Buzz—!
A piercing metallic screech filled the air as countless blades clashed. 'Red' Saber Mordred's instincts screamed a warning. The next instant—BOOM!—the street erupted in a thunderous explosion.
The stone buildings flanking the road where Mordred and her Master, Kairi Sisigou, stood detonated violently. Chunks of stone, each weighing hundreds of pounds, hurtled toward them like a storm of artillery shells.
Truthfully, such physical attacks were meaningless to a Heroic Spirit. Mordred could have easily dematerialized her body, slipping into spirit form to evade without harm or effort.
Unfortunately... her Master was right beside her. If he died, she—lacking the Independent Action skill—would vanish as well. To retreat now would be a disgrace.
"Master! Get back!" she shouted, her crimson lightning flaring once more as she leapt forward. In a flash, she pulled Kairi behind her, positioning herself as a living shield.
BOOM—CRASH!
With a roar like a thunder dragon, Mordred swung Clarent in a wide arc. Massive boulders shattered upon impact, bursting into clouds of dust. The sheer shockwave pulverized the remaining rubble into fine powder that blanketed the surrounding ruins in ghostly gray.
Cough, cough... "Saber... damn, that was close... cough," Kairi sputtered, patting the dust off his black jacket. "Remind me never to play decoy again. Lesson learned—fighting legendary heroes isn't something you can take lightly."
He glanced up, expecting a smug or sarcastic remark from his Servant. But instead, Mordred stood silent—motionless, her golden eyes fixed ahead.
"Huh? Saber? What's wrong?" he asked, puzzled. It wasn't like her to ignore praise.
From the short time he'd known her, Kairi understood Mordred well enough: she was brash, rebellious, and always eager for recognition from authority. The kind of child who wanted her parent's approval, even while defying them. For her to ignore his words—something was definitely off.
Then he remembered her Class Skill: Instinct (B)—the ability to "feel" the most favorable course in battle, reducing visual and auditory interference.
A realization struck him like lightning.
They were in Yggdmillennia's territory. Could it be—the Black Faction's Servants were finally making their move?
He immediately drew his weapon from under his coat—a heavily modified double-barreled sawed-off shotgun. No manufacturer's mark. Its shortened barrels and stock made it ideal for close quarters.
"Saber?" he whispered, tense.
"Yeah, Master. Be careful... they're coming."
Even as she spoke, heavy footsteps echoed down the street.
From the dust-choked ruins emerged more than a dozen towering figures—each over 2.7 meters tall, clad in dark gray power armor trimmed with gold. Their presence was suffocating.
Then, a larger one appeared—nearly 2.9 meters tall. His armor gleamed with ornate engravings, a Roman-style red-plumed crest rising from his helm. Twin red glows burned in the eye sockets behind his visor.
On his chestplate, a golden double-headed eagle gleamed. The forehead of his helm bore a winged numeral "Ⅱ," while his right pauldron displayed two iron fists crossed like hydraulic pistons.
Clank... crunch... clank...
Every step he took ground the shattered debris beneath him into fine dust.
BZZZ—!
"By the blood of our enemies—blood for the Empress!!"
The lead warrior's massive chainsword roared to life, its engine howling as he charged forward. His voice, metallic and raspy, boomed from within the helm.
BOOM!
At his command, one of the gray-armored Astartes surged ahead, swinging his chainsword in a brutal downward cleave toward Mordred.
VMMM—! The blade split the air with a shriek.
"Master, get back!" Mordred barked, grabbing Kairi by the collar and hurling him aside.
CLANG—!
Clarent met the roaring chainsword in a shower of sparks, the clash releasing a shockwave so powerful that the air itself rippled. The force blasted the debris and dust into a circular wave that roared outward in all directions.
Bracing herself against the blow of a towering Astartes warrior—nearly twice her height—Mordred gritted her teeth and raised Clarent in a one-handed guard. "Master! Get out of here! I'm going to enjoy this fight properly!"
"Understood..." Kairi Sisigou nodded, standing up with visible reluctance. He knew all too well that staying would only burden her.
"If you're overwhelmed, I'll use a Command Spell to bring you back," he said. "And if you need to use your Noble Phantasm, go ahead—drain the mana fast. If things get dire, I'll reinforce you myself."
He gave a faint grin, his voice almost paternal. "Saber... bring me victory."
Without another word, Mordred's Master turned and sprinted away.
"Pursue the Master of Red," ordered the Astartes commander.
"Yes, sir."
The emotionless homunculi responded in perfect unison, weapons drawn as they broke off in pursuit.
The commander made no move to join them. His glowing eyes remained fixed on Mordred. According to Her Majesty's will, this mission was not about victory—it was a trial. A test to gather real combat data from the second legion of Astartes within this world.
The small, defiant knight before them would serve as their whetstone.
Still, even if this was only a "training engagement," there would be no holding back.
The words of their Legion Commander—Great General Budo—echoed through every warrior present:
"Where the Empress' blade points, there our bodies shall follow!"
They would give everything. To bring glory and triumph to their Empress—that was the founding creed of the Second Astartes Legion.
For Selene!
"Second Legion... so Budo's already structured its framework," Selene mused aloud, her eyes reflecting the moonlight.
Standing atop the clock tower of Trifas' cathedral, the God-Empress surveyed the battlefield. Dressed in imperial regalia, she shimmered like a celestial flame against the night.
Her vision—enhanced by superhuman precision—pierced through the distance. Below, she could see the clash between Mordred and the armored warriors of the Second Legion.
Their dark-gray power armor, lined with gold, marked them as the newest elite unit of her Empire—commanded by Great General Budo himself. Their emblem: the Teigu Thunder God's Rage · Adramelech.
