Before some children could even experience the beauty of this world, they were brutally murdered by Caster's familiars. Diarmuid could not forgive himself!
"Shrimp!!!"
Gilles de Rais was stunned. He still had no idea what had happened. The sea demons he had painstakingly summoned had already been destroyed by that passing Rider, and now he was beginning to panic.
Though he had fallen into the abyss and sold his soul to an evil god, he had once followed Jeanne d'Arc and commanded armies as a marshal!
Naturally, he knew what would happen once the sea demons blocking his path disappeared!
Diarmuid planted Yellow Rose of Mortality into the ground, gripped Red Rose of Purgatory tightly, and charged toward Gilles de Rais. His top priority now was to destroy the Noble Phantasm in Gilles de Rais's hand, then kill this Caster!
The sea demons Iskandar had temporarily killed around them seemed to be reviving. They were like an endless tide; if Caster's Noble Phantasm was not destroyed, their numbers would only continue to grow.
"Don't think you'll succeed!!!" Gilles de Rais commanded the surrounding sea demons to charge Diarmuid. As long as they could hold him back for a while, the slain sea demons would revive! Then they would surround Diarmuid once more.
Diarmuid's martial skill was extraordinarily formidable. His abilities were enough to take an enemy general's head from within an army of thousands. Moreover, his Master... had supplied him with a great deal of mana, so he did not need to care about mana consumption at all.
A Lancer with exceptional skill who did not need to worry about mana was terrifying. An ordinary Caster would probably only dare fight him inside a Magic Workshop.
But unfortunately!!! Gilles de Rais was not an ordinary Caster. In the era he belonged to, he had been a warrior general who loved charging into battle, so he had naturally seen many martial commanders like Diarmuid.
And... after Jeanne d'Arc's death, he had frantically studied black magic and abyssal sorcery, actively seeking the existence of evil gods. He had thrown away all the skills he possessed as a warrior. Though he was still only a half-baked magus, why had he been summoned into the Holy Grail War as a Caster?
The reason was simple: the Noble Phantasm in his hand.
Book of the Sea God.
It was a grimoire bound in human skin, inherently capable of functioning as a mana furnace. It could ignore its holder's own mana entirely. Relying on this book alone, Gilles de Rais could perform grand magecraft and ritual-spell-level magic.
It even recorded forbidden knowledge concerning ancient evil gods from before humanity existed. Those sea demons had been summoned through this book.
To summon sea demons, sacrifices had to be offered. Earlier, Gilles de Rais and his Master Ryunosuke had madly abducted children in order to sacrifice them to evil gods from another world and obtain sea demons capable of defeating Servants.
Of course, Gilles de Rais had already made plans. To avoid the appearance of even stronger Servants, he would defeat the Servants, then offer those self-righteous heroes to the evil gods within the abyss in exchange for even more powerful familiars.
"Hmph!"
Diarmuid snorted disdainfully. He swung his crimson spear, magical flames blazing as he slaughtered every sea demon lunging at him. Now, no one could stop him from destroying Caster's Noble Phantasm!
"What?!"
Just as Diarmuid prepared to destroy the Noble Phantasm in Gilles de Rais's hand, he suddenly discovered several tentacles bursting from underground, intending to stop him. But unfortunately for them—
Possessing the inherent skill Mind's Eye (True), the instant he noticed the tentacles in the ground, he swung Red Rose of Purgatory and cleared them away.
But what Diarmuid had not expected was that there were far more sea demons buried underground than he had imagined!!!
Though his martial skill was exceptional, clearing away the sea demons beneath the ground still took a second.
In that brief instant, Diarmuid frowned. The sea demons Rider had cleared away revived once again, protecting Caster in a dense ring like a tidal wave while launching a fierce assault against Diarmuid.
"You brute!!" Seeing Diarmuid fall into trouble again, Gilles de Rais burst into laughter. "I told you that I would win this Holy Grail War and bring my Jeanne d'Arc! Back to life in this world!! Did you think I came here without any preparations?!"
