"Lia, I'll leave this to you. Use the flat of your blade."
"Guinevere, we should retreat for now. If this was just a probe, we've gathered enough information."
The King of Knights didn't even bother using the flat of her blade against the approaching homunculi. She knocked them out one by one with her bare hands.
But as Sakura lowered her head in helplessness and Guinevere's Falsification gradually repaired Mordred's injuries, the King of Knights suggested retreating.
"Lia, weren't you itching for a fight? Why do you seem so unmotivated?"
From the very beginning of the battle, only the appearance of the second Mordred had truly excited the King of Knights, causing her to leap uncontrollably from the King of Conquerors' chariot.
But after the second Mordred departed, she remained reserved. Whether fighting Siegfried or defeating and capturing Cu Chulainn, she never even dispelled the Invisible Air concealing her sword.
Until now...
"Guinevere, my Command Spell is urging me to summon a true Caster. I imagine Sakura's is doing the same. Besides, didn't you say you wanted this battle to be a fair seven-on-seven?"
Hearing this, Guinevere instantly understood why the King of Knights lacked motivation. It was her fault.
Compared to her, the King of Knights had far too much integrity.
"So, you're saying that if Berserker Mordred hadn't appeared, you really would have stayed on the sidelines as a Master until the very end?"
"At least until my intervention became absolutely necessary."
After knocking out the last homunculus, with no new enemy Servants in sight, the King of Knights looked at Guinevere and spoke with earnest conviction.
Guinevere stuck out her tongue, acknowledging the King of Knights' reasoning. As one of the rule-makers, the King of Knights didn't want to be the first to break them.
"Alright, then. Let's retreat for now. We've eliminated one enemy Servant and captured another. That's a remarkable achievement."
As Guinevere spoke, she used Falsification to shrink Mordred's body. She then single-handedly lifted the still-conscious Mordred, letting her wrap her arms around her neck.
Afterward, she ruffled Sakura's hair and said, "You've already done exceptionally well. You can hold your own against a renowned Necromancer."
Just as she was about to leave with Sakura and the King of Knights, Waver's panicked cry and the oxen's mournful bellows echoed from the sky. Guinevere had no choice but to hand Mordred to the King of Knights, spread her wings, and fly directly toward the aerial battlefield.
As fellow Riders, their chariots had raced side-by-side, evenly matched.
But in close-quarters combat, the King of Conquerors was no match for Achilles.
When Achilles boarded the King of Conquerors' ox-cart, he disarmed him in a single exchange, sending his short sword flying.
If not for Waver's surprisingly powerful Magecraft support, which temporarily knocked Achilles off the chariot and allowed the King of Conquerors to disengage, he would have died right then and there.
But even after breaking away, Achilles immediately followed up with a thrown spear. It pierced both Thunder Oxen pulling the chariot, causing its speed to plummet.
If Guinevere hadn't arrived in time...
"Tch. Impressive strength. You should have come yourself from the start."
As one of the most renowned warriors in Greek mythology, the green-haired Achilles, clad in black clothes and silver armor, was equally warlike. His encounters with Mordred and the King of Conquerors had only served to whet his appetite for battle, leaving him far from satisfied.
When Guinevere and he both stood upon his Troias Tragōidia, their sword and spear clashing relentlessly, they were truly evenly matched.
Broadly speaking, both Guinevere and Achilles had mastered the sword and spear to their absolute limits. Compared to the First Hassan, the only thing they lacked was the ability to concentrate their life's work into a single, decisive strike.
Meanwhile, at the highest point of the Yggdmillennia Family's castle, a young girl in a wheelchair was speaking with a tall man beside her.
"Master, are you certain you want me to launch a surprise attack?"
"The family has intelligence from Waver and the King of Conquerors. We know the effect of his Ionioi Hetairoi. I dare say that once he deploys it, none of us will be able to stand against it. We lack an Anti-World Noble Phantasm.
"And the wielders of Anti-Army or Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasms would likely be worn down and killed before they could eliminate the tens of thousands of Heroic Spirits in the King of Conquerors' army."
It was daytime, and the star representing Sagittarius was hidden by the sun's brilliance, temporarily rendering Archer Chiron's Noble Phantasm unusable.
Even without his Noble Phantasm, a mere charged shot from Archer Chiron—the embodiment of the Archer class, Sagittarius himself—could strike down the stars.
"Distance: ten kilometers. Obstructions between me and the target airspace..."
Drawing his bow and nocking an arrow, Chiron activated his B+ rank Clairvoyance and A rank Mind's Eye (True) simultaneously, achieving a limited form of Future Sight.
He saw the King of Conquerors detect him through his killing intent. He saw the King of Conquerors, on his slowing chariot, throw his Master to safety. He saw the King of Conquerors' final moment, tinged with regret and reluctance.
This one arrow would undeniably send the King of Conquerors back to the Throne of Heroes.
"Hah!"
The bowstring vibrated, and the arrow tore through the air. The future Chiron had foreseen unfolded seamlessly in reality.
He felt a pang of guilt for the surprise attack, yet he would never hold back in a war.
As the Great Teacher who had mentored countless Greek heroes, Chiron had no qualms about using strategy in battle.
Striking when the enemy was unprepared was a perfectly normal tactic in warfare.
But still...
"My apologies, King of Conquerors, Iskandar."
Perhaps it was from spending some time with Siegfried, but Chiron had picked up a bit of his sentimentality.
As a gaping hole tore through the King of Conquerors' chest and he began to irreversibly dissolve into light, Waver was still falling, stunned, unable to believe what had just happened.
"Rider!!!"
Waver's anguished cry snapped Guinevere and Achilles out of their battle and drew the gazes of the retreating King of Knights and her companions skyward.
They were all shocked by the King of Conquerors' sudden exit. After the initial surprise, Achilles clicked his tongue, then chuckled softly and spoke:
"Enemy Caster, do you still wish to fight? I have no desire to gang up on you, but it seems my Master feels differently."
For Guinevere, the King of Conquerors' abrupt departure was completely unexpected, but it also heightened her resolve for this Great Holy Grail War.
Temporarily suppressing her battle lust, she moved to grab the back of Waver's collar. The poor boy was already a sobbing mess, and she needed to prevent him from forgetting to land properly and getting himself killed.
Once she caught him, she would hurl him toward the King of Knights, and only then would Guinevere face Achilles.
"Master has given me an order," Achilles said, his handsome face brimming with confidence. "He doesn't want me to spare you."
This trouble is all my own doing, Guinevere thought. I'm the one who provided the Holy Relic that allowed him to be summoned.
"Tch. You're overthinking things," she retorted. "I'm letting you off the hook today. Don't forget, I'm a Caster-class Servant. I've only been using my sword so far."
Soaring through the sky, she could already see the Yggdmillennia fortress. Using a gem enchanted with Clairvoyance, she spotted Chiron and the girl in the wheelchair.
With this, only the enemy Lancer and Assassin remained for her to confirm with her own eyes.
Just then, she finally saw Kirei Kotomine appear beside Chiron and the wheelchair-bound girl. He raised his hand, flashing a Command Spell at her.
Even from this great distance, she could read his lips. He was mouthing...
"Kiritsugu Emiya."