"That's right. People need ambition, ideals, and selfishness! Life is meant to be lived for yourself—you have to live without regrets! To see a broader world... that's a truly wonderful wish."
"In that case, let us work together toward each other's goals! The next Holy Grail War will no longer be the small-scale skirmish it was before."
"Archer, Saber, Lancer, Berserker, and Caster will all become our enemies. Are you prepared for that, my little Master?"
Iskandar gazed seriously into Weber's eyes as he asked his final question.
"Do you even need to ask?"
Rather than answering, Weber decisively grasped his large hand. Then, wiping away the tears at the corners of his eyes, he said irritably, "Idiot Rider, don't forget that I'm your Master. You're supposed to listen to me! In that case, don't hold me back in the next Holy Grail War!"
"Hahahaha! Naturally! This King will not disappoint you!"
The two figures exchanged smiles. Then, one large fist and one small fist lightly bumped together amid the world of yellow sand, truly completing the connection between their hearts.
—That voice that pierced deep into my heart was like a cheer that never ceased.
The Tohsaka Family.
Having watched the entire battlefield, Tokiomi Tohsaka's face was pale. Even his most treasured jeweled cane fell from his trembling hand and hit the floor.
It made a crisp sound...
Even he, a man renowned for elegance, could not help swallowing several times. He felt as though he had been played. No, there was no "as though"—he had been played.
This Kenneth had never been a lone Master. He had not been alone, either. His Servant was not Scáthach, but Fionn mac Cumhaill...
Furthermore, the other party seemed to have anticipated that someone might launch a surprise attack. He had formed an alliance with other Masters in advance and waited for the fish to take the bait. And conveniently enough, Tokiomi himself was the fish that had bitten.
Just when King Arthur had held Scáthach back, when victory seemed within reach and he had used a Command Seal to prepare a fierce assault, the other side smashed a cup as their signal and called two more Servants onto the battlefield, surrounding them like dumplings in a pot.
In a single instant, every Assassin under his command had been wiped out, thoroughly extinguishing all hope.
For a time, Tokiomi Tohsaka, who had been exhilarated by the prospect of victory, stared at the annihilated Assassins on the battlefield and sank into deep self-reproach and worry.
His premonition had come true...
The two most troublesome godslayers had truly joined forces. The course of the war ahead was no longer something he could control.
Could it be... that he was going to fail again this time...?
Tokiomi Tohsaka slumped lifelessly against the sofa and muttered to himself. The refined bearing that had once filled his wide-open eyes was nowhere to be seen.
"Master..."
Seeing Tokiomi Tohsaka looking as though his soul had left him, Kirei Kotomine, standing behind him, wanted to say something. In the end, however, he stopped himself.
Though he regarded Tokiomi Tohsaka as his teacher, Tokiomi had always been full of selfish desires. To Kirei Kotomine, who came from The Church, that was hardly praiseworthy behavior.
And there was something else that particularly troubled Kirei Kotomine.
His heart had always been lost, and there had never been any joy in his life. He vaguely felt that something was wrong with him in some respect, and his wife's death had happened to confirm it.
He had endlessly honed his skills and devoutly followed the doctrines, only to cast them aside at the crucial moment...
Even violating those doctrines had not stirred the slightest ripple in his heart.
That only deepened his confusion. What had he been thinking when his wife died? What, exactly, had he been pursuing?
The answer continued to elude him, leaving him lost and unable to find it.
Logically, Tokiomi Tohsaka, as his teacher, should have been able to answer him, but...
Looking at Tokiomi Tohsaka's despondent state, Kirei Kotomine knew very well that he could not possibly know the answer.
False. Self-deceiving. Suppressing one's true nature...
Kirei Kotomine wanted to question things in that way, yet he still could not truly understand.
If human nature could become twisted, if even a teacher like Tokiomi Tohsaka could expose his true nature through repeated failures and change from someone who upheld elegance into someone irritable, then...
All of a sudden, Kirei Kotomine's eyes widened. He felt fear rising from the depths of his heart, along with an inexplicable trace of excitement...
What if... his own nature had become twisted as well? What would happen then? Would that allow him to find the answer that had troubled him for so long...?
