Esdeath: "Hm?"
Hisoka: "All I said was that 'Archer' is very mature. I never said he was guaranteed to win."
Archer: "You don't actually think I'd lose, do you? I'm not that vixen who likes playing house."
Medea: "?"
Hisoka: "Is that so? smiles"
Hisoka: "If 'you' were truly serious, this battle could have ended before it reached close combat. Is it because there's a similarly unripe fruit? Am I right?"
Archer: "Hmph... I don't know what you're talking about."
Rin Tohsaka: "What do you mean?"
Hisoka: "I don't know either. Let's keep watching. It's just a bold guess."
"Damn it!"
Shido Itsuka's feet were already buried deep in the ground. Pulling them free would take at least a few seconds, but that much time alone—
The incoming Gan Jiang Mo Ye were enough to hit them!
"One each."
Hachiman Hikigaya spoke from his arms as quickly as he could.
Shido Itsuka understood instantly, each of them choosing one sword.
One threw a punch, while the other summoned a sword again.
They struck the incoming twin blades!
"Bang!" "Bang!"
Shido Itsuka's entire arm was blown off on the spot, but Hachiman Hikigaya's condition in his arms was even worse.
He had taken a full Fantasy Collapse from the start. If not for the defensive enhancement from Brillia's Shriek covering the main part of his body, they would have been blown to death on the spot!
"—Retreat!"
To cover the people inside, Kazuma Satou had no choice but to risk poking his head out from the building and firing an arrow.
Archer caught it from the corner of his eye. The arrow was horribly off-target, but in the next instant, his pupils contracted slightly.
An arrow that should have been impossible to hit him changed trajectory when a sea breeze blew across the bridge.
Combined with Ryuguuin Seiya's next move, it directly forced him into a highly dangerous position.
"What?!!"
"Trace on!"
Archer instantly projected a Noble Phantasm and shattered the arrow.
But with part of his focus drawn away, he had to change moves several times to evade Ryuguuin Seiya's spearpoint and abandon his continued suppression of the three.
Shido Itsuka successfully retreated with Hachiman Hikigaya.
"Bang bang bang bang..."
Archer continued trading blows with Ryuguuin Seiya. The only one left who could fight him head-on was the man before him.
As long as he dealt with him, the others would be nothing to worry about.
Mana infusion, projection collapse!
The Gan Jiang Mo Ye in his hands instantly swelled in size. At the cost of overloading their structure, they transformed into giant swords.
Ryuguuin Seiya raised his spear, but the weapon in his hand was severed directly, dissolving into blue phosphorescent light on the spot.
Archer looked at Shirou Emiya in the distance, ignored the panting Ryuguuin Seiya beside him, and spoke with the bearing of a victor:
"Projection has reached this level? Kid, it seems the you of this world has gone through something I don't know about. But it's over!"
Shirou Emiya, seated in his wheelchair, merely lowered his head slightly and said nothing as he continued projecting.
Had he given up?
No. That expression wasn't surrender. It was—?!
As the person who understood Shirou Emiya best, Archer could vaguely sense what he was thinking even with his head lowered.
He suddenly turned back toward Ryuguuin Seiya in front of him.
His brown pupils shrank sharply!
Ryuguuin Seiya drew in a deep breath, pulled back his right fist to his waist, and launched a punch with all his strength, red mana blazing around it.
Yet its trajectory was extremely strange. It did not travel in a straight line, but curved like a snake!
"One Step Snake Fist!"
Of course Archer had seen this boxing technique before! With no time to be shocked, he barely raised his sword to parry upward.
But he failed to stop it!
"Bang—!"
"Gah—"
Archer was struck in the waist. Surging mana combined with superhuman strength sent him reeling as he spat out a huge mouthful of blood.
What was going on?
If it were Kuzuki's Snake Fist, its trajectory should have been exactly what he predicted.
Was the trajectory different?
No.
Although the opponent's boxing was identical to Souichirou Kuzuki's, its level was not the same. He had likely only imitated twenty to thirty percent of it.
And precisely because of that, the trajectory—had shortened!
Yet because of his opponent's release of blood-red mana, the actual output was not much weaker!
