"Oh..." Alexander tilted his head, then nodded, seemingly understanding, and stood up, bending down to pick up his dropped sword.
But just as he was about to pick up his sword, he suddenly paused, then shot up in surprise, finally realizing what Waver had been saying. "What, what, what? It's over?! Was I defeated?!"
"Of course! You were decisively defeated by that cat!" Seeing his Servant react so slowly, even stupidly only just realizing it now, Waver couldn't help but cover his face.
Suddenly, he felt a bit sorry for Alexander, even wondering if that blow earlier had damaged Alexander's brain.
"I don't quite remember. I recall I was fencing with him just now, and suddenly a lightbulb appeared above its head, and then... and then... ow, ow, ow..." As he spoke, Alexander suddenly clutched the back of his head. For some reason, ever since he woke up, he felt a discomfort at the back of his head, and when he touched it, the pain made him feel as if he had put on a mask of agony.
After feeling it carefully, Alexander finally discovered that there was a lump on the back of his head, about half the size of a fist!
"Did that cat Servant use a Noble Phantasm on me? I didn't hear a Noble Phantasm's True Name Release, though? But it must be that way! Otherwise, I shouldn't have been defeated so easily!"
Seeing Alexander seemingly trying to find a reasonable excuse for his defeat, Waver decisively denied, "No, it just defeated you with one blow."
Alexander seemed a bit incredulous that he was defeated so easily. "No way... So that lump was caused by that stick?"
Waver nodded at his words.
Although Alexander was a bit curious why Tom's weapon was a sword, yet what knocked him out was a stick, in the end, Alexander didn't dwell on it too much. His main focus now was why he was suddenly defeated.
It wasn't that he was a sore loser, but rather, being suddenly crushed and not even remembering how he lost—such an inexplicable defeat would be hard for anyone to accept.
Ultimately, since he couldn't remember how he was knocked out in one blow, his attention had to shift back to Hephaestion, who had been fighting him earlier. He had initially been preparing to fight that Servant, and they were about to start when Haku and Tom suddenly intercepted them.
Now, Alexander woke up, and not only were Haku and Tom gone, but Hephaestion was also nowhere to be seen.
So, he casually asked, "By the way, where is that Servant who dresses like me?"
"Her? She was also defeated by that cat."
"Huh? Really? I originally wanted to fight every Servant once. What a pity, I won't have the chance to fight her." Hearing that Hephaestion was defeated, Alexander couldn't help but show some disappointment.
Being able to fight heroes from different eras was a once-in-a-millennium opportunity.
When he was first summoned, he learned that there would be seven Servants in a Holy Grail War, and he was immediately filled with excitement. At the time, he thought he absolutely had to fight every Servant once, but now, it seemed, unfortunately, that opportunity might never come again.
"No, that Servant is perfectly fine. After that cat beat both of you up, it left with the one it came with." Saying this, Waver pointed in the direction Haku and Tom had left.
Upon hearing this, Alexander's forehead couldn't help but sprout a bunch of bewildered question marks. "Huh? What was its motive then?!"
To say it came to break up the fight, it inexplicably ran over and interrupted his battle with Hephaestion, then proceeded to thoroughly beat both him and Hephaestion.
To say it came to defeat Servants, after thoroughly beating him and Hephaestion, it just dusted itself off and left.
Suddenly, Alexander's pupils contracted sharply, as if he had thought of something. He swallowed and muttered to himself, "Could it be... it wants to conquer all Servants, dominating the Holy Grail War without shedding a drop of blood?!"
And indeed, once that thought entered his mind, Alexander truly felt more and more that this was the case.
A Conqueror! This was absolutely a great conqueror in human history!
Alexander himself wanted to become such a conqueror, and upon realizing that Tom was such an existence, his heart immediately swelled with excitement.
...That's the situation.
...
Listening to the real-time report that Kirei had learned from his Assassin and relayed to him, Tokiomi, sitting in his study, fell silent, even feeling his mind gradually become confused.
If his Servant, Saber, hadn't been right beside him, Tokiomi certainly wouldn't have had the leisure to maintain his elegance right now.
After a long while, Tokiomi finally came to his senses and said with an extremely complex expression, "You're saying... that cat spiraled upwards holding a man, then fell at supersonic speed, creating a deep crater in the ground shaped like a cat holding a man? And then that cat used a wooden stick from who knows where to knock out a Servant with one blow?"
"Yes."
"And then that cat outran another Servant's chariot with its two front paws, and could even float forward, then turn back, put its paws beside its face, and stick out its tongue to mock that Servant? After that, it dug its own grave, was voluntarily run over and coincidentally fell into the grave, with the dirt just covering it, and even automatically planted a wooden gravestone in the grave?"
"Yes..."
"Finally, that cat suddenly revived, threw a combination of branches and rope, and directly knocked down that Servant's chariot?"
"That's right."
Listening to Kirei's extremely certain reply, Tokiomi sipped his red wine, looking at the ripples in the glass. These ripples were as complex as his inner turmoil, summarized by one word—absurd.
From the time he was born until before he participated in the Holy Grail War, he had never heard so many outrageous things all at once.
If these words hadn't come from his highly trusted disciple, Kirei, perhaps he would have just laughed them off. But... the problem was, Kirei relayed all of this to him. From the above, it's clear Kirei wouldn't lie to him, so the problem must lie with Kirei's Servant.
After a moment of silence, Tokiomi asked, "Did your Assassin drink too much?"