"Ah!"
Hearing Souya's words, the Hunter Miss finally realized her posture with Souya was highly inappropriate. She hurriedly jumped down from him.
Honestly, it wasn't entirely her fault. As a feline (catgirls count, right?) and a hunter, her perception and vigilance regarding her environment far exceeded ordinary people's.
Souya's teleportation magecraft, adapted from Morgan's, was fundamentally closer to Runic magecraft.
In layman's terms, it simply isolated him and a specific area around him, then teleported them. Even Souya wasn't entirely sure what state or environment they passed through during the process.
But for Atalante, whose perception was maxed out, the sensation must have been incredibly bizarre. Instinctively, she took what she believed was the most secure defensive measure: jumping into Souya's arms.
Souya could only accept this helplessly.
"Forget what you just saw!"
Noticing Souya's strange look, Atalante's face instinctively flushed red. Nevertheless, she feigned ferocity and glared at Souya.
However, paired with the lingering blush on her cheeks, her expression was anything but threatening.
It was merely adorably amusing.
Atalante is so cute~
Clearly, Souya thought so too.
But such thoughts could only remain internal. Facing Atalante's fierce glare, Souya tactfully looked away and changed the subject.
"Ahem, Archer. Take a look around. It seems we are surrounded by the enemy."
"I knew that from the very beginning. You didn't need to tell me."
Atalante snorted softly, ignoring the previous topic and following Souya's gaze.
Just as he said, the moment they appeared on the battlefield, the Black Faction's homunculi noticed them.
Or rather, in this sea of Dragon Tooth Warriors, it would be hard not to notice them.
"Orphe—... Kotomine Souya. Let me be clear. While I will protect you from death since we are in the same faction, if you cannot demonstrate strength matching your courage, ensuring you don't die is all I will do."
Staring at the homunculi wielding various weapons closing in on them, Atalante summoned the Bow of Heaven and spoke coldly.
"Don't worry. If I have the confidence to come down here, I naturally have the means to make it back safely."
Souya simply smiled faintly. He raised his arm lightly, and golden patterns spread across it like tattoos.
"Dealing with you lot doesn't require me to use that power!"
As Souya spoke, the homunculi finally lost their patience. Wielding giant axes, greatswords, and other weapons, they charged at Souya and Atalante.
"Take one side each."
Seeing this, Atalante did not hesitate. Magical energy gathered in her hands, and countless magical arrows rained down from her black-gold greatbow, erupting with divine power.
Swish! Swish!
In an instant, gold and silver light flashed. A torrential downpour of magical arrows swarmed the Black Faction's homunculi and golems. When these magical arrows—each carrying the explosive force of a small bomb—were combined with Atalante's A-rank Agility, the result resembled a Gatling gun.
Under such a powerful and dense barrage, the majority of the homunculi on Atalante's side were killed almost instantly.
On Souya's side, facing the massive swarm of enemies, he opted for the same combat strategy: saturation bombing.
However, compared to Atalante's ferocity, Souya used cursed magical bullets designed to destroy bodily functions.
Although these bullets wouldn't physically destroy a person or kill them instantly, the curses imbued within them were more than enough to incapacitate the homunculi completely.
Furthermore, out of intrinsic kindness, Souya was using an incomplete, modified version of the cursed bullets. Even if they hit a homunculus, they would at most temporarily halt their bodily functions, putting them in a state of suspended animation for a few days. Once the curse wore off, they would return to normal.
As for the golems mixed among the homunculi, Souya used genuine magical bullets to obliterate them.
However, only Souya knew his good intentions. In the eyes of some, he currently looked like a cold-blooded homunculus-slaughtering machine.
"You bastard!!! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
While Souya and Atalante were clearing out the homunculi, the screech of an eagle suddenly echoed from the sky, accompanied by an angry, questioning voice belonging to a young girl.
Hearing this voice, Souya raised an eyebrow and looked up alongside Atalante.
They saw the Black Faction's Rider, Astolfo, riding his Hippogriff, flying straight toward them.
"It's the Black Rider. An enemy Servant is here."
Seeing this, Atalante's eyes sharpened. She flickered slightly, instinctively stepping in front of Souya.
What is meant to come, will come.
Souya had anticipated this, but seeing Atalante's instinctive protective action—even though he already had the trigger for Holy Spirit Projection ready in his hand—he still froze for a moment.
Astolfo finally reached them. Under Souya and Atalante's puzzled gazes, he charged directly in front of Souya.
"Watch out!"
This action clearly triggered Atalante. She instinctively moved to grab Souya and reposition him, but before she could act, Souya stopped her.
"Wait a moment, Archer."
Gently patting Atalante's head to signal her to relax, Souya looked at Astolfo with amusement.
"Black Rider, were you questioning me just now?"
If Souya remembered correctly, he hadn't had much contact or conversation with Astolfo from the very beginning.
For the opponent to so explicitly question him now made Souya a bit curious.
"Orpheus..."
Feeling something was off, Atalante frowned.
She didn't particularly mind Souya patting her head without permission; after all, such things happened almost daily in her past life.
What truly unsettled her was this guy's audacious attitude—allowing a Servant to approach him when he was merely a normal human. Whether he was that guy or not, this foolishness was surprisingly consistent.
Thinking this, but seeing Souya had no intention of changing his mind, the Hunter Miss silently edged closer to him.
Astolfo clearly didn't notice any of this, nor would he care. His attention was entirely focused on their surroundings, particularly the homunculi lying at Souya's feet.
Ironically, because Atalante's magical arrows were too destructive, leaving no corpses behind, the area she cleared looked relatively clean.
Souya, however, left countless homunculus "corpses" lying haphazardly everywhere because of his magical bullets. Due to the bullets' effects, their life signs had vanished.
