When Emiya saw Melusine, his first reaction was:
Woc, Jormungandr!
Nono, this fight is ours!
His second reaction: Huh? Isn't Jormungandr supposed to only exist in the Lostbelt of the Fairy Kingdom… how did she end up here?
Wait, wait, wait—how is this even allowed?
Even though his confidence skyrocketed with her presence, Emiya suddenly felt a creeping panic. Could this world… not belong to Proper Human History?
Everyone knows in the Nasuverse, anything outside Proper Human History tends to get pruned by some bizarre twist of fate or interference. Whole worlds vanish overnight. Billions of people erased from existence without even knowing why.
…Okay, okay, focus. This was not the time to overthink things.
After two seconds of contemplating meaningless worries, Emiya shook his head and returned to the present. He brushed the frost off his arm and pulled Nono back to her feet.
He leaned close and asked in a low voice, "You summoned her? Are you feeling okay?"
There were precedents of summoning Servants outside of a Holy Grail War.
Like how the rule-breaking Einzbern family had Illya, their Lesser Grail, summon Heracles even before the Fifth War officially began.
The Lesser Grail had unique traits. You could summon Servants independently of the Greater Grail, though maintaining their mana supply was a heavy burden.
Was Nono seriously a Lesser Grail?
"Of course I'm fine! Wait, did you just say I summoned… who?"
Nono looked utterly lost—until she realized Emiya was talking about the strange girl who suddenly appeared: the "Servant."
"A Servant is a being summoned from the Throne of Heroes… Think of them as powerful allies in combat. But they're not mindless tools. They have thoughts and wills of their own. Whether they obey you depends on both your capability and their personality…"
Emiya whispered an explanation to her.
"Oooh, so that's what Servants are…"
Nono caught on quickly. This girl really had called herself a "Servant," and she'd just shattered a tsunami with a flick of her hand. That's insane! Could such a powerful being really be commanded?
"Ehem, are you my Servant?" Nono mustered her courage and looked at the petite girl, whose combat power was clearly terrifying.
"I responded to the summon. The contract is now complete," said Melusine, her face devoid of expression. She gave a slight nod.
Nono felt a little weird. This Servant wasn't exactly warm or friendly.
Then Melusine spoke again:
"Is the target that squid over there? Leave it to me. I will eliminate it at once."
…Whoa. This Servant meant business. Not much of a talker, huh?
A surge of mana burst from Melusine. Her dark knight armor rippled and shifted as if alive, the metallic sheen making it hard to tell whether it was refined steel or biological scale.
The sturdy plating creaked as it moved. In seconds, a long, sword-shaped metallic appendage grew from her body. She grasped it, and with a blast of mana, it ignited in a bright jet of white flame—like precision engineering had instantly forged two gleaming knight swords.
They weren't so much forged weapons as they were extensions of her body, formed from her own scale-like outer layer.
With a swift spin, Melusine took off into the air.
"Hey wait a sec—!" Nono cried out, wanting to ask if they could at least be carried to shore first, but she was far too late.
With a loud whoosh, Melusine launched skyward. Flames erupted from beneath her armor like rocket boosters, propelling her at terrifying speeds.
The two on the ground blinked—and she was already turning midair, a sonic boom trailing behind her, leaving Mach rings in the wake of her flight path.
"Is she… some kind of humanoid supersonic fighter jet?"
Nono's jaw dropped. Mach rings only appeared in super-speed airflow. This was crazy.
"…Honestly, calling her a humanoid fighter jet isn't wrong," Emiya replied. "But no fighter jet humans have built could ever match her."
They watched as Melusine reached the other side of the broken bridge. Her knight swords emitted blazing, focused beams of magical energy—like high-powered lasers—that effortlessly sliced through the sea like a hot knife through butter.
The massive Kraken still lurked underwater, swimming away at an incredible pace for such a large creature. Its muscular tentacles pushed aside the water as it fled toward deeper sea.
But it couldn't outpace Melusine.
As a dragonkin, Melusine could enter water freely. But she preferred the freedom of air.
"Rend!"
Once submerged, she rocketed through the sea like a torpedo. As she closed in on the mountain-sized Kraken, her twin swords slashed out with blinding speed.
Her strikes were as fast as lightning, yet as graceful as a dancer. Her blades tore through the sea, forming a tight net of intersecting swordlight.
The torrent of blades shredded the water around her. Several tentacles and the Kraken's head burst into huge sprays of blood. It had no time to react, no time to fight back—before it was reduced to floating chunks of meat in the ocean.
——
"The inferior lifeform has been exterminated."
After confirming the Kraken couldn't regenerate, Melusine shot out of the sea and returned to Emiya and Nono to report.
"Inferior… lifeform?"
Nono felt dizzy. Judging by that phrasing, this Servant had a weird worldview.
Melusine wasn't just a combat powerhouse—she seemed to view every lifeform other than herself as weak. If Kraken was "inferior"… did that make them—two humans—inferior too?
Could they even have a normal conversation?
"?" Melusine tilted her head, not understanding what was wrong with her terminology.
"The priority," Emiya cut in, "is to get us to shore. This place could attract new enemies at any moment. We're sitting ducks here."
Melusine didn't respond immediately. Instead, she looked toward her Master, Nono.
"Follow his orders for combat decisions," Nono said, shrugging. "Don't look at me. I'm just the mana battery."
She admitted it easily. Compared to Emiya, she had no combat experience. Better to let him direct things. The results would be better that way.
Melusine looked mildly surprised by Nono's willingness to hand over authority. She observed her Master for a moment. Her magical energy was plentiful, but her presence posed no threat. The young man beside her—with matching hair color—was far more dangerous, a trained and powerful warrior.
"I see. The weak obey the strong… Hmm, yes. A natural and logical arrangement."
What kind of backwards logic is that?!
Nono nearly rolled her eyes. Sure, it was true. But saying it out loud made things sound so weird—like she and Emiya were in some bizarre power dynamic.
Forget it. She couldn't expect Melusine—who felt more like a literal dragon than a human—to react like a normal person.
Emiya, on the other hand, wasn't fazed at all. To an average person, Melusine's words would be shocking. But as a dragonkin, she wasn't fluent in human speech—nor did she adhere to human values.
With their next step confirmed—getting to dry land—Melusine grabbed both of them and shot upward.
Whoosh!
It was Nono's first time flying like this, and she quickly noticed they were speeding up fast. "Wait, can't you go slower—"
"Please rest assured," Melusine said proudly. "My flight capabilities are unmatched. It takes only 0.3 seconds to break the sound barrier. Nothing can catch me!"
Now's not the time to brag!
BOOM!
Nono nearly thought her body would tear apart from the instant acceleration—but surprisingly, nothing went wrong.
Melusine's armor swiftly unfolded. Winglike structures and stabilizing panels emerged, along with simple seating supports.
Holy crap. She had wings now! They were literally riding a flying plane.
Nono couldn't help but mutter inside: what kind of Servant is this? Can she transform into a full-on mecha too?
On the other side, Emiya was calm. He knew these wings and extensions were all formed from Melusine's own flesh—refined from her skin, just like her weapons.
Still… so adaptable? His mind wandered. A thousand potential uses for Melusine's outer layer…
"Unfamiliar human detected!"
After flying for a while, Melusine turned her gaze toward Emiya. Since Nono had given him command during combat, she now asked him directly if action was needed.
(End of Chapter)
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