Yes, Budo's Teigu had once been shattered—ruined in that spectacular duel with Mine's Romantic Battery · Pumpkin cannon.
But Selene, ruler of the Empire and master of the world's governing laws, could regenerate even orichalcum—the metal required to forge the Teigu. With Dr. Stylish's engineering genius and Dorothea's alchemical craftsmanship, repairing a broken relic was no great challenge.
Moreover, she had fused into the restored weapon a fragment of a Herrscher Core—one embodying the power of electromagnetism. Though only a weakened, truncated version, once merged with Honkai Cube, it transformed Adramelech into a true weapon of divine wrath.
The Teigu Thunder God's Rage · Adramelech was now worthy of its name.
Amusingly, when discussing the legion's codename, one of her officers had proposed "Thunder God's Wrath." But Budo had disagreed, suggesting alternatives such as "Wrath of the Empress," "Judicators," or "Divine Punishers."
Selene had yet to decide on a final title.
Still, the rest of Budo's vision had already been set in motion—the legion's emblem, their creed ("Where the Empress' blade points, there our bodies shall follow!"), and their motto ("My honor is loyalty."). The battle cry, he insisted, would adapt with the war.
Typical of Budo—unyielding, disciplined, and fiercely devoted.
"Your Majesty, shall we assist the Second Legion?" asked the captain of her Royal Guard hesitantly. "It appears the Master of Red is attempting to flee."
Selene's golden eyes flicked toward him, her smile sharp with amusement. "No need. The game has only just begun. Why so eager? Or is it your sword-hand itching for battle?"
"Uh... Your Majesty is wise. It was my impatience speaking."
"Patience," she said lightly. "Your opponent will come soon enough—the Son of Surya, from the Mahabharata. That is the foe you'll face."
With that, Selene turned her gaze toward the direction Kairi Sisigou had fled.
While pursued by the homunculi, Kairi Sisigou holstered his sawed-off shotgun and pulled out something far stranger from his coat—a shriveled, red-and-black heart-shaped grenade.
Necromancers—true magi of the dead—always carried the most bizarre tools.
As Selene observed from afar, she couldn't help but smirk. "A heart grenade... how quaint."
Dashing through the narrow streets, Kairi tossed the pulsating device behind him. It hit the cobblestones with a soft plop.
A second later—BOOM!
No fire, no thunderous blast—only a thick cloud of violet-gray mist. The moment it enveloped the pursuing homunculi, their bodies convulsed violently, like victims of an unseen poison. Within moments, they collapsed, lifeless.
Homunculi were competent combatants, but to a necromancer like Kairi, they were little more than training dummies.
Among the current Masters and Servants, Kairi and Mordred ranked among the most coordinated pairs—comparable in synergy to Amakusa Shirou Tokisada and Semiramis themselves.
In contrast, others—like Gordes and Siegfried—were an absolute disaster. Their compatibility was practically negative.
Gordes, though not a villain at heart, was far too arrogant. His alchemical talent placed him among Yggdmillennia's most capable magi, but his personality dragged him down. Above average, yet far from exceptional—his pride towered higher than his skill.
...
Selene's gaze shifted back to the battle between Mordred and the Astartes tactical unit.
"The projected Astartes soldiers are formidable," she mused. "Their base stats rival most Heroic Spirits—but lacking mana manipulation or Noble Phantasms, they're at a disadvantage against Saber-class Servants."
BOOM!
"Hey, tin can—say something, will you?" Mordred taunted, grinning as crimson lightning flared from Clarent. With a burst of power, she drove her opponent—a massive Astartes warrior—into the ruins of a nearby house.
Four, maybe five of the armored giants had already fallen, their forms dissipating into spiritual mist.
"So, you're soldiers summoned from the shadows of a cowardly Heroic Spirit, huh? Some army-type Noble Phantasm, maybe? Tch, Father probably summoned the Round Table again without me..."
"Silence, insolent wretch!"
The Astartes commander's voice boomed from within his helm, fury igniting his words. The air shimmered with purple-red energy—Honkai Energy—as his armor pulsed with light.
With a thunderous stomp, he advanced, his chainsword roaring to life, violet energy flaring along its edge. He swung down at Mordred with terrifying force.
"Ha! Now that's more like it, tin can!"
BOOOOM!
The ground convulsed. Scarlet lightning clashed against violet flames, and the cobblestone street shattered beneath the force. The earth split into countless cracks, radiating outward like a spider's web.
Dust and rubble filled the air as entire buildings crumbled. The night exploded in chaos.
"Die!" the commander roared.
Their weapons locked in a furious power struggle. The Astartes' towering frame pressed down on Mordred's smaller form, pinning her to the ground with sheer brute strength.
"So angry, huh? What's the matter—did my words about your master's leash strike a nerve?" she sneered. "That blind devotion of yours reminds me of that stiff fool Agravain. How irritating."
Despite her youthful face and chaotic fighting style, Mordred's trash talk was unrivaled. Even Siegfried's successor—Sieg the homunculus—had experienced that first-hand.
"My honor is loyalty! What would a traitor like you know of it?!"
Crack!
"...Say that again!" Mordred's voice darkened. Her crimson eyes flared with rage as she dropped her stance low.
Then—she leapt.
Lightning erupted from her armor, wrapping her entire body in a storm of scarlet energy. The twin auxiliary blades on Clarent's hilt split open, releasing a beam of blinding crimson light that shot into the heavens.
The shockwave blasted away the smoke and dust, painting the night sky blood-red.
BZZZZ—CRACK!
"Clarent Blood Arthur—"
"—Rebellion Against My Beautiful Father!!"
BOOOOOOM!!
"Well then, warm-up's over, rebellious knight Mordred..."
"What the—why do you look so much like Mother?!"
"Huh?"