The girl's lips, reflecting the pale moonlight, parted slightly.
The static arrows began to develop dark, splotchy patches. As if their very souls had been extinguished, they rapidly began to decay and rot.
In the span of a single thought...
Archer's twin blades appeared.
His figure, descending from the building, became a blur as he lunged toward the girl like a diving swallow.
His expression was devoid of emotion as his blades sliced through the prana in the air, a tremendous force surging as he closed the distance.
Crack.
The wind from his movement caused the girl's red cloak to snap violently. Without lowering her hand, she pressed her index and middle fingers together, forming a 'spear' of her own. A faint golden radiance met the twin blades, and for a moment, the night was filled with a localized storm of prana.
Archer found himself being pushed back.
His twin blades wove a complex, black-and-white pattern in the air as he parried the force.
The golden radiance shattered, but when Archer regained his footing and looked up, the girl had already vanished.
"Archer?"
Rin Tohsaka sprinted down the slope, reaching Archer's side in a matter of seconds. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Archer dismissed his twin blades into light.
"That magus just now... something felt very strange about her."
Rin replayed the brief battle in her mind. "With her level of skill, she could have easily ended the fight. But she held back... why didn't she kill me?"
"The Servant is unusual as well," Archer added with a slow nod.
"Right?"
Rin nodded in agreement, her tone suddenly shifting to one of sheer annoyance. "Argh! That girl made me waste so many of my gems! It's infuriating!"
The solemn atmosphere of the battlefield vanished in an instant.
"Wait... what are you smiling about?"
"Nothing. I was a bit worried about you, but seeing you like this, it seems there was no need."
Rin turned her head away with a huff.
"Since you're so full of energy, I assume you won't have any trouble walking the rest of the way home."
"Of course not!"
Rin turned on her heel and began stomping toward her estate.
Archer cast one last glance toward the massive concentration of prana in the distance. A vision of an innocent, playful girl flashed briefly in his mind, and he quickly turned to follow after Rin.
***
"Master."
It was Ereshkigal's voice.
"Let's withdraw. There's no point in continuing this fight."
Wayland stood on the rooftop, his eyes behind the visor of his helmet glowing with a brilliance that rivaled the stars.
The reason he had fought Archer was simple: he wanted to know the limits of his own strength.
And now, he had his answer. He was 'adequate'.
If they were to truly fight to the death, he likely wouldn't be able to defeat anyone.
But that was to be expected. The gap between a Master and a Servant was not an easy one to bridge,especially when it came to a Servant's Noble Phantasm.
A Noble Phantasm... the ultimate weapon, a crystallization of a Heroic Spirit's legend.
They possessed a power that modern magi couldn't hope to match. Once activated, they would manifest effects exactly as described in their legends.
Noble Phantasms were generally categorized into three types:
Anti-Unit Noble Phantasms, designed for individuals or small groups.
Anti-Army Noble Phantasms, designed for large numbers of targets.
And Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasms, which were similar to Anti-Army types but possessed significantly higher destructive power and a linear attack pattern.
Beyond these, there were more specialized types.
Medea's Rule Breaker was a Noble Phantasm designed specifically to counteract magecraft. Gilgamesh's Ea,the Star of Creation that Split Heaven and Earth,was an Anti-World Noble Phantasm. And Artoria's ultimate defense, the sheath of her holy sword, Avalon, was a Bounded Field Noble Phantasm.
Wayland, on the other hand, only possessed a 'Pseudo-Noble Phantasm'.
A Gae Bolg Alternative with only fifty percent of its true power... it truly couldn't compare to his senior's weapon.
Cu Chulainn's version of the spear could pierce through Archer's Rho Aias with ease, and its other form possessed a causal effect that targeted the heart directly. Unless one's luck was exceptionally high, it was an instant-kill.
For someone at the level of a third-rate Servant like Wayland, Archer had been the perfect opponent. Not that Archer's strength was low, but rather, his combat style was more analytical.
As far as he knew, Medea was currently at Ryuudou Temple. The problem there was the gatekeeper,a man with peerless swordsmanship,not to mention the Master, Souichirou Kuzuki, who was more than capable of beating a Servant in a brawl.
Heracles was at the Einzbern Castle, but only someone who was suicidal would dare to make a move there.
Medusa was currently with Sakura, which made her difficult to approach. And as for Gilgamesh, the 'helpful citizen'... well, it went without saying.
"Found them."
As his thoughts churned, Wayland's mana-enhanced eyes finally caught sight of the massive, chaotic concentration of prana he'd been searching for.
On a slope about seven or eight hundred meters to the east of the skyscraper, a massive silhouette was faintly visible.
By comparison, the small, silver-haired girl in the purple dress standing beside it was almost impossible to notice.
'Is it because of Shirou Emiya?'
He had sensed something earlier, but Illyasviel hadn't made any move to intervene in the fight. 'That road is the only way back to Shirou's house. Did she go there to warn him?'
A girl who was both innocent and cruel.
Her initial interest in Shirou Emiya had stemed from her belief that Kiritsugu Emiya had betrayed her.
In terms of pure ability as a Master, she was likely the strongest in the history of the Holy Grail War. Her body was covered in Command Spells; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that her very magic circuits were Command Spells.
She was the 'Lesser Grail' prepared by the Einzbern family, responsible for recovering the souls of fallen Servants. On the soil of Fuyuki,atop the Greater Grail,she was a magus of the highest order.
Wayland remained silent for a moment before turning and leaping down from the skyscraper.
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]