In Saber's view, defeating Ren Kuroda in this way was undeniably despicable. It ran completely counter to the chivalric code she had upheld her entire life.
Between warriors, she believed victory should be decided through a fair, head-on clash of blades—not through tricks like this.
What Saber didn't know, however, was that Ren not only knew of Avalon's existence, but understood its abilities with absolute clarity.
A torrent of prana gathered into a raging gale. Through Mana Burst, it condensed into a colossal wind-blade, nearly a hundred meters wide, cleaving forward in a straight line.
Where the slash passed, everything in its path was instantly swallowed up. The razor-sharp gale gouged a deep trench into the earth, and for a fleeting moment, even the air itself was torn into a vacuum.
Seeing that a single sword technique could rival the power of her own true-name–released Sword of Promised Victory, Saber's expression grew grave.
The wind blade was far too fast to evade—and she had no intention of dodging it anyway.
With her current reserves of prana, releasing Excalibur might allow her to block the incoming attack. It wasn't impossible.
But to stop an attack of this magnitude, she would need to unleash its full output. There simply wasn't enough time to gather the necessary light.
And even if she did manage to block it, Excalibur wouldn't deal any real damage to Assassin. It would only waste precious prana.
So, as the massive slash closed in, Saber did something utterly unexpected.
She drove the Sword of Promised Victory into the ground before her—and drew the ornate scabbard at her waist instead.
Saber had absolute faith that Avalon could withstand Ren's attack. Her only concern was whether the reflected damage would be enough to force him into retreat.
Even if it didn't knock him out of the war, injuring him should be unavoidable… right?
Just as Saber gripped the gleaming scabbard with both hands, channeling prana into Avalon and preparing to release its true name—
A white comet suddenly plunged from the sky, colliding head-on with Ren's "Swift as the Wind—Rupture".
"Reins of the Noble Steed!"
The falling comet that smashed directly into Ren's attack was none other than Medusa, unleashing her Noble Phantasm.
Medusa's Reins of the Noble Steed was also an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm. Under Sakura's corruption, its rank had surged all the way to A++.
The white comet and the azure wind blade collided head-on. Gales howled. Warhorses screamed.
The ground at the point of impact collapsed at a visible speed, and as the wind blade dispersed, countless smaller slashes carved thin scars across the surroundings. In the midst of it all, a valiant female knight riding a white steed emerged onto the battlefield.
Where the attacks had clashed, a massive crater now gaped open—so vast it occupied nearly a third of Ryūdō Temple's grounds.
The temple itself was unrecognizable.
After the unending battles of the night, the once-standing structures had already been reduced to barren wasteland—and now that wasteland was riddled with craters of every size.
Medusa's Phantasmal Pegasus pawed the ground and snorted repeatedly. Whether it was brimming with battle intent or simply straining after blocking that slash was anyone's guess.
Still, Medusa stepping in to help Saber was something Ren hadn't anticipated.
If Sakura's earlier behavior had been hard to read, then after witnessing her resolve to kill Tōsaka Tokiomi, it was obvious—this girl had fallen into darkness.
Which raised a question.
If a darkened Sakura were helping Shirō Emiya, that would at least make sense—but why help Rin Tōsaka?
To a corrupted Sakura, Rin should have been one of the targets of her resentment and vengeance.
The answer was simple.
If Sakura wanted to win now, she couldn't avoid Ren Kuroda and Gilgamesh.
Only a handful of Servants remained, and among them, the strongest were clearly Assassin Ren Kuroda and Archer Gilgamesh.
As unwilling as she was to admit it, Sakura and Medusa were now the weaker side.
A strengthened Saber had the qualifications to challenge both Ren and Gilgamesh. And because of Sakura's feelings toward Rin, she couldn't allow Saber to fall here.
Otherwise, the next targets of Ren and Gilgamesh would likely be herself.
When facing enemies stronger than you, banding together was the smartest choice. Sakura understood that perfectly now.
As Saber stared at Medusa, who had appeared before her and blocked the attack with her Noble Phantasm, she still clutched the ornate scabbard in her hands, her expression caught somewhere between emotions.
