Amid the drifting dust, a gigantic crater—well over a hundred meters across, like a meteor impact—sat absurdly out of place in the modern city. The scorched ground within it still exhaled searing heat in rippling waves.
"Hah… hah… hah…"
Artoria knelt on one knee with her sword braced, battered all over as she gasped for breath. Behind her, Mash held her shield and panted as well—but the Noble Phantasm she'd activated in time had ensured their Master and allies hadn't suffered even the slightest injury.
On the other side, Ophis stood completely unscathed.
Two rapid, forced releases of Excalibur without proper preparation had, quite obviously, been no match for Ea backed by Ophis's infinite "refueling." Artoria had been driven back.
"Why…"
Staring at Ophis—who had lowered Ea and made no move to pursue—Artoria frowned in confusion.
Right as the surge of energy was about to crash into them, Ophis had cut off Ea's output. What reached them had been nothing more than the aftershock.
"Ophis. What do you want?"
Ritsuka had noticed it too—the question was that blatant.
From the very beginning, Lord El-Melloi II had kept insisting that the "King of Heroes" was a being you couldn't communicate with. But Ritsuka had always found that strange.
If the King of Heroes were still the one from before, sure. But this King of Heroes was different in every way from the one Lord El-Melloi II knew—so why was he so stubbornly clinging to that point?
This Ophis… she was hard to deal with, yes, but not to the point of being impossible to talk to. And in the first place, it had been their side that struck first.
If anything, thinking about it carefully, it really felt like they were the ones constantly picking fights—like they were the villain boss, while Ophis was the little princess getting harassed by a Demon King against her will.
…Yeah, no. That mental picture was completely cursed.
Either way, at this point—whether she was "communicable" or not—they had to communicate.
Hearing Ritsuka suddenly speak up, Ophis lowered the hand she'd been holding up.
"Chaldea. An organization that safeguards Human Order—and the final Master of humanity, who runs from place to place to save humankind after it was incinerated: Fujimaru Ritsuka."
With her eyes closed and a slight smile, Ophis spoke of Chaldea's purpose as if reciting something she'd always known.
"Huh?"
Ritsuka blinked, thrown.
She had told Ophis about Chaldea's existence and goal once before, but not in that much detail. Still, she wasn't surprised Ophis knew—she'd met plenty of Heroic Spirits who knew far too much and spoke in riddles.
What she didn't understand was why Ophis was bringing it up now.
"Fujimaru Ritsuka. Do you truly have a way to save humanity as you are now?"
"…"
Ritsuka fell silent.
She had never truly believed she would succeed.
Before she ever touched the world of mystery, she'd only been an ordinary girl—maybe a little prettier than average. A normal person, no different from the countless "others" around her, except that she knew a few odd bits of trivia.
How could someone this ordinary ever save the world?
Ophis watched Ritsuka's silence, fell silent herself for a moment, then sighed as if she'd lost interest. The tension that had been wound taut suddenly loosened.
"That is why the current you bores me."
As she spoke, to everyone's stunned, bewildered eyes, Ophis turned her back—her body already beginning to break apart into violet spiritrons.
"You want the Holy Grail? Then I will hold the Holy Grail and wait—for the moment you can finally make your resolve. If you mean to save Human Order, you must have the determination to face a god."
With that, Ophis vanished completely. Everyone present finally released the breath they'd been holding.
Two Excaliburs back-to-back—Artoria's fatigue was plain. Ophis, by contrast, looked composed, as if she could fire off that kind of attack as many times as she pleased.
A foe whose HP and MP might as well be infinite put crushing pressure on them all. Lord El-Melloi II couldn't help wondering where Tokiomi Tohsaka was getting the prana to supply Ophis in the first place.
"Whatever she's thinking…"
After a long silence, Lord El-Melloi II finally broke it.
"Either way, we've been spared—for now. Let's withdraw and regroup."
No matter how strong the enemy was, the remaining Servants still had to fight.
Lancer had been abandoned by the one he swore loyalty to, but he still carried out that person's last order faithfully. Saber might not have a wish she needed to entrust to the Holy Grail, but once she had formed a contract with her Master, she wouldn't abandon them lightly.
A hard battle was no reason for heroes to quit.
...
"Welcome back, everyone… This—was it a failure?"
Because speed mattered, they hadn't brought Irisviel along when Saber and Lord El-Melloi II went to provide support. That spared the innocent lady from being caught in the danger.
Now Irisviel stood at the castle gates to greet Artoria and the others—but the moment she saw their expressions, her heart sank.
"Let's talk once everyone's here."
Lord El-Melloi II sighed and answered her.
A short while later, the Einzbern Castle's conference room was filled to the brim. Even Kiritsugu Emiya—rarely seen in such meetings—was present.
"There's good news and bad news."
Once everyone had settled, Lord El-Melloi II cut straight to it.
"The good news is that I have a lead on that special 'phasing' ability of hers."
"Lord El-Melloi II?! Really?"
Mash asked, bright with hope.
Lord El-Melloi II nodded.
"Thanks to the data Dr. Romani provided, I can make a tentative inference… and today's first strike did produce an effect. But whether that was because my hypothesis is correct, or simply because the other side made a mistake, can't be confirmed… because the second test was forcibly ruined by that sword."
Mentioning Ea made Lord El-Melloi II sigh again before he continued.
"I'll explain my hypothesis afterward. Now for the bad news: the enemy—Gilgamesh, King of Heroes, Ophis—possesses power far beyond what I had estimated. For that, I owe you all an apology. Because of my miscalculation, you Heroic Spirits were put in grave danger. That responsibility is mine."
"Since my lord has ordered me to follow your commands, then I will be used as you see fit. No matter what enemy we face, I will not retreat."
"Conditions on the battlefield change in an instant. And Archer… the King of Heroes being at that level is something no one could have predicted. That much is understandable."
Neither Lancer nor Saber blamed him. Lord El-Melloi II nodded and continued.
"Crisis though it was, this battle was not without gain. Learning that the enemy's strength exceeds our expectations—rather than finding out only at the decisive battle—is already a major harvest. More than that, she revealed a number of her capabilities in this fight."
Lord El-Melloi II opened his eyes, a keen glint of calculation in them.
"From here on, I will analyze the King of Heroes' abilities with you one by one. Listen carefully."
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