"Bastard, I'll let you live a little longer for now."
Naturally, Artoria refused to be outdone in this situation.
However, unlike Archer, she had no ability resembling Teleportation and could only run toward the Colosseum on foot.
Yet just over ten seconds after she started running, thunderous battle cries from two armies rang out beyond the city.
The projection in the sky also began showing the scene of their clash.
Stunned Speechless
Chapter 20, Section 20: Stunned Speechless
Compared to Kiritsugu Emiya, Kariya Matou and Berserker's actions went far more smoothly.
Lancelot, who had not been given the Mad Enhancement incantation during his summoning, could not be said to be completely sane, but at least he had not lost his reason.
In terms of combat skill alone, Lancelot was even above Artoria.
By comparison, Diarmuid, who only had a few tricks up his sleeve, was at far too great a disadvantage before Lancelot.
Thus, their battle came to an end after just over half an hour.
"So it's over. Well done, Lancelot!"
"No, Master flatters me. If My King had been here, she would certainly have won even faster."
"King Arthur? She truly is a very famous Heroic Spirit."
As he spoke, Kariya Matou involuntarily thought of Nero and subconsciously asked:
"Does King Arthur look very much like Your Majesty Nero?"
"Yes. At first glance, they are nearly identical. That was why I mistook her for someone else at the beginning."
"So King Arthur was a girl too?"
This time, Lancelot did not respond.
"Two people from different eras having exactly the same appearance... Could King Arthur be Your Majesty Nero's reincarnation?"
Kariya Matou muttered to himself, then repeatedly shook his head and denied it himself.
"No, that can't be right. They are both Heroic Spirits. Neither of them has reincarnated."
"Then perhaps the two of them are related by blood?"
Lancelot fell into thought. Indeed, perhaps King and Your Majesty Nero shared the same bloodline.
At that moment, the projection in the sky suddenly changed, and the Citizen Tournament officially began.
After fierce preliminary rounds, eight contestants had advanced to the finals.
The first match was Little Rin against a female high school student.
Although he could not hear anyone other than Your Majesty Nero speaking, Little Rin's serious expression made it clear that she was not playing around.
Kariya Matou stopped in his tracks for a moment, suppressing the urge to seek out Kiritsugu Emiya. He stood by the roadside to watch the match and silently cheered Little Rin on.
Seeing the female high school student vanish without a trace in an instant as if she had activated cheats, while Little Rin showed no intention of giving up and continued struggling desperately,
Kariya Matou became even more determined to end the Holy Grail War as quickly as possible. He had to protect Aoi, Little Rin, Sakura, and Shirou.
Over the next hour or so, Master and Servant walked and stopped, occasionally pausing to look up at the match.
Because of that, a journey that should have taken just over twenty minutes took them more than an hour, and they still had not arrived.
At the end of the Citizen Tournament, the woman who seemed to be Kiritsugu Emiya's wife won the match and wished to exchange the gold among the prizes for a song from Your Majesty Nero.
This sudden turn of events made Kariya Matou smile unconsciously, and his footsteps halted once more.
"Come to think of it, I clearly won the Master Tournament earlier, but I never asked Nero to sing. This is the perfect chance to make up for it."
As he spoke, Kariya Matou noticed Lancelot staring intently at the sky and could not help asking:
"Do you like listening to songs too?"
"Well... Your Majesty Nero looks just like My King. I... have some interest in this scene, at least."
"Then... have you ever heard King Arthur sing?"
"Never."
"Then listen carefully. Your Majesty Nero is an artist comparable to the God of Art, Apollo. Her singing must be very beautiful."
In the projection, Your Majesty Nero cleared her throat, closed her eyes, and began to sing.
At that moment, Kariya Matou fell silent. He even had the urge to cover his ears with his hands.
An artist comparable to the God of Art, Apollo... this was it?
Although Your Majesty Nero looked absolutely beautiful while singing so earnestly, her voice truly was terrible.
The citizens of the entire Roman Empire had actually treated Your Majesty Nero as the Flower of Rome. You people were far too "kindhearted," weren't you?
Your Majesty Nero, did you truly have no awareness that you could not sing?
You advertised everywhere that you were an artist comparable to a god, but you were actually tone-deaf. You were completely deluding yourself.
Kariya Matou opened his mouth, feeling strangely caught between laughter and tears.
"Lancelot, may I take back what I said earlier?"
"Master, I understand your feelings very well. Your Majesty Nero truly is not My King."
"Didn't you say you had never heard King Arthur sing?"
"Even so, I can declare with certainty that My King's singing could never be only at this level."
"You've never heard her. Maybe she's at the same level as Your Majesty Nero."
"Impossible! My King's singing must be a hundred times, a thousand times better than Your Majesty Nero's!"
When the song ended, the contestants left one after another. Just as Kariya Matou and the other man were about to depart, they suddenly saw a massive Servant riding a bull cart fly into the Colosseum.
