The City Slowly Burning

# Chapter 27: A City Slowly Burning

Time returned to the second before the engulfing flames.

Clutching the heavily injured Mashu in his arms, Luo Zhen felt a surge of determination fill his heart.

(At this point, this is the only way...)

Luo Zhen couldn't help but grip the hand wearing the .

To escape the current crisis, Luo Zhen did have one option.

That was to use the power of the to open a gate to another world, leaving the current spacetime and avoiding the immediate danger.

However...

(This power isn't something to be used lightly...)

As mentioned before, opening a gate to another world other than the "soul" required a price.

Besides, the opened couldn't be used by anyone other than Luo Zhen.

In other words, even if he could be saved using this method, it would only be Luo Zhen alone. Mashu couldn't pass through the by herself.

Even if he could go to another world through the , how to save the seriously injured Mashu was also a problem.

After all, Mashu's injuries were critical.

And that there would be something on the other side of the that could heal Mashu's injuries, even the most optimistic Luo Zhen couldn't think that way.

(But this is the only way now!)

If he didn't use this method, he would only die.

If he used this method, there was still a glimmer of hope.

So, besides using it, did Luo Zhen have a second choice?

As for how to let Mashu pass through the otherworld's that theoretically only opened for him, Luo Zhen wasn't without a solution either.

(Although I really don't want to use this method...)

But he had no choice.

Just as Luo Zhen made up his mind...

"Spiritron Transfer, commencing."

As Chaldea's system voice fell, Luo Zhen felt his existence turn into particles, entering a tunnel in a dazzling swirl of light.

It was a tunnel leading to another spacetime.

"Spiritron Transfer...?"

Luo Zhen only managed to gasp before a wave of dizziness took away his consciousness.

By the time his consciousness returned to his head and the dizziness disappeared, it was a long time later.

When his vision fully recovered, and the scene before him entered Luo Zhen's eyes, Luo Zhen was stunned.

What appeared before him was a ruin that looked no different from Chaldea's control room.

Flame-like red light enveloped collapsed buildings.

Roads like abandoned streets stood in all directions.

Before him was a town that had turned into ruins and was still burning.

"Where is this...?"

Luo Zhen tried hard to grasp the current situation.

At this moment, a stinging sensation suddenly came from the back of Luo Zhen's right hand, drawing Luo Zhen's attention.

And when Luo Zhen saw the scene on the back of his right hand, a surprised expression appeared on his face.

A striking red pattern was imprinted on the back of Luo Zhen's right hand.

The pattern had three strokes, like three interlocking rings, forming a design.

From this pattern, Luo Zhen could feel a huge amount of Magecraft surging.

This allowed Luo Zhen to confirm what the pattern on the back of his hand was.

"Command Seal..."

————.

This was an extremely precious right of command, the exclusive proof of a Master.

It would be connected to the Magus's Magic Circuits, and as long as an order was given to it, it could be used as a source of magical energy to issue a certain degree of command to the Servant contracted with them, turning it into reality.

In view of this, Command Seals could be used to strengthen the Servant contracted with them, and could also be used to heal the damage suffered by the Servant. If it was an excellent Magus, they could even use the Command Seal to inflict a "curse"-like restraint on the Servant, using the magical energy it had transformed into.

And its appearance naturally meant...

"A Servant... has formed a contract with me...?"

This was the only explanation for the appearance of the Command Seal.

"No way...?"

At that moment, Luo Zhen was truly stunned.

If it were in the past, Luo Zhen would have been ecstatic about this situation.

After all, to form a contract with a real Servant and use the Heroic Spirit summoning system as a Master was something Luo Zhen had always hoped for.

That hope had now been realized in such a way that Luo Zhen had completely forgotten his excitement and could only fall into a daze.

Fortunately, Luo Zhen was originally a Master skilled in summoning Magecraft, and he quickly recovered from this sudden situation.

"Now is not the time to think about this...!"

Luo Zhen shifted his attention from the Command Seals on the back of his hand and instead looked around frantically.

"Mashu? Where did Mashu go?"

This was the most important thing to think about right now.

Recalling the feeling of the girl who was gradually losing body temperature in his arms just a moment ago, Luo Zhen immediately prepared to run forward.

Unfortunately, this action was stopped in the next instant.

"————!"

Luo Zhen's body, which was about to rush out, suddenly froze in place.

In front of his eyes, on the edge of the abandoned town, in the sky, meteors appeared.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh...!"

The sound of the air being torn apart rang out in the sky like a rainstorm.

That was...

"————Arrows...!"

That was all Luo Zhen could understand.

As for running away, it was already too late.

The speed of the meteor-like rain of arrows coming from the sky had already exceeded the shooting speed of the Shadow Servants Luo Zhen had used during the simulated battle.

In other words, it was a shot that surpassed the level of a high-level Familiar.

Whether it was power, speed, or quantity, it all exceeded the Shadow Servants Luo Zhen had used.

Faced with such a shot, Luo Zhen could only shrink his pupils to the size of a pinhead, like watching a slideshow before death.

And in just one more second, the rain of arrows would pierce Luo Zhen's body and tear it into countless pieces.

A more direct crisis of death than in the control room was coming head-on.

Faced with such a direct death, did Luo Zhen have a way to resolve it?

Magecraft?

There was simply no time to cast it.

Evasion?

With Luo Zhen's pitiful physical abilities, it was simply unrealistic.

Before the Spiritron Transfer, Luo Zhen certainly had no means to deal with this crisis.

But now, Luo Zhen had an ace in the hole.

"Clang!"

A dazzling light bloomed from the back of Luo Zhen's hand.

In the Command Seal formed by three interlocking rings, one of the rings suddenly faded, turning into a surge of immense magical energy.

Using this magical energy, Luo Zhen issued a command.

"Come to my side! My Servant!"

This command, supported by a huge amount of magical energy, became a reality.

And so...

"Haa!"

In a clear, delicate shout, a black shadow shot out from within the surging torrent of magical energy like lightning, blocking Luo Zhen's path.

Looking at this figure, Luo Zhen widened his eyes.

"Mashu...?"