"...All Assassins have been killed."
It was not only Tokiomi Tohsaka. On the other side, Emiya Kiritsugu received the disastrous news from the battlefield at once.
"So quickly? Was the target dealt with? Lancer's Master..."
Maiya Hisau wanted to ask something more, but when she saw the exhaustion in Emiya Kiritsugu's eyes, she silently swallowed the words that had reached her lips.
The answer was already obvious.
In the end, no matter how unwilling they were to accept the result, they had to make plans for their next move.
"Have Saber withdraw while we still can. Preserve our strength. Once the other two Servants close in, she'll end up just like Assassin."
Emiya Kiritsugu already understood the dire situation on the scene.
Though unwilling, now that he knew there was no hope, he naturally would not make a pointless sacrifice. He immediately used the long-range communication device he had given Saber beforehand and told her to retreat at once.
However, Artoria's attempt to leave did not seem to be as simple as Emiya Kiritsugu had imagined.
After Iskandar dealt with Assassin, Rovey had no intention of showing mercy to a woman. He directly ordered Scáthach to unleash her Noble Phantasm and send Artoria away.
"Is it ending already? I haven't had enough yet..."
Having received Rovey's order, Scáthach shook her head and sighed softly. Then she looked at Artoria before her and reminded her, "Then it is time to end this, Saber."
"If you still refuse to unleash your Noble Phantasm, this will likely be the final spear."
"What...?"
Before Artoria had the chance to question her further, Scáthach had already moved.
Her right foot stomped apart the ground. Both Crimson Magic Spears appeared, and red magical energy coiled around her graceful body. Then, terrifying power rapidly surged upward. At the same time, she softly spoke.
"Gáe Bolg Alternative."
In the next instant, a crimson flash tore straight through Artoria's field of vision with incomparable force.
An Unlimited Bounty.
There happened to be an event going on recently, so I'm opening an unlimited bounty.
One extra chapter for every 100 monthly votes.
One extra chapter for every 100 in donations.
One extra chapter for every 100 blades.
A box counts as ten extra chapters.
I believe my credibility is guaranteed. Just look at my daily updates.
Every chapter I write is almost always over 5,000 words, and that's guaranteed, so please rest assured.
It'll run until Sunday.
Thank you~
Refresh the new book's numbers a little. This book's data looks far too ugly.
Stop, Don't Fight Anymore! (6.5K Words)
—Gáe Bolg Alternative, the Spear That Pierces with Death Flight, was an extraordinarily legendary technique.
As the magic spear of celtic legends that could strike with perfect accuracy, its essence was a terrifying technique capable of reversing the causality that represented the order of events. The instant the spear left Scáthach's hand, the result—that the opponent would be struck by the technique—was determined first.
First, the initial magic spear pinned the enemy "to space" through close combat, robbing them of freedom. Then, the second magic spear was thrown with full force to end their life. Naturally, any enemies standing along the trajectory of those hurled magic spears would also be killed along with them.
Artoria had prepared herself mentally. The instant she sensed Scáthach unleashing her Noble Phantasm, she moved as well. With both hands gripping the strongest holy sword radiating brilliance, she too intended to unleash her Noble Phantasm and meet the attack head-on.
However, unlike Scáthach's terrifying magic spears, which arrived in an instant, her Noble Phantasm required chanting and charging. The holy sword in her hands also needed time to be released. Thus, in a battle decided in a single instant, it was difficult for her to draw out the holy sword's proper power.
—Whoosh!!
A blinding red flash pierced her sight and arrived in an instant. Facing the terrifying magic spears Scáthach had thrown, Artoria relied on her exceptional intuition to shift her body slightly. Then she swung Excalibur with both hands, releasing as much dazzling radiance as possible as she swept it toward the two red streaks descending from above, trying to block them in midair. But the causality of the hit had already been determined in advance. Trying to block it now was futile.
Scáthach's signature Noble Phantasm, Gáe Bolg Alternative, the Spear That Pierces with Death Flight, contained the sublimation of a lifetime of martial skill. The pinnacle reached by that spear had long surpassed the limits of what human martial arts could comprehend, touching the domain of causality that even gods could not fathom.
