Everything happened in a flash. Almost at the moment Atalante's voice fell, the magic arrow that had condensed the power of the sun had arrived in an instant, in front of Souya.
However, things did not happen as Achilles had expected, with him being pierced by the arrow and sent flying. On the contrary, the magic arrow containing the divine power of the sun god Apollo was firmly caught by a hand that had stretched out from the side at the last moment. And the owner of that hand was, without a doubt, Morgan.
Seeing this scene, not only Achilles, but even the other few Servants beside him, including the little sun Karna, couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. After these few days of getting along, they had naturally come to realize how powerful Archer Atalante was. Not the normal record, but a powerful huntress who had gathered the power of the sun, moon, and constellations. The blow just now was also a real, unreserved, divine-powered strike.
But such an unreserved blow was so easily caught by that female Servant who had never been seen before? With such strength, was she really a Caster? Involuntarily, a few of the Red side's Servants thought to themselves.
And at this time, Amakusa Shirou, as the nominal leader of the Red side, finally came to his senses from his surprise and astonishment. He quickly said, "Wait a minute! Archer, what's wrong with you? Why did you inexplicably attack Souya? He is also a Master of the Red side. Have you met before?"
"..."
Atalante was silent. Seeing that her blow had been blocked by Morgan beside him, she immediately took a deep look at the other party. Upon sensing that the distance between the latter and him was too close, her already complex and restless eyes became even more resentful. Then, another three arrows were nocked on her longbow. They shone with the colors of the sun, moon, and stars respectively. Clearly, the huntress had no intention of listening to his words.
Seeing her reaction, his head immediately started to hurt. What's wrong today? Morgan was one thing, but how come even Atalante, who was originally willing to listen to him because of her Master, was now ignoring him. What on earth was going on? How were things slowly getting out of his control?
And at this moment, he finally reacted from this inexplicable attack. After a little thought, although he hadn't figured out a reason, he still first raised his hand to appease Morgan, whose eyes had become cold and whose magic was about to erupt. Then, facing the three arrows that the cat-girl huntress was about to shoot, he said frankly, "Archer, that is, Miss Atalante, I think this should be our first time meeting, right? Why would you call out someone else's name and then suddenly attack me?"
He had clearly heard the name she had called out was Orpheus. And after a few breaths, he had also thought of the story about this name, and about this person. The son of the Greek sun god, the prototype of the constellation Lyra, the story of life and death, the lover of Eurydice, and the one who had conquered all things with music, and so on... These were all the understandings of that famous Greek tragic love story protagonist, Orpheus, engraved in his memory. But what did all these stories have to do with her?
From the situation before, she should have been calling him Orpheus, right? But the problem was that he clearly hadn't opened the path to Greece yet? In other words, he shouldn't know her now, and she should also be the same as in the original work. But why would things turn out like this?
Inexplicably, he felt that he seemed to have encountered an incredible situation. With these questions, he first stabilized her, while frantically calling the system in his mind, asking it what was going on. But it was a pity that at this critical moment, the Useless System started to play dead again. He couldn't help but curse.
But fortunately, it's unknown if it was because his attitude looked more sincere, but in the end, she still didn't shoot the arrows, but also didn't put down her celestial bow. The huntress's eyes were burning, and the two fluffy cat ears on her head twitched slightly, as if she wanted to see through him.
And at this moment, relying on his own body being tougher, and thinking that he was more familiar with her, Achilles stood out. He stood in front of her, blocking him with his own body, and at the same time, he advised her, "Big sister, did you really see wrong? This little brother looks like he should be Caster's Master, a real modern person. How could he be the Orpheus you're talking about? Besides," as if he had thought of something, Achilles continued, "Didn't you say that you have a Noble Phantasm that is specially for, er, hunting down Orpheus? You also said before that this Noble Phantasm has not been activated this time. Then that means that little brother is definitely not Orpheus, right, big sister."
Hearing this, her eyes moved slightly. She subconsciously fixed her gaze firmly on him, but silently found that even at this distance, that Noble Phantasm did not show the slightest sign of activation. In other words, he was not Orpheus. But how could this be... That appearance... those eyes... and the feeling of chasing prey that had inexplicably arisen from the moment she had seen him. All of these were suggesting to her own heart that he was Orpheus. How could it be...
