Another kick shattered a sea demon, but Broly was starting to get annoyed. No matter how he kicked, these weird creatures kept moving, and would even regenerate on their own.
Just as he raised his small hand, aiming at a sea demon that was in the middle of regenerating, ready to blow it to bits with an energy blast—
"Forget these familiars. Their controller is over there. You have to take out the one controlling them if you want to deal with the rest."
Kiritsugu Emiya walked up beside him, lifted his hand, and pointed at Caster as he spoke to the terrifyingly strong child.
Broly followed his finger and saw even more sea demons, then turned his raised hand in that direction.
But Artoria was still over there fighting them. As she cleaved one sea demon open, a flickering figure was briefly exposed.
The Crystal Palace in Broly's mind chimed: [Target found: Artoria. Current Happiness Value: 0.]
He lowered his hand.
"Bang~"
His bare little foot stomped down and cracked the concrete, the shockwave knocking the nearby man flat on his backside.
"Damn—"
On the other side, just as Artoria raised her sword to cut down a sea demon lunging in again, a small figure shot past her first and sent the creature flying in chunks with a flying kick.
Landing, Broly jumped again, his knee smashing into another sea demon's head and turning it into pulp. He caught a lashing tentacle on his arm, grabbed the whole sea demon, and swung it overhead like a tilted windmill. The constant smack smack smack of meat hitting meat echoed as the sea demons around Artoria were cleared out.
The whole sequence of moves looked flashy, but in truth it had happened in an instant. Artoria thought at first that some other Servant had come to her aid; only after calling out her thanks did she realize that the one who landed beside her was just a small boy barely up to her waist.
"There's a trace of my magecraft on you. You're the one who killed my Master, Ryunosuke Uryu?"
Gilles de Rais could feel his own magical signature lingering on Broly and spoke directly.
"Ryunosuke Uryu?"
Broly frowned slightly. He did not know the name, but if it meant "killed," then yes, there had been one guy today—aside from these weird creatures—whom he had kicked to death. And that guy had been the bastard who made his other deskmate wife's Happiness Value drop.
Thinking of those lost Happiness points (all that happy water), Broly grew angrier. Add in the recent drop in Taiga's Happiness Value, and he raised his hand straight at the speaker, Gilles.
"What are you doing?"
Artoria did not understand the boy's action. Gilles did not either, but Broly's displayed strength was frightening. He immediately retreated back into the mass of sea demons, hurriedly chanting buffs and layering them on the familiars around him.
"Why did you hurt my friends and steal my happiness?"
Broly asked.
"What?"
Gilles had no idea what he meant.
"Disappear."
Broly answered his confusion with an energy blast.
The vengeful Gilles de Rais vanished into dust under the brilliant bolt of energy Broly unleashed. His magecraft's resistance was as useless as a mantis trying to stop a carriage. The blast did not slow, erasing most of the remaining sea demon army and continuing on.
Hiding in the shadows of the street, one of the Assassin bodies happened to be in the line of fire and was obliterated before it could even react.
The entire street was swept clean. Everywhere the eye could see was empty, save for the scorched air and, far downrange, a few sea demons on the far end of the blast's path whose bodies were dissolving for lack of mana—proof that the vanished horde had not been an illusion.
"…"
Artoria, being closest, felt it most clearly. Broly's energy blast had power not inferior to her fully unleashed Noble Phantasm.
With the enemy gone, Broly's fury ebbed. He turned and looked at the King of Knights. Artoria instinctively tensed—but his outstretched hand was all that met her wary gaze.
"Hello, I'm Broly."
He introduced himself. Introducing yourself to strangers was one of the basic manners he had learned after coming to this civilized world.
"Artoria Pendragon, King of Britain."
Seeing that he bore no hostility, Artoria quickly lowered her guard as well. She dismissed her invisible sword, reached out, and shook his hand.
"Shake hands, and we're friends. That means from now on, you're my best friend."
Broly said earnestly. Rin Tohsaka had just taught him that piece of knowledge earlier that night.
"Eh?!"
His words startled Artoria. But seeing the seriousness on his face, and remembering he had just saved her, she did not refuse.
Truthfully, Artoria had never had a friend. As a king, she had subordinates and comrades in arms, but no friends.
What, Merlin?
He was her teacher, who had taught her both swordsmanship and how to rule.
After adding another "wife" to his list, Broly walked back.
Looking from the empty street to the boy casually strolling toward them, the Fujimura men all instinctively took a step back.
The sea demons had been monsters, but the boy who had wiped out an entire army of them and cleared a whole street with some unknown power—what did that make him, if not a monster among monsters?
It was natural to fear what one did not understand. Only Taiga moved toward him as soon as she saw him return.
"Broly, I didn't know you were such an amazing kid."
She said as she came up.
Watching him rush out and kick down those things one by one had been like watching an action movie. She had no idea what had happened after he charged forward, but then that blinding green light had flashed, and the monsters and their controller had vanished, the whole street left spotless. It was insanely cool.
Forgive her—Taiga was a middle schooler with a daily fantasy of being a wandering swordsman of great skill and unwavering justice. Seeing power beyond the ordinary with her own eyes naturally left her a little excited.
Of course, she could still tell whether something was dangerous or not. While everyone else who did not know Broly fell back, she did not believe he would hurt her. So she went forward on her own, filled with both surprise and affection—Broly had saved her grandfather and the rest of the Fujimura.
"Right, what was that green light just now?"
