"Uh, if it's you, then you really can do it."
"Things have come to this. It seems all of us who remain will have no choice but to form an alliance."
Ilya was not particularly surprised to see Xu Yue. His Servant had saved her, so there was no reason for him to be far away.
As a Grand Magus whom Ilya believed capable of fighting Servants head-on, he was indeed theoretically the best choice to hold them back.
In Fate's other routes, the Servants who served as the final main fighting force could all be considered protagonists.
But in the HF route, even Golden Flash was restrained by Sakura. Aside from Archer, who worked for Alaya and could resist the Shadow a little, every other Servant—even their attacks—was useless against Sakura.
A mere touch was enough to devour those flimsy things whole.
In the end, they still had to rely on the Masters themselves, as well as an inherited imitation Jeweled Sword that lay outside the Holy Grail system.
By now, the Black Grail had clearly grown to a considerable extent.
Even Archer's barrage of nuclear blasts could only serve as a distraction.
"Senior Xu Yue..."
Shirou Emiya seemed about to say something upon seeing Xu Yue emerge, but Archer promptly smacked him on the head.
"Stop dithering. Retreat first. Don't turn around and become a burden to Mr. Xu Yue. Don't you have any idea what you're capable of?"
Archer still had plenty of issues with his past self.
Because Sakura's Black Grail had been prematurely matured, Archer had not seen Shirou Emiya choose to abandon his ideals for Sakura.
For now, he had only reluctantly accepted him in order to protect Rin. Once this was over, he would definitely fulfill his long-held wish next time!
After being