Perhaps seeing Waver's disheveled appearance, faint, sinister laughter came from among the Hassan.
"Jie jie jie jie jie… You are right, we are Servants who exist as a whole, and the individuals within are merely shadows of the whole."
Rin looked at the Hassan with pity, seeing him, compelled by command spells, making the same mistake as his predecessors three times before. Perhaps the Hassan, whose mind had been muddled by the command spells, was still cackling in a self-destructive manner.
The Hassan class is arguably the most unique class in the Holy Grail War, because the only Heroes who fit this class are the nineteen successive Hassan-i-Sabbah. The word "Hassan" itself is equivalent to their relic. If a Hassan is summoned through the proper summoning ritual, it will inevitably be one of these 19 individuals. Their abilities and noble phantasm will vary depending on which Hassan is summoned.
Hassan of the Hundred Faces, the Hassan summoned in this Fourth Holy Grail War, was the nineteenth leader of the Hashashin assassination cult. He possessed a particularly strange ability even among the successive Hassan-i-Sabbah.
Unlike the previous Hassan-i-Sabbah, he did not modify his own body, or rather, he had no need to. This was because, although his physical body was unremarkable, he could freely change and control the spirit within his body according to the situation. Within his body resided a group of independent souls. He utilized the various knowledge and abilities of these cohabitants within him to deceive enemies through various means, break through security networks, and hunt down targets in ways no one could anticipate.
He was a versatile assassin who could freely transform his many talents and knowledge in any situation, utilizing his abilities to complete missions. Sometimes he was skilled in strategy, sometimes he understood foreign languages, sometimes he possessed knowledge of poisons, and other times he was a craftsman who made traps. Legend has it that he sometimes displayed incredible strength and speed that his original body could not possibly possess, employed forgotten phantom martial arts, skillfully disguised himself regardless of gender or age, and his refined speech and demeanor made it hard to believe it was mere acting. Even his personality would drastically change according to the time and occasion.
Relying on his noble phantasm, Delusional Illusion, formed from his multiple personalities in life, he could disperse the souls existing within a single body, allowing him to exist in the present world as multiple Heroes, splitting into a maximum of 80 individuals. While undergoing this multiple personality division, his own spiritual consciousness also split, allowing each to act as an independent entity. Because each personality would manifest in a corresponding form, their appearances varied—male and female, old and young, tall and short, fat and thin.
It could be said that nearly a hundred Hassan-i-Sabbah, each skilled in various arts, could truly be used as nearly a hundred Servants. Although their attributes and abilities were weak, if Hassan of the Hundred Faces had been summoned by Kiritsugu Emiya, the Magus Killer who was skilled in assassination, and all of Hassan of the Hundred Faces' assassination techniques were fully utilized, the terrifying effect would be unimaginable. The entire Fuyuki battlefield would likely be shrouded in a shadow of death, and the Masters of all other teams would surely be unable to rest day or night, constantly worrying if they would ever open their eyes again each time they closed them.
Unfortunately, he was summoned by Kirei Kotomine… Although Kirei Kotomine, as a first-rate Agent, was also a master of close combat and even had the reputation of being a master of Bajiquan, a warrior and an assassin, while both are physical types and involve manipulation, they have absolutely nothing in common.
Therefore, Hassan in the Fourth Holy Grail War was once again blindly used… An Hassan who possesses deadly threat only when hidden in the shadows was forced into the light. To put it bluntly, that's just cannon fodder.
A hundred cannon fodder teaming up to try and eat a whale—what is that if not being forced to court death?
Ignoring the large number of assassins that appeared, the King of Conquerors directly addressed Gilgamesh, who was resting with his eyes closed, as if the dark appearance of the Hassan would defile his eyes:
"Is this your objective, Archer?"
Gilgamesh, with his eyes closed, let out a disdainful "Tch":
"That Tokiomi bastard, how dare he do something so despicable and disgraceful to me without my permission."
The relationship between Assassin's Master and the Tohsaka Family was no longer a secret. Such an all-out attack by Assassin could not have been Kirei Kotomine's decision alone; it must have been sanctioned by Tohsaka Tokiomi.
The next words... Hmm?
Rin had initially thought that the Assassins were still sent by her father to probe the King of Conquerors and serve as cannon fodder. However, she noticed that the Assassins' killing intent wasn't directed at Waver, but rather locked onto her!
Rin was instantly puzzled. What was going on? Did her father send people to test his own daughter's strength? But Rin and Lancelot had already fought Gilgamesh last night. Regardless of whether either side used their full power, did he really think this group of cannon-fodder Assassins could still probe Rin for any hidden cards?
Could the problem lie with Kirei Kotomine? To be fair, the only one who hadn't followed the script tonight was Kirei Kotomine. He didn't appear where he should have, and now the actions of the Assassins under his control were extremely abnormal.
But no matter what, since the enemy had come to her, she couldn't just pretend not to see them. Since the killing intent was directed at her, there was no need for the King of Conquerors to use his Army of the King like heavy artillery to kill a chicken.
Rin calmly placed her empty wine glass on the ground and stood up, clenching her fists as if relaxing her joints, producing crisp cracking sounds.
"Speaking of which, since we're drinking together, we should do something. Rider took the lead in suggesting it, Saber provided the castle venue, Archer brought out the good wine, but it seems like only I haven't done anything by the end. In that case, I'll take care of these pests."
Carelessly demoting the actively appearing Assassins to a type of arthropod, Rin even ordered Lancelot, who had arrived to guard her before the Assassins even appeared, not to materialize.
"Although I don't know if it's my old man's idea or Kirei Kotomine's, since they've aimed their spearhead at me, there's no reason for me to remain indifferent. I said I would step on everyone in this war and ascend higher. So, I'll ask you to be the first Servant ghost in my hands!"
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