My Fates Codex in Type-Moon

That armor, balancing weight and agility, filled her with an overwhelming sense of familiarity—it was a mark of glory, a proof of identity worn by those who had fought beside her and slain one another on the battlefield in life.

That was what a knight was: one of the noble ones upon the battlefield.

Yet Saber, the King of Knights, would never acknowledge the figure before her as worthy of that title.

A knight had to be noble and valiant, illuminating the battlefield with their own light. They had to restore honor and dignity to those who had fallen into depravity like demons of hell, allowing them to become human once more. This was the duty a knight had to fulfill, a duty more important than their own anger, sorrow, pain, or suffering.

The Berserker before her was, at most, a rabid beast shackled beneath a suit of knightly armor.

As if hunting a magical beast, the girlish King of Knights neither announced her name nor wished to communicate. She merely raised her holy sword and cried sternly:

"Come, Berserker!"

"▉▉▉▉—!"

The beast clad in black armor charged from afar, while the golden-haired knight raced out from the castle.

They faced one another, ready to decide the battle in a single clash!

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The Saber class possessed the finest overall performance, while Berserker sacrificed reason in exchange for enhanced attributes.

This should have been an evenly matched and spectacular clash—if Saber's wrist had not been injured.

The massive treetop swept through the air, the red markings staining its trunk seeming to flow with blood as it smashed every tree of its kind to pieces.

Berserker roared violently, clutching a tree he had casually uprooted from the forest in both hands. His entire body spun at high speed as he wreaked havoc across everything on the battlefield.

The weapon he wielded was not like the Spear of Founding wielded by the Divine Ancestor Romulus, which connected all things and symbolized Rome itself. It was merely an old tree from the roadside, blackened by the Berserker's twisted, frenzied will and transformed into such a massive, grotesque weapon.

Under the control of his high-ranked Endurance and Strength, that enormous aberration spun like a millstone, pursuing the golden figure across the battlefield.

"I never expected him to be capable of even this..." Saber infused her limbs with Magic Burst and moved swiftly, but this was not for the sake of attacking. It was merely the bare minimum needed to survive such wide-ranging assaults.

The larger the weapon, the more unwieldy it was—that was common knowledge. Yet the thing in Berserker's hands displayed unexpected nimbleness, and Saber nearly got struck by the tree several times, escaping only through her Instinct.

If she could sever the giant tree with the sword in her hand, this predicament would be solved at once.

However, weapons transformed through Knight of Owner possessed at least the quality of a D-rank Noble Phantasm. Even the holy sword in Saber's hand found it difficult to cut through it.

Then, should she retreat?

Saber's Instinct told her that the Berserker before her had not come to invade Einzbern. His target was her.

Was he a Heroic Spirit addicted to battle? Or an Anti-Hero who simply delighted in killing?

But no matter what, it meant Saber had lost the right to flee.

Then it would come down to comparing their reserves of magical energy. Realizing this battle would become a war of attrition, Saber immediately reduced the force behind her sword strikes. She could not sustain herself if she swung at full power the entire time. She could only expend the least possible amount of stamina while evading Berserker's frenzied attacks.

Berserker's magical energy could not be limitless either. Wielding a weapon nearly a ton in weight like that, he would eventually exhaust his magical energy. The question was whether Saber could hold out until then.

The thought that her left hand was useless filled Saber with frustration. To wield her sword with only her right hand, she had no choice but to use Magic Burst to compensate for her insufficient arm strength. Under these circumstances, unnecessary magical energy consumption was the deadliest burden. Besides, if she could grip the hilt with both hands, she could release her Noble Phantasm and burn that giant tree until nothing remained.

The anxiety in her heart made Saber grit her teeth, but she continued her stalemate with Berserker, searching for a possible turning point in the battle.

That turning point came quickly.

Two bolts of red and yellow lightning tore through the forest. The twin spears struck out—one forced Berserker to defend, while the other directly severed the tree that had become a Noble Phantasm.

