I, the System Creator

Ilyasviel triggered a check-in event: cooperate with Miyu to defeat the Heroic Spirit incarnated from the Rider Class Card.

Check-in time limit: 20 minutes.

Check-in reward: one random item, skill, Noble Phantasm, or other possession of the Rider Class Card Heroic Spirit.

Seeing that random attribute, Illya broke out in a cold sweat.

She recalled the time she had been tormented by that "grow 1 cm" reward.

This time, it wouldn't be another improper reward, would it? Like directly gaining the other party's height.

If that really happened, she could probably cosplay Mother Irisviel...

Haibara Ai: Illya, did you go on vacation to Africa?

"Rapid Fire!"

A massive barrage of Magic Bullets enveloped the Rider before them, blasting the ground and kicking up clouds of dust.

The next instant, Rider burst out of the smoke and dust, her nameless short swords aimed at Miyu.

Seeing this, Illya hurriedly swung Ruby, firing one red Magic Bullet after another.

"BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The dense barrage stopped Rider in her tracks, preventing her from advancing toward Miyu.

Miyu let out a slight sigh of relief. If the other side had charged in just now, she truly might not have been able to stop her.

Though she was still somewhat unaccustomed to being around Illya, she had to admit that Illya's support was extremely useful.

Rider halted her attack, giving Miyu a chance to catch her breath.

Now! Miyu's expression sharpened as she immediately took out the Class Card Lancer and pressed it against Sapphire.

"Class Card Lancer, Limited Install!"

A crystalline sapphire-like radiance burst forth, and the Class Card Lancer seemed to melt into Sapphire.

The next moment, Sapphire slowly transformed into a crimson spear wrapped in thorn-like patterns.

This was the Noble Phantasm of the Heroic Spirit formed from the Class Card Lancer—Gae Bolg. It possessed the power to pierce the heart without fail. A one-hit kill; that was the defining trait of this Noble Phantasm.

Miyu had not had a chance to use it before. Even if it could kill in one strike, she still needed time to activate it, right? Its range was also a problem. Rider was simply too fast; recklessly charging in would be no different from courting death.

On her own, she had no way to restrain Rider's movements while simultaneously deploying the Class Card and releasing its Noble Phantasm.

But now, with Illya's support, Miyu had finally found an opportunity for a decisive strike!

Taking advantage of the moment Rider paused to block Illya's attacks, while her vision was obscured by the swirling dust, Miyu rushed forward and released the demonic spear within the Class Card Lancer without hesitation.

"Pierce—"

However, before Miyu could finish speaking, just as immense magical power ignited around the tip of the crimson demonic spear, that power abruptly died away as though its flame had been extinguished.

Miyu's body suddenly stiffened. Her feet slipped, and her upper body pitched forward.

Then, her expression went blank as she dropped to her knees and collapsed face-first onto the ground.

Chu Chen frowned slightly and instantly realized Rider was behind it...

Rider—Medusa—possessed high-ranking Mystic Eyes of Petrification. Even with Sapphire's powerful built-in Magic Resistance, it was perfectly normal for Miyu to be affected by Mystic Eyes of that level.

"Miyu!" Illya cried out in alarm, her face filled with concern.

"No, that girl did something!" Even Tohsaka Rin sensed that something was wrong.

The flying dust slowly dispersed, revealing Rider once more. Only then did Chu Chen and the others notice that the blindfold over Rider's eyes had somehow been undone, revealing her strange eyes with blood-red square pupils. Powerful magical energy churned within them. There was no doubt what they were—

"Mystic Eyes!" Luvia exclaimed in shock.

"Miyu! Fire!"

What slightly surprised even Chu Chen was that Illya was the first to step forward at this moment.

The tip of Ruby instantly gathered tremendous magical power, firing a vivid and dazzling crimson beam.

It nearly grazed Miyu's body as the enormous magical cannon blast directly swallowed half of Rider's body.

The tremendous impact carried by the blast sent Rider flying.

As soon as she sensed the pressure on her body disappear, Miyu breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, magical power swiftly flared atop the crimson spear's tip, gathering in ever greater amounts.

At the same time, Miyu sprinted after the flying Rider, moving at a speed no ordinary person should have possessed.

"Gae Bolg!"

