Betrayal and Counter-Betrayal

There really was a True Ancestor?!

But Bai Cangshu could not identify the other party’s exact identity for the moment. Not every one of the Dead Apostle Ancestors had ever been seen.

Clang!

At that moment, something moved at Bai Cangshu’s lower back, followed by a miserable scream.

Bai Cangshu withdrew his finger and saw Shirou Emiya engulfed in Radiant Flame, rolling incessantly across the ground.

Rin Tohsaka tried to use magecraft to extinguish the flames.

Though the Shōnen was in agony, there was little regret in his eyes.

He had never liked this Assassin, whose actions were bizarre and who often radiated terrifying killing intent.

When he saw the man drive a finger into his adoptive father’s brow, he could not restrain himself and thrust his sword straight at the man’s lower back.

But he did not know whether the other party wore some special armor or had some kind of magecraft defense covering his body.

In any case, it had felt like stabbing steel.

Kiritsugu Emiya’s eyes had also cleared somewhat. It seemed that the electrical shock to his brain had restored more of his consciousness.

Within the flesh and blood of his brow, something resembling Black Mud writhed, and the wound rapidly healed once more.

Seeing the terrifying Servant turn toward Shirou Emiya, he spoke instinctively.

"Don’t…"

In that fire in Fuyuki City, he had ultimately failed to save anyone. Only this child had stubbornly survived, as though he were compensation for all of Kiritsugu’s mistakes.

Kiritsugu Emiya had raised Shirou Emiya as though entrusting everything to him.

Bai Cangshu’s finger slowly shifted.

Clang!

The sound of armor striking a blade rang out as Saber stood before her Master.

"Servant Saber. I am ready to fight you at any time."

Her expression was solemn. Even after witnessing Mercenary Tao’s bizarre speed and immense strength, Saber was willing to fight him whenever necessary.

Bai Cangshu looked into the emerald-like eyes of the small-framed woman. There was no confusion or fear in them.

Was it the rigidity of someone adhering to the so-called Way of the King and Way of the Knight, or the sincerity of someone who had seen through everything and still insisted on being herself?

He wanted to know. He was curious…

Bai Cangshu raised a hand toward Saber, his finger seeming to point directly at her eyes.

Without blinking, Saber watched Mercenary Tao’s movements. Even the ahoge atop her head seemed to have frozen. She knew very well that the man before her was likely a Grand Martial Arts Master beyond imagination from some era.

A powerful Martial Artist who had challenged all manner of monsters with a human body.

After becoming a Heroic Spirit, he did not rely on magical energy or magecraft at all. This body and these skills had become the most terrifying weapons for killing.

She was too close to him. Having lost Avalon, the distant utopia, she too had a considerable chance of being killed by him.

But that did not matter.

Death was not such a frightening outcome to Saber. It was merely a little regrettable.

Buzz—

A golden glow faintly blossomed between her hands, while an aura of heart-pounding power rose exponentially.

At first, it was merely at a level that ordinary Servants and Strong-tier Reincarnators could display.

But an instant later, it had become a terrifying sign of energy release that even Bai Cangshu could barely find an opening against.

The next moment, that horrifying aura made the tips of Bai Cangshu’s hair turn white. He almost instinctively activated Kaio-ken.

This was… Excalibur…

The Noble Phantasm standing at the pinnacle of holy swords, the so-called Holy Sword of the Stars?!

Boom!

A terrifying explosion erupted from behind Ryūdō Temple.

As the cliff shuddered violently, it began to tilt.

Was the entire mountain collapsing?

With a crack, the orderly stone floor of Ryūdō Temple split apart, and enormous fissures spread in every direction.

Rumble!

Ryūdō Temple collapsed first.

Amid the rising smoke and dust, Kiritsugu Emiya suddenly sprang up, grabbed his adopted son—whose flames had just been extinguished and whose body was covered in wounds—and rushed into the dust cloud.

He knew very well that with that scabbard inside him, Shirou would not die from wounds of this degree.

"Saber…"

Shirou Emiya spoke with difficulty. After coming into contact with Rin Tohsaka and the others today, he had learned that as a Master, he was actually holding Saber back.

Not only could he not replenish her magical energy, he could hardly offer her any help at all.

Now, he called for her to leave with them.

Saber looked at Mercenary Tao, only a meter away from her. The light on the holy sword concealed by Invisible Air gradually faded from her hands.

In her current state, releasing her Noble Phantasm was extremely difficult. Moreover, the enemy possessed strange mobility. If Excalibur failed to kill him—

She, Shirou, and everyone else would most likely die.

Saber retreated.

Bai Cangshu did not stop her. He sensed an intense aura of magical energy. A vast amount of Black Mud had appeared beneath Ryūdō Temple!

Looking at the seemingly collapsed "world," he raised his right foot and stomped down fiercely.

Boom!

The plaza outside Ryūdō Temple exploded and fell downward in an instant.

Bai Cangshu himself plunged headfirst, continuously leaping between the rocks. At last, through the smoke, he saw the scene below.

A black giant had slapped Ice Demon Qiu Luo into the mountainside.

Heroic Spirit Emiya and Rin Tohsaka were also fighting as they retreated.

That was… Berserker?

Illya swung her legs as she sat in the apartment. Looking at the drizzle outside the window, she found it difficult to sense Assassin’s location from so far away.

"Does Assassin intend to end this Holy Grail War himself…?"

The girl murmured, then revealed a strange smile.

"That won’t do. Illya exists for this Holy Grail War."

Step, step, step.

Heavy footsteps came from the stairwell. The next second, someone knocked on the door.

Without a shred of wariness, Illya rose and prepared to open it.

Boom!

Firelight exploded, and the entire apartment was engulfed by intense heat and flames.

"How is it? Did it work?!"

Someone shouted from below, making no effort whatsoever to conceal his intentions.

He was a man in a jacket, wearing black headphones with what appeared to be an antenna extending behind them.

The man standing amid the heat and flames wore dazzling gold and red metal plating. This was Iron Man’s second-generation armor.

Though it could not compare to the later ultratech components, it already possessed an overwhelmingly superior performance advantage against Plot Characters with ordinary technological capabilities.

Scanning results continuously flashed across the display, but the target could not be found.

"Someone rescued her. Begin electromagnetic scans of the surrounding area!"

He spoke, and the man below immediately turned his headphones, as though adjusting the frequency to another band.

The next moment, accompanied by crackling static—

Blue-white pulses began lighting up around the apartment.

They did not know much about magecraft, but conversely, those Magi had no particularly effective ways of dealing with Reincarnators from the Technology Faction like them.

"Found her! Underground. It’s… a Black Man-eating Flower!"

His expression changed. Before he could explain further, a streak of light flashed from the distant street.

The moment he turned his head, the purple streak had crossed several hundred meters of city blocks and appeared at his side. A hand seized his head and blasted him flying, smashing him into another block a hundred meters away.

Whoosh—Boom!

Micro-missiles launched, but Medusa easily evaded them.

"Get that guy to make a move already!"

The armored man relentlessly bombarded the surroundings, but Medusa was too fast. He cursed loudly over the communications channel.

The next moment, footsteps sounded, and a Heroic Spirit dressed in a black kimono emerged from the street corner.

"Fuck, it’s not Gilgamesh. White Face played us!"

"Tell the captain, the deal is cance—"

Splat!

A sharp blade pierced the steel armor, nailing his unfinished words shut. The Heroic Spirit who had just been at the street corner appeared behind him out of thin air.

The spear-like blade looked less like a spear than two large tachi fused into one strange weapon.