As everyone knew, in each Holy Grail War, a Master can only possess one Servant.Likewise, it was far from easy for a Servant to simply switch Masters at will.
However, losing one's Servant did not mean immediate disqualification from the Grail War. As long as a Master could find another Servant, they still retained the right to compete.
That said, any newly contracted Servant had to be an independent Heroic Spirit without a Master.
In truth, compared to a Master's reliance on their Servant, Servants were even more dependent on their Masters.
If a Master lost their Servant, they didn't lose their qualifications. But for a Servant without a Master supplying magical energy, most of them couldn't remain manifested for long at all.
Because of this, in most Holy Grail Wars, when a Servant was defeated, the remaining participants would often choose to eliminate the Master as well—cutting the weeds by the roots.
After all, if only the Servant were removed, the Master could simply find another uncontracted Heroic Spirit and rise again from the ashes.
At present, Tohsaka Rin, having lost Archer Emiya, was exactly such a Master without a Servant—and fully met the conditions to seek a new one.
The problem, however, was this:
The Servant Rin wanted to contract—Saber—still had a Master.
That Master, Emiya Shirou, was still alive.
Which meant that, strictly speaking, if Rin wanted to become Saber's Master…Did she have to kill Emiya Shirou first?
A Servant who already had a Master could not acknowledge another mage as their Master while the original one still lived.This was practically an iron rule of the Holy Grail War.
Unless—
One used something like the False Attendant's Script, or a special Noble Phantasm like Medeya's Rule Breaker.
However, as with all rules, there were exceptions.
As mentioned before, saying Emiya Shirou was Saber's Master wasn't entirely accurate.To be precise, the "Avalon" within his body was Saber's true Master.
Before withdrawing, Archer Emiya had already told Rin everything he knew—including how to remove Avalon.
The reason Saber had been so severely weakened was simple: insufficient magical energy from her Master.
And when it came to being a Master, Tohsaka Rin was undeniably exceptional.
Rin had personally witnessed Saber's parameters during the battle against the sea monster. With sufficient mana supply, Saber might very well have the power to fight back.
Moreover, switching Masters wouldn't just return Saber to her peak—it would also grant her an EX-rank Noble Phantasm:
Avalon.
Avalon, also known as "The Ever-Distant Utopia," was the paired sheath to the holy sword Excalibur.Its wielder would not age, and injuries would heal rapidly.
When its true name was released, Avalon would decompose into countless fragments and expand through space, protecting its holder from all interference.
Once fully deployed, it granted absolute defense—ignoring all magical and physical attacks, even reflecting them back.
Even among the countless Noble Phantasms of the Nasuverse, Avalon was regarded as the strongest and most invincible defensive Noble Phantasm.
Its classification was the same as Gilgamesh's Sword of Rupture—
A World-Level Noble Phantasm.
Legend held that Saber's life fell into misfortune precisely because she had lost this sheath, a chain of events that ultimately led to the collapse of her kingdom.
Whether it was Ren Kuroda or Gilgamesh, both already stood at the very apex of Heroic Spirits.Even a fully powered Saber would likely struggle to defeat either of them.
But—
If Saber possessed Avalon, then the outcome was no longer so certain.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield—
Under the blatantly illegal operation of Medeya's Noble Phantasm Rule Breaker, Modoriddo was successfully and decisively NTR'd, becoming one of Medeya's Servants.
And just as Medeya was happily acquiring a new "dress-up doll," the Saber who had been suppressed by Kuzuki Souichirou suddenly erupted with a massive surge of magical energy—
And sent Kuzuki flying with a single sword strike.
Clearly, while Ren and Medeya were busy forcibly reassigning Modoriddo, Tohsaka Rin and Emiya Shirou had completed the Master transfer, restoring Saber from the "glutton king" back into the legendary "All-A King."
"Ren, if we get the Knight King too, this Holy Grail War is basically already ours," Medeya said calmly."In a moment, just pin her down like you did with Modoriddo. I'll handle the rest."
Watching Saber's combat power skyrocket, Medeya remained completely unfazed.
As an illegal Master herself, she possessed certain authority privileges.
Even now, she could clearly see Saber's status panel—almost every parameter ranked A.
But Medeya wasn't worried in the slightest.
Ren's earlier performance had given her absolute confidence.
So what if Saber was all A's?
Did she know what Ren's parameters looked like now?
They were all marked with "???".
Not only had Medeya never seen such a status panel before—She had never even heard of one.
Modoriddo's parameters had been only slightly below Saber's current level.
And yet she had been utterly crushed by Ren in a single exchange.
