Chapter 127
"Next, I will deal with you with all my might!"
"Is that so..."
[Emiya Kiritsugu] raised his left hand, and Lancer immediately looked at it nervously. He found that Kiritsugu was holding something that looked like a button. Lancer's first thought was that Emiya Kiritsugu was about to throw a grenade again.
However, instead of throwing it over, Emiya Kiritsugu pressed the button in his hand.
Boom--
A massive explosion erupted beneath Lancer's feet, blasting him into the air once again.
"When were the explosives planted!?"
Everyone present was shocked. Could such an ambush really be done? Everyone had been focused on the collapsing container and hadn't noticed when [Emiya Kiritsugu] planted the bomb.
Having completed the bomb ambush, [Emiya Kiritsugu] did not continue the pursuit, but instead took a step back.
"Saber".
"Um?"
Saber looked nervously at [Emiya Kiritsugu].
"Someone's coming. Protect Irisviel."
After giving the reminder, [Emiya Kiritsugu] looked up at the sky.
A bolt of lightning struck from the sky, splitting the ground open and sending up another cloud of dust.
But then, a gust of wind blew away the dust and smoke on the street, revealing Lancer, who was seriously injured in the leg again, and the huge oxcart that was lying between [Emiya Kiritsugu] and Lancer.
"Stop! All of you! No disrespect before the King!"
On the oxcart, a tall, Red-Haired strong man spread his arms.
"I am Iskandar, King of Conquerors!"
"In this Holy Grail War, I will descend upon the world as a Rider!"
The burly man's opening declaration, revealing his identity, immediately drew everyone's attention. His declaration was equally impactful. Unlike the earlier shock from the mages regarding the identity of the Emiya Kiritsugu, this time both the mages and the Servants were stunned. They hadn't expected someone to reveal their name so readily upon their first appearance.
"What are you thinking, you idiot?"
Rider's Master Waver shouted anxiously, but was mercilessly suppressed by Rider with a single finger.
"Although fate has led me to contend with you for the Holy Grail."
"But I want to ask you one thing first: are you willing to join my ranks and hand over the Holy Grail to me? If so, I will treat you as friends and share with you the joy of conquering the world!"
The sudden recruitment shocked all the servants present.
Despite being injured again, Lancer stood up and righteously refused.
"I cannot accept this proposal. The only person I will offer the Holy Grail to is the new lord with whom I have signed a contract in this life! And my protagonist will definitely not be you, Rider!"
After being rejected by Lancer, Rider looked helplessly in the other direction.
"So, where are the people over here... wait?"
It turned out that [Emiya Kiritsugu] had disappeared.
"Wait, wasn't he just here a moment ago?"
After everyone present reacted, they all stared in utter shock at the spot where [Emiya Kiritsugu] had been. It felt like he was right there just a second ago, but how could he have suddenly disappeared after Rider landed? And no one had even noticed him vanish.
"Could he be the Assassin? I didn't sense a thing at all?"
Rider stared, utterly bewildered, at the spot where the Heroic Emiya Kiritsugu had stood.
"No, the assassin has been identified; he is not the assassin."
Waver had just been suppressed, poked his head out to answer.
"He's not an assassin. What class is he anyway? How could he disappear right in front of all of us? Doesn't that mean they can assassinate us without us even noticing?"
Rider's words put everyone on high alert. A servant whose class was completely unknown was able to sneak in without anyone noticing, and the weapons he used were ranged guns and high explosives. This was far too threatening to all of them.
Especially the masters behind these Servants, they don't have the same strong bodies and combat abilities as the Servants. Once they are sent into the sky by high explosives, they will really be sent to the sky.
Damn, after being in the magic world for so long, this is the first time they've discovered an enemy this terrifying!
For a moment, the entire port battlefield fell silent.
Everyone was nervously looking around, including Saber and Irisviel. Although Kiritsugu taken the initiative to respond to Irisviel's words and even asked Saber to protect Irisviel, which made them feel very close to him, and even though he had become Heroic Spirit, Kiritsugu still remembered them, his sudden disappearance still made them feel a little scared.
Because of the disappearance of [Emiya Kiritsugu], the original atmosphere changed rapidly.
