Chapter 28: Alliance and Imaginary Magic

The four-cornered eaves, carved beams and painted buildings, and the bright red Chinese lanterns attracted Miyu's curiosity.

But soon, she retracted her gaze and looked at the timid purple-haired little girl standing behind her. She remembered what Shuoyue said, so she reached out to Matou Sakura.

"Hello, my name is Miyu..."

And at the table in the hall, the two men retracted their gazes at the same time, looked at each other, and then looked at the back of each other's hands.

Three red lines of different styles were drawn on it, and the dark red one was like the mark of dried blood, with a strange beauty.

Before the servant was summoned, it was called the holy mark, and when the servant came, it was the command seal with the power to force the servant.

"Matou Kariya, the master of Servant Berserker."

"Sakutsuki, the master of Servant Caster."

If it were outside, such a self-introduction would definitely be regarded as a chuunibyou by others, but there was no joking in the tone of these two men. Instead, they introduced themselves seriously to their friends who were destined to become rivals.

"Servant Berserker (Servant Berserker), I didn't expect you to take this path, Kariya." Sakutsuki sighed.

Berserker is a relatively special job among the seven jobs in the Holy Grail War. This job adds the job skill of "Frenzy" to the servant at the cost of depriving the servant of his own sanity in exchange for the highest basic attribute among the seven jobs. Just looking at the servant's panel, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the strongest.

The two sections of the spell added by Kariya in the chant are to add the skill of "Frenzy" to the servant in order to meet the conditions for summoning Berserker.

In the original work, in order to torture Kariya more, Zouken instigated Kariya, who was already living a life worse than death, to summon Berserker, because Berserker was the one that was the most burdensome to the Master among the seven major classes.

But now Zouken is dead, and no one will instigate Kariya to summon Berserker. However, in order to defeat Tokiomi and for some unspeakable thoughts, Kariya still made the same choice as before.

"Even with a year of training, my ability as a magician is much worse than Tokiomi. The ability of the Master will affect the basic ability of the Servant. The Master cannot compare with Tokiomi, so he can only think of a way on the Servant."

Kariya's voice was resolute, containing an unshakable will. He took out an agate-like insect specimen and crushed it hard.

Rich magic power flowed into his body, restoring Kariya's loss.

The note that Sakutsuki gave to Kariya not only contained water-attributed magic, but also the insect magic that Matou Zouken was best at.

The insect specimens that Kariya was crushing at this moment were prepared in advance. They only had one effect, which was to replenish the magician's own mana loss. Obviously, he intended to use this method to solve the problem of Berserker's excessive consumption.

"Although most insect magic is disgusting, it feels good to crush these insects. It is quite stress-relieving." Kariya laughed and seemed to be joking in a good mood.

"Is it worth it?" Sakutsuki sighed, "Now you can raise Sakura until she grows up, without joining this war."

For Kariya, this is the best choice.

However, the man raised his hand, indicating Sakutsuki that there was no need to say more.

"You know, two months ago, Tousaka Tokiomi and Aoi visited the Matou family." Kariya looked at Sakutsuki, with fire burning in his eyes, "That man still maintained his damn elegance, and even deliberately prevented Aoi and Rin from getting close to Sakura because of the adoption."

In Tokiomi's view, since Sakura became a child of the Matou family, she was completely separated from the Tousaka family, and her past family ties should not affect her path of magic training - however, in the eyes of Kariya, who is still a normal person at heart, Tousaka Tokiomi's behavior is undoubtedly ruthless. This attitude not only hurt the young Sakura and Rin, but also made Aoi almost cry on the spot.

"Back then, I thought I was incapable of protecting Aoi, so I chose to flee. Aoi finally chose Tokiomi because of my incompetence, and I don't blame that guy for that." Kariya clenched his fists, "The reason I participated in the Holy Grail War was to let that bastard Tokiomi know that if he still regards magic as everything to him, then I will beat him up hard, damn elegance!"

"Tsk tsk... What a fool." Sakutsuki took a sip of the teacup, not letting Kariya see the admiration in his eyes, and still said mercilessly, "The best spare tire in the world."

"Hey! Do you still want to form an alliance?" Kariya slammed the table in shame and anger, "Didn't you come here to turn this place into a magic workshop, little bastard?"

In previous Holy Grail Wars, the Caster team would use magic to protect their bases to avoid being attacked by other servants. Obviously, Sakutsuki also had the same idea, and Matou Kariya was an old acquaintance and had non-conflicting goals, so forming an alliance was a good option.

What's more, Sakutsuki's goal is the Holy Grail, while Matou Kariya's goal is just to teach Tōsaka Tokiomi a lesson. The two people's wishes do not conflict.

But...

"Can you explain to me first, what happened to Matou Sakura?" Sakutsuki knocked on the table and asked, "Why did her hair color and pupils turn purple?"

Yes, if we say that the biggest change in Kariya and Sakura this year, besides the improvement in magic, is Matou Sakura's appearance.

The black hair and blue pupils that were originally inherited from the Tosaka family turned into a dreamy purple color - just like the color that was transformed by the forced magic in the original work after being humiliated.

If Sakutsuki hadn't felt that Sakura's state and emotions were normal, he would have drawn his big knife and started to chop.

"I was also confused at first." Kariya did not hide this. "The day Sakura became an apprentice magician, her hair color gradually began to change. Later, I invited the tuner named Melvin based on the business card you gave me. According to him, it was the influence of practicing magic."

"The influence of imaginary magic..." Sakutsuki thought, and the light blue screen was reflected in his golden eyes.

[Record conditions have been met, rewards are waiting to be collected]

[009: Matou Sakura (childhood)]

[Character information]: One of the miracle "stones" born from the Tosaka family, with extremely rare imaginary attributes, in order to exert her magic talent, she was adopted by her father to the Matou family. Now she is just a child who cannot use willpower to face the cruel fate and does not understand the meaning of life.

[Hidden Information]: B:85... What are you thinking about? Although they were lovers in a certain world line, she is just a child now!

[Record Conditions (1/2)]:

1. Get the approval of Matou Sakura. (Completed)

2*. Make Matou Sakura learn imaginary magic. (Completed)

"I see, the hidden condition is this." Sakutsuki muttered to himself.

After the first condition is achieved, the reward is a small increase in magic power, so what about this hidden condition? The reward must be more generous, right?

[Record Condition 2 has been achieved, and the reward "Imaginary Magic Usage Permission" is obtained! ]

As if it were a revelation, Sakutsuki suddenly felt the hidden imaginary magic and could call them at will.

As an imaginary element, the difficulty of practicing "imaginary" magic can be said to be extremely difficult, but once it is practiced, its ability is also recognized as powerful.

After receiving the reward, Shuoyue did not use it immediately, but clapped his hands vigorously and shouted loudly: "It's getting late, girls, it's time to go to bed!"

"Okay~~"

After washing up, the lights in the room went out and the room soon fell into silence.

Shuoyue lay on the bed, looking at the moonlight in the sky, his eyes glowing gold, and then he communicated with the Destiny Atlas and made a decision that made him regret for a long time:

"Come on, let me see what imaginary number magic looks like..."