Caught off guard, the unleashed Prydwen suddenly went berserk and directly flung its "master," Mordred, away.
Then, as if it had crossed dimensions—
Prydwen, like an unbreakable shield and Artoria's final guardian, appeared directly beside Artoria and blocked the red lightning Mordred had unleashed—Cruel Rebellion—for her.
Artoria cast an apologetic glance at her old companion, now covered in cracks and on the verge of collapse after clashing with the red lightning.
With no time to grieve, Artoria charged forward.
However... Artoria's target was not Mordred, who was furious and repeatedly trying to recall her mount.
Instead, she pointed her blade at the pairs of crimson eyeballs in the sky, eerie eyes that resembled those of Demon Gods as they watched the battlefield from on high like deities.
As Artoria continued to tread upon the gray-black rocks and climb higher—
The owner of the eyes filling the sky finally revealed its true form before her.
Round Earth, Square Sky; the heavens hung over the earth like a pot lid... This ancient description of heaven and earth perfectly described what Artoria saw now.
Above a circular plain surrounded by countless jagged formations of strange gray-black rock, a massive Demon Pillar resembling a tentacle, covered from head to toe in enormous blood-red eyes, blotted out the sky and completely covered the battlefield overhead... It was so enormous and thick that, to those standing on the ground, it was the sky itself.
Yet after using those jagged, bizarre mountains to climb nearly a hundred meters into the air, Artoria was finally able to make out the Demon Pillar's rough outline.
"Was it you behind this?"
Not long ago, when Artoria had approached Mordred, she had seen the same blood-red eyes as those of the Demon Pillar reflected in Mordred's own eyes.
She had never truly intended to question the Demon Pillar.
As Artoria made one final, forceful leap, bringing herself as close to the Demon Pillar as possible—
The holy sword, already fully charged and awaiting release, burst into light.
"EX—Excalibur!"
Holy light illuminated this eerie, dim space. The Demon Pillar, which had previously seemed hidden in darkness aside from its countless blood-red eyes, finally revealed its true form beneath that incomparably sacred radiance.
Under the planetary light unleashed by Excalibur, every inch of the Demon Pillar—Paimon's—skin and texture was laid bare, while its blood-red eyes... looked utterly dumbfounded.
Although Paimon was indeed among the dimmer ones of the seventy-two Demon Pillars—
The Servant below was simply too unreasonable!
As a Demon Pillar of the Tower of Ivory, Paimon's usual duty was to work alongside the other Demon Pillars belonging to the Tower of Ivory, managing every aspect of the Temple of Solomon. Whenever its master's "guests" arrived, it was also to accompany those "guests" and help them better fulfill their "missions."
And what were Mordred and Artoria's missions?
Since Solomon had thrown them here, their so-called mission was naturally to "duel."
A duel needed a referee... Of course, under Solomon's orders, Paimon, as the referee, also had to make a few biased calls and provide Mordred with some assistance.
Thus, having genuinely taken itself for a "referee," Paimon foolishly poured a large amount of its own mana into Mordred, then faithfully carried out the "referee" duties that even it did not understand.
It simply moved closer and watched this so-called "duel" from nearby.
That was why Mordred had become stronger yet more frenzied after entering the Temple of Solomon.
However... this foolish, stubborn Paimon seemed never to have considered whether the so-called "guests" Solomon had acknowledged would accept such an arrangement.
Clearly, Artoria would not accept Solomon's inexplicable, casually imposed arrangement. Nor would she accept a "referee" like this Demon Pillar, which appeared to be corrupting Mordred and clearly looked like no good thing.
And so, amid Paimon's baffled gaze as it failed to understand why Artoria would directly attack this "referee"—
The golden torrent unleashed by Excalibur became like a giant's blade felling a colossal tree, cleaving Paimon cleanly in two.
As Paimon, the unlucky fellow, was severely wounded by Artoria, it could no longer support its master in maintaining this space. It could only watch helplessly as Artoria and Mordred, the two Servants, vanished before its eyes.
"My lord... I think I messed up."
Paimon's failure came as no surprise at all to Solomon, who was currently standing in the garden of Einsbern Castle, facing Zouken Matou, Leonidas, and "Xu Chu."
Solomon's Clairvoyance had indeed temporarily failed, leaving him almost unable to peer into the future or the past.