So in Medeya's eyes, even an all-A Saber was still "just that" in front of Ren.
Her confidence in Ren now rivaled the faith she once placed in her territory at Ryuudou Temple.
However—
Unlike Medeya, who was brimming with confidence, Ren Kuroda's expression turned completely green when he saw Saber holding Excalibur in her right hand—
And a magnificent sword sheath in her left.
Pin the Knight King to the ground, my ass.
Archer Emiya's earlier withdrawal had almost convinced Ren that the so-called "protagonist halo" was just something he'd imagined.
But reality had now proven otherwise.
That halo was very real.
Archer Emiya died because his version wasn't premium-grade.
Saber, on the other hand, was clearly Type-Moon's favored daughter—a待遇 that no third-rate Heroic Spirit like Archer could ever hope to match.
They had just NTR'd her "daughter" right in front of her, and what happened next?
She immediately upgraded her gear.
Not only did all her parameters jump across the board, she also gained a theoretically invincible defensive Noble Phantasm.
How the hell were you supposed to fight that?
Given Avalon's setting, even another World-Level Noble Phantasm like Ea might not be able to do much to her.
"Medeya," Ren said grimly,"Take Modoriddo and Kuzuki-san and retreat for now. The situation has changed. Beating Saber tonight won't be easy."
Medeya stared at him in complete confusion.
No matter how she looked at it, the situation was clearly in their favor.
Rider and Berserker were still holding back Gilgamesh.If they forcibly NTR'd Saber too, then even the King of Heroes couldn't possibly take on four Servants at once, could he?
And once Gilgamesh was dealt with, the remaining Red-side Rider and Lancer would be nothing more than chickens and dogs.
So why retreat now?
If Medeya didn't have doubts, that would've been strange.
Especially when she was this close to completing the mother-and-daughter collection achievement.
Naturally, she was unwilling.
"That sheath in Father's hand… could it be…?" Modoriddo muttered.
As a former Knight of the Round Table, Modoriddo immediately recognized the sheath in Saber's left hand—but was stunned that the lost land of the fairies had appeared here.
"No 'could it be' about it," Ren replied bluntly."That's Avalon. As for why it suddenly showed up and became Saber's Noble Phantasm—let's just say she's the protagonist, so cheating is only natural."
In truth, even with Avalon, Saber alone wasn't enough to force Ren's retreat.
No matter how strong an EX-rank Noble Phantasm was, it was still just a Noble Phantasm.
But Avalon was the ultimate defensive Noble Phantasm.
Even with Modoriddo and Medeya helping, numbers were meaningless against a fully deployed Avalon.
That was why Ren ordered a withdrawal.
Moreover, the battle on the other front had already reached a fever pitch.
Against Gilgamesh, Ren could only say one thing—
Heracles and Medusa had terrible compatibility.
Two Servants with divine attributes fighting a man who wielded the Chains of Heaven?
That wasn't a battle—that was feeding kills.
Medusa was slightly better off.Although she had once been a goddess with high divinity, much of it had been stripped away by her curse.
But compared to Heracles, her raw combat power was still lacking.
Riding her Phantasmal Pegasus, Medusa could barely keep up with Gilgamesh's Vimana in terms of mobility, but she couldn't break his defenses and had to constantly guard against his endless barrage of Noble Phantasms.
As for Heracles—
All brute strength, no reason.
Unable to fly, he could only leap repeatedly to approach the aerial battle.
And every time he left the ground, countless Chains of Heaven surged from all directions, tormenting him endlessly.
Against a Gilgamesh who was fast and armed to the teeth, Medusa had no way to deal with him directly.
However, under Matou Sakura's instructions, Medusa used her A+ Riding skill and the Pegasus's superior speed to successfully assassinate—
Tohsaka Tokiomi.
Gilgamesh had always wanted Tokiomi dead.
But that was then.
Now, he still needed his Master's mana supply—Tokiomi couldn't die yet.
Unfortunately for him, Medusa was a Rider, and her Pegasus was a Phantasmal Beast on par with Vimana.
At full speed, Gilgamesh simply couldn't catch her.
Poor Tokiomi had wanted to retreat ever since the situation spiraled out of control.
But Gilgamesh was too busy showing off—and refused to take him along.
As a mage, Tokiomi was no slouch. Otherwise, Matou Kariya wouldn't have spent so long raging uselessly.
But no matter how strong a magus was—
They were nothing compared to a Servant.
When Medusa launched her sudden assault, Tokiomi didn't even last long enough for Gilgamesh to come to his rescue.
In mere moments—
He was smashed into a bloody mosaic by the Pegasus charging at full speed.