Shirou's Return from the Fae Kingdom

Irisviel said with a serious expression.

The silver-haired homunculus felt a pulse in her magic circuits, an alarm triggered by the forest's barrier.

Alerted, the two quickly switched to an offensive stance, but everything happened too suddenly.

The intruder in the forest—Caster wasn't alone; dozens of children followed behind him.

These children were a class of elementary school students he'd encountered on their way home from school while heading to Einzbern Castle, brought here using Suggestion Magic.

Irisviel didn't have time to go out and deal with them. Unsure if it was a trap, she could only observe temporarily using Clairvoyance Magic.

They had initially thought these children were Caster's hostages.

Clearly, they couldn't comprehend the madman's thinking.

As soon as they entered the forest, Caster declared: he would offer these lovely children to the Holy Maiden Jeanne d'Arc.

"It's nothing much, really, just a simple little game—May I borrow a small corner of your estate?"

Seeing him happily dispel the children's hypnosis, Saber felt a chilling "intuition."

"Come, children, the hide-and-seek game is about to begin."

"The rules are simple, just run away from me as far as you can, otherwise—"

Caster, with a gentle smile, approached one of the red-haired elementary school boys.

"Stop!!!!"

Saber cried out.

Then, the scene she had foreseen unfolded.

Blood sprayed into the air, drawing an elegant parabola, except—

What flew out wasn't the elementary school boy's brains and eyeballs, but Caster's arm.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!"

Caster clutched his bleeding severed limb, retreating backward continuously.

The children let out tragic screams and scattered in all directions.

As for the red-haired elementary school student whose head Caster had just petted, two chained blades appeared in his hand.

Shirou's encounter with Caster was purely coincidental; his plan for the night was to head to Einzbern Castle.

"What? Master, you're going to see Saber? I want to go too, I want to go too!"

Lady Avalon joyfully followed along.

On the way, Shirou encountered Caster, disguised as a Black Magician, and was too astonished to speak.

Caster was at that moment stopping a school bus, using Suggestion Magic to control the driver. Shirou had blended in at this point.

Although going to Einzbern to confirm "something" was important.

After learning of Caster's wicked deeds, Shirou became somewhat restless.

Thinking back, he really had a connection with Caster.

Shirou felt that Ryunosuke Uryu was the "cause" he had planted, and he must take responsibility to bring about the "effect."

That was one aspect; the other was "personal grievance"—

We're all summoned by affinity, how come you guys found your Soulmates!?

Lady Avalon: Eheh~☆

With new and old grudges combined, Shirou decided to make them both exit the stage tonight.

The Caster, though appearing manic, was actually extremely vigilant. The Grimoire in his hand constantly had defensive spell formations active.

Furthermore, this was still within the city limits, so Shirou could only temporarily hold back and wait for an opportunity.

As a result, the school bus drove all the way towards the Einzbern forest.

After entering the forest, pretending to be hypnotized, Shirou sensed Caster activating a new spell. He immediately understood that this Black Magician intended to perform a live sacrifice.

And then came the scene just now.

Caster walked up to Shirou of his own accord, and the moment he intended to crush the boy's head—Shirou seized the opportunity and severed his right arm.

"What's going on...?"

Saber fell into a state of confusion.

Why could that red-haired boy injure a Servant?

Was this a performance by Caster to lure them? Was it a trap?

Just as she was at a loss, Irisviel beside her suddenly stood up.

"Saber, let's go."

"...?"

Irisviel radiated a powerful aura from head to toe.

It was the first time Saber had seen her Master so serious, her expression so determined… a sense of justice? That didn't seem quite right.

Even during the battle in the warehouse district, she hadn't been this full of fighting spirit.

Irisviel gazed at the red-haired boy in the scrying spell, clenching her small fists:

Wait for me, Shinji…

Sister will come save you right now!!

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Volume 1, Chapter 055: What Kind of Arthur Are You?

"Hey, time to get to work! Lady Avalon!"

"Enhancement Magic was already applied! Fight with all you've got, Master!"

After a brief exchange, Shirou felt a surge of power flow into his body and limbs.

Without pausing, he charged towards the retreating Caster.

Caster had previously absorbed a massive amount of magic, nearly equivalent to Saber's, through the Soul-Absorbing Barrier. Fighting a protracted battle would give him no chance of winning.

However, as Shirou rushed towards Caster, the ground suddenly lit up and a swarm of monsters emerged. Several tentacles wrapped around Shirou's feet, flinging him into the air.

