Chapter 28: A Dazzling Entrance

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My name is Illya, and I’ve made a dazzling entrance!
178:22:12

Kayneth was not entirely satisfied with the current situation.
Although he had secured an alliance with Iskandar, Rider’s self-willed and unrestrained style of combat was something that needed to be adjusted. In particular, he was not drawing the magical energy required for battle from Waver at all; his foolish apprentice had completely failed to notice that the mana supply was only enough to keep Iskandar’s physical form manifested.

Moreover, even after being lectured by Sola with her hand on his ear, Waver still hadn't paid any attention to his surroundings, foolishly cheering for Rider. What was there to cheer about during what was supposed to be a feigned sparring match, intended to facilitate cooperation now that both sides had reached a consensus on command authority?

Kayneth frowned as he glanced at Waver, who was watching the battle between Lancer and Rider with bated breath. This guy... could he actually believe that since he summoned Rider, all of the Heroic Spirit’s achievements were to his own credit? What a truly distorted case of "first-impression attachment."

However, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. At the very least, it proved that his compatibility with Rider was quite high, and he would likely be able to exert considerable effectiveness at the right moment. If he himself had summoned this Rider, he would probably have had to engage in arduous negotiations with him.

"Automatoportum defensio." Glancing at Sola, who hadn't noticed him because she was focused on the battle, Kayneth issued a command to Volumen Hydrargyrum in a low voice.

"[Command failed.]" Remaining in her stealth state, Volumen Hydrargyrum—no, Luna—replied without hesitation: "[Please consult Her Majesty the Queen for new commands.]"

Although Kayneth’s voice was very soft, Luna had no intention of masking hers. Sola, having heard it perfectly, shot him a look that was half-smile, half-glare.

"...Sola," Kayneth had no choice but to consult Her Majesty. "You see that the battle between Lancer and Rider is nearing its end, and the hidden enemies are about to make their move. Wouldn't it be better to let Luna use her automatic defense form?"

"Huh? There are two Lancers?" Waver, finally noticing the silvery, shimmering Luna standing behind Sola, was extremely surprised.

"This is Luna, your teacher’s mystic code, which has awakened its own consciousness," Sola explained to Waver, then glared at Kayneth. "What? You want a girl to turn into that round, fat thing?"

"[I refuse]," Luna chimed in smoothly.

You’re a mystic code made of mercury; calling yourself a girl is one thing, but you’re also concerned about being round and fat! Kayneth suddenly felt a strong urge to pull at his meticulously combed hair.

"Furthermore, if she turns into that form, the stealth magecraft I bestowed upon her will deactivate. If the enemies in the shadows are observing us, they will discover us immediately." Sola swept her gaze across the dark, gloomy shipping containers surrounding them. "Most importantly, I trust that Luna can protect us even in this form."

"[Of course]," Luna bowed slightly. "[Whoever wishes to harm you must step over my corpse.]"

"Wow," the oblivious Waver remarked in admiration.

I really should have had her attack a female Heroic Spirit sooner; even an Assassin or a Caster would have done... Kayneth twitched his mouth and turned his gaze back to the battlefield, where the smoke was beginning to clear.

178:20:13

As the last shield-bearer fell to Lancer’s spear, Rider, who had been charging back and forth with this small army, stopped his ox-cart and looked at the dual-spear wielding Heroic Spirit standing proudly in the middle of the lane.

"Excellent!" The massive Conqueror clapped in praise. "I must thank you for teaching my boys so many practical techniques. Once they return to the main unit, they will soon ensure everyone has mastered them."

"So, will you admit defeat, or summon another batch?" Diarmuid once again assumed his spear-holding stance, like an eagle spreading its wings. "No matter how many times you try, the one who emerges victorious will be me."

"Hmm, that would just lead back to the initial deadlock. Let’s call it a draw."

"A draw? That won't decide who has command." Lancer’s handsome brows furrowed slightly.

"Ah, can’t you feel it? The killing intent of those hidden fellows is already overflowing." Rider brandished his sword toward the surrounding darkness. "Assassins, if you show yourselves now, I shall grant you the honor of dying in battle!"

The surrounding area remained silent. A faint rustling sound emerged from the dark corners; it seemed that some Assassins had realized they were discovered and were shifting their hiding spots.

"Even if you say that, they have the advantage of numbers, and their individual strength is lacking, so they are unlikely to accept a request for one-on-one combat." Lancer put away his dual spears, keeping a vigilant eye on the surrounding darkness.

"That is why our second round will be a skirmish—a contest to see who can defeat the most Assassins," Rider laughed. "If it weren't for this Heroic Spirit with his peculiar ability to manifest so many avatars, my advantage wouldn't be so easy to demonstrate."

