Tom had just reverted from its ash form to its normal state when it heard an extremely familiar voice shout "Holy crap." It turned its head and just happened to see Hephaestion, after ramming it with her chariot, preparing to ram Haku.
Instantly, Tom gasped in a cold breath, and the surrounding temperature seemed to rise because of it.
Tom thought, 'Oh no, I just went offline for a few seconds, and my home is about to be stolen!'
Reacting in an extremely short time, Tom quickly looked around, trying to find something that could save its new Master. Finally, a branch lying quietly nearby caught Tom's attention. Tom grinned, and an idea immediately sparked.
Tom quickly picked up the branch, and with a single swipe of its hand, the bark and twigs of the branch were stripped away, except for a small fork intentionally left at the very front, making it a smooth branch. Then, a rope was tied to the end, and the other end was wrapped around the shattered tree stump of a nearby tree, forming a makeshift harpoon gun in Tom's hand.
Holding the branch like a javelin in one hand, aiming in the direction of the chariot, Tom hopped forward a few times on one leg before throwing the 'harpoon'!
"Swish!!!"
Without any lead time, Tom threw it directly after spotting the chariot. Logically, it shouldn't have been able to hit, yet this 'harpoon' seemed to transform into a guided missile, relentlessly pursuing the chariot from behind!
"Bang!" Finally, in just three seconds, the 'harpoon' caught up to Hephaestion's chariot and directly impaled its rear.
"Hmm? What was that sound... Ugh!"
Just as Hephaestion was about to look back, the rope tied to the harpoon reached the maximum length Tom wanted. The entire rope went taut, causing the chariot to momentarily halt in mid-air before immediately plummeting to the ground due to 'gravity'!
"Impossible, how could you still be ali— *gurgle*!"
During the fall, Hephaestion finally noticed that Tom was alive again, but before she could finish her sentence, she and her chariot were pulled to the ground by 'gravity', crashing instantly.
Looking at Hephaestion, who lay motionless on the ground, Haku tentatively asked, "Is it… over?"
"...Impossible, it wasn't already dead?!" Just as Haku finished the word 'over', Hephaestion braced herself with both hands on the ground, shakily pushing herself up with great effort.
She was practically questioning her own worldview at this point. If her eyes weren't deceiving her, she was certain she had just crushed Tom into smithereens with her Noble Phantasm. Logically, Tom should have been the first Heroic Spirit to be eliminated from this Holy Grail War.
However, in less than a few seconds, it had 'revived', and then, using some unknown power, it had directly knocked her out of the sky.
Looking back at her chariot, Hephaestion finally realized that there was a wooden stick embedded in it. It was this wooden stick that had brought her chariot down!
Hephaestion found this difficult to accept. Moreover, if you had the ability to knock her out of the sky all along, why were you playing that Cat and Mouse game with her earlier, like a banana-hammer fight?! It made her think that dealing with chariots was its weakness when she was chasing Tom.
Now, Hephaestion just felt like she was seeing a ghost. Was this cat a bit too overpowered?
First, it easily defeated her former monarch, Alexander, with overwhelming swordsmanship, then it outran her chariot, and it outran it using its hands! It didn't even bother using its legs!
And then, it took a full-power Noble Phantasm from her head-on, and after taking it, it was completely unharmed!
What kind of ghost story was this? Was she really participating in a Holy Grail War?!
While Hephaestion was doubting her life as a Heroic Spirit, Tom scurried over to Haku's side, looking triumphantly at Hephaestion, who was kneeling on the ground.
Suddenly, as if an idea struck it, it turned around, stuck its backside out towards Hephaestion, then looked back at Hephaestion and patted its rear.
"You damned cat!" Seeing Tom run over, Hephaestion initially thought it wanted to finish her off, but she never expected it had come specifically to mock her. Realizing this, Hephaestion's mouth twisted in anger.
She was about to stand up, propped by her sword, intending to fight Tom for another three hundred rounds to regain her dignity, when suddenly, a red light flashed on her body. Clearly, her Master was using a Command Seal to try and transfer her away.
"Tsk..."
Feeling the coercive force of the Command Seal, Hephaestion reluctantly gave up the idea of continuing the fight. "I will definitely return!"
No sooner had she spoken than Hephaestion completely vanished from everyone's sight. Along with her, the chariot that Tom's tracking harpoon had knocked out of the sky also disappeared.
"Awesome, awesome, you truly live up to your name!" Haku rubbed Tom's head, praising it, "Well done, let's go, I'll treat you to a big meal!"
Haku didn't need to say more; Tom's eyes had already turned into the shape of delicious food. Haku effortlessly picked Tom up, placed it on his shoulder, and then walked directly down the hillside. Although, if Tom carried him down, the speed would be much faster.
But... after experiencing the terrifying ordeal of being carried by Tom once before, Haku's legs were now a bit wobbly. He swore he would never let Tom carry him again.
At the scene now, only Waver remained, trembling and hiding behind the warhorse Bucephalus, and Alexander, who had been lying motionless on the road since being knocked out at the start of the fight.
After confirming that Haku and Tom had left, Waver dared to emerge from behind Bucephalus.
During the battle between Tom and Hephaestion, he had been truly terrified, fearing that he might accidentally be sacrificed by either Tom or Hephaestion. But thankfully, it seemed no one present had noticed his existence.
After scurrying over to Alexander's side, Waver patted Alexander's face, trying to wake him up. "Wake up, Rider!"
"Hmm... hmm, what happened to me?" Alexander rubbed his eyes, got up, and looked left and right. Not seeing any Servant, he asked with a bewildered expression, "Huh? Where is everyone? Where did they all go?"
"It's already over!" Waver said, annoyed, "Rider, what were you doing just now, Rider!"