After floating forward at a constant speed for a full five seconds, Tom's feet finally touched the ground again, and it continued to sprint forward, dodging the chariot driven by Hephaestion.
However, this seemed to have no effect. Eight legs were undoubtedly much faster than four, and most crucially, the opponent's chariot also had two wheels!
Tom looked back and saw the chariot once again catching up. Its backside seemed about to be gored again, which scared Tom into quickly extending its legs forward, suspending them in the air, changing from running on four legs to running on its hands, and successfully widening the distance between itself and the chariot once more!
"Damn it, what kind of Heroic Spirit are you?!" Seeing that she was about to catch up, Hephaestion had originally intended to directly activate her Noble Phantasm to crush Tom, but Tom actually managed to outrun her chariot using only its hands!
She had never even heard of a cat Heroic Spirit with such speed!
If this cat had outrun her chariot by running at full speed, Hephaestion might have been able to grudgingly understand it, but the key was that this damned cat was using its hands! Only its hands!
At this moment, Hephaestion also felt the same powerlessness that Alexander had experienced when confronting Tom earlier. Since she had been summoned, she had considered that there might be powerful opponents, but she had never imagined such an absurd existence.
Meanwhile, Tom seemed to notice that the chariot behind it was having trouble catching up. Tom's heart immediately swelled with courage again, even becoming a bit conceited, and it frequently laughed as it looked back at Hephaestion.
"You…!" Seeing Tom's actions, Hephaestion's face immediately darkened.
As if that wasn't enough, Tom completely turned around to face Hephaestion, placed its thumbs on its temples, wiggled them, and then stuck out its tongue at Hephaestion, directly entering taunt mode, "Loo loo loo loo loo ~ ~ ~!!!"
However... Tom's joy didn't last long before it crashed headfirst into a large tree.
"Buang ~ ~ ~!!!"
Tom was instantly slammed into the tree as if embedded in it. It struggled to pry itself off the trunk with its hands, then shook its head and sat down on the ground with a thud.
In fact, golden stars were still circling Tom's head... the kind that could actually be seen.
Seeing Tom crash into the tree, Hephaestion's eyes immediately lit up. Although she found the idea of Tom crashing into a tree and knocking itself out utterly absurd, she didn't waste the opportunity. She pulled the reins, made a detour, and then ascended to an altitude of several tens of meters. She began to charge her power from about a hundred meters away from Tom.
"Perfect, Master has already permitted the use of my Noble Phantasm. Let this be the grave of your second... no, your second cat life!"
With that, the entire chariot was instantly engulfed in crimson lightning. The immense crimson lightning dyed the entire sky red. If anyone in the city looked towards the school at this moment, they would see a crimson expanse above the school.
All of this seemed to reveal the existence of the Holy Grail War to the residents of Fuyuki City.
"Be crushed by crimson lightning, trample everything! Wheel of Heaven (Hecatic Wheel)!"
With that, Hephaestion pulled the reins, and the chariot, enveloped in crimson lightning, immediately hurtled towards Tom's position!
Tom had just recovered from the stun caused by hitting the tree. Seeing the chariot charging at it, Tom screamed in terror, "Ahhh!!!"
Its eyes popped out several tens of centimeters, and its soul, startled, also drilled out backwards and flew several tens of centimeters away, with its eyes, body, and soul clearly separated into layers.
However, this state did not last long. In less than a second, Tom was reassembled and began to try to evade the attack. It quickly ran a few steps to the left of the tree, but before it got far, Tom suddenly felt something was wrong and ran to the right, still feeling uneasy.
Based on its past experience facing such attacks, this type of air-to-ground strike was basically a locked-on attack, unavoidable.
Finally, Tom ran back to the tree, dug a grave just big enough to fit itself in at top speed, and pulled out a pen and paper to write its last will.
By this time, the chariot was imminent, but Tom didn't panic. Instead, it pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and enjoyed a smoke.
Hephaestion had originally seen Tom get up and start to run, and was about to think this attack was a bust, preparing to stop her Noble Phantasm. But then she saw Tom actually choosing to come back and take the hit obediently, which amused her greatly.
Well then, she wouldn't be polite. So, Hephaestion decisively chose to charge straight in!
"Bang!!!!!"
Accompanied by a massive roar, the chariot perfectly collided head-on with Tom. Under the impact of the chariot and the surging river of crimson lightning, Tom was instantly blasted into a pile of ashes, and the large tree behind it was also shattered in an instant.
As the chariot passed, Tom, now a pile of ashes, fell precisely into the grave it had just dug. Then, the soil it had dug up fell perfectly onto the grave pit, burying the entire Tom's grave.
And one section of that tree, a plank-shaped remnant, was perfectly stuck in front of Tom's grave, serving as a tombstone. Everything was just right.
"Hahaha, serves you right!" After crushing Tom, Hephaestion continued to fly for several tens of meters before slowing down. She pulled the reins, turned slightly, and looked at the Tom she had annihilated. She couldn't describe how elated she felt.
To be honest, she had actually felt a little flustered when she saw Tom's calm demeanor just now, even momentarily wanting to stop the attack. What if Tom had some hidden move that could defeat her, just like when it had crushed Alexander with a single blow earlier?
But in fact, she must have been overthinking it. It seemed this cat was only capable of this much.
"Now it's your turn." Saying this, Hephaestion raised her sword and pointed it in Haku's direction. Although she couldn't sense any Servant's aura, she was certain that Haku was also a Servant.
After all, if he wasn't a Servant, Haku would have surely kicked the bucket when he fell earlier, and wouldn't have survived until now.
"Holy crap!" Seeing that Hephaestion seemed to intend to attack him, Haku immediately panicked. He couldn't help but panic; being targeted by a Servant, this was the prelude to doom!
Just as he was about to use a Command Seal to summon Tom, he noticed that Tom's grave had disappeared at some point, and Tom was standing in its original spot as if nothing had happened.