Since most of Ryudou Temple's buildings were made of wood, they were easy to set on fire.
The flames continued to devour the buildings of Ryudou Temple.
By now, Soichiro Kuzuki was on his last legs. Leaning against the courtyard wall, he slowly rose to his feet and even assumed a fighting stance.
The instant Sasuke dispelled Susanoo, a wave of heat swept over them.
Rin Tohsaka and Shirou Emiya both felt their skin temperature soaring.
But Shirou Emiya couldn't understand why Soichiro Kuzuki was doing this.
"What are you trying to do, Kuzuki?!"
Shirou Emiya didn't understand why Soichiro Kuzuki still wanted to fight. Without Caster, he couldn't possibly be a match for Sasuke.
Kuzuki staggered toward Sasuke and the others, still holding his fighting stance as he answered Shirou Emiya's question.
"That's right."
"There's no reason to fight anymore."
"It's just that I was never interested in the Holy Grail."
"But in the end, all of this happened because of me. It has nothing to do with good or evil. I can't just walk away halfway through."
With that, Soichiro Kuzuki tried to charge at Sasuke.
Shirou Emiya tried to stop him, but in the next instant, a piercing bird cry rang out, and a bolt of lightning shaped like a spear pierced Soichiro Kuzuki's heart!
[Chidori Sharp Spear]
It transformed [Lightning Style: Chidori] into a spear that could change shape as needed. Though it wasn't as powerful as Chidori, it was more than enough to kill an ordinary person.
After losing Caster, the magic covering Soichiro Kuzuki's body had vanished as well. He wasn't a mage.
But since Soichiro Kuzuki wanted to keep fighting, Sasuke naturally respected his wishes.
Even if Soichiro Kuzuki hadn't wanted to fight anymore, Sasuke would have done him the kindness of putting him out of his misery.
After all, ever since Medea had smashed into him, Soichiro Kuzuki's life had been ticking away.
Rather than suffer through the pain, he was better off finding release sooner.
Silence fell.
Aside from the crackling of burning wood and the waves of heat rolling through the area, no one spoke.
There was no one inside the temple buildings. Soichiro Kuzuki or Caster must have found a way to evacuate everyone beforehand.
And with that, Caster and Assassin were eliminated from this Holy Grail War.
Including Rider, who had fallen earlier, Sasuke had now killed three Servants and two Masters in a row.
Most importantly, Sasuke wasn't even a Master participating in this Holy Grail War.
Three Heroic Spirits summoned by the Holy Grail had been killed one after another by a mage from outside the war.
No matter how you looked at it, it was absurd.
If word got out, it would probably shock the entire magecraft world.
Rin Tohsaka seemed to think of something and broke the silence.
"Uchiha, thank you for today."
"But could we claim that Archer was responsible for what happened tonight?"
"Caster's barrier should have kept the other Masters from seeing what happened, but if word got out, it would cause you a lot of trouble."
"If the Mage's Association and the Holy Church learn about your abilities, they might regard you as a heretic."
If you thought Rin Tohsaka and Shirou Emiya were proper mages, you were very much mistaken.
Although the Tohsaka Family had a respectable lineage, Rin had lost her father, a proper mage, when she was young. She had learned magecraft mostly on her own, so her nature hadn't been suppressed.
Shirou Emiya was a complete amateur. At this point, he probably couldn't even be called a mage, let alone a proper one.
The magecraft world wasn't nearly as wonderful as people imagined. Mages were often born with a sense of superiority, believing themselves to be above others.
Almost all orthodox mages were cold and heartless. In the eyes of ordinary people, they were basically villains.
If the Mage's Association and the Holy Church discovered Sasuke's extraordinary talent for magecraft, they would likely take a series of measures against him.
For example, the Mage's Association could impose a Sealing Designation.
Under the pretext of protection, a Sealing Designation confined and captured mages who possessed rare talents or had transgressed taboos, imprisoning them for life.
When a mage's bloodline or constitution allowed them to develop magecraft that couldn't be acquired through study, the Association treated them as precious specimens and afforded them special protection.
The Mage's Association arrested mages who had received a Sealing Designation, preserving their magecraft traits unchanged so they could be passed down as valuable specimens to future generations.
