Not far from the battlefield, Emiya Kiritsugu and his two companions simultaneously looked at the lemon-headed man on the ground.
Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald. Although Kiritsugu hadn't expected a guy like that to be the final victor before the war started, now...
Looking at Kayneth's expression, eyes wide open in death, a chill flashed through Kiritsugu's heart.
Caster... judging by his ability to kill Lancer with a single punch, if he hadn't controlled his strength, he could have easily blown this guy's head apart.
But Caster didn't do that. Instead, he blasted Kayneth's head over to us with incomparable precision, keeping the severed head relatively 'intact' despite the heavy impact...
Is this a warning?
Or is it a declaration of war?
Kiritsugu had to admit that a powerful enemy outside of his calculations had appeared in this Holy Grail War.
As a Servant of the Caster class, he should have been physically weak, holed up in a workshop using magecraft to secure victory.
But this Caster... no, is he really a Caster?
At first, we judged him to be Caster because he utilized large-scale water magecraft.
But judging from the subsequent battle, he possesses the strength to kill Lancer in one hit. The 'magecraft' he used to attack us earlier with water currents now seems like a random ability thrown out to mask his true combat method.
Moreover, judging by how he kept dodging and then seized the opportunity to counter-kill Lancer right when Lancer prepared a feint, his experience in close-quarters combat against humanoids must be excellent.
Caster... does he need that kind of anti-personnel combat experience?
"This Servant..."
Staring at the head with its grievances unresolved, a solemn look appeared in Artoria's eyes.
"He will not be easy to deal with."
Seeing that Kiritsugu had no intention of speaking, Hisau Maiya actively tried to act as a lubricant between the Servant and Master, immediately looking at the swordswoman before her.
"Saber, can you discern that Servant's identity?"
"...It is difficult. Although he should have already used a trump card, the pieces of intelligence—'manipulating water currents,' 'extremely strong close-combat capabilities,' and 'expert in zero-distance grappling'—are insufficient for us to deduce which mythological system he hails from."
"Furthermore, considering he chose to flee immediately after the kill, he values results more than so-called 'heroic face.' After all, Rider, who has now arrived, does look more difficult to deal with than Lancer."
"I intended to pick up Irisviel, but it seems I must remain here. Even ignoring Rider, there are Assassins nearby. And Caster... no one can guarantee that he has truly left."
"Yes, I finally understand what that strange feeling earlier was."
Emiya Kiritsugu exhaled a breath of turbid air and looked at the surrounding space.
That guy is just like me.
I have no 'honor' as a magus, and he has no 'honor' as a hero. We are both the type of people who only care about achieving the final victory, disregarding the intermediate results.
In other words, after hiding, it is very likely that this guy is still nearby, waiting for an opportunity.
Emiya Kiritsugu knew very well that he wasn't a good person.
But precisely because of that, he felt a headache coming on.
As a veteran schemer, he knew that there were only two types of troublesome opponents in the Holy Grail War: those who could fight, and other schemers.
And as long as a combat-capable schemer like Caster wasn't killed, the remaining five Masters would have to act with extreme caution.
Of course, Kiritsugu wasn't the only one thinking this.
Squatting in the magecraft workshop of the Tohsaka residence, Tohsaka Tokiomi was suffering from a headache for the exact same reason.
They hadn't found Caster's Master, and as for Caster himself...
Judging from the images Tokiomi saw through his familiars, that man absolutely did not hesitate when it was time to strike, killing Lancer—whose main tactic was hit-and-run—in a single blow.
But after killing the enemy, Caster... just ran away.
Tohsaka Tokiomi's Servant was absolutely invincible, but an invincible Servant didn't mean the Master was guaranteed to win.
Caster displaying such terrifying melee capabilities didn't mean he had lost the inherent characteristic of the Caster class—proficiency in magecraft.
If that guy hiding nearby had already woven a ritual to detect the surrounding familiars...!
Thinking of this, Tohsaka Tokiomi immediately had his familiars self-destruct.
"Teacher, regarding the current situation... do you need Assassin to act? I discovered traces of Saber's Master nearby. Rider's Master is also on the battlefield. If all Assassins attack together... they should be able to kill Rider and Saber's Masters before Rider can annihilate all the Assassins with his Noble Phantasm."
"No. Kirei, now is not the time."
[King, please be careful. Caster may still remain in the area.]
[Hmph, Tokiomi. What is the meaning of this?]
Gilgamesh, who had not yet deactivated his spiritual form, frowned slightly upon hearing the communication from Tohsaka Tokiomi.
[Do you think I would lose to that rat?]
[Your subject dares not. The King's power is undoubtedly invincible, but against a nameless Servant akin to a sewer rat, your subject feels it is somewhat improper for you, the Oldest King, to take action.]
[Heh, if that is how you think, this King shall forgive your slip of the tongue.]
[Thank you for your magnanimity.]
[However, although this Caster fellow is a rat, he is an interesting one. Heh, although I cannot detect his exact location, he is indeed remaining in this area, just as you said.]
