Fierce Battle at the Docks

Ritsuka advanced instead of retreating, the Demonic Blade in her hand slashing diagonally downward.

The dagger collided with the blade's tip. The non-Noble Phantasm dagger was knocked away, and the hooded man's forward momentum was halted by the slash. As his body dipped slightly, Ritsuka drove a kick into his stomach.

The impact cracked the ground and sent rubble flying, blood splattering with that single kick. Even with the Class Card's enhancement, the hooded man's physical strength was nothing remarkable, and blood began seeping from the corner of his mouth.

After the initial exchange, the hooded man began trying to open up the distance. He used his chained dagger to keep her at bay, its powerful lashes severing even the park's remaining trees at their waists.

After dodging backward slightly, Ritsuka gripped the Demonic Blade in her right hand and caught half a tree trunk with her empty left hand.

She hurled the thick trunk with all her strength. Like a cannonball, the trees that crushed the air flew straight at the hooded man. He whirled his chained dagger in an impenetrable defense while leaping high, attempting to evade an attack that would severely hamper his movement.

Seizing the chance while he had nowhere to push off in midair, Ritsuka rushed in. "Pluto's Hound!"

A pitch-black beast burst from the shadows. The Three-Headed Dog howled as it pounced toward the hooded man, while Ritsuka grasped an exquisite bronze arrow.

"Arrow of the Strange Bird!"

Hades's Cerberus and the bronze strange birds raised by War God Ares surrounded the hooded man from every direction.

Apart from one Cerberus, the arrow broke apart in midair, producing dozens of bronze strange birds.

It was a net from which there was no escape. The hooded man grew somewhat flustered as countless bronze strange birds encircled him in the air, attacking with razor-sharp beaks and feathers. Their feathers shot out like arrows.

The chained dagger whirled at high speed. Though the hooded man knocked down many bronze arrow-feathers, a few still struck his body.

Before he could steady himself upon landing, Cerberus lunged fiercely at him, attacking his waist with precision from his blind spot behind him.

"—Urgh!"

Bitten by Cerberus, the intense pain forced the hooded man to reveal his trump card. He laboriously tore away the bindings over his eyes, exposing a pair of eerie eyes to the air. Wherever his gaze fell, the situation changed dramatically!

In an instant, the bronze strange birds and Cerberus were all turned to stone, and even one Horn of the park was not spared.

"As expected, every Heroic Spirit has a trump card capable of turning the battle around. Your trump card... is the Petrifying Mystic Eyes."

"Goddess Medusa, or Gorgon Serpent?"

The Petrifying Mystic Eyes were powerful, among the highest-ranked Rainbow Mystic Eyes in Mystic Eye magecraft.

Ritsuka could not guarantee whether she would be petrified if those eyes looked upon her, but fortunately, she had successfully forced out this ability and bought herself precious time.

Everything within her sight had turned to stone, demonstrating the tyrannical power of those mystic eyes. As the hooded man lowered his head to look at Cerberus biting him, Ritsuka struck from the side, precisely seizing that fleeting opportunity.

The Demonic Blade swept upward. Ritsuka loosely clenched her other hand, and another katana appeared in it. Her twin blades slashed in succession.

One slash severed his hand; another cut his throat. Blood began spurting from the side of the hooded man's neck.

In just a few seconds, Ritsuka delivered more than a dozen slashes. Dual Hundred-Beast Slayer struck every vital point, killing the hooded man where he stood and severing every chained dagger he had used for defense.

Face, forehead, eyes, throat, shoulders, arms, legs, groin...

Unsure whether her opponent wielded Goddess Medusa's power or Gorgon's, Ritsuka simply treated him as a human and precisely targeted his vulnerable points.

The severely injured hooded man collapsed to the ground, unable to move an inch.

Unless he possessed immortality like Ritsuka, he would not be regaining his mobility anytime soon.

"You..."

The hooded man's eyes had been destroyed, blood streaming down from their corners. Ritsuka shattered the katana that had petrified from striking the mystic eyes, then drove the Demonic Blade into his chest with a backhand thrust.

Squelch—!

His body convulsed violently. As the hooded man lay on the ground, he suddenly seemed to regain his sanity and slowly opened his blood-filled mouth—

"Cough...! That form... you... what is that Heroic Spirit's name?"

