Shirou gazed from afar toward the warehouse district illuminated by purple lightning, secretly clenching his fists:
Morgan, are you really there? Have you come to Pan-Human History?
"Beep beep beep beep..."
Hearing the sudden buzzing, Lady Avalon looked strangely at the boy in her arms.
"What's making that noise... Eek! Master, don't touch everywhere~ That's off-limits~?"
Shirou reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small electronic device.
It was a small communicator he used to contact Hundred-Faced Hassan in secret, a product Shirou had previously ordered overseas through Tsuruno Matou.
The communicators came as a pair, with one each for Shirou and Big Sis Assassin.
Besides allowing them to communicate while avoiding the eyes and ears of the Tohsaka Family and Kirei Kotomine, the communicators also had a positioning function, making it easy to determine each other's coordinates.
"It's me."
Shirou spoke to the small communicator, whose light kept flashing.
"..."
There was no response.
"Big Sis Assassin?"
"..."
Still no response.
After thinking briefly, Shirou turned his gaze toward the distant end of the pier in the other direction and gave Lady Avalon an order.
"Go there."
Lady Avalon froze.
"Huh? But... we're almost at the warehouse district! We'll be able to see Saber soon!"
"...Go."
Shirou spoke with unwavering determination.
Volume One 047: Confrontation in the Dark (3/5)
The location sent by Hundred-Faced Hassan was on the pier, five hundred meters from the warehouse district.
A crane stood there. Judging solely by eye, the driver's cab was forty meters above the ground, making it the highest point in the surrounding area.
If someone could climb up there without making a sound, they would have an excellent vantage point from which to survey everything below.
Hundred-Faced Hassan was lying quietly in the open ground beneath the crane's arm, with a small pool of blood already forming around her.
"..."
Shirou had only just arrived, but one glance was enough for him to immediately grasp the general situation.
Assassin had probably been standing atop the crane's arm, watching the battle in the warehouse district, when she was ambushed by an enemy.
"..."
After confirming that there were no other presences nearby, Shirou walked straight toward Hundred-Faced Hassan.
"...There's still a pulse."
Shirou breathed a sigh of relief. Assassin was still alive.
He undid her black robe, revealing Hundred-Faced Hassan's muscular, shapely body and brown skin stained with blood.
A hole had been blown through Big Sis Assassin's chest, a few centimeters away from her heart—her Spirit Core.
"..."
Shirou frowned slightly. He could smell a strong odor of gunpowder.
The enemy had used a gun.
A long-range snipe, and a single shot that had brought her down.
It had nearly taken her life without Assassin noticing anything.
Perfect, superb assassination technique.
This was the pier, five hundred meters from the warehouse district.
Only a Servant with vision far beyond that of a human could watch Saber and Lancer's battle from this distance.
Assassin should have been standing at the highest point of the crane's arm, with her spirit form dispelled.
That was because a Servant in spirit form could only possess the perception of "spirit vision" and could not properly observe the battlefield.
Even so, Hundred-Faced Hassan should have possessed a high-ranked Presence Concealment skill. Normally, it should have been impossible for her to be detected.
Unless—
The enemy had also discovered this excellent observation point beforehand.
But instead of occupying it, they had watched the place from elsewhere.
"The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind."
The idiom surfaced in Shirou's mind, along with a trace of respect for the unidentified enemy.
The enemy who had attacked Assassin—
Saber and Lancer, who were locked in fierce combat, could be ruled out first. Rider, who had intruded on the battlefield, could basically be ruled out as well.
That left only Archer or Ryunosuke Uryu's Servant.
Ryunosuke Uryu seemed unlikely no matter how Shirou looked at it.
As for Archer... Shirou did not believe that person's fondness for grand displays would allow him to cause so little destruction.
If it had not been a Servant, then only a magus remained...
Could a Master really defeat a Servant? Was such a thing even possible?
More importantly, would a magus use a firearm to kill someone?
The enemy's identity could wait. Saving her was the priority.
