The first to launch the assault were golems constructed through Kabbalistic formulas and fashioned from stone and bronze.
The golems were fully formed from the moment of their creation. They were artificial weapons born to fight, born to destroy, and born to die.
Despite their massive bodies, they stamped against the ground and leapt into the air, hurtling toward the spot where Shirou and Manaka stood.
The sheer force behind their charge made one thing clear. The golems did not even need to swing their weapons. Their mass alone would be enough to crush the foolish boy and girl who had trespassed onto private property.
"..."
Shirou looked up at the enormous bronze shadow falling from above.
Of course, he could have chosen to meet it head-on, but he did not.
For Shirou, the safety of his Master, Manaka Sajyou, came before anything else.
He reached out, wrapped an arm around Manaka's slender waist, and jumped backward the instant the golem landed, coming down on the roof of a nearby building.
The impact was so powerful that even people sleeping soundly in houses hundreds of meters away could likely feel it.
"I see..."
Shirou narrowed his eyes.
The golem's performance far surpassed the level of an ordinary Magus. Clearly, it was not the work of a Master, but a masterpiece created by a Servant.
It had to be Caster.
A bronze golem of this caliber required more than Yggdmillennia's wealth. It demanded the skill of a genius.
Even Touko and Alice would probably be amazed if they saw it. Only a Servant of the Caster Class could accomplish something like this.
"Um... Saber?"
Looking down, Shirou found that the Master in his arms was blushing, gazing up at him with a helpless, almost pitiful look.
Shirou read confusion and unease in Manaka's expression, so he shifted the arm around her waist.
As he gently stroked her shoulder to reassure her, he spoke in a voice that was soft but firm.
"Master, please give me your orders."
Shirou was asking Manaka Sajyou for permission to enter battle, but had the girl truly understood him?
She merely stared dreamily at the red-haired boy's face, then gave him this command.
"Saber, don't let go of me..."
"...?"
The unexpected request left Shirou frozen in place.
He had planned to carry Manaka to a safer, higher location before fighting Yggdmillennia's forces, but now she was asking him to keep holding her like this.
Fighting with one arm around Manaka would only restrict him... and there was no way she failed to understand that.
Had the enemy's numbers and momentum frightened her so badly that she did not want to be separated from him?
This was troublesome, and Shirou's face said as much.
"Saber... please."
Manaka Sajyou clutched Shirou's collar, her beautiful eyes trembling faintly as tears gathered at their corners.
At that moment, Shirou was startled to realize there were no Command Spells on the back of Manaka's right hand.
Where had her Command Spells gone?
No. This was not the time to think about such minor details.
It was true that leaving Manaka alone carried considerable risk.
"I understand, Master."
As Shirou nodded, he tightened his grip around Manaka's waist.
... ...
Through the late-night streets that had become a battlefield, a boy in black raced forward.
Facing enemies dozens of times his number, Shirou Amamiya held the girl in his arms as he moved across the road, walls, and rooftops, evading every attack flawlessly before striking back.
Each time he swung his right arm, the invisible weapon unleashed a violent gale filled with True Ether of the highest purity.
Even when the Homunculi raised their halberds, they could not withstand it. One group after another was cut down by the onrushing pressure of the wind, and even the massive bodies of the Golems were smashed apart with ease.
Smashed, smashed, and smashed again.
Bronze golems that could easily fetch eight figures at a Magus auction were pitifully fragile before the boy.
Giants became scrap metal. Scrap metal became fragments. Fragments became dust.
The sight could only be described as overwhelming.
The offensive of Yggdmillennia's army quickly weakened.
Their aggressive encirclement shifted into a passive defensive battle.
It was proof that fear had begun to take root, whether in golems with only simple thought circuits or artificial lifeforms with barely any emotion.
A body and technique tempered through countless battles, extraordinary eyesight and intuition, and the ability bestowed upon Shirou Amamiya by the Holy Grail after he manifested as a Servant.
"Dragon's Core EX."
Now, the heart beating in Shirou's chest was still a human heart, yet it had somehow acquired the Dragonkind concept.
He suspected this was likely an effect of manifesting in King Arthur's place.
After all, in this world, King Arthur was Artoria, and she naturally possessed the heart of a Red Dragon.
Incidentally, in the book The Shining Path: The Legend of King Arthur, Arthur gained the Dragonkind concept after slaying Albion and devouring his heart.
The reason Shirou's Mana Burst now appeared black might also be the result of the story in which King Arthur devoured Albion's heart.
... ...
