Mashu... Is a Servant...?

Amid the piercing sound of something cutting through the air, a meteor-like arrow tore across the sky and descended toward the Servant standing in the middle of the ruins, shielding Luo Zhen.

But before that could happen, a huge shield was raised like a fortress, catching the incoming attack.

"Clang—!"

Amid a heavy sound like a bell being struck, the arrow landed on the sturdy shield.

Immediately afterward, as if triggering a chain reaction, the barrage transformed into a meteor shower, crashing into the shield one after another.

"Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang—!"

The heavy arrows collided with the sturdy shield, creating an unending series of resounding impacts.

The force created by those repeated collisions stirred up powerful gusts. The gusts became a gale, the gale raised waves of dust, and the waves of dust formed a curtain that scattered the black smoke and blew away the surrounding sea of flames.

"Ugh...!"

As the choking wave of smoke and dust swept over him, Luo Zhen instinctively raised a hand to shield his face and struggled to steady himself, doing his best not to be blown away by the shockwave at such close range.

The arrows had merely landed on the shield, yet they had already created such enormous aftershocks?

Luo Zhen was deeply shaken by this.

Of course, that was not the only reason for his agitation. It was also because of the change unfolding before his eyes.

More precisely, it was Mashu's transformation.

"Senpai! Are you all right?!"

Holding up her shield and completely blocking the terrifying barrage, Mashu kept her eyes fixed tightly on the front without daring to relax for even a moment, while shouting to Luo Zhen behind her.

Rather than putting Luo Zhen at ease, this shook him even more.

"Mashu... you... how could you...?"

Luo Zhen could not even form a complete sentence.

Looking closely, he saw that the white Chaldea uniform he had grown accustomed to seeing on Mashu had completely disappeared. In its place was a set of purple armor resembling a skin-tight dress.

The purple armor clung tightly to Mashu's body, outlining her unexpectedly voluptuous figure to an almost alluring degree. While firmly protecting her, it also boldly exposed the front halves of her shoulders and the upper halves of her thighs, giving her a dignified yet seductive appearance.

Luo Zhen had known Mashu for two whole years, but he had never once seen her wear armor like this. Her figure, even more voluptuous than he had imagined, not only made his heart race but also threw him into complete disarray.

What shook Luo Zhen even more was...

"She actually... blocked that barrage...?"

A volley surpassing that of a High-Level Familiar.

If such a barrage had appeared during a Simulated Battle, Luo Zhen dared say that the hundreds of Lizardmen equivalent to Mid-Level Familiars he had faced back then would have been completely wiped out within a few dozen seconds.

This was simply not something an ordinary Magus could withstand.

Although Mashu possessed considerable aptitude for magecraft, her combat ability had not seemed to surpass Luo Zhen's.

Yet now, the attack that even Luo Zhen could do nothing against, the one he had been forced to counter by using a Command Seal to summon his own Servant, had been blocked head-on by Mashu.

That astonishing defensive power, the unfamiliar outfit, the horrifying fluctuations of magical power surging through her body, and the fact that she had been summoned with a Command Seal all told Luo Zhen one thing.

Mashu was the Servant with whom he had formed a contract.

"Mashu... is a Servant...?"

How was that possible?

Mashu was clearly a genuine human being.

Why had she become a Servant?

No...

It was not impossible.

"Could it be..."

Luo Zhen recalled an extremely important matter. The agitation on his face instantly tightened into grim tension, and he clenched his teeth.

Unaware of how many times Luo Zhen's emotions had changed in those few short seconds, Mashu held her heavy, enormous shield high—large enough to conceal her entire body—and blocked the terrifying barrage amid the shockwaves, shouting toward Luo Zhen once more.

"Senpai...! No! Master! Please tell me what I should do next...!?"

—"Master."

The completely new form of address from his junior finally made Luo Zhen realize the situation he was in.

That was right.

No matter what, he was now a Master.

Moreover, an unknown enemy had launched an attack against him and was trying to kill him.

If he could not find a way to resolve this crisis, then no matter how many confusing things had happened, he would have no chance to investigate them.

Only after escaping his current predicament could he calm down and resolve all his questions.

With that thought, Luo Zhen took a deep breath and made his mind start working again.

Then, in response to the situation, Luo Zhen issued an instruction without the slightest hesitation.

"First, find somewhere to hide!"

Once he had calmed down, the first instruction Luo Zhen gave was something utterly pathetic.

But it was also the most appropriate instruction.

"When facing long-range attacks like volleys and bombardments, the first thing to do is find cover!"

Luo Zhen raised a hand to shield himself from the incoming wave of smoke and dust, shouting loudly toward Mashu.

"We can't confront an archer in an open area! Let's hide behind one of the surrounding buildings!"

Naturally, this instruction received a reply.

"Yes!"

Without hesitation, Mashu lowered her shield, spun around, and grabbed Luo Zhen. Before he could react, she carried him and the shield—despite his weight far exceeding her own—at an astonishing speed comparable to a bullet, darting behind a nearby building.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom—!"

With nothing left to block them, the arrows descended directly onto the ground where Luo Zhen and Mashu had been standing a second earlier, accompanied by ear-splitting sounds as they shattered the concrete road, pierced through the solid bedrock, and blasted the asphalt into the air like an explosion, splitting it into countless fragments.

For a moment, violent blasts of wind erupted, blowing away the waves of smoke and dust.

"Cough... cough, cough!"

Behind the collapsed building, Luo Zhen, whom Mashu had set down, immediately began coughing.

It seemed he had still inhaled quite a bit of the dust stirred up by the shockwaves.

"Are you all right, Senpai?"

Mashu held her shield in one hand while patting Luo Zhen's back with the other.

Her worried voice, gentle movements, and clear eyes gazing straight at Luo Zhen made him realize that no matter what had changed, Mashu was still Mashu.

"I'm fine."

Luo Zhen immediately shook his head and looked at Mashu.

"Sen... Senpai..."

Only then did Mashu seem to realize that her outfit had become rather revealing. The hand that had been patting Luo Zhen's back moved to cover her front instead, and her pretty face reddened with embarrassment.

Watching Mashu awkwardly cover her body, Luo Zhen nearly let the tension leave his face.

At that moment, a meteor more dazzling than any previous attack streaked across the sky and landed on the building where the two were hiding.

"Boom—!"

Amid the violent explosion, the side of the building that received the attack was ravaged, with more than half of it blown apart.