Li Zihan was telling the truth. Alcaeus was an absurdly powerful Servant. Unlike Archer, who relied on Noble Phantasms for saturation bombardment, he could launch an effective counterattack no matter how dire the situation became.
Unfortunately, Alcaeus was completely countered by Gilgamesh's Chains of Heaven. Otherwise, this Holy Grail War could have come to a perfect end. Still, Li Zihan did not feel any regret. He had known that Alcaeus would be restrained by Gilgamesh's Chains of Heaven before summoning him.
Waver silently edged farther behind Rider. He felt that these two might start fighting at any moment. It was better not to get involved in the conflict between this teacher and student.
Looking at the three Masters before him, Kirei Kotomine felt that assigning them the task of dealing with Caster had been a mistake.
Unfortunately, Saber's group had not come. Archer despised gods, and after learning that the Fuyuki Church had been attacked by Caster, he had shown no intention of helping. He had immediately boarded Vimana and flown into the sky to enjoy the scenery, refusing to act no matter how Tokiomi Tohsaka tried to persuade him. As for Assassin, who answered directly to Kirei Kotomine... well, they had already returned to Allah's embrace.
The one who stepped forward to mediate was Rider, the hulking musclehead. He laughed heartily at the two Masters. "So you two are my little Master's teacher and classmate! Looking at it this way, three of the seven Master slots in this Holy Grail War are occupied by you. That's truly impressive."
Rider pulled Waver out from behind him with one hand, then tossed him into the sight of the other two Masters. Under the smile and sneer of his two old acquaintances, Waver forced himself to greet them. "Good morning, Professor Kaineth, Li."
"Long time no see, my friend." Li Zihan waved with his right hand. The Three Lines Command Spells on the back of his hand confirmed his identity. He was the Master of the Berserker who had remained hidden all this time.
"Waver, it is already two in the afternoon." Kaineth sneered repeatedly. "It seems you have lost even your most basic sense of time."
Then came a stretch of dead silence. Two of the three present had not expected their reunion to turn out like this and found themselves unable to speak. The one who knew the full story had no interest in sharing information with others.
It was a bad habit. Countless arrogant bosses had said something they should not have while running their mouths, only to be killed in a reversal.
The atmosphere was still exceedingly strange, but it was much better than before, when they had been ready to fight at the slightest disagreement. Rider's words had invisibly brought the three Masters closer and given Kaineth and Li Zihan an excuse to abandon their dispute. From this, it seemed that this big fool was actually quite skilled at handling interpersonal relationships.
Seeing the atmosphere between the three Masters ease, Kirei Kotomine also let out a breath of relief. After all, he was counting on their Servants to eliminate the monsters inside the church. Unfortunately, he had been born with an expressionless face, so there was no visible change in his expression.
"Thank you all for coming. Righteous Masters, I, Kirei Kotomine, hereby express my gratitude to you on behalf of the residents of Fuyuki City." Kirei Kotomine bowed to the three of them in turn to show his thanks.
The Command Spells left behind by Masters who had lost their Servants before the final battle in previous Holy Grail Wars had always been recovered and entrusted to the Holy Grail War's overseer. They had been kept by Kirei Kotomine's father, Rin Tohsaka. But Rin Tohsaka had long since died in Caster's attack, and those Command Spells had vanished as well. As a result, Kirei Kotomine had no reward to offer the Masters who had come to drive out Caster and could only express his respect in the most conventional manner.
"It's nothing. It's only what should be done." The young man holding a Grimoire spoke. "To pursue the Holy Grail, isn't eliminating Caster only natural?"
That was complete bullshit. He was there to silence Caster.
Caster had already helped him obtain the Command Spells stored by the Holy Church and had even blown all the lurking Masters out into the open. He was no longer useful. Once Li Zihan retrieved the Codex of the Great Holy Grail, Caster would be completely useless.
Keeping Caster alive would only create risks. If anyone discovered that something was wrong with Caster, Li Zihan's manipulations might be exposed.
Attacking the church, assassinating the overseer, enslaving Caster, leaking magecraft information...
No one present was an idiot. If he treated them like fools and messed around carelessly, he really would be beaten to death by the crowd!!!
Li Zihan's answer fit a magus's way of thinking perfectly: only results mattered, not right or wrong. Yet Kirei Kotomine felt that something was off. He had no basis for it, only instinct. But Li Zihan was a Master willing to work for the church without compensation. Questioning him now would be far too disheartening.
The new overseer decided to turn his attention to the next Master.
"It is merely a change in order." Kaineth, who had shone brilliantly in last night's battle, clasped his hands behind his back and coldly glanced at Li Zihan and Waver. "There can only be one victor in the Holy Grail War. All other Masters and Servants are stepping stones."
Kaineth's thoughts were still stuck on the fact that he had used up more than half his gems and on how he was supposed to deal with his disciple afterward. The main purpose of those words was to bluff, making Li Zihan think that he still had a large number of unused Mystic Codes.
Kaineth had not brought much with him because he was not a magus with the Imaginary Element and could not carry a heap of Mystic Codes everywhere. If he stored them in a magecraft workshop, that traitorous disciple Li Zihan would definitely blow it up with pinpoint precision. So he had only brought the Mystic Codes and gems needed for his duel with Li Zihan.
Now he regretted it.
Waver said nothing. As a complete novice in magecraft, he truly lacked the confidence to speak in front of Kaineth. Were there ever many students at school who dared argue with a teacher without being top students? What? You meant the school tough guys? Give it a rest. Unless it was compulsory education, all a poor student who challenged a teacher could expect was a disciplinary notice and an expulsion letter.
Rider answered in his place. This burly redhead rarely grew serious as he raised his sword toward the overseer. "This king shall eliminate Caster, who has broken the rules. I believe my little Master thinks the same."
Waver nodded after hearing that. Rider's words truly suited his feelings. As someone who was not an orthodox magus, Waver could not simply watch ordinary people be slaughtered by Caster.
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