The opponent only made one move. That statement didn't seem wrong.
But precisely because it wasn't wrong, Diarmuid felt incredibly annoyed.
This annoyance wasn't directed at the Caster before him; after all, the opponent was simply more skilled, his abilities indeed impressive.
The person Diarmuid was truly dissatisfied with was, without a doubt, himself for putting his Lord in danger.
He had clearly sworn loyalty and promised victory to his new Lord, yet he nearly caused his Lord to be driven into a desperate situation by the enemy.
Now, he had even caused his boss to waste a Command Spell.
The thought of this deepened the regret and frustration in Diarmuid's heart.
"Indeed, Sir, you only made one move, yet you made me scramble. That is your skill. But..."
"—Sir, you won't have the chance to make a second move!"
[Lancer! Kill him! You must kill him at all costs! Even if you have to use both Noble Phantasms, it doesn't matter!]
[Yes! My Lord!]
Sensing Kayneth's fury, Diarmuid leaped down directly from high above, removing the talisman cloth covering his two Noble Phantasms.
Since he intended to go all out, hiding and concealing was no longer necessary.
Originally, according to Diarmuid's plan, he should have used psychological warfare after a brief exchange to lure the enemy into revealing a flaw, then pierced the opponent's body with his Red and Yellow spears.
But now, psychological warfare... was psychological warfare useful against Caster?
Caster seemed to want a one-on-one hard clash from the start, but later Diarmuid realized he was coming for his Master.
In this situation, if he still thought about 'probing' tactics, Diarmuid would very likely end up lacking firepower against the enemy due to not using his Noble Phantasm, eventually allowing the opponent to seize a flaw a second time and complete another Great Magecraft attack.
Caster avoided my attack just now; this is an undeniable fact.
But now, because my body still retains some buffs after the Lord used the Command Spell, my speed should be faster. Even if Caster has strong evasion abilities, he can't possibly perfectly evade the spearmanship I honed on the battlefield.
Go all out. Finish Caster before other Servants arrive.
In that case, maybe even after using my Noble Phantasm, I won't let all opponents know my True Name.
On the other side, Aaron seemingly provoked Diarmuid, but at the same time, he had already prepared for the second tactic.
Bombing fish with Black Marlin was one tactic, but unfortunately, that strike failed to take out Kayneth and the hiding Emiya Kiritsugu.
Judging by the mana fluctuations from the other side, Emiya Kiritsugu likely used a Command Spell to escape as well.
Trading a portion of mental energy for two enemy Command Spells—you couldn't say it was a loss.
But from a tactical level, Diarmuid would likely take him more seriously, and his attacks would inevitably be more ruthless.
*Phew, this fits my plan, but it's still a bit troublesome.*
*Being able to dodge the opponent's attack just now was frankly because Diarmuid wanted to probe me at first.*
*But now, with the Command Spell buff, combined with his skill [Eye of the Mind (True): B], he can probably see through my movement patterns via the recent battle.*
After all, Aaron knew very well that in terms of martial arts and experience, he was far inferior to the opponent, so—he could only play some dirty tricks.
He didn't know what the hidden mission was this time, but reasoning backward from results: last time it was a kill-type mission like 'Slay the Teigu User,' so this time the hidden mission might also be a kill-type mission.
Following this logic—Servants are definitely harder to kill than Masters, so the probability of unlocking a mission by killing a Servant is obviously higher than by killing a Master.
And someone like Diarmuid, who has good technique but ranks at the bottom in strength in the Fate/Zero Holy Grail War... not to diss Brother Lancer, but mainly because the others are comparatively strong, Brother Lancer is suitable to be the sacrificial lamb.
As for Aaron's tactic... calling it a tactic might be flattering his thoughts.
Simply put, combat depends first on hard power, second on technique, and third on intelligence.
In terms of hard power, Aaron wasn't afraid of Diarmuid, but he didn't plan to use his full strength at the start—in a dungeon like the Holy Grail War, it's better to keep a few cards up your sleeve.
In terms of technique, he wasn't good enough. The remaining aspect was intelligence.
In Diarmuid's eyes right now, Aaron was at most an agile Caster who could control water for large-scale hydro attacks.
Not saying he's a fool, but for someone without Future Sight or Sha Naqba Imuru, no matter how smart he was, he couldn't possibly guess—that the ability Aaron unleashed via Black Marlin was just one of his least proficient attack methods.
[Master, how is the situation on your side? Is anyone targeting you nearby?]
[There are a few not-so-strong presences near me... probably the Assassin clones Caster mentioned.]
[Is that so... No need to start a fight with them. You shouldn't have reached my vicinity yet. I haven't changed the shared skill on my side today. Wait, I'll put 'War Fog' on it. If you see the situation go south, use War Fog to retreat directly.]
