"Mash, smash them with the back of your shield!"
A short while later, as Guinevere and Bedivere braved the sandstorm and emerged on the leeward side of the battlefield, they easily spotted the three Chaldea members surrounded by skull-faced figures in tight bodysuits.
However, when Guinevere saw that Chaldea's Master was an orange-haired girl, her smile stiffened slightly. She began to doubt whether her support was even needed.
In her memories, Chaldea's orange-haired female Master was incredibly powerful—strong enough to tear apart the Demon God King with her bare hands.
Thank goodness, she's just an ordinary girl...
On the battlefield, the orange-haired girl was hiding behind the large shield-wielding Mash, stumbling whenever the skull-faced figures attacked. By all appearances, she was just a normal Master.
Guinevere's gaze shifted from the girl to Mash. She quickly scanned Mash's revealing armor, her eyes lingering on the exposed thighs and the curve of her hips.
Truly the Lewd Eggplant.
From their position on the leeward side of the dune, Guinevere wondered if Chaldea's trio had noticed them. Besides the fighting Mash and the orange-haired girl, Chaldea's third member was a formidable Caster.
So beautiful... truly a body modeled after the Mona Lisa. A shame the soul within is male—the Universal Man, Da Vinci-chan.
When most people heard the name "Da Vinci," they immediately thought of a genius in science, mathematics, engineering, natural history, music, architecture, sculpture, painting, invention, and weapons development.
Yet, some might not recognize his name. But mention the famous painting Mona Lisa's Smile, and no one in later generations would be ignorant.
"Miss Ruler, are we really just going to watch?"
"Let's observe for now. Those Assassins pose no threat to them."
Hassan of the Hundred Faces was weak—weak in the Fourth Holy Grail War, and weak now. Yet, these very Hassans had successfully infiltrated the palace of the Sun King, Ramesses II. After drugging and incapacitating Nitocris, the Magecraft Queen of Ancient Egypt, they had managed to smuggle her away.
According to Guinevere's memories, this Singularity was divided into three major factions: New Camelot, founded by the Lion King; the native Mountain People; and the Pharaoh Faction, formed by the Sun King of Egypt and his Magecraft Queen.
In Guinevere's recollection, the abduction of the Magecraft Queen by Hassan of the Hundred Faces, and Chaldea's subsequent intervention to stop them, marked the very beginning of this Singularity's story.
If what happens next is the rescued Magecraft Queen turning on Chaldea's group, and the Magical Beast Sphinx that's been tailing them also appears...
Then, that would be enough to prove one thing to Guinevere: the story of this Singularity was unfolding exactly as she knew it. No deviations had occurred before her intervention.
"See? I told you those Assassins were no threat."
On the battlefield, Mash had already secured victory. After clearing five Singularities, she had become a highly skilled Demi-Servant. Because she only struck them with the flat of her shield, the Assassins were injured but not killed. After hurling some crude insults at Mash, they chose to abandon the fight and retreat.
"Miss Ruler, are we just going to keep watching? That shield..."
"Yes. That's our Round Table. It's Galahad's shield, and that little girl is the one he acknowledged."
Still within the sandstorm, Guinevere and Bedivere continued to observe. They watched as the dark-skinned, flat-chested Pharaoh Queen was dragged out, and saw Da Vinci-chan "gently" prod her with her heavy staff.
A moment later, the dark-skinned, flat-chested Pharaoh Queen awoke and immediately erupted into a fierce argument with the three from Chaldea.
Just as Guinevere remembered, after the argument, the Pharaoh Queen attacked Chaldea. Upon her initial defeat, she summoned the Magical Beast Sphinx that had been trailing her.
That Magical Beast... it belonged to the Sun King, Ramesses II.
"Miss Ruler, are we really, really not going to help?"
Mash had easily defeated Hassan of the Hundred Faces, and then she and Da Vinci-chan had just as easily defeated the newly awakened Nitocris.
But against the combined might of Nitocris and the Sphinx...
The ten-meter-tall lion-bodied creature effortlessly overwhelmed Mash, each swipe of its claws driving her lower legs deep into the sand.
In Guinevere's memory, this was when Bedivere had intervened, using his Silver Arm to rescue the Chaldea team.
So, to prevent the Chaldea team from being eliminated here and now, Guinevere—having seen what she wanted to see—made her move.
Beating Bedivere to it, she extended her hand toward the towering Sphinx and activated her "Executioner" Skill. This Skill granted her control over and immunity to flames.
But the flames she commanded were no ordinary fire; they were flames imbued with the true meaning of divine punishment, dealing extra damage to sinners and heretics.
As a Magical Beast from another mythological system, the Sphinx clearly fell into the category of "heretic."
And so, as the golden flames of divine punishment erupted on the Sphinx's body and swelled rapidly as if doused in oil, agonized, violent roars instantly pierced the heavens. The Sphinx's cat-like eyes fixed their gaze directly on Guinevere.
The sandstorm intensified, as if this were its own domain.
When the gale blew back Guinevere's hood, revealing her short golden hair whipping in the wind, both the Sphinx and Nitocris froze abruptly.
They ceased their assault on the Chaldea team. The Sphinx lunged forward to buy time, while Nitocris prepared to retreat.
They must have recognized Guinevere's face.
"The flames are quite effective, making the Sphinx feel pain. They should be excellent for clearing out lesser enemies," Guinevere mused. "But to kill this monster—which is actually summoned by a Noble Phantasm—it seems I still lack the firepower."
As she spoke, the Sphinx closed in. But before Guinevere needed to act, Bedivere, the King's Personal Knight, stepped forward and struck down the beast for her.
When the Silver Arm was unleashed, Bedivere shone with a light far beyond his own mortal reach.
After the light faded, the Sphinx was cleaved in two, dissolving into spiritual particles and vanishing. The entire kill took only the single second of that one strike.
The other figure, clad in Camelot-style armor, approached step by step after the Sphinx's death.
But as Guinevere drew closer, Nitocris began to sense something was wrong. The golden-haired girl leading the way wasn't wearing armor beneath her cloak, but strange attire she had never seen before.
Moreover, while this newcomer bore the Lion King's face, she lacked the Lion King's detached Divinity.
At the same time, Nitocris noticed the Chaldea team's guarded stance. It was clear that although the shield-wielding girl wore Camelot's equipment, they seemed unfamiliar with the two newcomers.
No... they did seem familiar, because...
"Senpai! Master! Doesn't this golden-haired girl look familiar?" Mash shouted back, holding her shield protectively in front of the orange-haired girl. "She looks just like the King of Knights from Singularity F! And with that outfit, she's obviously not from this era, right? Could she be a rogue Servant we can recruit?"
Her question, spoken loudly, reached Guinevere, who was now close enough to hear.