His words caused Diarmuid to frown slightly from the sidelines.
'I haven't even faced that Avenger in a direct confrontation yet, but we are to attack his Master first...'
Furthermore, as he recalled the panicked middle-aged woman at the docks, he figured she must be the mother of Avenger's Master.
'To drag them into this when they are clearly ordinary people... it truly goes against the way of chivalry.'
Seeing his demeanor, Kayneth stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows, overlooking the night view of Fuyuki City below.
"Diarmuid, I know you desire a knightly duel, but please do not think so highly of a magus's war."
"In the Holy Grail War, foolproof preparation is the only shortcut to victory."
He pointed around the floor. "I have already transformed this entire floor into an otherworldly magus workshop."
"The corridors are covered in sensory bounded fields, dozens of evil wraiths lie in ambush within the ventilation ducts, and even the elevator shafts are rigged with trigger-based imaginary number traps."
"This is our fortress, the true manifestation of a magus's power."
"Do not be like that Saber, playing some ridiculous game of princess and knight with her Master. It is truly laughable."
Diarmuid bowed slightly. Although he did not entirely agree with his Master's tactic of cowering in a hotel, his knightly loyalty compelled him to obey.
"My Lord, your defenses are indeed impregnable. As long as we remain within this workshop, any magus attempting a frontal assault is merely dreaming."
"It is just that..." Diarmuid hesitated for a moment before continuing, "That Avenger gives me a very bad feeling."
"He is filled with a kind of... pure malice. His entire being exudes an aura that exists solely for destruction... Against such an opponent, will conventional magical defenses truly be effective?"
"Are you doubting my judgment, Lancer?" Kayneth's expression darkened.
"I would not dare."
"Hmph, then do your job as a guard," Kayneth scoffed, turning away with a flick of his sleeve. "As long as I do not take a single step out of this fortress, even if the other Masters join forces, they will not be able to harm a single hair on my head."
"Kayneth, your magical fortress is exquisite, but Diarmuid is not wrong," Sola-Ui suddenly spoke up, her voice carrying an obvious bias. "Avenger is, after all, a Servant capable of fighting Berserker head-on. It would be best for us to remain cautious."
Her gaze lingered on Diarmuid, her fingers unconsciously rubbing the jeweled ring on her ring finger that symbolized her engagement. Her eyes were firmly drawn to the tear mole beneath the knight's eye.
Diarmuid also noticed Sola-Ui's burning gaze and subconsciously turned sideways, putting a small distance between them.
He lowered his head slightly, not daring to look directly into Sola-Ui's eyes.
Ever since he was summoned, the attitude of his Lord's fiancée toward him had made him increasingly uneasy.
He knew very well that this was the curse brought about by the dark mole beneath his eye. This omen of repeating the tragedy of his past life brought him immense pain.
Kayneth furrowed his brow.
He naturally noticed Sola-Ui's excessive attention toward Diarmuid, and he understood that it was mostly due to the charm effect brought about by Lancer's [Love Spot] skill, an entirely unintentional fault.
As a Lord of the Clock Tower, he believed that his fiancée would not truly develop unnecessary feelings for a Servant... the soul of a dead man.
But belief was one thing; that subtle, sour feeling of jealousy was very real.
Right at that moment.
*Ring—!!*
A piercing alarm suddenly blared through the corridor, followed immediately by an urgent announcement over the broadcast system:
"Fire alarm! Fire alarm! A fire has broken out on the ground floor of the building. All guests, please evacuate immediately through the emergency exits..."
The harsh ringing shattered the tranquility of the presidential suite, bringing a trace of confusion to Kayneth's previously brimming confidence.
Sola-Ui frowned, covering her nose in slight disgust. "A fire? Do we need to evacuate?"
"It is not that simple," Kayneth chuckled confidently. "It must be arson. They want to use this method to drive away irrelevant personnel, and perhaps even force me out."
Diarmuid, however, remained fully vigilant and immediately entered a combat stance. "My Lord, is it an enemy attack?"
"Do not panic, Diarmuid."
Kayneth strolled to the center of the room and poured a vial of silvery-white liquid from his coat onto the floor.
The crystal-clear silver liquid, gleaming with a cold metallic light, quickly came to life, flowing slowly under his control.
This was his proudest Mystic Code—Volumen Hydrargyrum.
"This substance fuses my magical energy with an automatic defense mechanism. It can react to the slightest changes in pressure, temperature, and even air density. It is perfect. Whether faced with physical attacks or magical methods, they are nothing but child's play before it."
"It is a pity, but even if this hotel burns to ashes, it will not harm us in the slightest."
Meanwhile, in an abandoned building opposite the hotel, Kiritsugu Emiya observed everything coldly through his sniper scope.
This sudden fire alarm was, of course, his doing.
To carry out the justice in his heart, he would resort to any means necessary.
He had already used the fake fire alarm forged by Maiya to evacuate all the guests and staff from the hotel.
Now, the entire building was empty, leaving only Kayneth's group still residing on the top floor.
"Maiya, detonate the foundation," he ordered in a low voice.
He had never once considered competing with Kayneth inside a magical territory.
*BOOM—!!!!!*
In that instant, the originally peaceful night sky of Fuyuki City was torn apart by an incredibly blinding flash of fire.
The support pillars of the Hyatt Hotel were simultaneously blown apart by precisely placed plastic explosives!
"What is happening?!"
A violent tremor instantly transmitted from the ground to the top floor, causing Sola-Ui to scream as she fell onto the sofa.
"The foundation and the middle floors have been destroyed?!" Kayneth's pupils contracted violently.
His genius brain, combined with the information transmitted by his familiars, instantly analyzed the current situation.
It was precisely because he analyzed it so quickly that he felt an unprecedented sense of absurdity. "To actually try and blow up the entire building? What a despicable scoundrel! Do they have absolutely no regard for a magus's pride and secrecy?"
His meticulously prepared bounded fields and traps had lost all meaning in this moment.
At the same time, the speed of the building's collapse afforded him no time to complain.
Accompanied by a massive roar, the hundreds-of-meters-tall building began to slowly tilt to one side. A sky full of dust and rubble instantly enveloped the surrounding blocks.
"Diarmuid! Sola-Ui!" Kayneth roared. "Volumen Hydrargyrum! Change form! Absorb the impact!"
The liquid mercury that originally surrounded him instantly expanded violently, transforming into a thick, liquid armored sphere that tightly encased him, Sola-Ui, and Diarmuid in its center.
The silver fluid continuously adjusted its pressure during the fall. Acting like a massive shock-absorbing cushion, it forcefully propped open a small safe space amidst the tens of thousands of tons of reinforced concrete ruins.
This was truly a fall devoid of any glory.
Following the deafening crash, the hotel was completely reduced to a chaotic pile of rubble, the soaring dust and smoke even obscuring the moonlight.
In the deepest part of the ruins, the silver mercury sphere slowly flowed out.
"..."
Kayneth's figure reappeared, impatiently waving his hand to disperse the dust and smoke before his eyes.