Chapter 333: Most Underperforming Magical Girl Protagonist in History
Fast. Precise. Ruthless.
That was the very first impression viewers in front of their TVs had of Bazett.
Her fighting style was unlike any other Fateseries character who used their fists.
If other fighters' punches were like bullets from a handgun—then Bazett's punches were RPG rockets.
The sheer explosive force behind each strike went far beyond "punching through a human." Saying she could smash through a concrete wall with one hit wouldn't even be an exaggeration.
And in front of those fists, little Illya's dark twin—Chloe—was utterly helpless.
Up till now, the audience had understood from the previous Chloe Arc that Chloe was easily the strongest of the three little heroines.
But against Bazett? Her performance matched her appearance—a powerless little girl.
BANG!
Bazett shattered Chloe's twin blades with a single punch.
Chloe kicked off the ground, leaping back, and swiftly projected several massive swords to block Bazett's pursuit.
Bazett didn't even hesitate—she simply smashed the blades apart with another blow.
By then, Chloe had already drawn her bowstring taut, an arrow aimed right at Bazett's face.
"Bye-bye~!" she sneered, releasing the string.
SWISH——
The arrow shot forth like lightning, straight for Bazett's head.
Anyone else would've frozen—no time to react, no time to think—just a hole in the skull waiting to happen.
But this woman, Bazett, only murmured calmly:
"This kind of attack… I've seen it before."
And with that, she reached out and caught the arrow.
The arrowhead stopped just millimeters from her eye.
"...What the hell?!"
Chloe's cry of disbelief was perfectly echoed by the stunned audience in front of their TVs.
Ordinary viewers found it ridiculous because they couldn't even imagine how the scene had been filmed.
If it was CGI, they couldn't see any signs of compositing.
If it was a cut, the whole sequence was clearly a continuous shot!
Those who did know who Bazett was—an officially designated Sealing Enforcer—had a better guess… and that only made it more unbelievable.
Someone who could really catch an arrow flying at full speed with her bare hands—was she even human?
And what was even crazier—Bazett threw the arrow back.
With even more force than before.
Chloe was slammed into the rubble by her own arrow.
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"...She's not using a Servant substitute, right?"
Fujita swallowed hard.
Shibamatsu muttered, "I don't think so… feels like it's really her."
"..."
Fujita was speechless. Normally, whenever a beautiful female character appeared on screen, he'd make a few flirty comments, just for fun.
But Bazett… Bazett completely erased any trace of such thoughts.
"This woman's insane! Is she even a woman? She's basically a walking, talking mother T-Rex!"
Fujita snorted. "No wonder I heard she's never had any rumors about romance in the Bureau. What man could handle that kind of power? Wouldn't he be afraid she might—uh—get a bit too excited and accidentally break his hip?"
"..."
Everyone around him went silent. The atmosphere froze so hard it could've shattered.
Even Shibamatsu, who usually joked around with him, quietly shuffled away—no one wanted to be associated with that conversation.
Only Aoko remained calm. After watching closely, she finally spoke up.
"I don't think Bazett's raw strength is actually as great as it looks."
"Eh?!"
Fujita blinked, startled—whether it was at her statement or the fact that she was responding to him at all, even he didn't know.
Aoko continued matter-of-factly:
"Whenever Bazett punches, the runes on her gloves light up. She's probably activating rune sorcery each time. In other words, most of that insane power comes from magic, not pure muscle. So…"
She paused, expression serious.
"...what you said earlier wouldn't happen."
"R-Really…?" Fujita asked weakly.
Aoko gave him a cold glance.
He wisely shut up.
Alice shot Fujita a cold, disdainful look.
"You're right about the magic part," she said flatly. "But judging by Bazett's hand-to-hand technique, if she ever landed a punch on you… turning you into a girl wouldn't be much of a problem."
"..."
That bone-chilling comment made Fujita flinch and instinctively press his knees together.
'These women are terrifying…! Yep, 2D girls are definitely safer!'
He wisely took the hint in Alice's tone and turned his attention back to the screen—just in time to see Bazett pummeling Illya.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Bazett's fists came from every direction, a relentless storm of blows.
Illya had no chance to counter—she could only throw up a magical barrier around herself and turtle up under the assault.
After Chloe was down, Illya had tried talking to Bazett.
Thanks to Ruby's quick introduction, she learned that Bazett was actually the former agent in charge of collecting the Class Cards.
The Archer and Lancer cards Illya and Miyu possessed? They were originally recovered by her.
But Bazett's assignment had been abruptly taken from her when Kayneth of the Modern Magecraft Department intervened—passing the job on to Rin and Luvia instead.
Now, for reasons involving "higher authorities," Bazett had been reinstated to the same task—even if it meant taking the cards back by force.
