Even though Illya shouted with all her might, Berserker couldn’t hear her voice.

Berserker’s name was Heracles, a hero who had completed twelve legendary tasks.

Thus, Berserker had a noble phantasm that mirrored his feats.

His noble phantasm allowed him to resurrect from the dead.

Now, Berserker was on his last life, if he died again, he would lose this war.

However, Gilgamesh wasn’t satisfied with just torturing Berserker for his interference.

Still watching from afar, Rin asked Archer. "What kind of servant is that?"

She couldn't help but marvel at Gilgamesh’s power.

But Archer didn't respond, he was busy watching for threats.

Meanwhile, with his goals accomplished, Koe decided to leave.

He was certain the giant servant would die by the golden-haired servant’s hand.

Berserker was still struggling desperately to free himself from the chains.

Wrapping around his hands, feet, and neck, he was nothing more than meat on the chopping block.

Seeing he was on his last life, Gilgamesh disdainfully ended it.

“You should be grateful, mad dog. By dying by my hands, I spare the world of your wanton destruction. Enjoy your punishment, death!”

Koe was flying away with Caster.

A spear appeared from a portal

But just as the spear was about to end Berserker, a bright orange light streaked through the sky faster than the speed of sound towards Gilgamesh.

As the light approached Gilgamesh's right flank, Gilgamesh was forced to dodge its incoming attack at the last second.

Even he didn't dare to ignore that beam of light.

The orange light flew past Gilgamesh and continued on its way.

Its destination was a dark mass exuding with a powerful aura.

Sakura, confused, used all of her strength to create a protective barrier.

But it was useless, the orange light cut through the barrier and Sakura like a hot knife through butter, destroying her lower body and leaving her on the edge of life.

Next to Sakura, a spear made up of burning fire impaled the ground.

The spear then disappeared into dust and scattered into the air.

Sakura howled in pain, causing her instincts to take over.The tentacles formed from her power began to go bezerk, they needed to devour mana, anything that had life energy within them. Although there were few humans around, there was a better option, servants.

Put simply, Servants were concentrated mana.

The tentacles are divided into three groups. The first flew towards Rin and Archer, the second headed towards Gilgamesh and Berserker, while the last headed towards Koe and his servants.

Meanwhile, Sakura collapsed into an unstable mana vortex that devoured everything nearby.

Shocked by the sudden attack, Gilgamesh’s surprise soon gave way to anger.

He wanted to vent at the perpetrator, but he didn’t know where the spear came from.

Thus, Gilgamesh decided to massacre the voracious tentacles approaching him like hyenas.

Summoning the Gate of Babylon, he easily destroyed every tentacle coming for him.

Koe sensed something fast was after them.

[Master.] Assassin spoke first.

[This isn't something we can deal with, I’ll hold them off while you and Caster escape.]

Assassin then summoned her broken sword and prepared to fight.

A tentacle flung itself Caster, But Assassin quickly cut it down.

"Go now, master."

Unaware of the situation, Koe chose himself first and followed Assassin’s advice.

Like before, an aura of destruction and ruin emerged from the Assassin's body.

Every time her sword touched a tentacle, it would turn to ash and scatter into the wind.

Seeing their endless numbers and the fact they could absorb his weapons, Gilgamesh decided to leave and disappeared.

With Gilgamesh gone, the tentacles swarmed Berserker.

Berserker tried to fight back, but was quickly paralyzed by them.

Moments later, Berserker was completely absorbed by the tentacles.

Archer, still indecisive, suddenly felt energy bursting from Sakura.

Upon sensing it, Archer immediately grabbed Rin and fled into the night.

But before that, he caught a glimpse of Koe, Caster, and Assassin.

When he saw them, Archer became slightly distracted, causing his guard to drop for a moment.

Due to that momentary lapse, Archer was almost hit by the tentacles.

[We need to leave now.] Archer telepathically said to Rin.

Rin silently agreed.

On the outskirts of the forest, Illya saw the tentacles rushing towards Gilgamesh and Berserker.

But after Gilgamesh left, Illya felt her connection with the Berserkers being cut off.

Berserker was dead!

Illya fell to her knees and mournfully cried out Berserker's name.

Due to being filled by a servant, the tentacles grew slothful.

. . .

On the opposite side of the battlefield, a woman with flowing orange hair fluttered in the wind.

The woman's brow furrowed, "Heeeh?" She surprised herself a little.

"I think I feel his trail over there." The woman looked at the battlefield.

She sighed wearily, “I thought I could kill him with one shot, but it looks like he left a false trail deliberately.”

“Um….” Upon realizing something, the woman roared furiously. "He used me to kill a servant."

