"Cough, cough... Kiriko-san, are you okay?"
Kiriko picked herself up from the ground and waved a hand at Naofumi, signaling she was unharmed.
Turning around, she saw the watchtower they had just stood on reduced to flaming ruins after the direct hit from the firestorm.
All around, fires raged unchecked, licking at crumbling debris.
In front of them, armored knights marched arrogantly onto the scene.
The knights from the royal capital had finally arrived—late, as usual.
There was no doubt the firestorm from moments ago was their handiwork.
Incidentally, this "firestorm" wasn't even a powerful cooperative spell—just numerous knights individually casting Fireball, making it look like a storm of fire.
Truthfully, before they even cast their spells, Kiriko's Gate of Babylon had already wiped out nearly all the monsters attacking the village.
And as for the airborne monsters, they had been thoroughly shredded by the aerial barrage of Noble Phantasms.
Even knowing that, the knights still unleashed their Fireballs toward them.
Anyone who wasn't a complete idiot could clearly see that their target was the watchtower itself.
"Isn't this the Zero Hero and the Shield Hero? You're still alive?"
The knight captain leading the group revealed an expression of surprise mixed with obvious disgust when he saw Kiriko and Naofumi standing completely unscathed.
"You... You bastard, were you trying to kill us?"
Naofumi wasn't an idiot either; if Kiriko had realized what was going on, he certainly had as well.
"What nonsense, Shield Hero. We were clearly attacking monsters spawned from the Wave."
The knight captain showed not the slightest hint of remorse—in fact, he genuinely seemed to think his actions were justified.
"But when you cast those spells, didn't you realize we were right here?"
"Oh my, as expected of the Shield Hero. While you ran from your responsibilities, do you even realize what the other Heroes have been doing? Who do you think you owe your pathetic life to right now? Such ingratitude!"
Naofumi trembled with rage at the knight captain's brazen shamelessness.
Kiriko, on the other hand, couldn't help but laugh softly.
Friendly fire could happen in battle; that was understandable.
Even the military couldn't avoid incidents of accidental friendly fire.
However, accidents were accidents. If they knew perfectly well that allies were present but still deliberately carpet-bombed the area with magic without any care for their safety—that wasn't accidental; that was deliberate malice.
Even modern close air support required smoke signals or laser markers to clearly identify friendlies and enemies. No pilot, however reckless, would deliberately strike allied positions.
And even if they genuinely hadn't known beforehand, shouldn't they at least apologize now that they did know?
Yet instead of showing remorse, they took on an arrogant attitude of, "We didn't accidentally hit you—we saved your lives."
Moreover, since Kiriko's Gate of Babylon had already largely cleared the monsters in the village beforehand, she now had to seriously question who exactly the knights had intended as their target.
Combined with their current attitude, Kiriko moved from suspicion to certainty.
She pressed down lightly on Naofumi's shoulder, who was visibly furious, and spoke to the knight captain with a bright smile.
"Sir Knight Captain, have you ever heard of the story of Mindless and Unhappy?"
The knight captain cast a glance at her, visibly annoyed.
"No, I haven't. Nor do I care what nonsense you're talking about. Now move out of our way—we have to assist the three true Heroes and don't have time to waste with you."
"My name happens to be Unhappy..."
Kiriko lightly crooked her finger, and a golden spear instantly descended from above, cleanly lopping off the knight captain's head!
"Which means your name must be Mindless."
The knight captain's headless corpse slowly collapsed onto the ground.
Dead silence filled the air.
Even Naofumi hadn't anticipated Kiriko's sudden action.
The knights surrounding their captain all turned deathly pale, and a chorus of swords being drawn echoed through the air.
"Captain—!"
"You... you bastard, you dared kill our captain!"
Facing the knights glaring with furious hatred, Kiriko remained utterly indifferent.
"Oh? You wish to fight me as well?"
Kiriko snapped her fingers, and at least two hundred Noble Phantasms instantly appeared overhead, their brilliant golden glow illuminating her icy expression.
She wouldn't kill lightly.
She'd killed the knight captain because he'd ordered his men to unleash Fireball magic without the slightest consideration for her or Naofumi's lives.
He hadn't even bothered apologizing afterward.
A scumbag like that deserved no better.
But these knights were just following orders, so Kiriko originally intended to spare them.
However, if they insisted on avenging their scumbag captain, then out of respect for their admirable loyalty, Kiriko had no choice but to help them join him in hell.
"Wh-what's that?"
"Swords, spears, and weapons I've never even seen... Why are they floating in the sky?"
"Is it magic?"
As countless golden Noble Phantasms appeared overhead, the knights froze in shock.
They could clearly sense enormous magical power emanating from each weapon.
Being targeted by such weapons was even more terrifying than facing the monsters from the Wave.
"Enough! Lower your swords!"
Amidst the stalemate, a knight with a faint scar across his nose stepped forward and barked orders.
"But... vice-captain..."
Some among the knights were still unwilling.
"Our first priority is assisting the Heroes and dealing with the Wave's monsters," the scarred knight stated cautiously, glancing nervously at the weapons hovering overhead.
"As for other matters, we'll leave them for His Majesty to judge."
"Yes, sir."
The remaining knights regrouped under the scarred vice-captain's lead, carefully circumventing Kiriko and Naofumi, and hurried toward the distant sounds of fierce combat.
"Kiriko-san, whatever happens, I'll bear responsibility with you," Naofumi said with utmost seriousness.
"Oh? How reliable."
Kiriko chuckled lightly. Killing a scumbag captain was no different to her than slaughtering a random chicken back in Skyrim.
Besides, there were far more important matters at hand…
She turned her fingers, and the Noble Phantasms floating overhead shifted direction, raining down mercilessly upon the monsters still descending from the sky!
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T/N: ooooh gate of babylooooooooooooooooon GATRE OF BABYLOOOOOOOOOOOON