As twilight neared, Lin Luo lay on the smooth grass, his eyes closed, his face so pale it lacked any trace of color, as if already dead. In truth, he had "died," for both his breathing and heartbeat had completely ceased.

"Strange, why isn't he waking up yet?" Beside him, the dark vampire Aeltruke, now reverted from her second-stage transformation to the frame of a fourteen-year-old loli, wore a confused expression on her beautiful face.

Behind her stood two figures, one black and one white: the dedicated bodyguards of the Princess, the Black and White Knights. And on her left lay a large white dog, currently using a front paw to curiously prod the blue-haired girl sleeping soundly on its back...

"Big White, don't wake her," Aeltruke cautioned lightly before turning her gaze back to the youth before her. It had been over six hours since she had fed, and theoretically, with her abilities, the higher blood contract, and his own inherent strength, he should have awakened within three hours. But now...

"How could this be? Did I fail?" the dark vampire murmured, a hint of worry subtly appearing on her face.

"Perhaps his ability was too low and he couldn't withstand the power of the blood contract, causing him to die," remarked the White Knight, Brad, with an air of profound boredom.

The Black Hime shot him a fierce glare. "Shut your mouth, you complete fag."

The White Knight: "..."

"I feel like this situation is a little different..." At this moment, the Black Knight, Stulot, suddenly spoke up.

"Hm? What do you mean?" The Black Hime turned her gaze toward him, indicating she was listening. While Brad’s comments could be ignored, as one of the oldest three Dead Apostles, Stulot’s knowledge of Dead Apostles was nearly unmatched, making his words impossible to disregard.

"Please allow me to approach and examine him." The Black Knight looked toward the Black Hime, who nodded her assent.

"It truly is different..." The Black Knight crouched before Lin Luo, examining him closely, and stated gravely, "Princess, this person has not undergone Apostlefication."

"What did you say?" The Black Hime was instantly moved. Generally, after a human is fed upon by a Dead Apostle, it is best not to move the "corpse," as the power of the blood contract might be disturbed and leak out. Thus, she hadn't touched Lin Luo since the feeding, unaware of any changes in his body. Hearing the Black Knight now only deepened her apprehension. "No Apostlefication, does that mean he... died?"

How was that possible? She had used the highest blood contract! Even a completely powerless ordinary person would, at the slowest, become a Dead Apostle within seven days, turning into a powerful Dead Apostle. Yet Lin Luo was a miraculous magician who could summon high-ranking Heroic Spirits, and the blood flowing in his veins was supremely miraculous. Even Apostlefication within a day would seem slow; how could he possibly be dead?

However, the Black Knight's words immediately confounded her expectations. He shook his head. "No, although he hasn't become a Dead Apostle, the Princess's power is present within his body; he is not dead, just... even if he wakes up, he will not be a Dead Apostle."

The Black Hime breathed a sigh of relief, but hearing the final sentence, she couldn't suppress her curiosity. "He's still human, then?"

"Neither. Not human, nor Dead Apostle."

"Then what is he?" The Black Hime frowned instinctively. "Could he be something similar to those Vengeance Riders?"

"Princess, please forgive my bluntness," the Black Knight rose from the grass, his expression serious. "After my inspection, I discovered a very unique and powerful force within his body, absorbing your blood contract power like a bottomless pit. That power is something I have never witnessed before, as mysterious as the time vortex that appeared previously—it is an entirely unknown entity."

"So, what exactly is he..." The Black Hime realized she could no longer fully grasp the situation.

"Not man, not thing; not Apostle, not Progenitor. If I must use one term to describe this life form, I would call him—a Pseudo-God," the Black Knight declared.

"Pseudo-God?" Not only the Black Hime but also the White Knight were stunned by his words. A Pseudo-God? Even a Pseudo-God is an existence higher than all of them.

"Then when will he wake up?" After a long pause, the Black Hime spoke with a serious expression.

The Black Knight shook his head. "I cannot determine that, but the soonest will be three days."