"Fuck."

“His black flames or mana isn’t enough to make a trace. He needed a living being with lots of mana or a servant to become his marker.”

The woman then crouched down and contemplated her actions, with a hint of concern she said. "Did I break the tide of this war?"

But after further thought, she shook her head several times, “That's impossible. After all this war was meaningless from the start.”

Then the woman reverted to her disguise, a woman with short black hair.

. . .

Meanwhile, in a bustling road, the man with black flames hid his aura and blended in with the populace.

He then slid into an empty alleyway.

He looked up at the sky and couldn't be happier.

"I hope the hound kills Gilgamesh."

He smirked happily.

The war didn’t matter to him, it didn’t concern his only goal.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

But alas, even though the tree wanted to grow in peace, the wind will always blow against it.

“Considering the hound's abilities, it is likely Gilgamesh will die.”

"With Gilgamesh dead, things might get better."

“Gilgamesh was the most unpredictable and strongest variable, the earlier he dies the better it is for me.”

. . .

“That's right, I feel two things. The first one was obviously the trace of that bastard but the other….” The woman closed her eyes, but she couldn't guess what it was.

"Well, who cares. I shot both of them at the same time. Aren’t I the greatest?" The woman praised herself.

. . .

The next day.

Yuyami's house.

Yuyami had been sleeping peacefully in her bed when Saber woke her up through telepathy. Despite attempting to quiet Saber down, Yuyami was forcibly awoken by her incessant chatter.

“What is it Saber?”

In response to her words, Saber appeared beside Yuyami and jumped into her bed.

Avoiding Saber, Yuyami crawled out of bed and looked at Saber. “So?”

“Masters, master. Something happened right after you went to sleep."

Saber sat up and continued. “A powerful servant has appeared.”

Saber's eyes glittered, as if she desired this outcome.

"So, what now?"

Yuyami changed out of her pajamas.

“Hmm…” Saber was a little gloomy. She looked at Yuyami and said seductively. "Can we attack now?"

Yuyami rejected Saber’s request.

Saber tried again. "Can I search for the servant?"

Even though Yuyami had her back to Saber, she could feel the impatience emanating from the latter.

Yuyami sighed weakly. "Do you really want to meet a strong opponent?"

"Of course…." Saber nodded her head like an obedient child.

"Wait for a few more days." Aymu said flatly.

Saber showed disappointment on her face, but she didn't protest.

. . .

[How are you now, master?] Lancer asked.

"I am better now." Bazett had spent the night healing herself with the help of Lancer’s rune magic.

"About what happened last night."

The woman who fired the spear caused all of the participants to learn of her existence.

Her power engraved fear into some and made them all wary.

"What do you think, Lancer?"

Lancer, who had been guarding the building all night, had paid more attention to last night’s events more than Bazett.

As a Lancer who specialized in spears, Lancer was the first servant to realize the true identity of the orange light.

"I am not sure." Lancer replied hesitantly.

“Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, and finally Berserker. These are the classes that can be summoned in the Holy Grail War, and each class has their own limitations and advantages.”

“However, what happened last night was completely absurd.”

"Servants summoned have their noble phantasm bound by the class system depending on their class."

If Saber was summoned, but had a spear noble phantasm, did that make sense ?

Of course not, but it didn't rule out the possibility. After all, the Throne of Heroes had many types of heroic spirits.

In the end, Lancer still couldn’t comprehend what happened last night.

Was it possible for another servant to be more skilled at a spear than Lancer?

"No point in overthinking it, that noble phantasm must have consumed a lot of mana from their master."

After talking for a bit, Bazett and Lancer prepared for the next night.

As experts in runic spells, Bazett and Lancer could prepare using them by engraving them beforehand, allowing ease of use when the time came.

There is an absolute law in the world of the magus, ordinary humans couldn’t get involved.

Therefore, masters and servants could only move at night.

Magus uses mysteries to run all the magecraft they have.

A Mystery itself is something that is not known, so it is called a mystery.

But if the mystery could be explained then it can no longer be called a mystery.

Magecraft and mystery were the very opposite of science.

When something can be explained by science, then the mystery related to the problem or thing that can be explained will lose its ability to support all magecraft related to the mystery that has been revealed.

. . .

Koe's next step was to build a base.

If the first step was to build a farm for Caster, then the second step was to create a base where Caster would be the absolute ruler.

Just like magic circuits, the world also had magic veins, leylines.

There were several leylines crossings in Fuyuki that made certain areas rich in natural mana.

Of those places, only one hadn’t been seized by a master

Koe had been preparing for this since his first discussion with Caster.