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"Why do I get the feeling you’re trying to provoke them?" Diarmuid narrowed his slender phoenix eyes, and the beauty mark at the corner of his eye became more prominent. "However, since Assassins lack Magic Resistance, my advantage might actually be greater than yours if there are many female avatars."

"Who knows?" Rider said noncommittally. "Now it’s just a matter of who strikes first."

*Ssh—*

A dark red trajectory shot from a distant shipping container, striking the outer shell of a container near the two Heroic Spirits. It exploded with a roar just as Lancer and Rider looked over. A large hole was blown into the container, revealing a figure who seemed to be eavesdropping but was caught off guard by the discovery—dressed in black tights and a white skull mask, clearly an Assassin.

"Round two begins!" Rider waved his hand heroically. A row of three archers appeared behind the chariot, and a round of concentrated fire killed the Assassin in the container without any suspense.

As if a hornet's nest had been kicked, dozens of black figures instantly surged from the shadows, rushing toward the two Heroic Spirits and the Masters huddled together.

"What second round! In this situation, it’s obvious we should be protecting the Masters right now!" Lancer knocked aside two blocking Assassins and dashed toward the position of Kayneth, Sola, and Waver.

"That is why you are a warrior, and I am a 'King'," Iskandar waved his hand again, and five more archers appeared. "In the name of the Conqueror, shoot down those assassins!"

The two Assassins rushing fastest toward the Masters fell instantly, as if their eerie movement techniques were completely ineffective.

"How about that, Assassins? If you insist on assassinating my Master, you had better be prepared for total annihilation." Rider laughed loudly and waved his hand again; this time, seven archers appeared. "Lancer, protect our Masters well. Perhaps I might let one or two slip through."

Because the Masters were standing in a relatively open area with almost no cover, the Assassins tried a few more times only to be repelled by the archers and the quickly arriving Lancer, so they turned to assault Rider instead.

"Hahaha!" Rider laughed heartily. "I suppose you decided to use this as a breakthrough point after hearing me admit that my personal martial prowess is insufficient?"

The rapidly approaching Assassins seemed wary of Rider’s words, but they accelerated instead. Several Assassins who were already lunging at Rider even managed to kill a few archers standing on the perimeter.

"I said, if you show yourselves voluntarily, I will grant you the honor of dying in battle—" Rider ignored the approaching Assassins and suddenly raised the thick-bladed short sword in his hand, shouting: "Otherwise!"

*Whoosh—* *Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft!*

Following the rising dust and a series of sounds like bubbles popping, every Assassin charging at Rider was pierced through by a spear. On the path of their forward momentum, a spearman had abruptly appeared, poised and waiting, leaving them no time to change direction.

"How about it, Lancer?" Rider watched as the surrounding black-clad, white-masked Assassins vanished into spirit particles one by one, then turned to Diarmuid, who was guarding the Masters. "Do you concede the second round?"

"In such large-scale warfare, I am indeed inferior," Lancer admitted readily. "So, is there a third round?"

"Well... it seems not." Rider waved his hand to begin dispersing the spearmen and archers. "I originally wanted to capture the Master lurking in the shadows as a condition, but he’s already being chased away by the Assassins."

"Tch, with so many of them, is that the total count?" Lancer frowned deeply.

177:59:23

Kiritsugu Emiya's original plan was to first use a sniper shot to expose the hidden Assassin, then have Maiya Hisau use a submachine gun to attack the Masters of Lancer and Rider, followed by him switching to an Origin Bullet to target the one with the biggest opening. Finally, regardless of success or failure, he would escape immediately as planned, while Saber waited near the extraction point to deal with any potential pursuit.

But the middle two steps were skipped entirely. After he blew open the container and contacted Maiya to tell her to proceed as planned, he heard the response of an unfamiliar young man.

"Ah? Proceed? Can't do that, because that big sister has been snatched away by me." The sound of rapid running could also be heard through the communicator.

"...Who are you?"

"My name is Ryuunosuke Uryuu. With your intelligence-gathering capabilities, Uncle, you should know my identity, right?" This time, the roar of a motorcycle and the sound of something exploding seemed to come through.

The operation was a total failure, and he had lost his assistant. Even with Kiritsugu's calmness, he was stunned for a moment before he began to think of countermeasures. Since the man said he had "taken her," it meant there was no immediate life-threatening danger. He inferred that the opponent might be interrogating her for information, so there was still a small window of time to save her. Fortunately, the opponent shouldn't be able to reverse-trace him through the communication device.

"Hey, Uncle, although I have no interest in catching you, didn't your move just now, without the big sister’s cooperation, draw the attention of the Assassins?"

Damn it. Kiritsugu immediately cut off the communication and looked around. Although Rider, Lancer, and the Assassins were locked in a fierce battle, his intuition told him that more than one Assassin was attempting to track him.

