Kiritsugu Emiya's gaze was heavy as he looked at the two Servants who had appeared within the magical ritual circle.
On the left stood a young girl clad in blue and silver armor, holding an invisible sword.
She was petite, with golden hair tied back, and her emerald eyes radiated determination and awe-inspiring dignity.
The intangible [Invisible Air] was wrapped around her sword, emitting the pressure belonging to the strongest class.
Saber, the King of Knights, Artoria Pendragon.
Although it was unexpected that she appeared as a petite and cute blonde girl, she still radiated the legendary majesty of a king.
Kiritsugu Emiya's surprise lasted only for an instant, and then his gaze locked firmly onto the man on the right.
He wore a stiffly tailored black trench coat, possessed a tall and upright figure, and stood quietly at the edge of the magic circle.
The man had tousled black hair, and amidst his deep and charming facial features, the pair of eyes burning with faint Platinum Divine Fire were particularly striking.
Unlike Saber, he did not adopt a combat stance; he merely stood with his hands behind his back, his slightly lowered eyes burning with indifferent Platinum Divine Fire.
Even though he was standing right there, it felt as if he were completely out of place in this world.
The surrounding space distorted imperceptibly beside him, as if even gravity were bowing to him.
If Saber was a drawn sword, then this man was an abyss without a bottom.
Kiritsugu Emiya's pupils contracted violently, and his rough palms, accustomed to holding a gun, were covered in cold sweat.
Even when facing the most vicious Dead Apostles, he had never felt such suffocating pressure.
Two? Why were there two Servants?! Heroic Spirit summoning... can you get buy-one-get-one-free now?!
"I ask of you."
Although she was slightly confused by the unexpected companion beside her, the young girl suppressed the unease caused by the person next to her and broke the dead silence with a clear and serious voice.
Artoria slightly raised her head, looking directly at Kiritsugu Emiya before her, her expression solemn: "Are you my master?"
This was a contract across time and space, a fated encounter.
"...I am." Kiritsugu spat out the two words with difficulty, but his gaze never left the man in black.
"It seems that two entry tickets for this banquet were issued."
A calm and indifferent voice rang out. Hansen slowly lifted his eyelids, his gaze sweeping over everyone present.
Saber, who had naturally exuded a sense of vicissitude and epic grandeur since her arrival, subconsciously tightened her grip on her sword hilt, bracing herself as if facing a great enemy.
As a Servant, she could sense that the other party did not have the usual saint graph reaction of a Servant.
Instead... he was more like an ordinary person. Yet, he still gave her a feeling of suffocating pressure, as if needles were pricking her back.
The man before her was dangerous, and... he was also a king. This was the intuition of a king.
Hansen: That's right, the Monster King is also a king.
"Who are you? Unknown Servant." Kiritsugu's voice was tense, and his right hand had already reached for the modified Thompson Contender in his coat.
Although he was a Magus, he was not one of those weak masters who couldn't even truss a chicken.
The magic crest on his back was engraved with the time magic [Time Alter], the culmination of the Emiya family's work. In the accelerated state after activation, he could easily go head-to-head with a master of martial arts like Mapo Tofu.
Hansen did not answer immediately. He stepped out of the magic circle, the sound of his thick-soled leather boots striking the stone floor clearly audible, each step feeling like it was stomping on everyone's heartbeats.
As he moved, Artoria turned around almost instinctively, pointing her invisible sword at him.
"Stand back." Saber shouted in a low voice, the invisible blade carrying a pressing sharpness as it stood between them. "Unknown Heroic Spirit, state your name! Otherwise, I cannot guarantee that the sword in my hand won't fall!"
Facing the King of Knights' blade, Hansen did not even stop walking.
"Name?" Hansen chuckled, but the smile did not reach his eyes.
"Before asking others, you haven't stated your own origin and name either, have you, my beautiful lady?"
"..."
Hansen's gaze was not cold, but a strong sense of unease rose in Saber's heart, as if she had been stripped bare and seen through.
The king with a young girl's appearance couldn't help but tighten her grip on the sword hilt, gritting her silver teeth: "Tch..."
After teasing the stiff King with the ahoge, Hansen's expression returned to seriousness, and he said: "I am Hansen, class [Ruler]."
When out and about, you give yourself your own identity. Knowing this truth, Hansen naturally would not reveal the true class he had just fabricated from the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow Sect, but chose to just spout whatever came to mind.
Besides. [Rule Breaker], abbreviated as [Ruler]. Absolutely no problem!
"Ru,Ruler?!" × 2
Hearing this, Kiritsugu Emiya and Irisviel couldn't help but look at each other.
As a Magus family with a long history and one of the indisputable Three Founding Families, Einzbern Castle had countless books in its collection, and Irisviel, born as a perfect homunculus, also had a vast amount of mystical knowledge recorded in her mind.
The appearance of the Ruler class was particularly special. The most likely scenario at the moment was that the influence of this Holy Grail War had a probability of causing distortions in the world.
"The situation has unexpectedly become complicated." Irisviel clasped her hands in front of her chest, her gaze full of worry as she looked at her husband.
"Hansen..." Kiritsugu Emiya searched his memory palace extremely quickly, wishing he could activate [Time Alter] to buff himself.
However, the result was unexpected; he did not find any deeds related to this name.
"As far as I know, Mr. Han Sen, only heroes with no wishes before death possess the qualifications to become a Ruler."
Irisviel spoke up before her husband, her gem-like red eyes full of sincerity: "In that case, we have a foundation for cooperation from the start."
Hearing this, Saber's vigilant expression faltered slightly. The other party actually had no wish that needed the Holy Grail to be fulfilled?
Hansen: Absolutely none.
Even a king would not want to rashly start a war with a powerful and unknown enemy. Especially now, on the eve of the war, it was even more unnecessary to cause needless losses.
Glancing at the elegantly dressed and slender young woman, Hansen nodded faintly and praised: "Madam, you seem much more reasonable than your husband, who is already prepared to shoot me."
Kiritsugu Emiya: "..."
"Alright, enough small talk." He walked up to Kiritsugu, looking down from above at this man who had twisted himself for the sake of his ideals.
"I have arrived from outside the rules, and I have no need to follow your boring set of etiquette."
"Although I am nominally your subordinate, I will not accept the constraints of your command spells."
"The reason I am standing here is to monitor this war and prevent any unpredictable outcomes."
With the endorsement of the class, these words spoken by Hansen carried a sense of natural conviction.
"Not constrained by command spells..." Kiritsugu Emiya's pupils contracted violently, his knuckles turning white.
"Then what makes you think I would tolerate an uncontrollable threat staying by my side?"
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