Archer clutched his abdomen and looked at Ryuguuin Seiya, whose right arm had already been crippled from using that punch.
Although he was seriously injured, he had suffered such injuries far too often in past battles. He still retained combat power above a certain level.
But Ryuguuin Seiya... had nothing left?!
What was he raising his left fist for?
Was he insane?!
Another Snake Fist came.
But this time, Archer adjusted and placed his sword in its trajectory.
"Bang!"
The projected sword was smashed to pieces.
Ryuguuin Seiya's final punch did not stop!
Instead, it went straight for Archer's left leg!
One punch, its remaining force struck it and broke Archer's left leg on the spot!
Then it drove downward into the inside of his right leg!
A piercing crack of bone rang out!
"Damn...!"
Archer was beaten into a crouch, nearly kneeling before Ryuguuin Seiya on the spot.
He was starting to get angry. He suddenly raised his head and met the gaze of Ryuguuin Seiya, whose hands were completely ruined but whose eyes still burned with fierce fighting spirit.
Within those pitch-black eyes—
Archer felt an indescribable will, one that actually stirred him slightly and left him unable to react for a moment.
"Fall back!"
Kazuma Satou shouted from upstairs.
Ryuguuin Seiya leaped backward.
Archer did not choose to pursue. With his legs broken, he had no way to chase quickly.
"Objective achieved! Final stage! Come on!"
Kazuma Satou shouted at Kurisu Makise and Shirou Emiya.
They nodded as several enormous "figures" gradually emerged from the room behind them.
Archer recognized them at a glance from their appearance: Dragon Tooth Soldiers. A disdainful smile rose on his lips. Did they think such cannon fodder could defeat him?
Even if he was injured—
They should stop dreaming such... dreams?
"Clack... clack..."
Rows of white Dragon Tooth Soldiers emerged beneath the moonlight, revealing themselves.
Their massive pure-white bones glimmered faintly under the moonlight.
The blue flames within their skulls burned more fiercely than those of any Dragon Tooth Soldiers they had seen before!
What shocked Archer even more was the weapons in their hands.
They were actually the same as his—
—Gan Jiang Mo Ye?!
He lowered his head slightly, as if he had accepted his fate, yet also as if he were enduring something.
Over here,
Ryuguuin Seiya successfully retreated to the rear.
"Good work."
Kurisu Makise looked at his hands, remembered Kazuma Satou's signature gesture, and gave Ryuguuin Seiya a thumbs-up.
Shirou Emiya nodded as well. A trace of admiration flashed through his eyes as he barely tugged up the corners of his mouth, then fell backward to the side and fainted.
He had already overextended himself for an entire day, and he had just used up every Loaded Projection. This was willpower surpassing even steel.
"Good work."
Unable to move his hands anymore, Ryuguuin Seiya stepped forward and used his shoulder to brace Shirou Emiya, supporting him as he slowly reclined against the back of the wheelchair instead of collapsing to the side.
At this point, Kazuma Satou's anticipated strategic objective had been perfectly achieved.
Everyone before had only been there to wear Archer down and ultimately limit his mobility.
And the ones finishing him off—
Were not any of them.
They were enhanced Dragon Tooth Soldiers summoned at the cost of massive materials, equipped with projected Noble Phantasms summoned by Shirou Emiya, and further boosted by the amplification effect of Hecate's Staff: ultimate enhanced Dragon Tooth Soldiers.
Based on the mana carried by their own Craft Essences, they could spend half a day and make at most two or three of such monsters.
But with the top-tier golden-quality Hecate's Staff provided by Kazuma Satou, along with an enormous amount of materials, they could create nearly twenty such monsters.
But this had also reached the limit of her mental capacity.
In fact... it had far exceeded Kurisu Makise's operational limit.
Every familiar, especially more powerful ones, imposed a heavier mental burden on its operator.
"Here."
Ryuguuin Seiya could no longer move either hand. He summoned the Golden Fleece by his mouth, bit down on it, then turned his head and tossed it over.
Kurisu Makise caught it, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and took a slight breath.
The moment she took it over, the sensation of overload in her overheated brain immediately eased considerably.
Before you continue