Kiritsugu Emiya, the man known as the "Magus Killer," had spent the day moving through every corner of the city, patrolling in search of Caster's Master, but found nothing.
He had thought the day would end uneventfully, but he never expected Caster to cause such a huge commotion.
Upon arriving at the harbor's river mouth, Kiritsugu used his sharp instincts and experience to seize a favorable position first.
He swiftly took out his binoculars, raised them to his eyes, and carefully observed the situation around him.
Through the binoculars, he witnessed a shocking sight: Berserker had regained his sanity and appeared to know his Servant.
What shocked him even more was that King Arthur had pulled herself together again. Even from afar, he could deeply feel the bearing of a king.
"Berserker's Master is far too dangerous!"
The ability to restore a crazed Berserker's sanity was not something an ordinary Magus could possess.
The mysterious power wielded by that unfamiliar young Master filled Kiritsugu with deep wariness.
Kiritsugu found an unmanned speedboat at the harbor, started its engine through special means, and headed toward the middle of the river.
He skillfully picked up the WA2000 sniper rifle and began carefully searching for his target with the aid of night vision goggles and an attached infrared scope.
As the "Magus Killer," Kiritsugu naturally knew that when a Magus activated all their Magic Circuits, their body temperature would rise. This was especially obvious in a Master like Ryunosuke Uryu, an ordinary person whose Magic Circuits had been opened by the Greater Grail.
At that moment, in order to maintain Caster's manifestation and use his Noble Phantasm, Ryunosuke Uryu's Magic Circuits were operating at full capacity. They reacted intensely, appearing under the infrared scope as a bright heat source that stood out distinctly.
Although the thick fog affected visibility to some extent, Kiritsugu still recognized him as the Master in the photograph Maiya had provided, thanks to his wealth of experience and sharp observation.
Without hesitation, he aimed the barrel at Ryunosuke Uryu and slowly curled his finger around the trigger.
However, just as he was about to fire, a new development occurred on the battlefield, making him pause.
A familiar-looking boy appeared there.
"Berserker's Master."
Since the other party had also found Ryunosuke Uryu, Kiritsugu decided not to act rashly for now.
If he shot and killed Ryunosuke now, the young Master might take the opportunity to escape. From his current angle, he could not be completely certain of killing both Masters at once.
"Maiya still can't make it here in time."
Kiritsugu frowned deeply. An assistant was not merely there to handle trivial matters; she was also his capable helper at critical moments, specially meant to deal with troublesome situations like this one.
Unfortunately, Maiya was clearly slower than him and had yet to arrive at the scene.
Through the scope, Kiritsugu watched tensely.
The two Masters clashed, and then Ryunosuke Uryu fell to the ground, clearly killed by the other Master.
Kiritsugu secretly rejoiced. This could not have been better. He could easily take out the young Master now.
To ensure a one-shot kill, Kiritsugu steadily aimed the barrel at the boy's head.
The instant the other party seemed distracted, he decisively pulled the trigger.
"Bang!"
The gunshot echoed across the open water. Traveling at more than nine hundred meters per second, the sniper round instantly crossed the distance of over three hundred meters, about to blow apart the opponent's head with perfect accuracy.
For Kiritsugu, a distance of over three hundred meters was within his effective range, where he could perform steadily and guarantee he would not miss. Besides, he was using the WA2000 sniper rifle he knew best.
Even among experienced snipers, few could compare to him in terms of accuracy.
However, reality was vastly different from what Kiritsugu had envisioned.
Just after he fired, the boy suddenly tilted his head as though he had eyes in the back of his head, narrowly evading the lethal strike.
"What?!"
Kiritsugu was stunned, scarcely able to believe his own eyes.
He had actually missed!
No, it was not a miss. The boy had successfully evaded the rifle round at the crucial moment through astonishing reflexes and danger perception.
"Damn it, those reflexes and that sense of danger are beyond human!"
Before Kiritsugu could recover from his shock, he saw the boy smile and wave in his direction.
His heart tightened as he realized he had been discovered.
"Terrifying skills. This guy is too dangerous!"
The stronger the enemy, the less he could afford to let him go.
He currently held a relative advantage. If he could not defeat the enemy now, he might never have such a good opportunity again.
Moreover, because of the boy's appearance, a large area around them had already been cleared, so he did not need to worry about harming innocents.
