The silence continued as he circled in annoyance.
Despite the obvious awkwardness of the atmosphere, Maiya moved forward silently without paying any attention.
I am really not good at dealing with this woman...
With her head down and a deep sigh, an alarm flashed in Irisviel's head.
"——!?"
Maiya looked at Irisviel, who suddenly stiffened and stopped, with a surprised expression.
"What is the matter, Madam?"
"... There is a new invader, just a little ahead of us. If we go on like this, we will meet."
This was to be expected. Maiya nodded calmly.
"Let's take a detour, then. It is safe to take a detour north from here."
"..."
Irisviel, who was using the Clairvoyance magecraft to examine the intruder's appearance, did not answer immediately.
A tall man dressed in a pitch-black monk's robe, full of a sense of coercion.
The short hair and serious appearance were exactly the same as the photos in Kiritsugu's collection of materials.
"... It is Kotomine Kirei who has come."
What surprised Irisviel even more than this was the change in Maiya's expression when she told the news.
Both Irisviel and Hitakumiu Maiya showed a deep fear of the name.
But Saber didn't feel like that.
Because that is the fear that only magi have; for Saber, a Heroic Spirit, there is no need to be afraid.
"If it is just an Executor, it is not a big deal..."
But will it really be?
Saber had a bad feeling in her heart.
Tohsaka Tokiomi came to the Einzbern castle with Kotomine Kirei, so in other words, that Archer may have also come.
"Ah, look over there!"
Irisviel exclaimed, pointing in one direction in the sky.
The moon was hidden in the clouds, and the cloud-covered sky should have been empty, but at the moment there was a huge boat.
On top of the boat, the golden Heroic Spirit sitting on the throne, his red eyes like jade, cast a contemptuous gaze at the people below.
It gave people the feeling that he was looking down from above.
Saber's face couldn't help but look angry.
Whether it was Archer's contemptuous gaze now, or the royal way he had mocked her at the banquet earlier, it made her quite angry.
She is also a King; no matter how broad-minded she is, she will also be angry in the face of such provocations from others.
At this moment, in the forest, the figure of Kotomine Kirei rushed towards Irisviel and the others.
Seeing this scene, Saber frowned, and when she lifted the holy sword in her hand, she planned to kill Kotomine Kirei directly.
But just as Saber was about to strike, golden ripples appeared in the sky, and a long sword poked out of the ripples, and then suddenly fired!
Whoosh————!
Even if Saber is wearing armor now, if she is hit by such a Noble Phantasm, she will still be seriously injured.
In such a situation, Saber could not stop Kotomine Kirei, and could only raise her sword to resist the long sword falling from the sky.
Clang————!
The sound of striking iron immediately resounded all around, and the sword-shaped Noble Phantasm that Saber deflected caused a violent explosion directly behind her.
All of a sudden, fire and dust filled the sky!
After solving this blow, Saber, who was about to help Irisviel, was blocked by more treasures falling from the sky.
"Damn it————!"
Saber shouted angrily.
Unable to release her Noble Phantasm, she couldn't help but feel anxious in her heart.
"Hmph, you seem to be impatient, Saber. If you are willing to submit to me, it is okay to give you a mongrel's name."
Archer, who was sitting on top of the boat, took a sip of red wine and smiled happily.
Looking at Saber's furious face, Archer only felt more pleasure than ever.
"Who would surrender to a guy like you!"
Saber provoked.
In response to Saber's provocation, Archer simply chose to ignore it.
He is an Archer, and if he really wants to fight in close combat, he can't beat Saber without preparing in advance.
Of course, Archer didn't want to go down for two reasons: the first was that the ground was dirty, and the second was that he didn't like the rude way of hand-to-hand combat.
Sitting high on the throne and projecting treasures, watching the mongrels below jump angrily is the King's entertainment!
Archer was overjoyed to see Saber struggling to support herself, and Saber was frustrated that she couldn't help Irisviel.
Whoosh————!
At this moment, from the deep forest, a crimson spear shot out and stabbed straight at Archer, who was sitting high on the ship Vimana!
...
When she discovered that Saber had fallen into Archer's attack and couldn't get out, Hitakumiu Maiya gave up on waiting for Saber to help.
"Madam, I'm here to deal with Kotomine Kirei, please be ready to use magecraft!"
"Well, I see!"
Irisviel didn't plan to sit still at this time, and nodded quickly.
The next moment, Hitakumiu Maiya raised the short submachine gun in her hand in the direction of Kotomine Kirei and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Just in case, Kirei prepared for a battle situation in advance, and because of this, he was able to react to unexpected murderous intent smartly.
He leaned over to dodge the rain of bullets that thundered overhead.
In the case of unexpected machine-gun fire, even skilled veterans are sometimes demoralized and lose their judgment.
But it was an exception for the Executor of the Holy Church, who did not even shed a cold sweat and calmly deduced the situation.
The enemy was a person, and, judging by the sound of gunfire, using a short submachine gun of 9mm caliber.
Because pistol bullets that lack penetration do not have the power to penetrate tree trunks. It is less dangerous in the forest than a sniper rifle.
Kirei judged the enemy's position from the direction of the gunfire and threw two Black Keys.
Contrary to what he expected, only the sound of a blade stabbing into the trunk of a tree was heard.
"... Huh?"
On the side of the surprised Kirei, the murderous edge struck again.
Again from the left-hand direction, gunshots were heard.
Although he dodged at the last moment, this time it was more dangerous than the previous shooting.
The previous judgment that the enemy was alone slowed down his reaction slightly.
The position of the second shot was completely different, and it was too fast to move.
However, if there were two gunmen from the start, a well-timed crossfire should indeed be able to solve the situation.
When he was puzzled, he felt four breaths this time.
Kirei quickly took two in each hand, and a total of four Black Keys took a stance, and a new intuition flashed in his head.
"So—hallucination?"