Assassin Starts a Melee / Large-Scale Attack ...

And then—

Countless threads suddenly wrapped tightly around Hata no Kokoro, leaving her completely unable to break free.

"Not ordinary threads. But still not enough!"

Hata no Kokoro switched to a lion mask and boldly spewed flames from her mouth, burning every last thread to ashes.

The flames Hata no Kokoro unleashed were no ordinary fire, but flames released through magical energy. Though Imperial Arms were no ordinary weapons, once caught in such flames, they too could not escape being reduced to ashes.

"What? They actually snapped!" Lubbock suddenly appeared, staring at Hata no Kokoro in shock.

Thousand Transformations: Cross Tail was a tough thread-type Imperial Arm. Its threads were made from the fur of a legendary Super Dangerous Beast said to dwell among the clouds over the eastern sea. Not only were they immensely durable, but they were also incomparably sharp. The strongest thread among them was called the Severing Thread, and its toughness far surpassed that of the others. It could be spread out to form traps or barriers for scouting enemies, and it possessed both restraining and cutting abilities, living up to its nickname of Thousand Transformations.

That was why Lubbock had been so astonished to see it burned through by those flames.

Hata no Kokoro merely looked coldly at Akame and the other two before putting on a fox mask.

"Let's wager the title of strongest! Fight me!"

Assassin Starts a Group Beatdown

Koizumi lay silently in the grass, sensing the auras around him. Without a doubt, he was training his sensory abilities.

Honestly, Koizumi felt that his strength had been steadily improving, but it would be even better if he could improve his senses as well.

The only way to achieve that was through constant training like this, just as he was doing now.

There should be no need to worry about Reimu's side. There was only one person there, though he could sense three completely different energy signatures... If he had guessed correctly, someone was probably sniping from a distance, likely with firearms or artillery.

Reimu was handling things rather easily. After all, he could tell that her output had not been all that exaggerated.

That only made two of them in total. Pathetically weak. Reimu could solo all of Night Raid, okay? Even if Servants were involved, who could withstand it once Reimu brought out her ultimate Noble Phantasm?

Though Koizumi did not know how powerful Reimu's ultimate Noble Phantasm was, its output was definitely enormous.

Reimu had sealed that Noble Phantasm because she did not want to exhaust too much power and make things difficult for herself.

Since its output was huge, its power had to be considerable as well. That was why Koizumi had always held an unusual degree of confidence in Reimu.

Hata no Kokoro's side was probably in a bit of trouble. Koizumi could sense three people there besides her.

Hata no Kokoro's strength could only be called average. Unless she unleashed her Noble Phantasm, it would be difficult for her to take down three people in one go.

Night Raid was infamous throughout the Imperial Capital. If they could make Imperial generals find them so troublesome, then Night Raid must have had its strengths. None of its assassins could be underestimated.

So, with one against three, Koizumi could not help worrying that Hata no Kokoro might be unable to handle them.

If it had been Reimu, Koizumi would not have worried. But since it was Hata no Kokoro, he could not help feeling concerned.

After all, there was still a huge gap between Hata no Kokoro and Reimu's combat power...

But now was not the time for Koizumi to worry about Hata no Kokoro, because he sensed danger.

He could not detect any corresponding aura, yet he felt a trace of danger. It was obvious...

Faintly, Koizumi had already begun to stay alert. He might have been deliberately leaving an opening, but he had no intention of getting himself killed in the process.

Who deliberately exposed an opening and actually ended up selling themselves to death? That would be genuinely embarrassing, okay?

Though Koizumi did not think Yakumo Yukari would just watch him die, he did not want another embarrassing black mark in his history either.

One day, after he had become stronger and grown up, Yakumo Yukari might still drag out this humiliating incident to make fun of him.

...Koizumi could not help shivering. He did not want Yakumo Yukari to record such an embarrassing scene.

All right, enough thinking. Better stay alert and watch the surroundings carefully. It would be best if nothing unexpected happened!

Koizumi pushed his senses to their limit, and this time he was exceptionally careful. Though his sensory abilities were not that impressive, he still believed Night Raid's people should not have been able to hide from him.

Why could he not notice anyone approaching, yet still feel such an intense sense of danger?

It was as if something in the darkness was drawing near... Wait, something in the darkness?

He remembered Reimu mentioning a Servant's aura earlier. Could a Servant have come looking for him...

If that was the case, things were somewhat troublesome. His strength was formidable, but there was still a vast gap between him and a Servant. At most, he could contend with the very weakest kind of Servant.

But then again, if the other side was a Servant skilled in stealth, then barring surprises, it should be an Assassin.

Assassins should not be very strong. They had probably put all their points into stealth, so their frontal combat ability should be weak. If it were him, he ought to be able to have a proper fight with them.

