An almost endless barrage of arrows collided and exploded amidst chaos and a situation where almost no one knew what was happening.
A professor in the clock tower saw two students running down the corridor.
"What are you doing here? You need to get to the shelter," the professor exclaimed.
"Cecilia is still in her room; she texted us that her door collapsed and she can't get out," one of the students said.
The professor merely frowned, only to feel a projectile land near them, startling the three of them.
"You two go to the shelter; I'll go get Cecilia," the professor ordered, turning around to go rescue the student, leaving the two students worried.
The rows of projectiles eventually left Archer staring out at the forest.
He was on top of a building, with the advantage of height, but he felt that this advantage was useless.
'How could he see through that barrier the exact position and movements my master would make?' Archer wondered. This fact alone made it clear that his current opponent was a level above a normal Servant.
"Come out, show yourself, Archer," Archer challenged, gazing into the forest.
Archer knew there was an Archer on the other side, so he could tell that the Servant before him was of the same class.
"Why do you assume I'm an Archer just because I have a bow? What a narrow-minded man!" a woman's voice called out.
A woman covered in clothing that concealed her identity appeared, but with one blue eye that glowed in the darkness.
Archer frowned at the sight of this woman, as he immediately sensed that something was wrong with her.
"Who are you? Are you even human?" Archer asked.
"I know one of my parents is human, but what you're feeling must be because of my class," the woman said, looking at her arm. "I felt strange, like I wasn't myself, but then I realized it was my Saint Graph altering my mind and my way of being. But at that moment, I remembered why I'm here and the wish I have, and it told me that maybe it's not so bad."
"I see, you're an anomalous class," Archer concluded, aiming his bow at the woman.
"Hmm, I see you can think. Since you know I'm not an archer, I don't think I should fight with a bow," the woman announced, and several bracelets appeared on each of her forearms.
...
Rider walked through the giant, abandoned factory with complete confidence.
Wearing Hades' helmet, there was no way they could find him, and they knew that this Assassin was a low-quality Servant, not to mention his class. He just needed to find him face-to-face and cut off his head with Harper, and that would be it; problem solved.
Although, he was cursing himself because he couldn't find that guy.
As Rider wandered in his thoughts, he didn't notice that he had just stepped on a cable, which snapped, making a loud noise.
"Huh?" Rider said, glancing to the side to see a machine gun already pointed at him. "What the...?"
That was all he could manage to say as he shielded himself from the hail of bullets coming his way. The power and rate of fire knocked Rider off his feet, sending him tumbling to the floor below, where he landed on top of some mines.
The explosion sent Rider crashing into a pillar, flattening him. Just above Rider, Assassin appeared with several grenades strapped to a belt.
"Invisibility is not the same as nonexistence," he said, releasing the grenade where Rider was.
Assassin didn't see Rider, but he saw the silhouette as he emerged from the smoke of the explosion and the impact with the pillar, so he knew his enemy's position.
With that, another explosion suddenly struck Rider in the face.
Rider got up, his eyes red with fury, looking up with a few burns; after all, how could mere explosions possibly harm a great Greek hero like him?
From a standstill, he climbed to the next floor only to fall into another trap.
The floor below was filled with machine guns, which were magically powered and began to riddle Rider with bullets.
"Heh, if my master weren't a true ancestor, perhaps I wouldn't have been able to squander as much mana as I did in this factory," Assassin remarked as he hid in a corner, hearing the fire branches destroyed in the following moments.
Assassin cocked his pistol and glanced down the corridor, only to have to act quickly with a reinforced knife, avoiding losing his head to Rider's attack.
"Well played, little rat, but this is where the cat got you," Rider announced, now wearing his helmet and with his hair slightly singed.
Just as he was about to kill Assassin, an arrow was fired, and Rider swiftly deflected it; this gave Assassin time to create distance and summon a rifle with its magazine, and with great skill, he began firing.
Rider, using Harper, deflected all the shots until the magazine was empty.
"Damn you," Rider roared as he saw himself being attacked from all sides.
"There's more to come," Assassin declared, throwing an object that Rider instinctively struck with his weapon, only to realize what he'd done afterward. But instead of exploding, a light flashed upon impact, momentarily blinding the Greek hero.
Assassin quickly leaped to the floor below to run, only to be stopped when Rider's spear blocked his path.
"You won't escape," a furious Rider said, staring with one eye as he lunged for his weapon and unleashed a horizontal slash. His opponent dodged the attack by ducking, but he couldn't avoid the final blow, which sent him crashing against the wall, shattering it.
The former revolutionary groaned at the impact but reacted immediately, throwing two C4 charges to the ground and destroying the passageway.
"You think you can escape me, huh?" Rider exclaimed, shattering the area and using his shield to cushion the blow.