This scene infuriated Astolfo.
"Who else could it be but you! Kotomine Souya!"
To Souya's surprise, Astolfo actually remembered his name.
Astolfo marched up, grabbed Souya by the collar, and demanded an answer.
"Look at what you've done! You saved Sieg earlier! You helped him escape! So why are you attacking these homunculi now?! They are humans just like Sieg, they are his kin!"
Hm?
Hearing this barrage of words, Souya was momentarily stunned, and then his confusion erupted.
"So, you think I shouldn't have killed these homunculi?"
"Of course! Didn't you say you wanted to become a Saint? How can a Saint slaughter the innocent and treat lives like weeds!"
As if enraged that Souya would even ask such a question, Astolfo's tone carried unprecedented anger and heartbreak.
It was as if the Souya before him had betrayed his expectations.
Regardless of what Astolfo thought, after hearing his words, Souya finally understood the whole picture.
So, he thinks that because I saved Sieg, I am obligated to save all the other homunculi just like him?
Souya's lips curled upwards.
Truly, fascinating.
It seemed he had underestimated the "Evaporation of Sanity" skill. When watching the anime, he thought this side of Astolfo was cute and endearing. But facing it in reality, Souya suddenly realized it wasn't good at all.
Discarding all intellect and logic, acting purely on whim, and imposing one's own worldview on others—even instinctively ignoring reality if that worldview contradicted common sense.
Looking at Astolfo, Souya's eyes grew cold.
Without another word, Souya slapped away Astolfo's hands, which were grabbing his collar while standing on tiptoe.
Under Astolfo's stunned gaze, Souya spoke coldly.
"Don't flatter yourself, Black Rider."
"I saved Sieg because I had my own reasons. Saving him was merely convenient. As for these homunculi, I absolutely will not, nor do I have any obligation to, save them. Furthermore."
Souya paused slightly, his gaze falling on the homunculi lying on the ground in suspended animation.
"Even if I didn't attack them, they would still attack me under orders from the Black Faction. So they were never innocent to begin with. Do you understand, Black Rider?"
"They..."
Hearing Souya's words, Astolfo froze. He instinctively wanted to say something to refute Souya, but silently realized he had no grounds for rebuttal.
Although his sanity had evaporated, he hadn't truly become an idiot. The reason he hadn't realized this was because it simply hadn't occurred to him, nor would he normally think about it. But if someone explained the logic to him, he would accept it.
Just like now. Even though Astolfo subconsciously maintained the belief that homunculi shouldn't be harmed, facing Souya's point, he couldn't bring himself to tell someone to give up resisting and let the homunculi harm them.
But right at this moment, when Souya and Atalante's attention was entirely focused on Astolfo, a figure slowly materialized behind Atalante from the blood pooling from an accidental homunculus injury.
Looking at Atalante's back, noting the girl's petite stature and soft skin, a bloodthirsty craving surged in the eyes hidden beneath the black cloak.
She slowly reached her hand toward Atalante.
Sensing something amiss, Atalante instinctively frowned and whipped around. What met her eyes was an Iron Maiden, its doors wide open, lunging to devour her.
"Noble Phantasm: Phantom Iron Maiden."
"Atalante!"
Noticing this scene, Souya didn't care about hiding her True Name and yelled it out instinctively.
In the instant his gaze shifted, through the perspective of the cloaked Carmilla, a certain illusionist far away in the castle acutely noticed this moment.
"My, my. Cute little priest~ You fell for my trick too~"
As if watching a highly anticipated play, Merlin rested her chin on her hands, letting out a joyful, excited laugh.
Beside her stood Roche Frain Yggdmillennia, the Master of the Black Rider, stiff as a puppet. A red-black light flickered in his eyes.
At this moment, he held his right hand high. The Command Spells on it pulsed with an eerie red light in the darkness.
"By my Command Spell, Rider Astolfo: Kill the enemy Master, Kotomine Souya."
"By my Command Spell, Rider Astolfo: Unleash your full Noble Phantasms upon the enemy Master, Kotomine Souya."
"By my Command Spell, Rider Astolfo: Bring back the corpse of the enemy Master, Kotomine Souya."
Three Command Spells vanished. Accompanied by the illusionist's low chuckle, everything returned to silence.
Meanwhile, Astolfo, who had been standing frozen, suddenly screamed in agony. His body writhed violently on the ground, as if something agonizing was eroding his brain.
"No, stop! You can't do this... Master... you cannot do this..."
Amidst the Hippogriff's anxious cries, Astolfo's movements gradually weakened. When Souya frowned and looked at him, he saw a fully manifested lance.
It was Astolfo's Noble Phantasm, "Trap of Argalia." Despite its laughable name, if it touched a person, it would forcefully strip them of their legs and mobility.
In the final moments before his consciousness faded, Astolfo looked at Souya with a stubborn expression, mouthing the words:
"Run... away..."
The next instant, the lance was hurled violently at Souya. Simultaneously, Carmilla reached her hand toward him.
It was the activation motion for the Phantom Iron Maiden Noble Phantasm.
Facing Noble Phantasms unleashed by two Servants simultaneously, Souya's situation appeared to be a dead end from every angle.
Even Atalante, the only person present who could save him, was currently restrained by Carmilla's Noble Phantasm.
Yet, at this very moment, Souya's expression remained surprisingly calm. Because behind him, the figure of a knight had already descended from the Throne of Heroes.
Boom!
In the nick of time, Souya's entire body was enveloped in brilliant golden light. The moment the Noble Phantasms struck, a white-gold lance thrust out from the golden radiance.
The next instant, both the lance and the Iron Maiden were swatted away by the Holy Lance in the blink of an eye.