Bab 514: C514
The setting sun, golden as honey, dipped slowly behind the mountains.
Darkness took over.
The battlefield was in utter chaos.
There was a constant rumble of explosions, resembling distant thunder.
Meanwhile, at the Fortress of Millennia, everyone, from the Yggdmillennia Clan's Masters to the Homunculi and Avisbron, were all busy scurrying about. But up on the castle roof, one person just stood there, catching the breeze and munching on an orange.
Shirou peeled the skin and popped the pieces into his mouth while watching the battlefield.
"So, it's you after all... Berserker."
He sighed, planning to toss the orange peel into a trash bin, but when he couldn't find one nearby, he just put it in his pocket for the time being.
Summoned as an Assassin, he lacked Eternal King's abilities. Even his [Imperial Privilege EX] had been split into [Wisdom of Mortal], [Heroic Mortal], and [Leader of Mortal]. Not to mention, he couldn't access [Clairvoyance EX] from Merlin's records.
But within [Heroic Mortal], he did have a copy of [Clairvoyance C] borrowed from Emiya.
Using [Clairvoyance C], he could see the battlefield beyond the castle walls. He saw Karna in heated combat with both Arjuna and Vlad. And deeper into the forest, there was Spartacus, going toe-to-toe with the Berserker of Black, Heracles.
His eyes lingered on Spartacus, recognizing that familiar warm smile. A mix of emotions played on his face. Was it fate or just bad luck? The hero from his younger days stood before him, but this newly summoned version likely had no memory of the Fourth Holy Grail War.
With a deep sigh, Shirou felt a presence behind him. Turning, he saw Jeanne, now donned in her battle attire, approaching. "Assassin of Black, aren't you going to join the war?" she asked.
He smiled and replied, "I'm just a humble Assassin. Our main role is gathering information and assassinating Masters. We're Heroic Spirits who worked behind-the-scenes, not really cut out for front line combat. If I go there, an Assassin like me would just be a hindrance."
"Is that so?" she raised an eyebrow.
He nodded slowly.
Jeanne's brow furrowed. "When you intervened between Archer of Black and Lancer of Red, preventing them from killing each other, you didn't look 'weak' to me."
He let out a sigh and admitted, "Okay, you got me. To be honest, I wasn't too keen on facing a certain hero from the other side."
"I see," she nodded in understanding.
"What about you, Ruler?"
He gestured toward the black sky. "The night has fallen, and the clash between the Red and Black has begun. As a ruler, don't you feel the need to keep an eye on the battlefield?"
"My battlefield is right here, just beyond this castle in the city of Trifas. The duty of a Ruler is to ensure the smooth progress of the Holy Grail War and protect ordinary people from being affected. It is not permissible for the Ruler to interfere too much in the war of the Servants."
She paused and gave a wry smile. "But it's a bit disheartening how the Black faction always expects me to overstep my bounds."
"It's inevitable. After all, you don't belong to Red or Black; you're in a gray area, walking the boundary between factions. Moreover, you possess command spells that can bind any Servant. Oh, and of course, their binding force doesn't work on me."
After a pause, he chuckled, "However, as a Ruler, you have been quite dutiful so far. If it were me, I would've used the command spells to order all the Servants to off themselves by now."
"Please, don't joke about such terrifying things with a smile on your face. At this rate, I—I might take you seriously," Jeanne said, her expression filled with cold sweat.
Sometimes, she truly found Shirou terrifying.
It wasn't his Saint Graph or his ominous aura; it was the unsettling sincerity with which he delivered his thoughts.
"I'm not joking. If I were the Ruler, I might actually do it," he admitted, still wearing that unsettling smile.
He then turned his attention to the war-torn landscape, his smile slowly fading. "The Holy Grail War... To put it nicely, it's a war to grant wishes and showcase the glory of heroic spirits. But at its core, it's just the dead interfering with the present."
"Guardians arise from humanity's despair, and Heroic Spirits are born from humanity's hopes. However, the Heroic Spirits that manifest in this world, whether they are good or evil, saintly or devilish, are not always a blessing for the living. In the end, the Holy Grail War is a means of reintroducing ancient barbarism to the world."
Shirou's words, delivered so nonchalantly, resonated deeply with Jeanne, catching her off guard.
Such a perspective on the Holy Grail War was rare, likely unheard of among the other Heroic Spirits on the Throne of Heroes.
Even Jeanne, a canonized saint, had never viewed the Holy Grail War through this perspective.
Yet here was this Assassin, with his ominous presence, voicing a truth she hadn't even considered.
She was reminded of what Karna and Arjuna had said about him.
Indeed.
It was true.
A Servant with such a viewpoint was...
In a way, he seemed more fitting as a Ruler than she did. Yet, at the same time, he was the least suited for the role.
Since when has there been a referee who wishes to use their privilege to eliminate all the contestants?
Shirou turned his head, smiling at Jeanne. "For now, I am the Assassin of Black. Until the faction war ends, I'll temporarily serve the Black side. After all, if I didn't, without being a Ruler, I would probably be ambushed and eliminated by both sides on the first night, right?"
