However, even after Medea and Kuzuki Sōichirō swapped opponents, the overall outcome still didn't change all that much.
Kotomine Kirei was, at the end of the day, only a human. Naturally, he wasn't anywhere near as strong as a Servant like Lancer Kuhulin. So when Medea found herself dealing with two Kotomine Kireis at once, the fight was nothing like the constant life-or-death brinkmanship she'd experienced against Kuhulin earlier.
On the other side, once Kuhulin became his opponent, Kuzuki Sōichirō's shortcomings became painfully clear.
And don't assume that just because Medea was a Servant she could effortlessly crush two Kotomine Kireis. In truth, against this kind of rule-breaking, abnormal Master, even she was struggling badly.
Both Medea's inherent abilities and her class skills revolved around creating magical constructs, enhancing tools, and stacking buffs. Her raw combat capability was, frankly, unimpressive.
If it weren't for her ability to instant-cast spells through High-Speed Incantation, as well as her short-range teleportation magecraft, Medea wouldn't have stood a chance against Kotomine Kirei—let alone two of them at once.
Watching Kuzuki Sōichirō suffer more and more injuries under Kuhulin's relentless assault, while she herself was completely unable to help, Medea's anxiety steadily mounted.
At the same time, she began viciously cursing Berserker and Saber for interfering earlier. If it weren't for them disrupting her preparations, then with her original setup, dealing with a mere Lancer would never have turned into such a frantic mess.
"What's wrong? Already about to collapse?" Kuhulin sneered, twirling the crimson demonic spear in his hand. "What about that Assassin who was sticking with you earlier? I didn't see him in the front courtyard. I was hoping I could finish our last fight and finally settle things properly."
He grinned, eyes sharp and mocking.
"Don't tell me even Assassin and his Master finally got sick of you, Witch. Or did you betray them again, like always?"
Holding the red spear, Kuhulin looked completely relaxed as he faced Kuzuki Sōichirō—someone who could dominate a weakened Saber with ease.
From the very beginning, Kuhulin's true target had never changed. In his eyes, his opponent was always Yūto.
Caster and Kuzuki Sōichirō simply didn't interest him.
Kuzuki, as a Master, was certainly strong—but no matter how strong, he was still just a human. The gap between him and a true Servant was undeniable.
As for Medea? A mere Caster whose entire setup had already been destroyed. Kuhulin felt no pride whatsoever in defeating a Caster in close combat as a Lancer. That was precisely why his enthusiasm was so low right now.
Hearing words like witch and betrayal—terms that were absolute taboos to her—spill from Kuhulin's mouth, Medea's face beneath her hood turned ashen.
But at the same time, his words triggered a sudden realization.
She was still Yūto's Master.
If she used her authority as a Master and invoked a Command Seal, she might be able to summon Yūto back here and shatter the deadlock.
Yūto was no ordinary Servant and could resist the magical coercion of Command Seals—but as long as he himself didn't reject it, the power of the seal should still be able to pull him to her side.
Firing several mana blasts to force the approaching Kotomine Kirei back, Medea glanced at the oni-faced Command Seals engraved on the back of her hand. After biting her lip, she finally chanted the words of command.
"I command you as your Master—Assassin, appear before me immediately!"
As her voice fell, the second of the three Command Seals on her hand began to dim, its light fading away. At the same time, a surge of magical energy erupted, and a magic circle bloomed into existence before her.
Staring at the circle, Medea's heart pounded with unease.
She didn't know whether Yūto would respond… or whether his battle elsewhere had already ended.
But at this point, she had no other options left.
When the magic circle suddenly appeared, both Kuhulin and the two Kotomine Kireis were visibly shaken.
They had never imagined that Caster—a Servant herself—could actually be the Master of another Servant, Assassin.
If that was the case, didn't that mean Medea's side effectively had two Servants under a single Master?
That was blatantly unfair… downright cheating.
"So this is how a mage from the Age of Gods bends the rules," Kotomine Kirei said coldly. "Exploiting loopholes in the Holy Grail War itself. No wonder Assassin has been acting alongside you since the very beginning."
His eyes narrowed.
"Lancer, ignore Kuzuki. Activate your Noble Phantasm and eliminate Caster immediately."
The instant the magic circle appeared, Kotomine Kirei used a Command Seal without the slightest hesitation, forcibly ordering Kuhulin to abandon Kuzuki Sōichirō and kill Medea at once.
