"Don't say any more unnecessary nonsense!", Artoria took the initiative to step forward, "Come, Berserker. Even if we cannot exchange names, and once lived in different eras—"
"But this battle will definitely let us understand each other!"
"?"
'Is she treating this battle the same as with those two jokers?'
Then Shirou had to say this again, "Sasuke."
"What?", Artoria's shoulders shrank back a little, not reacting in time.
Shirou's cold and handsome declaration, "My true name, Uchiha Sasuke. Remember it, King of Britain!" [T/N: (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻]
"..."
"..."
Sella's eyes widened.
Medea couldn't bear to watch.
Illya smiled brightly.
'So cute, this Berserker.'
"Uchiha Sasuke?", Sajyou Manaka frowned, deep in thought, "Which Servant is this from? Never heard of it."
———
"Japanese name?"
Rin tactically leaned back, "Was there such a hero in history? Could it be the fame is too low?"
Red A's mouth twitched, "Who knows, maybe it's a fake name."
'You've really gone off the rails, Emiya Shirou! How come I didn't know I could be this abstract?'
"To think…"
———
Artoria stared at him in surprise, then maintained her knightly upright stance and said, "Since you've stated your true name without reservation, then I should respond in kind with courtesy."
"No need," Shirou didn't even raise his hand, directly preparing for battle, "It's fake anyway, don't mind it."
Facing the dumb king, he didn't think his C-rank swordsmanship would be useful.
So it was time to activate that 30% mystery.
'System-san, log in, take over!'
"You!", Artoria's emerald eyes had only slightly widened.
Shirou was already like a berserk madman, pushing off with his feet, charging in front of her at a speed completely undetectable to the naked eye.
"Wha—"
There was no time to express shock. The intense killing intent had already given the conclusion.
She would be torn apart.
'This Berserker, who seems gentle and refined, is he actually the berserker type in combat?'
RUMMMMBLE!
In an instant, dust and sand flew everywhere. A violent tremor spread through the air. The ocean waves were pushed back, the strong wind scraping across everyone's faces.
"Miss, get back!"
No need for Sella to remind, Medea had already activated magic to take them all away from the battlefield.
Sajyou Manaka also symbolically retreated, her sky-blue eyes sweeping over Medea, who had activated magic without any chant.
'High-speed Divine Words? Looks like she's already guarding against me, where was my information leaked from?'
Medea's state wasn't just defensive toward her.
The barriers spread around her made it impossible for even Servants to approach easily.
"Berserker!"
This shout of fury came from Artoria. She swung her invisible sword, slicing down with a force that ripped the air apart.
"Too many openings, King of Britain. Do you not know how to fight, or do you have too many muscles?"
A cold voice from beneath the surging sea waves.
System Shirou, relying on the strength of the Emperor Armor, completely ignored the slash, trash-talked while grabbing the invisible sword barehanded, and squeezed.
"Hurgh!"
Artoria returned with incomparable strength. Mana burst out, the air roared. Even the seawater fell into endless upheaval.
"AHHHHH!"
Artoria braced her rear foot, using it to gain force in this contest of strength.
Shirou didn't budge, also exerted full force.
His base strength was only B+, clearly no match for the ahoge girl in raw power, but—
'What's with this woman? It's bad enough she eats so much, but why is she so strong too!', Shirou cursed internally.
'System-san, she's about to overpower us!'
System Shirou said nothing, eyes calmer than dead water.
Even if his strength fell behind, he still looked as if everything was within control.
"I've won, Berserker!", The brief victory didn't make the Knight King show any joy. She simply swung the invisible sword hidden in air.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Precise and powerful, five consecutive deadly slashes.
Leaving no gaps, five sword strikes completely compressed all space for movement.
As the enemy lost balance, Artoria became like a lion in hunt mode.
Ruthless, mercilessly using her sharpest claws and fangs to rip apart her prey.
If it were other Servants, such as Lancer, they definitely wouldn't choose close combat with Artoria.
Because they couldn't beat a Saber with balanced stats and ultra-high parameters.
They would pull distance and use their two-meter-long magic spear to counter with equally fast straight thrusts.
Even the King of Heroes, facing such a Servant, would instinctively step back and use any means to force a longer-distance battle more favorable to himself.
Shirou was just the opposite. He didn't have any Noble Phantasm to contend with the Knight King for now, and no matter how strong reinforcement magic was, it couldn't make an ordinary longsword clash with a legendary Holy Sword.
But his advantage was: he could ignore this kind of attack.
"Too weak, Saber!"
No need to stabilize his body, convert mistakes, what remained was only brutish advance.
The airtight slashes struck the armor, not even leaving a scratch.
Next second: head, neck, chest, abdomen, limbs, exploded with speed.
A+ agility displayed to the fullest.
No flashy martial arts.
What System Shirou used was only the purest killing technique.
Only aiming for the most vulnerable parts of the human body.
Every move, made with the intent to kill.
"Damn it!", Artoria was struggling to cope.
In just a few seconds, precise offense and defense had already swapped dozens of times.
So fast it made people dizzy.
———
"This is the battle between Servants?", Rin was stunned.
'And rightly so.'
'Calling miracles that shouldn't exist in this era to appear. Recreating battles that only existed in legend. At this level, for those seeking ultimate victory of the Holy Grail—'
'It is probably just an appetizer, right?'
———
'So troublesome.'
Observing and learning, Shirou felt it growing tricky.
Unexpected combat had been dealt with by the Ahoge King, and instead, the battle had fallen into a stalemate.
'Is it because of her "Instinct: A" skill?'
Even surprise attacks would be dodged in unbelievable ways, and in critical moments she could even see the future.
'System-san, this won't work if it keeps up.'
["Yes, then let's go for a one-hit victory."]
Before the next exchange began, System Shirou actively retreated.
Noticing her opponent's movement, Artoria advanced.
Suddenly, her eyes reflected the image, of herself being caught.
"No good!"
'At this distance, I can't dodge!'
As expected, Artoria who had closed in, her horizontal right slash was precisely caught between System Shirou's elbow and knee.
Next second, a direct chokehold.
"Mmgh~"
The link between air and windpipe completely cut off.
The bones in her throat cracked, announcing the fragility of internal organs.
Even as a Servant, being strangled would cause immediate elimination.
"Saber!", Sajyou Manaka was utterly shocked.
She never imagined the number one-ranked Saber, with overwhelming advantage among the seven Servants, would be brought to the verge of defeat by bare hands.
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