Rider appeared because he had been watching the battle between Emiya Kiritsugu and Lancer from the sidelines. However, after seeing Emiya Kiritsugu, he worried that Kiritsugu would kill Lancer outright. Having someone eliminated on the very first day was not in line with his war aesthetics, so he stepped in to stop Emiya Kiritsugu from annihilating Emiya Kiritsugu.
However, he didn't expect that as soon as he appeared, [Emiya Kiritsugu] disappeared without hesitation, which made him feel that his appearance was a bit awkward.
"Well, even though we're one person short, I still want to ask, would you be willing to join my team? The benefits are negotiable!"
Rider made a money gesture, but was met with a cold rejection from Lancer.
"Hey little girl over there, you're a servant too, right? That mysterious guy just called you Saber."
Rejected, Rider could only look to Saber. Although Saber hadn't made a move, her identity as a Servant was revealed with a single sentence from Emiya Kiritsugu.
"Ah, I am Saber in this Holy Grail War!"
Saber's body surged with Magic Power, transforming from a black suit into a blue long dress paired with a set of silver-white Celtic-style armor.
"So, are you willing?"
"Impossible!"
Before Rider could finish speaking, Saber rejected him. Although Saber's identity was not revealed because she did not participate in the battle, her rejection still left Rider feeling helpless.
"Oh dear, what a bad start."
"How could something like this possibly succeed!"
When Waver complained, Rider just picked at his ear, completely unconcerned.
"So, including the Assassin we identified earlier, we now have Rider, Saber, and Lancer as Servants. The remaining ones are Archer, Caster, and Berserker. That black Servant shouldn't be Caster, right?"
"Doesn't that mean the other party is a Berserker? A Berserker with reason? Does that really exist?"
"Well, I wouldn't know that, but finding out the other person's identity wouldn't be difficult."
Rider guessed at the class of [Emiya Kiritsugu] and simply raised his hands.
"Heroic Spirit who have answered the Holy Grail's call! Show yourselves and gather before the King! Cowards who are afraid to show their faces will be despised by Iskandar, King of Conquerors!"
Rider's wide-area taunt shocked everyone present and those watching from afar.
A golden figure then appeared on the street lamp behind Rider.
"How dare a scoundrel presume to call himself king before me!"
Clad in golden armor, with towering golden hair, the legendary Lamp Post King appeared before the crowd.
"That's Archer!"
The Archer has appeared in this Holy Grail War.
After the golden Archer appeared, Kariya Matou, who was hiding in the bridge arch and observing the battlefield with his insects, also began to go berserk. He gritted his teeth, endured the pain of the insects devouring his flesh, and prepared to summon the Berserker to attack the Archer.
Click—
A gun was pointed at his temple.
"I don't recommend you do that if you don't want anything to happen to Sakura."
The recently vanished [Emiya Kiritsugu] appeared before him, pointing a pistol at him and uttering threatening words.
209. Irisviel, it's me, don't look back!
Because of the threat posed by Emiya Kiritsugu, Kariya Matou stopped summoning the Berserker. He forgot about his revenge against Tokiomi Tohsaka and focused all his attention on Emiya Kiritsugu in front of him.
"What do you mean by that? Where is Sakura?"
After learning that the Matou residence had been destroyed, Kariya Matou searched for Sakura but couldn't find her. He even thought Sakura was dead, which fueled his even more frantic desire to take revenge on Tokiomi Tohsaka. However, upon hearing news about Sakura from the Emiya Kiritsugu, he immediately came to his senses.
"I blew up the Matou residence, and Sakura is in my hands. If you don't want anything to happen to Sakura, you'd better do as I say."
"What are you going to do to Sakura!?"
Kariya Matou looked at [Emiya Kiritsugu] with nervousness.
"Don't ask me what I'm doing to Sakura, you should ask me what you need to do."
Emiya Kiritsugu replied coldly, Kariya Matou immediately understood.
"I understand. What do you want me to do? I'll do anything to hurt Sakura!"
"Very good, now extend your right hand."
Kariya Matou extended his right hand, revealing three Command Spells clearly visible on the back of his hand.
[Emiya Kiritsugu] drew the dagger from his waist and slashed at Kariya Matou's arm.