From one perspective, it was no different from a specimen preserved in formalin.
The Association imposed Sealing Designations out of what it considered goodwill, but for the mages chosen, it was tantamount to a death sentence.
The Holy Church's methods were more brutal. If it branded someone a heretic, it would do whatever it took to kill them.
Clearly, Sasuke's magecraft abilities were already enough to attract the attention of both organizations.
Take Rin Tohsaka, for example. The Tohsaka Family was under the Mage's Association's jurisdiction. But she wasn't an inflexible person, and besides, Sasuke had helped her a great deal.
That was why Rin Tohsaka wanted to help keep this quiet. She looked at Sasuke with a serious expression.
"I know you're strong, but I don't think you're the sort of person who wants trouble following you around."
Just as Rin Tohsaka had said, Sasuke didn't want his peaceful life disturbed. If Rin Tohsaka could handle this, all the better.
So Sasuke looked at Rin Tohsaka calmly.
"Sure. I'll leave it to you."
Rin Tohsaka breathed a sigh of relief. All they had to do now was pin everything on Archer.
If they attributed everything that happened tonight to the Servant, no one would suspect a thing.
At the same time, Rin Tohsaka turned to look at Shirou Emiya. She said nothing, but her meaning was clear.
Shirou Emiya understood.
"Don't worry, Tohsaka. I won't tell anyone."
Rin Tohsaka was willing to believe Shirou Emiya.
Now that Caster, who had been draining the life force of the townspeople, was dead, Sasuke only needed to protect the Sakura family from here on.
Of course, Sasuke could also choose to cut through the entire Holy Grail War on his own.
He could, but there was no need.
As Rin Tohsaka had said, getting too involved would only invite trouble.
Besides, this Holy Grail War had nothing to do with Sasuke in the first place. It was just that there were always fools who didn't know their place.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be going."
Seeing that Sasuke wanted to leave, Rin Tohsaka spoke with a serious expression.
"From here on, Emiya and I will probably work together to deal with Berserker."
"It's our only choice."
Shirou Emiya and Saber said nothing, because Rin Tohsaka was right.
Not to mention the elusive Lancer, who was still out there. If Shirou Emiya and Rin Tohsaka didn't work together, Berserker would probably be the last one standing.
But because of the strange relationship between Kaoru Sakura and Illya, Rin Tohsaka still asked the question.
Sasuke's expression didn't change in the slightest.
"How you deal with her is your business."
"Anything else?"
Rin Tohsaka visibly relaxed and shook her head.
Rin Tohsaka didn't expect Sasuke to help her and Shirou Emiya take on Illya, but she also didn't want Illya to get Sasuke's help.
Sasuke said nothing more and dispelled the Shadow Clone Technique.
As the white smoke cleared, Sasuke vanished before their eyes.
Rin Tohsaka was still wondering what kind of magecraft that had been when—
Archer, who had disappeared from the start, finally showed himself.
Rin Tohsaka had known Archer was nearby. She had simply held her tongue because Sasuke was there.
So when Archer appeared, she didn't greet him warmly.
"Archer, you finally decided to show yourself?"
Archer glanced at Shirou Emiya, then looked somewhat helpless.
"Now that things have come to this, I don't want to waste time saying anything pointless."
"But Rin, I want to know how we're going to deal with Berserker."
Rin Tohsaka's thoughts were a mess. It was clear she hadn't fully considered what to do next.
For a moment, she didn't want to answer Archer's question.
Shirou Emiya, however, was more concerned about something else.
"Tohsaka, the others from Ryudou Temple should still be on this mountain. Should we split up and look for them?"
Just as Rin Tohsaka was about to agree, Archer spoke first.
"They've all been dumped in a clearing halfway down the mountain. Looks like Caster put them under a spell."
"But now that woman's dead, they should wake up soon, right?"
Archer's words put Shirou Emiya at ease.
Rin Tohsaka glanced silently at Archer, then turned to Shirou Emiya.
"Since they should be fine, we should get going too."
Shirou Emiya had no objections.
Under cover of night, they all left Ryudou Temple.
Before you continue