Freed from the melee, Saber took a deep breath, panting heavily. A tall, slender figure clad in a tight-fitting suit blocked her view.

"This is rather unsightly, Saber. The King of Knights' reputation is weeping."

The handsome man, beautiful enough to be sinful, winked at the stunned Saber. Those demonic eyes were not something ordinary people could endure. Unlike the dangerous, vicious twin spears in his hands, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne's smile was relaxed and carefree.

"Lancer, why are you...?"

Saber stared in surprise. Lancer answered with a smile, then pointed his spears at the stunned Berserker.

"And who gave you permission to behave so lawlessly? This Saber's head is the medal meant to adorn my spear. For an outsider to try and seize it by force is the conduct of a thief ignorant of battlefield etiquette."

That unrestrained declaration of the hunt did not upset Saber. Instead, Berserker seemed to have been provoked by something, directing all his killing intent and hatred toward the dual-speared warrior standing before Saber.

Come to think of it, this was already the second time Lancer had prevented Berserker from attacking Saber. Even the most broad-minded hero would likely harbor resentment over that.

Yet Artoria inexplicably felt that Berserker's fury was not due to his offensive being thwarted, but rather some more hidden and unspeakable emotion.

But now was not the time to consider the reason, because the black-armored Berserker had already charged at Lancer barehanded.

"Be careful! Berserker can transform any weapon he gets his hands on into his own Noble Phantasm!" Saber's shouted warning earned a refreshing smile from Lancer.

"Thank you, Saber. But I would also like to know—"

Gae Buidhe was cast onto the ground. The handsome lancer gripped Gae Dearg in both hands, lowered his body, and assumed an ambush stance.

"Whether the power to seize Noble Phantasms can still work before my anti-magic spear!"

Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald had not found this place by coincidence.

At dusk, when he stepped out of the newly established base, he was surprised to discover a magical cipher carved into the gates of the abandoned factory.

After easily deciphering the message, Kayneth obtained a simple statement.

"Over thirty kilometers west of the city, deep within the national highway forest, lies the base of Saber's Master—tonight, Berserker's Master will launch an attack on that location."

Servant battles could only be fought where no one would see them. Thus, after Kayneth used his own methods to confirm the information's accuracy, a flash of secret delight passed through his heart, only for him to quickly fall into hesitation.

Kayneth had also heard about the Einzbern territory while investigating before the war. Since it was a magus's territory, it naturally possessed barriers and defensive measures to a certain extent. Outsiders would find it difficult to gain an advantage fighting there. Then again, although he did not know the full story, Berserker's Master had taken the initiative to attack, clearly intending to challenge the Einzbern faction. There might be an opportunity to exploit in this battle.

Whether because Saber was injured, or because Kiritsugu Emiya had interrupted a sacred contest of magecraft, it was worth making the trip.

Having made up his mind, he entered the forest barrier with Lancer the moment Berserker appeared.

Things unfolded just as Kayneth had expected: Berserker and Saber began fighting. Although Berserker's Master had retreated from the very beginning and left behind no opportunity to exploit, Saber's Master had likewise failed to appear. Perhaps the other side believed that, being within their own territory, they could protect themselves even without their Servant nearby, and had therefore chosen to observe the battle from the rear base.

With that, Kayneth decided what to do.

No matter what, Kayneth first ordered Lancer to restrain Berserker and Saber, preventing Saber from leaving the battle line to return and defend while also greatly depleting her stamina.

As for him, the great Lord Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, he would storm Einzbern Castle alone. Though it was a bold challenge, it could not shake Kayneth's confidence. No matter what defensive measures Einzbern had waiting for him, he had mentally prepared himself to shatter them all completely, even if he had to stake the name of Lord El-Melloi on it.

To make up for last night's disgrace, he had to show this much resolve. Moreover, his fiancée Sola-Ui had already expressed tremendous dissatisfaction with both the new base and Kayneth's performance.

