Hearing this, Hansen opened his eyes and turned his head to look at his wife's pretty face, which was filled with curiosity.
The lights from the streetlamps outside the car window streaked across his face, casting a mysterious outline on his profile.
"Win?"
Hansen chuckled, his tone carrying a calm sense of certainty.
"Wife, you need to understand one thing."
He reached out and gently smoothed the hair that the night breeze had ruffled on Irisviel.
"In this world, unless you make me lose, otherwise..."
"No one can make me lose."
This statement was both overbearing and somewhat ambiguous.
Irisviel's face flushed red instantly, like a ripe apple.
Saber, who was driving in the front, had her hand tremble, and the car swerved sharply, tracing an "S" shape.
"Drive properly, Saber."
Hansen tapped the back of the driver's seat with dissatisfaction.
"Am I not driving?!" Saber's teeth-gritted voice came back. "And please, do not say such… such misleading things in the car!"
"Misleading? I am merely stating facts." Hansen looked innocent.
Saber: "..."
Fuyuki City, Miyama Town, Tohsaka Residence.
The night was as dark as ink, and inside the ancient Western-style mansion, dark clouds gathered, filled with a suffocating, low pressure.
In the luxurious drawing room, the air was permeated with a bone-chilling magical energy that felt as if it could freeze the soul.
"Bang—!!!"
A loud noise shattered the dead silence.
It was not an enemy attack, but an expensive crystal wine glass that had been violently smashed against the wall.
The scarlet wine, like splattered blood, slowly trickled down the exquisite wallpaper, a shocking sight.
"That damned mongrel… that reckless stray dog!!"
Golden particles of light swirled and gathered frantically in the center of the room, finally coalescing into that figure clad in golden armor.
Gilgamesh had appeared.
But at this moment, the King of Heroes possessed none of his usual composure and arrogance.
His unparalleled, handsome face was now filled with a ferocious expression of rage, the veins on his forehead throbbing, and his scarlet snake-like pupils burned with a fury capable of incinerating the world.
It was the humiliation of being the King of Heroes, yet being forcibly recalled by a subordinate in full view of everyone.
It was even more so the impotent rage of having had a fleeting thought that he "might lose" when facing that mysterious Ruler.
"My King… please calm your anger."
An elegant yet slightly trembling voice rang out.
Tohsaka Tokiomi, the current head of the Tohsaka Family, was kneeling on one knee on the red carpet, his head bowed deeply, his posture humble to the extreme.
He was still wearing that meticulous red suit, holding the cane that served as his catalyst for magecraft.
But at this moment, his forehead was covered in a fine layer of cold sweat, and he didn't even dare to breathe too heavily.
Gilgamesh turned his head sharply, his red eyes, burning with rage, locked onto Tokiomi on the floor.
"Calm my anger? Ha!"
Gilgamesh let out an extremely harsh sneer, as if he had heard the most absurd joke in the world.
He strode over to Tokiomi, looking down from above at this nominal master.
That gaze was as if he were looking at a disgusting insect.
"Tokiomi, you cowardly rat."
Gilgamesh's voice was low and dangerous, every word seemingly squeezed through his teeth: "Who gave you the gall to interrupt this King's battle with such despicable means?!"
At the thought of the middle finger Hansen had raised at the end and his blatant mockery, Gilgamesh felt as if the string of his sanity was about to snap.
A grave humiliation!
This was a grave humiliation unprecedented since the Age of Gods!
"My King, that was for the sake of the big picture."
Tohsaka Tokiomi bit the bullet and explained, his voice respectful yet carrying the stubbornness peculiar to a Magus: "That Ruler's ability is too bizarre; that barrier capable of reflecting noble phantasms is clearly not something that can be broken by conventional means."
"Rashly exposing your out-of-spec, powerful trump card might affect the course of the Holy Grail War, placing us in a position of being besieged by all other parties."
"As a subordinate, I must ensure you can secure the final victory in the most perfect manner."
Tohsaka Tokiomi spoke reasonably, perhaps even giving a textbook standard answer.
However.
Splash—!!
A glass of freshly poured red wine was splashed onto Tohsaka Tokiomi's face without warning.
The scarlet liquid trickled down his meticulously groomed hair, staining his face red, soaking his expensive bowtie, making him look disheveled and pathetic, like a ridiculous clown.
Tokiomi's body stiffened, but his years of aristocratic upbringing forced him to suppress the urge to wipe it off, and he remained kneeling, motionless.
"The big picture? Perfect?"
Gilgamesh casually tossed away the empty wine glass, his eyes full of undisguised contempt and disappointment.
"Tokiomi, is this your capacity?"
"Because you were afraid of exposing your trump card, you chose to be a deserter? Because you were worried about so-called concealment, you let your King bear the stigma of 'fleeing the battlefield'?"
Gilgamesh bent down, his highly oppressive face looming over Tokiomi, his tone bone-chilling:
"Who do you think I am? I am Gilgamesh! I am the only King in this world!"
"Before this King, there is no such thing as a 'trump card,' only 'treasures' that I may or may not choose to use!"
"And you, you used those despicable command spells to tarnish this King's resolve."
Gilgamesh straightened up and walked back to the sofa to sit down, as if looking at Tokiomi for one more second would dirty his own eyes.
"That Ruler..."
At the mention of that man, a complex emotion flashed in Gilgamesh's eyes.
Apprehension, disgust, and the… murderous intent to eliminate him.
"That guy… hmph, has the value to be executed by my own hands."
Gilgamesh leaned back on the sofa, resuming his arrogant posture, though his eyes were colder than before: "Tokiomi, this King forgives your stupidity this once, but remember…"
"If there is a next time… this King will kill you first."
"…Yes, I will strictly follow your instructions."
Tohsaka Tokiomi took a deep breath, used a handkerchief to wipe the wine off his face, and stood up, trying hard to maintain an elegant facade.
"Then, this subordinate will take his leave to reformulate tactics against the Ruler and Saber."
He bowed to Gilgamesh and then turned and walked quickly out of the drawing room. Even though his back remained straight, the sense of him fleeing in a panic could not be concealed.
Until Tokiomi's footsteps completely disappeared at the end of the hallway.
In the vast drawing room, only Gilgamesh remained, along with another man who had been standing in the shadows of the corner, like a statue.
Kirei Kotomine.
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