It was already seven in the evening. Why hadn't Shirou come back yet?
Normally, Shirou should have returned to the castle by this time, eaten dinner, and gone out on patrol with Irisviel and Saber.
Could something have happened to that child?
Irisviel thought anxiously, Shirou is only an eight-year-old child who hasn't even been weaned yet! What if some strange woman abducted him?
The more the Silver-haired homunculus thought about it, the more uneasy she became. Covering her mouth, she murmured, "I heard this country has an evil organization called the underworld. Shirou is so cute—what if he was abducted by them..."
"Shirou is very strong. Even if you're worried, you should be worried about the underworld's safety, not Shirou's."
Saber meant that, given Shirou's strength, no one could threaten his safety, but Irisviel still couldn't relax.
The nine-year-old homunculus experienced for the first time what it felt like for a mother to wait for her child to return.
Unfortunately, no matter how long Irisviel waited and watched, Shirou never appeared.
Instead, purple lightning emerged from the edge of the night sky.
By this point in the Holy Grail War, Irisviel was no longer surprised by that thunderbolt brimming with Divine Aura. It was Rider's mount.
"...Ugh!"
As the rumbling thunder drew closer, Irisviel felt the Magic Circuits inside her cry out.
It was a chain reaction caused by the barrier around the Einzbern forest being destroyed.
Since the battle with Caster, the grand barrier had finally been rebuilt. Now, beneath the iron hooves of the King of Conquerors, it was once again effortlessly reduced to ruin.
"He actually... intends to break through head-on?"
Irisviel crouched under the strain on her Magic Circuits. At that moment, a slender yet powerful arm supported her by the shoulder.
Having sensed the