For the current Kayneth, making his fiancée withdraw her contempt was his most important task.

With soaring fighting spirit in his heart, Kayneth headed straight toward the depths of the forest.

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"Fervor, mei sanguis. (Boil, my blood.)"

"Automatoportum defensio. (Autonomous defense.)"

"AutonlatoporIum quaerere. (Automatic target search.)"

"Dilectus incursio. (Automatic attack.)"

"Scalp! (Sever!)"

About ten liters of mercury flowed from the bottle like a self-governing unicellular organism, forming a blade only a few micrometers thick and slicing apart Einzbern's gates.

Though this was a stronghold operated by the Einzbern Family for many years, Kayneth was supremely confident. As the head of the Archibald Family, the most renowned genius of the Clock Tower, and a great magus who had attained the rank of Brand at such a young age, how could a self-isolated family of homunculi unskilled in combat possibly stop him?

It sounded arrogant, but this was Kayneth's truest thought. Even through the magical vision granted by the barrier, Kiritsugu could sense the pride that had seeped into Kayneth's very bones.

"The ninth head of the Archibald Family, Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, has come to pay a visit!" Kayneth puffed out his chest majestically, his voice echoing through the empty hall.

"Magus of Einzbern! Stake your life and dignity upon the Holy Grail you seek, and come face me in an honorable duel!"

No one responded to Kayneth's provocative summons. In truth, he himself did not expect a formal duel to proceed according to convention. Letting out a sigh tinged with mockery, Kayneth strode into the center of the hall with loud footsteps.

At that moment, four seemingly ordinary vases placed at the four corners of the spacious hall suddenly exploded with a thunderous crash. What scattered from them were not porcelain fragments, but countless metal pellets, spraying toward Kayneth at the speed of bullets.

There was absolutely no magical reaction from the trap, and Kayneth had not even detected its existence. That was only natural.

What Kiritsugu Emiya had installed in the vases beforehand were M18A1 Claymore mines, also known as directional mines. They were anti-personnel mines developed by the American military during the Vietnam War in the 1960s. Using explosive force, they launched over seven hundred steel balls with a diameter of 1.2 centimeters in a fan-shaped spread, designed specifically to wipe out ambushed infantry in one sweep. In the blast, a target standing at the center had absolutely nowhere to run, and could only be blown beyond recognition into a mass of minced flesh.

—but that was only if the target was not a magus.

At the instant more than 2,800 steel balls were about to strike Kayneth, the spot where he stood was covered by a silver sphere.

An impenetrable film of mercury spread around Kayneth. Though less than a centimeter thick, it had been compressed with magical energy until its tension and hardness were nearly equal to steel. Not a single steel ball from the Claymore barrage hit Kayneth. They were all blocked and ricocheted throughout the hall, leaving only the castle's decorations utterly ruined.

"...Hmph."

After the protective membrane withdrew, Kayneth snorted at the enemy's vicious trap. Though he knew nothing of military weaponry, he understood that what had just attacked him was not magecraft, but merely an ordinary weapon using conventional explosives. At last, the truth behind last night's unpleasant incident became clear in Kayneth's mind.

He had already suspected that among the six enemy groups, Einzbern, who possessed Saber, was more eager than anyone to defeat him, Lancer's Master. Yet Einzbern was, after all, a renowned family of magi, and they had resorted to such vulgar and tasteless methods. As someone who likewise upheld the dignity of magecraft, Kayneth found it difficult to believe.

But—there was nothing left to doubt. The assassin who had used the most despicable methods to sabotage a magus's duel last night was indeed within this castle.

"...Has Einzbern fallen this far?" Kayneth's murmur carried anger.

To him, a legitimate noble of the Clock Tower, this was an unimaginable level of degradation. Kayneth would never permit them to bring someone unqualified onto this sacred battlefield.

"—Very well. Then this battle will not be a duel, but an extermination."

The CCD cameras hidden in the darkness of the hall silently recorded the enemy's every movement, relaying it to the man standing alone in the drawing room.

