Disgust... Disgust... Disgust...
As Guinevere's gaze fell upon Ryuunosuke Uryuu again, she still couldn't comprehend how she had been summoned by him based on compatibility.
In the Holy Grail War, there are generally two methods for summoning Heroic Spirits. The first is to prepare a Holy Relic related to the desired Heroic Spirit for a targeted summoning.
The other is to prepare nothing and summon from the vast pool of Heroic Spirits based purely on affinity.
"Hey, are you still alive...?"
With his tongue and limbs severed, the serial killer should have died from blood loss alone. Yet, after Guinevere slapped him with the Holy Sword, he broke into the most radiant smile imaginable, born from the extremity of pain.
Partly curious about what he might say, and partly wanting to test the Achievement Noble Phantasm she never possessed in life, Guinevere spoke:
"Your tongue is perfectly intact."
The unreleased Achievement Noble Phantasm activated, consuming an amount of Mana that made Guinevere frown. Just this minor act of "overlaying truth with falsehood" had already drained one percent of her Mana reserves.
Then, Guinevere realized a major drawback of being summoned by Ryuunosuke Uryuu. As a Servant, she was no longer a living being and could barely recover Mana naturally. Unlike the original Caster, she was unwilling to use human lives as batteries.
Furthermore, Ryuunosuke Uryuu wasn't a Mage at all. Even if he were completely unharmed, he couldn't provide any Mana supply.
Looks like if I'm going to make any real moves, I need to switch Masters first.
There were so many things she wanted to do, so much information to gather, but she could only take it one step at a time.
While Guinevere was contemplating, Ryuunosuke Uryuu finally realized his tongue had returned.
"It worked! It worked! It worked! I really did summon a demon!
"Hey, gorgeous, what kind of demon are you? A Succubus? A Chainsaw Demon? Or...? Never mind! Thank you for showing me that the thing I've been searching for was inside me all along!
"Look! Aren't I beautiful now?!"
Despite the massive blood loss that had left his face deathly pale, a feverish blush spread across his cheeks. After cutting off his tongue again, Guinevere decided she still needed him alive for a while longer.
"You were born without two legs and one arm."
As she spoke, the severed limbs—both legs and one arm—vanished, leaving the stumps smooth and uninjured, as if they had never been there. The only arm that remained was the one bearing the Command Spell.
This act consumed another three percent of Guinevere's Mana. For the final wound, she used her Noble Phantasm's power to launch a ruby, which erupted in flames to cauterize the stump.
Pain, excitement... If Ryuunosuke Uryuu could speak, he would probably lament once more that Guinevere was truly a demon.
After he, who had been twitching like a shrimp, finally calmed down, and Guinevere confirmed he wouldn't die for the time being, her gaze fell upon the bodies of the dead civilian couple.
She sighed, then used the house's landline to call the police, reporting a murder at the residence.
As for the unconscious child...
"Letting you go might leak some information about me, but it doesn't matter," Guinevere murmured to herself. "I was planning to visit the Matou House immediately anyway."
Without leaving just yet, she first found a suitcase and stuffed Ryuunosuke Uryuu inside. Then, using her Noble Phantasm, she constructed a false physical body for herself, complete with a modern, ordinary dress.
Once her preparations were complete, she left the house, pulling the suitcase with one hand while scrolling through information on her phone with the other.
Just as she casually walked out of the residential complex, a fleet of Fuyuki City police cars came roaring toward the scene.
At that moment, Guinevere spotted him—the unlucky man in a wine-red suit with a goatee and black hair.
He was Tokiomi Tohsaka, the current head of one of the Holy Grail War's founding families and the administrator of Fuyuki City.
Ryuunosuke Uryuu had committed several murders, each time leaving a Servant summoning circle at the scene. This had long ago drawn Tokiomi's attention.
If Guinevere's memories from over a century ago served her correctly, Tokiomi's Servant was the Archer-class Gilgamesh—the most powerful enemy in this Holy Grail War based on raw stats.
