Saber transformed into a gust of silver wind, hurtling through the woods.
Whenever she stepped onto a battlefield, no matter how much she loathed it, she was inevitably met with the sight of small, broken corpses. For her, who had once lived as King Arthur, this was a common sight of daily life.
When humans are forced to face life-or-death situations, they can become utterly hideous, base, and cruel—transforming into two-legged beasts that violate women, slaughter children, and plunder the starving. On battlefields strewn with bones, these "hungry ghosts of hell" were always present.
Yet, precisely because of this, even within such an inhumane hell, humans were supposed to maintain their noble selves.
Stopping Caster was not merely born of righteous indignation; it was her duty as a King. To see children from a strange land slaughtered for no reason was intolerable; even if it were only to provide justice for those she could not save, Caster had to be struck down.
Saber came to an abrupt halt.
She caught the scent of flowers wafting toward her, drifting through the forest on a winter night far removed from any blooming season. At first, she suspected it was a poison spread by Caster, using the fragrance as a cover to deceive the unwary into inhaling it. However, she quickly realized the scent was non-toxic. It was simply... too fragrant, making one feel a sense of relaxation that sapped the will to fight.
Knowing that nothing was blooming in the forest, Saber couldn't help but wonder: was this truly a magecraft used by that grotesque, neurotic Caster?
Soon, filled with doubt, she arrived at a sea of flowers blooming in the woods. Multi-colored blossoms covered the ground between the trees, coating the cold, hard earth in the colors of spring. The children Caster had abducted were lying among the flowers, their rising and falling chests proving they were still alive.
A figure wrapped in a white cloak, with a white hood concealing most of their face, was crouching before one of the children.
"Get away from that child!" Saber gripped her invisible sword, shouting at the white-cloaked figure.
The figure was worlds apart from Caster. Who was this? And where had Caster gone?
"Don't be so tense, King of Knights," the white-cloaked figure said in a sweet, feminine voice, soothing Saber with a gentle tone.
Having had her True Name exposed in last night's battle, Saber wasn't surprised that the stranger knew it.
"Where is Caster? What did you do to these children? And who are you?" The inexplicable situation forced a barrage of questions from Saber.
"Hehe... so many questions. Well, I'm not in a hurry." The woman in the white cloak stood up and turned sideways to Saber, though her face remained hidden beneath the hood. "Caster has been dismissed. He was quite unwilling, but he fled in a pathetic state nonetheless. As for the matter of hunting him down, I'll leave that to the participants of the Holy Grail War."
"Dismissed... You defeated Caster?" Saber was stunned. "Why would you do that?"
She had only been away from the castle for a few minutes. Had Caster been defeated in such a short time? Could it be that the crystal ball's magecraft had been interfered with by her as well?
"To save these children, of course. I was commissioned to do so," the woman said.
"...I see." Saber's grip on her sword relaxed slightly. She felt no hostility from the stranger.
"These children were lured out of the city by Caster. I'll see the job through and send them back," the hooded woman said.
"Wait, who exactly are—" Saber wanted to know her identity—whether she was a Servant, a Master, or something else entirely.
"Just an unassuming beauty who was asked to handle a few trifles and had to exert a little effort." The woman grasped a staff that materialized from the void and tapped it lightly against the ground.
A warm breeze whipped up countless flower petals, enveloping her and the unconscious children. The wind blew back the woman's hood, revealing her face. Artoria froze instantly.
"Merlin?"
In an instant, she thought of the man who had once been her mentor and later served her as a court magus. But the person before her was clearly a woman. Beneath her seemingly kind features was an aura even more detached from humanity than that of Saber's own mentor.
"Everything is fine here. You should head back and support your Master. His situation is quite dire—he might even die here."
Before being completely swallowed by the petals, the woman pointed toward the castle. Then, she vanished into the forest along with the children who had been in peril, leaving only the sea of flowers blooming in the woods.
"Master..." Saber hadn't fully processed the situation, but she turned her gaze toward the castle. "Kiritsugu?!"
Kiritsugu Emiya had made the optimal response within his range of reaction.
He had dealt with frontal assaults on the main gate before; he had always successfully counterattacked. But this time was different.
He had fired with a speed that was the absolute peak of his life, yet every bullet missed its mark. Then, he had taken a kick to the stomach.
Enduring the agonizing pain, he used "Time Alter" to escape the drawing room, fleeing deeper into the castle. Yet every time he thought he had reached safety, Ludwig would suddenly appear, catching him completely off guard.
The Calico M950 had been sliced in two; his grenades had been kicked away like footballs, nearly blowing Kiritsugu up himself... The modified Thompson Contender, used for firing Origin Bullets, was the only weapon remaining. However, that was only because Kiritsugu never had the chance to load an Origin Bullet or a large-caliber round, let alone fire it.
In a dim corridor lacking light, Kiritsugu clutched his chest, slumped against the corner of a wall and gasping for air. He could no longer run. Seven of his bones were broken, including four ribs. More lethally, the physical burden of using "Time Alter" repeatedly had brought him to the brink of shock; he remained conscious only through sheer adrenaline.
In contrast, Ludwig was completely unscathed. He was pointing the captured Noble Phantasm—the longsword Durandal—at Kiritsugu's throat. A mere inch of movement would result in Kiritsugu being beheaded.
"You can really run. The speed of your escape shifted several times, didn't it?" Ludwig shook his head in confusion. "Should a technique that exceeds the body's load really be used like that?"
"..." Kiritsugu remained silent, still gasping for air.
"But that's not my concern," Ludwig said. "You're Saber's Master, right? Call her back and sever your contract with her. If you do that, I might consider letting you live."
"So you really... intend to become Saber's Master?" Kiritsugu gritted his teeth, forcing the question out.
"Since I have to contract a Servant anyway, isn't it better to just contract the strongest one?" Ludwig said. "Archer is a bit much to handle; dealing with him alone is too much of a chore."
Cold sweat rolled down Kiritsugu's face, dripping onto the blade of Durandal.
At that moment, a figure smashed through the window glass on the side of the corridor and leaped inside.
"...Am I too late?"
As Saber landed and steadied herself, she took in the scene and couldn't help but let out a silent sigh of despair.
────────────────────────────────────────
Support me here: https://[email protected]/AuAuMon
Type-Moon: The A-Ray Knight's Holy Grail Journey
Join the journey and become part of the story!
────────────────────────────────────────