Once he fought back... the combat power that Shinji, Shirou, Tsuruno, and the others could never possess would immediately overturn Orochimaru's entire act.
Thus, it seemed Orochimaru had only one path left before him.
"Will you surrender, or do you intend to resist?"
Lorelei, with her valiant bearing and thoroughgoing aristocratic beliefs, firmly convinced that only her own clan possessed noble blood, had aristocratic pride carved deep into her bones.
At this moment, she did not take Zouken Matou before her seriously at all.
And in a sense, this young lady Lorelei truly possessed the strength to justify that confidence...
But the Zouken Matou standing before her was not the real Zouken Matou...
"An overly proud little girl... let this old man teach you a lesson today..."
Unless absolutely necessary, Orochimaru would not easily abandon this act. And now, if he wanted it to continue, he could only fight.
His 'aged' body erupted with astonishing speed under the propulsion of 'magical energy.'
A hand like withered wood, appearing in Lineas's eyes like a gray bolt of lightning, crazily stretched out in an instant and reached for Lorelei's snow-white, velvet-like neck.
"Hmph, overestimating yourself!"
Lorelei let out a proud snort. At the same time, the riding crop in her right hand whipped through the air like lightning.
With a sharp swish, the entire corridor was instantly sliced into several sections by incomparably sharp wind blades.
Countless chunks of rubble from the collapsed corridor, along with a severed hand spraying blood, fell at Lorelei's feet.
With just one strike, an attack so fast that ordinary people could not even react was not only neutralized by Lorelei, but also cost Orochimaru his outstretched arm.
A dangerous glint flashed through his eyes. Having temporarily lost an arm due to a slight lapse in caution, Orochimaru had to admit that he seemed to have underestimated this little girl.
After losing that exchange, Orochimaru did not continue tangling with Lorelei here.
Having tested Lorelei and determined that she was not an opponent he could easily deal with, he slipped through a broken window to the side like a snake.
"Trying to run? Right before me... Hmph. Lineas, stay here."
The riding crop swung again, and wind blades directly cut through the wall blocking her path.
Then Lorelei took a step forward into the Castle Garden, and her expression suddenly changed.
Like a crawling snake, Orochimaru stopped in the castle garden. His mouth opened to an inhuman extent as though his jaw had dislocated, and countless venomous snakes with sharp fangs poured from it like a tidal wave toward Lorelei, who had just stepped out of the castle and into the garden.
The Myriad Serpents Formation...
Was this move powerful?
Against fodder, it was naturally a powerful high-level Ninjutsu for clearing the field. But against the strong, it was somewhat lacking.
But... what if that strong person was a girl? A young lady?
Faced with the countless disgusting venomous snakes surging toward her, Lorelei's scalp nearly went numb. Her face could not help changing.
Suppressing her nausea, Lorelei broke out in goosebumps all over at the sight alone. Driven by the most instinctive physiological aversion of the human body, she frantically swung the riding crop in her hand.
One wind blade after another, each capable of cutting through castle walls and severing steel, shot from the riding crop like a torrential downpour.
But... this only made the scene even more disgusting.
Foul-smelling snake blood splattered across the ground, while countless severed venomous snakes continued writhing with tenacious vitality.
At last, this young lady, who was not actually much older than Sakura, could no longer bear the scene before her.
Lorelei was strong, extraordinarily strong.
But precisely because she was too strong, Lorelei had never experienced a true battle or set foot on a real battlefield in her life so far.
If the Orochimaru of several years later had encountered her, encountered Lorelei after she had begun hunting 'vampires.'
The outcome would certainly have been different. But now, Lorelei possessed great power yet lacked combat experience and had never undergone the trials of a true battlefield.
Just as Orochimaru had expected, she retreated.
Covering her mouth and nose with one hand, Lorelei was already on the verge of vomiting from the stench and visual impact. She immediately cast a support spell and began retreating toward the roof with the castle wall behind her as support.
However, that was absolutely a terrible move.