Inside the Fortress of Millennia, the Masters and Servants of the "Black" faction watched the battlefield, a scene that could only be called a one-sided ravaging.
The red-haired boy had become a star racing across the battlefield in the dead of night.
Not only the Magi, but even the Servants wore expressions of disbelief.
"......Truly astonishing."
From atop the throne, the "Black" Lancer, Vlad III, could not help murmuring in admiration.
Those words spoke for the other Servants as well.
Of course, they had known from the start that there was a gap in combat strength.
Servants were, after all, the strongest familiars in the world of Magecraft.
Even if they sent out combat Homunculi that could leave ordinary Magi helpless, or their proud army of golems, they had expected defeat.
And yet the combat strength displayed by that red-haired boy in black was abnormal, even in the eyes of heroes seasoned by countless battles.
While holding his Master, he swept through the streets with the lightness of a gale, cutting down every encroaching Homunculus the moment he passed them.
The golems created by the "Black" Caster were equipped with armor far stronger than steel, yet every swing of the boy's sword tore them apart.
The Homunculi and golems had originally been nothing more than pawns meant to test the enemy, but the battle was so one-sided that they could gather no information at all.
In fact, there was a reason the Yggdmillennia clan had attacked without so much as a greeting.
Shirou and the others did not know that they had already been identified as the enemies who had stolen Hyouma Sagara's Command Spells.
In the Holy Grail War, there existed a Magecraft tool known as the "Spiritron Disk," which the Church's overseer used to monitor the Servants' conditions in real time.
The priest dispatched by the Holy Church, Shirou Kotomine, possessed one, but the Yggdmillennia faction had also obtained a "Spiritron Disk" through its own channels.
Thanks to the dozens, even hundreds, of Subcategory Holy Grail Wars that had occurred so far, they had no shortage of ways to acquire such items.
The "Spiritron Disk" showed that the boy and girl who had entered Trifas were the final members of the "Black" faction.
And now, the red-haired boy who had been clearly confirmed as a Servant...
The Class field displayed "???"
The Masters of the "Black" faction were puzzled by the red-haired boy's Class. The invisible weapon in his hand, judging by the motion of his swings... was it a sword?
Then he was Saber... no, that alone was absolutely impossible.
As for why...
"Saber, can you determine what kind of weapon he is using?"
The heavyset alchemist, Gordes, turned and asked.
Gordes had instinctively assumed that the red-haired boy was using a sword, but...
If he was using a sword, then what about the strongest Servant he had summoned?
The great hero of German legend, Siegfried the Dragon Slayer.
"With all due respect, that boy's weapon should be a sword."
The "Black" Saber answered without the slightest hesitation.
Siegfried, the dragon-slaying hero whose swordsmanship surpassed the realm of humanity, would never miss the subtle details in that boy's battle movements.
He was undoubtedly a swordsman. More than that, he was a swordsman whose skill defied imagination, perhaps one who had already stepped into the realm of the gods.
"..."
Gordes, along with the other Masters and Servants, all looked perplexed upon hearing this.
Were there two Sabers in the "Black" faction?
Or was that boy the "Red" Saber?
Either way, the strength he displayed was enough to leave them speechless.
Darnic was beginning to regret that he might not have needed to take up arms against the other party from the very beginning.
The Mage's Association was the enemy he truly needed to be wary of, yet he had managed to offend a powerful and troublesome foe.
While everyone was focused on the swordsman's performance on the screen, only one person... no, only two people noticed an important detail.
"Did you notice it too?"
The "Black" Rider, a cute "girl" with pink hair, walked over to the Berserker in the wedding dress and watched the boy's heroic figure on the screen.
"I knew it. Even though he completely destroyed the golems..."
Astolfo spoke with a curious look on his face.
"He didn't kill a single Homunculus."
... ...
"…Uncle Gordes."
The girl seated in the wheelchair, Fioré, furrowed her brow slightly. "At this point, could you please tell us Saber's True Name?"
Not long ago, during Yggdmillennia's pre-battle briefing, everyone had revealed their Servants' True Names to one another. Gordes alone had refused, saying that "revealing Saber's True Name would have fatal consequences."
That was understandable. After all, the immortal Great Hero Siegfried was far too famous.
He was known not only for his great feat of slaying the evil dragon Fafnir, but also for the fatal weakness tied to that legend.
Back then, Gordes had refused to reveal Saber's True Name.
But now the situation had changed. Another hero wielding a sword had appeared.
Judging from his skill, it would be stranger to call him an Assassin rather than a Saber.
