Irisviel said sternly.
The Silver-haired homunculus felt a pulse in her Magic Circuit—the alarm signaling that the forest barrier had been triggered.
The two of them swiftly shifted into combat readiness after receiving the warning, but everything had happened too suddenly.
The intruder in the forest—Caster—was not alone. Dozens of children followed behind him.
They were a class of elementary school students he had happened upon on their way home from school while heading to Einzbern Castle, and he had brought them along using Suggestion Magic.
Irisviel had no time to go outside and respond. Unsure whether this was a trap, she could only observe through clairvoyant magecraft for the time being.
They had assumed the children were Caster's hostages.
Clearly, they couldn't understand the thoughts of a madman.
The moment he entered the forest, Caster declared that he would offer these adorable children to Saint Jeanne d'Arc.
"It's really nothing much. Just a simple little game—if you would permit me to borrow a small corner of your estate."
As she watched him happily dispel the children's hypnosis, Saber felt a certain bone-chilling "intuition" rise within her.
"Come on, children. The game of hide-and-seek is about to begin."
"The rules are simple. All you have to do is run as far away from me as possible. Otherwise—"
With a gentle smile, Caster walked toward one of the red-haired elementary school boys.
"Stop!!!!"
Saber shouted.
Then came the scene she had foreseen.
Blood sprayed into the air, tracing an elegant arc. Only—
What flew through the air was not the boy's brains and eyeballs, but Caster's arm.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"
Caster clutched his spurting stump and stumbled backward again and again.
The children let out miserable screams and fled in all directions.
As for the red-haired boy whose head Caster had just patted, two blades linked by chains had appeared in his hands.
Shirou had encountered Caster purely by chance. His original plan for the night had been to head to Einzbern Castle.
"What? Master, you're going to see Saber? I'm coming too, I'm coming too!"
Lady Avalon followed along in high spirits.
As a result, Shirou encountered Caster dressed as a Black Magician on the way and was so shocked that he couldn't speak.
At the time, Caster had stopped an elementary school bus and used Suggestion Magic to control the driver. Shirou had slipped aboard during that moment.
Although confirming "something" at Einzbern was important,
Shirou could no longer hold himself back after learning of Caster's misdeeds.
Thinking back on it now, he really was fated to cross paths with the Caster group.
Shirou felt that Ryunosuke Uryu was the "cause" he had sown, and that he had to bear responsibility for bringing about the "effect."
That was one reason. The other was a "personal grudge"—
We were both summoned through compatibility. How did you two manage to find your Soulmates!?
Lady Avalon: "Ehehe~☆"
With old and new grudges combined, Shirou decided that the two of them would be leaving the stage tonight.
Caster appeared deranged, but he was actually extremely wary. The Grimoire in his hand kept its defensive ritual active at all times.
Moreover, they were still in the urban area, so Shirou could only remain still for now and continue waiting for an opportunity.
As it turned out, the school bus drove all the way toward the Einzbern forest.
After entering the forest while pretending to be hypnotized, Shirou sensed Caster activate a new ritual. He immediately realized that the Black Magician intended to perform a living sacrifice.
And then came the scene from earlier.
Caster walked right up to Shirou and, the instant he intended to crush the boy's head, Shirou seized the opportunity and cut off his right arm.
"What's going on...?"
Saber fell into confusion.
Why could that red-haired boy injure a Servant?
Was this a performance meant to lure them over? A trap?
While she stood at a loss, Irisviel suddenly rose beside her.
"Saber, let's go."
"...?"
A fierce aura radiated from Irisviel's entire body.
This was the first time Saber had seen her Master take such a serious attitude, her expression resolute... Was it a sense of justice? Somehow, that didn't seem quite right.
Even during the battle in the warehouse district, she had never been this full of fighting spirit.
Irisviel stared at the red-haired boy within the clairvoyance magecraft and clenched her small fist.
Wait for me, Shinji-kun...
Mom... Big Sister is coming to save you right now!!
First Volume 055: What Do You Mean, Arthur?
"Hey, get ready to work! Lady Avalon!"
"Enhancement Magic was applied ages ago! Fight to your heart's content, Master!"
After that brief exchange, Shirou felt a surge of power instantly flood his body and limbs.
He didn't pause for even a moment before charging toward the retreating Caster.
Caster had previously used the Soul-Absorbing Barrier to draw in an enormous amount of magical energy without restraint—nearly as much as Saber possessed. He would have no chance at all in a battle of attrition.
However, just as Shirou charged toward Caster, the ground suddenly lit up and a large number of monsters surged forth. Several tentacles wrapped around Shirou's feet and flung him into the air.