"..."

Ritsuka answered with silence, choosing not to reply.

The Demonic Blade dissolved into mana and slowly scattered away. The hooded man fell completely silent, the enemy dispatched cleanly and decisively.

Ritsuka stepped forward, preparing to retrieve the card.

The next moment, she froze. "A doll?"

Lying in the middle of the ruins, the dead hooded man's body emitted a strange smoke, then turned into a doll. The Class Card rested quietly against it.

Ritsuka hurried over. Looking at the doll on the ground, she furrowed her brow tightly.

"—I see. So this is Replacement Magic."

Not only did it possess the outrageous effect of controlling space to a certain extent, it could even place a dead person's personality and soul into a doll, allowing someone with the same name as before to move again.

This was Replacement Magic. Ritsuka's mood darkened at that moment.

What conditions were required to use this Replacement Magic on dolls?

Could people connected to her be turned into dolls through Replacement Magic?

Ritsuka had probably guessed part of the answer. She silently put away the card, then turned and walked out of the park.

The instant the illusion that had acted like self-suggestion was dispelled, Sakura was already close to withering away. When Ritsuka had asked why Sakura was injured, Sakura had not answered her directly.

Instead, she shook her head helplessly and said, "My brother is already dead."

"Shinji..."

Her father, long dead; her sister, abducted; her junior, who had vanished in her arms; her friend, turned into a doll—Enzō had taken everything from her.

At some point, she had become completely alone.

"Hello, may I ask if you know how to get to Miyamachi?"

An Old Man's voice sounded beside her ear. Ritsuka, lost in thought, felt her heart tighten and instantly became alert.

She now possessed the complete power of two Servants, two sets of Mind's Eye, and suggestion magecraft covering her body to deal with ordinary people. Yet someone had approached from behind without her noticing.

Turning around, Ritsuka saw an Old Man with a beaming smile.

He had gray hair and red eyes, wore a dark robe, and carried an utterly inconceivable sword made entirely of gemstones.

He did not emit the slightest presence. He looked like an ordinary wealthy man, merely an elderly gentleman whose bearing far surpassed that of normal people, with the air of a collector.

"Sir, is there something you need?"

Ritsuka asked.

This Old Man was absolutely no ordinary person. What ordinary person could approach her so easily? It was as if he had no regard for Mind's Eye at all.

Besides, she had an instinctive feeling that this man was dangerous.

"I have only just arrived in Fuyuki City. I came here looking for someone. Could I trouble you, young lady, to point me in the right direction?"

Ritsuka frowned slightly. She knew the person before her was no ordinary man, but she also believed it was better to avoid unnecessary trouble, so she pointed him in the right direction.

Besides, this potentially powerful being did not seem hostile toward her, so she had no further thoughts about him.

Finding her next opponent was more important.

"Thank you, young lady... Ah, yes. My name is Kishiya Zelretch Shuvain Oug. If you ever get the chance to visit London, you may mention my name."

The Old Man left. From his introduction, he sounded like a kindly London millionaire. Ritsuka considered it briefly but did not linger.

As he watched Ritsuka depart, the Old Man abruptly vanished from where he stood.

The Fierce Battle at the Docks

Ritsuka did not pay much attention to the strange Old Man. He might have been powerful, but he bore her no ill will.

Her first priority was to win the Holy Grail War, then find a way to use the Divine Child power that might awaken within Miyu and make a wish.

Miyu herself was equivalent to the Holy Grail and could grant anyone's wish without distinction. If so, then that sort of wish should be possible as well: restarting this world filled with regret and sorrow.

If she succeeded, Sakura could be revived in another way as well...

"This should be the place."

Standing atop a building at the edge of the harbor, Ritsuka looked toward the unloading docks a hundred meters away, traces of nostalgia surfacing in her eyes.

Back then, she had landed in Fuyuki alongside Kiritsugu from here, beginning a new chapter of her life. Unfortunately, she had arrived in Fuyuki somewhat early. Exhausted and sleepy, she had not had the chance to take in the scenery. Looking at it now, the sea was still beautiful.

She still owed Miyu a promise at the beach.

"—Lancer."

From not too far away, Ritsuka spotted that lemon-headed man standing atop a shipping container.

