"Now is the best time to kill this unknown Servant." Kayneth said coldly. It wasn't that Kayneth was targeting Meruem in particular—if Meruem hadn't been here and it were Goldie fighting Abe no Seimei instead, Kayneth would have issued the same order.
Joining forces to eliminate the greatest threat first—this is completely normal in a magus's eyes. Magi will always prioritize things like this. Chivalry, bushido, one-on-one duels—none of that matters to magi.
The abilities Meruem had displayed were simply too bizarre, forcing Kayneth to be wary. In Kayneth's heart, Meruem was even more dangerous than Goldie. Not to mention anything else—just that stealth ability, stronger even than Assassin's, was enough to make every Master (including Kiritsugu Emiya) take him seriously. And judging from Meruem's exchanges with Goldie and just now with Abe no Seimei, his capabilities absolutely outclassed Assassin. A front-line fighter comparable to the Three Knight Classes, yet also an assassin with stealth beyond Assassin—how could Masters not fear someone like that? Kiritsugu even had the thought of ordering Artoria to join the attack on Meruem.
And among this battle's participants, the only class that still hadn't appeared was Berserker—but from what was visible, Meruem clearly retained his sanity. A sane Berserker? And with stealth even stronger than Assassin? And frontal combat power comparable to the Three Knight Classes? That wasn't scientific.
Or perhaps the opponent wasn't even among the seven standard classes. After all, in the previous Holy Grail War, a nonstandard class—Avenger—had appeared. If someone was willing to investigate, that information could still be found. At the very least, the members of the Three Great Families knew this quite well.
It's just that the intelligence about Avenger corrupting the Holy Grail was probably known by very few.
Among the Masters, the only one who probably wouldn't issue such an order was Waver—the one who couldn't even properly control his own Servant.
"Master!" Diarmuid said in disbelief. Two-on-one violated the code of chivalry. It was the second thing Diarmuid least wanted to do—first place went to betraying his lord. "I, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, will stake my honor to win you victory, but right now this is CASTER's battle. There's no need for me—"
"I command you with a Command Spell—" But before Diarmuid could finish, Kayneth cut him off mercilessly. In a magus's eyes, these heroic spirits they summoned were nothing but tools to win the Holy Grail.
Talking to tools about self-respect? Honor? Isn't that a joke? On this point, almost all Masters thought the same, including Tokiomi.
That was why Tokiomi was killed by Goldie for being "too boring," just as Goldie said: anyone who offends a king must die.
"My lord!" Diarmuid—
"Cooperate with CASTER and kill that unknown heroic spirit." Kayneth removed his white glove, the red Command Spells glowing crimson. Among the three Command Spells circling each other, one mark gradually faded until it... vanished.
"Looks like it's not just me—your enemies really are numerous." Abe no Seimei's originally furious expression turned into a sneer. Onmyoji aren't knights. You can't expect them to talk about one-on-one chivalry.
All that matters is victory in the end.
"Two, so what? It's been a long time since I've had some exercise. If you want to fight, then fight!" Meruem's expression remained calm, and Abe no Seimei's hope of seeing panic in him fell flat.
Meruem didn't care how many opponents there were. Or rather—I've been wanting to test just how strong I am with my power restricted.
Although the coercive command of a Command Spell isn't what a Servant wants, and only a very small number of beings can resist a Command Spell, one thing is beyond doubt: a Command Spell order can force a Servant to perfectly unleash one hundred percent of their power. No matter how unwilling they are, there's nothing they can do.
Diarmuid's speed was very fast. Or rather, his fighting style leaned toward speed-based combat.
But even though Diarmuid was fast, Meruem's speed was not below his—if anything, Meruem's reactions were above Diarmuid's.
Diarmuid was battle-hardened, but Meruem was no less so. He'd experienced multiple worlds, facing all kinds of opponents and every sort of bizarre ability imaginable.
Moreover, Meruem's AAA-rank Endurance wasn't something that could be injured so easily. Although after coming to this world, the other energies in Meruem's body retained their original "extra" effects, their attribute had shifted into this world's unique mana.
Put simply, the "source" within Meruem originally—while abilities unique to aura, nen, chakra, cosmos, and so on still existed, such as flight and the four major nen techniques—Meruem could still use them, but the attribute of that "source" had been converted into mana.
Meaning that even if Meruem used "Ken," Diarmuid's Crimson Rose of Exorcism, with its anti-magecraft power, could still harm him.
"But so what? At the end of the day, that Crimson Rose of Exorcism is only a BBB-rank Noble Phantasm. With my self-healing ability, I can completely ignore that level of damage." Just as Meruem said, while the Crimson Rose could pierce Meruem's defenses, its killing power was limited. Forget seriously injuring Meruem—even lightly injuring him would be difficult.
Meruem's regeneration already exceeded the damage Diarmuid could inflict. In other words, even if the Crimson Rose managed to hurt Meruem a little, before Diarmuid could land another hit, the wound would likely have already healed.
A powerful recovery ability—or rather, a powerful body—was one of Meruem's hidden strengths.
As for Diarmuid's other spear, the Yellow Rose of Mortality, although it carried the curse of "wounds that cannot heal" and could cause irrecoverable injuries, ignoring healing magecraft and regeneration, it lacked anti-magecraft power and thus couldn't break through Meruem's defense at all.
Meruem's "Ken" wasn't that fragile. With AAA-rank Endurance plus "Ken," without an anti-magecraft trait or some other special effect, you simply can't hurt Meruem.
Some might say Diarmuid could first use the Crimson Rose to break Meruem's defense, then follow with the Yellow Rose.
But would Meruem be stupid enough to let him complete that combo without reacting?
The answer is no.
Even with Abe no Seimei added in.
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