"Tch!"

Shirou cleanly severed the tentacles with a single slash and landed steadily. As he looked up, he found himself surrounded by tentacle monsters covered in teeth and suction cups.

Dozens of anemone-like monsters swayed their horrifying tentacles, encircling the red-haired youth.

This wasn't the worst part. What was worse was that the children fleeing everywhere were also being attacked by the monsters, their cries and screams echoing endlessly through the forest.

"This is bad, Master! This is a spell that can turn victims into monsters. We should escort the children to safety first!"

Helpless, Shirou had to abandon his attempt to kill Caster and instead cover the children's retreat.

"Guh-woooo… You! What the hell are you, brat! I'm going to kill you!!!"

Caster shrieked hysterically at Shirou.

Shirou ignored him, simply carving a bloody path through the monster horde and leading the children out of the forest.

Although he had done his utmost and rescued the vast majority of the children from an entire class, several were still seriously injured along the way due to running around erratically.

I'm never doing this again. Dealing with kids is harder than the massacre at Darlington, Shirou thought.

Saber, carrying Irisviel, plunged into the forest. It took her only two minutes to cover five kilometers and reach the scene.

What greeted them there were monster corpses scattered everywhere, the work of just one elementary school student.

The forest looked as if it had just experienced a bloody rain, the ground stained purple-red by the monsters' bodily fluids.

It was so chaotic back then, I couldn't understand what was happening. Did Shinji escape safely?

Irisviel thought anxiously.

"Welcome, Jeanne d'Arc. I have been waiting for you for a long time."

Caster had already healed his arm.

As if his previous outburst had never happened, he greeted the silver-clad female knight with great joy.

"A small mishap occurred, but it is of no consequence.

I hope you will not be discouraged by this. I have prepared a second welcoming plan for you..."

Saber had no desire to listen to another word of this man's nonsense.

The ground cracked, and the girl shot out like a cannonball. Using "Mana Burst," she closed the distance of over ten meters in an instant.

However, at that moment, the monster meat chunks on the surrounding ground began to writhe.

Of course, this included the corpses at the Master's feet.

Saber possessed "Intuition," which bordered on precognition. Sensing that the situation was dire, she immediately turned back towards her Master.

As expected, the monster corpses transformed into new tentacles once more.

In just an instant, the forest turned into a paradise of otherworldly tentacles, their numbers more than ten times what they had been before.

"Irisviel!"

Saber shouted and charged towards her Master, but tentacles quickly climbed onto her armor.

Suction cup tentacles thicker than the girl's wrists tightly bound her arms and legs--

Despite this, the Sword Knight's expression remained serene.

"This is all you've got!"

The moment she was completely surrounded by monsters, Saber's small body suddenly erupted with a terrifying torrent of Mana Burst.

Tentacles exploded one after another, scattering into tiny pieces of flesh. Even the slime clinging to her was blown away without a trace, and her silver armor once again shone with immaculate brilliance.

She didn't even need to swing her sword; with a single breath (Mana Burst), the maiden blew away and incinerated the evil monsters.

Her majestic posture was just like the strongest fantasy of the Age of Gods, long gone from the surface—

It could only be the Dragon Kind.

"Ooh! Jeanne d'Arc! Even gods are insignificant before your heroic might!"

Seeing this, Caster danced with even greater ecstasy, spreading his arms wide and shouting the Holy Maiden's name.

As if signaled by his cry, the monsters surged towards Saber like a tide.

Although Saber easily blew away the attacking tentacles, the endless stream of monsters cut off her path to her Master.

"What do you think, Jeanne d'Arc?"

Caster said gleefully.

"This Grimoire left by my comrade Prelati taught me the Magic to command an army of monsters. No army assembled in Orleans in the past could compare to the grandeur of this legion."

Saber didn't answer, merely silently cutting down the monsters lunging at her as she advanced towards her Master's location.

Because her Master was very close to the monsters, Saber couldn't use her proud Holy Sword of the Stars to sweep them away, so she could only kill them one by one in an orderly fashion.

Meanwhile, Irisviel didn't surrender to the tentacles either. She fought back with Einzbern Alchemy, eliminating quite a few monsters.

However, their numbers were simply too great.

Irisviel was undoubtedly the strongest Master, but that conclusion was reached solely from the perspective of mana supply.

Under the onslaught of the monster horde, which surged like a tidal wave, she found it truly difficult to cope—