A crimson demonic spear rested on his shoulder. A murky-colored liquid coiled around the blond man's arm, and beastlike killing aura drifted wildly from him.

It was because she had sensed this man's arrogant aura that Ritsuka had rushed straight here. After sensing the aura of Archer's Class Card, he had deliberately released his own aura to invite her over.

Mana formed a barrier. Though it was clearly time for the docks to be unloading cargo, not a single worker was in sight.

"Magecraft that drives away ordinary people?"

Ritsuka narrowed her eyes, blue light flickering within them. She was rather interested in this barrier. When she had fought that hooded Rider earlier, if it had not been so early that there was no one around, combined with the suggestion magecraft, she would not have acted so decisively.

She was no bloodthirsty butcher. If she could avoid harming uninvolved people, it was better to be cautious.

That was why this magecraft barrier interested her. If she had the chance, she wanted to learn it.

Rather than approaching the man using Lancer's Class Card herself, Ritsuka lowered her gaze slightly and raised the Bow of the Hydra, instantly locking onto the lemon head—

"Hundred-Beast Slayer!"

As a divine technique that could be called an entire school of combat, Ritsuka did not use Fake Caladbolg this time, nor did she use arrows coated with snake venom. Instead, she drew the bow to its limit and unleashed the Noble Phantasm variation possible when wielding a bow.

Nine Anti-City Cannons roared forth. The ground beneath Ritsuka's feet cracked inch by inch, and all the surrounding air exploded.

Black and crimson intertwined. Demonic serpent-like flames churned as they flew toward the docks, while the blond lemon head, who had long noticed Ritsuka, lifted the corner of his mouth.

"Boil, my blood!"

Chaotic silver liquid began to churn at the lemon head's words, then wrapped around half his body, making his form swell.

With one stomp, he vanished from where he stood. The man in the blue bodysuit shot out from the docks, his eyes fixed on the nine cannons of light in the sky. He dodged left and right at an exaggerated speed, condensed Mercury violently striking the ground to propel him into the air.

A thunderous blast tore up one Horn of the docks. Countless shipping containers exploded, and a nuclear explosion-like scene engulfed the entire harbor.

A rolling sea of flames and surging heat swallowed that man's figure. After loosing the bowstring, Ritsuka did not simply wait for death. It was clearly impossible to defeat a high-Agility Lancer so easily.

As she retreated toward the rear of the rooftop, she continuously drew her bow, dozens of arrows piercing through the smoke in succession.

"Wha...?!"

Ritsuka let out a startled cry.

Every arrow missed. Her terrifying, divine-realm archery had been successfully evaded. The blond lemon head burst out of the explosion with Mercury coating his body, using his crimson demonic spear to knock aside several arrows that should have struck true.

Ordinary arrows had little effect on him. Having judged that much, Ritsuka halted sharply, lowering her body while holding her bow in her left hand.

Clang—!

The slightly leaping man brought his demonic spear down in a powerful smash. The projected Fake Caladbolg met it instantly, and the clash of metal rang out harshly.

Closing in, Ritsuka delivered a side kick to the demonic spear. The roar of impact forced her opponent back, and she immediately nocked an arrow and fired one of astonishing power.

Fantasy Collapse!

The arrow landed on a rooftop, and the explosion directly swallowed the man standing there in smoke and dust. A rising fireball consumed an entire building from below, while the aftershock blasted several huge craters into the ground.

Suddenly, viscous liquid stabbed out from the smoke. Mercury spread toward Ritsuka's feet.

"Tch."

Ritsuka clicked her tongue and leaped back.

Her opponent was troublesome. Neither cannons of light that were at least high-ranking Anti-City Noble Phantasms nor arrows fired at close range had any effect. His strength was not much weaker than hers.

He was far stronger than the previous Caster and Rider.

Crimson spear-light followed like a shadow. Ritsuka hurriedly tilted her head aside as the demonic spear grazed her cheek, drawing a thin line of blood.

"...Hahahahaha!"

As if he had smelled blood, the lemon head burst into wild laughter, his demonic spear displaying formidable skill.

Sweeping, thrusting, smashing, whipping... The man spun countless spear flourishes, attempting to keep Ritsuka suppressed, while her gaze slowly sharpened.