That was right. Before becoming a magus, Gilles de Rais had been a marshal! When he led armies in life, he had naturally encountered warriors like Diarmuid.
Even though he had lost his martial prowess, the strategy for commanding armies embedded deep within his heart remained engraved upon his soul.
"As a sacrifice, there is nothing you can do now! Hahahahahaha!!!" Gilles de Rais laughed wildly, not even sparing the Rider in the sky a glance.
Because if that man dared to come down again, he naturally had a way to make him stay forever.
"Oh~ This is troublesome." The King of Conquerors stroked his chin, looking down at Diarmuid, who had fallen into difficulty again. Smiling, he said, "That Caster seems rather capable. By borrowing this king's hand, he actually doubled the number of those monsters."
There were now several hundred monsters below. No matter how skilled Diarmuid was, under such a swarm tactic, sooner or later he would expose a weakness. Then Gilles de Rais would seize the opportunity to subdue him, and in the end, perhaps truly offer this Lancer to an evil god in the depths of the abyss to obtain even stronger familiars.
"What should we do next, Rider?" Looking at the sea demons below, Waver turned pale for a moment. An opponent of this level was the most disgusting kind to deal with.
"Do not worry. This king still has a way to kill him. But for now... let us see what Saber intends to do." The King of Conquerors guided his ox cart, his gaze falling upon Mikaela, who had already arrived at the scene.
A hint of curiosity flashed through his eyes. He wondered what method Mikaela would use to break the deadlock for that Lancer.
Actually, no one was a fool. Though they had agreed to unite and kill Caster and his Master, most of them had their own schemes and wanted to see what each side was capable of.
Lancer appeared trapped now, but he had yet to use his second Noble Phantasm. The King of Conquerors had merely helped him once before continuing to watch him fight the sea demons.
The Holy Grail? Most people wanted it!
Aside from that golden idiot who kept laughing, Mikaela, who did not care about the Holy Grail, and Diarmuid, every other Servant wanted the Holy Grail very badly.
For example, the King of Conquerors certainly would not easily hand the Holy Grail over to someone else. Thus, he shared Mikaela's thoughts. He wanted to use this campaign against Caster to get a good look at what kind of heroes had gathered for this Holy Grail War.
"...Has he fallen into trouble?"
Mikaela had naturally arrived near the battlefield. Though he was somewhat slower than the King of Conquerors—after all, the King of Conquerors had an "ox cart," while he could only run over slowly on his own two legs.
At a glance, he saw the King of Conquerors—Iskandar—watching from the sky, Diarmuid trapped in difficulty, and the arrogant Gilles de Rais.
"Yo, Saber. Are you going to help Lancer?"
The King of Conquerors drove his cart over. He still wore that friendly smile, flashing his big white teeth to show that he had no hostility.
"Yes, he more or less needs some help now. My Judas is enough to deal with these endlessly spawning monsters." Mikaela nodded slightly. Though he did not wish to talk with the King of Conquerors, revealing a little information at times did no harm.
Judas... A solemn look flashed through the King of Conquerors's eyes. Looking at Mikaela with a faint smile, he said, "Though I do not think you could be that person, casually using the name 'Judas' is not a good thing. After all, that man betrayed..."
"It does not matter."
Mikaela shook his head and threw Oath of Judas down. At the same time, he leaped from the rooftop and shouted at Diarmuid below, "Lancer, I'll create an opening for you."
"Oh~ You came too. I thought you were Caster or Rider, but it turns out you're Saber." Diarmuid had more or less recognized Mikaela's class by now.
Among the Servants who had appeared, most of their classes were already out in the open. Though some wanted to conceal their classes, once they fought, their classes were more or less exposed.
The only classes that had not been exposed were Saber and Berserker. Diarmuid did not believe Mikaela was some madman. Mikaela was extremely calm in his dealings, and even the Lord praised him highly.
Though he was merely an insect, he understood etiquette very well. Diarmuid did not dislike such a person.
"Well, who knows?" While Lancelot had not yet revealed himself, Mikaela would not admit he was Saber. He would conceal it for as long as he could, even if there was little point in doing so.
