"Hahh... hahh... hahh..."
Robert lay there panting heavily. He was being carried princess-style by Saber on the rooftop of the school.
Using a Noble Phantasm (even though it wasn't hers) had completely drained every last drop of mana from his body.
Moreover, that attack wasn't even that powerful since Saber hadn't ascended yet or leveled up any of her skills, so it was understandable that Donan John managed to survive.
Still, it was quite surprising that the attack's power was enough to put Donan in such a miserable state. Even though Caster had used a spell to teleport him away, it seemed Caster wasn't very skilled at that kind of magic.
Well, that was Mephisto for you. That guy preferred causing terror more than providing support.
As for Robert, he was completely exhausted. Running out of mana like this felt truly awful.
"Master, please endure it a little longer. I'll find a way to recover some mana for you," Saber said, then jumped down.
If he recovered naturally, it would take a long time. By the time he was fully recovered, night would have fallen, and they would have to fight the other Servants as well as the Beast.
Time was too urgent. Even though she didn't want to push him, if he couldn't get stronger, she wouldn't be able to protect him. This was necessary.
'Should we go to the church? But that would waste one recovery charge… Is there any way to recover faster?'
She wasn't very proficient in support magic for others. After all, she spent most of her time on battlefields, fighting and killing, so her support magic mostly revolved around solo combat.
…Actually, she did have one option: her third active skill, which was still locked. This was bad.
"Hup!" She landed safely on the ground and looked at Robert, who was sweating profusely, with a worried expression.
…Maybe she should let him rest. Even if they didn't gain anything today, Master's health should come first.
Suddenly, a sound of something dropping made her flinch and turn her head.
A silver-haired young man wearing glasses was standing there with his mouth wide open, stunned by the sight of her jumping down from the school rooftop.
"Ah."
"Ah."
The two stared at each other in silence, not knowing what to say.
Until the young man broke the silence.
"Um… Do you need me to… show you to the school infirmary? Your friend there doesn't look too good."
"Ah, that would be helpful. Thank you."
"Yeah, just enter the school, turn right, go up the stairs, then turn left and you'll be there."
Hearing that, Saber simply nodded and walked away, leaving the silver-haired young man standing there.
"..."
He picked up his books, adjusted his glasses, and looked toward Angra.
"Nice acting. Oscar-worthy."
"Why do I have to act? She's your mud, isn't she?" Vincent raised an eyebrow at Angra.
"I adjusted their personalities to be as close to the originals as possible, so them acting on their own—"
"Can you control them or not?"
"I can."
Angra kept dodging the question until Vincent threatened him, only then answering directly, which made Vincent want to facepalm.
This guy was seriously lazy. He couldn't even be bothered to control the mud he himself created.
The reason Saber didn't show any surprise when she saw him wasn't anything special. They were Angra's mud, so even though they acted very independently and knew nothing about them, the moment it involved him and Angra, they would instantly become obedient machines that followed every command.
"By the way, since when could Barghest use Gawain's Noble Phantasm? I thought it was supposed to be Black Dog Galatine?" I turned and asked.
"Well, her nickname is Tam Lin Gawain, so I just gave her some of Gawain's abilities too. It's not that big a deal."
It is a big deal. You just casually gave her an unnecessary feat. If you bring her to a death match against other fictional characters and this info comes out, people will flame you.
"Haizz… What's the status on Donan John?"
"Almost all body parts gone. Only his chest and head are intact. Burned almost completely!" Angra said excitedly.
"You look happy about it?"
"Why wouldn't I be?! Even though he's just a normal human, he's more evil than the Evil of the World like me. Isn't that insulting to me?!"
…Imagine losing to someone else in the one thing you're best at. It was understandable.
"By the way, where's Jean-nee? She suddenly disappeared since this morning."
"Ah, she went outside the loop to do something."
Time between the real world and inside the loop was completely random. One second outside could be one year inside, but one minute outside might only be one second here. So the concept of time was almost meaningless inside the loop.
"Oh, remember to turn the infirmary into a place that can restore mana. I want to see him keep fighting."
"No problem. But why are you intervening? Didn't you say you wanted to watch the Holy Grail War where everyone kills each other?" Angra asked, confused.
"Actually, it's nothing too serious."
Vincent stood there as clouds slowly drifted across the bright sun, casting the area around him entirely in shadow.
He turned to look at Angra, his eyes glowing.
"Dying on day 2 is too quick. We still have 5 more days, don't we?"
"..."
Damn, the special effects were a bit too heavily invested. My Master was even aura farming now.
What do you call this technique? The "Clouds Covering the Sun" method?
"10/10, no notes. Next time I think you should aura farm even more!" Angra clapped and praised.
"Real?"
"Real."
"…Wait, why am I even aura farming? No one's watching me anyway?"
"Just treat today as practice. If you get the chance to use it later, you gotta fully exploit the aura, right?"
"You got a point."
And so Vincent and Angra put their arms around each other's shoulders and walked off cheerfully.
Beep beep!
"Huh?" Vincent saw his watch light up.
"The hell? What Master is going to the church at this time?? Hurry up, Angra! Carry me over there!"
"Aight aight captain!"
***
"Master, are you religious?"
"No, I only came here to pay respects to a friend. That person was religious, so I'm returning their belongings to a place they would have wanted to belong to."
"Why not give it to their family?"
"I'm not sure, but that person and their family had completely cut ties… the relationship was beyond repair…"
"..."
Archer followed behind in Spiritual form, watching her Master.
For many reasons, her Master no longer went to work and was constantly filled with guilt over the deaths of her friends.
Lately, hearing about a church nearby, Master kept insisting on coming here.
Archer thought it was still too early to visit a church, or that avoiding it might even be better.
She didn't know… She just had this feeling that some friendly priest who loved Mapo Tofu would appear and greet them…
Ugh, that gave her chills. She hoped it wouldn't come true.
"Ah, the church is really big."
Archer and her Master looked up at the church, which was dozens of meters wide and taller than the surrounding buildings, radiating an aura full of holiness.
"..." Archer blinked. She felt something was off about this place…
It felt like… that holiness was fake somehow…