Adam glanced over at Martha, who was locked in combat with Jeanne, then checked his consumption value.
Consumption Value — 44/48
Summoning another 4-star Servant would require another 10 points.
He then looked at his emotion points.
After the commotion he'd caused earlier, they had climbed all the way to 46,300.
After weighing his options, Adam decided to exchange more emotion points for consumption value once again.
He'd still have over a hundred pulls left afterward—more than enough.
So he spent another 20,000 emotion points to gain 10 consumption points, instantly bringing his total to 58.
Consumption Value — 46/58
With that, Adam selected Martha (Ruler) and deployed her into battle.
[Martha] descended beside him in her swimsuit form.
Ritsuka Fujimaru jumped at the sudden appearance of [Martha] beside her. Once she cald down, she asked, "Adam, did you summon your Chaldea's [Martha]?"
"That's right," Adam replied.
Ritsuka looked between [Martha] and the Martha fighting in the distance. She narrowed her eyes, stroked her chin, and suddenly clapped her fist into her palm as if she'd figured sothing out.
"So that's it. You're having the clear-minded [Martha] personally put down the version of herself who can't act on her own will?"
"This setup feels pretty dramatic~"
Adam walked up to [Martha] to explain the current situation.
"[Martha], I summoned you here to—hm?"
The mont he got close, he noticed sothing was off with her. One hand was held as if gripping sothing invisible, while the other covered her abdon. Her face was flushed, and her thighs were trembling slightly.
When [Martha] turned and saw Adam, she quickly straightened up and flashed an awkward smile.
"Ahaha, if it isn't Adam!"
"What a coincidence. What brings you here?"
Adam blinked twice, utterly confused by her reaction.
"…What are you even saying? You're spouting nonsense. I'm the one who summoned you here."
[Martha] licked her lips awkwardly and scratched her head.
"Oh… right. That makes sense."
Seeing her continue to act strangely, Adam raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong, [Martha]? Were you in the middle of sothing important? Did summoning you interrupt you?"
Her face turned even redder. She instinctively moved to cover her lower abdon before quickly shaking her head and waving her hands.
"N-no, of course not! I was just… um… entertaining myself. It's nothing."
Adam's eyebrow stayed raised, then slowly furrowed. He was even more curious now about what she'd been doing.
Sothing about her just felt off, but the more pressing issue was the other Martha.
[Martha] breathed a huge sigh of relief, thinking she'd successfully played it off.
There was no way she could let Adam know what she'd really been up to!
Earlier, she'd spent a small fortune at Da Vinci's shop buying secret photos of Adam and various used items. If Adam found out and shut the place down, where would she get her fix from next ti?
Talk about terrible timing—she'd been right in the middle of using those items when she was suddenly summoned.
The instant she arrived, her mind and body had still been in that heated, excited state, only to be forcibly cut off. That's why her reactions had been so scattered, and why seeing Adam triggered such an instinctive response from her body.
Thankfully, she'd managed to get dressed before fully materializing, avoiding an even more mortifying situation.
As [Martha] lingered half-lost in recollection and half-embarrassed, Adam pointed ahead.
"Look over there, [Martha]."
She followed his finger, puzzled, and saw Jeanne fiercely battling another Martha.
Not knowing the situation, [Martha] froze.
"That's Jeanne… and… ???"
"Adam, what's going on here?"
"To keep it simple…"
Adam gave her a quick summary of the situation.
After listening, [Martha]'s gaze toward the other Martha grew heavy, her voice turning solemn.
"So it's from that ti, huh?"
"Yeah… Back then, because of the Mad Enhancent, I really couldn't control my own actions."
Then sothing seed to click for her. [Martha] laughed brightly and without reservation right in front of Adam.
"In that case, leave it to . My own problems should be settled by myself."
Adam gave her a thumbs-up. "Then I'm counting on you, Big Sis." He added with a grin.
"Ugh~ Big Sis, really…"
The faint blush that had faded from [Martha]'s cheeks returned. No matter how many tis Adam called her that, it still made her feel embarrassed—especially when they were in bed and he'd tease her about how the usually majestic Big Sis could make such shaless faces…
While [Martha] was lost in those mories, the fight was turning against Jeanne. For so reason, the other Martha was growing more excited with every clash. Her once-dignified smile had turned wild and violent, as if she was thoroughly enjoying the battle.
[Martha] shook her head to refocus, then leaped high into the air. Aiming right between the two combatants, she dove down in a flying Superman punch.
teor Fall~
BOOM!
The ground cratered massively on impact.
With controlled force, [Martha] sent both Jeanne and Martha flying more than a dozen ters. Jeanne was largely unhard, but Martha definitely felt that one.