Having gathered intelligence from the start, Kotomine knew exactly how dangerous Assassin was. If Yūto truly arrived here, the entire balance of the battlefield could collapse—and that was the last thing Kotomine wanted.
If Caster was Assassin's Master, then killing her quickly would nullify the Command Seal's effect.
Assassin might not even make it here—and even if he did, he would vanish along with his Master.
Though Kuhulin burned with frustration at the order, the absolute compulsion of the Command Seal forced his body to obey. He raised his crimson spear high, ominous red mana spilling from its shaft.
Kuhulin's Noble Phantasm—Barbed Spear That Pierces with Death—had two modes.
The first was a thrust performed while holding the spear. In this form, it was classified as an anti-personnel Noble Phantasm. Its mana cost was relatively low, but its destructive power was also limited.
The second mode involved pouring all of his magical energy into the weapon and hurling it.
In that state, the spear transformed into an anti-army Noble Phantasm, boasting a wide attack range and terrifying power.
Naturally, the thrown version consumed exponentially more mana than the held form.
Under the Command Seal's coercion, Kuhulin easily shook off Kuzuki Sōichirō with his A+ Agility. Crimson energy surged along the spear as he leveled its tip directly at Medea's heart.
This time, he was using the standard anti-personnel form.
Even so, in that instant, Medea felt an overwhelming sense of impending death.
She attempted to teleport away, desperately widening the distance between herself and Kuhulin.
But no matter how far she moved, the suffocating premonition of death clung to her like a shadow.
Barbed Spear That Pierces with Death was a causality-based attack—a spear thrust that assumed its hit from the outset.
It could not be dodged.
It could only be blocked.
Simply trying to create distance was meaningless. The spear's lock would never be broken that way.
Yet asking a Caster to directly block a Lancer's Noble Phantasm was nothing short of cruelty.
As the crushing weight of death closed in and Medea all but gave up resisting, a figure within the magic circle beside her began to take shape.
Before anyone could even react, that figure burst forward at blinding speed—placing himself directly in front of Kuhulin's spear.
BOOM———!
A deafening explosion roared through the battlefield. The ground split apart in spiderweb-like cracks, and Medea stared at her own uninjured body in stunned disbelief.
She had been certain she was already locked onto by Lancer's spear.
Yet somehow, in the final moment, the overwhelming sense of death had vanished without a trace.
As the dust and debris settled, Medea looked at the back now standing before her—and a wave of relief washed over her face.
"You… caught it?" Kuhulin shouted in disbelief. "You caught my spear—barehanded?!"
The one who had appeared and stopped Kuhulin's strike was none other than Yūto, summoned by Medea herself.
At this point, Kuhulin no longer cared whether Yūto was truly Medea's Servant.
What mattered was that his supposedly unavoidable killing spear had been caught with bare hands.
Yes, Kuhulin's spear had been grabbed by Yūto before—but that had been a normal thrust.
This time was completely different.
That attack had been a Noble Phantasm with its true name released.
Even if it wasn't the maximum-output version, it was still something Kuhulin found utterly unacceptable.
Catching a released Noble Phantasm barehanded—was this Assassin really a Servant like the rest of them?
Or was he some monster who had descended in his true body?
"The Child of Light from Ireland… the spear that never misses," Yūto said calmly. "They're impressive legends, no doubt. But my Agility parameter surpasses yours."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"As long as I can see the trajectory of your attack, catching even a legendary demonic spear isn't impossible."
Kuhulin froze for a moment. Then realization hit—and with it, rage.
Yūto made it sound easy, but Kuhulin knew better than anyone how absurdly difficult that feat actually was.
And he was right.
If this were the Yūto from before, catching Barbed Spear That Pierces with Death barehanded would never have been so effortless.
But during his battle with the sea demon earlier, Yūto had maintained his Noble Phantasm's released state.
Combined with the recent upgrade to his Mind's Eye skill, he was now capable of such a feat.
"Now then," Yūto said, casually hurling the spear aside. The force sent Kuhulin flying along with it. "Child of Light—how about we finish what we started earlier and finally settle this?"
He stomped down, shattering the ground beneath his feet, and instantly closed the distance.
Kuhulin, activating Battle Continuation, met him head-on, and the two plunged into another brutal exchange of blades.
With Kuhulin no longer in the picture, the pressure on Medea and Kuzuki Sōichirō dropped sharply.
Together, they began pushing back the two Kotomine Kireis.
In the span of mere moments, the battlefield—once on the verge of collapse—was completely turned on its head.