The golden spear transformed into a grimoire covered in strange characters. In that instant, Saber sensed disaster.
Before her eyes, Berserker's mouth moved as though chanting an incantation, yet neither she nor Assassin could hear a single sound.
Carbuncle Summon!
A blue, multi-tailed creature materialized on the ground.
A cat?
A rabbit?
Neither Saber nor Kenshin could identify what species the thing was. It certainly didn't resemble any animal in their knowledge.
If forced to describe its appearance in a single word: "adorable."
But paired with an existence like Berserker, neither of them felt inclined to celebrate.
"An incantation..."
"Don't tell me?!"
Seeing Berserker's mouth move again, Saber reacted first and lunged to interrupt.
She had pieced it together. Not just sword and spear, Berserker could also wield "magecraft."
Yet one thing confounded her. According to the Holy Grail's Class designation, a Servant's usable abilities should be restricted.
As previously established: Saber would always revolve around "the sword," Lancer around "the spear." The idea of a Saber wielding a spear or a Lancer picking up a sword violated the very concept of the Class system.
Yet Berserker seemed utterly unaffected by such constraints.
No one could provide an answer. For now, she and Assassin had to focus on stopping him. The strength of his magecraft was unknown, and she had no desire to test it firsthand. From everything she'd seen, this was a supremely dangerous opponent.
"Blocking me?"
Intercepted by the small, strange creature, Kenshin dodged a whip of its tail, his heart sinking.
Even this odd creature possessed respectable power. He could shake it off quickly enough, but those few seconds would be all Berserker needed to complete his chant.
It would have to be Saber who handled the front.
BOOM!
But in her vision, the instant Saber closed in, a blinding flash of white light blasted her away.
"Ugh!"
Thud!
Crash...
Her body slammed into the earth, skidding across the ground before crashing through the wall of an abandoned building and finally coming to a halt.
'His casting speed is absurdly fast.'
'And he locked onto me in an instant.'
Clutching her abdomen, pain radiating through her body, Saber drove the holy sword into the ground and hauled herself upright.
Her speed, while not on par with Assassin's agility, was still exceptional. Yet even that hadn't been enough to reach Berserker in time.
"Another one incoming!"
Instinct flared. Saber threw the holy sword up as a shield.
BOOM!!
The abandoned building collapsed in a shower of rubble and dust.
"..."
Having repelled the blue "cat-rabbit," Kenshin found himself at a loss for how to overcome this opponent.
Too strong.
This was the most terrifying adversary he had ever encountered. He could see no path to victory. His blade alone was utterly insufficient.
"!"
But then, amid the ruins of the collapsed building, he spotted a gleam of light.
That was where Saber had been.
Berserker's magecraft had blasted Saber away, but her holy sword remained embedded in the ground.
A sword.
Something clicked in his mind. Without hesitation, Kenshin bolted toward it.
Whoosh!
Berserker gave chase.
Grab!
Reaching the holy sword, Kenshin stretched out his hand for the hilt just as Berserker swung his golden axe, which had replaced the grimoire, downward in a devastating vertical cleave.
"Assassin!"
The moment was witnessed by Saber, who had just risen to her feet not far away.
She knew what Kenshin was attempting: to borrow her holy sword as a substitute weapon.
'If it's him... even just wielding it as a normal blade, he might actually make it work.'
The Sword of Promised Victory. Kenshin could never activate its true power. But used simply as a weapon for combat, it was more than adequate.
CLANG!!
Kenshin flipped his body, lying horizontal in mid-air, and wrenched the holy sword free. He brought it up overhead in a single fluid motion.
Sacred steel met golden axe. The collision unleashed a shockwave that drove Kenshin into the ground, Berserker's overwhelming force pressing down on him.
Crack crack!
The earth beneath his back fractured.
"!"
Kenshin inhaled deeply, tilted his body, and slipped free from underneath. The axe cratered the ground, hurling shockwaves outward.
"Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryu!"
"Dragon Hammer Flash!!"
Seizing the opening, Kenshin leapt from the side, gripping the holy sword with both hands, and brought it crashing down from above.
Berserker registered the motion and backed away. But Kenshin's speed was no joke.
Crack crack!
This time, there were no sparks or ricocheting steel. The holy sword genuinely bit through Berserker's thick plate armor.
"Did it work?"
Saber watched the retreating Berserker, hardly daring to believe it.
Though no blood sprayed, there was no question: Assassin had breached his defenses.
Glancing down at the damaged chestplate, the mouth concealed beneath Berserker's visor curved upward.
These two unknown heroes...
They truly possessed remarkable skill and tenacity.
To sustain this level of combat against him was already an achievement in itself.
BOOM!!
At that very moment, an explosion sounded from nearby, and a figure tumbled out of the blast, rolling across the ground.
"Blegh blegh blegh..."
"I got dust in my mouth!"
A blond figure scrambled to his feet, making a face.
"How many traps do you even have?!"
Still shackled by the hexagram, Sakura Kyoko dropped down from above, shouting furiously.
This mage was insufferably underhanded!! She'd lost count of the pits she'd stumbled into, and still couldn't lay a finger on him. Meanwhile, she was the one covered in soot.
"Is that...?!"
"Lancer and Caster?"
The sudden intrusion drew the attention of everyone present.
They hadn't expected those two combats to spill into one another.
"Huh? There's another battle going on over here? Oh no!"
Belatedly, Kyoko realized three distinctly non-human presences occupied the space nearby.
She could clearly sense each one's aura as a Servant. The last thing she wanted right now was to face that bunch.
A Lancer who couldn't wield her spear. What kind of situation even was this?!
But then, golden light blazed.
And an utterly inappropriate burst of laughter echoed from atop a nearby lamppost.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]