It Is Said This Chapter Was Updated Because UBW Ended

"Hmph, that bastard Tokiomi, what scheme is he cooking up now?"

Watching the battle between Eva-01 and Rider's army from afar, Archer suddenly blurted this out, likely having already figured out the plan.

"Your Majesty worries too much; those should be familiars summoned by Caster."

Although only Archer, Saber, Irisviel, and Weber were present, a fifth voice suddenly appeared. This startled Weber, causing him to jump back. He seemed to instinctively try to hide behind Rider, only to realize Rider wasn't beside him. None of the remaining individuals could be considered friends from any angle, leaving him in a state of isolation. His expression instantly became incredibly telling.

"Please don't worry, Mr. Velvet. No assassination will occur tonight." The voice now spoke directly from behind Weber, startling him again and causing him to stumble forward before scrambling to his feet.

"Who permitted you to speak before this King in such a manner?"

Perhaps unable to stand the boring prank any longer, Archer spoke up. With his words, Jizi could only reveal herself before everyone.

To clearly and precisely observe Rider's strength, Jizi had to enter the bounded field—poor Tokiomi, despite being the Master, couldn't even share vision with the golden flash. Thus, Jizi, who hadn't wanted to get involved, could only flash to everyone's side the moment Rider deployed his field, getting swept in.

Afterward, she maintained a stealth state. After a while, she realized it was meaningless and a drain on her magical energy, so she found an opportunity to reveal herself.

Also, scaring cute boys is not fun at all!

"Assassin..."

Saber let out a meaningful murmur upon seeing the Servant kneeling before Archer and bowing.

"May I ask what guidance King Arthur has for me?"

Saber had intended to question her about kidnapping Irisviel and indirectly preventing Lancer from fighting her in the forest that day. However, upon seeing Jizi's deliberately submissive demeanor, Saber found herself unable to speak—this Assassin was clearly a victim of a magical transaction, a cannon fodder character paving the way for the Archer team's victory. Even if she asked, she would likely only receive the meaningless reply, "My Master's orders."

But since she had already spoken, she could only follow up with a question:

"What proof do you have that these are Caster's demons?"

Jizi turned to Saber, stood up, and performed a bow. "My Master has ordered me to track Caster's movements for some time now, so I am very familiar with his magical aura—Your Majesty has also dealt with that madman. If you perceive carefully, you should be able to discern it as well."

Upon hearing this, Saber used some magical energy to enhance her senses and then observed the giant monster charging into Rider's ranks. She indeed detected a trace of Caster's corrupted magic—in reality, Jizi had intentionally placed a portion of the Sea Demon she had killed onto it to mislead others.

"Caster, that heretical fiend, but why would it appear—"

Saber stopped herself mid-sentence. She quickly figured it out—Assassin's feigned death was to allow her to truly hide in the shadows and gather intelligence on other factions. Now that she dared to appear, there was only one reason: she had learned all she needed to know.

Thinking that her actions over the past few days might have been monitored by this elusive figure sent a shiver down Saber's spine—though her Master was doing similar things. And because of Kiritsugu, Saber also knew they had very little information about the Rider faction. The burly, red-haired man had always moved by traveling in the sky via the Gordius Wheel, making him unsuitable for tracking, and even the magus killer was powerless.

It seemed Assassin had encountered the same trouble as Kiritsugu. However, tonight's banquet was precisely an opportunity for her to gather information about Rider, and for that, she had to abandon her disguise of feigned death.

Connecting these thoughts, it became obvious who had led the so-called "Caster's demon" here.

The slight goodwill she had gained earlier from playing music vanished completely once Saber knew the truth. Of course, Jizi didn't care about Saber's opinion; she'd rather spend that time gaining favor with Little Rin.

Regardless of the calculations going on in the minds of those watching from the sidelines, let's shift our focus to Rider, who was commanding the army fighting Eva-01.

Based on the information gathered from the brief clash between Archer and Eva-01 earlier, this giant monster possessed strength and speed commensurate with its size, and it was enveloped in a solid protective barrier that could only be broken by weapons with high divinity. If they were to engage it head-on without any strategy, they would undoubtedly pay a heavy price.