Bang—!!!
The 150-kilogram Oath of Judas kicked up a cloud of dust the moment it landed. Then countless golden chains shot out, binding the sea demons.
Thirteen Spears of Light fired out as well, helping Diarmuid destroy all the sea demons before him.
Bang bang bang—!!!
(③④②⑨⑥⑦④⑥⑤)
The Spears of Light landed among the sea demons. In an instant, the sea demons were blasted away as though bombs had been triggered, the violent explosions tearing them into bloody pulp!!
"Ooooooh!!!!"
Gilles de Rais let out a cry that was impossible to tell whether it was fear or praise. His gaze turned toward Mikaela, slowly descending from the sky. His goldfish-like eyes stared fixedly at Mikaela. He seemed not to care at all that the sea demons around him had been shattered, instead loudly praising, "God!!! Have you heard my summons?! Ooooooh!!! This is a miracle!! Great evil god!!!"
"Have you seen your doom, Caster?!!!" Diarmuid assumed the man had gone mad. Gripping Red Rose of Purgatory, he lunged forward, intending to take the chance to destroy Book of the Sea God in Gilles de Rais's hand.
"Hahahahaha!! Foolish man, the evil god has descended!! This Holy Grail War will surely belong to me!! Oh! No! To this one! This one!! This great one's victory!! So that is it, so that is it, that is how it is."
"I understand! I understand now!"
Gilles de Rais laughed wildly, but his laughter was grating. All four people present frowned slightly, clearly unable to understand what exactly he was laughing about.
"This will not do, this will not do, ooooooh!!! I truly never expected this!!"
Just as Diarmuid was about to break through, Gilles de Rais still had the leisure to bow slightly to Mikaela, his face filled with excitement. "If I do not offer a suitable sacrifice, then I cannot properly celebrate your arrival. This alone is far from enough!!!"
Boom—!!!
Red smoke rose up, and Gilles de Rais vanished from where he stood as if he had been teleported away.
Diarmuid's spear... was a second too late. He had been just a little short of striking the Noble Phantasm in the man's hand.
Splurt—!! Splurt—!!!
When he left, the several hundred sea demons around them exploded as though self-destructing. Their bodies turned into blood that drenched the earth, as if telling some kind of story.
"Did he run away?" The King of Conquerors slowly drove his ox cart down. His gaze intentionally or unintentionally shifted toward Mikaela, but seeing the bewildered expression on Mikaela's face, he sighed inwardly.
Was that Caster sick? He had actually worn that expression when he saw this Saber? Could it be that he was some infamous lecher in history who acted like this whenever he saw a beautiful woman?
"Damn it!!!" Diarmuid drove his spear into the ground, his face filled with extreme fury. He did not suspect Mikaela. He simply believed that, after seeing the three Servants on their side arrive, Gilles de Rais had decisively chosen to flee.
"..." Mikaela remained silent as he looked at the blood around them, sighing softly inwardly.
This outcome... was somewhat different from what he had expected.
At first, Mikaela had wanted to use tonight's campaign against Caster to force everyone out and, while he was at it, see how powerful their Noble Phantasms were.
Though he had forced out most of them, Caster's sudden escape left Mikaela unsure what to do for a moment. But he soon became vigilant.
Could the evil god Caster had spoken of be him?
He had only transformed into Abigail for half an hour, only a little more than half an hour!
The harmless first-stage Abigail had remained transformed for around half an hour. In that state, Abigail had not received any "power."
In principle, without transforming into a Pseudo-Servant, Abigail was a frail little girl without any threat at all.
The second-stage combat state only became powerful after receiving the power of the evil god, Yog-Sothoth.
But Mikaela had used that combat form for less than ten seconds. After forcibly driving back Lancelot, he had immediately dismissed that state and hurried toward Diarmuid.
Yet less than a minute after arriving, Caster saw him and reacted like a fan meeting an idol, his face filled with wild joy. He spouted a bunch of nonsense, then used a smoke bomb... and ran away.