Fioré felt it was necessary after all for everyone to know the True Name of the "Black" Saber.
"Ugh…!"
Gordes looked deeply uncomfortable.
When he had first summoned Saber, his joy had been plain for all to see.
Saber was called the finest Servant for good reason.
It was said that in the previous three Fuyuki Holy Grail Wars, Saber had always survived until the end thanks to the class's formidable overall capabilities.
And this time, the one he had summoned was Siegfried, a hero who could be counted among the very pinnacle even among Sword-class Servants.
The Great Hero's only problem was that his weakness was far too famous.
That was why he had ordered Saber not to speak, allowing him to open his mouth only when given permission.
He had even shown the Command Spells on the back of his hand while issuing the order.
Though he was somewhat afraid of the legendary Great Hero, deep down he still believed that, in the end, Servants were merely the familiars of Magi.
Gordes was that sort of awkward, stubborn man.
And now, a new Saber (?) had appeared.
Naturally, everyone began to wonder why Gordes, despite having summoned Saber, was so unwilling to reveal his True Name.
Gordes had his own troubles, too, though he could not say them aloud.
Five Servants and five Magi. Ten pairs of suspicious eyes were fixed on him.
If he did not explain himself properly, things would only get worse for him…
What should he do? Reveal Saber's True Name in exchange for their trust?
Gordes gritted his teeth and clenched his plump fists. Damn it! Why did this have to happen to me?
I summoned the strongest Servant, so why do you all have to look at me like that?
A tense silence filled the Audience Hall, and then.
"!?"
The "Black" Swordsman stepped in front of the distressed Gordes, placing himself between his Master and the others.
Seeing this, Rider's Master, Celenike, frowned. "Saber, what do you mean by this?"
With a calm expression, Siegfried said, "If my Master does not wish to speak, then please do not press him any further."
"Huh?"
Celenike narrowed her eyes at that answer. "What kind of attitude is that? Are you planning to make enemies of us?"
"…If you continue to force my Master."
The "Black" Saber drew his magic sword. In an instant, the dense Mana from the Age of Gods radiating from the blade filled the entire Audience Hall.
"…You!"
Celenike gritted her teeth in fury.
She knew full well that her own Servant might not even last half a minute against Saber. That was how strong Saber was.
"…"
Gordes stared blankly at Siegfried's back, too stunned to speak.
Was he saying that because he did not want his True Name exposed?
No. A proud and upright Heroic Spirit like him would never care about his weakness being revealed to his comrades.
Which meant…
"I will dispel your doubts with my strength."
Siegfried sheathed his magic sword and spoke in a gentler tone. "As the condition for earning your trust, I will defeat that boy."
"So… let us end the matter of my True Name here."
With that, he looked toward Vlad III.
Lancer, seated upon the throne, nodded with a hearty smile.
Of course, Vlad III, whom Darnic had nominated as the king of the "Black" faction, had already been told Siegfried's True Name in advance.
That was why the king, known for his severity, could nod his approval with such an unconcerned air.
"Very well. I will make an exception for you. Saber, do not forget the promise you have made."
Siegfried bowed deeply. "My king, you have my sincere gratitude. We shall take our leave."
After leaving the Audience Hall, neither Gordes nor Saber spoke a word on the way back to their room.
Only after they entered did Siegfried, guilt written across his face, bow to Gordes, who was sitting beside the bed.
"I am terribly sorry, Master. You ordered me not to speak without your permission, yet I failed to obey. Please forgive me."
"You…"
The alchemist had been thinking the whole way back, but he still could not understand.
Why had a frank and honorable hero like Siegfried gone so far just now, even to the point of provoking the other Servants?
"Oh, enough already! Get out! Summoning a Servant like you has brought me nothing but misfortune!"
Gordes turned his face away sulkily.
Saber left behind a single "I'm sorry," then vanished into Spirit Form.
"…"
Gazing at the room that had returned to silence, Gordes fell quiet.
Perhaps the beliefs he had held all this time had been wrong.
Servants were not the puppets or familiars of Magi, but flesh-and-blood heroes.
...
[Heart of Albion EX]
The ultimate Self-Modification achieved by swallowing the heart of Albion, the Last Dragon.
The body assimilates with the Grand Dragon, forming a Dragonkind Jewel (Magical Energy Reactor).
Although the user is not Dragonkind, they possess the same biological abilities as a dragon.
In addition to Mana Burst, the user can further transform part or all of their body into Dragonkind.
However, because Shirou does not properly understand this skill, he cannot bring out its full effect.
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