On the same night, after the tense battle at the pier, Iskandar and Waver were airborne, crossing the Fuyuki night sky in the chariot.
Waver tightly gripped the edge of the chariot to maintain his balance against the night wind. From the corner of his eye, he glanced at his giant Servant. He noticed Iskandar's eyebrows were furrowed sharply, looking as if he was thinking about something very hard and seriously.
"Rider... are you alright?" he asked hesitantly.
Iskandar was slightly jolted from his reverie. He turned to look at his young Master.
"Master, do you really not know that teenager named Ritsuka earlier?" he asked in a heavy tone of voice.
"No. Why, is there something wrong with him?" Waver replied quickly. "He did know your True Name and mine as well, but I can guarantee I have never met a crazy person like him at the Mage's Association. Is... is there something wrong with him?"
Iskandar shifted his gaze back forward, continuing to drive his lightning bulls through the dark clouds. "There are a lot of things wrong with that boy. But... there is one specific thing that really bothers me. I feel like I've met him somewhere before. But I absolutely cannot remember exactly where."
Waver widened his eyes in surprise. "Could it be that his face resembles someone in your army back then? Or someone you knew in the past?"
"No, it's not like that," Iskandar shook his head slowly. "If there was someone with a face and reckless courage like him in my army, I would definitely remember him very clearly in my head."
The King of Conquerors then raised his large hand and placed it slowly over his chest.
"It's not just a visual memory... but something else," Iskandar murmured, his gaze softening to imply a warm confusion.
"A vibration inside this body of mine... a deep feeling of nostalgia, like having just reunited with a very close friend."
Elsewhere, Artoria, who had now canceled her armored form and changed into her black suit, sat leaning back inside a car parked on the shoulder of the road. Her breathing had gradually returned to normal.
Not long after, Irisviel entered the driver's seat carrying two canned drinks and handed one over. "Here, Saber. Are you feeling better?"
Artoria accepted the canned drink. "Thank you, Irisviel. Don't worry, I have recovered," she replied while opening the can's tab with a soft click.
Iri stared at her Servant with a curious expression. "So... what is actually the matter with that young man named Ritsuka Fujimaru, Saber? Why did you react so strongly when you met him?"
Artoria took a sip of her drink for a moment before answering in a restrained, serious tone. "That boy... I could clearly feel that he has a Dragon Core inside his body."
Hearing that, Iri's red eyes widened. "Cough! Cough!" She choked on her own drink from the sheer shock.
Artoria swiftly handed a tissue to her proxy Master.
"What?! A Dragon Core?" Iri exclaimed after managing to catch her breath. "Isn't that something that only exists inside your body as the manifestation of the red dragon's reincarnation?!"
"Correct," Artoria nodded. "And not only that. I could feel a very strong resonance with him. His magical aura felt so close... like blood relatives."
Iri blinked a few times. "Could it be... that he is another child of yours, Saber?" she asked, guessing wildly.
"Irisviel, do not speak nonsense. How could I possibly have... a child." As she said that sentence, Artoria suddenly looked away and paused her words, a flash of dark memories from the past crossing her mind, making her hesitate slightly.
She hurriedly shook her head and continued, "Besides, this is not just like a blood tie. I feel he has a much more intimate closeness with me. Not just physically, but..." Artoria looked down and held the chest area of her suit.
Her heart fluttered rapidly again remembering the young man. A strange feeling churned within the knight's soul, causing an inevitable faint blush to spread across her cheeks.
Iri, who observed the drastic change in expression, immediately narrowed her eyes with a mischievous smile blooming. "Saber... could it be that you fell in love with him at first sight?" she teased directly.
Artoria gasped in shock. Her face instantly turned beet red all the way to her ears.
"W-What are you saying, Iri?! T-That is absolutely impossible!" she denied in a panicked and slightly stuttering tone.
Iri giggled in amusement seeing the blonde knight's panic. "Hehehe~ You really are terrible at hiding your expressions, Saber."
Iri then grabbed the steering wheel of the Mercedes, her eyes sparkling with enthusiasm like she had found a new toy.
"Let's talk about this 'gossip' some more on the way!"
The luxury car's engine roared loudly. The next second, the car sped off at a breakneck speed, piercing through the night roads of the Fuyuki mountains and leaving behind a cloud of smoke from its screeching tires, completely ignoring the safety of the passenger beside her.