Guinevere had no desire to confront this Master-Servant pair just yet. She thoroughly disliked Gilgamesh.
The reason for her dislike? Guinevere remembered how the "Golden Pipsqueak" from the original story had tried to make Artoria his concubine. The mere thought made her want to snap both his elbows.
Besides, Guinevere wasn't the type to stand idly by while he spat "mongrel" at everyone.
But as she tried to pass by inconspicuously, Tokiomi sensed her presence. He frowned and turned his gaze toward her.
"Master, have you found something?"
A steady voice reached Tokiomi's ears through a communication channel established by Magecraft.
It was his student—and his ally in this war.
"Kirei, send an Assassin to watch that woman. She stirs an... unsettling feeling within my heart."
"Is she a Servant?"
"No, she's human. Likely a Master."
"Master, shall we test her?"
"No. Not all seven Master-Servant pairs have been summoned yet. We must avoid unnecessary actions. Besides, I have already drawn the winning hand."
"Yes, Master."
On the other end of the communication channel, a black-haired priest stood ramrod straight at the entrance to a basement. His lifeless eyes were fixed on the stunningly handsome, golden-haired, red-eyed youth who shared the room.
He had refused the wine offered by the golden-haired youth and, amidst the youth's soft chuckle, took his leave.
As he emerged from the basement and stepped outside the Holy Church Cathedral, a female Assassin in a black bodysuit and a pale white skull mask instantly appeared before him.
"Go. Watch her, but do not alert her."
The skull-masked Assassin acknowledged her orders and vanished.
Meanwhile, Guinevere remained unaware that Tokiomi Tohsaka had noticed her, though she suspected her presence had already been exposed.
Not far from the apartment complex, where sirens still blared, the 'lone' Guinevere was cornered in an alley by a group of thugs.
After casually dispatching them, Guinevere learned from their dying words why she had been targeted.
She was beautiful, but not so stunning as to drive men to madness. Yet, as these married thugs looked at her, an uncontrollable urge to procreate surged within them.
Guinevere understood. It was the effect of her Innocent Monster skill on her Servant Status.
"How troublesome. I'm still not used to this current status sheet. If Tokiomi Tohsaka was drawn to me, does that mean other Mages have likely detected me as well?
I wonder if my photograph will end up in the hands of the Einzbern Master. If Lia is truly summoned, will she come looking for me the moment she sees it?"
On her phone, she displayed the publicly known historical accounts of the King of Knights' era. Just as Guinevere had hoped, the records stated that the King of Knights was betrayed by Mordred and they perished together on Camlann Hill, bringing the Camelot Kingdom to an end.
The records also painted Guinevere as a femme fatale who brought ruin to the kingdom. They claimed her affair with Lancelot and her favoritism toward him led to his being granted Gaul, effectively fracturing the Round Table.
Interestingly, the most widely accepted version of history even described Lancelot as an adorable, white-haired young girl. The encyclopedia entry even included a portrait of a white-haired girl, allegedly drawn by Guinevere herself during the King of Knights' reign.
As a result, the most widely accepted rumor for Guinevere's infidelity became that she was attracted to women, while the King of Knights was a man.
"Anyway, I don't want to go to Tokiomi Tohsaka's place, and the Einzberns probably haven't arrived in Fuyuki yet. I'll just head to the Matou House and take a look from a distance. They can't possibly summon a white-haired young girl version of Lancelot, right?"
Guinevere still had seventy percent of her mana remaining. As long as she didn't use her Second Noble Phantasm, this amount was more than enough for several intense battles.
She had once used the Holy Grail, which had massively boosted her mana reserves. Even though her Master had been the useless Ryuunosuke Uryuu, her mana capacity remained top-tier.
Continuing to pull her suitcase, Guinevere swiped through the satellite map of Fuyuki City on her phone, trying to pinpoint her target's location.