[Um... Although being cautious isn't bad, but... I feel like those guys' auras aren't that strong.]
[They aren't strong. The problem is—can you do it?]
*Of course I can*—Raiden Mei intended to answer, but she suddenly froze on the street.
[Of course you can—even if you answer that way, I won't be reassured.]
[Three days ago, you were just an ordinary high school girl who knew nothing about how sinister society is. Expecting you to engage in life-and-death slaughter on the battlefield now... I don't plan to do something that difficult.]
[Caster... I...]
[Don't think too much; this isn't your problem. Rather, I'm the one with the problem for dragging you into this and forcing you to leave the residential area.]
[No... I also don't wish for others to fall into danger because of me.]
[It's best to have that kind of self-preservation awareness. Anyway, just stay safe.]
[Yes, please be careful too.]
"What's wrong, Caster?"
Diarmuid, leaping down from the high ground, didn't attack immediately. He looked at Aaron, who stood motionless, and assumed a combat stance again.
"You don't think that just because you stand there, I won't attack you, do you?"
"Heh, of course not. After all, chivalry is famous for its double standards—if you really intended to be fair, you wouldn't be preparing to attack when I'm at a disadvantage."
Even though Diarmuid couldn't see the expression under the mask, just listening to Aaron's words, he felt as if he could see the corners of the mouth grinning beneath it.
The enemy, sneering at this moment, showed not a trace of panic after being approached by me, a Servant of the Lance against the Caster class?
Does he have a trump card?
Or is it just a bluff?
Forget it, it doesn't matter.
Even if there is a trump card, as long as I don't give him a chance to activate it, there will be no problem!
After making up his mind thoroughly, the distracting thoughts in Diarmuid's brain vanished completely.
At this moment, only one thought remained in his mind.
Defeat the enemy and obtain victory for his Lord!
With this conviction, Diarmuid swung his twin spears at the enemy before him once again.
And Aaron, facing the enemy again, had to admit that Diarmuid, buffed by a Command Spell and using his Noble Phantasms, had combat power completely different from just now.
Facing Diarmuid's twin spears, Aaron could only try hard to avoid [Gae Buidhe], that troublesome Noble Phantasm. As for the attacks launched by [Gae Dearg], he really couldn't dodge them all.
Looking at the fresh blood on his twin spears, Diarmuid nodded with satisfaction.
*Good. It seems that as long as I keep this momentum, I'll find the location of his Spirit Core sooner or later.*
*His Master doesn't seem to have come nearby. Healing magecraft... Hmph, even if he is a Servant of the Caster class, it's impossible for him to complete a single verse of chanting in front of the current me.*
*If he doesn't play his trump card, this battle is over.*
*So, Caster, in the end—you should show your trump card!*
After forcing the enemy back with a strike, Diarmuid looked at the body under the opponent's cloak and thrust his twin spears directly.
First, ensure magic breaking with Gae Dearg, then ensure the opponent cannot recover from injuries with Gae Buidhe. As long as the twin spears hit the same spot on the enemy's body one after another, then even if Caster still has combat power, he will only be easily finished off by me after being injured.
So if he wants to show his trump card, this is the only moment. Then...
—Caster, let me see what your trump card is!
*I deliberately left this seemingly huge opening just to give you a chance to counterattack.*
*As long as you step into the danger zone, I can immediately retract my twin spears and complete the attack on you from another angle!*
"Hey, that's a big opening. It's almost like you're taking me for granted."
[Lion Never Perishes, Activate]
After activating Lion Never Perishes, a massive armor of Honkai Beast carapace instantly appeared, covering Aaron's body.
And on his face, the original plain white mask was pushed off and fell to the ground as the Honkai Beast carapace mask emerged.
At this moment, Diarmuid felt he wasn't facing a Servant.
This guy—was simply like a legendary demonic beast, emitting a terrifying aura that made people uncomfortable!
*I see. Body transformation. Is this Caster's trump card?*
*Then...*
"Since you sold such a big opening, it would be unjustifiable if I didn't seize the attack."
[Galvanism, Activate.]
Over the past few days, Aaron had been constantly accumulating bio-electricity through the Galvanism skill obtained from Raiden Mei.
At this moment, he utilized the bio-electricity he hadn't used yet, instantly boosting his explosive power drastically.
The Honkai Beast transformation caused by Lion Never Perishes already had the ability to improve Aaron's physical constitution. Now, after the combination of the two abilities, Aaron's speed instantly skyrocketed to a level where Diarmuid couldn't react at all.
Diarmuid's plan wasn't wrong. With the boost from the Command Spell, his A+ Rank Agility should theoretically allow his reaction speed to be fast enough to respond at any time.
But in this instant, even though Diarmuid completed an instantaneous burst, he still discovered—he was actually still too slow.