. . .
"Hah... hah... hah..."
Ritsuka woke up panting heavily. His eyes widened, and his entire body was drenched in cold sweat from the terrifying encounter just now.
The sudden movement caused Rikka, who was sleeping hugging his arm, to wake up as well. The girl rubbed her still-sleepy eyes. "Brother... what's wrong?" she asked in a worried tone.
Ritsuka turned towards his sister, trying his best to regulate his breathing rhythm to appear calm. "No, it's nothing," he answered reassuringly.
"Rikka, get up. Call Assassin and Mash. We will move out as soon as we're ready."
Hearing the serious order, Rikka's sleepiness instantly vanished. She nodded obediently, immediately got up, and walked out of the rest area to find Mash and Assassin.
After his sister left, Ritsuka remained sitting quietly on the iron block. He massaged the bridge of his nose, then held his head which was throbbing from his encounter with Manaka.
"Arthur... that's you, right?" he muttered softly, speaking to the empty space within himself.
The atmosphere inside the warehouse was silent for a few moments. There was no answer. However, a few seconds later, a warm resonance appeared. The deep and familiar voice of a knight echoed softly from the deepest depths of his soul.
"Master..."
Ritsuka flinched slightly. His head immediately snapped up. The tense and exhausted expression on his face instantly melted, replaced by a look of relief and a genuine, happy smile. He was just about to open his mouth to reply to those words.
However, his words caught in his throat.
The flow of mana in the air suddenly shifted. Ritsuka's instincts caught an anomaly; something—or someone—had just intruded past the boundary of the Bounded Field he had set up around the warehouse area. The smile on the young man's face immediately vanished.
*'We'll continue this conversation later,'* Ritsuka thought quickly to Arthur.
With full alertness, the young man jumped down from the iron block and stood up, preparing to welcome the uninvited guest.
Meanwhile, in another dimension where Zelretch and the boy of light were sitting and watching...
Zelretch subconsciously dropped the popcorn box from his hands. The Second Magic Sorcerer's mouth gaped wide open, staring in disbelief at the scene on his monitoring screen.
"I-isn't this taking it too far?!" Zelretch exclaimed in a panic. "Do you not know how dangerous that girl is and how insane her obsession with Arthur is?! That little girl is even willing to destroy the entire world order and slaughter humanity just for her love for the King of Knights!" Zelretch growled as he turned sharply towards the boy of light.
"I know," the boy of light replied in a casual tone. He was still busy swinging his legs on the sofa as if nothing had happened. "But don't act as if you're innocent, Zelretch. I know you were also the one who intentionally manipulated things so that Ritsuka would be found by Morgan le Fay in that world, right? By arranging for Gray to meet Ritsuka."
"That is a very different case!" Zelretch quickly argued, trying to defend himself. "Morgan would not put Ritsuka's life in danger! Even in the most extreme scenario, Morgan would at most lock Ritsuka in his room and break both his legs so he couldn't escape anywhere. That's still tolerable!"
Zelretch pointed at the screen in frustration. "Whereas this crazy girl... Manaka Sajyou! She is truly a psychopathic entity willing to turn reality upside down just for Arthur!"
"Why did you let that little girl find out about Ritsuka's whereabouts?! You're the one who removed Merlin's protection spell on Ritsuka's body, right?! The spell that was supposed to prevent his existence from being detected by that crazy girl!" Zelretch ranted, jumping to his feet on the sofa out of sheer frustration.
"It's all for Ritsuka's own good," the boy of light answered in an overly relaxed tone. "You yourself have realized it, haven't you? Ritsuka is currently holding himself back."
Zelretch stared at the glowing entity with a sharply furrowed brow, unable to comprehend his line of thinking.
"Don't look at me like that," the boy of light continued, waving his hand slightly. "I know exactly what I am doing, and Ritsuka will be fine. I am doing this purely so that Ritsuka can grow. Right now, Ritsuka is like a caterpillar in a cocoon that refuses to metamorphose into a butterfly. He is still desperately trying not to lose his human body. He is in a state of hesitation. Because of that... there needs to be 'something' to forcefully tear open that cocoon, so the caterpillar can be born into a beautiful butterfly."
"I understand his mental issues! But you absolutely didn't need to use that crazy woman as the trigger!" Zelretch argued fiercely.