But then again, why did a cold breeze keep passing over his forehead whenever he thought Assassins were weak in frontal combat...? Had he said something wrong? Shouldn't an Assassin's potential points all be invested in stealth?

Forget it. Better stay vigilant. Since he knew it was an Assassin...

Slowly, shadow after shadow crept closer to Koizumi. The next moment, sharp whistles tore through the air, and Koizumi swiftly opened his eyes.

Just as Koizumi intended to catch the incoming objects, a chill rose in his throat. Instinctively, he chose to dodge them instead.

The instant he opened his eyes, Koizumi had already taken on his vampire form. In his original state, he simply could not contend with these Assassins. He would only die horribly in the end.

After avoiding the incoming objects, Koizumi glanced at what had flown toward him—they were two daggers.

The two daggers embedded themselves in the tree behind Koizumi, and the tree swiftly withered away.

At that moment, Koizumi finally understood that chill. The daggers had been coated in poison, and definitely an extremely potent poison. Otherwise, even in vampire form, he would not have felt such an intense chill.

It was a vicious poison capable of threatening a vampire. Honestly, as long as he had sufficient magical energy in vampire form, he could keep reviving. But if he were poisoned to death... He would revive after dying from poison, then die from poison again, then revive again...

Wouldn't that drive anyone insane...? Nobody wanted such a maddening cycle of life and death...

Though he had never heard of a vampire being poisoned to death, Koizumi had no intention of trying it himself.

Back to the point, Koizumi turned his gaze ahead. There were shadowy figures there, gradually revealing themselves beneath the moonlight. Every one of them wore a skull mask.

Some were tall, some short, some thin, some fat. Looking closely, there were quite a lot of them.

From the auras reflected back to him, every one of them was a Servant—and all of them were Assassins!

Even Koizumi's mouth twitched violently. Even if Assassins were weak, was this really how they were going to cheat?

After failing at stealthy assassination, these proper Assassins were actually preparing to start a group beatdown!

Seeing such a huge crowd, anyone unaware of the situation might have thought some gang had come looking for trouble.

However, one Servant was completely out of place among them. Though those Assassins varied in height and build, their muscles were still plainly visible. This Servant was different.

Though she too wore a skull mask, the skin visible through her black stockings and her slender figure made it clear that she was a woman. More than that, she looked frail and delicate, yet gave Koizumi a sense of danger.

How should he put it? The girl before him was like a rose covered in thorns.

It felt as though merely touching her would bring terrible consequences from her backlash.

A Large-Scale Attack

Honestly, Koizumi had never expected to encounter Servants here, much less that Night Raid had Servants of the Assassin class among them. It truly shocked him.

But it was nothing too extraordinary. This was a Singularity to begin with. With distortions present, Servants appearing was perfectly normal.

So Koizumi was only mildly surprised by it and said nothing more.

They had already come knocking at his door. Was he supposed to stand there and chat about right and wrong with them? That would be nothing but having too much time on his hands.

What left Koizumi utterly speechless, however, was this: after failing at stealthy assassination, these Assassins were actually going to start a group beatdown? What the hell was that? Couldn't they see Koizumi staring wordlessly at the bunch of Assassins before him?

But it was not only Koizumi who was speechless. Even these assassins did not know what to say as they faced him.

For no other reason than that they had seen the two Command Seals on Koizumi's right hand. That was enough for them to determine that the human before them was a Master, a Master who possessed Servants. Without any surprises, that shrine maiden was likely his Servant.

Probably not just one, either. Earlier, there had been a girl wielding a guandao. That girl was likely a Servant too.

A Master supporting the magical energy consumption of two Servants probably had considerable talent as a mage.

However, with both sides' positions unclear, they still had to attack even if they knew he was a Master!

Thus, skull-masked assassins charged toward Koizumi one after another. Some hurled daggers, others intended to strike him with their fists, and some even wielded unknown polearms as they launched attacks. In any case, none of them held back.

The girl who had caught Koizumi's attention also moved toward a dark corner, apparently intending to exploit the night to launch a surprise attack. But in Koizumi's eyes, that was normal behavior. She was an Assassin, after all!

Yet against enemies like these, Koizumi felt unexpectedly relaxed, because...

Koizumi slowly raised his right hand. The next instant, an enormous magic circle appeared overhead, completely enclosing the area around him and leaving every skull-masked assassin present stunned.

Are you sure this is a Master and not a Servant? He could even use such a large-scale attack!

Reimu and Leone began exchanging blows without a word. Since Leone liked close-quarters combat, Reimu would play along!

Reimu happened to be rather free at the moment anyway, because neither Leone nor Mine was particularly strong.