The huntress hesitated, but in the end, under his persuasion, she lowered her longbow and arrows. "I'm sorry, I seem to have mistaken you for someone else."
In front of everyone, the girl apologized to him somewhat awkwardly and stiffly. But her cat-like gaze was extremely sharp on him, as if she wanted to see through him. This made the latter's heart feel a headache, and the sound of him cursing the system and its eighteen generations of ancestors in his heart became louder and louder.
"You think you can evade the fact that you offended and almost harmed my husband with just a simple apology, you mountain country bumpkin."
Looking at the girl's straight gaze at him, the Morgan who had been suppressing her emotions' eyes suddenly became cold, her tone filled with a deep chill. And even on the two words 'husband', she had specially emphasized her tone, as if she were declaring her sovereignty.
"Husband?!"
Hearing this word, Atalante, like a cat whose fur had stood on end, reacted with stress. The fur on her ears stood up, and her cute tail also instantly wagged. Although she had told herself in her heart that the person before her did not seem to be Orpheus, for some reason, upon hearing Morgan call him husband, her heart was as if a fire had been instantly lit.
And at this moment, Amakusa's voice suddenly sounded in everyone's ears. The existence of the word 'Command Spell' in it almost instantly made all the Servants quiet down. "Everyone, please don't forget that before we defeat the Servants and Masters of the Black side, we are comrades, co-conspirators. As comrades, the first thing we must do is not to harm each other. If this prerequisite is violated, I don't mind using the power of the Command Spells. Do you understand?"
With that said, he swept his solemn gaze over everyone. Although he saw coldness and contempt in the eyes of a few of them, at least both Morgan and Atalante had quieted down. Seeing this, he sighed softly.
Being a leader is really tiring...
"By universal reason, what you said is right, Father Shirou. But before that, I still have a question to ask you."
At this time, a voice broke the silence. The one who spoke was the Lancer of the Red Servant, that is, the Lancer. It was a tall man with fair skin and a handsome face. He had a head of long, snow-white hair, and his whole body was wrapped in golden armor and a black bodysuit, leaving only a red gem worn on his chest. Although his face was slightly cold, his aura was very warm and approachable. And he was Karna, a hero from the Indian epic Mahabharata, and currently the undisputed number one in terms of combat power on the Red side.
"If you have any questions, feel free to ask, Great Hero Karna."
Seeing that the questioner was him, Amakusa, while relaxing, also felt a little grateful in his heart. If it were Karna, then things would definitely get back on track, right? Although it had only been an hour, he was already afraid of the changes that had gone beyond his control. He urgently wanted to bring the center of the topic back to the matter of the Holy Grail War, and not the so-called Orpheus, husband, and so on.
"Then I will be bold and ask, Father."
Having received his affirmation, Karna nodded and then asked, "The war began last night when the Servants were completely summoned. But besides the first time we met our masters when we were summoned, why haven't we seen them until now? If it weren't for the fact that we can still sense that they are stably transmitting magical energy to us through the Command Spells, I would have thought they had encountered danger. Do you know what's going on, Father Shirou?"
With that said, the little sun's gaze was fixed on the latter. Although his temper was good and he was not good at social etiquette, his IQ was not low. In a Holy Grail War, the Master and the Servant were originally always together. For them to not have seen their Masters for several days like this time, and to have been enjoying a steady supply of magical energy, it would be really strange if it didn't make people wonder.
Hearing this, everyone present, besides him who had long known the truth, even Morgan and Atalante looked over. After hearing Karna's question, as the queen who had led Britain to glory, she immediately associated something, and cast a gaze with an inexplicable and dangerous meaning towards him.
And compared to her gaze, the others were much different. His gaze was scrutinizing, Achilles's was playful, Atalante's was expressionless, as if she were thinking about something, and the Empress Semiramis, as his Servant, naturally knew everything, so she just looked at everyone with a cold smile.
