The Strongest Class? / Excalibur

Having lived for so many years, he still had that much discernment.

"Making such a decision for someone important is admirable. I heard you're quite good at cooking, girl. Would you be interested in treating this strange old man who's come from afar?"

Kishiya joked, a trace of regret in his eyes. To be honest, with the talent this girl possessed, she was qualified to become his disciple.

A disciple of a Magician.

Compared to those useless fools, this girl, who could swiftly adapt to power that did not belong to her and bring it to its current limit, suited his tastes quite well.

At the very least, she was no coward. She had some fire in her.

"Of course, but I don't have much in the way of ingredients here... It's already late, so I probably won't be able to treat you to much."

Since he held no hostility toward her, that was enough. As long as he was not an enemy, Ritsuka breathed a sigh of relief.

If the man before her intended to stop her from saving Miyu, she definitely would not be able to beat him. That move alone had been enough; she had not had the slightest chance of resisting.

Glancing at the sky, Ritsuka felt somewhat troubled.

"If you don't mind, would you like to try some Mapo ramen?"

Kishiya nodded. He seemed rather interested in this so-called Mapo ramen.

Ritsuka led him into the house, took out the only remaining tea snacks, and arranged them on the table for him before heading into the kitchen and putting on an apron.

There were not many usable ingredients in the refrigerator. There was only tofu she had bought to make Mapo ramen, along with Father Mape's special chili sauce. Kirei Kotomine seemed quite pleased that she could eat his secret Mapo ramen.

He had even taught her the recipe...

"Whew... Just enough for two portions. What a coincidence."

Perhaps because it might be her last meal, Ritsuka unusually took the time to compose herself and looked for anything she could use.

In the end, she only found some relatively fresh meat, which was just enough to mince.

As Ritsuka started cooking in the kitchen, Kishiya watched for a while before losing interest. Given his status, it would not have been difficult for him to enjoy far more lavish meals.

He had merely acted on a whim. He wanted to see Alaya's Guardian and personal chef, while grabbing something to eat.

With her in that state, unless she makes a wish on the Holy Grail, she probably won't even have the chance to become a Guardian, will she?

Stating his opinion to himself in a certain tone, Kishiya suddenly felt the urge to take her as his disciple, but he ultimately suppressed it.

Right now, there was nothing he could do to save this child, Emiya Ritsuka.

The method of nearly irreversible self-replacement, of burning away her own existence, was too inconceivable. It was nothing like something that should exist in this world, and he had no good way of saving her.

Second by second, time passed. At last, before the stars rose, Ritsuka finished dinner.

"Old man, here's your Mapo ramen. Be careful, it's really spicy."

"Oh! How spicy can it be?"

The two bowls of noodles were placed on the table. Seeing Ritsuka already eating with her chopsticks, her expression completely unchanged, Kishiya stroked his beard.

He was a Magician, after all. How could a level of spice that did not faze a little girl possibly be too much for him?

Absolutely impossible.

Picking up the pair of chopsticks laid across the bowl, Kishiya grabbed a mouthful of noodles and began slurping them down...

Thud!

The next moment, amid Ritsuka's silence, Kishiya plunged face-first into his bowl of noodles, as though he had lost consciousness.

Ritsuka picked up some noodles and ate them herself. "What was that? A roundabout way of defeating an enemy I couldn't fight?"

Shaking her head speechlessly, Ritsuka rescued Kishiya from spicy hell. After washing his face clean, she laid him on the sofa to rest, his expression as peaceful as if he had died.

The Mapo ramen that could take down even a Magician had almost no effect on Ritsuka. That did not mean Ritsuka was somehow stronger than a Magician; she simply did not feel this level of spiciness anymore.

The pain on the level of her soul had already robbed her of some of her senses.

Because of Sakura, she had not used that magecraft capable of suppressing the pain again. Naturally, she had no other means of easing it, either.

She was used to it already, so it no longer mattered.