He swiftly worked the bolt and fired the five remaining sniper rounds in the WA2000 one after another.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
However, after firing those five shots, Kiritsugu's expression became exceptionally grave.
He discovered that not one of the five bullets he had fired had touched the boy's body. The other party was like an agile cheetah, effortlessly evading every bullet.
"Damn it, is this boy really human? Who is he? He's not a Heroic Spirit, so is he some inhuman being, or a vampire Dead Apostle?"
Kiritsugu swiftly changed magazines and aimed his rifle at the boy again.
However, the instant he took aim, a chill shot from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, making his scalp tingle.
Because through the scope, he saw that the boy was holding a pistol and aiming it at him as well.
"A gun!"
Kiritsugu's heart shook. The other party was actually skilled with modern weapons too!
A flash of fire appeared, and then Kiritsugu felt the speedboat jolt violently and pitch intensely. His once-stable sight picture instantly lost its advantage.
He hurriedly rolled behind the speedboat, his heart pounding.
The other party was only using an ordinary pistol. By all logic, an ordinary firearm would suffer a drastic drop in both power and accuracy when shooting at a target more than three hundred meters away. It should have been impossible for it to create such an enormous impact that this large, two-and-a-half-ton speedboat rocked so violently.
Then several-meter-high sprays of water erupted around him, making Kiritsugu think he had been hit by a fighter jet's cannon.
"That opponent is definitely not an ordinary Master, but a Magus with formidable combat ability!"
Kiritsugu realized that the boy on the embankment was far more difficult to deal with than he had imagined.
He could not help recalling a Clock Tower lecturer who had scoffed at modern firearms and whom he had easily crippled.
However, the boy on the opposite embankment was completely different from that lecturer. The other party had a thorough understanding of modern weapons and the ability to use them.
"Too dangerous!"
Kiritsugu raised the boy's threat level several more notches in his mind.
At the same time, Shiki was inwardly cursing that "Magus Killer" for being despicable.
Caster was not even dead yet, and Kiritsugu had already opened fire on him, shooting six times in a row.
Judging from the gunshots and the ammunition's power, the other party was using a sniper rifle.
Shiki did not know much about firearms and had no idea what specific model of sniper rifle the other party was using, but he knew that any sniper rifle posed a lethal threat to him.
If he took even one shot, he would definitely not come out of it well. Losing an arm or leg would be lucky; otherwise, he might die on the spot.
"Damn it, do you think I won't fight back?"
Shiki was slightly angered. Simply taking hits was not his style.
He swiftly pulled the pistol from his backpack and activated the power of his Mystic Eyes at the same time.
In an instant, mana altered in nature flowed along his arm like lively currents of electricity, quickly crawling over the ordinary pistol.
The once-ordinary pistol changed instantly, strange blue circuitry appearing across its surface and giving it a sci-fi appearance.
The Asura Path ability had reinforced the firearm.
Shiki pulled the trigger, and a bullet coated in the glow of mana shot out at more than three times the speed of sound.
The reinforced bullet struck the Magus Killer's speedboat with tremendous force, making the boat rock violently.
He then fired several more shots in succession, the bullets striking the river and sending sprays of water several meters high into the air.
"Cough, as expected, this thing consumes quite a lot of mana. Its power is impressive, though its accuracy is a bit lacking."
Shiki sighed inwardly. He was not proficient with firearms, and he had only equipped this pistol for self-defense.
When he encountered a powerful Heroic Spirit opponent, he had merely intended to use it to buy a little time so he could summon the knight.
As for accuracy, it was truly not worth praising, especially against targets hundreds of meters away. Whether he hit depended entirely on luck.
After firing all eight bullets, Shiki helplessly discovered that only two had hit. The other six had all gone wide.
After reloading, Shiki did not receive Kiritsugu's counterattack. Instead, he suddenly heard a massive "Boom!", as though something had exploded.
"What's going on?"
Shiki was startled and turned to look at the giant Sea Monster in the river.
A huge fireball suddenly erupted from the Sea Monster's body.
His eyes sharpened, and he keenly spotted a fighter jet engulfed in blazing flames rapidly falling from the sky toward the giant Sea Monster.
Then he turned his gaze toward the glowing object above the Sea Monster, the corner of his mouth lifting in a cold smile.
"Has Archer grown a little impatient now?"
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