And the last, Berserker Kriemhild, this pale beauty in a Gothic style, on the other hand, had a cold expression as if she didn't care at all. Because her gaze had been on the direction of the Yggdmillennia castle from beginning to end, and she was muttering something in a low voice. Just now, she had only glanced at him and then had turned her gaze back.
Faced with the pressure of everyone's gaze, he seemed not to care at all, and even smiled very relaxedly. Then he brought up the excuse he had prepared long ago. "This is actually for strategic needs. You also know the specialty of this battle. As traitors, the Yggdmillennia clan have long since abandoned their pride as magi, so all kinds of assassination methods and magic will be directed at the easiest to solve and also the most important Masters. So, after considering everyone's wishes, it was decided that I, as a member of the Holy Church with enough strength to protect myself, will take the place of their orders to command you Servants. And they will be safely hidden in a certain place, just providing magical energy."
"Then, everyone, are there any more questions?"
Hearing this, all the Servants immediately fell silent. Even Karna was secretly pondering. As for him, he maintained a smile on his face and quietly waited for everyone's response.
"This should be just your one-sided statement, right, Father Shirou? Since you want us to obey your orders, then you should at least show some evidence, right?"
Finally, Achilles asked this question. This windy hero, while tilting his head and smiling, looked at him and the Empress Semiramis beside him. "As the Master of this woman, it's really a bit difficult for me to believe your words."
"Rider! What do you mean by that? Do you want to rebel and defy orders!"
Semiramis was very offended by the two words 'woman' in his words, so her tone was extremely cold when she said this.
"No, no, no. This is just a very reasonable suspicion. You have to understand me, Assassin."
Completely ignoring the threat in her tone and the few poisonous chains that had floated up with her words, he replied with a light laugh.
"It's fine, Semiramis."
Seeing this, he just smiled slightly. He first gently patted her hand to signal her not to be angry, then, while waving his hand to summon a magic projection, he said with a smile, "You're right, Rider. To gain the recognition of heroes like you, I naturally have to show evidence."
In the projection were several of the Red side's Masters, lying comfortably in a luxuriously decorated room, enjoying afternoon tea and desserts. And in the picture, after he had proposed to command the Red side's Servants in their place, almost everyone had expressed their approval without hesitation and had placed great hopes on him.
Seeing this scene, Achilles was suddenly speechless. He shrugged his shoulders and indicated that he had no objections. And Karna, after seeing his own Master personally give the order, also expressed his approval and promised that he would follow his arrangements. After he had turned his gaze to the others, everyone naturally didn't say much. And as for him, who was the only one still standing here besides him, he naturally also expressed his approval.
Because he had no pursuit for the Holy Grail, and his goal had already been achieved, he had no intention of separating from him and acting alone. He just needed to obey the orders while, by the way, correcting some of the plots that had become neurotic due to the wonderful Higashide's brain damage. After all, this was also the long-cherished wish of everyone who had been disgusted by Fate/Apocrypha.
Thus, after everyone had expressed their opinions, he gave the first order. "Because of the specialty of this war, and the unprecedented 14-Servant war, so for the sake of fairness and correction of the Holy Grail system, this time the Holy Grail will definitely summon an extra special Servant, that is, the 15th referee Servant, the advent of a Ruler. For some reason, this Ruler will definitely stand on our opposite side in the end and hinder our plan. So my suggestion is that when she has just descended here and has not yet had time to familiarize herself with the situation, we should first deal with her. What do you think?"
As he spoke, his gaze swept over everyone.
"As you command."
"I don't care. If the Ruler is very strong, I'm willing to go."
"Not interested."
"..."
Automatically ignoring Kriemhild, who had not been listening to them, he cast his gaze on Morgan and Souya, who had not answered.
"Caster, what do you think?" Amakusa smiled.
"I will listen to my husband," her answer was simple.
"I also have no objections. We will just follow your plan, big brother." After coughing lightly, he avoided Atalante's strange gaze and then replied.
After getting his reply, Amakusa immediately smiled. "Then this Ruler will be dealt with by you and Caster. According to my 'Revelation', the Ruler will probably appear tonight near the highway at the junction of Trifas and Sighișoara. You and Caster can go and set up in advance. How about it, Souya?"
....
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