"I'm not interrupting something, right?" Those words were said with a calm and casual tone, however, they didn't carry those feelings at all.

The Dead Apostle and 2nd true magic user, whose domain is the operation of parallel worlds, looked at the weapon and the 'guest' with a smile, but his red eyes weren't smiling.

Alex was cursing his luck as he couldn't believe that he got into this situation. This man in front of him shouldn't appear in this mission or at least in this scenario.

Is the nightmare space serious? How can players in his level be able to fight this enemy? Even their last card items are being affected by Zelretch easily, so this is beyond all that he faced until now.

{Get yourself together, master} Suddenly, like grabbing the last straw of hope, Alex heard Enkidu's voice in his head.

{This isn't the time to be lost in thoughts!} Enkidu, who saw his master state, couldn't help but remind him of the situation.

Enkidu was glowing with golden mana while standing in front of his master. The mana was absorbed from the ground and being channeled towards his chains directly.

He couldn't afford a moment of relaxation or even an instant to blink because this Dead Apostel in front of him won't give him the chance, especially if he was a space and time user. At any moment, Zelretch can teleport or use magic on him or his master, so he needs to be ready to cancel it.

By using the connection between his Noble Phantasm and the Counterforce, Enkidu can feel what kind of person is standing in front of him. A Dead Apostle and a true magic user, which are clearly hated by Gaia and Alaya.

When someone reaches the Roots, like the true magic users, they will be put directly on the blacklist of Gaia and Alaya. While the dead apostles are hated by Alaya because they can turn the humans into their kind.

Fighting this enemy, Enkidu thought that he should get a huge boost from the Counterforce, but the reality was very different. When he stood in front of his master, the support from Gaia and Alaya became minimal. Like they were screaming they hate Alex for some reason.

This made Enkidu's face twitch for a second while thinking about what his master did to anger the Counterforce more than a dead apostle and a goddamn true magic user!?

Enkidu didn't know that his master was one of the reasons for Satan to appear in this world, which wasn't a happy event for the Counterforce. Gaia is having nightmares about the land of steel and Alaya was given a nickname of the Edge Order, which made them hate him and the reason he appeared.

{Lancer?} Alex, who almost lost all his hope, felt like a ray of light shined on his dark world before he said in his mind {Can you block him for at least 15 minutes?}

Enkidu's face twitched more. In his whole life as a weapon, this has to be the largest internal conflict he faced. Honestly, if he wasn't a weapon, he'll probably turn around and call his master crazy now.

{I'll do my best} That was all that Enkidu could promise about the situation, which slammed Alex's hope into the ground again.

"Are you done? Talking in my back isn't very polite" Hearing the cold voice, Alex and Enkidu were surprised, which made Zelretch chuckle at their reaction.

"To be on this land really brings back memories" Zelretch felt the holy grail ritual that spread all across the city before he said " Makiri should have made his command seal system more secure than this".

"However, I don't think he has the chance now, at least not in this world" Zelretch shook his head like he was sort of sad about something.

Makiri Zolgen, the patriarch of the Zolgen family, which was one of the three families that made the Holy Grail. He was a man with a lot of ambitions and dreams.

His biggest dream was to create a utopia, a paradise where he can eliminate all the hatred and suffering from the world. This cause brought him to Japan where he participated in the creation of the Holy Grail, even if he lost his way now and became known as Zouken Matou.

"Enough with the dusted past. Now, what should I do with you?" Zelretch said as Enkidu's expression froze before the ground under him opened like ripples in water, which showed some signs of weapons.

"However, I think you know more than me about the situation" Zelretch didn't care about Enkidu's action as he looked at the side.

"Do I? Although I have to say, it's a pleasure to meet you, magician from this age" A voice echoed in the surrounding as it made Alex surprised and Enkidu's expression became grim.

Flowers petals appeared in the air before they gathered into the shape of a person as Merlin appeared in front of everyone.

"Are you coming for him? I wouldn't mind a helping hand" Zelretch said with a smile as Alex saw the man walking while growing flowers under his feet with a blank face.

"I'm afraid that I have to deny, even if I wouldn't mind offering a helping hand" Merlin also said with a smile.

{I was too focused on the magician} Enkidu glanced with the corner of his eyes at Merlin.

"Hm? I thought you're coming for him. It should be the second thing then *Sigh* the situation of this parallel world is complicated" Zelretch sighed at the situation of this parallel world. If it wasn't for the association, he wouldn't care about what is happening to it.

