At this point, Gilgamesh the King of Heroes had just left. Lancelot, who had been run over and badly injured, also left the battlefield. Only The King, the Brush Guy, and Alexander the Great were still present.
But in the shadows were also The King's Master, Caster's killer Emiya Kiritsugu, Assassin's Hundred-Faced Hassan, and the Brush Guy's Master, Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald—better known as Professor Ken.
Hundred-Faced Hassan had multiple personalities when she was alive. After becoming a Servant, each personality turned into a separate individual. But all of them together still counted as one Servant under the Assassin class. So even though they looked like many people, it was still just one Servant.
Not long ago, under the orders of her Master, Kotomine Kirei, Hundred-Faced Hassan had attacked Tohsaka Tokiomi's house. But that attack was just a show—meant to fool others.
Tohsaka Tokiomi and Kotomine Kirei were master and student, and had secretly teamed up from the start. At the time, to outsiders, it looked like Kirei had lost his Servant and was now seeking shelter from the Holy Church.
The Holy Church is the official overseer of every Holy Grail War. And this time, the current overseer was Kotomine Risei—Kirei's own father. So from the very beginning, Tokiomi's side had a huge unfair advantage.
Even more so because Tokiomi's Servant was Gilgamesh, the first king in history with a documented epic. In the Type-Moon world, Gilgamesh wore shining golden armor from head to toe. That's why people nicknamed him "Goldie."
In the Type-Moon setting, Goldie was given ridiculous powers: the Gate of Babylon (his treasury), Clairvoyance that could see the future, and Star of All-Knowing, making him nearly all-powerful. He also had EA, a Noble Phantasm strong enough to split the world in two. So he was basically a top-tier Servant. Tokiomi was supposed to be able to win easily by doing nothing—but…
Originally, Tia had planned to approach Goldie while he was still around and try to talk to him.
Tia believed that with his knowledge of the story, just a couple of sentences would be enough to catch Goldie's interest.
But now that Gilgamesh had just left, Tia looked at the remaining people present. If he was looking for an opportunity... this guy seemed like a pretty good one.
At this moment, Tia had his eyes on the Emperor and his Master, Waver Velvet.
Because in the future, Waver would become Lord El-Melloi II — one of the Twelve Lords at the top of the Clock Tower, one of the three great magic organizations in the world that oversees all Casters. He would become a wise and powerful man, teaching many outstanding mages as a lecturer at the Clock Tower. His future achievements would be amazing — so much so that he would even summon Zhuge Liang as his Servant, allowing Zhuge Liang to descend onto his own body, making him a pseudo-Servant. Even Zhuge Liang himself would acknowledge his intelligence.
So, why not take this chance to ask Waver to be his teacher now, while Waver hadn't achieved anything yet? That way, he could claim to be Waver's very first student. Later on, he could brag about being Lord El-Melloi II's top disciple.
And Alexander the Great had a strong charisma. He liked to bring capable people under his wing. Tia may not have any cheat skills, but he knew the story. He could lie and say he had "future sight" — that he could see the future — but in reality, he was just an ordinary person. He had no magic crest passed down from a Caster family, no magic circuits, no magic at all. So he could say his future sight, without magical support, was overused and burned out, which was why he lost it.
Yeah! That sounds good!
While Tia was sneakily watching the situation over there, he was also busy thinking about what to do next.
At that moment, all of a sudden, Waver, sitting in Alexander the Great's chariot, stared straight at Tia and shouted, "No! Rider! Save him!"
In the next instant, Alexander the Great hurled his weapon straight at Tia.
Tia hadn't even realized what was happening. Still confused, he saw Waver yelling something about saving someone, and Tia was puzzled — "Isn't it just me here? Who else is there to save?" Just as he was thinking that, Alexander the Great waved his hand, and in the blink of an eye, a massive sword slammed straight into the metal in front of Tia — it was Alexander the Great's weapon.
The loud bang right next to his ears gave Tia a huge scare. He jumped back several steps and fell right onto the ground.
"Lancer's Master! So you really are the kind of person who would kill an innocent child. You're not worthy of being a Master!" Alexander the Great shouted toward the rooftop.
"Hmph! King of Conquerors! Strangers aren't allowed to see the Holy Grail War! If normal people see it, they must be killed — that's the rule!" Lancer's Master, Professor Kenneth, shouted back.
"That's nonsense, Professor! Even if a normal person sees it, we can just erase their memory! Why do we have to kill them?!" Waver suddenly jumped out and yelled back at Professor Kenneth.
"Oh? Waver, you dare shout at your teacher like that? So rude! Just wait till we get back and see how I deal with you! For now, you'd better hide behind Rider before that so-called 'ordinary person' of yours stabs you in the back!" As Professor Kenneth spoke, he started walking away, so his voice grew fainter. "Lancer! We're leaving!"
"Yes, my Master!" Brush Guy, despite everything, still showed complete loyalty to Professor Kenneth and spoke to him with great respect. Then he turned into spirit form and vanished.
"Rider's Master, we'll leave that ordinary person to you. Make sure you don't hurt him — he's just an innocent bystander," Irisviel said at that moment, her gentle and calm voice making people feel at ease.
Irisviel was the Holy Grail vessel prepared by the Einzbern family for this Holy Grail War. But right now, she was pretending to be the King's Master. The real Master — Emiya Kiritsugu, the infamous Caster killer — was hiding in the shadows, waiting for a chance to strike the other Masters. Unfortunately, no such chance had come yet.
"Don't worry, Saber's Master. I'll make sure this kid forgets everything that happened tonight," Waver nodded and said.
Then Irisviel and the King drove away.
Now only Alexander the Great and Waver remained, riding their chariot toward Tia.
And it was only now that Tia finally snapped out of it.
Tia had overestimated himself. He thought he was ready for anything, even death. But after almost dying for real, his fear hit the ceiling. It wasn't until he saw Alexander the Great and Waver coming over that he managed to calm down again.
(end of chapter)