Shinji Matou at Your Service

Gacha, a core mechanic in many games before Shinji's transmigration—a truly magical system.

It can make someone feel elated, soaring to the clouds, or plummet into despair, where the entire world turns gray. From this, a series of terms have emerged, such as "seal clubbing," "whaling," "salt mining," "gacha ritual," and so on.

Of course, no matter how mystical it sounds, in the end, it's all just a probability issue in games. If you want something, just throw enough money at it to buy Saint Quartz, and you'll eventually draw what you want.

However, in the world after his transmigration, this method doesn't work. There's no Saint Quartz to reverse fate here. Everyone only has one chance to summon. Aside from guaranteed catalysts or narrowing the scope, everything else is left to fate.

Here, the phrase "ritual won't save you, and whale spending won't change your fate" isn't just an empty saying. Shinji had prepared extensively, thinking there'd be no problem, but when his sister Sakura went to draw, she couldn't summon Scathach that she wanted.

Now, it's Bazett's turn.

Pay attention—she's pulling the card, and she hit the jackpot!!!

She drew a man with a wild aura, dressed in a tight blue outfit, sporting a blue ponytail.

This outfit, this look—Shinji couldn't be more familiar with it.

Ez single pull!!!

She drew the famous hero from Celtic mythology, Cu Chulainn, the Child of Light!!!

The phrase "one pull to the soul" wasn't used wrongly.

Firstly, Bazett's idol has always been Cu Chulainn. She's admired him since she was a child. To summon the Servant she wanted most—how could this not be an "Ez single pull"?

Secondly, don't equate a Servant's star rating with their strength. Cu Chulainn is a top-tier Servant, stronger than many five-star ones.

—The above was just Shinji's internal monologue while watching Bazett's summoning ritual, with a fair amount of nonsense mixed in. Don't take it too seriously.

In the Holy Grail War, no summoning result is truly random—it's always inevitable.

Bazett's ability to summon Cu Chulainn is indeed related to her lineage, but it's not because of pure luck. It's because of her heritage.

Her family is even older than Gray's. While Gray's ancestor, King Arthur, was active during the age of faeries, Bazett's ancestors, the Red Branch Knights, were active during the age of gods—the same Red Branch Knights that Cu Chulainn belonged to.

The bloodline connection, along with the narrowing effect of the rune earrings, reduced the possible outcomes of the summoning. The rest was down to spiritual compatibility. Bazett, who had admired Cu Chulainn and worked hard to follow in his footsteps, was naturally a perfect match.

When Shinji received a call from Kayneth, he already knew this would be the result. He was more certain of it than he was when Tokiomi summoned Gilgamesh. After all, Tokiomi and Gilgamesh didn't have great compatibility, and the Fossil of the Oldest Snake wasn't a unique catalyst—it was entirely possible to summon other heroes related to snakes.

And sure enough, Bazett and Cu Chulainn hit it off immediately.

They were hitting it off!

Cu Chulainn's entire life was one of battle—fighting with friends, with his foster father, with his teacher, and even with his wife. His bonds were largely formed through combat.

The same was true for his interaction with Bazett.

At first, Bazett was a bit too excited to believe she had summoned her idol. Half-jokingly, Cu Chulainn said, "Try fighting, and you'll know if it's real."

Bazett took it seriously, and the two began to fight.

Although neither fought with full strength, the battle was still incredibly intense.

Cu Chulainn's weapon, as legend described, was a spear—a crimson spear. His spear techniques did not disgrace his reputation, as they were astonishingly fast. From a distance, it looked like a flash of red lightning. But this terrifying lightning was blocked head-on by Bazett—using her body.

Bazett didn't use weapons. Or rather, her body was the weapon. Each of her fists, feet, knees, and elbows were either directly engraved with hardened runes or equipped with protective gear with similar effects. She punched, grabbed, blocked, and deflected, neutralizing Cu Chulainn's crimson spear with her body alone.

Seeing this, Medea finally understood what Shinji meant earlier by saying, "She can fight Servants head-on" and "Whatever strategies I beat you with, she can do the same." This woman, Bazett, couldn't be measured by the standards of modern magi but should be compared to the heroes of the Argonauts.

Shinji, Fujino, and Bazett's performances completely shattered the impression Atrum had left. Medea even had a momentary illusion—Are modern humans all monsters?

Glancing at Medea's expression, Shinji knew she had misunderstood again, but he didn't bother to correct her. While the average modern human might not match up to those of the past, the high-tier individuals certainly weren't inferior. His opponents were exactly those high-tier individuals, and Medea would need to be cautious and give them her all if she wanted to deal with them.

Fujino and Kirie weren't faring much better. The former was covering her mouth, while the latter was rubbing her eyes as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Over the years, they had both grown and gained enough knowledge of the Mystical World. But they had never seen a true battle between top-tier powers. The most powerful fight they had ever been involved in was the subjugation of the Dead Apostle, Dead Apostle of the Lake, a subordinate of the White Wing Lord—and even that had been resolved by Touko.

This left them with no direct understanding of the high-end combat power of the Mystical World, not until this very moment when they witnessed the fantastical battle between Bazett and Cu Chulainn, a scene straight out of a movie.

In the living room, the only ones who remained calm were Medusa, Sakura, and Shinji.

Medusa was obedient and had a good mindset. Whatever Sakura and Shinji said, she believed. To her, this was just a simple Servant duel. She could perform similar feats, so there was nothing strange about it.

Sakura and Shinji had been trained by a Servant. With Scathach as their mentor, other Servants seemed less impressive. They were strong, sure, but not enough to shock the siblings. They were already thinking about how to deal with the situation if Bazett were swapped with themselves. Having a great teacher makes a difference.

After observing for a while, Sakura suddenly tugged on Shinji's sleeve and whispered in his ear, "Brother, why does that spear look so familiar?"

Shinji, with memories of his previous life, knew it was Cu Chulainn. Sakura didn't have that knowledge, so she could only rely on her keen observation.

"How could it not look familiar? If I'm not mistaken, that's the magic spear crafted by our Shishou and bestowed upon her disciple."

"Huh? You mean his true name is—"

As Scathach's disciple, Sakura was very familiar with Celtic mythology. Shinji's hint quickly led her to the answer.

"—Exactly the person you're thinking of. Historically, he's acknowledged as Scathach's most outstanding disciple. Haha, though some of us might not agree." Seems like Cu Chulainn and Scathach had some ambiguous (cough) relationship—well, I don't agree either!

"I don't agree either. You're the best, Brother."

Sakura nodded vigorously.

"By the way, Brother, that spear was made by Shishou. Can't we use it to summon her?"