Assassin Li Shuwen? No! It's Berserker

"Hehe~ Of course not."

Zouken Matou's grating laughter rang out once more.

"Assassin—no, Berserker."

Zouken Matou spoke slowly.

Immediately afterward, a Servant emanating an unsettling aura slowly emerged from the darkness.

"That is...?"

Yu Feng stared at the figure in disbelief.

"Li Shuwen? He's a Berserker?"

But Yu Feng immediately came to his senses.

"No, that's not right. You old worm, you must have tampered with him somehow, didn't you?"

Yu Feng looked toward Zouken Matou.

Zouken Matou chuckled. Rather than answering his question, he transformed into insects and scattered in all directions.

Watching the insects disperse, Yu Feng clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"An old worm really is an old worm. Hmph."

Yu Feng turned his gaze to Li Shuwen.

The Li Shuwen before them exuded an unsettling aura from head to toe, and he had been changed from an Assassin into a Berserker.

Looking at Li Shuwen from the side, Rin Tohsaka quietly asked, "Do you know who he is? You seem pretty familiar with him."

Hearing that, Yu Feng's expression became slightly complicated. He gave a quiet acknowledgment and said, "You should know him too, right? He's Li Shuwen. You must have heard of him."

Rin Tohsaka's expression shifted to one of shock and anger.

"So it's him? They actually turned him into this."

Li Shuwen had changed from an Assassin into a Berserker. The question was whether his Assassin class skills had carried over to his current Berserker form.

Cú Chulainn looked at Li Shuwen and clicked his tongue irritably. "What a pain. These damned bastards."

"Sorry, kid, but this time our target is the three girls behind you."

Cú Chulainn swung Gae Bulg and charged toward them. At the same moment, Li Shuwen flickered and vanished from where he stood.

If Yu Feng had not been keeping an eye on Li Shuwen's movements, he probably would not even have known when Li Shuwen disappeared.

Yu Feng made his decision at once. "Illya, just have your Berserker guard you all. Little Mo, go deal with Lancer. Lily, Li Shuwen is up to you!"

"Alright! Let's see what you're made of!" Little Mo eagerly stretched her body, then charged straight at Cú Chulainn.

Artoria nodded and rushed toward Li Shuwen.

"No problem."

Uncle B glanced at Yu Feng and said nothing. He merely remained where he was, looking at Illya, and only assumed a defensive stance after Illya nodded.

Yu Feng's mouth twitched.

Honestly, Yu Feng's decision was not wrong. Artoria possessed the innate skill Intuition, so Li Shuwen's innate skill, Circle Realm, would not be able to display much of its effectiveness.

Artoria's Intuition was the ability to make predictions during battle, and it was Rank A. Rank A was already close to brief glimpses into the future.

Li Shuwen's innate skill, Circle Realm, allowed him to sense the surrounding conditions with his mind while simultaneously erasing his own presence.

When mastered to the extreme, he would become one with heaven and earth, and even his body could naturally become transparent.

In other words, it was an innate skill that could perfectly conceal both one's figure and aura. But before Artoria's Intuition, Li Shuwen's innate skill could not display its true power.

It could be said that Artoria's Intuition countered Li Shuwen's Circle Realm.

Boom!

Just as Artoria moved to meet him, Li Shuwen suddenly appeared behind her and swung his fist at her.

Artoria reacted with incredible speed, directly raising Excalibur behind her and blocking Li Shuwen's attack.

However, Artoria's speed seemed slightly inferior to Li Shuwen's. It was unknown whether that was because of her Master.

Meanwhile, Little Mo's battle had already begun.

At first, Little Mo had been pressing Cú Chulainn back. In terms of strength, Cú Chulainn was no match for her.

But Cú Chulainn soon realized that Little Mo was slower, so he began fighting by keeping his distance, constantly staying a certain distance away from her.

It irritated Little Mo immensely.

"Can you stop dodging around like that?!"

Little Mo struck fiercely at Cú Chulainn. Seeing that he could not evade it, Cú Chulainn raised Gae Bulg to block.