"Yes, apparently, Avalon's textures appeared on this world and they are somehow spreading" Merlin said with a slightly serious face while looking at the direction of the temple.

When Merlin finished with his shock about Leo's disgust- marvelous tactics, he felt something appeared in this present world. Something that was very faint, yet it was very familiar for Merlin to miss it.

It was Avalon's textures that appeared somewhere near this location, which made him rush directly to see what happened.

The Textures are layers of reality that wrap around the planet's surface, including the 'present world' bound by the laws of physics which humans currently live and the Reverse Side of the World beneath it.

Merlin felt the reality in this area is being written by the textures of Avalon and approaching a similar state to the Age of Gods. When that happens, a lot of violations and irregular accidents that shouldn't appear in this era will manifest more easily.

He doesn't understand how this could happen without anyone noticing, even the parallel worlds magician didn't seem to notice this until he came here by chance. If it wasn't for his deep connection with Avalon, even Merlin will be in dark for this accident.

"However, may I ask what brought you here?" Merlin said while looking at Zelretch with the corner of his eyes. He can't say for sure what made this magician appear here and even offer his help.

"Hehe, you're really expecting a lot from this old man. I'm just here to locate something and offer a stage for a Beast, nothing more" Zelretch stroked his short beard while laughing slightly.

"A stage?" Merlin didn't understand immediately, but then, he remembered who was the man in front of him.

Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, the user of the 2nd true magic, which allows the operation of the parallel worlds. This magic doesn't only give it users a huge ability around space and time, but it allows them to perform miracles that the humans' minds can't believe.

Traveling to other realities, having an infinite number of avatars across the multiverse(Type-Moon), summon accidents across time and space, even parallel worlds. If the user is strong enough, he can create new parallel worlds to use them in combat or even have a near-infinite amount of mana by using the source from other parallel worlds.

Merlin understood that Zelretch offered to create or send the battlefield to another parallel world, which is far, far better than the current world.

This made Merlin stare at him blankly before he said " Where have you been all this time?"

"*Cough* I'm not really interested in humanity's internal conflicts like you" Zelretch said with a listless tone.

"... Fair" Merlin didn't find a come back from that because he was interested in the problems of humanity.

Enkidu looked at these two having a conversation as he wanted to use this as a chance to make a breakthrough from this problem. However, when he tried to call his master, he noticed that his eyes started to become blank.

{Master…} Enkidu widened his eyes before he heard a loud sound in the sky. At the city sky, a red and black storm collided as the clouds were cleared.

This clash drew everyone's attention because of the amount of mana and power it contained, however, Enkidu recognized the red storm and the chance he was given.

*BOOM!!*

The ground exploded with a golden light as chains rushed from Enkidu and waved around. Like popping a bubble, the illusion of Merlin was broken instantly, which allowed Alex to wake up.

Enkidu waved with his hand as some chains rushed towards Merlin and weapons were shot at Zelretch before he picked Alex from his collar and jumped.

Merlin was pierced by the chains easily before his body turned into flower petals and appeared elsewhere while Zelretch didn't move at all.

All the weapons filled with mana that Enkidu shot disappeared when they reached a certain distance to Zelretch.

Enkidu saw this as he didn't understand before his eyes winded and looked at the area around him. Without any sign, the weapons he shot appeared around him while all of them were aiming at his master, Alex.

Enkidu didn't think a lot as he turned his hand into a blade of mana before he waved horizontally. Most of the weapons around was cut by his blade before he twisted his body in the air and used one of them to jump away.

*BOOM!!!*

Leaving a sonic boom in the air, Enkidu disappeared from the vision of Merlin and Zelretch and kept running away.

"Master, get yourself together!! If you keep doing this then your chances of survival are really below zero!" Enkidu didn't give up as he continued to remind his master.

"...." Alex felt really bitter about this situation, but as Enkidu says, he couldn't go out without a fight.

He took his gun and a weird crystal from his inventory before he sighed and tightened his grip on them. If he's going down, then he'll go down fighting at least.

Merlin looked at the two disappearing before he said " Are you letting them go?"

"Give it a second" Zelretch picked a weird sword made from gems before he looked in the opposite direction of where Enkidu and Alex ran.

Merlin also looked in that direction before he saw a green flash rushing towards their location. It was Enkidu and Alex, who just ran in the opposite direction.