Miyu released the true name of the demonic spear in her hand, thrusting it straight toward her opponent like a crimson aurora.

Sensing the danger, Rider tried to evade the strike. But the crimson spear seemed to have locked onto her, suddenly changing direction and still heading for Rider's heart. That was Gae Bolg.

A one-hit kill. The instant it was thrust, the result of piercing the heart had already been fixed. No matter how the opponent dodged, the concept of guaranteed hit had been woven into the demonic spear and could not be changed.

Unless the opponent possessed an ability like Instinct, allowing them to shift the wielder's aim before the result was formed.

A causality-reversing Noble Phantasm. Though it was merely Anti-Unit rank, it was still an exceptionally rare type.

Once the heart was pierced, even a Heroic Spirit could not survive without some special personal skill. Rider did not possess that kind of skill or a life-saving Noble Phantasm.

Thus, Rider's figure soon slowly turned transparent. What appeared afterward was a Class Card marked with the word Rider. Miyu slowly extended her hand and caught it.

"Phew... That's great! Thank goodness Miyu wasn't hurt..."

Illya immediately let out a breath of relief, her face blooming with a joyful smile.

Miyu turned around, her gaze lingering on Illya as faint ripples stirred in her eyes.

"Lady Miyu... Just now, Lady Illya..."

Though Sapphire had not spent long with Miyu, the two of them had unexpectedly gotten along well.

Even now, Sapphire could more or less guess what Miyu was thinking.

"Mm... I know..." A faint blush appeared on Miyu's cheeks.

She could also guess what Sapphire wanted to say.

"Miyu... Are you hurt? Are you okay after what happened..."

Chu Chen and Luvia hurried forward to check on her. As he approached, Chu Chen gave Luvia a rather surprised glance. It was normal for him to be concerned, whether due to his duty as Miyu's guardian or his relationship with her. But Luvia coming forward to show concern genuinely surprised him.

After all, with his intervention, Luvia and Miyu's relationship should not have become as close as it had been in the original story.

Seeing the concern in her eyes, Chu Chen was genuinely a little surprised.

But he soon put it out of his mind. Luvia was not going to harm Miyu, so why was he thinking so much about it?

"I'm fine..." As she said this, Miyu slowly walked over to Illya.

"Um... about just now... Thank you, Ilyasviel... Hm?"

After thanking her awkwardly, Miyu finally noticed that Illya seemed somewhat absentminded.

But soon, after hearing the voice from the System Network beside her, Miyu understood.

Ilyasviel completed the check-in and obtained Rider—Medusa's Luck E.

Illya: "...If I remember the Administrator's explanation correctly, E-rank is the lowest, right..."

Busujima Saeko: "...That's right..."

Yukino Yukinoshita: "Tsk~~ Illya's blood has been blackened by the legendary Blood of the Unlucky..."

Haibara Ai: "Illya, did you go on vacation to Africa recently? First your height increased by 1 cm, and now you got Blood of the Unlucky... This is really..."

Illya: "Sob!"

The battered Illya's heart completely shattered!

Are children this age all this monstrous now?

"Miyu, are you okay... Did my attack hurt you just now..."

On the way back, Illya had more or less recovered from the previous blow.

Now, Illya was more concerned about whether Miyu had been hurt. Her blast had practically grazed Miyu's body, which meant her own attack could have injured Miyu. Illya was very worried about that.

Of course, she was even happier that she could now take her relationship with Miyu a step further.

Miyu also realized something: many problems could not be solved through her efforts alone.

For instance, in her previous situation, if not for Illya, Rider would have seriously injured her long ago.

Illya was still holding both of Miyu's hands, her face full of worry, while Miyu was somewhat unaccustomed to it.

There was no helping it. She simply could not adapt to such overwhelming enthusiasm.

"I'm fine... Ilyasviel... Illya..." Suddenly remembering that Illya had told her to simply call her by name, Miyu quietly corrected herself halfway through.

Though she was still not quite used to calling her by name directly, Miyu would try...

Miyu truly was trying to regard Illya as her friend now... And she had also realized that she could not collect all of these Class Cards by herself.

"Phew... It's good that you're okay! You really scared me to death..." Illya immediately sighed in relief.

