"How did you suddenly show up here?" Shirou opened his mouth. Rider and Luviagelita had actually just charged out of nowhere?
"Didn't expect it, did you? Actually, Waver and I had been watching from behind you all along." The King of Conquerors cracked his whip against the oxen. "This time, I listened to his advice, so we managed to catch up smoothly. Looks like you can stand on your own now, too."
Waver, who had been smoking, froze for a moment before suddenly breaking into a foolish grin. "Haha, hahahaha—does that mean I count as someone who can fight by your side now?"
Shirou instinctively dropped a jinxing compliment. "Being able to fight alongside the King of Conquerors is truly terrifying. As expected of Lord El-Melloi II."
The ox cart immediately got stuck in a rut, and its left wheel flew off. Team Rider was declared GG.
"Shirou, when did you switch classes to become a jinxing cheerleader? And it seemed like you just casually said one sentence, didn't you?" Rin stared at the wrecked ox cart in the rearview mirror, nearly dumbfounded. "Wasn't that a little too fast? And wasn't the effect a little too good?"
"Can't be helped." Shirou rubbed his nose. "I don't want to be a jinxing cheerleader either. If this Holy Grail War hadn't reached the point where gods from every corner were joining the battlefield, I wouldn't have needed to use my ultimate weapon."
Besides, if used well, jinxing praise was a divine artifact—one compliment could pierce straight through the Sea of Stars. Used poorly, though, it would backfire on him.
If he accidentally praised himself even a little, the match could be GG.
But GG was impossible. He could never GG in this life. He was the man who had won six whole