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"I still think the strategist's plan is a little shaky."
"Same."
"Should we pull back first?"
"Great minds think alike."
Say what you want about Platform B being a trash fire — the abstract Masters locked inside this particular Holy Grail War were genuinely something else. Hidden talents everywhere you looked.
Maverick and Danny had been halfway to Trifas City in their jeep. One glance at the Ox-King Great Divine Messenger rising above the clouds, and they'd wordlessly agreed on the same thing: turn around, go back, live to fight another day.
The chat, predictably, had opinions.
[Chat]:
[Disappointed]: Maverick, being a freeloader is one thing, but being a coward on top of it?
[Challenging]: It's just a divine-level mount. Why won't you fight it, Maverick?
[Pushing_It]: At least throw a punch before running. Turning tail like this is basically saying you don't believe in Artoria.
[Counter]: Then YOU tell me how Artoria is supposed to fight that thing.
[Honest_Assessment]: You guys really are the natural disaster of the streaming world. Do everyone a favor and stay home.
[Distracted]: Artoria looks so cute right now. That little pouty expression—
[Agreement]: Right? It's a shame I didn't max out her bond level.
[Practical_Note]: How is he even driving on that road? It's basically a gravel pit.
Jokes aside.
The fans might roast Maverick endlessly — but they'd be devastated if he actually died out there. Everyone watching understood the situation. His current lineup wasn't built to clash head-on with a pseudo-divine Noble Phantasm. That wasn't cowardice; that was basic arithmetic.
The winning condition in this Holy Grail War wasn't eliminating the strongest Servant on the field. It was capturing points.
According to their strategist's breakdown: hold two capture points until the final thirty minutes, then go all-in on a third. Worst-case scenario planning. The more points they held before then, the better.
Simple enough. Logical enough.
So Maverick turned the wheel. The plan was clear. The retreat was sensible.
And then MHX finished the last of her fried cutlet.
She licked the corner of her mouth, gathering the remaining crumbs with one careful finger, and her eyes lit up with the kind of fire that only ignites when a knight of justice spots an injustice she personally cannot overlook.
"Master."
Her voice was quiet. Completely at odds with what came next.
"We can't retreat."
Maverick didn't say anything.
"That thing is heading for Trifas City. I don't know what she's planning to do there — but it won't be anything good. I can't just watch that many innocent people get caught in the crossfire." She turned to look at him directly. "I want to stop her. So please, Master — please."
[Chat]:
[Oh_No]: here we go
[Doomed]: she's going to make him turn around isn't she
[MHX_Defender]: listen. she's not wrong. that thing is going to level a city.
[Practical_Counter]: those are NPCs though
[MHX_Point]: to MHX they're not NPCs. to Servants, everyone in that world is real.
[Quiet_Moment]: the chat got genuinely serious for a second
A lot of players defaulted to treating every non-participant character as background filler — scenery with a hit point bar. But that wasn't how Servants processed the world. From MHX's perspective, those weren't non-player characters sitting in Trifas City. They were people. Real ones. About to get caught in something they'd had no part in starting.
Maverick was quiet for a moment.
Then he turned the wheel back the other way.
The jeep swung around.
"Sorry, Danny. Looks like I'm being stubborn about this one." He kept his eyes on the road. "If you don't want any part of it, I can—"
"Stop." Danny cut him off. "Don't make it sound like I've never fought in a Holy Grail War before."
She settled back in her seat.
"Running without even trying is a little ridiculous when the strategist specifically told us to guard Trifas. But we're not doing this unilaterally." She glanced at the back seat. "What do you think, Mage?"
The Servant sitting in the back — pale-skinned, sharp-featured, radiating an energy that could generously be described as rakish — spread his hands with a slow smile.
"Does it matter what I think at this point? All three of you already said yes."
He paused, turning the expression over like he was tasting it.
"I'm not blaming you. I've seen that sense of justice in action — I don't dislike it." A small exhale, the last surrender of someone who'd planned to have a relaxing afternoon. "I was going to coast through this quietly. But since you've all already committed — fine. I'll block the monster."
MHX turned around in her seat.