The Second Sorcerer pointed at the screen tensely. "You said yourself that the wheel could make Ritsuka keep adapting and staying alive as long as there is life, right?! Meanwhile, that crazy woman... she has power connected directly to the Root to destroy the entire concept of life itself! If she goes on a rampage, Ritsuka most likely won't be able to survive!"
"Yes, but don't worry. Even if all life is destroyed and it threatens Ritsuka's life, do you think those who have formed bonds with him in the past will just sit quietly and let it happen?" the boy of light replied casually. "Especially... that Avatar of the Root."
Zelretch's eyes widened. "You! Don't tell me you mean *that* woman?!" he exclaimed in disbelief. "There's no way she would come all the way to help Ritsuka! That woman is incredibly lazy; she's practically the embodiment of the Sin of Sloth itself!"
The boy of light smiled broadly. "Wow, you know her very well, huh? But rest assured, I am certain that woman will definitely come to help Ritsuka later. Mark my words: if Manaka starts making a move, then the Avatar of the Root will definitely be forced to make a move as well to protect Ritsuka."
The boy then chuckled softly, his eyes sparkling with anticipation imagining the cosmic chaos that would ensue.
"Besides, it'll be really interesting, you know, to see a fight between a world-destroying girl driven by obsession against another world-destroying boy driven by the will to live. Ah! I even have a very catchy title for it..."
The boy of light spread his arms in a theatrical manner, imitating a narrator.
"The Strongest World Destroyer in History... vs... The Weakest World Destroyer in History!"
Back to the old warehouse.
Ritsuka was now face-to-face with Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, Lancer's Master, who had arrived with his Servant and his fiancée, Sola-Ui. Ritsuka sat casually on a pile of iron right in the middle of the room, closely guarded by Mash and Rikka standing alert on either side of him. Meanwhile, Assassin continued to conceal his presence behind the dark shadows.
"I didn't expect Lancer's Master to be willing to visit here. Is it true your luxury hotel was just blown up by Kiritsugu?" Ritsuka greeted, opening the conversation with a provocative tone.
"So, you are Caster's Master," Kayneth replied, deliberately ignoring the sharp taunt.
The nobleman's arrogant eyes looked down condescendingly at Mash and her shield, then swept across the dirty room.
"Is this junkyard what you call a Workshop? I truly didn't expect that a magus capable of radiating such immense magical energy would have a Workshop this terrible and squalid."
"Hahaha, sorry about that. I am just an apprentice Magus, after all," Ritsuka chuckled lightheartedly.
"My teacher didn't teach me much about magecraft. He only knew how to just throw me into this battlefield."
"Your teacher must be a truly terrible, third-rate magus," Kayneth mocked pointedly, looking down on Ritsuka's teacher. "To have a talented disciple who can produce that much energy, yet teach them nothing? What a complete waste."
Hearing his teacher being mocked, Ritsuka only carved a small, enigmatic smile.
Kayneth frowned slightly at the strange smile, but he decided to ignore it. He stepped forward a little and spread his arms.
"Very well, Caster's Master. Considering you have potential, I want to make you an offer."
"Oh? What kind of offer?" Ritsuka replied casually.
"How about we form an alliance between Masters? Your Caster and my Lancer can work together to eliminate the other troublesome opponents."
Ritsuka rested his chin on his hand, his smile slowly widening. "Hmmm... a very tempting offer."
"Good. In that case, you—"
However, before Kayneth could finish his sentence, the magic circuits all over Ritsuka's legs suddenly lit up with a blinding glow.
"But I refuse!" Ritsuka shouted loudly.
BAM!
A loud explosion of dust billowed out, destroying the foothold where Ritsuka had been sitting. In the blink of an eye, the young man vanished from sight.
Sensing the incredibly rapid surge in power, Lancer's combat instincts reacted.
The handsome knight darted forward ahead of his master, positioning himself right in front of Kayneth as a human shield.
CLANG!
The air inside the warehouse trembled violently from the heavy collision.
Just a few centimeters away from Kayneth's paled, shocked face, Ritsuka's high-speed kick aimed at the nobleman's head was now suspended in the air. The lethal strike had been perfectly blocked by the cross of Lancer's twin spears.
"There are no alliances in this place," Ritsuka hisse
d coldly from behind his leg that was clashing against the metal of Lancer's Noble Phantasms.