Yet in these mere few days, even though differing choices had caused deviations between the future Solomon had previously observed and the present, those deviations had not reached the scale of a butterfly storm.
Many events that occurred and unfolded still differed very little from Solomon's prior observations.
Therefore, Solomon felt no surprise at all that Artoria had escaped his Reality Marble of the "One" rank.
Completely ignoring the possibility that the two Servants and Zouken Matou before him might ambush him, Solomon turned directly toward the castle roof. Artoria and Mordred, who had just vanished, appeared together in the garden.
At that moment, atop the roof—
Kiritsugu Emiya, aiming his gun at Kischur Zelretch with his finger firmly on the trigger... fired.
Light and Delicate, Easy to knock Down...
"Old Man of the Mountain... things are getting pretty intense over there. Shouldn't we just stay away...?"
Time rewound slightly, to when Kischur Zelretch and Kiritsugu Emiya had begun their official confrontation atop Einsbern Castle.
An old man, accompanied by a maiden and a young girl, had also entered the forest surrounding Einsbern Castle.
Looking toward Einsbern Castle in the distance, where flames flickered everywhere and bursts of intense gunfire erupted from time to time—
Sakura had initially only wanted to use the plot to fish in troubled waters from the shadows and play the role of a hidden mastermind. Yet this wildly rampaging Holy Grail War had forced her into the conflict.
Honestly, Sakura had no desire whatsoever to participate... in this busted Grail War.
According to Sakura's original plan, Marisbury would have been the only one among these Masters able to leave Fuyuki City in the end.
Everyone else would either remain in Fuyuki City to live out their retirement, or die in this Holy Grail War.
But now that this Holy Grail War had completely run wild, everything had become uncertain.
Still, the Holy Grail War going berserk was not entirely bad for Sakura. For instance, because it had begun spiraling out of control, Destiny Points had recently become increasingly abundant.
Even so, Sakura still disliked this rampaging Holy Grail War, and she disliked participating in it even more.
For no other reason than that she was not even six years old yet.
Although the fusion of two souls had made her mental age far more mature than that of a young girl—
Her body truly was that of a young girl.
And what did being a young girl mean? Light and delicate, easy to knock down... That was Sakura's true state right now.
Running into a battlefield where bullets flew everywhere, like the one around Kiritsugu Emiya, was simply asking too much of her.
Of course, that was only Sakura's view. King Hassan had no such notion as light and delicate, easy to knock down.
Back in his day, he had no shortage of little brats who had begun working at ages even younger than Sakura's.
"You will face countless dangers in the future, as well as endless malice... You need to gain experience..."
Sakura sighed helplessly. Facing King Hassan's resolute attitude, which still looked as though he were doing it for her own good, she then glanced at Kurumi, who looked distressed but did not speak to stop him.
Sakura said nothing. She simply drew her Magic Wand and activated Teleportation.
As Sakura turned into a mass of black mist and rapidly departed, King Hassan donned a ferocious Spiritron Dress and shifted from the form of an old man into that of an unrivaled assassin before vanishing from the spot. Kurumi, a gentle smile appearing at the corner of her lips, followed closely after by sinking directly into her own shadow.
On the castle rooftop, following a gunshot, the Origin Bullet left the barrel and flew toward the barely standing Kischur Zelretch as though fate itself had decreed it.
There was no time to dodge, nor was there any way to defend.
Even though Mage's Will reacted immediately, transforming part of itself into a Mercury Wall in an attempt to block the incoming Origin Bullet—
Mage's Will could not stop the Origin Bullet's advance against its severing property.
Just as Kischur Zelretch was about to be struck by the Origin Bullet and become utterly crippled—
A crisp voice and a gentle, magnetic voice rang out on the rooftop at the same time.
"Obstacles!"
"Astral Dress, turn along the trajectory!"
A wall formed from invisible mana appeared, while a stellar orbit emerged beside Kischur Zelretch.
As the Obstacles Sakura had cast were severed layer by layer by the Origin Bullet, slightly slowing its flight—
The Astral Dress stellar orbit Marisbury had deployed through the Geocentric Model generated a gravitational pull like that of a true planetary orbit, dragging Kischur Zelretch directly into motion along its stellar path.