"Tsk!"
Shirou cleanly severed the tentacles with a single slash and landed steadily. When he raised his head, monsters covered in teeth and suckers already surrounded him.
Dozens of anemone-like monsters swayed their horrifying tentacles, completely encircling the red-haired boy.
That was not even the worst of it. Worse still, the children fleeing in all directions were attacked by the monsters as well. Their sobs and screams continued without end through the forest.
"Bad news, Master! This ritual can transform its victims into monsters. Take the children and retreat first!"
Left with no choice, Shirou could only abandon his chance to kill Caster and instead cover the other children's retreat.
"Guuuuh... You! What's with you, brat?! I'll kill you!!!"
Caster screamed hysterically at Shirou.
Shirou ignored him. He simply carved a bloody path through the monster horde and led the children out of the forest.
Although he had done everything in his power and rescued the vast majority of an entire class, several children had still been seriously injured after running around wildly along the way.
Never doing that again. Looking after children is even more exhausting than the time I massacred Darlington City, Shirou thought.
Saber carried Irisviel into the forest, crossing the five-kilometer distance to the scene in only two minutes.
What greeted them there was a field of monster limbs. All of them had been the work of a single elementary school student.
It was as if a rain of blood had just fallen over the forest. The soil had been stained purplish-red by the monsters' bodily fluids.
Everything had been so chaotic that they had no idea what had happened. Had Shinji-kun escaped safely?
Irisviel thought anxiously.
"Welcome, Jeanne. I have been waiting here for you for quite some time."
Caster had already healed his arm.
As though his earlier loss of control had never happened, he happily welcomed the silver-and-blue female knight.
"Although we encountered a slight mishap, it is of no consequence.
I hope you will not be disheartened by it. I have prepared a second welcoming ceremony for you as well..."
Saber had no desire to hear another word of nonsense from this man.
The ground split apart, and the girl shot forward like a cannonball. Using Mana Burst, she closed the distance of more than ten meters in an instant.
Yet at that moment, the chunks of monster flesh scattered across the surrounding ground suddenly began to writhe.
Naturally, that included the corpse at her Master's feet.
Saber possessed an "intuition" that approached the realm of precognition. Sensing that something was wrong, she immediately turned back toward her Master.
Sure enough, the monster corpses transformed into new tentacles once again.
In the span of a single instant, the forest had turned into a paradise of alien tentacles, their numbers more than ten times greater than before.
"Irisviel!"
Saber shouted as she charged toward her Master, but the tentacles rapidly climbed over her armor as well.
The sucker-covered tentacles, thicker than the girl's wrists, bound her hands and feet tightly—
Even so, the Sword Knight's expression remained calm.
"This is nothing!"
The instant she was completely enveloped by the monsters, Saber's petite body suddenly erupted with a terrifying torrent of magical energy.
The tentacles exploded one after another, transforming into tiny chunks of flesh that scattered in all directions. Even the slime clinging to her body was blasted away without a trace, and the silver armor once again shone with immaculate brilliance.
She did not even need to swing her sword. With a single breath—Mana Burst—she blew away and burned the evil monsters to ash.
Her imposing figure resembled the strongest fantasy of the Age of Gods, which had already vanished from the surface of the earth—
It could be nothing other than the Dragon Kind.
"Ohhh! Jeanne! Before your heroic bearing, even a god is no more than an insignificant speck!"
Caster became even more deliriously ecstatic at the sight. He spread his arms dramatically and shouted the name of the Holy Maiden.
Taking his cry as a signal, the monsters surged toward Saber like a tidal wave.
Although Saber easily blew away the attacking tentacles, the endless stream of monsters still cut off the path between her and her Master.
"What do you think, Jeanne?" Caster said excitedly.
"This Grimoire left behind by my comrade Prelati taught me the magecraft to command an army of monsters. Surely no army ever assembled in Orléans was as magnificent as this one?"
Saber did not answer. She silently cut down the monsters rushing at her and advanced toward her Master.
Because her Master was so close to the monsters, Saber could not use the Holy Sword of the Stars she took pride in to sweep away the enemies all at once. She could only cut them down one by one in an orderly fashion.
On the other side, Irisviel did not simply surrender to the tentacles either. She fought back with Einzbern alchemy, eliminating quite a few monsters as well.
However, there were simply too many.
Irisviel was undoubtedly the strongest Master, but that conclusion had been reached solely from the perspective of magical energy supply.
Under the monsters' group assault as they surged forward like a sea tide, she found it extremely difficult to hold out—
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