After checking him over and confirming that aside from some monster blood he had no injuries, Taiga asked.
"An energy blast."
Broly answered honestly.
"How do you do it?"
She pressed.
"You just gather your ki in your hand."
He lifted his small hand to demonstrate. As green light flickered there, the crowd scattered with a whoosh.
No one wanted to end up like those monsters, vaporized into nothingness.
"Amazing. Can I touch it?"
Taiga reached out, wanting to feel the energy gathered in his palm.
"You're too weak. You'll get hurt."
Broly hurriedly drew the ki back into his body. By now, he clearly understood how fragile the people of this world were.
He did not care about strangers, but he must not hurt those who were good to him. And among the people he must never hurt, Taiga—who fed him, clothed him, washed him, and gave him a bed—was number one on the list.
"Yeah… I really am too weak."
Having watched the boy's display of power, Taiga could not deny it. Then she pinched her nose and gave him a slightly disgusted look.
"You stink of fish. You need another bath."
Broly sniffed himself and had to agree. The sea demon blood, now that it had sat a while, had taken on that unique rotten-fish reek. It was not as bad as Vampa spider fluids, but he had already experienced being a clean kid. He frowned.
"I'll take you."
Taiga grabbed him and started toward the house.
She'd worked up a sweat herself in the chaos.
"Wait. I still have something to say."
"What?"
"Put me down first."
After she set him down, Broly ran over to the Emiyas' Hummer. Under Kiritsugu's wary eye, he reached out to the red-eyed, white-haired Irisviel.
"Hello, I'm Broly."
"Uh, I'm Irisviel. Is… something the matter?"
The homunculus woman, with only nine years of real experience in life, answered his introduction, shook his little hand, and asked.
"You're my best friend now."
With the "meet-a-wife" procedure complete, Broly dropped that line and ran back to Taiga's side.
Leaving behind a group of completely baffled people.
"What's with that kid?"
Irisviel asked, half amused, half exasperated.
"No idea."
Kiritsugu shook his head, completely unaware that someone had just set his sights on his wife.
"One thing's clear: he isn't a Servant. He has no mana and he's no magus."
"Then what is he?"
"Don't know. But 'monster' might be the best word for that sort of existence."
"Is he going to be a threat to us?"
Kiritsugu did not answer. He still did not know. But he had realized one thing—from what Artoria told him of Caster's exchange with the boy, there was a real chance they had been collateral damage tonight.
"Should we move our base?"
"We don't have a third safehouse set up. Moving for no reason might be worse than staying put. Let's wait and see."
After a long look at the boy being carried back to the Fujimura estate by Taiga, Kiritsugu spoke, then drove their half‑doored Hummer back to their compound.
"I'm going to check the blast zone that wiped out Caster."
After dropping Irisviel off, he went out again, heading for the end of the ruined street.
He had to go nearly three kilometers. At the far end of the energy blast's path, Kiritsugu found a towering man on an ox‑drawn war chariot, with a delicate-looking youth at his side.
Who else could that be but Rider and his Master?
"Master…"
Artoria came up behind him, watching the Rider pair warily.
"Yo, King of Knights. Good evening."
Iskandar called out in greeting.
"You really kicked up quite a fuss tonight."
He said.
"This wasn't…"
Artoria began, but Kiritsugu cut her off.
"Caster came after us again. We couldn't just not respond."
"True enough. I just didn't expect the King of Knights with an injured left hand to still unleash such power. Calling you a 'little girl' last night was indeed presumptuous of me."
The King of Conquerors apologized. Power was not everything, but to wield it meant Artoria was no mere girl.
"Rider, did you come just to say that to my Servant, or were you planning to take a shot at us too?"
"Saber's Master, I know you're trying to goad me, but my decision not to attack has nothing to do with your tactics. A king's battles should be fought openly. I have no interest in taking advantage of chaos."
Iskandar replied, then turned to Artoria.
"King of Knights, I look forward to the day we cross blades. And congratulations on tonight's great victory."
With that, he and his little Master rode off, leaving Kiritsugu with an idea.
"What? You want to claim Caster's defeat as our doing? No. I refuse. I was not the one who destroyed Caster."
Back at the compound, Artoria flatly rejected Kiritsugu's proposal.
To take credit for another's feat was to stain her own knightly code.
Among the eight virtues of knighthood were justice and honor.
"I know how you feel. But the problem is, the one who destroyed Caster is neither Master nor Servant, and may have nothing to do with the Grail ritual. The bounty on Caster's head is for the participating Masters."
"That still isn't a reason to claim someone else's glory."
"Listen, Saber. You're not stealing credit. The one who eliminated Caster wasn't you, but you were the only Servant who fought Caster tonight. By the rules, we have the right to claim that Command Seal reward."
"But this…"
"Don't worry. I'll tell the Church exactly what happened with Caster. Whether they acknowledge us as his slayers is up to them."
….
"Last night, Caster and his sea demon army attacked our position. With support from our Servant, Saber, Caster and his familiars were wiped out by a powerful force.
"That is the report from Saber's Master on their engagement with Caster. We have confirmed Caster's elimination. That massive beam that cut across the old district was also captured by street cameras.
"Even one of the Assassin bodies my son had deployed there was caught in it and destroyed before any detailed report could be sent back."
Risei Kotomine spoke through a gramophone-shaped magical communicator with Tokiomi Tohsaka, discussing whether to grant the bounty Command Seal.