Swinging her sword, swinging her sword, swinging her sword, until her entire body ached and her hands required healing.
This was all Guinevere had done in the two days since summoning Merlin.
She hoped to elevate her swordsmanship further, to test her skills against the potential First Hassan.
To her, the Holy Grail could be remade if lost, but missing this opportunity for a clash would make her skin crawl as if ants were crawling all over her.
Even with his brief guidance, she had come to regard First Hassan as a master to whom she could offer her treasures.
"Guinevere, shall I spar with you?"
"No, Lia. This training is something I must do alone."
In the desolate wilderness near Yggdmillennia Castle, Guinevere poured her heart and soul into every swing, striving to draw upon the power of heaven and earth.
Occasionally, the King of Knights—the only one present—would stand before Guinevere and be utterly awestruck. She saw the sky itself seem to fall toward her.
Each time, she couldn't resist drawing her sword to slash at the heavens, forcibly interrupting Guinevere's buildup of power.
So, after several attempts, the King of Knights simply watched from a distance. Only after Guinevere unleashed another swing, carving a fissure a hundred meters long in the ground before her, did she speak again.
Just by swinging her sword without infusing mana, relying solely on the summoned power of heaven and earth, Guinevere could already achieve an effect that the King of Knights could only match by unleashing [Strike Air].
After a brief exchange, the King of Knights gazed toward Yggdmillennia Castle.
In the past two days, aside from Achilles' initial visit—which led to another fight with Mordred—the Yggdmillennia Family had sent no one else.
Furthermore, neither Kairi Sisigou nor the other Mordred had appeared, and the First Hassan whom Guinevere hoped to draw out remained absent.
Meanwhile, within Yggdmillennia Castle, unseen eyes were watching Guinevere and her companion.
"Patriarch, are we just going to let King Arthur and her Queen train outside?"
"Roche, you must understand one thing: we can win the Holy Grail War, but we must never kill those two, nor truly offend them.
"Their willingness to remain in the open, allowing us to choose whether to attack or bypass them, is the best possible scenario. Besides, our current focus lies elsewhere."
Thanks to Guinevere's choices during the Camelot era, most modern mages owed her a debt of gratitude, including Patriarch Darnic, who sought independence from the Clock Tower.
"Speaking of which, have the other Red Faction Masters and Servants gone to the meeting? And what's the status on verifying the intelligence provided by Kirei Kotomine?"
The "meeting" referred to Kirei Kotomine's invitation to Kiritsugu Emiya. This matter should have concerned only their two Master-Servant pairs, but Morgan tagged along out of boredom, and Jeanne attended to fulfill her supervisory duties.
Patriarch Darnic also dispatched Chiron and Achilles' Master-Servant pair, intending to eliminate more of the Red Faction.
As for the intelligence provided by Kirei Kotomine, he had obtained it through the blood he placed within Caren. This allowed him to witness the dinner party from two days prior, identifying all the Red Faction Masters and Servants in one go.
He saw and heard Amakusa's departure, clearly overheard Tohno's as well, and even learned that Morgan could use the True Ancestor's Blood he had given her to create a device capable of tracking the True Ancestor's main body.
For this reason alone, Kirei Kotomine personally called Kiritsugu Emiya and made a threat he found utterly distasteful.
He said, "I'll be waiting for you in Timi Town for the next two days. If you, Kiritsugu Emiya, don't show up, your children in Fuyuki will experience something... interesting.
"Apologies, but my Assassin says my time is running short."
Back in Yggdmillennia Castle, the young man named Roche unfolded a map and drew two red circles on it.
"Patriarch, according to the intelligence provided by Kirei Kotomine, we've confirmed the locations of the two Masters who match the portraits. They've gone to these respective locations."
On the map, the two red circles were both over 200 kilometers from the Yggdmillennia Family's estate, positioned at opposite ends relative to it.
Observing this, Vlad III looked puzzled, and Patriarch Darnic couldn't help but remark, "It seems Kirei Kotomine's other piece of intelligence was also correct. The Red Faction's Assassin Master is also the Ruler supervising them, and he's clearly not doing his job. This distance is well outside the designated combat zone for the Great Holy Grail War."
Having confirmed this, Patriarch Darnic decided not to worry too much about them. He simply ordered the surveillance teams he had already dispatched to monitor them closely and report immediately if they started to return.
Meanwhile, in Timi Town—the location Kirei Kotomine had specified—the ordinary residents had long since been cleared out. Kirei had used a nearly instinctual Hypnosis Magecraft, a new ability gained after acquiring the True Ancestor's Blood.
"So, you didn't kill anyone in the town? You just made them pack up their families and leave? And the reason you gave them was that an unprecedentedly large gas explosion was imminent?"
Inside an Eastern-style restaurant, Kirei Kotomine personally prepared two large bowls of Mapo Tofu Ramen. Unfortunately, Kiritsugu Emiya wouldn't be eating any.
Since becoming a Dead Apostle, whenever his vampiric urges flared, Kirei suppressed them with the intense spiciness of Mapo Tofu—a substitute for his singular craving for Kiritsugu's blood, second only to his faith in the Lord.
Yes, in the five years since acquiring the True Ancestor's Blood and becoming a half-True Ancestor, he had never once completed a "feeding."
If he had, the Holy Church would never have allowed him to roam so freely.
"Out with it," Kiritsugu said. "What did you want to discuss with me so badly that you had to threaten Illya and Shirou?"
"Heh, no need to rush," Kirei replied. "Speaking of which, after my threat, your wife should have already bought a new plane ticket. She ought to be arriving in Fuyuki City by now, wouldn't you say?"
"You..."
"Archer, I did not give you permission to speak."
Kiritsugu Emiya remained remarkably composed, the cigarette between his lips still unlit. But while he kept his cool, his Servant did not.
With a sharp command, Kiritsugu halted Archer's manifestation, causing the Mana flickering around him to dissipate.
"Kiritsugu Emiya," Kirei said, a smile slowly spreading across his face. "It seems your Servant cares more about your family than you do."
Neither of the two men in the standoff knew that this Archer's true name was Shirou Emiya. He cared because he considered both the Illya in Fuyuki and himself to be family.
He had been summoned in Fuyuki City, where Irisviel introduced him as a relative to the young Illya and this world's Shirou. The two children were even instructed to call him "Big Brother."
Archer of Red neither liked nor disliked this form of address, yet he found himself wanting to hear it more.
What satisfied him most in this world was that this Kiritsugu had abandoned his empty ideal of being a "Hero of Justice" and instead chose to make a difference through small, tangible actions.
Furthermore, this world's Shirou Emiya knew nothing of Magecraft, simply enjoying a blissful life with his parents, sister, and maids.
After seeing this Shirou with his own eyes, Archer's wish had transformed from killing him to fiercely protecting his beautiful enemy—his past self.
Thus...
"Master, I must say, do we really need to waste time chatting with someone like this? Given his personality, could he truly have an assistant capable of carrying out tasks on the other side of the planet?"
It could be said that Kirei Kotomine was right: this Archer of Red cared more about Kiritsugu's family than Kiritsugu himself.