"Thank you. Seriously — thank you, Mage. And thank you, Danny. Thank you for going along with this."
The Mage looked briefly pained — not at her, but at the sincerity. Like a man who'd spent years cultivating a reputation for being difficult and was now being forced to acknowledge it wasn't entirely accurate.
The jeep accelerated toward the Ox-King Great Divine Messenger.
[Chat]:
[Shocked]: NO. YOU'RE ACTUALLY DOING IT?
[Losing_It]: Maverick, I want to have your children. I'm serious.
[Bemused]: how does he say something that cool with THAT FACE
[Character_Analysis]: feels very off-brand for him
[Foil_Watch]: MHX is becoming Maverick's hype woman at this rate
[Ominous]: you know what this means right. whenever someone does something noble like this the supporting cast dies first.
[Denial]: DON'T
[Changing_Subject]: these two are basically a pair of wild cards — completely useless right up until the exact moment it counts
[Wallet_Out]: I have to send Maverick a Super Chat for this. I genuinely have to.
[Possessive]: Hey! Maverick! Eyes on the road! Stop looking at my Artoria!
[Appreciating]: those sports shorts though. those legs. I am unwell.
[Refined_Opinion]: the real star is the black ankle socks
[Agreement]: you have excellent taste
The jeep closed in on the colossus.
Thunder was falling in irregular patterns around the Noble Phantasm — random, wide, unpredictable. Maverick took one look at the strike pattern and one look at the metal frame of the jeep and arrived at the obvious conclusion without anyone needing to say it.
MHX had already arrived at the same one.
She stood up from the passenger seat, balancing easily despite the rough road beneath the wheels. One glance at Maverick — he gave the faintest nod — and she stepped off the door frame and launched herself clear of the vehicle entirely.
The moment her feet hit the ground, she was already moving.
The Servant's physical capability wasn't something that translated well into words. She crossed the distance between the jeep and the Ox-King Great Divine Messenger in what felt like no time at all — a golden streak low along the ground, each step covering more distance than it had any right to. She hit one of the massive front hooves, used it as a launching point, and continued upward — ascending the body of the Noble Phantasm like she was taking stairs two at a time, moving through the lightning strikes with the calm focus of someone who'd trained for exactly this kind of absurdity.
At the top, two small figures against the storm: Randy and Ushi Gozen.
MHX landed.
What Ushi Gozen had said registered in full — no purpose, no goal, just destruction as its own reward. The blank simplicity of it. The cheerful certainty.
The fire in MHX's eyes went from justice to fury in the space of a breath.
She drew the sword.
The blade caught the light wrong — too bright, too golden, humming with something that wasn't quite lightning but wasn't entirely separate from it either.
"You're going to answer for this—"
The swing was a full arc. Everything she had.
Ushi Gozen didn't move to dodge.
She drew the black blade and met it.
"Genji Sword Slash!"
The impact wasn't a sound so much as a pressure — a shockwave that flattened the clouds on both sides and sent the Ox-King Great Divine Messenger lurching sideways by several body lengths, its floating horns flickering like a signal in bad weather.
[Chat]:
[GALAXY]: GALAXY METEOR SWORD VS GENJI SWORD SLASH
[Can't_Breathe]: the Noble Phantasm clash is RIGHT THERE
[Lore_Emergency]: Genji Sword Slash — that's Ushi Gozen's mystic sword technique. she hasn't even used the Noble Phantasm yet and it's already THIS?
[MHX_Believer]: GO. GO. GO.
[Worried]: Ushi Gozen's activity window is limited. MHX just needs to hold her long enough.
[Watching_Randy]: Randy is RIGHT THERE on the bull's head watching a sword duel happen six inches from his face
[Randy_Experience]: his face has the expression of a man who has made many decisions today and is only now questioning some of them
Below, on the road that was rapidly becoming irrelevant:
Maverick watched MHX disappear into the storm above.
"...She's going to be fine," Danny said, not entirely convincingly.
"She'll be fine," Maverick agreed, in the tone of a man who had learned the hard way that the game had a habit of proving him wrong at the exact worst moments.
He floored the accelerator anyway.
Trifas City wasn't going to defend itself.
[End of Chapter 155]
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