Grand Magus Rin Tohsaka

"Drink it!"

With a loud shout, Jizi charged towards Caster like a bullet, the blades of his Twin Blades aimed directly at her exposed, fair neck, and slashed down mercilessly.

Caster seemed caught off guard, neither dodging nor avoiding, watching helplessly as the blue-white blade of light grew larger and larger in her vision. Just as Jizi was about to succeed, Rin behind her cried out in alarm:

"Assa--"

"No load, no load!"

Jizi easily ripped Caster's head from her neck, but instead of spurting blood or collapsing, her body emitted a dangerous purple flash, and the magical energy in the air surged dramatically. Even an ordinary person without Magecraft knowledge could guess what was about to happen from this scene—

"Duang!"

Caster's body exploded like a bamboo tube filled with gunpowder. The powerful impact made Rin Tohsaka, who was far away, feel a tremor under her feet and almost lose her balance and fall to the ground. After finally regaining her balance, her first reaction was to look at the place where Caster and Jizi had just stood—now there was nothing there except a semi-circular crater with a diameter of more than two meters.

"Hey! Asashin!"

Rin's rational mind told her that Jizi would be alright, but a sense of panic still instinctively rose within her. Her earlier warning stemmed from her ability to use her Mystic Eyes of Replication to see that "Caster" was merely a Magecraft puppet equipped with traps. But had Asashin realized this yet?

"Oh dear, is this all you've got?"

Caster's voice rang out again, but this time she was floating about three stories above the courtyard of Ryuudou Temple. Her purplish-black robe spread out like Bats wings, with several Magecraft symbols appearing on the inner surface. At the same time, she also had a long staff in her hand.

"How could that be? Although I'm not the type to excel in direct combat, don't underestimate my ability to escape!"

Jizi's voice rang out, and Lin hurriedly looked in the direction of the sound, only to find that Jizi was not far behind him, leaning leisurely against a wall.

While keeping an eye on the Caster in the sky, Rin rushed to Jizi's side, intending to scold her for making her worry so much, but the girl preemptively interrupted her:

"So, Rin? Did you learn anything?"

"Um?"

At first glance, she didn't understand what Jizi meant, but she quickly realized that Jizi was referring to whether she had "learned" Caster's Magecraft using the Mystic Eyes of Replication.

"Is this perhaps your true purpose?"

Rin felt she had guessed why Jizi had brought her to Ryuudou Temple tonight—the Caster entrenched here, regardless of her identity and style of doing things, had demonstrated a level of skill that surpassed almost all modern Magecraft. For example, the levitation magic she was using now, which consumed very little magic, and the space Magecraft that instantly swapped the positions of her own body and her Magecraft, were techniques that were not even recorded in the Clock Tower.

It's not that modern Magecraft can't do these tricks, but they all require lengthy incantations and complicated spell preparations, while casters can do them almost instantly, at most only performing a single incantation.

Rin guessed that this might be because when Caster used Magecraft, he didn't chant in modern language, but instead used "Divine Words" that had been lost since ancient times. So for ordinary Magecraft, even if they could understand the principles of Caster's Magecraft, they couldn't learn it—however, Rin, who had the Mystic Eyes of Replication, was the only exception.

As long as you see it, you can learn the Magecraft you see and use it directly, even if the other party stops midway. So even if you don't know the language used by Casters, as long as it's just for activating Magecraft, Rin can copy that pronunciation and exercise that power.

"Hmm~" Seeing that Rin understood, Jizi smiled and nodded, "So you learned it?"

"Even if I don't deliberately learn it, I can passively memorize it just by seeing it—it's practically stealing skills, isn't it?"

"How can you call something Magecraft does theft?"

"What kind of twisted logic is that!"

Although Rin was joking, she didn't actually dislike Jizi's plan. Magecraft are a group of people who will stop at nothing to pursue knowledge, and Caster, who possesses countless lost ancient magical knowledge, is like a huge treasure trove. Even without Jizi, Rin herself would be unable to resist the urge to capture her and study her carefully.

"You still have time to chat? Looks like I'm really being looked down upon."

Suddenly, a huge fireball fell from the sky. Jizi quickly grabbed Rin and dodged away, adjusting the angle so that Rin could see Caster casting Magecraft.

"It's not a life-or-death battle; we're just exchanging tips and not taking it too seriously."

Jizi placed Rin in a safe place, and while using chat to mentally disrupt Caster, she jumped onto the roof and ran quickly across the tiles, looking for an opportunity to approach him.

"You dare say that? You clearly hit so hard just now."

Caster floated in the air, carefully adjusting his position to stay just outside the maximum distance that Jizi could reach, while wielding his staff and unleashing a series of Magecraft light projectiles at her.

"No way! No way! Is this all you've got, Princess? Is this how Aeetes taught you?" With Jizi's agility, she couldn't possibly be hit by Caster's magic bullet if she dodged with all her might. While dodging, she didn't forget to taunt, trying to entice Caster to use other moves to enrich Rin Tohsaka's skill tree.

"Little guy, you'd better watch your mouth!"

Upon hearing Jizi mention her father's name, Caster finally became enraged. Her attacks became even more ferocious, and she simultaneously wove seven or eight different Magecraft with ease.

"My words are certainly far inferior to Your Highness's. 'Alas, among all rational and natural creatures, we women are the most unfortunate. As girls, we dream of meeting a suitable husband, and after marriage, of staying with our beloved forever. We always value precious love more than life itself, never heeding the impending disasters and hardships.'--"

"!"

"It is unfortunate for a woman to remain unmarried at a certain age; but to marry requires a hefty dowry, ultimately finding herself a master. Worse still, marrying a bad man is even more miserable. Divorce is dishonorable for a woman, but we cannot simply kick a bad husband out of the house. Thus, the first thing a woman must learn after marriage is how to manage her husband. If successful, life is enviable; otherwise, death would be preferable." Such a poetic and emotional confession—I ask myself, I could never have uttered such words.

Jizi was recounting the lament of the betrayed princess Medea in Euripides's famous play "Medea," and it was after she uttered these words that King Creon, along with his retinue, banished her from Jason's city-state.

"I never said anything like that! It was all made up by busybodies later!"

Caster's tone was urgent and fiery, vehemently denying any connection between those words and herself. However, Jizi had no intention of arguing with her, instead using sarcasm and provocation to provoke her into revealing more of her Magecraft.

"Who knows? There's no smoke without fire. I don't believe a grown man could say such a thing from a woman's perspective. Speaking of which, Your Highness, your story has become a classic, known not only along the Mediterranean Sea coast, but also on the other side of Eurasia and even the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Shouldn't that be something to be proud of?"

Rin now felt that Jizi's mouth was a bit too sharp, always picking on people's most painful things—after hearing the conversation just now, she naturally knew Caster's true identity.

"I'm going to pull out that showy tongue of yours, wrap it around your neck twice, and then tie a knot!"

Caster's wand was filled with a large amount of magic, and dozens of spells were woven together in an instant. Rin's Mystic Eyes of Replication received a large amount of information in a short period of time, which caused her brain to be unable to process it, and she fell into a brief state of dizziness.

When she finally recovered, she looked up and saw Jizi Zi, who was tightly bound by several magical chains and hanging in front of Caster.

------------------ps-------------------

P. S. 1. I'm alive and well.

P. S. 2. The moon is my last shred of integrity; it hasn't been breached in over two years.