But just then, a long tentacle suddenly shot out from the dark corner and wrapped around Tohsaka Tokiomi and the Matou Sakura in his arms.
"Oh~~ poor little girl~~ come and throw yourself into the arms of our great god!" Gilles de Rais's voice came from the shadows.
"What! Why is Gilles de Rais here!" Kotomine Risei, who was closest to Tohsaka Tokiomi, was the first to shout in shock. "Why didn't I sense anything at all!"
"Rider! Save them!" Waver was the second to react and shouted at Alexander the Great.
Alexander frowned. "How is he so close, yet I didn't sense him?"
Though confused, Alexander didn't stop moving. He turned his chariot around, shouted loudly, and charged straight at the shadows where Gilles was hiding. But in the next second, thick red smoke burst out from that direction and quickly spread everywhere. Alexander's chariot rushed straight into the red smoke, and one second later, he came back out the same way he went in.
"Huh? What's going on? I came back the same way? I swear I was charging forward the whole time!" Alexander shouted. "Is this red fog some kind of illusion?"
Then came the sharp sound of a spear slicing through the air, followed by the ripping sound of tentacles being torn apart. The tentacle holding Tohsaka Tokiomi and Matou Sakura was cut by Diarmuid.
"Filthy trash! Who allowed you to touch the subjects of this king!" A proud voice came from above—it was Gilgamesh. A few golden weapons shot straight into the red mist, and the next second, a huge explosion blew the mist away. The blast also shredded a bunch of sea monsters, but Gilles de Rais himself was nowhere to be seen.
Gilgamesh saw that Gilles wasn't in the explosion and grew even angrier.
"Tokiomi! Get back here!" Gilgamesh called out. "Hmph! To save you, I threw away those noble weapons after they were tainted by filth. You should be grateful!"
"Yes! Thank you for saving me, my king! I'm deeply grateful!" Tohsaka Tokiomi let out a sigh of relief and bowed respectfully to Gilgamesh, then turned to Diarmuid. "Thank you, Lancer, for cutting the tentacle."
"No need for thanks. I was just following my Master's orders," Diarmuid said, keeping his eyes on the pile of shredded sea monsters. "Something about those remains feels wrong. Everyone should stay away!"
Tohsaka Tokiomi cast a spell on himself, then carried Matou Sakura and looked up at Gilgamesh standing on the Holy Church roof. A few jumps later, he was on the roof behind Gilgamesh.
Alexander scooped Tia up and put her on the chariot, then pulled back to a safe distance.
Diarmuid and Kayneth also moved far away from the pile of sea monster remains.
Kotomine Kirei and Risei retreated into the Holy Church and shut the doors, peeking through the windows at the pile of shredded flesh.
Meanwhile, since Lancelot had been staying near Tia in spirit form, she ordered him to pick up the golden weapons Gilgamesh had tossed away earlier.
Those were Noble Phantasms, after all. Tia had wanted to do this for a long time, and now she finally had the chance.
At that moment, King Arthur was riding a motorcycle from the Einzbern castle at full speed, with Irisviel holding onto her from the back seat. Emiya Kiritsugu and Maiya had also left the castle and were on their way here.
Just then, the pile of shredded sea monsters started wriggling and reformed into a giant sea monster. It couldn't find a target, so it began wildly smashing the nearby buildings.
"Oh~~ poor little girl~~ why did you leave our great god~~~~~" Gilles de Rais's voice came again, this time from inside the giant sea monster.
"What the hell is that thing? Tia, you know what it is?" Alexander the Great asked seriously.
"It's a monster summoned by Gilles," Tia said. "His Noble Phantasm, Prelati's Spellbook, holds forbidden knowledge about the ancient gods from before humans existed. It's said the original text wasn't even written in a human language. With this book, Gilles came into contact with an ancient god, which drove him insane and changed his eyes. This monster is probably the result. Its weakness is unknown. The only way to destroy it might be to completely destroy the Spellbook and Gilles himself."
"I see… but this kind of monster… probably only that golden guy can finish it off in one blow, if he's willing to throw enough powerful Noble Phantasms at it," Alexander said, glancing up at Gilgamesh on the roof.
"No, there's one more. Or maybe two," Tia said, looking toward the direction of the Einzbern castle, wondering if King Arthur would come, and then at Lancelot, who was picking up the weapons.
By now, Lancelot had gathered all the weapons Gilgamesh had thrown, hiding them in the shadows without showing himself.
"Mas…ter… why… pick up… these weapons… others threw away…" Even as Tia's Servant, Lancelot was still a Berserker, but he could barely communicate now. He spoke to Tia through their link, though it cost a bit of mana. Luckily, Tia had plenty.
"You know they're Noble Phantasms, so of course we're picking them up. I want to study them. Maybe I can unlock their full power again," Tia replied through the link.
"I… don't need them…" Lancelot said.
"But I do!" Tia pouted. Her origin was the sword, after all, and having more weapons would only make her arsenal richer.
"Fine… I'll… wait until no one's around…"
"Is that necessary? It's just picking stuff up," Tia said casually. At most, she just wanted Lancelot to watch out for Gilgamesh.
"I… a Knight of the Round Table… picking up weapons others threw away… If the King finds out… how embarrassing…" Lancelot muttered.
Tia rolled her eyes.
"And… I can feel it… the King… King Arthur… is getting closer… I don't want to go out… don't want the King… to see me like this… so out of control…" So Lancelot actually cared this much about his image.
"Didn't the King already see you before? Isn't it too late to say that now?" Tia asked.
"It's not too late… as long as I don't show myself now…"
"So that means when you were with Matou Kariya as his Master before, that wasn't really you?"
Lancelot didn't answer, which basically meant yes.
Tia couldn't help but laugh, thinking maybe every Knight of the Round Table was a bit messed up—if they weren't obsessed with the King, then they were twisted, or even more twisted.
(End of The Chapter)