The moment he crossed into the room where his opponent should have been, the room was empty, but he quickly realized what was happening and slashed away from the room.
"Big mistake," Assassin commented, watching Rider cut open a container he had thrown, and a puff of green smoke billowed out.
The moment Rider inhaled the smoke, he immediately began coughing, which Assassin used to his advantage to move and, with a reinforced knife, severed the tendon in one of his feet, forcing his opponent to his knees.
Rider immediately realized that what he had inhaled was poison in the form of smoke, only to receive a kick to the face, sending him crashing back to where he stood.
On the ground, Rider spat out a puff of poison and clutched his head; he stared straight ahead, one of his eyes completely red, at Assassin, who emerged from the poisonous smoke with a machine gun.
"Let's see if he can handle this," the assassin remarked, unleashing a burst of gunfire. Rider, with all his strength, spun Harper around, deflecting most of the bullets.
The assassin stopped, his weapon overheating, and saw Rider gasping for breath, several bullets lodged in his body, though not deeply.
"I expected nothing less; despite being poisoned by Hydra venom, you're still standing," Assassin praised, looking down at his opponent before throwing the machine gun. Rider sliced him in two.
The revolutionary seized the opportunity to escape as Rider watched, panting.
"You think I'll let you go after everything you've done to me? Don't even dream about it," roared Rider, bursting out of the factory only to find himself facing a magically reinforced Soviet tank.
"Ka-boom," Assassin said, and the tank fired, sending Rider flying backward, vomiting blood. "I see that's still not enough."
With that, Assassin emerged from behind the tank, snapped his fingers, and five mortars appeared beside him. With another snap, each mortar fired in Rider's direction.
The bullets rained down on their target, but Rider managed to summon his shield and defend himself.
"Hmm," Assassin muttered thoughtfully, glancing at his opponent as the tank and mortars vanished. "Let's see if you can handle this."
Assassin snapped his fingers, and several fully armed helicopters appeared behind him.
"Fire!" With those words, thousands of bullets and missiles rained down on Rider, who could only defend himself with his shield.
Once the missiles and bullets ran out, a Rider was seen crawling, bleeding, clutching his shield as best he could, gasping for breath with bullets lodged in various parts of his body.
Seeing this, Assassin leaped to grab onto a helicopter, pulling a switch from his pocket. The moment he pressed it, all the mines beneath the factory and Rider exploded.
The entire area erupted, the ground heaving up and creating a massive cloud of smoke.
The entire factory was destroyed in seconds, leaving nothing standing.
Once the smoke cleared, a Rider was seen staring at the devastated ground, vomiting blood and struggling to breathe.
Assassin released himself from the helicopter as it disappeared. He looked at Rider, who was simply breathing and doing nothing else.
Faced with this situation, he simply drew his FN Model 1910 semiautomatic pistol and walked over, stopping just a step away from Rider and aiming it at his neck.
"It was stupid of you to come here without knowing who I was. If I hadn't come to this factory without a plan, where I had all my traps and weapons ready to go, I might never have been able to touch you," Assassin remarked as he prepared to fire.
At that moment, Rider stood up and, having summoned Harper, was about to kill Assassin, only to be struck by an arrow in the knee and another in the hand, forcing him to drop his spear.
"Ah," Rider said simply, realizing he'd forgotten there was another Servant nearby.
Bang
Assassin's shot rang out, the bullet piercing Rider's head, causing him to fall dead.
Seeing Rider's body begin to disappear, Assassin breathed a sigh of relief.
"I thought he was dead," Assassin said, looking at one of the buildings, watching Archer approach his position.
"You were lucky," Archer said, surveying the destruction. "If it weren't for me and one of those true ancestors who gave you the Hydra's venom, you might not have been able to kill him."
"I know, but an assassin never plays fair," Assassin replied, removing his gas mask.
At that moment, Archer noticed a strange symbol on the side of his suit.
"What's that on your shoulder?" Archer asked, pointing at the symbol.
"That?" Assassin said, looking at his shoulder. "It's from the old organization I belonged to, called Unification, Death, or Black Hand, back in Serbia in 1917."
"Was it a terrorist group?" Archer questioned.
"Call it what you want; it's all the same to me at this point," Assassin replied, dematerializing and leaving Archer alone, who then did the same.
...
Ruler continued her infiltration of the True Ancestors' base.
"Where is he?" asked a Dead Apostle.
"I don't know, he just vanished," said another, only to be grabbed by the group's leader.
"I don't care if he vanished or if they're invisible; if we don't find the intruder, we'll be the ones who pay the price," he said, roughly releasing the other apostle.
Up on the roof, a Ruler could be seen clinging to whatever she could, gasping for breath to avoid being seen by her pursuers.
Once they were gone, she fell to the ground and breathed.
"Phew, I hope that thing is over, because I need his ability," she commented as she continued her infiltration.