"You did very well this time, Illya... You saved Miyu. Compared to me, her guardian, you're far more amazing! To think you could unleash such incredible power at a time like that..."

Illya was clearly lacking confidence now, and what Chu Chen needed to do was help her build it.

Illya and Miyu could handle most of these early enemies by themselves. The ones Chu Chen would likely need to handle were Saber and Berserker later on. With the magical power and swordsmanship he had gotten for free from Illya and Busujima Saeko, dealing with Saber would not be a problem. Berserker would be more troublesome, but both Illya and Miyu had Magical Girl Transformation Cards. Perhaps they could deal with him without Chu Chen needing to step in... Besides, Chu Chen himself also had one Magical Girl Transformation Card...

Tohsaka Rin, standing nearby, nodded heavily. The satisfaction and pride on her face were plain to see.

"That's right, Illya... You did great this time! As long as you keep fighting like you did today, fully recovering all the Class Cards will be no problem at all!"

Illya scratched her head with a sheepish grin. She did not think she was as amazing as Tohsaka Rin said...

Besides, she was only this strong because the System had given her cheats! So Illya did not think she was truly that amazing... If she really were, she would probably have charged to the front like Miyu long ago.

Illya knew very well that she still lacked Miyu's courage to fight.

"But putting that aside, Ilyasviel, the amount of magical power in your body really is abnormally high... That attack just now clearly was not something an ordinary child could release. Though the Kaleidoscope Staff can provide nearly limitless magical power, its output limit is still determined by its wielder's own condition. The fact that you could unleash a magical cannon blast like that shows that the magical power in your body is astonishingly high... This is absolutely not something a normal human could possess!"

Luvia could not help carefully examining Illya as she clicked her tongue in amazement.

Her amazement was not without reason. Both she and Tohsaka Rin considered themselves outstanding among the younger generation of magi, yet they had now discovered, to their dismay, that they might not even measure up to a child like Illya...

Even if she compared herself while wielding the Kaleidoscope Staff to Illya, she probably would not measure up...

"Are children this age all this monstrous?" Luvia could not help glancing at Miyu again.

Though Miyu was not as outrageous as Illya, the speed she displayed in that instant when approaching Rider was not something Luvia could match... She was seriously beginning to suspect that she had fallen behind the times.

Feeling Luvia's gaze, Miyu could not help shrinking her shoulders. How should she put it? Luvia's gaze was a little too intense.

"All right, Tohsaka, I'll leave Illya to you. I'll take Miyu and go first... Bye..."

Tohsaka Rin silently watched Chu Chen leave with Miyu, then tilted her head toward Luvia's ear.

"Hey, hey, Luvia, is that guy really okay? I know he's that child's guardian, but he's still an unfamiliar magus. Is it really all right to leave the Lancer and Rider cards with that child?"

It was not that Tohsaka Rin was worrying too much. As a magus sent by the Clock Tower to carry out this mission, she needed to maintain that level of vigilance.

"At least until all the Class Cards have been recovered, he will not make a move against them... So there is no need to worry for now. Besides, we basically know nothing about him at the moment, so all we can do is observe for the time being..."

Luvia could at least be certain of that. Moreover, she could tell that Chu Chen genuinely cared about Miyu.

So at the very least, for that child's sake, he should not casually make a move against the Class Cards.

"What are you two talking about... Rin, Luvia..."

Illya looked curiously at the two women with their heads pressed together and could not help asking.

"My, my, you can tell at a glance that these two are plotting something... Otherwise, with their personalities, why would they stand so close together..." Ruby tilted slightly, her tone filled with teasing.

"Hehehe... That's true..." Remembering the relationship between the two, Illya could not help chuckling foolishly.

"Ahem, ahem... In any case, keep an eye on that guy. Being cautious never hurts! Of course, I also hope he is not a magus trying to seize the Class Cards..."

Tohsaka Rin was merely exercising basic caution. She did not want things to develop in that direction.

After all, if Chu Chen truly intended to seize the Class Cards, it would obviously create a rift between him and Illya. It might even cause problems between Chu Chen and Miyu.

Tohsaka Rin was not blind. She could naturally see that Illya respected Chu Chen as her teacher, while Miyu was both satisfied with and fond of Chu Chen as her guardian...