"Sigh." Mikaela felt a little weary. Though the result was different, at least he had discovered that there were not many variables in this Holy Grail War. The only variable was probably on Kayneth's side.
"It seems you know Caster." Looking at Mikaela's weary expression, the King of Conquerors teased, "When he saw you, it was as if he had seen a god. That worship was not feigned."
"Do not fish for information. He probably saw my weapon." Mikaela put away Oath of Judas. Looking at Diarmuid and the King of Conquerors approaching him, he said calmly, "Though I tried my best to conceal my weapon, you probably saw some of it."
"Oath of Judas. That is what you call your Noble Phantasm, isn't it?"
The King of Conquerors looked at Mikaela, stroking his chin as a solemn glint flashed through his eyes. "To be honest, though I do not believe you are such a great figure, this is the Holy Grail War. Anything is possible."
"Judas?"
Diarmuid had also recovered his composure by then. Though the blood around them was pungent, he still focused his attention on Mikaela.
Tonight, he had come intending to kill Caster and his Master, offering victory and glory to his Lord. But now that they had escaped, he had no right to sigh over it. He might as well investigate what exactly was going on with Saber's Noble Phantasm.
"Did you figure out Caster's true name?" Mikaela did not speak of Oath of Judas, instead shifting the topic to Caster. Looking at Diarmuid, he said calmly, "You arrived before any of us. What did Caster say? Would it be convenient for you to tell us?"
"That is possible."
Diarmuid was an honest sort of knight. The sight of Caster slaughtering children earlier had driven his rage to its peak. He could not allow such heresy to enter this Holy Grail War.
Just as his Lord had said, if such a lowlife did not even understand the need to conceal magecraft and was allowed to continue, Fuyuki City might very well face a crisis.
Though his Lord did not need to involve himself in this matter, for the sake of concealing magecraft, he had still dispatched Diarmuid and instructed him that if he could not find Caster's location, then he would personally act and find that lowly magus.
But this was where Diarmuid felt terrible. He had successfully found Caster!! He had even found Caster's Master!
Yet he had let both of them escape right under his nose!!! Leaving aside whether his Lord would be angered upon learning of this, Diarmuid had failed to kill those two and had instead caused those children to die. More people would die later because he had failed to kill Caster.
This filled Diarmuid with guilt. But outwardly, he said nothing more and instead shared some of Caster's information.
For example, Caster had repeatedly claimed he wanted to revive the saint Jeanne d'Arc. He possessed a human-skin grimoire, and there was the appearance of those sea demons...
"Wait?! Could it be!!!!" At that moment, the little bottom beside the King of Conquerors—Waver Velvet—suddenly thought of something and shouted, "That guy is Gilles de Rais?!"
"Hm?" The King of Conquerors looked at his Master in surprise and asked, "Why do you think Caster is him?"
"Isn't that obvious? The only person in history who cared so much about Jeanne d'Arc that he went insane and fell into heresy was Gilles de Rais." Waver Velvet felt as though the King of Conquerors before him was fake. The answer was so obvious, yet the man had not seen it!
"Oh~ I see, I see." The King of Conquerors nodded, seemingly finding his Master's reasoning convincing. Yet Mikaela noticed the amusement in his eyes.
As expected...
Mikaela felt deeply solemn. This King of Conquerors, who appeared so straightforward and honest, was actually the most dangerous person in this Holy Grail War.
"Oh, I see. Then why did he run the moment he saw you, Saber? Could there be some story between you?" Diarmuid was not particularly surprised, because he did not care about Caster's identity. He simply did not understand why that Caster had fled as soon as he saw Saber.
"I do not know him." Mikaela said coldly, "And he certainly does not know me. But he probably recognizes the Noble Phantasm on me."
Mikaela placed Oath of Judas on the ground for Diarmuid, the King of Conquerors, and Waver to inspect.
"He probably believed that the cross on me belonged to the one who betrayed the 'Son of God' back then."
Mikaela did not state it outright, merely skirted around the subject. Even so, a solemn glint flashed through the eyes of the King of Conquerors and Diarmuid as they looked at him.
Before you continue