With that method, combined with Sakura's slight deceleration of the Origin Bullet—
Kischur Zelretch actually escaped what should have been certain death.
Of course, Kischur Zelretch had already been severely injured and had only forced himself to stand through sheer pride.
Under the pull of gravity, his injuries naturally worsened further.
For an ordinary person, spending the rest of their life bedridden in an ICU would have been inevitable. But Kischur Zelretch was naturally no ordinary person. With a magus's means, he could likely recover after resting and recuperating for half a year.
Having casually saved Kischur Zelretch, who had been destined to take the Origin Bullet head-on, Sakura had no mind to check how many Destiny Points she had gained. She immediately raised her Magic Wand and launched an attack directly at the heavily wounded Kiritsugu Emiya.
"Disarm your weapon!"
Red mana light, like a laser beam, blossomed from the Magic Wand.
The moment he was struck, every firearm in Kiritsugu Emiya's hands and every weapon in his arms flew away from him and landed in Sakura's hands.
"Simple, yet not lacking in power... Miss Sakura Matou, your magecraft is truly eye-opening."
Marisbury applauded elegantly. Compared with Kischur Zelretch, who always carried himself with lofty arrogance, Marisbury at this moment looked far more like a true nobleman whose emotions could not be read.
Yet... looking at Marisbury, Sakura could not help but feel the hairs on her body stand on end.
Sakura had initially intended to use the Yellow Court Scripture to adjust her emotions and launch a devastating attack at Kiritsugu Emiya, forcing him out of the battle.
But now, she had no attention to spare for Kiritsugu Emiya, who posed no threat after being seriously wounded, rendered unable to move, and stripped of his weapons.
Her gaze immediately locked tightly onto Marisbury.
Sakura knew full well that if she had attacked Kiritsugu Emiya first, Marisbury would certainly have taken the opportunity to eliminate her, an enemy. She did not dare relax even slightly around this unfathomable "Old Director."
Moreover... Sakura pursed her lips, already having a rough idea where Marisbury's hostility came from.
"Thank you for the compliment... Your Majesty Marisbury, have you noticed?"
"Of course. The scarlet Command Seal on your hand is quite conspicuous, Miss Sakura Matou."
"Uh... Lord Marisbury... if I said my involvement was an accident, would you believe me?"
As though he were facing a girl next door, Marisbury smiled calmly, seemingly telling Sakura that he believed her.
Yet Sakura could still see hostility deep in Marisbury's eyes, and she would not fall for it. Clearly, Marisbury did not believe her explanation.
Just as the pressure Marisbury exerted on Sakura grew greater and greater, so overwhelming that she was nearly compelled to attack on instinct—
In the courtyard below the castle, red lightning and a golden torrent crashed together with a thunderous boom, forming a towering pillar of light wreathed in gold and crimson.
And against the backdrop of that pillar of light, Solomon, Kurumi, and King Hassan... appeared atop the roof together.
A Gathering of Heroes...
If Einsbern Castle possessed a mind of its own—
Then upon seeing heroes gathered atop its head, it would surely have only two words in its heart—We're done for.
In truth, if Einsbern Castle had not been built with such meticulous materials, it would not have needed a gathering of heroes. That shot fired by its mistress's husband earlier would already have been enough to wreck it.
As the two Grands faintly faced off, and the Time Spirit and the Clock Tower Lord glared at each other—
Sakura suddenly relaxed.
"You came at the perfect time, Your Majesty Solomon. Please explain to Lord Marisbury that I really have no interest in the Holy Grail."
Marisbury could not help but glance at Sakura's Servant. If Solomon truly spoke up for Sakura now, Marisbury would probably let go of his hostility.
After all, if Sakura was competing with him for the Holy Grail, then as long as there was no direct conflict, Marisbury, an old hand at politics, would naturally be unwilling to make an enemy with limitless potential.
While quietly waiting for Solomon to speak, Marisbury secretly used mana to draw Kischur Zelretch away from the battlefield. Before long, he received Solomon's response.
Sakura idly played with her braid, occasionally touching the ring on her finger.
Knowing what Sakura meant, Solomon smiled and nodded.
"Master, Miss Sakura is indeed not our 'enemy' in this Holy Grail War."
"In this Holy Grail War..."
Before you continue