On the other side, just shortly before Jean Stardust and Lia's assassination operation began, at the estuary near the seaside park.
Touko Aozaki was puffing on a cigarette, walking as if she were taking a stroll amidst a pile of shipping containers.
Behind her, a figure was tailing her.
Generally speaking, this stalker's technique was quite good; ordinary people or even Magicians surely wouldn't have noticed, but Touko Aozaki's body was not flesh and blood, but rather a puppet she had meticulously crafted herself.
Over the long years, constantly changing bodies had made her no longer fixated on whether her body still needed to remain within human limits.
However, to ensure smooth transfers, the main structure remained no different from her original self, though she had certainly performed no shortage of modifications to enhance her hearing, vision, and strength.
Therefore, in her perception, this individual who had been tailing her for an entire day had long since been completely exposed.
It was just that Touko did not decisively strike out at them; after all, the other party's identity was very likely someone from the Mage's Association. Even though her Seal Designation had been lifted, the envious and those filled with Greed within the Association were still countless.
The current magic ritual known as the Holy Grail War seemed to be nearing its end. Although she had accepted a few commissions from the Church and robbed a wealthy Magician, these small gains were not worthy of the time wasted by a Grand Order Puppeteer.
Therefore, Touko endured it. She could see that the other party had no intention of launching an active attack, perhaps fearing her Servant or perhaps afraid of attracting attention.
However, her own Servant had been hired to assist the Church's group to earn some extra money, so there was a high probability the other party would attack. Thus, she specifically led them to the shipping container she had rented to store her tools.
This could also be considered her temporary Workshop.
Just as Touko had expected, the stalker wearing a wine-red suit revealed their figure. She remembered this person seemed to be an executor for Seal Designations, a very troublesome individual, so Touko prepared to try talking first.
"Have you finally come out after following me for a day?"
"You must be Touko Aozaki." Although Bazett had already confirmed the other party's identity, she still asked again.
"Yes, that's right. Are you an executor for the Church's Seal Designations?"
Bazett nodded and then assumed a combat stance.
"Don't you know that my Seal Designation has already been lifted?"
"Although I have heard of such a claim, I have already confirmed it with my superiors and did not receive this information."
At this moment, Touko Aozaki understood; the person before her had been treated as a disposable pawn. If she successfully sealed her, the achievement would be hidden; if she failed, they would claim she acted arbitrarily—a classic ploy.
But the trouble lay precisely here. Touko knew very well that no matter what she said now, the other party's attitude would not change; a battle was unavoidable.
Sure enough, before Touko could say her next sentence, Bazett had already activated the reinforcement of her limbs and dashed over rapidly.
Unlike the type of spellcraft Jean Stardust used, which completely disregarded self-damage, Bazett's reinforcement was very balanced, with mana consumption and strength enhancement at a quite good equilibrium.
As a top-tier Magician, she had already understood Bazett's combat style and approximate strength just by observing.
Daring not to be negligent in the slightest, she immediately activated the effect of her Mystic Eyes of Accumulation, successfully capturing Bazett just before she was about to lose sight of her.
However, she shattered the bindings with a single punch and immediately dashed over again without hesitation.
This scene proved once again that the person before Touko was an existence even more difficult to deal with than the likes of Araya Souren or Cornelius Alba.
Casually throwing a briefcase from the shipping container onto the ground, accompanied by a shrill cry, a Shadow Cat appeared and, under Touko's instruction, began to grapple with Bazett.
But Touko had still underestimated Bazett. Although the Shadow Cat could revive continuously as long as the projector in the box remained undamaged, being killed in one hit, then reviving, then being killed again...
This process couldn't even be considered delaying her footsteps at all.
With no other choice, Touko had to deploy a new mechanical device again; this time, it was her brand-new masterpiece, the "Crystal Mayfly."
The Mayfly, made entirely of mechanical devices and only the size of a child's palm, had a completely transparent body. One could see the interior composed of crystal shards, friction mechanisms, and a trace amount of mana—a masterpiece brought about by ultimate technology.
And beauty was only one side of these Mayflies; the other side was that they functioned as projectors, serving as versatile floating turrets that could freely combine to release various types of magic.
Following Touko's command, a large number of magic bullets assaulted Bazett. Each shot, when considered by Servant standards, was at least at a C-rank level.
Under the dense barrage of light bullets, Bazett began to dodge, and when there was nowhere left to dodge, she even used her fists to take a few light bullets head-on.
However, this appeared to be futile. The excellence of the Crystal Mayflies in rapid-fire mode was unimaginable. The massive amount of magic bullets did not cease at all, and very quickly, they completely engulfed Bazett.
Just when Touko thought the situation was settled, a blue figure flashed into the barrage, and after a series of clattering sounds, all the light bullets were deflected away.
Only then did Touko see the figure inside clearly: blue tights, a red spear, and a battle aura as ferocious as a wild beast. This was likely a Servant of the Lancer class.
At this moment, Touko found herself in a difficult spot. In her view, the Servant's own abilities were not at a level she couldn't handle, but the class ability of the top three Knight classes—as well as Rider—which was Magic Resistance, made it completely impossible for an ordinary Magician to contend with them.
And the one before her was precisely that Lancer. At the same time, his act of deflecting the light bullets did not appear to rely entirely on brute force but rather on some kind of curse. Based on her own experience, she surmised it was likely a Geis originating from Celtic lore.
"A Geis, a beast-like stance, a warrior holding a red spear... could you be the 'Child of Light,' Cú Chulainn?"
Although it was an interrogative tone, Touko was quite certain, while simultaneously thinking about her next strategy.
"Isn't that common knowledge? As expected, hiding oneself is nothing but a joke." He said heartily, shouldering his long spear.
If it were an ordinary master, they would have already used their command spells to summon their Servant by now.
But Touko's Servant had accepted a commission and was earning extra money; if they returned, the contract would be voided, and she would have to pay a significant penalty fee, although she had never actually paid such a thing as a penalty fee before.
And the most important point was that the Magician named Touko Aozaki had the pride of not losing to a Servant, possessed corresponding trump cards, and coupled with her characteristic of being unable to die even when courting death, she chose to handle the two people before her herself.
She once again dragged a huge cubic stone box out from the shipping container behind her. If Jean Stardust were here, they would definitely interrupt immediately, but these two people were not clear about the details of the stone box and temporarily chose to observe.
And thus, the true monster was released.
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