"So, you have already locked onto all the monsters disguised as citizens, and have sent a... uh, 'Assassination Squad' to carry out the cleanup?"
Acting Grand Master Jean rubbed her temples, feeling that the worldview she had established over many years as Acting Grand Master was undergoing a severe test.
She tried to use the most official tone possible to recount this extremely unofficial matter.
"That's right, the progress is quite good."
Zane lowered his head and glanced at the display screen inside his mask.
"Let me check the data... hmm, 237 have been cleaned up already. However, the rest seem to have sensed the danger and have started huddling together for warmth, gathering at a few specific points."
He raised his head, his tone carrying a hint of helplessness: "This makes things a bit difficult for Hundred Faces."
Jesse spread his hands and added: "She has now sent out all her clones, which has severely diluted the strength of each individual. In a head-on fight, they probably couldn't even defeat a fully equipped Fatui Skirmishers soldier. It's not their area of expertise."
Just as everyone was discussing how to deal with the clustered monsters, a set of steady yet somewhat lazy footsteps approached.
Sister Rosaria walked over, dragging a solidly bound, bruised, and swollen humanoid "object" as if it were a salted fish.
She casually tossed the person at their feet, dusted off her hands, and said in an even tone: "Everyone's here? Good. I just caught a suspicious-looking fellow lurking in the alley behind the cathedral. Maybe they're related to the recent anomalies."
the quartet looked down, and the faces beneath their masks were instantly covered in black lines.
Lumine and Paimon also recognized the person on the ground—it was the individual form of Hassan of the Hundred Faces, specifically the purple-haired mature woman persona from earlier. However, she looked exceptionally miserable now; her normally neat bodysuit had several tears, and her face bore fresh bruises.
"Um... Miss Rosaria..."
Lumine spoke awkwardly.
"This seems to be... one of our own..."
"Master..."
The Hundred Faces individual on the ground struggled to raise her head, weakly looking towards Elliot, her eyes filled with grievance and the unspoken accusation, "This job is too difficult."
"Pfft—"
Elliot looked at the miserable state of his Servant and couldn't help but laugh out loud. He immediately forced himself to stop under Zane's murderous glare, cleared his throat, and raised the back of his hand: "In the name of the Command Spell, heal her injuries!"
A red light flashed, and the Hundred Faces individual's wounds healed at a visible rate; even her damaged clothes were restored to their original state.
"Thank you, Master."
She immediately regained the agility of an Assassin, knelt on one knee in a salute, and then, without waiting for anyone else to speak, her figure vanished with a "swoosh," moving as fast as if she were fleeing some terrifying beast.
"So... I just..."
Rosaria belatedly blinked her eyes, a rare emotion named "awkwardness" appearing on her face.
"Punched one of our own?"
Kaeya held his forehead, his shoulders shaking slightly as he tried hard not to laugh too loudly: "Judging by the results... yes, Sister Rosaria. You accurately struck a friendly unit that was carrying out a secret mission."
"Elliot!"
Paimon flew in front of him, her small hand pointing at the Command Spell that had disappeared from the back of his hand, exclaiming in shock.
"You just used up a Command Spell like that?! Don't you only have three in total? You used up one-third already?!"
"That's right, under the rules of the Holy Grail War, a Master usually only has three Command Spells."
With an expression that said, "You are too naive," Elliot calmly pulled out a massive writing brush from behind him, the tip dipped in a bright red "pigment" that emitted faint magical energy fluctuations.
Under the stunned gaze of the crowd, he calmly and skillfully drew a brand new, sparkling red Command Spell pattern on the spot where the original Command Spell had been on the back of his hand, like a child drawing graffiti!
"See!"
Elliot proudly shook the back of his hand; it clearly displayed the three complete Command Spells once more.
"Now I have three again! Rules? Those things are meant to be broken!"
Paimon's eyes widened, rounder than a Mora coin: "Huh??? You can do that?! That's cheating!"
"How can the actions of a scholar be called cheating?"
Elliot imitated the tone of a certain celebrity, looking smug.
"This is called flexibility and resource recycling!"
Zane rubbed his forehead: "I'm starting to think summoning Hassan of the Hundred Faces might not be the most ridiculous thing that's happened..."
Jesse nodded in agreement: "I suspect even if he spontaneously crafted a Holy Grail right now, I wouldn't be surprised."
Lisa looked at the writing brush in Elliot's hand with interest, laughing lazily: "Heh heh, it seems these friends from another world always manage to bring us some... surprises. However, shouldn't the priority now be figuring out how to deal with those clustered monsters? Our 'Assassination Squad' doesn't seem to be very good at frontal assaults."
Just as everyone shifted their attention back to the main topic, no one noticed that the ancient white light on the statue of the seven, located at the highest point of the Knights of Favonius Headquarters, flickered slightly again, seemingly carrying a hint of imperceptible helplessness?
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(A/N): Does anyone have any good genshin/hsr fics to read.. because I haven't found any that has peaked my interest as of late