"The knight coming to hunt us… could it be Lancelot?"
For the refugees' mention of a knight, Guinevere naturally thought of Lancelot.
If he remembered correctly, in the story of FGO Chapter 6, after the Chaldea group encountered Gawain in Camelot, they learned of Chaldea's existence through Agravain, who quickly issued orders to the newly returned Lancelot to pursue and eliminate Chaldea.
Although Lancelot was under Agravain, since Agravain issued the order in the name of the Lion King's assistant, Lancelot had no choice but to comply and directly came after Chaldea. To stop him and cover Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash's retreat, Da Vinci directly drove the Sphinx, loaded with gunpowder, straight at Lancelot, using herself as a rear guard for the others…
—Though in the end, Lancelot, who freezes up in front of beauties, ended up saving Da Vinci instead.
So now… should Da Vinci be sent as the rear guard again?
Guinevere pondered.
Logically, with their current lineup, they could handle more than just that. After all, they had a solid seven-servant team, far more luxurious than the original story's lineup of just Da Vinci, Mash, and Bedivere… But taking on Lancelot still felt a bit reckless.
After all, that guy could fight three times the Gawain from daylight to sunset and then defeat Gawain at dusk—the strongest swordsman in Britain. Whether he could beat the current Gawain with the Blessing of No Night was another matter… but he definitely wasn't someone that the Gawain-subdued group could casually mess with.
But now… whether to fight or not might not be up to Guinevere.
How should they handle it?
Worried, Guinevere had already reunited with the Chaldea group.
"Everyone, I have some bad news… I detected an extremely strong spiritual trace over that hill. It seems the refugees ahead have already encountered that knight. The magnitude… is not inferior to the Gawain we faced before."
Roman's spiritual projection quickly appeared, his face serious as he reported to everyone.
"About the same as… Gawain?" Fujimaru Ritsuka's expression immediately darkened. "If that's the case, then… we're in trouble, aren't we?"
"Yes, we have no way to counter him," Da Vinci nodded. "Given this, there's nothing we can do… Previously, we could escape because Gawain had the duty to guard the gates of the Holy City and wouldn't pursue, but this one seems to have the mission to annihilate us completely. He won't turn back."
"I see… so there's nothing we can do." Da Vinci sighed, then suddenly said, "In that case, we'll have to do this… let the Sphinx go in self-destruct mode. The only problem is, the Sphinx doesn't have autopilot, so someone has to drive it manually…"
So she was seriously considering self-destruction…
Guinevere mulled over it. If Da Vinci drove herself to confront Lancelot, she wouldn't die anyway, so it was fine to have her handle it… But then again, should she just tell Mash the true name of the spirit she possessed, letting her go in her daughter form to directly beat Lancelot?
Guinevere's eyes suddenly brightened.
After all, in the original story, Chaldea finally handled Lancelot with the junior hitting her "father" hard, waking him and bringing him into their fold… yes, that was good.
Thinking of this, Guinevere raised her head and said:
"No, honestly it's not that serious. Da Vinci, you don't need to take that risk. Actually, if we want to deal with the pursuer…"
"Eh? When did I say I wanted to take a risk?" Surprisingly, that question left Da Vinci momentarily speechless.
"Ah?" Guinevere was startled. "But didn't you just say to let the Sphinx self-destruct?"
"If it's self-destruction, of course it won't be me," Da Vinci said with a smile, looking at Kaki Hinako on the other side. "This task naturally falls to Kaki Hinako! We had already discussed this beforehand."
"…Tch." Kaki Hinako also pouted slightly, displeased. "Don't use that draft-dodger tone… at least act somewhat grateful."
"Indeed, it's fortunate we have Senior Kaki here, otherwise I wouldn't know what to do."
Fujimaru Ritsuka chimed in:
"Senior is truly reliable. We all depend on you. You've borne all these burdens for us. Thank you so much! Chaldea's progress is thanks to you!"
"Stop, stop, stop. You're flattering me so much I feel sick."
Though she said this, Kaki Hinako's face visibly brightened, and she quickly jumped into the Sphinx, waving at the others:
"Alright, now I'll go blow that knight over there to bits. After that, you can either finish him off while he's vulnerable or just take the refugees and run. He definitely won't be prepared for the mess I make. I'll regroup and join you afterwards."
With that, Kaki Hinako floored the accelerator, driving the Sphinx straight toward the other side of the hill.