Kariya Matou quickly covered his arm, only to find that he felt no pain in his arm where the dagger had pierced him. The only change was that the three Command Spells on the back of his hand were gone.
[Emiya Kiritsugu] pulled out the dagger, then removed the glove from his left hand, revealing three bright red Command Spells on the back of his hand.
"You... stole my Command Spells?"
Kariya Matou looked at the back of his hand in surprise.
"What use is this to you? You're a completely talentless magician; you'll only waste your life!"
As he spoke, [Emiya Kiritsugu] put on his gloves and stabbed Kariya Matou in the chest with his dagger again. The dagger went straight into his chest, but it did not cause any damage to Kariya Matou.
With a single stab, then withdrawing the knife, Kariya Matou immediately collapsed to his knees, vomiting violently.
From his mouth, he spat out a bunch of worms that looked like giant maggots. After being spat out, the worms rolled on the ground and made hissing noises before being crushed by the [Emiya Kiritsugu]!
After vomiting for Yoruichi, Kariya recovered slightly and looked up at [Emiya Kiritsugu] in shock.
"The worms inside my body..."
"I have cleaned the worms out of your body. Now, you have no need to participate in the Holy Grail War."
Emiya Kiritsugu threw out a note.
"This is Sakura's address. You can go there now."
"I..."
Kariya Matou looked at the address on the note and hesitated unexpectedly.
"What, do you think it's more important to cause trouble for Tokiomi Tohsaka than to take care of Sakura?"
"No! Of course not!"
Kariya Matou quickly shook his head.
"Then you can leave. From now on, I am the master of the Berserker."
"Who exactly are you...?"
He's clearly a Boom Servant, but he's become the Master of another Servant. Kariya Matou has no idea about this situation. And now that everyone's class is clear, the only Servant who hasn't appeared yet is a Caster. Could it be that Emiya Kiritsugu is a Caster?
Based on the information Zouken Matou gave him earlier, Kiritsugu Emiya, although known as the Mage Killer, was also a magician. After his death, he became a Heroic Spirit. However, since he was a magician in life, it seems not impossible for him to become a Caster after becoming a Servant.
With this guess in mind, Kariya Matou limped away from the bridge archway.
Although the worms have been removed from his body, more than half of his body has already been eaten away by them. While he won't die at the end of the Holy Grail War, his lifespan won't be long either; he'll probably only last a few years at most before he dies.
After obtaining Berserker's Command Spells from Kariya Matou, [Emiya Kiritsugu] immediately ordered Berserker to remain in place and not to take any action. There was no usable class before, but now there is.
Having completed the Command Spells acquisition, the Emiya Kiritsugu once again vanished into darkness from his original spot and headed to the front lines of the battlefield.
On the front lines, the incredibly arrogant Archer, upon appearing, immediately and arrogantly mocked Rider, Saber, and Lancer. Faced with Archer's taunts, the three present were speechless, but still tried their best to remain restrained, since the sudden appearance of four riders would definitely cause chaos if a fight broke out.
But Archer completely ignored it.
The golden king standing on the street lamp is Gilgamesh, known as the King of Heroes. In addition to the title of King of Heroes, he also has the title of the Earliest King. Although he is certainly not the oldest one, in Gilgamesh's eyes, he is the first king and the only king.
So, without the Berserker drawing aggro, he didn't hesitate to attack all three people present at the same time!
Golden ripples surged in the air, and the origins of various legends and wisdom from humankind since ancient times were launched from Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon, using the coveted Noble Phantasm as projectiles. This incredibly extravagant act shocked and greatly troubled the three Servants present.
Lancer stood alone, wielding his twin pistols, spreading out the Noble Phantasm that were flying towards him. His previous experience of [Emiya Kiritsugu] throwing High-Explosive Grenade had made him extremely sensitive to anything thrown at him, fearing that the Noble Phantasm he touched might suddenly explode again.
Rider's response was quite simple. He wasn't a particularly agile unit; his strength largely came from his Chariot. However, his Chariot was too large a target. If he stayed in place, he wouldn't be able to escape Archer's Noble Phantasm bombardment. Moreover, Master Waver was behind him. So, he simply activated his Chariot, took off from the ground, and sped through the sky with lightning. His aerial maneuverability allowed him to easily dodge the Noble Phantasm bombardment.