[Interesting. After killing Lancer, does he think he can continue fighting? It seems he didn't unleash his full strength just now. Even if he is a rat afraid to reveal his true form, a rat can still bite a cat to death.]
Gilgamesh surveyed his surroundings. Then, after hearing a certain remark, he suddenly spoke to Tohsaka Tokiomi.
[Tokiomi, plans have changed. This King is going to take action here.]
[My King, why?!]
[There are fools present who provoke the dignity of a king... Hmph, then it is also the King's responsibility to hand down punishment to these fools!]
Realizing Gilgamesh had unilaterally cut the connection, Tokiomi became even more anxious.
This is trouble. If that personage gets serious... the other Servants might be no match, but that's exactly the problem!
The King's power is too great, leading him to always be careless in battle. If he doesn't raise his guard, he could very likely be ambushed by Caster.
Sigh. The plan was proceeding normally. The other Servants were fighting, and Assassin was hiding. If it continued like this, there was a high probability I could fulfill the Tohsaka family's long-cherished wish in my generation.
But now...
—Why did things turn out like this...
.......................
On the open battlefield, Iskandar looked at the spot where Lancer had completely vanished and scratched his head helplessly.
In the King of Conquerors' plan, Lancer was provoking everyone, while he observed the situation in secret. If the opponent succeeded in baiting one or two Servants, he would swoop down, fight them, and wipe them all out—much simpler than finding enemies one by one.
Of course, he had other ideas too.
For example, just now, realizing Caster was also an outstanding warrior, a thought popped into Iskandar's mind.
Those two were indeed skilled hands; it would be a pity if they died.
With this thought, he ignored his Master Waver's complete disagreement and took Waver on his chariot, descending directly from the sky.
It was just a pity that Caster suddenly erupted with terrifying power, instantly killing Lancer with a punch and knocking Lancer's Master's head flying in the process.
By the time Iskandar landed his chariot on the battlefield, only the specks of light remaining from Lancer's death were left.
However, for Waver Velvet, what he saw was more than just that.
Rider didn't care who Lancer's Master was, but Waver couldn't completely ignore it.
Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald was Waver Velvet's mentor, and the reason Waver chose to participate in the Holy Grail War was precisely because Kayneth had rejected his masterpiece.
*A person with delusions like yours isn't suited for magecraft research, Waver-kun.*
Waver would never forget that day. Kayneth, after throwing away his thesis, had spoken those words to him with a hint of pity.
Perhaps to a Lord of the Clock Tower sitting high above, Waver's thesis was just a pile of trash.
Fueled by the inextinguishable anger in his heart, Waver chose to steal Kayneth's delivery, using the relic inside to summon Rider and join this Holy Grail War.
But when Kayneth's headless corpse appeared before him...
—Waver had to admit, he regretted it.
If it were a stranger, Waver might not have felt it so deeply.
But although Kayneth was arrogant in Waver's eyes, he truly had genuine skill.
Such a powerful, excellent genius magus was beaten to death like trash and discarded in this Far East land.
And...
I was the one who caused his death.
Waver didn't know how strong Rider was, but he was certain Rider's strength was above Lancer's.
If Teacher Kayneth and Rider had fought together... would he still have died?
Fear of death and remorse for indirectly causing his mentor's death intertwined in the boy's heart.
"Hey, Master. I don't know why you're making that face, but now isn't the time to show weakness."
Sensing Waver's emotional fluctuation, Iskandar suddenly revealed a smile that scared Waver a little.
"After all, the battle is about to begin."
"Battle? Isn't the battle between Caster and Lancer already... Wait, you're not planning to—"
"Yes, exactly what you're thinking."
"No! Don't! Don't do it!"
Ignoring Waver's objections, Iskandar dropped the words "Cover your ears" and took a deep breath.
Then, he let out a war cry to the surrounding space with a voice that resonated through the sky.
"I am the King of Conquerors, Iskandar! I am the Rider of this Holy Grail War! The Servants provoked here by Lancer must be more than just Caster, correct?"
"Including Brother Caster, heroic spirits invited by the Holy Grail War, gather here now! Cowards too afraid to even show their faces will be spared the insult of the King of Conquerors, Iskandar. Prepare yourselves!"
Waver, covering his ears, could still hear his Servant's words.
In his heart, only one thought remained.
Oh no, we're done for.
"Idiot, idiot, idiot! Who would be stupid enough to come out at a time like this?! And after revealing your true name, aren't you going to be targeted?!"
"Haha, little Master, that's where you're wrong."
Watching a figure slowly appear atop a streetlamp, Iskandar revealed a satisfied expression.
"Look, don't we have a guest already?"
Holy crap, there really is one?
Wait, it's fine that the guy next to me is an idiot, but why would other Servants obediently show up like idiots too???
This situation is definitely weird!
....................
On the other side, Artoria, who had intended to charge out, suppressed the thought after glancing at Emiya Kiritsugu.
Dealing with enemies was important, but the fact that Emiya Kiritsugu was Saber's Master had been exposed. As long as the opponent had the intent, they might prioritize killing the Master, Kiritsugu.
If Saber stepped onto the battlefield, Kiritsugu's safety would not be guaranteed.