Still, seeing this old man, who could crush her with ease, fall before this spicy dish made Ritsuka look at Kirei Kotomine in a new light. This Mapo ramen might possess the power of the highest-grade Noble Phantasm.

Her gaze tightened as Ritsuka looked outside the window. The icy aura of a warrior made her hand pause.

"..."

It was Saber.

Without question, the class with the greatest odds of victory in the Holy Grail War had already approached the Emiya Residence. As for why Saber had not entered yet, she did not know.

After putting away the chopsticks and bowls and cleaning the sink, Ritsuka draped a blanket over Kishiya.

"Goodbye. I'm glad I got to share a meal with you, old man, at this almost-final moment."

"If there's a chance, I'll make you an even better meal someday."

The Strongest Class?

The seventh Class Card, Saber—the class universally acknowledged as the strongest in the Holy Grail War.

Quietly leaving the Emiya Residence, Ritsuka descended the broken slope and arrived at the nearest open space. It was empty, with no one in sight.

Night had fallen some time ago, and no one was wandering around nearby. It was obviously the effect of magecraft as well.

"Saber..."

Ritsuka murmured softly.

At the other end of the clearing, a knight clad in silver-white armor approached. His hand was posed as though gripping a sword, yet there seemed to be no sword there at all. Ritsuka became alert.

Trace On!

Her clothing transformed into her combat attire, and a slender Demonic Blade named Muramasa appeared at her fingertips.

The divine energy overflowing from her belt flowed into the blade. Azure magical energy enveloped it, circuit-board-like precise patterns sweeping across every inch as the Demonic Blade itself filled with blue radiance.

Lowering her body, Ritsuka observed the silent figure.

Full silver-white armor. His face could not be seen because of the helmet, but his aura was not weak. He felt like an exceedingly orthodox knight.

Moreover, this one was somewhat different from the previous two puppets. Whether it was Rider's hooded man or Lancer's lemon-head, neither gave off as much pressure as the one before her.

Her opponents were getting stronger and stronger!

The two stood at a distance, silently watching one another. However, the one holding the Saber Class Card clearly did not want to waste time.

Stepping forward, metal boots cracked the ground beneath them as the wielder of the invisible sword charged.

His speed was slightly inferior to Lancer's, but his strength was clearly greater than that spearman's. After making a simple assessment, Ritsuka took the initiative and met his charge.

Clang!

The Demonic Blade and the unseen sword separated the instant they touched. Since she could not see it, she could not judge the optimal crossing distance.

Every weapon had its ideal attack range. This was why polearms could suppress shorter weapons when they held sufficient distance. The greatest problem with an invisible sword was that its striking range was unknown.

Fighting as she retreated, the Demonic Blade drew a streak of blue light as it clashed with the invisible sword, which emitted faint golden motes. Sparks flew between them.

Their superb swordsmanship clashed. The airflow stirred by the flashing blades alone carved deep marks throughout the ground, while the storm of magical energy centered on the two roared as though it would destroy the entire clearing.

Neither of them had any intention of holding back!

Boom—!!

The ground seemed to have been struck by a massive hammer, leaving behind a crater over ten meters wide. Saber pressed forward fearlessly, having carved out such destruction with a single swing.

Though Saber was slightly weaker than Ritsuka in terms of strength, he was now evenly matched with her, even pressing her back.

It might be some kind of skill...

No longer hesitating, Ritsuka restrained the rejection within her body and poured the divine energy from her belt into herself.

Every attribute rose by another level. The sudden increase in strength caught Saber off guard. Her blade struck the invisible sword, and the ground beneath their metal boots exploded. Centered on the point of collision, a gale-like shockwave swept across the field.

The air itself was torn apart by that strike.

Saber staggered back without stopping, his boots leaving two trails across the ruined ground. Ritsuka followed like a shadow.

Her long blade slashed repeatedly, brilliant blade light coming one after another. When she knocked the invisible sword aside, Ritsuka kicked out.