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"...A plot about political power struggles? You're not afraid people will say this is referencing real life?"
When Bazett said the line 'This is the result of a power struggle', Shirou's face darkened immediately.
Most viewers wouldn't catch it, but he—being an insider—knew perfectly well what was happening at the Clock Tower right now.
The current infighting there was practically legendary.
And Bazett's rough, direct, uncompromising methods? They were the perfect embodiment of the noble faction's brute-force tactics.
Even if Shinji didn't intend that connection, every single magus watching Magical Illya was definitely going to see it that way.
"You're overthinking it, Shirou," Shinji said with a shrug. "It's just part of the script."
Sure enough, the plotline was one of Hiroyama's ideas—it just happened to overlap uncannily with Shinji's current reality.
But to magi who were actually living through the Clock Tower's internal wars, that explanation sounded like the most unconvincing excuse ever.
"'Exchange of interests between departments,' huh? You might as well just name names from the Clock Tower scandals directly," Shirou said, giving Shinji a sidelong look.
Then, with mock sympathy, he added, "Be careful you don't get murdered in your sleep, man~"
"In Fuyuki? Who'd dare touch me?" Shinji scoffed proudly. "With the Servants I've got, even a Grand-class or a Beast could come at me, and I'd still hold my ground!"
"I meant when you're staying overnight at the Clock Tower," Shirou said dryly.
"..."
Shinji fell silent. Because, yeah—who knew what kind of weird, cursed magecraft those aristocrats would use?
"I think it's actually a good thing."
Shiki clapped her hands and grinned. "Because it mixes real-world stuff into the story, all the magi are going to gossip like crazy!"
After all, shows based on real events always carried a special kind of heat—drawing in everyone curious about what really went down.
Right now, the Clock Tower was like a massive whirlpool.
Most magi wanted nothing to do with it.
But that didn't mean they didn't want to peek at the drama from a safe distance.
Among the three great Western magical organizations—the Wandering Sea was full of shut-ins who didn't care about anything beyond their own labs (not even gossip, not even farts); and Atlas? They were too busy figuring out how to dismantle humanity itself—barely a step away from total madness.
To magi outside the Tower, Magical Illya had become nothing less than a perfect mirror of the current political chaos within it.
Bazett, of course, symbolized the traditional aristocratic faction—the old guard of the Clock Tower.
And the way she carried herself fit exactly with how outsiders pictured them: overwhelming strength, arrogant authority, and that effortless air of condescension that could make anyone want to punch a wall.
By contrast, Illya was the very image of the Modern Magecraft Department—young, lively, and fond of flashy, unconventional spellcraft.
So when the screen showed Bazett absolutely wrecking the little loli, every magus watching instantly saw it as a metaphor:
The noble faction crushing the Modern Magecraft Department under its heel.
Even Illya herself, after getting her barrier shattered for the tenth time, muttered self-deprecatingly about how weak her attacks were—which, to magi viewers, was basically a tongue-in-cheek nod to how undermanned the Modern Department had been during its early power struggles.
Before long, magi all across the world were scrambling to call their friends:
"Get up right now! You have to watch Magical Illya! This thing's basically the magus world's version of Let the Bullets Fly! It's brilliant!!"
And honestly… who could blame them for overanalyzing everything?
Because the truth was, back in the day, the Modern Magecraft Department had been at a huge disadvantage.
Their interpretation wasn't even wrong.
If not for the steady stream of revenue pouring in from the Type-Moon media franchise, both Kayneth and Waver might've been forced to shut down years ago.
It just went to show that no matter what world you're in, a money blitz works everywhere.
Of course, in Magical Illya, Illya wasn't saving herself through funding—she was simply using her wits, creativity, and sheer stubbornness to hang on against Bazett's monstrous strength.
But even so, let's be honest—Illya's performance as a "main heroine" could only be described as tragic.
No, scratch that—disastrously underwhelming.
Forget the third season for a moment; just look at the first two arcs in the manga.
Across all that, Illya only managed to score three kills.
And even those? Total flukes.
The Saber Card and Assassin Card fights? She only won because Chloe hard-carried the team.
The Gilgamesh Variant? That was a deus ex machina courtesy of the Red-Blue Ruby fusion.
In short, every one of her "victories" was pure plot armor—none reflected her actual combat ability.
Meanwhile, in every other battle she got steamrolled—by class cards, by Miyu, by Chloe.
And now, she was getting physically bullied by a purple-haired, crimson-gloved amazon who punched like a demolition cannon.
At this point, she had a solid claim to the title of "Most Underperforming Magical Girl Protagonist in History."
Even Madoka—who technically spent her whole series watching from the sidelines—had far better results.
And in the end, she literally became God and blew up the entire concept of the universe.
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