Ryudo Shrine, the shrine before them, was one of the crossing points between leylines.

It was a prime location to build Caster's mana producing base.

By noon, Koe had built his base

He had captured Ryudo Shrine and Caster had cast various spells around it.

Koe rested in one of the buildings.

He knew he could only find peace during the day.

Given the previous night, Koe needed to revise his plans.

But after building his base, he felt better.

He suddenly heard a warning go off in his head

At Koe's suggestion, Caster had connected him to the barriers protecting the shrine. If someone entered, he would immediately know.

To his surprise, he found a servant entering his base

Too busy with base preparations, Caster couldn’t deal with the intruder.

Ryudo shrine, the front yard.

The Assassin was battling a red-robed man.

Archer, with his two short swords, was Assassin’s match under normal circumstances.

Koe hid himself and watched the fight unfold using the magic Caster prepared.

Through magic, he could see everything within the barrier, in other words, the entirety of Ryudo Shrine.

Using a mirror made of water, Koe watched Assassin fight Archer.

“That must be Archer.” Koe had heard Assassin’s description of the servant she had met while traveling to the ‘farm’.

From this, Koe deduced that the red-robed servant was Archer.

However, Archer was engaging in melee with Assassin.

Koe doubted himself and instead thought that this servant was Saber due to his amazing swordsmanship.

Be it Assassin or Archer, neither took their fight seriously at all.

Even though they strived to kill the other, they didn’t use their full strength, leading to a tie.

Seeing this, Koe didn't want to miss this opportunity.

A servant had presented himself to his base alone, why wouldn’t he take the opportunity to end his life?

[Caster, stop for now and help Assassin kill that red-robed servant.]

Caster immediately obeyed Koe’s order.

She waited for the right time to strike.

With Koe’s leadership, Assassin and Caster managed to pincer Archer.

Assassin now blocked his only exit.

Needing mana to flow in, Caster was forced to make a hole in the barrier, leaving a loophole in Ryudo Shrine’s defenses.

Caster was flying through the air in front of Archer.

Archer surveyed the situation, he was serious, but confident.

He knew he could handle the situation despite his disadvantage.

Assassin attacked up close while Caster supported from afar.

Despite his wounds, Archer didn’t flinch.

Seeing the situation getting worse and worse, Archer was forced to use his trump card.

While parrying attacks from Assassins and dodging Caster's magic shots, he began to recite aria.

"I am the bone of my sword."

With just the first line, the mana fluctuating from Archer made Assassin and Caster wary

His short swords had became even stronger.

[Kill him now.] Koe didn't want to see his opponent finish his spell, thus he ordered his servants to finish off Archer now.

Not holding back anymore, Assassin unleashed her destructive aura.

Even the barrier built by Caster was affected by the aura.

Caster began to question who Assassin truly was, her aura made Caster wary.

“Steel is my body and fire is my blood.”

Leaping gracefully, Assassin then slashed with her sword

Archer used his right shortsword to parry the attack, but when they met, Archer’s blade shattered into pieces.

Not wanting to miss that opportunity, Caster fired down magic, regardless of the collaterall damage done to Assassin.

As the magic bullets flew towards them both, Assassin continued to swing at Archer

Of the two attacks, Archer chose to focus on parrying Assassin's blade.

Just like before, his left shortsword shattered upon meeting Assassin’s strike.

At the same time, Caster's magic bullet destroyed everything in front of them.

As a cloud of dust rose, Assassin jumped out of it and securedhe only exit.

“I have created over a thousand blades”

“Unknown to Death,

Nor known to Life."

“Have withstood pain to create many weapons”

When he heard Archer’s chanting, Koe shouted at his servants to retreat, he had a premonition..

Holding her sword, Assassin focused her aura into it and was prepared to attack once more..

“Yet, those hands will never hold anything”

Caster opened her robes like a butterfly, forming so many magic circles behind her that the sky above Ryudo Shrine glowed purple from their light.

"So as I pray,"

Assassin swung her sword, throwing a dark energy beam at Archer.

The energy changed the color of the world inside the Ryudo shrine and-

Caster fired all of her magic at Archer.

“Unlimited Blade W-”

While the three servants used their full strength, a weapon suddenly flew down with unmatched speed and smashed Ryudo's temple to pieces.

The impact destroyed everything around it, causing the Ryudo shrine to disappear from the map.

Not even Caster’s barrier could last more than a few seconds before being pierced by the weapon.

Archer had failed to activate his noble phantasm.

Adding on,Assassin's lethal attack collided with the momentum carried by the foreign weapon, increasing its impact.

Caster way thrown into the sky by the two attacks.