Bang!

The explosive burst of air squeezed against Saber's armor. That kick felt as though a heavy hammer had smashed into him.

Saber flew away uncontrollably, crashing through countless obstacles along the way.

The projected Demonic Blade in her hand shattered. Ritsuka casually discarded it, and amid azure light, another Demonic Blade was projected into existence and gripped tightly in her hand.

She had become stronger—far stronger than when she fought Lancer. Perhaps it was the result of the replacement progressing further. Lancer and Saber were not that far apart in strength, and in a sense, her growing stronger also amounted to weakening her opponents.

However, the higher the degree of replacement became, the more intensely her body rejected divine energy.

Her fingertips brushed along the blade as Ritsuka narrowed her eyes...

Saber climbed to his feet. The armor over his chest had mostly shattered, and blood seeped from the edge of his helmet. He had clearly suffered some injuries.

Yet the more things were like this, the greater the sense of danger he gave Ritsuka.

He definitely had some incredible Noble Phantasm as a trump card!

She could not give him the chance to use it.

Drawing her right arm back and angling the blade tip toward the ground, Ritsuka suddenly rushed forward.

Cold light swept upward from below. The azure gleam pierced straight through the shoulder armor, and the Demonic Blade nailed Saber through the joint between his shoulder and arm, locking it in place.

"Urghhh..."

Saber's left arm hung limply as he suddenly stepped forward and smashed the hilt of his sword into Ritsuka's face.

His sword slashed three times in succession. Wind twisted around the blade as it viciously smashed toward Ritsuka in midair, the storm grinding her against the ground.

Diomedes' Mares

Activating Alcides' Noble Phantasm, Ritsuka punched at her side and used the force to leap out of the storm's range.

A shrill neigh rang out from the center of the storm. A herd of Diomedes' Mares with sharp teeth was summoned, tearing apart the remaining hurricane by force.

Immediately afterward, the bronze monstrous birds that had appeared once before, along with the Three-Headed Dog of the Underworld, charged out from every direction and attacked Saber, whose arm had been crippled. For a time, creatures that existed only in myth set foot upon this land.

Drawing her bow and nocking an arrow, Ritsuka used the distance created by her summons to lock onto the one trying to manipulate the wind.

Her rapid-fire barrage was launched at extreme speed. The supersonic, Noble Phantasm-grade arrows were like an entire army's volley the instant Ritsuka began drawing her bow.

Some of the arrows carrying Hydra's deadly poison were blocked by the armor, but a small number still injured Saber. The poison began tearing through his nerves.

The summoned beasts continued their righteous group beating, and the hard-pressed Saber was bitten on the butt by the Three-Headed Dog.

For a time, Saber was completely restrained.

The helmet was struck by the arrow-feathers released by the bronze monstrous birds and cracked apart. Its lower half fell away as the man using the Saber Class Card growled, "Urghhh... Strike Air!"

The wind bound around the invisible sword was released all at once, crashing down head-on like an iron hammer.

Ritsuka leaped to one side, easily dodging an attack that could only deal with small fry.

Gathering and compressing the air... If that's all it can do...

Ritsuka became even more cautious. How could a Noble Phantasm of this level be the trump card that threatened her? It had to at least be an Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm, right?

The Three-Headed Dog, the bronze monstrous birds, and Diomedes' Mares were all caught within it and severely injured by the wind pressure on the spot.

Within the tornado of wind, a golden sword appeared. A sacred, solemn aura washed over her, and Ritsuka's eyes contracted in that instant.

"This is!?"

The instant she saw it, Ritsuka understood.

That knight was definitely an exceedingly orthodox knight. That Golden Sword was naturally the sword borne by the King of Knights, a divine sword forged by the planet itself, beyond the reach of any mortal.

The Sword of the Lake, the Sword That Cuts Steel—

It was the ultimate Star Sword!

Excalibur