The activity area of a top faction's headquarters like El-Melloi, since it often received visitors and needed to accommodate guests, generally would not have many arrangements set up. Its defenses mainly relied on personnel.
But... the upper levels of the castle were completely different.
That was the El-Melloi Faction's private space, not a place where outsiders could casually intrude.
In her panic, Lorelei had forgotten this completely. Sure enough, after she leaped along the wall to a position above the castle's second floor.
Hundreds of Magic Circles lit up one after another at the arrival of this uninvited guest, glowing brightly.
"Urgh~!"
With her mouth and nose tightly covered, Lorelei, whose breakfast had already risen to her mouth once not long ago, nearly vomited again.
And at that moment, El-Melloi Castle's defenses began their attack.
The pinnacle of modern magecraft truly lived up to its name.
Even though she was in severe physical discomfort and in a terrible state, the hundreds of Magic Bullets still failed to harm Lorelei in the slightest.
Under the spell Lorelei hastily cast, an expanded shield of air directly blocked the hundreds of Magic Bullets.
But that brief delay made Lorelei, standing against the wall and unable to keep moving, a target for Orochimaru below.
A gleaming blade appeared from Orochimaru's mouth, which seemed capable of holding anything.
Then, just like Orochimaru's crazily extending arm from before, that gleaming blade also began to extend wildly.
The Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, capable of extending over a hundred meters at its longest, flashed as Orochimaru twisted his neck at an inhuman angle. At the critical moment, Lorelei tried to block the strike with her riding crop, but she was knocked from the castle wall like a meteor...
A New Scapegoat King, 'Zouken Matou'? The Interrupted Battle...
Disheveled and covered in dirt was no longer enough to describe Lorelei's current state.
Lorelei had never suffered such humiliation, nor had anyone ever beaten her into such a state.
Furious, she snapped the nearly broken riding-crop Mystic Code in her hand.
Then, her hair in disarray and her body smeared with mud, Lorelei glared hatefully at Orochimaru, who had somehow already recovered completely.
She clenched her silver teeth and balled her fists tightly.
Having come to hate Zouken Matou, Lorelei no longer cared about the damn secrets of the Holy Grail or the damn Servant.
At that moment, she only wanted to kill Zouken Matou, the bastard who had brought her such humiliation.
Every Mage Circuit in her body activated and began operating at full power.
In an instant, azure magical energy enveloped Lorelei.
"Die!"
Her tiny fist flew out, filled with fury.
If the wind blades Lorelei had casually swung before were enough to cleave castle walls and cut through steel, then now...
As Lorelei's small fist swung, a mass of wind with destructive power comparable to a heavy artillery shell shot toward Orochimaru like an arrow loosed from a bow.
That was only the beginning. After throwing that punch, Lorelei did not withdraw her small fist. Instead, she opened it toward Orochimaru, exposing her fair palm before his eyes.
Faced with the incoming mass of wind, the experienced Orochimaru naturally prepared to evade at once, calculating his next route of movement...
But just as Orochimaru was about to step away.
An azure magical rune suddenly lit up in Lorelei's palm.
Then, as if he had been plunged into the deep sea.
The air around Orochimaru became an invisible yet tangible cage in an instant.
"Rashomon~!"
At the crucial moment, who knew whether he had learned this kind of 'crooked trick' from Jiraiya.
Just as Orochimaru's body and hands were nearly unable to make any movement under the crushing pressure of the air cage.
Orochimaru actually used his feet to cast the Rashomon summoning technique.
A gigantic metal demon gate rose from the ground, blocking the incoming mass of wind before becoming battered and broken amid a thunderous roar...
But no matter how battered it became, Rashomon still helped Orochimaru successfully evade that blow.
And as Rashomon separated Lorelei and Orochimaru, the magical rune in Lorelei's palm seemed to lose its effect as well, and the air cage around Orochimaru disappeared.