"Three days..." Cupping her chin, the Black Hime pondered for a long time before suddenly looking up and stating solemnly, "I have made up my mind."

"Hm?" The Black and White Knights both looked at her, their eyes filled with doubt.

The Black Hime merely smiled mysteriously. "Stulot, did I understand correctly what you just said? That his existence is so special that even if fed upon by any Dead Apostle, he won't die, but will instead absorb some of that power?"

"That interpretation is accurate," the Black Knight affirmed.

No wonder the power increase from draining him just now was far less than the first time—it must have been neutralized, the Black Hime mused to herself. Then, she smirked wickedly. "My idiotic sister is still staying in the Millennium Castle, right? If I send him to the Millennium Castle, what do you think will happen?"

"This..." Both men froze. The White Knight looked even more bewildered. "That's not right, Princess. The Millennium Castle was materialized by the White Princess's Fantasy Manifestation; we have no idea where it is, and even if we did, we have no way to enter the Millennium Castle, do we?"

The Black Hime shot him a disdainful look, having confirmed her assessment. "Brad, I've found that besides being a homosexual, you truly don't use your brain at all."

"..." The White Knight felt utterly dejected.

The Black Hime continued, "Although I dislike that girl, whether I admit it or not, she and I share a degree of blood relation; we are sisters with a strong connection. It's just that due to my severe injuries and inability to enter the Millennium Castle, I haven't gone looking for trouble with her. As for her... Hmph. With that innocent, idiotic brain of hers, she probably isn't thinking of causing trouble for me either. So, we both pretend the other doesn't exist. But if we focus our senses, finding her location isn't hard."

"Then do you have a way to enter the Millennium Castle?" The Black Knight voiced the crucial question.

"We don't need to go inside," the Black Hime said, pointing at Lin Luo, a smile curving her lips. "He broke the lock on the Shared Domain."

"What?" The Black and White Knights were profoundly moved.

The Shared Domain was formed by the Second Magic, akin to a miracle. Compared to the Millennium Castle, materialized by the White Princess's Fantasy Manifestation, they were virtually equal in level, differing only in form. If Lin Luo could break the lock on the Domain, then entering the Millennium Castle might not be impossible, provided they could locate it.

Of course, the Millennium Castle and the Shared Domain were different. The Shared Domain was ownerless; the Black Hime had acquired it by chance and couldn't use it arbitrarily. Once Lin Luo broke its lock, others could enter. But the Millennium Castle belonged to the White Princess; even if Lin Luo could enter, its gates would not open for others. However...

"We don't need to enter at all. His blood possesses an abnormal attraction for Dead Apostles. As long as my idiotic sister can't resist feeding on him, she will fall completely, and perhaps Father will be able to descend. How about it? Isn't that an excellent idea?"

"It is indeed a good plan, but Princess, aren't you afraid this human will die because of it? Even if the White Princess's feeding doesn't kill him, if she tries to kill him, he will certainly die," the Black Knight observed that the Black Hime valued the young man before her greatly, prompting his reminder. Otherwise, he wouldn't have spared a thought for a mere human.

The Black Hime merely gave a faint smile. "That's not an issue at all. Since he could relay my secret to that arrogant magician ten years in the future, he clearly won't die. Sending him to the Millennium Castle will just be a form of punishment."

...After a brief discussion, the Black Hime finally picked up Lin Luo and sat upon the Beast of White, with the Black Knight escorting them, preparing to depart for the Millennium Castle. Rei, meanwhile, was temporarily entrusted to the White Knight's protection.

"Brad, spend less time out there chasing after guys, and protect that girl properly for me," the Black Hime instructed the White Knight before they left.

"..." The White Knight was speechless and sore once more. Life without handsome men was so difficult.

...

Darkness, emptiness, loneliness, heaviness... Lin Luo didn't know where he was. He only felt utterly hollow, as if floating in the void, yet deep within his core was something intensely oppressive—a presence like a vortex, absorbing everything around it, threatening to pull even his own consciousness deeply within.

