__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Morgan and Luo Hao both froze for a moment, disbelief flickering across their faces.
The Artoria standing before them wasn't their King Arthur, not from their world — but they could feel it clearly: this Artoria was every bit as powerful as the one they knew.
And besides, she carried Excalibur, the Sword of Promised Victory.
Once that Noble Phantasm was unleashed, could that unknown spearman across from her possibly withstand it?
At the harbor, Artoria and Lancer faced each other in tense silence.
Then, Artoria's expression shifted.
Behind her, Irisviel felt her heart skip a beat — a strange feeling welling up inside her.
That man… that Lancer was unbelievably handsome. For a moment, she almost wanted to be his woman.
"Charm magic?" Artoria's sharp voice snapped Irisviel back to reality.
Her Magic Resistance was far too strong for such tricks to work on her, but that didn't make her any less irritated.
A knight of the lance using such underhanded tactics — it disgusted her.
Frowning, she wondered if she'd misjudged him. Maybe he wasn't the noble warrior she'd thought.
"My apologies," Lancer said, his tone regretful. "It's a curse I was born with — something I can't control. If you must blame someone, blame my birth… or the fact that I was born a woman."
Then his lips curved into a teasing smile that practically begged for a punch.
"You don't seriously think your looks can slow my sword, do you, Lancer?" Artoria snapped, clearly annoyed.
"Hah, that would be disappointing. So the Saber class's Magic Resistance really isn't just for show, huh? Excellent. If I killed a woman who'd fallen for this face, it'd ruin my reputation. I'm glad my first opponent has some backbone!"
His words were sincere — but to a woman, they were about as pleasant as sandpaper.
"Oh? So you want an honorable duel?" Artoria took a deep breath, her stance tightening as she focused her energy. "Then I'll oblige. It's a privilege to meet a Heroic Spirit with honor."
"Then come," Lancer said, his expression turning serious.
Meanwhile, in the group chat:
Yotsuya Miko: "Are these two done yet? Just exchange compliments and fight already!"
Misaka Mikoto: "Yeah seriously, are they gonna fight or flirt?"
Luo Hao: "Such pointless chatter!"
Tsunade: "Do knights always talk this much before fighting?"
Erza: "Not really."
Hestia: "Ahh, I want them both in my Familia!"
After all, Loki Familia already had a top-class spearman and the genius swordswoman Ais.
If she could recruit these two — Lancer and Artoria — she could totally outshine Loki's team!
After all the pre-fight talk, the battle finally began.
Their movements blurred — sword and spear clashing in a storm of sparks and afterimages.
Alex watched intently, carefully observing their techniques while silently practicing Tianshan Plum Blossom Hand, absorbing the essence of their fighting styles.
"Master really is diligent," Merlin said with a chuckle.
Then he casually tossed Alex a shining sword — another Excalibur.
"If you're studying the King of Knights' swordsmanship, you'll need a sword, won't you?"
Alex didn't stop his training — he simply caught the sword mid-motion and began to swing it fluidly.
As time passed, his movements grew sharper, more natural.
He was clearly starting to grasp the fundamentals of Artoria's sword style.
Seeing this, Morgan transformed her staff into a long cross-shaped spear and threw it to him.
Alex returned the sword to Merlin, took the spear, and began practicing again — this time imitating Lancer's movements.
Watching from the livestream, Luo Hao nodded approvingly.
But when it came to Artoria and Lancer's skills themselves… she was unimpressed.
If she had to describe them in two words: rough work.
By now, the first phase of Artoria and Lancer's duel had ended.
Lancer wielded two spears, and Artoria had no way of knowing which one was his Noble Phantasm. So she'd fought cautiously, keeping a close eye on both weapons.
Relying on her instincts, she anticipated Lancer's next attack and decided to tank one blow with her armor — planning to counter with a fatal strike immediately after.
But she hadn't realized that Lancer's long spear had anti-magic properties.
It sliced through her armor like paper.
The tide turned instantly.
Instead of landing a decisive hit, Artoria took a serious wound herself.
Then she made a grave mistake — she removed her armor, thinking it would increase her speed.
Her reasoning seemed sound: if the spear could pierce magical armor anyway, what was the point of wearing it?
But she'd overlooked one crucial detail — the long spear had anti-magic effects, yes, but the short spear did not.
Without her armor, her hand was struck and injured by the short spear's curse, the wound refusing to heal.
In that instant, Artoria lost the use of one arm.
A Saber with only one working hand couldn't possibly unleash her Noble Phantasm.
Merlin sighed softly. "Careless… this shouldn't have happened."
"Foolish," Morgan said coldly.
Alex, too, couldn't make sense of it. How could she make such a rookie mistake in battle?
By all parameters, the Artoria of the Fourth Holy Grail War should've been stronger than her Fifth War counterpart.
In the Fifth War, Shirou's incomplete summoning had left her underpowered and without proper mana support — yet she'd still been clever and resourceful.
Whether it was in the Fate route, UBW, or HF, she'd fought with intelligence and courage. Even against Berserker Heracles, she'd managed to stand her ground — even slay him multiple times.
But this Artoria, in full power and perfect condition, had already been injured twice by Lancer.
And she'd made one bad decision after another.
It just didn't make sense.
Her injuries forced Kiritsugu Emiya to take action from the shadows.
A Servant who couldn't use her Noble Phantasm had almost no chance of winning the Grail War.
The only option left was to find Lancer's Master — and eliminate him.
Once the Master died, the Servant would vanish, and with that, the curse on Artoria's arm would be lifted.
Kiritsugu and his partner Maiya crept through the darkness, sniper rifles in hand, using their night-vision scopes to scan the area.
Before long, they spotted Lancer's Master — and, unexpectedly, Assassin… along with Alex and his group.
"..."
________________________________________________________________________________________________________