Though he didn't know why that young man, who was also a disciple of Tokiomi Tohsaka, hadn't tried to stall him with talk, his first priority now was to escape immediately.

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Fortunately, while the Assassins had high Presence Concealment capabilities, their ability to sense Masters was almost non-existent, so it was nearly impossible for them to track him in a place where Heroic Spirits were engaged in a chaotic battle.

A moment later, Kiritsugu successfully escaped the container terminal area and found a small speedboat hidden by the nearby riverbank.

As long as he started it and crossed the Mion River, combined with his concealment magecraft, the Assassins wouldn't be able to track him even if the battle over there ended and they freed up their hands. But why wasn't Saber, who should have stayed nearby...

"Time Alter: Double Accel!"

Kiritsugu, who was about to reach out to start the engine, suddenly retracted his hand at a speed far beyond human limits, leaped backward, and performed a roll, moving far away from the speedboat that was supposed to be his key to escape.

"Heh, not bad." Beside the speedboat's engine, a tall, thin man in black tights with a white skull mask had appeared at some point. He was slowly retracting a pair of gleaming curved blades that seemed to have just slashed downward. "I originally only intended to cut off the hand that possesses your Command Spells, but now it seems I must aim for your throat."

"Assassin," Kiritsugu said in a low voice.

It was impossible to win. Even having received a large amount of information about how weak the Assassins were, even if the guy in front of him was just one of the more weakened avatars, and even if he had successfully ambushed one of them before—

Winning a head-on battle had a zero percent probability. Kiritsugu reached this conclusion.

Then, the only option was to escape.

This Assassin definitely hadn't followed him from the terminal; he must have just been curious about this small speedboat and was lying in wait under the instructions of his Master. Therefore, if he could restrict the Assassin's speed through some method, combined with his Time Alter, he could successfully escape to the second extraction point.

"I bet you want to run away, but unfortunately," the Assassin suddenly rushed in front of him at a speed exceeding what Kiritsugu had achieved with his magecraft, his white mask almost touching Kiritsugu's face: "I am faster than you."

*Da-da-da—*

Kiritsugu fired at the Assassin with the submachine gun he had already been holding in his coat pocket, but the opponent made a series of provocative movements, dodging the entire burst of bullets completely. This meant he was at a complete disadvantage in terms of speed, unless he continued to increase the multiplier of his Time Alter, but he couldn't be certain the opponent didn't have the capacity for a sudden burst of speed.

"Here is a piece of unfortunate news: besides the majority of mediocre fellows who are only fit to be cannon fodder, there exist outliers who can counter normal Heroic Spirits in certain aspects. And I am known as—" The Assassin, who had been driven far away by the submachine gun, suddenly reappeared in front of Kiritsugu: "[Swift Makur]!"

This wasn't a spatial ability, but a way to instantaneously accelerate himself. Kiritsugu judged that the effect was very similar to his own Time Alter. If it turned into a clash of such abilities, he would be at an overwhelmingly disadvantageous position.

"So, how many of you exist?" Kiritsugu switched to a new magazine and continued firing, but the Assassin calling himself Makur dodged even more leisurely, even throwing in a few gymnastics moves.

"Heh, you can certainly keep fishing for information," the Assassin performed a few rolls, stood on the speedboat, and spun his curved blades: "Until I get bored and decide to kill you."

"Since I can't run, killing you is also an option." Kiritsugu continued to shoot calmly, but this time the opponent didn't even move, swaying to produce a trail of afterimages and dodging everything.

And a strategy he could use—

"Heh, there are others as capable as me—" "Thump!"

The Assassin, who was so smug he was almost about to actively leak information, suddenly face-planted into the ground. No, he didn't trip himself; a purple figure had descended from the sky, stepping on his head and slamming him directly into the ground. Although he immediately materialized into spirit particles as a Heroic Spirit, the radial spray of disappearing particles covering the ground explained the consequences of that kick quite well.

"Hi, nice to meet you, mister who kidnapped my Master." A crisp, melodic, and strangely familiar girl's voice rang out.

Kiritsugu Emiya slowly looked up. Standing there was a girl with snow-white shimmering long hair and eyes like brilliant rubies, wearing a purple double-breasted fur coat, a pure white velvet skirt, and white fur boots. She was as beautiful as a doll.

She was standing on the speedboat, looking down at him. Although her appearance and temperament were very similar to Irisviel, she was younger. If one substituted her as the mysterious visitor who had broken into the Einzbern castle, it would fit perfectly.

"Caster?" Kiritsugu seemed to realize something, his voice tinged with a hint of awkwardness.

"My name is Lizleihi Justeaze von Einzbern, manifested in this war under the Caster class." The girl closed her eyes slightly and then opened them, her crimson eyes holding a hint of mischief: "I heard you married my replica and even had a daughter?"

"..."