As she advanced, Guinevere's eyes caught sight of the heavily armored knight previously spotted by the refugees.
"Eh?"
When Guinevere finally saw the knight's face clearly, she widened her eyes.
"Hey! Kaki Hinako! Wait! Don't go—she's not the enemy!"
But it was too late. Ignoring Guinevere's warning, Kaki Hinako drove the Sphinx straight toward a tall female knight who had noticed the distant group and wanted to ask for directions.
"?"
With one hand, the knight stopped the charging Sphinx. Looking at Kaki Hinako, who was still pressing the accelerator but couldn't move the vehicle an inch, Bagster slowly tapped out a question:
"Who are you? Why did you crash into me? Is this machine malfunctioning?"
Before he could ask more, Kaki Hinako slammed a button on the Sphinx's console.
The next second, a massive explosion shook the sky, flames erupting and engulfing a stunned Bagster.
"What on earth…?"
Seconds later, a bewildered Bagster emerged from the smoke, carrying Kaki Hinako in her seat. Before he could ask more, her face flashed a deadly expression:
"I'm blowing up with you!"
Her body exploded violently, a crimson magical aura spreading out, a massive magical wave striking Bagster directly, while Kaki Hinako herself turned into a bloodstorm, leaving no trace of bones.
"???"
Then, Bagster, looking slightly dirty but seemingly unharmed, walked out from the blood mist created by Kaki Hinako's explosion, leaving everyone present in silence.
"What's going on? Is this some kind of welcome in the pan-human history?"
Having seen Guinevere, Bavanzi, and Gareth in the distance, Bagster still didn't perceive the explosions as hostile:
"Though it may be rude for a guest to say this, such a welcome is a bit dangerous. These explosions mean nothing to me, but someone with weaker defenses might be hurt… Of course, if the blast power is adjusted according to the opponent's strength, ignore what I said."
"Wel… welcome ceremony…"
Guinevere noticed that Da Vinci, creator of the self-destruct vehicle, was completely frozen.
Bagster then asked again:
"What happened to that girl just now? Did she… explode? I think I can still sense her presence. She should be fine, right?"
"Well… that…" Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at the slowly gathering blood in the distance, then slowly said, "Senpai might not be in a good state now. If we wait a bit, you should see her again."
Pff!
Finally, Guinevere couldn't hold back and laughed, sensing all the eyes suddenly focused on her. She coughed awkwardly and shook her head:
"Well, though there was a minor misunderstanding, thankfully no one was hurt. Let's consider it nothing happened."
"Let me introduce everyone. This is the fairy knight of our Fairy Kingdom, granted by the queen the title of Gawain's canine fairy—Bagster."
Meanwhile, far away in another direction, a purple-haired knight clad in full purple armor had been observing the group for a long time, then finally withdrew:
"Report to Agravain. We've found traces of the Chaldea group he's investigating. Judging by their path, it's clear they intend to go to the mountain folk's territory."
"Sir, shouldn't we deal with them directly?" A just knight at his side asked. "If we annihilate them now, it saves a lot of trouble later. If they enter the mountains, it'll be harder to catch them."
"…You have a point, but it's not that I don't want to do it. I simply can't."
Lancelot paused for half a second, then replied:
"While I could survive such an explosion, the aura from that female knight seems abnormal. She feels comparable to Gawain under the sun. If we want to annihilate these people, even with your help, it won't be enough."
"Let's retreat for now. The assistant's orders were only to observe their movements. How to handle them next is up to the assistant."
After saying this, Lancelot didn't stay. He turned and started to leave.
But after a few steps, he suddenly stopped, frowning as he looked in a certain direction.
"Sir? What's the matter?" His subordinate, the just knight, asked.
"…Someone is watching us. And just now, I felt a warning aura clearly."
Lancelot's brow furrowed tightly.
"What should we do, sir? Should we engage?"
"No, leave immediately!" Lancelot's expression was stern. "I can't locate the opponent… and their strength is probably very high. Extremely high."
"Her?" The just knight keenly caught the emphasis.
"The opponent might not even be female… but this feeling of being watched reminds me of many unpleasant memories…"
Lancelot turned back, mounted his steed, and rode back the way he came, looking worried:
"Let's go. If all the Round Table Knights appear in this singularity, it wouldn't be impossible for that person to be chain-summoned… If it is her, the situation will get much more troublesome."