"Let me show you the power of knowledge!" Shouting this slogan, Da Vinci operated the mechanical arm on her left hand to a high-power level, then rushed to the gate and punched a large hole in it.
The Purification Knights who were originally responsible for guarding outside also followed in.
But they, whose individual combat power was stronger than the locals but weaker than Heroic Spirits, were merely treated like little brothers, taken down one by one by Da Vinci in her hot-blooded state.
The locals were all fleeing for their lives.
Although the Purification Knights wanted to pursue, an archer who suddenly appeared on the wall disrupted their plans.
Gawain was temporarily intercepted by the combined efforts of Sanzang and Mash. The Purification Knights' formation was broken through by the highly mobile Daniel, while the other Purification Knights who slipped past were easily pierced through their armor by that archer.
The obstacles in front of the locals were knocked away by Da Vinci, so their escape began to become a matter of course.
Gawain could not allow such a major failure to occur on his watch, so after activating 'Numeral of the Saint', he intended to release his Noble Phantasm to kill the locals in one hit.
That kind of power was definitely not something Mash, who was still unable to perform a True Name Release, could fully intercept.
She would be unable to protect the lives of the locals fleeing behind her.
Sanzang, having come to a realization, withdrew her stance. As she performed a single-palm salute, magical energy began to gather around her.
"Excalibur Gallatin!"
"Dead End Agateram!"
Just as Sanzang had made her resolution, intending to use that palm strike from the heavens at the cost of burning herself, a golden light suddenly appeared in front of her and Mash, interrupting Gawain's Noble Phantasm release.
His hood was caught by the shockwave of the clash between the two and blown back behind him.
And when Gawain saw the face of the person who had intercepted him, an expression of disbelief appeared on his face.
"Sir Gawain, it ends here." The silver-haired knight looked at the other with a sorrowful face, resisting the other's heavy sword pressure with all his might.
"Why! Why have you only come now, Bedivere!" Gawain glared at him with a distorted face. "And what are you doing now! Are you going to raise a flag of rebellion against our King!"
"I fight for the people, for the sake of justice. If the Round Table falls into evil ways, all the more reason to do so."
As far as Kodachi's mysterious handling goes, next the two Knights of the Round Table would release their Noble Phantasms, and the result would be Bedivere knocking Gawain's sword away.
Well, although he didn't know how it was done, Daniel didn't think he could pull it off in reality.
So, when he saw Bedivere beaten to his knees by Gawain in just a few strikes, Daniel didn't hesitate. He rushed up, hoisted Sanzang onto his shoulder, and gave a thumbs-up to the archer on the wall.
Then, with his other hand, he grabbed the flattened Bedivere and ran desperately toward the outside of the city walls.
The archer lad was stunned for a moment, but seeing that over a hundred locals had successfully escaped with the help of these few, he still stepped in to cover the rear.
Gawain glanced at the retreating backs of Daniel and the others as they left the city, then turned back to focus on countering Arash's arrows.
More than pursuit, he was worried that this Heroic Spirit with superb archery skills would threaten the King.
Once Daniel and the others had escaped a certain distance, Arash immediately spiritualized and followed them in their escape.
He didn't plan to go toe-to-toe with Gawain under the sun; once caught, it would be the end for an archer.
On the other side, even with the people from Chaldea leading the way, many locals still left the group along the way.
Some were exhausted and collapsed halfway; some were injured and unwilling to run around anymore; but even more were worried about Chaldea and Daniel's group, fearing they were just like the knights in the Holy City, so they simply took their belongings and fled with their families midway.
As a result, of the hundreds who started, only about twenty remained after traveling a few kilometers.
"Why is everyone leaving all of a sudden?" Luzelde asked, clutching his mother's hand tightly and looking up at Daniel on the other side with confusion.
"Probably because we, the main combatants, are people of unknown origin," Daniel replied with a shrug.
Ever since the young boy woke up and realized his mother had almost been separated from him by death, he refused to let go of her hand for anything.
And because Daniel had saved his mother, the boy was happy to approach and talk to him.
"But Brother Si saved everyone," Luzelde puffed out his cheeks unhappily.
"I wasn't the only one who acted; there were others too," Daniel looked at Luzelde with amusement. "Besides, their worry is unavoidable. After all, they previously saw the Holy City as a sacred place for their salvation, only to find out after entering that it was a dead end meant to take their lives. They've probably lost all hope."
In front of them was the lead vehicle.
It was Da Vinci's masterpiece.
Sitting on it were Sanzang and Fujimaru Ritsuka, as well as the wounded Bedivere.
Originally, Fujimaru Ritsuka thought that since Luzelde was a child and didn't walk very fast, he should sit on it too.
But Luzelde stated that if his mother didn't get on, he wouldn't either.
Saria, for her part, refused to board with the excuse: "The space up there is small; I'll just follow behind."
After all, those currently sitting on the vehicle were everyone's saviors.
As for Daniel... he had been kicked off by Sanzang.
Because when he was carrying Sanzang onto the vehicle, his hands and feet weren't exactly clean, and he was scolded by a disgusted Sanzang.
"Luzelde, if you can't hold on, you must say so," Mash suddenly walked past Daniel from behind and reminded Luzelde, "Otherwise, it'll be too late once you're exhausted, and it will make Lady Saria worry."
"I understand," Luzelde's attitude toward Mash was decent, so his tone wasn't too sharp.
Earlier, when Fujimaru Ritsuka had kindly asked him to get on the vehicle and eventually approached Saria, Luzelde had thrown quite a tantrum at Fujimaru Ritsuka when his mother refused.
If Saria hadn't scolded him with a stern face, he might have even said some harsh words.
"Um..." Mash looked at Daniel, hesitating to speak.
"Daniel, that's my name," Daniel offered his name proactively.
"Mr. Daniel, are you also a Servant?" It was a name she hadn't heard before, so Mash couldn't help but tilt her head and ask.
"No, I'm a living human," Daniel replied with a shake of his head. "However, Sanzang is."
"Sanzang refers to..." Mash followed Daniel's finger and happened to lock eyes with Sanzang.
"Yes, to use a title you've also heard, that would be Master Xuanzang."
"No way! That Master Xuanzang, who traveled to the West to seek Buddhist scriptures, is actually a woman!" A window suddenly popped up in front of Mash, and Romani shouted with a face full of shock.
"Britain's King Arthur is a woman, and Rome's tyrant Nero is a woman, so what's so unacceptable about the westward-traveling Master Xuanzang being a woman?" Daniel countered.
"School history classes... is there really any point in learning that stuff?" Romani couldn't help but mutter blankly.
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