Fortunately, the monster didn't seem to have much of a brain—much like the madman who summoned it [Jizi: Achoo!]—acting recklessly and without reason.

But Rider's true identity was the renowned military commander, Alexander the Great. When it came to military command, even within the Throne of Heroes, few could match his caliber.

Furthermore, the troops he commanded at this moment were his former companions, now elevated to the status of Heroes. Their loyalty, bravery, and morale were absolute. Any order—as long as it came from the King—they would execute with high efficiency.

In comparison, Rider seemed to have the advantage.

The Macedonian army advanced in neat formations, marching in unison to meet the charging Eva-01. The soldiers in the front ranks were easily scattered, but as Eva-01 penetrated deeper into the formation, its speed was gradually slowed by layers of resistance, eventually coming to a halt.

Seeing this, Rider quickly issued an order. Countless javelins shot towards Eva-01 like a swarm of locusts blotting out the sky, but they all struck the A.T. Field, causing no damage.

"Hmm, I didn't expect its defense to be so tough."

Rider pondered, resting his chin on his hand while on the Gordius Wheel. He had initially thought that the protective barrier, capable of defending against Archer's Noble Phantasm, would have a limited range. He hadn't expected the A.T. Field to be not only omnidirectional but also highly effective. They didn't have many divine Noble Phantasms either... Hmm?

"Speaking of divinity—" Rider suddenly had an idea.

On the other side, Eva-01's situation wasn't very good—it could even be described as terrible. The reason?

The berserk Eva-01 did exhibit a degree of thinking ability, but its thought processes revolved around the goal of "protecting the pilot," or more narrowly, "protecting Shinji Ikari." With no pilot inside at the moment, its behavior mode shifted to "attack hostile targets" and "attack targets within line of sight," with the former having higher priority.

So, when Eva-01 charged at one formation, the soldiers there would stop attacking and scatter, and then, conversely, the formation on the other side would attack with full force. It would then abandon pursuing the soldiers at its feet and charge towards the other side—this cycle would repeat endlessly. Although those arrows and javelins couldn't break the A.T. Field's defense, Eva-01 had no energy supply at the moment. Any action, including maintaining the A.T. Field, consumed immense energy—in the Type-Moon world, this was expressed as magical energy. If it kept its defense active while running back and forth like this, it would likely cease functioning soon due to lack of energy.

If you can't find the book title, you can try searching for the author, maybe the name has changed!

It could be seen that the light of the A.T. Field surrounding Eva-01 had dimmed considerably.

"Opportunity!"

Eva-01, sensing a great threat, abandoned its pursuit of the small figures at its feet and turned its head towards the direction of the sound. A chariot, stepping on lightning, charged straight down from the direction of the sun, targeting Eva-01's head.

DUANG!

With a loud crash, the A.T. Field shattered into colorful fragments and scattered, disappearing before it hit the ground.

"ROOOOAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

Eva-01's head was directly struck by lightning originating from Zeus's power. It knelt on the ground, letting out a painful roar. Its massive hands continuously pounded the ground, kicking up countless stones and sand—this type of brute-force attack was actually more effective than its previous charges. Many soldiers were smashed to bloody pulp by the huge chunks of earth.

"As expected..."

After observing Eva-01 for a while, Rider formed a hypothesis: if attacks with high divinity were ineffective, could attacks with a higher level of divinity be used to neutralize or suppress it, thus causing effective damage?

This possibility was worth trying. Coincidentally, Rider's own divinity was sufficiently high, and the divine lightning emitted by his chariot originated from the authority of Zeus, the king of the gods. Attacking with it indeed caused immense damage with a single blow.

However, even though the attack was effective, Rider's expression grew even more grim. Eva-01, lashing out wildly in pain, had stirred up a localized sandstorm on the loess plain. The swirling sand obscured his vision, preventing his long-range units from continuing their assault. He himself was also unable to blindly charge into the sandstorm for the same reason.

