Chapter 31: Assassin, Exit
At the Tohsaka residence's magecraft workshop in Miyama Town, the atmosphere was thick with tension.
"..."
"Kirei, what did Assassin see?"
"A demon. No, a nightmare," Kirei Kotomine's voice, as emotionless as ever, came through the magic communication device. "Avenger possesses close to a hundred, or even more, clones. And unlike Assassin's Noble Phantasm, Zabaniya: Delusional Illusion, each of Avenger's clones has the combat strength of a regular Servant."
"If I were to assess it, it would be akin to Archer's Gate of Babylon... a being that exceeds conventional standards."
Sigh... Tokiomi Tohsaka let out a long breath. He had always believed that his Servant possessed the strongest Noble Phantasm, but he hadn't anticipated that the Einzbern family would summon someone of such an abnormal caliber. They even had another Servant who held the title of the strongest sword wielder.
Tokiomi Tohsaka shook his head in frustration. He had played the Assassin card too early. Even though his alliance with the Church had already been exposed, he shouldn't have sent Assassin out so prematurely.
If... If he had summoned Avenger instead, Tokiomi Tohsaka fantasized. With an unbeatable army of clones and endless Noble Phantasms, he could have wiped out all the other enemies on the first night.
But he would still win. Clutching his jeweled staff, Tokiomi Tohsaka was filled with confidence—Gilgamesh was the strongest Servant.
"Kirei, prepare to head to the battlefield," he ordered proudly, the magic crest on his body burning hot. Kirei was an exceptional executor. Even without a Servant, he remained a force to be reckoned with.
"Understood," Kirei Kotomine replied, his deep, calm voice resonating.
Inside the Einzbern barrier, a black-and-red domain had once again unfolded, visible even from outside. This was its second manifestation, and all the participants were watching, speculating about Avenger's "Noble Phantasm."
Inside the City of Devouring Time, however, it was nothing short of a slaughter.
The entire world seemed to be dragged into a shadowy abyss, black and red enough to make one dizzy.
Kurumi stood at the center of the City of Devouring Time, her delicate arms raised high, her face adorned with a delighted smile.
Countless slender arms stretched out from the shadows, grasping each Hassan within the domain. To the Assassins' disbelief, black-and-red-clad versions of Kurumi emerged from the soft hands, each wearing a near-malicious grin.
Their own clones seemed laughable in comparison, and the daggers in their hands trembled.
Each Hassan was surrounded by multiple Kurumis—each one an A_venger, with the stats of a true Servant.
Those ruby-like, rose-colored eyes were filled with mockery.
There was no escape—the Hassans knew this. Dealing with a single Avenger was already difficult, but now there were so many of her.
The crazed laughter of the Kurumis echoed throughout the City of Devouring Time, layered upon itself like the wails of demons from the underworld.
Suddenly, a thought struck the Hassans. Kirei Kotomine still had a Command Seal! They pleaded with their Master through their mental link, begging Kirei to use the Command Seal to summon them back.
By the name of "Hassan-i-Sabbah," they swore they would never betray him, even if Kirei had already used all his Command Seals.
That was their only way out.
Click—
Kirei Kotomine severed the connection with Assassin's vision, and dread filled the hearts of the Assassins.
They realized that they were no different from the one who had been discarded on the first night—they were mere pawns, nothing more.
They wanted to flee...
But they were nothing more than a disorganized rabble.
It was a complete slaughter. Behind their skeletal masks, the Assassins' eyes could only see a cold, shining blade splitting their world in two.
Was it the world that had been cut, or was it them?
The dead Assassins were swallowed by the shadows, leaving no trace behind except for a faint scent of blood.
Annihilation.
Kurumi counted them one by one.
"51..."
...
"67..."
...
"78..."
After the final gunshot, Kurumi frowned. Including the ones before, she had hunted a total of 78 Hassan clones. Counting the one killed by Gilgamesh, there was still one more hiding somewhere.
Or had they been hunted by someone else already?
In the courtyard of the Einzbern castle, the violent aura outside did not disturb the conversation between the three kings.
Artoria, the solemn and dignified King of Knights, wore a grave expression.
"The king protected the country, but the country did not protect the king.
That's all there is to it.
Though the end was tragic, there was no stain in the process."
...
"Even so, there is still something I must protect until the very end.
It is something I buried deep in my heart.
But at the very least, I must see this impossible dream... through to the end..."
Rider gazed at Saber, frowning deeply. The kingdom she envisioned was drastically different from his own ideals—it even made him feel a little angry.
"You're not a proper king!" The normally jovial man bellowed unexpectedly, filled with dissatisfaction. "You're obsessed with your own noble ideals, intoxicated by them, and that ideal has turned into a curse that binds you."
"That is not the path of a king!"
He stared furiously at Saber, but in her emerald eyes, a smoldering dragon seemed to be lurking.
"A king's vow must never be broken. I have a mission I must fulfill," Saber's voice was low and calm, as if devoid of anger. "If I could go back to the moment of choosing the king, my powerless self might not have drawn the sword from the stone."
"But even so, I would still protect my country."
...
The courtyard fell into silence.
Saber, who wanted to choose a different king; Rider, who wanted to conquer the world with his physical form; and Archer, who wanted to uphold the laws he had set.
Each of them followed their own kingly path.
But only Saber understood that it was all false. She stood on this battlefield to break the most wicked curse, to wield her sword for a foreign justice.
"Oh my, I've finally found it." Kurumi's lazy voice suddenly cut through the tense atmosphere in the courtyard, disrupting the uneasy silence.
"So this is where you were hiding, huh?"
A dark figure was casually dragged from the shadows like a piece of trash and thrown onto the ground.
"79..."
It was the last Assassin, who had been lurking from the very beginning to eavesdrop.
Dressed in her Raizen High School uniform, Kurumi held a piece of the pale skeletal mask in her left hand as she leisurely strolled forward.
"Oh my~ Why is everyone looking at me?" Kurumi tapped her lips with her right index finger, smiling mischievously. Yet that smile inexplicably sent chills down everyone's spine.
—Assassin, Exit.
-102:00:00
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