Chapter 243 – The Assassin Who Loves Art
Three daggers whirled through the night sky, flying toward Hachiman, Kiritsugu, and Sakura.
"Assassin?" Hearing the voice, Hachiman immediately turned and deflected two of the incoming daggers with his Demon-Slaying Blade.
In the next moment, several black shadows jumped down from the edge of the pit, surrounding him and Sakura.
Without a moment's hesitation, the Assassins drew a variety of hidden weapons and charged toward the two trapped in the center. On the other side, Kiritsugu, who had dodged the initial ambush thanks to his innate time-manipulation technique, was likewise targeted by three Assassins.
"Decapitation?" Seeing the Assassins' movements, Hachiman scooped Sakura into his arms and retreated toward Karna while swinging his blade to block the attacks.
The Assassins seemed to sense Hachiman's formidable strength. Shortly afterward, five more masked figures leaped down from above the pit to join the hunt.
"Master!" Karna and Artoria, in the middle of their duel, saw this sudden development and instinctively paused, rushing to defend their respective Masters.
However, they hadn't gone far before several masked figures blocked their paths.
"So many Assassins?" Hachiman looked at the dozen or so figures around him, then at the three around Kiritsugu, and finally at the ones blocking him and Karna. The total number of Assassins had already surpassed twenty!
"Just some small trickery with clones…" Facing overwhelming odds, Karna remained calm. He charged straight at one Assassin in front of him, ignoring the others entirely. With a spear piercing the enemy's chest, he stepped on the collapsing Assassin, withdrew his weapon, and surveyed the remaining foes.
As he had told Hachiman before, the sheer number of Assassins posed no real threat to him.
Compared to Karna's composure, Artoria's anxiety spiked. Kiritsugu was not like Hachiman; he was weaker and currently unarmed, barely evading the Assassins' pursuit using physically taxing magic.
If Artoria didn't quickly return to Kiritsugu's side, he was doomed.
Artoria swung at the Assassin before her, but he quickly retreated. At the same time, two Assassins appeared on her left and right, forcing her back to her original position. Their single successful attack accomplished only the goal of delaying her—they didn't pursue, deliberately buying time.
"You damned fools!" Annoyed, Artoria gritted her teeth and charged again. This time, she ran directly toward Kiritsugu, determined to return to his side even if she were injured.
At that moment, an Assassin pulled out a cluster of modern grenades from somewhere behind her and hurled them. With deafening explosions, Artoria emerged gray-faced from the smoke and continued running toward Kiritsugu.
"Bang!" Another explosion erupted beneath her feet.
"Landmines?!" Hearing the sound, all three except Kiritsugu, who was desperately evading attacks, turned their attention to her.
The powerful blast threw Artoria several meters, and she rolled across the ground multiple times, finally stopping with the help of her sword.
"Hahaha…" The three Assassins responsible for blocking her laughed mockingly, tossing explosives while watching her plight.
"Shameless…" Karna sighed, unable to tolerate the Assassins' inferiority any longer.
"Your journey in the Holy Grail War ends here." He glared at the modern explosives-wielding Assassins around him, announcing the end of their lives.
In the next second, a burst of fire appeared on Karna's body. He spun once with his spear at a speed invisible to the naked eye! Six bodies collapsed with a thunderous crash, and the world fell silent.
"…." The Assassins surrounding Hachiman instinctively retreated as Karna advanced.
Seizing the opportunity, Hachiman grabbed an Assassin's arm mid-swing, kicked him into the air, and decapitated him with his sword. Because Servant bodies are made entirely of magical energy, no blood spilled.
"This guy… feels stronger than us?" Seeing Karna advancing step by step and Hachiman, a mere human, defeat one of their companions, the remaining Assassins wavered.
Led by the only female Assassin in their group, they eventually abandoned their plan to trap Hachiman and Sakura, redirecting their focus to the exhausted Kiritsugu.
Watching the Assassins leave his side for Kiritsugu, Hachiman remained unmoved.
"Aren't we going to help?" Karna asked, approaching Hachiman.
"If it were Irisviel, maybe I'd help. But since it's him…" Hachiman didn't continue, but Karna understood the implication.
"I see… Saber's quite pitiful then…" Seeing that Hachiman had no intention of aiding Kiritsugu, Karna, who also disliked him, shook his head in sympathy for Artoria, now completely trapped by the new Assassins.
A knight king who upholds the code of chivalry, yet cursed to serve a Master like Kiritsugu—she truly had no luck.
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