The Entire Display Cabinet Descended into Chaos

K had actually wanted to keep probing Chen Xiao's secrets.

He worried that the Chen family's apparent young master was merely a smokescreen, not their real heir, and that the true heir was Chen Xiao, who had gone to Magic City to live as an ordinary person.

There had been cases in the Chen family's history where they publicly named a legitimate son as heir while secretly choosing a son born to a concubine, thereby escaping the destruction of their entire clan.

After all, in both supernatural incidents involving Chen Xiao, not only had he emerged alive and well, but those who targeted him had ended up wishing they were dead.

But K did not dare gamble.

Even Huang Qingque, the disciple of the head of the Diviners, could not see any information about the other party, despite the powerful causal link of Gao Chen being the "victim."

And after obtaining the report on Gao Chen's body through an informant, even the Alabachia Federation's most deranged scientists had stated that they could not alter a person's brain into such an apparently "congenital" deformity in less than half a day!

On one side was Chen Xiao, an ordinary person who had yet to awaken a superpower.

On the other was an entity whose information was entirely hidden in "mist," with no way to know how terrifying its power was.

What if the two really were the same person?

"Then how could I ever get my revenge?"

Ring, ring...

Just then, the private phone beside his bed rang.

Although they already used smartphones, the Playing Card Organization still used rotary-phone ringtones from the previous century, and everyone had a different personal ringtone.

They might sound alike to outsiders, but to members of the organization, every "ring, ring" had a distinct melody.

"Spade K, why did you turn down another assignment?"

A woman's voice came from the other end, sounding somewhat aged.

"If you keep this up, the company will reduce your assignment quota."

"Then let them. I've never cared about that."

K stated that he was only interested in assignments that would let him take revenge on the Chen family.

"Hmph. People like you, who care only about revenge and not profit, are such a pain to deal with."

The woman on the other end gave a cold laugh.

"...Black Queen, I ran into a problem during these two assignments. Could I ask your advice?"

K fell silent for a moment.

Then he decided to tell her about the mystery surrounding Chen Xiao.

Ten minutes passed.

"Hahaha..."

After hearing K explain the entire sequence of events, Black Queen could not help laughing. From the way her voice rose and fell, she seemed to be shaking her head as she laughed on the other end.

"What was that Shenzhou saying again... right, worrying that the sky will fall! Your deep hatred of the Chen family has made you focus far too much on an ordinary person, blowing that tiny possibility completely out of proportion."

K responded with silence.

He looked like a student being corrected by his teacher.

But inside, he thought, This fool is unworthy of plotting with me!

Still, Black Queen had a point. He had absolutely no evidence linking Chen Xiao to that terrifying entity.

Perhaps the guy really was just lucky?

"If you want revenge on the Chen family that badly, I have a commission arranged by the Dolan Blood Clan. The reward will definitely make you say yes..."

"What's the reward?"

K raised an eyebrow.

"We'll discuss the details once the item arrives, but I can tell you this much first. If you succeed... you might be able to kill that Chen family young master's older sister."

"I'm in!"

K agreed without hesitation.

"Hehehe... I knew you'd like it."

With that, Black Queen hung up.

In the bedroom at Chen Xiao's home.

A sudden flare of red light inside the display cabinet shone through the glass, illuminating half the room.

Yet Chen Xiao did not stir in bed, nor did the glaring red light wake him.

"The threads of fate have been disturbed... it isn't A-Xiao himself, but a blood relative of his."

In her figurine form, Remilia once again conjured a glowing orb entwined with countless red threads in her hand.

"What! Someone wants to hurt A-Xiao's family?"

Someone lying in bed immediately sat up, her crimson lips parting in a sweet cry of surprise that sounded nothing like a man's voice.

A closer look revealed that she had neither black hair nor brown eyes, but red hair and green eyes!

As she threw back the warm covers, she revealed a voluptuous bare body that could rival the Shipgirls of Azur Lane. Even beneath the red glow of fate's power, her skin had a dewy sheen, and she made no attempt to hide herself from the young man lying beside her.

Rias Gremory-from High School DxD.

As for the person sleeping beside her, that was naturally Chen Xiao...

Hmm?

Why had he not woken up when Rias shouted so loudly, you ask?

Chen Xiao would not wake up until dawn. (A devil's whisper.)

Of course, until Chen Xiao truly let himself go, they would not take things too far either. At most, there would be a little kissing, hugging, and rubbing against him.

"It's only been a few days... and something has happened again... my child."

A certain horned goddess in the Fate/Grand Order display section spoke with a worried expression.

"If only... I had enough power... I... as his mother, could help too."

The other figurines, who had been about to speak: ... (Sweating buckets.)

"Ahem! Primordial Earth Mother Goddess of Mesopotamia... you need not worry. Most of those currently capable of taking physical form are more than strong enough to handle this trial of fate."

A white-haired girl wearing a Japanese school uniform and a cat-eared hat spoke up to reassure her.

"There's no rush. We still have plenty of time..."

Remilia also explained, sounding a little nervous.

"The danger comes from a renegade vampire in this world who intends to use the ley lines of Shenzhou and a blood sacrifice to revert to an ancestral form."

Black Queen had not even assigned the task yet, but Remilia had already glimpsed its details through the power of fate.

So much for the Cambridge Five.

"A renegade vampire? Let me! Let me!"

At that, a blonde, red-eyed girl figurine immediately thrust her hand high into the air and called out excitedly.

"Huh? Why are you butting in? You idiot princess, don't you know what league you're in? You'd be lucky to take physical form for even a second!"

A blue-haired nun figurine beside her mocked her mercilessly.

"Ciel! You jerk!"

The blonde, red-eyed girl immediately threw a punch.

She knocked the nun to the floor with ease.

"Ar-cue-id!"

The blue-haired nun scrambled up and tackled the blonde, red-eyed girl to the floor.

The two immediately began wrestling.

Incidentally, while in figurine form and not using their powers, all the figurines had the same strength. That was why these two were evenly matched-two amateurs flailing at each other.

"If we're exterminating vampires, my Snowdrift Wolf would be perfect!"

"My transformation magic also has equipment for dealing with creatures like that!"

"Exterminating vampires should be about the same as exterminating youkai, right... and since Reimu has already had her turn, I can't fall behind!"

"Well said, Sanae!"

"We support you on behalf of Gensokyo, Sanae!"

"Since when did your Moriya Shrine represent Gensokyo?"

"I've heard vampires can recover from injuries very quickly. I wonder how their vitality compares to demons... Fern, would you like to give it a try?"

"Lady Frieren... this clearly isn't our turn in the spotlight." (Exasperated.)

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! As a Flame Haze, I'm qualified to handle this sort of thing too!"

The figurines in the display cabinet immediately erupted into a noisy squabble.

Perhaps only when the danger was close at hand would they finally choose one of their number to carry out the mission.