Kotomine Kirei died very peacefully.
Of course, that was mainly because Tohsaka Rin hadn't studied any methods of torture; she simply used a single Mana Blast to evaporate his entire being. Otherwise, there was no way he would have died so quickly.
This was the revenge for her father's death; being shredded into a thousand pieces wouldn't have been too much.
"Rin," Archer looked at the heavily panting Tohsaka Rin and spoke with concern, "Don't dwell on a piece of trash's—"
"Do you think I'm feeling guilty? Because I killed someone?" Tohsaka Rin looked over with a grim expression. "No, I'm just regretting why I didn't learn more ways to torture people."
"To think I let him die so easily."
"Since the traitor has been purged, it's time to discuss the next set of tactics," Medea said, narrowing her eyes. "As a Caster, the Magical Energy required for me to fight at full power is too great; my Master cannot afford the burden of a second Servant."
"Therefore, the contract for Assassin, as well as Lancer... he is now without a Master."
"One of these two Heroic Spirits will be given to you, Tohsaka Rin. Because while holding the Jeweled Sword Zelretch, only your Magical Energy is sufficient to supply two Servants. Any problems?"
"I'll take Assassin," Tohsaka Rin nodded. "Even if the Magical Energy is infinite, the amount of mana output at any given moment is limited."
She glanced at Cu Chulainn with a hint of regret.
If only she were a bit stronger...
"Don't count on Emiya; he's barely managing to provide mana to Saber as it is."
"So..." She looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka.
"Though my aptitude is mediocre, as a Master of Chaldea, most of my Servants rely on Chaldea for their power supply," Fujimaru Ritsuka said modestly. "Bearing the burden of one more Servant... is no problem."
"Then you'll be my Master," Cu Chulainn grinned and reached out his hand toward her. "For some reason, I find you quite agreeable. You're much better than that fake priest."
"I think anyone would be better than him," Fujimaru Ritsuka quipped while reaching out to Cu Chulainn.
With their hands clasped, a simple contract was established.
On the other side, Tohsaka Rin and Hassan of the Hundred Faces also signed their contract.
Finally, they had cleared all obstacles and were ready to face the ultimate BOSS.
"Yo, finished resolving your internal conflicts?" Xia Yu, with her hands behind her back, peeked her head out and asked cutely.
"Thank you, Miss Firefly," Tohsaka Rin gripped the Jeweled Sword Zelretch tightly. "If it weren't for you, I'd still be kept in the dark by that fake priest... But, you also know that in this world, Sakura is the only family I have left."
"There is no way I will ever give up on her!"
"I won't give up either, Miss Firefly," Emiya Shirou also stepped forward. "Sakura... she is everything to me!"
"Uh, should I say something too? Otherwise, it'll look like I don't fit in," Fujimaru Ritsuka scratched her head and sighed. "Miss Firefly, you've been lying to me all along, haven't you?"
"So, are you all ready?" Xia Yu ignored her words and instead spread her hands toward the group. "Come and challenge me, the final 'Demon King'!"
Hearing this, the crowd opposite her silently took up their weapons.
"I'm sorry," Artoria raised her Holy Sword. "I cannot stand by and watch that evil thing enter The Living World and poison the earth."
"I'm not that noble," Cu Chulainn's lips curled. "I just want to have a good, hearty fight!"
Being under Kotomine Kirei's command these past few days had left him feeling utterly stifled.
"I follow my Master's will," Medea said solemnly, even giving Xia Yu a playful wink.
"Sakura... I will absolutely never give up on her either!" Rider gripped her daggers tightly, her expression resolute.
This girl, who had summoned her purely through compatibility... was just too much like herself. She would never let a past tragedy repeat itself on her!
"You said you know me," Archer projected his twin blades. "Then you surely know the reason why I won't stand for this."
"Even if I am but a nameless nobody," Hassan of the Hundred Faces finally caught an opportunity to speak, "I also have a wish that must be fulfilled..."
"So, why won't you answer my question?" Fujimaru Ritsuka stared at Xia Yu. "You've been lying to me, haven't you?"
"Mash, don't you have anything to say?" Xia Yu turned to look at Mash.
"Senpai's words are my thoughts," Mash raised her Great Shield, showing no sign of weakness.
"In that case, I should get serious too," Xia Yu ignored Fujimaru Ritsuka's shouting and reached out to take her Morpher.
Illya silently pulled Matou Sakura back toward the Greater Grail.
"Firefly Type-IV, activate!"
Instantly, crimson fire enveloped her. Once the flames dissipated, the petite girl had vanished, and a body of steel stood upon the earth.
