Shinji Matou at Your Service

Under the twinkling night sky of the morning star, a loud bang shattered the tranquility of the Matou household.

The princess of the True Ancestors, the only living god, kicked open a door that had stood for over 50 years. She glared at the room's occupant, Matou Shinji, and demanded loudly:

"Why did you come out?"

"..."

Shinji in pajamas, lying in bed, did not respond, seemingly asleep.

After venting some of her anger by kicking the door, Arcueid seemed to remember something. She stomped to the other side of the room and knocked on the door that had flown off its hinges.

"I knocked on the door. Answer my question."

"..."

Seeing no reaction from Shinji, Arcueid finally lost it and yanked off his blanket, straddling him directly.

"Get up."

Shinji did not move at all, seemingly using his inaction to show his stance.

So Arcueid began to shake him vigorously.

And then—

"Ah~~~~~~"

"You, you guys—"

"Huh?"

"Oh?"

The multiple screams, of course, did not come from the two on the bed.

Turning her head, Arcueid saw two rows of heads by the door frame.

Kariya, Byakuya, Elsa, Sakura.

Justeaze, Touko, Kirie, Fujino.

Well, in such a short time, the entire Matou family had gathered. Considering Arcueid's earth-shattering aura, this was no surprise.

At this moment, the entire Matou household was strongly observing the ambiguous posture of the lone man and woman.

The observers' attitudes were mainly split into two groups. One group had smiles on their faces, occasionally making teasing comments:

"Young people sure are energetic, not resting even at this hour."

"How you play is your business, but don't disturb others."

Mature and calm, they might not know what was happening, but they were sure it wasn't playing. Who needs to kick down doors to play? The door was kicked to the other side of the wall.

The other group was far less composed. They only saw a man and a woman, alone, on a bed, late at night.

"You thieving cat!!!"

Kirie rushed to the bed and tried to pull Arcueid off. Unfortunately, with her strength, how could she compete with a True Ancestor?

After struggling for a while with no success, she called for reinforcements.

"Sakura, Fujino, come help."

Compared to Kirie, the two girls who had practiced self-defense for years were much stronger. But Arcueid's muscle strength was an EX, far beyond the norm. The three girls, red-faced from exertion, could not pull Arcueid off Shinji.

Finally, Justeaze and Touko saw the real problem.

"Shinji?"

"Everyone calm down, now is not the time for this nonsense."

Hearing the seriousness in their voices, the girls immediately complied, and even Arcueid obediently let go of Shinji's collar.

The girls stepped aside, making way for two women of supreme status.

Touko's fingers quickly brushed over Shinji's body.

"Everything is fine physically. His physical condition has improved by 1.5% since the last check-up."

A white thread flowed from Justeaze's fingertip and finally entered Shinji's forehead.

"The problem lies in his soul. The weakness of his soul is affecting his condition."

"What exactly happened? No, let's not get into that now. The priority is to get him back on his feet. Shall I do it, or will you?"

"I'll handle it. I'm better at this."

Gathering her long silver hair behind her ears, Justeaze, who was increasingly losing her Saint of Winter aura, bent down and pressed her forehead against Shinji.

At that moment, the two were closely connected, both physically and spiritually. The physical proximity maximized the effect of the contract.

A white spiritual light shone from Justeaze's body, flowing through the contact point on their foreheads into Shinji's body. Soon, Shinji's body also began to emit a white light, which gradually turned blue.

When Shinji's entire body was enveloped in blue light, he opened his eyes, and most of the fatigue on his face had disappeared.

"Phew~ Finally feeling better. Thanks a lot, Justeaze."

Justeaze smiled gently and asked softly, "What happened?"

"Nothing much, just ran into a bit of trouble with magic, and then got further messed with by a certain someone after waking up."

The fictional world could only be accessed by Shinji and Arcueid. Until he found a way to bring others in, he didn't plan to let his family know about it to avoid worrying them. So he glossed over the details lightly.

The weakness of his soul was no pretense.

The fictional world was built entirely on the soul.

Transferring to the unknown realm had already consumed a lot of his mental energy. Then, to prevent a clash between two giant gods, he had to use his trump cards consecutively and finally forcefully log out.

This left Shinji's soul almost drained, which is why he couldn't react to Arcueid's intrusion. Otherwise, he would have immediately made Arcueid fix the door and then praised himself for teaching her well, as she at least understood the concept of knocking.

Arcueid, naturally, didn't understand Shinji's painstaking efforts. She snorted like a bull, "It's not my fault. If it weren't for you—"

"Whose fault it is can be discussed later. Let me rest for a while first. I'll probably sleep until the afternoon, so don't wait for me to eat."

Having spent a long time together, the family naturally knew to prioritize. Elsa discreetly waved her hand, signaling everyone to leave.

The last person who had not yet integrated into the Matou family was left behind by Shinji under the pretext of fixing the door. Seeing her restore the damaged wall with a touch, the others had no reason to doubt.

Once everyone was far away, Shinji finally answered Arcueid's question:

"Arcueid, do you think if we hadn't left just now, you could have won?"

"I don't know, but I definitely wouldn't lose."

"Then how long could you hold out with your 'won't lose' stance? The fictional world is not Earth."

Arcueid, who was using her thoughts to restore the door to its pre-kicked state, paused, and her voice involuntarily weakened.

"I can't use that ability on Earth because the Human Order will stop me."

Although it wasn't a direct answer, Shinji knew she understood his point and didn't press further.

"I don't know what Gaia is thinking, but no matter what, I don't want to lose you—because you're my only partner there."

"Um, I'm sorry."

Arcueid, who had restored the room to its original state, bowed her head, not daring to look at Shinji.

"It's okay. Just remember not to be so impulsive next time," Shinji said as he crawled back under the covers.

"Go rest. Using U.O takes a toll on you too. We'll continue exploring tomorrow night."

"Okay."

"Good night, sweet dreams."

"Mm, good night."

Arcueid's lips curled up slightly as she quietly closed the door.

Under the covers, Shinji did not close his eyes. He kept replaying the events of tonight's exploration in his mind, muttering to himself.

"Gaia, and Alaya, what are you thinking? Are you enemies?"