Type-Moon, is this really not the Reverse Side of the World?

About the time it takes to drink a cup of tea later, Lin Jiuan leaned weakly into Merli's exceptionally soft embrace, his face a mask of humiliation. Merli withdrew her right hand but kept her left arm wrapped around his waist. The sound of slurping, followed by licking and sucking, came from behind him.

Sola-Ui was already in tears, her pained and desperate expression like that of a husband tied to a tree, forced to watch as his beloved new wife is dragged into the woods by a group of thugs. Natalia, on the other hand, looked on with envy. "Teacher, can you leave some for me?"

Lin Jiuan was currently the juvenile form of both a 'Beast' and the Dragon of Despair, 'Níðhöggr'—a being of extremely high rank. His vital essence was a great tonic. Even for ordinary people, consuming it could prolong life and strengthen the body. For succubus-types like Natalia and Merli, who used seduction as a means to recover and store magical energy, it was the holiest of holy grails. Just smelling the scent made Natalia feel the cells in her body stir with activity. If she could taste it every day, her power would likely increase manifold.

Not to mention, as a little succubus who, like Merli, had a particular fondness for youths in their sentimental years, Lin Jiuan checked all her boxes. Especially his cool, in-control demeanor from just a moment ago—it was incredibly attractive to her. And his current humiliated, teeth-gritting look was also very cute!

"No can do," Merli said. "Teacher hasn't had enough yet. If little Natalia wants some, you can come and get it yourself later."

"Teacher?!"

Under Natalia's longing and dissatisfied gaze, Merli licked her previously... occupied hand completely clean. She seemed to have even licked the scent away. Then, she rested her delicate chin on his shoulder, once again bringing her lips to his ear. She slurped her tongue, blew a hot breath, then moved down to his earlobe, her flower-like lips closing with a playful smile. "Thanks for the treat, little one."

"Teacher, a Servant's presence is rapidly approaching," Natalia suddenly warned.

"Relax, Teacher knows all about it. The moment he discovered me, this little guy deliberately leaked his own aura," Merli said, her beautiful eyes curving into crescents, her jelly-like cherry lips puckered mischievously as if she had succeeded in a prank.

Lin Jiuan wasn't bothered that his plan had been seen through. He had just been trying his luck, not expecting much success. After all, Merli was a terrifying being who had lived since the 5th century, when the Age of Gods still had remnants in Britain, as the strongest magus of her time. Her power and insight were far beyond what he, a little mud-ball less than a year old, could compare to. And when Artoria and Gilgamesh hadn't arrived after Merli had been toying with him for so long, he knew his little trick had been discovered.

"So, Teacher, does that mean we fight?"

"Oh my, I'm just a weak, pitiful little succubus. How could I possibly fight against such powerful Servants?" Merli stuck out her tongue playfully. "Of course, we're taking our hostages and running away~"

When Artoria, carrying Irisviel, finally rushed into the alley, she saw Merli holding Lin Jiuan. Cradling him in her arms, Merli gave her a soul-stirringly beautiful smile and even raised her hand playfully, as if waving goodbye to an old friend. "See you later, little Artoria~"

Artoria found this pure white, flower-like girl strangely familiar. But seeing that she was already surrounded by countless blossoms and about to disappear with Lin Jiuan, Artoria charged forward without hesitation, swinging her sword straight for Merli's pale neck.

SWOOSH!

She hit nothing but air. The jet-black longsword cut through a shower of petals. Merli and Lin Jiuan were gone.

"It's... an illusion." The late-arriving Irisviel was panting heavily, her ample chest heaving under her white coat. After sensing Lin Jiuan's aura, Artoria had carried her and rushed over. When they got closer and realized his deliberately leaked aura was fading fast, Artoria had put her down to rush to the scene at full speed, but she was still a step too late.

"They were long gone." Artoria's face was cold, her teeth gritted. She smelled a strange scent. It was the same scent Lin Jiuan had left on her during the day. That damned white-haired woman... she definitely did the same thing to Jiuan that I did. Damn it!

"What's this...?" Irisviel suddenly noticed a single, crimson rose petal on the ground where they had disappeared. She quickly walked over.

"What is it?" Artoria asked.

"There's magical energy residue on it. It seems to have recorded an image."

"An image?" A bad feeling rose in Artoria, but with no other clues, she still said, "Can you extract it?"

"I'll try..."

As Artoria waited, a sound of something cutting through the air came from ahead. She immediately blocked Irisviel's path, swinging her sword forward. With a clang of metal, a golden longsword was knocked away.

"Archer." Artoria looked coldly at Gilgamesh, who was walking out from the other end of the alley. "I don't have time to fight you right now." Thinking of Lin Jiuan being taken by that evil and wanton white-haired Caster, Artoria was extremely anxious. Jiuan can only be defiled by me! Those precious mana sources are all mine! Mine!

"You?" Gilgamesh, her chin still slightly raised, scoffed. Her blood-red eyes were full of contempt, not even lingering on Artoria for half a second before shifting to Irisviel, who was holding the rose petal behind her. "Offer that petal to this king."

"Impossible!" Irisviel was also annoyed. This was the second time this Servant had attacked her without reason! If not for Artoria, she would have been dead just now! But Irisviel wasn't going to argue with the Servant. Her eyes, full of dissatisfaction and anger, were fixed on Aoi Tohsaka behind Gilgamesh. "Aoi Tohsaka, what is the meaning of this?!"

Although some Masters and Servants in the Holy Grail War would resort to underhanded tactics for victory, among the three founding families—Tohsaka, Matou, and Einzbern—the participants generally played by the rules. Whether considering their own possible defeat, the pride of orthodox magi, or the consequence of their family's destruction if they were treated in kind, their conflicts were relatively civilized. There were conspiracies, but they generally didn't target the Masters directly. Killing a Servant was one thing, but even in a duel, it was a proper magus duel, with the understanding to stop short of killing, capturing alive if possible. But the Tohsaka Servant had now tried to kill her, not Artoria, for the second time!

"Hand over the petal," Aoi said coldly, not caring for the convoluted rules of the Holy Grail War. "A failure like you, who can't even keep track of Jiuan, is not worthy of holding it."

"Impossible!" Irisviel didn't budge an inch, her angry eyes meeting Aoi's cold ones. She would never hand over a vital clue to finding Lin Jiuan to this wanton, depraved, wicked woman! "If we have to fight, then we'll fight! Only the woman who survives will have the right to find Jiuan!"

....

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