Enkidu saw what was in front of him as he closed his eyes for a moment before increasing his speed. Apparently, the area space is looped and all the ways will lead to the same place, so he had no choice, but to rush directly.

Zelretch waved with his jeweled sword, which was his mystic code that allowed Multi-Dimensional Refraction Phenomenon and strengthened his magic and magecraft.

The space and time around Enkidu was distorting as Zelretch wanted to seal him between the cracks of space, but then, Enkidu glowed with a golden light and ignored everything as he rushed like a meteor.

Zelretch raised his eyebrow before waving the jeweled sword as Enkidu arrived in front of him.

*BOOOM!!!*

A shock wave of mana and wind blasted the surroundings as Enkidu was clashing with Zelretch. The sparks of mana and even Ether from the jeweled sword were flying in the air as Enkidu was doing his best to push forward while Zelretch was just raising his arm.

Compared to Enkidu, who was taking this seriously, Zelretch looked at the chains around Enkidu as he sensed a little bit of the Counterforce's power.

Do they hate him this much? He's just trying to help, but they still hate him! Zelretch couldn't understand what was going on in Gaia and Alaya's mind before his jeweled sword glowed like a kaleidoscope of all colors.

The space started to compress around the sword as the ether, which is a higher form of mana, rushed like a torrent to the present world.

Enkidu's eyes became pinpoints before he threw Alex away and channeled his mana to the chains.

*BOOOOOOM!!!*

A large shock wave razed the ground and ripped off most of the tree in front of Zelretch before Enkidu was sent flying.

Alex rolled on the ground before he saw Enkidu flying across the area and dragging his feet on the ground for more than 20 meters before stopping while Zelretch was casually holding his sword.

However, his life-saving skill, which worked like a six-sense, was activated as he rolled on the ground again and shot to his back.

A golden sword appeared from the dust and cut Alex's last position into pieces. Merlin looked at Alex avoiding his attack before he raised Excalibur and cut the laser beam in half.

Alex didn't wait to see the result of his attack because he can feel that Merlin is rushing towards him as he took the crystal and broke it.

This crystal is actually a mystery for him. He couldn't identify it completely in the nightmare space, so he only knew it had the blood of some sort of a demon, which can be used to change his bloodline after some treatment.

It also had another effect, which increased his power by x20 times according to the nightmare space, but the consequences are unknown.

Honestly, Alex didn't want to use this crystal at all, but the situation didn't allow him any luxury as he waited for the power and consequences to arrive. However, he only opened his eyes to see flowers growing under his feet.

"What the fu-... Ugh!!" Suddenly, Alex felt a sharp pain in his arm, only for his vision to shift.

He was on the ground, lying with a bleeding arm while looking at Merlin, freezing him with a spell.

His hand that had the crystal was cut off before he even used it in the first place. He was in an illusion from the moment he saw Merlin. If his skill wasn't on cooldown, he could sense danger, but it was too late.

However, before Merlin finished his spell, a chain appeared which made him stop the spell and avoid the attack.

Enkidu, who saw his master's condition, rushed to rescue him, but Zelretch stopped him, so he could only shoot one chain to delay Merlin.

"Hm? Aren't you taking it easy?" Zelretch said before the jeweled sword was glowing as a kaleidoscope bloomed in front of Enkidu's face.

Several Ether cannons fired at Enkidu, which didn't leave him any chance to breathe as all-colors magic beams carried a huge amount of energy that made him use his full power to stop them.

One, two, three… Enkidu was blocking the cannons like crazy as sparks were flying everywhere. Some of them hit his body as they blew away a part of it before he was fixed by mana.

He knew that he couldn't last like this, especially if his master was in danger now. His master proposed a 15 minutes delay, but it has only been 4 minutes now and the situation doesn't look great.

"Enuma Eli-..." Seeing the slim chance, Enkidu wanted to use his Noble Phantasm, but then, the whole area started shaking.

From the temple at the mountain, everyone felt a weird reaction of mana coming from it as the real world was getting affected.

However, before anyone understood what was happening, a large rainbow-colored beam rushed from the city as it carried a large amount of mana with a quality and form that Zelretch never saw before.

Even if that mana seemed angry for some reason that he didn't understand… Can mana get angry?

The beam ignored everyone before it reached the temple and hit the invisible reality marble on top of it.