What followed was the King of Conquerors's mockery.
"What do you think? Shall we go over, Lancelot?"
"No. Compared to going over for a gathering, we have more important matters to handle. Master wishes to end the Holy Grail War quickly, does he not? There is no need to waste time going over there."
"But if you don't go, won't you become the coward the King of Conquerors called you?"
"It does not matter. Being despised by an irrelevant stranger is perfectly ordinary."
"You really do have a good mindset."
Before their eyes, Gilgamesh appeared, insulted everyone a few times, then slit his own throat with his sword before he could even display his abilities.
The sight left the two of them staring at each other.
A few seconds later, Kariya Matou suddenly realized that this had to be Kiritsugu Emiya's doing.
The only thing capable of making the Hero King commit suicide was Tokiomi's Command Seal.
Moreover, given the Hero King's abilities, one Command Seal might not have been enough to make him kill himself. It would have required two or even three Command Seals.
The next instant, Kariya Matou suddenly realized a problem.
Tokiomi!
The Hero King's suicide meant that Tokiomi had fallen into Kiritsugu Emiya's hands.
Then once Kiritsugu Emiya had accomplished his goal, would he spare Tokiomi's life?
Kariya Matou could no longer worry about anything else and hurried toward the Colosseum.
Originally, the two of them had been heading there all along, but because of the projection, they had moved slowly and kept stopping from time to time.
A minute later, a gunshot suddenly rang out from an alley near the Colosseum.
A trace of foreboding rose in Kariya Matou's heart. Clinging to his final sliver of hope, he ran over with all his strength.
Before long, Tokiomi Tohsaka lying in a pool of blood and Kiritsugu Emiya cleaning up his firearm came into view at the same time.
He hurried over and bent down to inspect Tokiomi Tohsaka's corpse, which was gradually growing cold. Kariya Matou stood there as stunned as a wooden chicken.
Tokiomi was just gone like that, and he had died at the hands of Kiritsugu Emiya, the helper Kariya Matou himself had found.
Did that mean he had indirectly killed someone?
How was he supposed to explain this to Aoi, Little Rin, and Sakura now?
It was not that he could no longer imagine what expressions the three of them would wear upon learning of Tokiomi's death.
As for killing Kiritsugu Emiya, the murderer, to avenge Tokiomi Tohsaka—
He had never considered such a thought at all.
On one hand, Kiritsugu Emiya had originally been the helper he found, and he himself bore half the responsibility for Tokiomi's death.
On the other hand, if Kiritsugu Emiya died by his hand, how would he explain it to Shirou?
Even if Shirou was a reincarnator and his biological parents were still alive, Kiritsugu Emiya had still been the adoptive father he spent ten years with in his previous life.
To Shirou, Kiritsugu Emiya was his true family.
Countless thoughts flashed through Kariya Matou's mind. He stood blankly beside Tokiomi's corpse, like a puppet that had lost its soul.
Seeing this, Kiritsugu Emiya's movements involuntarily paused as he tentatively asked:
"Were you... close friends?"
"No. On the contrary, Tokiomi was my greatest enemy in this life."
"Then why do you look like that?"
"It's nothing. I'm just... a little uneasy."
The moment he thought of Aoi and the others' expressions, intense unease rose within Kariya Matou. He even felt the urge to die immediately.
"Your Majesty Nero seems to have started fighting Rider. Archer and Lancer have already been taken care of by us. Next, only Assassin remains."
"No." Kiritsugu Emiya refused without hesitation. "Assassin is easy to deal with, but Illya's body is already nearing its limit. Three Servants is the limit. If too many Servants die, she will not be able to bear it."
"In that case, let's go beyond the city and help Your Majesty Nero. Once Rider is dealt with, have her save your wife immediately."
"Fine, but will Your Majesty Nero agree?"
"She probably will not object. Your Majesty Nero is not the sort of person who refuses help from others. We'll ask first when we get there. If she disagrees, we can simply watch from the side."
"Alright. Let's do that."
"Where is your Servant? Come to think of it, I still haven't seen your Servant. She seems to be Saber, right?"
"I had her lure Archer away. Thanks to that, I was able to get rid of Tokiomi Tohsaka."
Thinking of Aoi and her three daughters, Kariya Matou fell silent again.
As they spoke, Artoria ran over from another direction.
The first person she saw was Tokiomi Tohsaka. The sight of him lying in a pool of blood made her mood worsen even further.
"Kiritsugu Emiya! Was this your objective? No wonder Archer committed suicide."
"This was the best method."
"You bastard..."
At that moment, Lancelot suddenly hurried over and dropped to one knee in salute.
"My respects to My King!"
That familiar voice, armor, and tone—this time, he was certain he had not mistaken her for someone else.
"Lancelot, My Lord."
Looking at Lancelot kneeling on one knee before her, Artoria fell silent for some reason.
What happened with Guinevere was not their fault.
Before you continue