Jeanne looked a bit lost.
But he was clear about his position. As a Servant in the gray, not really fitting into Red or Black, he would be an unpredictable element. Both factions would see such uncertainty as a priority to deal with.
And while he was confident in his abilities, even he wasn't so arrogant to think he could handle being ganged up on by both sides without a Master to back him up. With powerhouses like Karna, Arjuna, Heracles, and Vlad III in the mix, he knew better than to overestimate his odds.
Joining the Black faction for now and using the Assassin class to hide deep within its ranks, observing the clash between the Black and Red, and letting them wear each other down was his strategy. While the Black and Red factions engage and wear each other out, he would grow stronger day by day due to [Evil Flower] and [Mortal Awakening].
In other words, he was like that sly player in a battle royale game, watching all the reckless players battle it out while he sneaks around, looting and strengthening himself, preparing to survive until the end with the best gear for a 1v1 showdown.
It was just the smart move.
While Vlad was wise and a capable leader, Arjuna did not reveal his identity.
How could Vlad risk putting him on the front lines, especially when he presented himself as a weak Assassin, whose forte was supposed to be surprise attacks on Masters?
True, stepping in between Karna and Arjuna earlier might've given Vlad a hint of what Shirou was capable of.
But in the end...
The stereotype that Assassins are the underdogs persisted, and that stereotype was often stronger than any first impression!
It made sense, didn't it? Historically, most summoned Assassins were some version of Hassan.
That's just the way the cookie crumbles.
Maybe neither the Red nor the Black would pick up on an Assassin that's constantly evolving.
However—
"Shirou, run!"
Astolfo rode down from the sky on his griffin, shouting at Shirou, with seven arrows swiftly following like shooting stars.
No matter how skillfully Astolfo maneuvered in the sky, he couldn't seem to shake off those seven arrows.
Shirou looked up at Astolfo being chased by the arrows and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
At that moment, with a "whoosh" sound, an arrow pierced the night sky, flying towards Shirou.
"Watch out!" Astolfo shouted.
However, just as the arrow was on the brink of hitting its target, it seemed to be repelled by some unseen force, forcefully redirecting it off course. The arrow landed off-target, embedding itself in the wall with its tail vibrating and buzzing.
"How is that possible—?"
After miraculously escaping from Saber due to her unexplained disappearance, Atalanta, the archer who had fired the arrow, was left stunned.
She had been dead sure of her shot.
It was aimed right for Assassin's head.
However, the arrow was diverted as if some unseen force had intervened, causing it to land beside its intended target.
"Could it be... [Protection from Arrows]?"
Atalanta's eyes widened in disbelief.
And she was right. What had deflected her shot was indeed [Protection from Arrows C]!
He wasn't supposed to have this skill, but thanks to [Heroic Mortal], he had a copied version of Cú Chulainn's skill.
Without hesitation, he applied it to himself, forcing the arrow to miss its target.
[Protection from Arrows] gave him the ability to defend against ranged attacks. It was believed that as long as he could visually recognize the attacker, he could dodge most long-range attacks. Even if the attacker wasn't directly in his line of sight, he could still counter most ranged weapons. Thanks to this skill, he had quite the advantage when it came to dodging projectiles.
It can even dodge thrown weapons, even the powerful Noble Phantasms!
Although it's just rank C, making her arrow miss wasn't a big deal for the skill.
But suddenly, the sky burst into light, and seven beams of starlight came crashing down, heading straight for Shirou.
It was one of Atalanta's Noble Phantasms, known as [The Seven Arrows of the Big Dipper]. This caused a barrage of meteoric arrows to rain down from the Ursa Major constellation in the sky.
Facing Assassin, she did not hesitate to activate this Noble Phantasm, aiming for a one-shot kill.
A rain of seven stars descended from the heavens, heading straight for him.
Jeanne had no intention of intervening because she was a Ruler.
Astolfo, atop his griffin, yelled out desperately, "Shirou! Move! They won't stop till they hit you!"
Shirou just smiled. "No need to worry, Astolfo."
He slowly extended his palm, and from it projected what appeared to be a lance. However, its shape deviated from that of a traditional lance. Instead of having a pointed end, it was a mesmerizing weave of radiant beams—a lance made entirely of light!
"What on earth is that?" Atalanta blurted out.
She wasn't the only one taken aback; Jeanne's eyes widened too.
The lance's radiant glow gave off a feeling of purity, yet the ominous figure of the Assassin, cloaked in darkness, looked so menacing. It was a complete contrast to the lance's holy light.
Indeed, it was none other than the divine weapon, the spear of the end — Rhongomyniad, materialized from the records of Eternal King through projection!
Shirou raised his hand slowly, taking aim with the Holy Lance, Rhongomyniad, at the meteoric shower descending from the sky.
As he infused it with magical energy, the radiance within Rhongomyniad began to spin like a drill piercing the heavens.
Then, he loudly declared—
"The lance that shines to the ends of the world—Rhongomyniad!"
...
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