The red-haired boy silently reached toward the wound.
"Haaah~~~"
Seeing that Shirou intended to use healing magecraft on Assassin, Lady Avalon sighed helplessly.
"Let me do it. It'll be more efficient this way. With an injury this serious, she'll die if we drag this out."
Shirou did not raise his head. He replied through telepathy, "No. Keep maintaining spirit form, Big Sis Avalon. Do not reveal yourself under any circumstances."
Lady Avalon could only nod helplessly. She turned toward the warehouse district and began providing live commentary.
"Oh my, Rider just said something quite outrageous..."
"Not only did he taunt Lancer's Master for refusing to show himself, he also provoked the other Servants... saying that everyone hiding in the dark was a coward..."
"Oh, Archer has appeared... Hehe, he looks awfully angry~"
Shirou remained silent, focusing completely on his healing magecraft as he sent a telepathic message to Lady Avalon.
"The person who defeated Big Sis Assassin is highly skilled."
"You could understand that just by looking, couldn't you?"
Lady Avalon said, "Assassinating Assassin isn't something just anyone could accomplish."
Shirou transmitted, "The bullet landed less than five centimeters from Big Sis Assassin's Spirit Core, directly robbing her of consciousness.
The enemy clearly possessed such incredible skill, so why didn't they come over to check whether Assassin had been killed completely...?"
Lady Avalon tilted her head as she analyzed the situation. "Because the enemy doesn't want to expose themselves?
"Think about it. Assassin, who should have been killed by Archer last night, has appeared here. Anyone would find that strange.
"The enemy must be thinking that there's some conspiracy in this Holy Grail War, and that there might even be other watchers nearby... Ah."
As if she had thought of something, the Flower Magus's voice trembled.
"Master, could it be...?"
Shirou maintained his lowered head, a bead of cold sweat sliding down his cheek. "That's right. This is a trap.
"The enemy deliberately abandoned Assassin here while she was half-dead to lure out new prey.
"Thinking about it now, even the shot that missed the heart by five centimeters may have been carefully calculated. In other words—"
Shirou sucked in a cold breath. "The person who attacked Big Sis Assassin is watching us from somewhere."
...He had been careless.
Although Shirou had carefully searched the nearby area for presences before approaching Hundred-Faced Hassan and had been extremely cautious, he had still overlooked one highly unusual possibility:
The enemy possessed Presence Concealment close to or equal to Assassin's, or perhaps even a higher rank.
Although it sounded impossible, it was impossible in practice as well.
But once every impossibility had been eliminated, whatever remained—no matter how impossible—had to be the truth.
Hmm, that sounded like something said by a very famous figure from Britain.
"What should we do, Master?"
Lady Avalon's voice was anxious.
"Stop healing for now and hurry up and carry Assassin away! There's no time to worry about anything else!"
The enemy was a powerful foe capable of sniping Assassin from a distance. Shirou had no idea where they were hiding, and in this situation, killing him would be as easy as lifting a finger. If he fled, there was still a chance.
Shirou calmly shook his head and continued healing.
"No. We can't run."
"If I show even the slightest sign of wavering, the enemy will attack me.
"But if I maintain the current situation, I don't think the enemy will launch an attack on their own."
Lady Avalon asked, puzzled, "Why?"
Shirou glanced at her. Because of you, you silly girl.
Volume One 048: The End of the First Battle (4/5)
What was the reason the enemy had not attacked Shirou until now?
It couldn't be because they were kind.
There was only one reason—
The enemy had judged that Shirou might have brought a Servant with him in spirit form.
They had guessed half-right. Shirou had indeed come with a Servant.
It was just that this Servant was completely useless in battle.
Even if someone attacked her Master, she could do nothing—and would do nothing.
Based on the information collected so far, it could be determined that the enemy who had attacked Big Sis Assassin was extremely cautious by nature.
They would never risk being discovered by a Servant to attack Shirou.
So he had to remain calm.
So he absolutely could not show fear.
Before you continue