However, a problem arose. Although Orochimaru used the Mage Circuits in his body whenever he cast Ninjutsu, releasing some additional magical energy into the outside world.
As he used them again and again, especially a large-scale summoning technique like Rashomon.
The fluctuations of Chakra would leak out as well...
Then... had Lorelei sensed it?
Naturally, she had. But Lorelei, whose mind had been overwhelmed by fury and shame, had no mood or spare attention to think about such matters.
At that moment, she only wanted to kill Zouken Matou before her.
By the castle's originally damaged wall, Lineas watched 'Zouken Matou' and Lorelei fighting fiercely in the garden.
Holding a test tube filled with mercury, Lineas wore a hesitant expression. Naturally, she did not believe 'Zouken Matou' could truly defeat Lorelei.
But... 'Zouken Matou' was not as weak as she had imagined.
Watching 'Zouken Matou' slip around the garden like an eel, repeatedly evading fatal strikes with all sorts of bizarre magecraft, Lineas had to admit that Lorelei seemed unlikely to take down 'Zouken Matou' anytime soon.
And nearly three minutes had passed since this battle began...
Lineas did not need to think hard to know that in another minute or two at most, her 'brother' Kischur Zelretch would appear and stop the fight in the garden.
Her grip tightened, and Lineas's small fist clutched the mercury-filled test tube.
Caught in extreme conflict... faced with the choice of being punished by her 'brother' if she acted, or likely losing her Covenant with Lorelei if she did not, Lineas ultimately failed to overcome the word family in her heart and threw the test tube containing Mage's Will at Orochimaru.
With Orochimaru's strength, even if Lorelei could independently fight most of the Twenty-Seven Dead Apostle Ancestors and was practically equivalent to a first-rate Servant without a Noble Phantasm, killing Orochimaru was nearly an impossible fantasy. The forbidden techniques Orochimaru possessed for survival were no joke.
As for Lineas entering the fray... unless Sima Yi had possessed her at that moment, one more or one less would make no difference.
Besides... would the El-Melloi Faction truly allow Lineas to get involved?
Of course not.
Just as the test tube Lineas threw struck the ground and released the Mystic Code Mage's Will.
"Boil, my blood!" This chant directly ruined all of Lineas's following plans and also brought Orochimaru and Lorelei, who had been locked in fierce battle, to a stop.
Marisbury, smiling pleasantly, pushed Kischur Zelretch, whose expression was gloomy as he sat in a wheelchair, into the garden.
As for this battle, which had caused El-Melloi heavy losses both in reputation and substance.
Kischur Zelretch, who had directly seized control of Lineas's Mage's Will, immediately shot a stern look at his 'adoptive sister.'
"Miss Lineas, why are you here? And who authorized you to use Mage's Will?"
Mage's Will naturally did not belong to Lineas. Although on this timeline, Lineas had shown her talent early and Kischur Zelretch had taken her as his adoptive sister ahead of time, Mage's Will was Kischur Zelretch's prized Mystic Code. Why would he give it to his adoptive sister, who was barely over six years old?
"I'm sorry, Brother, I..."
"Enough. We'll discuss your punishment later. Shut up and come push my chair."
"Yes, Brother."
In truth, Kischur Zelretch had understood everything about this 'farce' long ago.
He had even guessed nearly all of Lineas's thoughts.
Although Kischur Zelretch was dissatisfied with Lineas acting on her own and overstepping her bounds, knowing that she had acted for the family, he was also full of appreciation for her.
See? The moment Kischur Zelretch stepped in, he had casually removed Lineas from the situation with just a few words.
Orochimaru naturally saw through Kischur Zelretch's intention to protect Lineas and directly remove her from this conflict.
Though Lineas was, in a sense, the 'main culprit' behind this incident, she had merely brought forward the situation Orochimaru would have needed to face later.
Therefore, Orochimaru, currently playing Zouken Matou, said nothing about Kischur Zelretch shielding Lineas.
As for Lorelei, she disdained to say anything about such matters even more.
Before you continue