"Your Majesty, they've entered!"
The King of Conquerors rubbed his chin, asking Waver beside him with a furrowed brow.
"Has the Little Miss and her group not arrived yet?"
Waver shook his head helplessly.
"They were intercepted by unknown Magi on the way. Rin has already dispatched some Servants ahead to support us, but it will still take a while for them to arrive."
"Ah la la, this really is tense! But to think that even though the Little Miss helped me convince the king of heroes to lend some Noble Phantasms to my legion, we're still no match for these guys! Hahahaha."
Waver watched the laughing King of Conquerors, sensing a hint of helplessness in his laughter.
Black Saber took the lead into the ruins of the Hanging Gardens, black-purple magical energy constantly rising from her body. The demonic sword in her hand was also enveloped in thick magical energy, becoming a five-meter-long giant sword.
Black Saber swiftly swung her demonic sword, dealing with the soldiers in the corridor. Then, she raised the sword and unleashed its Noble Phantasm, annihilating all the magical traps in the passage.
Manaka and the others followed slowly through the path cleared by Black Saber, arriving at the main hall.
Upon entering the hall, Manaka and her group saw the King of Conquerors and Gray engaged in a fierce battle with Black Saber.
Holding his short sword to parry Black Saber's demonic sword, the King of Conquerors spoke to her with a look of nostalgia.
"It seems we were opponents in the last Holy Grail War, weren't we?"
As a blackened version of Saber summoned by Shinji using Kiritsugu Emiya's command spells from the previous war, Black Saber naturally possessed the memories of that conflict. Facing the words of her old rival, she sneered dismissively.
"Don't mistake me for that weakling!"
As Black Saber spoke, the magical energy on the demonic sword surged, making it even heavier.
The King of Conquerors struggled even more. Facing the increasingly heavy demonic sword, the already straining King of Conquerors was forced to roll away to dodge the downward slash.
Meanwhile, Gray, who had been kicked in the stomach and sent flying earlier in the battle, slowly stood up. Raising the scythe transformed from the 'Holy Lance,' she quickly moved to Black Saber's side. Taking advantage of the moment Black Saber's sword struck the ground, she swiftly swung the scythe toward her neck.
Black Saber released one hand from her sword and easily blocked Gray's slash with the gauntlet on her arm.
"You puppet created by Morgan, get lost!"
Black Saber let out a roar, grabbed the scythe with a backhand, and flung Gray—weapon and all—away.
Manaka watched Black Saber's heroic performance and nodded in satisfaction. She then waved to Solomon on the side, signaling him to join the battlefield, before taking Angra Mainyu through the hall toward the depths of the ruins.
Waver, staring intently at Solomon, who was gathering magecraft on his hands and preparing for action, shouted at the King of Conquerors.
"Your Majesty, Sajyou Manaka has broken through. Let's retreat!"
The King of Conquerors casually scooped up Gray, who had been besieging Black Saber with him, tossed her into Waver's arms, and shouted.
"Waver! Take this little girl and go first!"
Then, blocking a sword strike from Black Saber, the King of Conquerors roared at the still-hesitant Waver.
"Waver! This is the King's order!"
Seeing this, Waver bowed to the King of Conquerors with hot tears in his eyes, then activated the fortress permissions given by Rin, and disappeared from the hall via space magecraft.
"Very clever. You realized that if you chose to retreat with them, no one would be able to stop my pursuit, right?"
"Hahahaha, Saber! You still don't understand! Come, my Army of the King!"
As yellow sand filled the sky, Black Saber arrived once again in that familiar sea of sand. Standing before the army of tens of thousands, the King of Conquerors held his short sword high and shouted loudly.
"Saber, let us continue the battle from last time! This is the second half!"
"Yes! Yes! Yes!"
The army behind the King of Conquerors shouted in unison following his words.
Black Saber smiled slightly at the corner of her mouth, raised her magic sword, and charged into the army in an instant.
"Hahahaha, then come! But don't mistake me for that weakling from before!"
At this moment, no one noticed that Solomon, who had been drawn into the Reality Marble, had completely lost that hollow look in his eyes. He stood there, looking somewhat troubled, and simultaneously cast several magecrafts on himself.
"Sigh! I've been dragged into an incredible mess!"
In a residential house at the foot of Mount Ryudo, the Chaldea group stood on the balcony, watching Mount Ryudo, from which roars and sounds of fighting kept coming.
Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at Mash, puzzled, and asked.
"Mash, that was Sajyou Manaka just now, right? Why didn't we take the opportunity to finish her off? Isn't she our greatest enemy?"
Upon hearing Fujimaru Ritsuka's question, Gudako was so frightened that she immediately lunged at Fujimaru Ritsuka and covered his mouth.
"Ahhhh! Are you trying to die? Shut up and don't mention that name!"
The overly nervous Gudako didn't notice that Fujimaru Ritsuka, whose mouth was covered, was letting out muffled groans and rolling his eyes back.
Fortunately, Mash, who was to the side, reacted, instantly entered her Servant form, and with some effort, pulled Gudako's hand away, releasing the gasping Fujimaru Ritsuka.
"Are you okay, Senpai?"
"Cough, cough, Gudako, are you trying to kill me!"
Knowing she had made a mistake, Gudako stuck out her tongue sheepishly and looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was being supported by Mash, with an apologetic expression.
At this point, the mature version of Shinji walked behind Gudako and unhesitatingly smashed his fist onto her head.
"Idiot, you almost suffocated Fujimaru-kun just now. Pay attention! You have been turned into a'saint' by Rin. With your brute strength, even an average Servant is no match for you!"
Gudako rubbed the bump that the mature Shinji had created on her head, carefully moved to Fujimaru Ritsuka's side, and kept apologizing to him.
After Fujimaru Ritsuka recovered, Mash explained to him.
"Senpai, we cannot casually say that person's name! According to the calculations of the spiritron computer, since she is connected to the Root and maintaining her personality, mentioning her name will cause her to perceive you, and then she will use the Root to spy on everything about you!"
"Ah! Then I just mentioned her name, what should I do!"
The mature Shinji looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka and shook his head. In fact, the mature Shinji never understood why Rin would let this scatterbrain become the first candidate for Chaldea.
"It doesn't matter. Ever since that barrier opened, she should have already grasped everything in Fuyuki City. However, as long as Gudako is truly undetectable by her as Rin said, then there is no problem!"
Fujimaru Ritsuka finally patted his chest in relief and let out a sigh.
"Is that so! That's great."
"Alright, cheer up, everyone. We are ready to intervene in this period of history at any time. Everyone, remember, do not let Rin see us, understand!"
"Yes!" X3
Then the mature Shinji raised the grail in his hand and looked at the mountain, thinking to himself, 'Do I really have to hand the grail to Solomon!'
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