She was deeply moved by Medusa's gallant intervention.
And yet…
She had waited so long for Ren to finally unleash a powerful technique.
Just as the long-awaited chance for a reversal had arrived—Medusa swooped in and stole it.
Worse still, Medusa truly had come to help her. Saber couldn't even find a reason to reproach her.
What Saber didn't realize was that Medusa had genuinely saved her.
Ren had already prepared himself for the reflected damage when he unleashed Swift as the Wind. That was why he hadn't used his full strength.
If that attack had been reflected, Ren would have immediately released his own Noble Phantasm and followed up with an even stronger strike—one meant to disperse the reflected wind blade and crush Saber in a single blow.
No matter how powerful Avalon was, continuous use in such a short span was something even Saber's prana reserves couldn't sustain.
But now, Medusa's sudden interference had shattered that plan.
Saber hadn't used Avalon yet. Her prana reserves were still plentiful. And on top of that, there was now Medusa—her strength boosted by a corrupted Master, not much weaker than Saber herself.
More importantly, Ren had been fighting in his Demonic Frenzy state for quite some time now.
Unlike in other worlds, using this inherent skill while manifested as a Heroic Spirit came with side effects—despite the power boost being even greater than he'd expected.
He had first borrowed his blade spirit's power to clash with Caster's summoned sea monster, then was immediately summoned by Medea and fought Cú Chulainn. After that came Mordred, and then Saber.
From the moment the night began, Ren had been engaged in nonstop high-intensity combat.
Now he had maintained Demonic Frenzy while battling Saber for an extended period. If he were to fight both Saber—who hadn't even used Avalon yet—and a corrupted Medusa at the same time, Ren was genuinely worried his Demonic Frenzy might abruptly end mid-battle.
Even in his normal state, facing Saber and Medusa together wouldn't mean immediate defeat—but who knew how severe the so-called "weakening" side effect would be?
After weighing his options again and again, Ren ultimately chose to withdraw.
Even if he defeated Saber and Medusa here, the Holy Grail War wouldn't end immediately.
And after such a brutal series of battles, his condition was far from ideal.
With their current lineup, winning the Holy Grail War was practically a sure thing anyway.
Ren left.
Both Saber and Medusa received orders from Rin and Sakura not to pursue.
Anyone with eyes could tell Ren still had strength left. He withdrew simply because victory was no longer certain.
But forcing him into a corner could easily result in mutual destruction—benefiting only the others still lurking in the war.
After all, plenty of Servants had fallen tonight—but not all of them.
"…What a shame. If Rider hadn't intervened just now, Assassin probably would've taken the bait, right?"
Watching Ren's retreating figure, Rin Tōsaka sighed with genuine regret.
She was honestly happy that Sakura had allowed her Servant to come help—but at the same time, deeply disappointed. If Ren's attack had struck Avalon, they might have forced Assassin out of the war right then and there.
"Rin… I think Rider may have actually saved us," Saber said quietly.
"At first, I didn't realize it. But just now, something felt off.
Anyone who knows my true name should know that my sword is Excalibur—and that it's my strongest Noble Phantasm.
Yet when I planted my sword into the ground and switched to the scabbard, Assassin didn't look surprised at all. It was as if he had been expecting it…"
"So I can't help wondering—was everything up to that point intentional?
Did Assassin already know what Avalon could do, and prepare countermeasures in advance… waiting for us to step into his trap?"
Saber's words plunged Rin into silence, her expression turning grave.
Avalon was their strongest trump card—their final hope of claiming victory.
But if its abilities were already known to the enemy, then it lost the element of surprise and became nothing more than an absurdly strong defensive Noble Phantasm.
And it wasn't something they could use freely either.
After all, Anti-World Noble Phantasms were infamous prana hogs. If not used at the decisive moment, they could easily become a burden instead.
"Ugh! That Assassin is seriously unfair!" Rin burst out in frustration.
"It's like he knows everything—but we know nothing about him!
When Archer was eliminated, besides telling me about Avalon, he also mentioned a theory—that Assassin might be from the future.
But if he's really a Heroic Spirit from the future… how are we, people from the past, supposed to find out anything about him?!"
..
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