Martha violently shook off the rubble clinging to her body, furious at being interrupted mid-rampage.
"Who the h— cough cough Who dares sneak attack ?!"
She quickly corrected herself with a couple of coughs and resud her saintly, dignified posture to face the interrupter.
Martha: "???"
[Martha Emotion Value 10]
[Martha Emotion Value 10]
[Martha Emotion Value 10]
...
Once she got a clear look at this 'herself,' Martha was stunned. After a second or two of silence, she rubbed her head in exasperation.
"My brain really is scrambled from the Mad Enhancent. First the Master, now I'm hallucinating myself…"
Jeanne was also montarily stunned by the new arrival but quickly realized what was happening. She glanced at Adam.
This [Martha] was clearly another Servant summoned by him, just like the swimsuit version of Jeanne Alter.
"Adam's [Martha], let's work together to free this controlled version of you."
Jeanne adjusted her stance, ready to rejoin the fight.
But [Martha] waved her off. "No need, Jeanne. Since it's , I have to finish this myself!"
She tightened the knuckle dusters on her hands. Beneath her serious tone was clear eagerness.
Jeanne stared at her, sensing sothing different about this version compared to the one she'd been fighting. This one seed… bolder. Wilder.
"But…"
Seeing Jeanne hesitate, [Martha] simply pushed her toward Adam.
"Aww, no buts! I have to take myself down with my own hands. Go rest on the sidelines. I've got this."
"R-Right…"
Jeanne nodded in a daze and retreated to Adam's side. She gave him a puzzled look.
"Adam, why does the [Martha] you summoned feel… different from the Martha in this Singularity? Or is it just ?"
Mash nodded. "I feel the sa way, Senpai."
Ritsuka agreed, noting sothing familiar in the way she carried herself. "Yeah, too. Ever since your [Martha] showed up, Adam, the atmosphere's gotten… a lot more intense."
Adam just smiled at their questions without answering.
Beside them, tatron Jeanne couldn't hold back her laughter.
"Pfft~"
"You probably don't know her real personality yet. Don't let the elegant saint act fool you—it's all fake."
Everyone's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Fake?!"
"No way!"
"Hehe, just keep watching."
With tatron Jeanne's hint, everyone turned their attention back to the battlefield.
Martha had already realized sothing was wrong. A hallucination shouldn't be able to damage the environnt or send real rubble flying at her.
So who exactly was this 'self' standing in front of her?
Martha's brows knitted tightly as she stared hard, searching for any weakness.
"Hey! You! Who are you? Why do you look exactly like ?"
"What do you an 'who'? I'm Martha," [Martha] answered honestly.
Martha's frown deepened. If you're Martha, then who am I?
"You're ? How could you possibly be ?! Unless…"
A horrifying possibility struck her. Her eyes widened in shock.
"Could it be… the Lord finally couldn't bear to watch anymore?"
"And summoned the sane version of here to set free?"
The dove watching from above remained silent.
[Martha] slowly shook her head at Martha's guess.
"I believe the Lord is always watching, but I wasn't summoned by divine call. I was brought here by the Master of Chaldea. I'm a Servant of Chaldea."
"Chaldea?"
Martha paused, tasting the unfamiliar word.
Seeing Martha still confused, [Martha] simplified it. "In short, just think of as your future self."
With that, [Martha] raised her fist. Her legs exploded with power, leaving a dent in the ground as she shot forward like an arrow.
Martha's body moved on instinct, raising her cross to block.
CLANG!
The iron fist smashed into the cross with a piercing screech.
"Ugh—!"
The imnse force traveled through the cross. After just a few seconds, Martha couldn't hold it and was sent flying backward.
After skidding to a stop over a dozen ters away, she stared strangely at the modern weapon on [Martha]'s hands.
"Hey, what the hell is that modern knuckle duster?! You're a saint! Why are you wearing sothing like that?!"
Martha pointed accusingly, as if trying to correct this very unsaintly choice of weapon.
[Martha] simply smiled.
"You're saying that to yourself, you know. Don't we both know exactly what kind of 'saint' we really are?"
She clashed her knuckle dusters together, sending sparks flying.
Unable to hide her inner thoughts from [Martha], the other Martha's montum faltered.
Still, she tried to argue back weakly:
"E-even so… we're saints right now, aren't we?"
"We should at least try to act the part…"
[Martha] let out a bold, unrestrained laugh.
"Who cares about that?"
"Anyway, my Master has already seen every part of —inside and out. There's nothing left to hide."
The "inside and out" clearly referred to more than just personality.
"Being exposed like that…"
Martha's face twisted with embarrassnt.
***
If you want to read up to 25 chapters ahead, don't hesitate to visit our patron: pat reon . com / XElenea (remove space)
User Comments
0 comments from readers