Meanwhile, outside, another group of Dead Apostles could be seen watching the area, only to see the space narrowing slightly.
"What's going on?" one asked.
"I sensed them," another announced. "Next."
With that said, everyone in the group followed their companion, only to arrive at a place where they witnessed a horrific scene.
On the wall, they could see a Lancer with his chest ripped open, covered in blood, missing a foot and an arm, barely breathing, his eyes red and his mouth full of blood, while a wolf, with features that were both human and not so human, devoured the spear it held, its muzzle dripping with the blood of its victim.
"Delicious," it said, now looking with its fourth eye at its new spectators.
Lancer tried to warn them, but his throat was choked with blood, so he could only see how the wolf, in a single movement, reached one of the dead apostles, its hand moving to grab the head of one of them.
"Huh?" the now-dead apostle exclaimed. "What the heck, wait," he said, realizing that the wolf was opening its mouth, revealing rows of sharp teeth, indicating that it was going to eat him. "Wait, stop, I."
The apostle couldn't continue, as the wolf swallowed the head in one gulp, only to then extend its long tongue, savoring the taste.
"It's not the best, but I've had worse," he remarked, glancing at the other apostles who began to run.
"Hehehe," the wolf chuckled, going after the dead apostles.
Lancer could only watch as his body began to fade, returning to the throne of heroes.
Back with Ruler, she felt something in her body. She had received feedback from the wolf.
"There you are," came the voice behind Ruler, only for her to see a dead apostle pointing a sword at her.
He leaped at her, but Ruler simply dodged it, jumping back to grab the axe with both hands.
"Heh, you think you can kill me with a simple axe?" the apostle taunted, throwing more.
This time, Ruler also rushed toward his opponent and, dodging the apostle's slash, swung his axe and slashed across the apostle's body.
"Heh," the apostle sneered, as the wound instantly regenerated, only for Ruler to begin cutting his body even more severely. To his dismay, the wound failed to heal. "What did you do to my...?"
He couldn't finish his exclamation as Ruler severed his head with the axe, silencing him instantly. He watched as the apostle's body turned to dust and vanished, then stared at the axe.
Just minutes before, the axe had possessed no special properties, but the moment the wolf devoured both Lancer and his spear, the axe acquired the characteristics of the Longunis, a spear coated in the blood of the Messiah, poisonous to creatures like the slain apostles.
The wolf also gained this ability in his claws, becoming intertwined with the story. When the wolf ate Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother, he dressed up as her, even managing to deceive Little Red Riding Hood, which translates into the ability that anything the wolf eats will end up acquiring certain characteristics or abilities, something that ends up being transmitted to Ruler as well.
"How terrifying," a voice said from the end of the corridor.
Ruler looked up to see a woman dressed like a gothic noblewoman walking toward him.
"And you want to?" Ruler asked.
"Let me introduce myself; my name is Rita Rozay-en, the fifteenth of the twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors," she declared.
...
Archer deflected the several bracelets that flew toward him with his bow, only to leap into the air and dodge those that came flying back.
In midair, he drew back his bow and fired several arrows, but his opponent, using the rings swirling around her, destroyed all the projectiles coming her way.
"Is that all?" the woman asked, running at top speed from Archer, causing him to fire several more spectral slashes, which she narrowly dodged.
Archer clicked his tongue and used his bow to block his opponent's attack, forcing him to crawl several meters backward.
The woman quickly fired several bracelets, which Archer deflected by drawing back his bow.
At that moment, several spheres surrounded the woman, and she absorbed several projectiles before firing several bursts at the Servant standing in the middle.
Where the woman had been standing, a huge explosion erupted, revealing her with slightly torn and dirty clothes.
"I think you lacked a little power," the woman said, now looking at his face, which was very beautiful. But Archer noticed something: the woman's eyes were different colors; one was blue and the other red.
The woman leaped, levitating in the air as she summoned her bow and aimed at Archer; several arrows of fire, wind, and lightning appeared around her, aimed at her opponent.
Archer drew his bow again as something appeared behind him.
Both fired simultaneously, and hundreds of arrows collided, creating a series of continuous explosions.
Meanwhile, two individuals watched the entire scene. The first was Bazett, who was observing the fight with the intention of intervening and identifying her enemy; she waited for an opening to join the fray and aid Archer.
Far away, a cat with red eyes could be seen observing the entire situation, pondering the words Ruler had spoken to her.
In Caster's mind, she recalled Ruler's words.
"In gratitude for your assistance, I will tell you something I discovered yesterday," the Ruler said to the cat.
"Hmm, what could that be?" the cat inquired.
"That your beloved daughter Libra was summoned in this Holy Grail War as an Avenger-class warrior. I imagine that if you use your eyes now, you will know where she is."