"Hmm, I took a serious injury just now, and I can't receive replenishment from my Master inside this Reality Marble. If this fellow continues to struggle, it should perish on its own—but it boasted so much earlier, and I can't personally kill this monster. It will diminish my prestige."

"That should be enough."

While Rider was agonizing over his pride, Jizi, who was observing from afar, had already decided to end this farce.

In the original plan, Rider would have used his Reality Marble to summon an invincible army and crush about a hundred Assassins. Tokiomi would have been greatly alarmed, regretting his miscalculation in letting the Assassins die in vain.

In this timeline, Eva-01's appearance had captured everyone's attention. Even the arrogant Golden King had suffered a disadvantage at its hands. If it were to be defeated by Rider after this, Tokiomi would likely gain a deeper understanding of this war.

At the very least, he wouldn't think that having Archer made him invincible. Simultaneously, he would place more value on Jizi's abilities and wouldn't so easily sacrifice her.

Kirei Kotomine, who had synchronized his vision, had reported everything to Tokiomi. Eva-01's energy was also running low. Rather than letting it be depleted and die, it would be better to end things with a spectacular finish.

Jizi hadn't given Eva-01 commands earlier because there was no need, not because she couldn't. Although the execution rate might not be very high due to its berserk state, Jizi, as the summoner, could still influence Eva-01's actions.

"Well then... the final act is about to begin. Who will get the kill?"

"What!"

Rider, who was still contemplating his next move, suddenly felt the atmosphere on the battlefield change.

The monster hidden within the sandstorm was no longer blindly crashing about. Its movements had calmed, but not because it was exhausted. It was gathering power for a final, decisive blow.

Rider dared not be careless. He quickly mobilized his army, forming a tight formation. Hulking men with shields over two meters tall stood at the front, with spearmen and archers behind them, ready to unleash a volley of arrows once the sandstorm cleared. Rider himself tightened the reins, and thunderous roars echoed from the wheels of his chariot—

Here it comes!

The giant figure, gradually becoming clearer from behind the sand, leaped over two hundred meters into the air just before the King of Conquest issued his attack. Following this trajectory, its landing spot would be behind the spectators!

Unprepared for this maneuver, Rider wouldn't have time to turn his chariot around even if he reacted immediately. Even if he did, the sheer mass of Eva-01 combined with the high speed of its fall from such a height meant that the kinetic energy generated could not be withstood by anyone. If the Gordius Wheel were to collide, it would surely result in the destruction of the chariot and the death of its occupant—though Eva-01 itself would likely be smashed to pieces.

Was it a decapitation strike because it knew it couldn't win? Did this monster possess such intelligence? Or perhaps someone had given it orders, but could external commands truly penetrate this sealed Reality Marble?

Despite his many doubts, the situation didn't allow Rider to ponder further. He accelerated his chariot, charging back—not to attack Eva-01, but to save his Master.

As for the others, he was sorry, but they would have to fend for themselves.

The chariot, carrying lightning, surged forward. However, the massive shadow had already reached the area above the spectators. Who would be faster?

...ps...

Ps1. Regarding Eva-01's combat power, I don't think it's necessary to dwell on it too much. Firstly, this isn't the original Eva-01, but merely a replica. It has no pilot, no umbilical cable, and not even complete equipment. Secondly, the Type-Moon world is a world where the mystical side holds significant weight. You might say EVA also possesses mystery, which is true, but it's ultimately a product of (black) technology. When pitted against powers like magic, it would naturally be at a disadvantage. Thirdly, the Great Emperor has high intelligence... well, that reason is a bit far-fetched, but not entirely impossible.

As for high divinity suppressing low divinity, that's something I made up—though it's also a plausible explanation.

Ps2. Regarding Rider's tactics mentioned in the text, anyone who has played MHP2G online and hunted Khezu knows it.

Ps3. Since UBW has concluded, I felt I should do something to commemorate or celebrate it, so I've started route A. Speaking of which, after reading the final chapter, I inexplicably felt some emotions, and I might write some rambling thoughts to share...

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