One attacked from afar, but Reimu could basically evade her attacks while flying through the air. This was thanks to her intuition; she could sense that Mine had locked onto her before she even fired.

Danmaku attacks were what Gensokyo excelled at most. Koizumi had already learned that deeply from Remilia.

The attack Remilia had used against Archer was the most basic kind of danmaku attack in Gensokyo.

Yakumo Yukari had also explained this to him after appearing later, so that he would not remain ignorant about Reimu and the others.

Koizumi had found it perfectly natural. When he saw Remilia, a proper Lancer, use methods belonging to a Caster, he had already felt something was off. So that was the problem. Didn't that mean every Gensokyo Servant could adapt to the Caster class?

Apparently, Reimu was not a Caster because she fired danmaku, so she had become an Archer.

All right, that was simply impossible to criticize. Did they think they were playing a bullet hell game?

Fine, complaining about it here meant he had lost. Gensokyo Servants had their classes assigned randomly anyway, so why take it seriously?

Reimu and Leone had clearly both noticed the change in the sky, and they stopped attacking one another.

"Hey, hey, hey! Is that your doing? Or is it the doing of that little girl with the mask?"

Even Leone felt waves of dread from that magic circle. Though she was sure being hit would not kill her, it might strip away a layer of skin. If it hit her, the outcome definitely would not be pleasant.

Reimu looked entirely unconcerned, crossing her arms as she silently watched the enormous magic circle in the sky.

It should be Koizumi's work, barring surprises. Still, that attack was somewhat similar to the one Remilia had used against her during the Scarlet Mist Incident. Though it looked large in scale, its power was not that great.

And compared with Remilia's attack during the Scarlet Mist Incident, this one was still far weaker.

It was only a little similar... Still, reaching this level was already quite impressive. What a monster.

Though she was cheating too, Reimu could not help wanting to complain about the cheats Koizumi had.

Reimu was clearly being hypocritical here—she allowed herself to set fires while forbidding others to light lamps! How shameless!

"Do I need to tell you? And besides! Aren't we fighting...? What are you doing?"

Reimu looked speechlessly at Leone, who had draped an arm around her shoulders. Was this woman not a little too bold...?

And besides... Feeling the softness pressing against her right arm, Reimu's cheeks could not help flushing slightly...

This feeling always reminded her of a certain youkai sage who got drunk, threw drunken tantrums, and wildly tossed away all sense of shame...

Fortunately, she was only throwing away her dignity. That sort of thing was useless anyway; she could just treat it as having been eaten. As long as she had not thrown away her chastity, it was fine.

"Oh my! Little Reimu, don't be so distant. You guessed it anyway—we only came over to fight a little and put on a show. I saw your battle with the Imperial Guard in the Imperial Capital, as well as your battle with General Budou. How could someone of my strength possibly beat you? Even with Mine over there, we still couldn't win!"

Leone knew herself well and clearly understood the gap between herself and Reimu.

Even if all of Night Raid mobilized, they might not necessarily be able to contend with Reimu.

Besides, who knew whether Reimu had any trump cards? Since she could create talismans that blocked fatal attacks at crucial moments, Reimu herself surely carried similar items. So Leone was definitely no match for her.

Even if she unleashed the ultimate technique of her Imperial Arm, Leone did not think her odds of victory were very high.

"Come to think of it, should we retreat? This thing might even draw the Imperial Capital's army here."

Leone suddenly wore a grim expression. They had not originally intended to make such a huge commotion!

"Don't worry. I set up a barrier. People outside it can't see what's happening inside."

Though she was not a Caster, Reimu possessed Rank A Territory Creation and Rank A Demon Sealing Formation due to her identity as a shrine maiden. Those two skills allowed Reimu to perfectly perform almost every barrier technique she had used in the past.

It had to be said, Reimu was practically a Caster wearing an Archer's outer shell!

A Serious Hata no Kokoro

Hata no Kokoro was at a disadvantage here, with Bulat, Akame, and Lubbock ganging up on her.

Akame and Bulat fought Hata no Kokoro at close range, while Lubbock used Thousand Transformations: Cross Tail to restrain her to a certain extent. This time, Hata no Kokoro was indeed at a disadvantage.

However, relying on her various personal skills and class skills, Hata no Kokoro completely evened out the situation.

Bulat and Akame could not help being startled by the strength of the opponent before them, while Lubbock's threads failed entirely.

Incidentally, Akame knew that the Imperial Arm in her hand was dangerous, so she had been extremely careful throughout the fight.

Thus, Akame did not use her full strength. It could even be said that she had almost handed the opportunities to clash directly over to Bulat.

Though defeating an opponent only required making a cut on them with Murasame, if she truly did cut them, then something would definitely go wrong.