Thus, once the spear was thrown, the result of the enemy being struck by the magic spear had already been decided. It could not be evaded. The cause that followed was merely a supplement to that predetermined result. Without extraordinary luck, this technique could absolutely be called the strongest killing move—death the moment it was unleashed.
Thus, before Artoria's astonished eyes, the crimson radiance silently slipped past the light of the Golden Sword, which had only partially been released from her hands at such close range.
The next moment, it struck straight into the area near her chest, a spot incomparably close to her heart.
"Urgh!!"
A pained scream rang out. In that single instant, Artoria felt as though her heart were about to be pierced by the incomparable impact. She violently coughed up a mouthful of blood, and then her body was sent flying without the slightest resistance, kicking up billowing smoke amid the ruins.
There was no doubt that Scáthach's killing blow had landed.
Gáe Bolg Alternative, the Spear That Pierces with Death Flight, had struck the enemy's heart with perfect precision, just as its properties dictated. But...
"Hmph... Is this fate, Saber? No... King Arthur. To think you survived my attack. You truly endured this strike that reverses causality."
Scáthach withdrew her spear and offered her praise without reservation.
She had clearly felt that her spear should have struck its target, yet the result before her said otherwise. At the crucial moment, Artoria had apparently used some method to shift the magic spear by a small distance. As a result, it only pierced part of her chest instead of driving through her heart and killing her in one blow.
As Scáthach considered the reason, she approached, preparing to give her another strike.
"Hm?"
Several wisps of fresh fragrance suddenly drifted past her nose, followed by several pale pink petals floating through her vision. That faintly made her understand something, and an unpleasant figure surfaced in Scáthach's mind.
"So that was him interfering just now? Hmph, what a meddlesome fellow..."
The moment she saw the petals scattering before her, she realized what had happened and understood why she had missed.
"Mm... Gáe Bolg, the magic spear of Celtic Mythology. As expected, its reputation is well deserved. The instant it revealed itself, it nearly took my life... Queen Scáthach, your skill in martial arts far surpasses mine."
Covering the chest pierced by the magic spear, Artoria used her sword to support herself as she struggled to rise from the ground. Looking at Scáthach before her, she spoke with a grave expression.
It did not nearly hit. It had already hit. If someone had not interfered just now, you would already be dead...
In response to Artoria's remark, Scáthach lightly shook her head. She spun her spear and looked at the heavily wounded sword Heroic Spirit before her, unable to keep herself from hesitating.
Should she truly finish her off herself?
By all rights, the loser in battle should obediently accept death. Her Master's order had also been to eliminate Artoria here. But that Nightmare...
She did owe him a favor. Even her ability to manifest this time and form a connection with Rovey had partly been thanks to him. And now, he was clearly asking her to spare Artoria, which truly put Scáthach in a difficult position.
"What is it, Lancer? Did something happen?"
Rovey, watching from the shadows, also noticed Scáthach's hesitation through his familiar. Seeing that she had not eliminated Artoria as he had instructed, he directly asked for her reason.
"It's nothing, Master." Hearing Rovey's familiar voice, Scáthach gently shook her head and calmly said,
"I want to spare Saber this once. What do you think?"
"Spare... Saber?"
Hearing Scáthach's answer, Rovey, standing in the shadows, was clearly surprised.
Yet he did not become angry at Scáthach's actions, nor did he reprimand her from the position of a Master or use a Command Seal to force her to attack. He simply asked patiently.
"Can you tell me your reason?"
"The reason is complicated. If I have to summarize it, I owe someone a rather major favor. Now that person wants me to repay him, so I intend to spare Saber."
"You owe someone a favor, so you want to spare Saber?"
After listening to Scáthach's disjointed explanation, Rovey fell into thought.
First considering Saber's identity, then recalling those people with longstanding ties to her, he understood many things at once.
Moreover, he knew that his relationship with Scáthach was not merely that of Master and Servant. So he did not regard Scáthach as a familiar or weapon, but instead tried as much as possible to follow her wishes, reach mutual understanding with her, and cooperate in perfect harmony.
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