She tilted her head, and the chain's head, tipped with a short spike, whistled past, slamming into the ground and smashing a large hole into the concrete.
During this, Rider Medusa stood in front of Sakura, while Sakura quickly backed away as if startled, retreating to a position she deemed safe.
At the same time, Medusa's second attack arrived. With a flick of her hand holding the chain, the chain that had struck the ground behind Guinevere flew back, and the short spike on the chainhead turned like a snake's head, winding its way toward Guinevere's back.
Stamping the ground, she charged forward, her right fist clenched and building power at her waist. She knew she had disguised herself, so even if the two opponents had memories related to her, they probably wouldn't recognize her. Yet the fact that the other party attacked directly without a word still made Guinevere extremely displeased.
Since things were this way, she would fight first and say other things later.
And at this moment, she had no Holy Sword, nor even the broom enhanced by Medea. No matter how unskilled she was with her fists, she could only use her fists.
"Good thing I had a good fight with Quetzalcoatl!"
The wind from her punch was violent, carrying an unstoppable spirit. When Guinevere, enveloped in this momentum, closed in, Medusa instinctively took half a step back, then, as if insulted, let go of the chain with her right hand and punched toward Guinevere.
But the next second, Guinevere's fist changed. Just as the two fists were about to meet, it suddenly softened, changing from a punch to a grab.
However, Guinevere had forgotten one thing: as an Assassin-Class, her Strength rank was only B, the same level as Medusa who was under Sakura.
But as a Gorgon, Medusa also possessed the [ Monstrous Strength ] Personal Skill.
Thus, when Guinevere grabbed her forearm and tried to perform a shoulder throw, Medusa remained unmoved, and her left hand, still holding the short-spike chain, struck straight at Guinevere.
"How embarrassing."
This was Guinevere's fleeting thought. In that same instant, she decisively changed her move, pulling Medusa's left-hand short-spike chain into her embrace before delivering an extremely close-quarters Iron Mountain Lean.
Due to their heights, especially Medusa's 172 cm, the slightly shorter Guinevere struck a very soft spot.
But in a life-and-death battle, neither of them cared about this. While still in mid-air from the impact, Medusa coughed up a bit of blood. Meanwhile, the chain she had initially thrown, which struck back like a snake, snatched away a few strands of hair from Guinevere, who had been half a beat slower as her move had grown stale.
As these strands of hair touched the ground, they changed from their disguised orange to a grayish-white, causing Medusa to frown as she realized the person before her had not shown her true form.
"Disguised? Unarmed?... Assassin?"
Without the need to display the Class's weapon, the Three Knight Classes could be ruled out for now. Then, due to Guinevere's agility and her direct engagement, Caster and Rider were also excluded.
That left Berserker and Assassin, and Medusa naturally guessed that Guinevere was an Assassin.
But precisely because of this guess, Medusa subconsciously moved closer to Sakura, her mind already set on a proactive retreat.
In the Holy Grail War-related information given to her by the Holy Grail, the Assassins of the first four Holy Grail Wars had only been too weak in the Fourth War, unable to even assassinate the Masters of other Servants.
Yes, as an Assassin, their primary method of combat should be to assassinate the Master.
"Sakura, don't get too far from me. She hasn't shown her abilities as an Assassin yet."
Facing off across a distance of over ten meters, Medusa's free right hand did not seize her chains. Instead, it fell directly upon the purple blindfold adorned with snake-scale patterns, ready to unleash her [ Mystic Eyes of Petrification ] in the ensuing battle.
However, because Guinevere had yet to advance, she refrained from making a rash move.
"I said it, I just want your Master to accompany me for a walk. This chance encounter is fate; I have no wish to fight you to the death."
Though it was a brief exchange, Medusa had already suffered a light injury. Even with a soft impact, a direct hit from a full-force Iron Mountain Lean would be far from pleasant.
In other words, if they continued fighting, Guinevere felt Medusa would truly have to fight desperately.
"In terms of martial skill alone, you are far beneath me. I am reluctant to even use a weapon, let alone unleash any Noble Phantasm. And you can feel it, can't you? Just now, I only had anger, not murderous intent."
Spreading her hands, Guinevere kept her feet still. The brief exchange had further boosted her confidence; if she were to use a sword, she could still kill Medusa in a single strike.
Even with her current stats being mere third-rate.
"Master..."
After all, she was the Servant, and Sakura was the Master. When it came to deciding whether to fight to the death, Medusa still wanted Sakura to make the choice.
For Sakura, Medusa felt love, pity, and a shared sense of suffering.
Sakura had suffered too much, even more than she had.
"Rider, Grandfather just sent a message, telling me to gather information first..."
The worms inside her body were a pain Sakura knew all too well. That the Old Worm could see her current situation was something Sakura considered reasonable.
Therefore, after Sakura made her decision, Medusa dissolved into Spiritrons and vanished, yet she remained by Sakura's side, ready to strike at any moment.
Watching them, Guinevere, unaware of the conversation between them through the Master-Servant Contract, simply assumed Sakura had decided of her own accord to go for a walk with her.
"That's more like it..."
As she spoke, she walked closer to Sakura, but the closer she got, the more Sakura's aura made Guinevere feel uncomfortable.
Thus, when she finally stood before Sakura, she could no longer restrain the will within her heart.
She had finally left the Temple Gate and met Sakura. To let the Old Worm live for even a second longer would be an insult to Guinevere's original vow when she first drew her sword.
Using her finger as a sword, Guinevere's sword-finger pierced Sakura's heart in Sakura's startled gaze and Medusa's slightly delayed, furious retaliation, accurately piercing the foul worm within her heart that had aroused her nauseating murderous intent.
However, she also knew that killing only the main body of the Old Worm was still not enough to kill the Old Worm, who had long since ceased to be human.
At this moment, Guinevere unhesitatingly shielded Sakura as she evaded, and after dodging, said:
"If you want her to truly die, then continue going berserk."
Medusa had A-rank Agility. Being attacked by her at extremely close range, Guinevere, whose hands were occupied, actually got a small cut on her cheek.
Fresh blood dripped, mixing with the blood splashing from Sakura's chest, the two indistinguishable from each other.
In the next second, Guinevere withdrew her right hand from Sakura's chest and threw the already dead, bloated worm directly onto the cement ground.
"This disgusting worm, it reeks on me."
As she said this, Medusa heard that Sakura's heart was still beating. Sakura had fainted from the pain, but she was still alive and well.
Having accurately hit the worm that was supposed to live and die with the heart in a single strike using only two fingers, Medusa couldn't help but admire Guinevere's precision.
She also figured that after this, Sakura should be able to escape the Old Worm's control, as long as the Old Worm and Sakura no longer met.
"Assassin, what exactly are you trying to do? Did you really attack Sakura just because you were disgusted by the smell? And Sakura's injuries..."
"She has a Holy Grail fragment embedded in her body, so she won't die from such an injury. But it's true that I didn't control my emotions well just now and acted abruptly, causing her pain. When she wakes up, I will apologize to her."
As Guinevere said these words, Medusa finally felt that Assassin should be acquainted with Sakura; the pity revealed in Assassin's tone toward Sakura was not something a stranger who had just met should have.
And it was while she was speaking that the two-finger-width wound on Sakura's chest was already wriggling, rapidly healing.
Sakura was fine, yet the small wound on Guinevere's cheek had not even healed.