Gae Dearg was grabbed by the opponent's already beast-transformed left hand before he could retract it.
Although Gae Buidhe was retracted and could launch an attack, Gae Buidhe didn't have anti-magic properties. Facing the carapace covering the opponent, Gae Buidhe's effect was obviously limited.
However, for Diarmuid, this wasn't the most terrifying thing.
The most terrifying thing was—cold air and electricity were actually conducting and spreading towards his body through Gae Dearg at this moment.
Even though Diarmuid very decisively abandoned his crimson spear, the electricity still paralyzed his body in an instant.
*Bad. This guy... this guy is actually a close-combat specialized Servant?????*
*Aren't you Caster?*
*Are you sick? Why is a Caster playing melee!*
Diarmuid, who completely didn't expect things to turn out this way, couldn't change the situation of his body falling into paralysis no matter how calm he was.
Even though this electricity only made his body sluggish due to paralysis for an instant, under the circumstances where he already had a huge opening, this single instant was enough for Aaron to complete his attack.
[Spirit Command, Valor, Activate.]
At this moment, Aaron used [Knight of Owner] to turn the gauntlet appearing on his right fist into a D-rank Noble Phantasm, then punched directly at the enemy's abdomen.
"Whale-Slaying Tyrant Fist!"
One punch thrown. Aaron's iron fist easily pierced through Diarmuid's body.
At this moment, Aaron forcibly activated the effect of another Teigu, [Water Dragon's Possession: Black Marlin], directly manipulating the blood inside Diarmuid's body.
*I can manipulate his blood. And his blood is without a doubt a 'weapon'.*
*Then...!*
After designating the blood inside the enemy's body as a weapon, Aaron directly activated [Knight of Owner] again, turning all the blood inside Diarmuid into Noble Phantasms.
Subsequently...
"Blades of Blood!"
At this moment, Diarmuid looked incredulously at the opponent's face after deactivating the beast transformation, completely failing to understand what had just happened.
*Why... can he be so fast...*
*And my body... why... is it so painful...*
*It feels like being cut open by knives from the inside... why... is it like this...*
The blood inside Diarmuid's body, under Aaron's manipulation, turned into liquid blades that became D-rank Noble Phantasms, directly piercing Diarmuid's body from the inside out.
And Diarmuid's Spirit Core was naturally shattered on the spot by the attack erupting from within his body after this strike ended.
Everything happened in a flash of lightning, giving Kayneth absolutely no chance to react.
It wasn't until Lancer's body fell to the ground that Kayneth realized...
—*What?*
*My Servant is down?*
*Wasn't he holding the advantage just now?????*
*Why was he counter-killed by Caster?!*
*This is Caster! Shouldn't he be bad at close combat?!*
"Ah, let's run a test."
Looking at the two Noble Phantasms about to dissipate, Aaron picked them up and threw them into his storage space.
"And then—you were the one planning to kill me just now, right, Lemon-head."
"You... this...!"
Kayneth, who wanted to curse the opponent, froze instantly the moment he made eye contact with Aaron.
Kayneth was definitely a genius among geniuses as a magus, but compared to combat-type magus killers, this man was more like a scholar conducting magic research.
In other words, his adaptability was extremely poor, his combat experience wasn't great, he panicked easily when things happened, and he was easily provoked by the opponent when angry.
Knowing the enemy was difficult to deal with, he didn't choose to observe the situation first but chose to recklessly let his Servant attack, resolving to eliminate the enemy even if it meant exposing the Servant's True Name.
Although this method was one of the ways to solve the problem, the insufficiently cautious Kayneth committed a huge mistake at this moment.
Because he saw Lancer suppressing Caster, to save mana, he didn't activate Volumen Hydrargyrum.
And now, after Lancer was beaten into a bloody pulp and died in an instant, even if Kayneth took out his test tube wanting to release Volumen Hydrargyrum, it was already too late.
Aaron, leaping up, relied directly on the explosive power brought by the electricity and punched Kayneth in the head.
With the completion of this strike, Kayneth's head was knocked flying to a spot not far away, falling silently at the feet of Emiya Kiritsugu, Hisau Maiya, and Artoria.
"Mm, the first one."
Taking out two large axes to cut off Kayneth's arm, Aaron didn't choose to transplant the opponent's Command Spells on the battlefield but looked towards the sky.
In the sky not far away, a huge chariot happened to descend from the air at this moment, smashing heavily towards the ground.
*Ah, troublesome. Truly troublesome.*
*Whatever. After taking a head, I'll hide for now.*
*Among the remaining five opponents, except for Hundred-Faced Hassan, the remaining four should all be squatting nearby.*
*I didn't use too many trump cards just now, so next...*
*Heh, let's see the situation. Maybe I can take away another one or two Servants.*
.............................