At this moment, a thought uncontrollably bubbled up in Artoria's heart.
*Why didn't Kiritsugu stay further away? Why did he have to stay near the battlefield?*
*Now that he's been ambushed and revealed his true body, won't all his combat plans be useless in the future?*
Now, both Lancer's Master and Kiritsugu—two Masters near the battlefield—had been forced out of hiding by Caster's single large-scale area attack.
We only lost a Command Spell, but Lancer's side... once the Master was revealed, the Servant was defeated, and even the Master couldn't escape.
And to call the opponent insidious... that man's actions couldn't really be called insidious.
Since one has stepped onto the battlefield, being killed by an enemy is a perfectly normal occurrence.
Both Kiritsugu and I should have been prepared for this.
That man was just fighting in his own way. To say he launched a sneak attack... it would be more accurate to say Lancer actually gave him the opportunity to ambush the Master.
I cannot label the opponent's strength as 'despicable' just to whitewash my own side's 'incompetence.'
Now, what I should be thinking about is...
If I were to face him, what should I do?
Although my explosive power should be greater than Lancer's, the prelude to using the Sword of the Planet is too obvious. Given Caster's tactics, upon discovering the prelude to my Noble Phantasm, he would inevitably choose to disengage.
But if I don't use the Sword of the Planet... I may not necessarily be able to beat him.
Even with the Invisible Air masking my sword's length, would such a petty trick... really work on him?
Even though the two male Servants before her far exceeded the vanished Caster in terms of pressure, Artoria still couldn't focus on them.
To her, both were undoubtedly strong enemies, but what truly made her uneasy wasn't these powerhouses.
Strong enemies only ignited her fighting spirit. But the true danger often lay not with the strong enemies engaging in frontal combat, but with the lurkers hiding in the shadows.
The red-haired man and the blond man squaring off—one exposed his true name himself, and the other jumped out after a slight provocation...
Even if they had supreme confidence, such actions were incredibly foolish in Artoria's eyes.
"Kiritsugu, shall we watch and wait here?"
Watching the two over there ready to fight, Artoria frowned slightly.
"...Yes, let's maintain this for now. If there's a chance later, use your Noble Phantasm to send them off together. Things will be much simpler after that."
"Is that so..."
Artoria scolded Emiya Kiritsugu on the spot for being too despicable—of course, that didn't happen.
As the King of Knights, she craved fair and just combat... my foot.
As King Arthur, Artoria Pendragon naturally craved fair and just battles, but existing here now was merely the Knight of the Sword, summoned under the Saber class.
She wanted to save her country, and saving her country meant defeating the other six Servants. Under these circumstances, firing Excalibur to blast enemies who were already fighting each other was, in a sense, quite efficient.
"Then I leave the timing of the Noble Phantasm to your judgment, Kiritsugu. However, I declare in advance: I personally do not object to using a Noble Phantasm against Servants, but if you intend to slaughter innocents while using it, I will not stand idly by."
Hearing this, Emiya Kiritsugu was stunned on the spot.
In Kiritsugu's perception, the King of Knights should be noble, holy, an existence pursuing fairness and justice. Saber and an insidious Magus Killer like him shouldn't be able to get along.
Because of this reason, and out of anger toward the group surrounding the young girl Artoria, Kiritsugu had chosen to refuse excessive communication with her.
But now, he suddenly discovered—hey, this person seems surprisingly easy to talk to.
Although he could hear from her words that the girl King of Knights hadn't abandoned the justice in her heart, her thoughts were actually far less pedantic than he had imagined.
Saber agreed without a second thought to what Kiritsugu considered a 'sneak attack'?
Heh, it seems I misunderstood Saber quite deeply.
Judging by her tone, as long as it doesn't cross her bottom line, she doesn't seem to mind using tactics that aren't exactly fair and square.
But since she has that kind of resolve, I don't need to use those overly radical tactics.
A King Arthur who can coordinate with my tactics to a certain extent... Heh, now that's called a 'trump card.'
...............................
Aaron, who had been hiding nearby using [Demon Armor: Incursio], watched the red and gold Servants on the battlefield. He calmly opened the helmet on his head and took out the magical food made by Raiden Mei from his storage space, throwing it into his mouth.
After recovering a large amount of physical and mental energy this way, Aaron's condition had returned to peak levels, aside from feeling a bit tired.
After chugging a mouthful of Happy Otaku Water (Cola), Aaron, hiding his body and presence through War Fog, slowly waited for the two kings to fight.
[Master, what is the situation now?]
[Caster, I recall we contacted each other less than three minutes ago... Following my 'vision,' there seem to be more and more of them.]
[Phew, is that so? It's a bit dangerous on my end too. If a battle breaks out... forget it, you should use the War Fog to disengage first.]
[The Servants tracking you should be Assassins. Although they are experts at assassinating others, no matter how strong their assassination arts are, they shouldn't be able to find your traces after you use the War Fog.]
[If it really comes down to it, don't hesitate. Use [Dimensional Formation: Shambhala] directly to warp yourself to another area.]
[...But, what if I want to fight?]
............................