"Hmph. You're not going to help them?" Gilgamesh, standing atop a streetlamp, looked at Yu Feng and said.

Hearing that, Rin Tohsaka gave Yu Feng a puzzled look, seemingly wondering who he was supposed to help.

Yu Feng shrugged. "They don't need my help. Besides, I have to keep an eye on you, don't I?"

Gilgamesh snorted at that. "Then let me give you a reminder: someone may pay a visit to your residence."

Yu Feng smiled faintly. "You needn't concern yourself with that. I have my own plans. Even if someone does come calling, they won't be able to get in while we're away."

Gilgamesh caught the hidden meaning in Yu Feng's words and suddenly laughed.

"Hahahaha! You're quite interesting. If I attacked you now, you probably wouldn't be able to use that bow, would you?"

Yu Feng narrowed his eyes and looked at Gilgamesh. "King of Heroes, you're welcome to try."

Silence fell between the two of them. Rin Tohsaka quietly asked Irisviel, "What do they mean?"

Sakura Matou looked at Yu Feng's back and pressed her lips together. She seemed to have thought of something, but she said nothing.

Irisviel glanced at Sakura Matou beside her. Seeing that Sakura seemed to understand something, she then looked at the baffled Rin Tohsaka and spoke softly, "Rin, regarding this matter, you should ask him yourself when the time comes."

Ask him himself?

Rin Tohsaka was even more confused. Looking at Yu Feng, who was confronting Gilgamesh, she silently decided that she would find him afterward and get a clear answer.

"Fuhahahaha! You really are still the same as before!" At that moment, Gilgamesh suddenly burst into laughter as he looked at Yu Feng.

That tone did not sound like the condescending words of a proud king. Instead, it sounded more like... a king speaking to an old friend he had not seen in a long time.

Yu Feng looked stunned, unable to react to Gilgamesh's sudden change.

The previously tense atmosphere was instantly shattered by Gilgamesh.

"Let me test your current strength!"

"My trial for you begins now!"

P.S.:

I've been thinking about whether it would be better for the protagonist of the Fourth Holy Grail War to have Irisviel as their Master, or to create an additional original Master.

Think about it: the Masters of the Holy Grail War have already been chosen. If another one suddenly appeared, it could be said...

Hmm, it's a bit difficult to handle. Also, in this Holy Grail War, Pantaleon will appear in a new class.

But lately, I've become obsessed with a novel I'm reading. There's a character in it that I especially like, and I want to create an original character based on them to side with Kiritsugu's camp. And I've already decided that the Fourth Holy Grail War will use Kiritsugu's side as the main faction—that much is set in stone.

Irisviel is the Lesser Grail, so making her a Master would be difficult to write. But if I don't write her and instead create an original character... that character will need to appear often in the future, rather than appearing only in the Fourth Holy Grail War. If they only show up in the Fourth War, then there'd be no point in writing an original character at all; I might as well just write Irisviel.

I've roughly written the outline for the Fourth Holy Grail War, and I can still barely make changes to it. But after thinking about it for ages, I'm still hesitating over whether to create this original character. Give me your opinions. At the very least, one thing is certain: after the Fifth Holy Grail War ends, it'll be the Fourth Holy Grail War.

Thanks to Shirou Emiya, Bishop of Pure Love, Wang Kangyi Who Loves Garlic-Braised Fish Chunks, Ideal Homeland of Fantasy, Name Is a Question Mark, Fox Moon's Beginning, Nagatsushi, Still Haven't Thought of a Name, God of Rock—Zhongli, Mystic Ice Iron, Can't Study Well, Scarlet Sakura Leisure of Qin Mausoleum, Username, Kamisato Ayaka's Cat, Gorou, Let Me Pet Your Tail, ??Dust??, Fox Friend, Brother Jie, You're My Little Superman, Netherworld Yin, Nine Bends · Nine Qu, Sky-Shaking Gang NTR, Dragon Dreamscape, Shen Bancheng Who Loves Qili, Author gm4fyu, Empire's Ferocious Neutered Cat, Diligent Seeder, Han Li, and (≥÷≤) for the gifts!