He couldn't tell how much time had passed—perhaps seconds, perhaps days, perhaps an eternity... He didn't know how long he had to remain in this place, nor did he even clearly recall why he was here. All his memories were blurred.

Ah, what is that?

Suddenly, Lin Luo "saw" a point of light shoot rapidly toward him from the distance. Gradually, that point became a line, connecting itself to his body.

What kind of line is this?

Lin Luo felt profoundly confused and instinctively reached his hand "out." Then, the moment he touched it... Boom!

A door opened for him.

In an instant, all his memories became crystal clear. Lin Luo snapped his eyes open and sprang up from the ground, instinctively sweeping his right hand forward. A vast expanse of white mist appeared before him.

"Sword."

As the word left his lips, the white mist seemed to come alive, rapidly transforming into a three-foot-long white longsword.

Swish.

He wielded it with his consciousness, and the air tore apart with a slicing sound.

Lin Luo was surprised and delighted. He was back! This was the power of Rules—the Rule of Life, the Domain of Creation.

Lin Luo's mastery of the Rule of Life was an unexpected boon. Simply by being fed upon by the Black Hime, he had unconsciously analyzed a portion of the world's rules, thereby gaining the ability to use Rule Power.

Lin Luo's Rule of Life was the power of secondary evolution from points and lines; fundamentally, the "source" constituting this power was points and lines. In the world of A Certain Magical Index, his Rule Power could be utilized at 100% capacity because he could grasp and utilize every point and line visible to his eyes—wherever his eyes could see, nothing was beyond his reach.

Now, having only analyzed a portion, he could only grasp a single line. Therefore, his Rule Power could not be fully unleashed—perhaps only one percent of its total strength. However, even so, the fact that he could use Rule Power was undeniable.

Moreover, not being fully bound to one line—the significance of that was completely different.

Lin Luo was confident that within a month at most, even if he couldn't deploy his full power, utilizing half of his Rule Power would be absolutely no problem. The Holy Grail War was still about a month away, which was just enough time.

What luck!

At this moment, Lin Luo truly wanted to hug the Black Hime and kiss her a few times. If she hadn't been so malicious in trying to turn him into a Dead Apostle, how could he have turned misfortune into fortune? Whether he became a Dead Apostle or not was ultimately unimportant to Lin Luo. After all, the Contract Book could nullify all negative statuses; even if he became an Apostle, it would merely be a change in constitution, nothing significant.

Lin Luo was quite philosophical about this. In truth, ever since participating in the God War, he had begun to detach himself from the collective of humanity. What difference did the identity of one more Dead Apostle make?

"Huh? Where is this?"

Just as he thought this, Lin Luo suddenly noticed his surroundings were somewhat different. This was not the forest from before, but a... castle?

It was a magnificent castle. Although it wasn't cast entirely in gold like Nero's Golden Theater, being built of very ordinary stone, its majesty and imposing aura were nevertheless superior.

However, precisely because the materials used to build this castle were only stone, with no other decorative elements, it fell far short of the Golden Theater in splendor. Moreover, the entire castle was a monotonous gray, appearing dull and oppressive.

"What in the world is this place?"

Lin Luo was utterly shocked. Looking around, he realized he was inside this castle. The outer walls soared into the clouds, and above his head, beyond the dim sky, he could see nothing else. The entire castle, viewed from the inside, was immensely vast. Just standing there brought a sense of overwhelmingly heavy pressure.

What made him even more uneasy was that apart from himself, there was no one else in this castle—no Rei, no Black Hime, no Black and White Knights, no Beast of White. Everyone was gone.

"Rei, where are you?"

Lin Luo wasn't overly concerned about the others. Given the Black Hime's strength, few people in this world could harm her. But Rei's absence worried Lin Luo greatly.

Although she could achieve Noble Phantasm-level destructive power when merged with him, in her normal state, she was just a fragile girl, and a naturally absent-minded one at that. Her sudden disappearance made it impossible for him to feel at ease.

P.S.: Please cast your votes, V!