "I will smash her spiritual core neatly, so that she won't feel pain."

Unexpectedly, Caster knew that he didn't want to see the scene of "killing someone" and thought of it for him.He Jiong patted the other party's shoulder lightly: "I also have the psychological endurance of a magician. Thank you."

Both are relieved by the presence of the other.The moment He Jiong withdrew his hand from Caster's shoulder, his gaze crossed the line of Caster's shoulder, and his expression suddenly became extremely frightened.Even without the hint of He Jiong's expression, Caster also noticed the aggressive, if real, knife-sharp gaze behind him.

The girl who should have lost consciousness half-raised her head.

One eye was covered by the broken hair falling on the forehead, and the other eye was like a snake's eye under the moonlight, refracting cold light.The restrained body twisted stubbornly in one direction in a strange posture, and the thorns of the rose were like the sharp teeth of a beast biting into her flesh and blood, tearing and crushing the prey, squeezing out the blood, and wrapping her roses and thorns Immediately, it showed a tragic color poured by the bright red liquid.

She spoke with lips that were so thin that even the lines were blurred.

"Zabaniya!"

(Delusion is poisonous!)

It was too late to stop the chant.

Jiao Rao's body is like a time bomb whose countdown has come to an end, ushering in the end of bursting and shattering.