["Hey, time to get to work, Lady Avalon!"
[The Reinforcement Magecraft is already in place! Go wild, Master!]
After that brief exchange, Shirou felt power surge through his body and limbs in an instant.
Without stopping for even a moment, he charged straight at the retreating Caster.
Caster had already used his soul-draining barrier to absorb an enormous amount of Mana without restraint, almost on the level of Saber. If the fight turned into a battle of attrition, Shirou would have no chance at all.
But just as he rushed toward Caster, the ground suddenly lit up and a mass of monsters burst forth. Several tentacles wrapped around Shirou's legs and hurled him into the air.
"Tch!"
With one clean slash, Shirou cut through the tentacles and landed steadily. When he looked up, the area around him was already swarming with tentacled monsters covered in teeth and suckers.
Dozens of sea-anemone-like creatures waved their grotesque tentacles, surrounding the red-haired boy on all sides.
But that was not even the worst part. Worse still, the children fleeing in panic were also being attacked by the monsters, and their cries and screams echoed endlessly through the forest.
[This is bad, Master! This spell can turn its victims into monsters. Get the children out first!]
Left with no choice, Shirou had to give up on killing Caster and instead cover the children's retreat.
"Grrrrrr… you! What the hell are you, you little brat!? I'll kill you!!!"
Caster screamed hysterically at Shirou.
Shirou ignored him completely, simply carving a bloody path through the horde of monsters as he led the children out of the forest.
He had done everything he could and managed to save most of the class, but a few were still seriously injured along the way after running around in a panic.
I'm never doing this again. Taking care of kids is even harder than that time in the Darlington massacre, Shirou thought.
...
...
Saber rushed into the forest carrying Irisviel in her arms, crossing five kilometers in just two minutes to reach the scene.
What greeted them there was a ground littered with severed monster limbs, all the work of a single elementary school boy.
It looked as though a rain of blood had just fallen over the forest, the earth stained purplish red by the monsters' bodily fluids.
Everything was such a mess back then that I had no idea what was happening. Did Shinji-kun escape safely?
Irisviel worried silently.
"Welcome, Jeanne. I have been waiting here for you for quite some time."
Caster had already healed his arm.
As if his earlier disgrace had never happened, he greeted the blue-silver knight with delighted enthusiasm.
"Though a small accident occurred, it is no matter.
I hope it has not disheartened you. I have even prepared a second welcoming plan for you..."
Saber had no intention of listening to another word of this man's nonsense.
The ground shattered, and the girl shot forward like a cannonball, using Mana Burst to close more than ten meters in an instant.
But at that very moment, the chunks of monster flesh scattered across the ground suddenly began to squirm.
Naturally, that included the corpses near her Master's feet.
Saber possessed an Instinct that bordered on precognition. The moment she sensed something was wrong, she immediately turned back toward her Master.
As expected, those monster corpses transformed once again into new tentacles.
It all happened in an instant. The forest was turned into a paradise of otherworldly tentacles, and there were more than ten times as many as before.
"Irisviel!"
Saber shouted as she rushed toward her Master, but the tentacles swiftly climbed over her armor.
Sucker-lined tentacles thicker than a young girl's wrist tightly bound both her arms and legs.
Even so, Saber remained perfectly calm.
"Is that all you've got?!"
The moment she was completely engulfed by the monsters, Saber's small frame erupted with a terrifying surge of Mana.
The tentacles burst apart one after another, scattering into fragments of flesh. Even the slime clinging to her body was blown away without a trace, and her silver armor regained its pristine brilliance.
She did not even need to swing her sword. With a single breath, a release of Mana, the girl blew away and incinerated the monstrous horde.
That awe-inspiring figure resembled the greatest mystery of the Age of Gods, long lost from the world.
There was only one possibility.
A dragon.
"Oh! Jeanne! Before your magnificence, even the gods are nothing!"
Seeing this, Caster grew even more frenzied with joy, throwing his arms wide as he cried out the Holy Maiden's name.
At his call, the monsters surged toward Saber like a tidal wave.
Although Saber easily blasted away the incoming tentacles, the endless swarm still cut off the path between her and her Master.
"What do you think, Jeanne?"
Caster spoke with delight.
"This grimoire left behind by my comrade Prelati has taught me the magecraft to command an army of monsters. No army ever gathered in Orléans could rival the grandeur of this legion."
Saber gave no reply. She simply cut down the monsters rushing at her and continued advancing toward her Master.
With her Master so close to the enemy, she could not use her treasured holy sword to sweep everything away. She had no choice but to cut them down one by one.
On the other side, Irisviel did not remain defenseless either. Using Einzbern alchemy, she struck back and destroyed many of the monsters.
But there were simply too many.
Irisviel might be the strongest Master in terms of Mana supply, but that alone was not enough.
Faced with the overwhelming tide of monsters, she struggled to hold her ground.
"Irisviel! Watch out!"
Saber shouted.
From a distance, she saw a monster lunging at Irisviel, its jaws filled with fangs.
At that very instant, a light, utterly unnatural, illuminated the blood-soaked forest.
Within that light, the grotesque monster was instantly annihilated.
"…Huh?"
Artoria froze, her steps halting as she stared in shock, unable to form words.
Irisviel turned around in astonishment and caught sight of a figure within the light.
The figure was cloaked in black, its face hidden behind a white skull mask.
Amamiya Shirou, returning once more like a revenant.
"…Assassin!?"
Irisviel looked at the shadow in surprise, mistaking him for an Assassin for a split second before immediately rejecting the idea.
Not Assassin.
Not because Assassin was already dead, but for another reason.
One glance was enough to tell.
Even Irisviel, sheltered as she was, could instantly recognize how extraordinary the sword in the figure's hand was.
The radiance coiling around the blade was noble beyond compare, yet the Mana surging within it carried an ominous darkness.
"…How is that possible…"
Saber paid no attention to the tentacles binding her legs once more. She could only stare blankly at the sword in the figure's hand.
No wonder she was shocked.
Shirou thought to himself.
After all, this was the sword first bestowed by the witch, and later stained with his own color, bearing the witch's name.
Excalibur Morgan.
…
The black aurora radiating from the inverted holy sword effortlessly seized Artoria's heart.
It was simply beautiful.
More dazzling than anything she had ever seen.
So much so that she could no longer look away.