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*****
"Who is that guy?! He blocked Heracles' attack with his bare hands—and he's not even a Servant!"
On the other side, even Illya was stunned.
The moment they met, she had already noticed that Saber's Master was no longer Shirou Emiya but a stranger instead.
That didn't matter to her—her target today was Shirou.
What she couldn't wrap her head around was how this stranger's reaction speed surpassed even a Servant's—and he blocked Heracles' sudden strike barehanded.
"Sha le, dousha le!"
With a wave of her dainty hand, Heracles launched another assault.
Saber's Master clearly had some skill, but Heracles was the son of Zeus from myth, and he hadn't even gone all out earlier.
Illya didn't believe someone as powerful as Heracles would lose.
Plus, she herself possessed formidable magic and mana.
If they were all going to protect Shirou like her father once did, then she would just kill them all. After all, the Holy Grail War was cruel by nature.
Facing the terrifying Heracles, Artoria was not to be outdone. She charged in, using her Invisible Sword to block his massive axe.
"Let us decide this one-on-one, with fairness!"
"Fine by me."
George didn't refuse Artoria's knightly request for a fair duel.
Sure, if he stepped in, he could end Heracles in an instant—but letting Artoria fight wasn't a waste of time.
He wanted to observe Berserker's Noble Phantasm and also see just how powerful Artoria's Excalibur truly was.
"Fighting here could harm bystanders. I'll give you a proper place to go all out!"
George didn't just sit back and watch. He lightly tapped the ground with his right foot, and the concrete beneath them instantly turned into a reflective mirror.
The next moment, everyone felt the world flip—the scenery around them shifted entirely.
It wasn't that they had gone somewhere else; rather, everything in their vision had been inverted. Even the writing on nearby tombstones appeared reversed.
"This is a mirror world. Even if you destroy the entire city here, the real world won't suffer a scratch."
With another quick gesture, a long, comfortable couch appeared in front of him. Two tables sat before it, laid out with snacks—sunflower seeds, peanuts, tea, fruit, and other treats.
"Come on, sit down and watch. Standing around is tiring."
Dropping himself onto the sofa, George waved invitingly at the dumbfounded trio of Rin, Shirou, and Artoria's group. Then he looked toward the equally stunned Illya.
"Little lady, you too. Those two won't settle things that quickly."
Shirou scratched his head awkwardly as he came back to his senses.
"Isn't it kind of wrong to do this at a time like this…?"
Artoria was up there fighting for her life against that monster, and they were here drinking tea and snacking. He couldn't help but feel a weird sense of guilt.
"Sit down. It's not like you can help anyway."
With a brutally honest remark, Rin pushed Shirou onto the sofa and sat down herself.
However, Archer behind her quietly leapt away and vanished.
She wasn't stupid. She had confidence in Artoria and acknowledged George's power, but for safety's sake, she had Archer take a vantage point.
If Artoria was ever in danger, Archer could immediately provide long-range support and finish the fight two-on-one.
She wasn't a knight and felt no need to follow any code of chivalry.
Meanwhile, Illya tried multiple spells to break the mirror space—but failed each time. Eventually, she silently walked over and took a seat as well.
Her thoughts were simple:
If Heracles won, she'd kill everyone here—end of story.
If Heracles lost, being near the mysterious magus who created this space would let her act immediately, force him to undo it, and escape.
So instead of standing far away waiting for the outcome, it was better to sit close and strike when needed.
There was another reason too. Although she had been enraged when Shirou called her "sister," something stirred inside her.
Now that she'd cooled down a little, she didn't feel as strongly about killing him right away.
She wanted to observe him up close—to see what kind of person this so-called little brother was, the one their father abandoned her for.
And so, George, Rin, Shirou, and Illya sat in a row like spectators, watching Artoria and Heracles clash.
On the battlefield, the fight was fierce.
Thanks to George, Artoria's strength had returned to its absolute peak. Likewise, Illya's boundless mana allowed Heracles to fight in peak condition.
In raw physical strength alone, Artoria couldn't rival the demigod Heracles.
However, she possessed the ability to massively enhance her body and weapon with mana, along with exceptional instinct and top-tier swordsmanship.
So even in head-on combat, she wasn't falling behind in the slightest.
They clashed back and forth—sword meeting axe again and again—the ground cracking and cratering under their blows.
"That's way too agile! Berserkers aren't supposed to fight like that!"
When Artoria used impeccable swordplay to bait Heracles into exposing a weakness and was about to decapitate him, he suddenly released the axe and bent back to dodge.
Rin slapped the table and jumped to her feet in frustration.
Servants of the Berserker class gained immense power from Madness Enhancement—but they also suffered a fatal drawback:
They lost most of their rationality.
That meant their fighting style was usually brutally direct, and most combat skills they possessed in life became unusable.
But the Heracles in the arena, despite his ferocity, fought with extreme agility. He didn't look like someone who'd lost his mind at all.
Illya calmly sipped her tea, wearing her elegant and haughty heiress expression.
"Because he is the strongest Servant. Even when eroded by madness, he never forgets the instincts of battle."
She wasn't stupid enough to reveal his true name and let them deduce his Noble Phantasm and abilities.
But that didn't stop her from showing off his strength and getting into their heads.
Right as her words ended, things shifted on the battlefield.
"Strike Air: Hammer of the Wind King!"
Knowing pure swordsmanship alone wouldn't hurt Berserker, Artoria activated another ability of the Wind King's Barrier.
Its main function was to wrap the blade in wind to alter refraction, rendering the sword invisible—thus the name "Invisible Air."
When the length and type of the weapon were unknown, most enemies wouldn't know how to block it and would be decapitated in confusion.
Only true veterans could intercept her attacks by instinct and experience.
Though Berserker had lost his reason, his powerful instincts allowed him to block her strikes each time.
So she unleashed the barrier's second ability—when she thrust her sword, the wind wrapping the blade condensed and blasted out like a hammer.
Sure enough, the unexpected strike landed, knocking Heracles flying.
"It's over!"
Wasting no time, Artoria immediately followed up, closing the distance and bringing her sword down at his neck as he flew.
(End of Chapter)