Automatic defense through magically controlled mercury—the actual thing before his eyes was far more formidable than the rumors suggested. Its reaction speed had actually exceeded the detonation of an anti-personnel mine. In that case, firearms and ammunition would be useless.

Though he was reluctant to admit it, Kiritsugu had to acknowledge that Kayneth was indeed a first-rate magus. Looking back, he should have reached that conclusion the moment the trap at the Hyatt Hotel failed to kill Kayneth.

That meant Kiritsugu Emiya would also have to fight this enemy as a "magus."

To find the enemy within the castle, Kayneth would likely search room by room from the first floor onward. The drawing room where Kiritsugu currently stood was deep on the second floor. If he acted immediately, he still had time to choose terrain advantageous for battle.

While reviewing the castle's layout in his mind, Kiritsugu walked toward the door, intending to leave the drawing room...

He suddenly stopped.

A metallic thread hung down from the keyhole of the door. It was a drop of mercury. That minute amount of liquid left a silver trail on the door as it dripped down the surface. The instant Kiritsugu noticed it, the mercury stopped flowing. Then, like a living creature, it climbed back up the door and flowed into the keyhole, vanishing without a trace.

"...I see. So this is 'automatic target search'?"

Just after Kiritsugu muttered with a frown, a silver flash pierced through the carpeted floor of the drawing room.

In the blink of an eye, a circular section at the center of the room's floor was cut free and collapsed into the floor below. Silver tentacles leaped out from the large hole in the floor.

The Volumen Hydrargyrum before Kiritsugu's eyes changed shape once again, now resembling a metal jellyfish. Countless tentacles clung to the edge of the opening in the floor, while the umbrella-shaped body at their roots spread into a flat disc, providing stable footing for its master. The man standing atop it with a victorious smile was none other than Lord El-Melloi.

"I found you, filthy little rat..."

Before the relaxed Kayneth could issue his attack command to the mercury, Kiritsugu drew a Calico submachine gun from the holster at his waist and opened fire at him.

The mercury reacted instantly, spreading a protective membrane before Kayneth and blocking the murderous torrent of nine-millimeter bullets. In only a few seconds, the magazine containing fifty rounds was emptied.

But those few seconds gave Kiritsugu enough time to chant his spell.

"Time Alter, Double Accel!"

As Kiritsugu shouted the incantation, a violent torrent of magical energy ravaged his body.

"Scalp! (Sever!)"

The moment the Calico submachine gun's barrage ended, Kayneth immediately pronounced death. Two silver whips stretched out at his command, striking from left and right with shrieking force as they attempted to slice open the helpless prey.

"Hmm?"

The cry of astonishment came from Kayneth.

At the very instant the two silver whips were about to sever Kiritsugu's body, Kiritsugu suddenly sprinted at an unbelievable speed, passing between the incoming whips. After evading the attack, he immediately leaped beneath the Volumen Hydrargyrum supporting Kayneth—that is, through the opening in the floor that the mercury's earlier strike had cut open.

"Gone in an instant" was made for situations like this. No human could possibly exhibit such physical ability, and Kayneth was momentarily unable to react, stunned for a second. But upon closer thought, it was nothing worth such surprise. A magus's battlefield was a contest to see who could be more extraordinary. If a little rat had entered this domain, there was nothing strange about it being different from ordinary people.

"I see. It seems he knows a little magecraft."

Though a faint smile appeared on his face, Kayneth grew increasingly furious inside. If he were merely an ordinary rat, that would be one thing. Yet that man had received the influence of magecraft, and still relied on such lowly methods as these. He was not merely a shallow third-rate figure, but a scoundrel willing to use any means necessary. People like him disgraced all magi.

"Despicable trash... atone with your death."

Kayneth's cloak flared as he leaped down to the floor below. The Volumen Hydrargyrum, reverting from its jellyfish form, followed him down, bouncing like a rubber ball at his side.