"Come," Xia Yu made a domineering gesture, reaching out her hand and beckoning with her fingers. "Show me your resolve! Whether it's enough to surpass me, the 'Demon King'!"
"Hiss... hoo..." Seeing this, Cu Chulainn raised his long spear, and in an instant, crimson Magical Energy manifested upon it.
"Hey, having a Master who has no shortage of mana..." A reckless curve appeared on his lips. "That really is fantastic!"
[Gae Bolg]!
Cu Chulainn chose to open with his Noble Phantasm!
Again, he had spent these days feeling incredibly stifled. Now that he finally had the chance to cause a massive scene, he naturally wanted to be a bit more uninhibited. In any case, Tohsaka Rin held the Jeweled Sword Zelretch and had no lack of mana.
Besides, his Noble Phantasm was the type that consumed relatively little mana.
Boom!
The crimson long spear shot toward Xia Yu with an unstoppable momentum. Wherever it passed, the red, lightning-like mana on the spear even plowed furrows into the ground!
"Good timing!" Seeing this, Xia Yu advanced instead of retreating. She took a step forward and reached out her right hand, catching the Noble Phantasm's shaft in that split second, gripping it tightly in her hand.
This situation had occurred before, so Cu Chulainn didn't expect this single Noble Phantasm to be the deciding blow. He wasn't fighting alone right now!
This Noble Phantasm was merely a greeting.
In an instant, Archer and Artoria surrounded Xia Yu from the left and right, swinging their weapons in unison.
Xia Yu spun directly, using her armor to kick away Archer's twin blades while leaning her upper body back to dodge Artoria's Holy Sword. Her right hand, still gripping Cu Chulainn's Noble Phantasm, swung the spear tip around, using the spear's tail to sweep at Artoria.
The latter was forced to retreat, but Cu Chulainn's Noble Phantasm wasn't finished! It continued to try to break through Xia Yu's obstruction to pierce her heart!
This was their tactic! Cu Chulainn's Noble Phantasm was troublesome enough and had low consumption. Even having seen the exaggerated scene of Miss Firefly restricting a Noble Phantasm with one hand, they realized that as long as Cu Chulainn didn't end the Noble Phantasm, he essentially kept one of her hands occupied!
Originally, this task was meant for Kotomine Kirei, but who knew he would suddenly backstab them. Fortunately, Tohsaka Rin had the Jeweled Sword Zelretch as a fallback, and the mana supply to maintain the Noble Phantasm could still be sustained.
"Senpai! I'm going in!" Seeing the two being repelled, Mash also raised her Great Shield and joined the fray, charging directly at Xia Yu's front!
The Servants on both sides began to regroup, attacking together once more. Xia Yu was suddenly surrounded on three sides!
Faced with this formation, Xia Yu chose to take flight!
The thrusters on her armor spewed fire, pushing her entire body into the air!
She evaded the encirclement on the ground.
But when Xia Yu looked up, she found that someone was already waiting for her.
Rider had somehow already set up chains above. In an instant, they completely bound Xia Yu's limbs.
Admittedly, it wouldn't be hard for Xia Yu to break free from these chains, but on the other side, someone else had also taken action.
Hassan of the Hundred Faces unwrapped the bandages covering his abnormally large arm.
Mash had charged in with her Great Shield specifically to block Xia Yu's line of sight, preventing her from noticing that Hassan was preparing his Noble Phantasm.
[Zabaniya: Delusional Heartbeat]!
This was the arm of the malignant spirit Shaytan, specialized in cursing Humans. It used ether to create a double of the target's heart from their reflection in a mirror. By crushing the fake heart that resonated with the target, he could assassinate them without touching a single hair on their body.
In terms of the Noble Phantasm's performance, the moment his Noble Phantasm touched the position of the enemy's heart, he could kill the enemy by crushing the copied heart.
At this moment, Xia Yu still held Gae Bolg in her hand, the Assassin's Noble Phantasm was right in front of her, Rider's chains were on her body, and three hostile Servants were below...
It seemed the battle had just begun, yet she had fallen into a dead end.
But it was only "seemed."
They underestimated Xia Yu's power output.
Faced with this "dead end," flames surged from Xia Yu's body. With just a slight struggle, she broke free from Rider's chains. She then swung the Gae Bolg in her hand—which was still struggling to pierce her heart—like a baseball bat, slamming it directly into the back of Hassan's hand.
Normally, a Noble Phantasm couldn't be defended against so easily. Thus, taking advantage of the moment he was stunned, Xia Yu directly stabbed the crimson spear through his palm.
Then, driving Sam's propulsion system, she performed a Meteor Dive, carrying the two Noble Phantasms toward the ground with immense force.
But when she looked down, she realized that under the cover of Mash's Great Shield, Archer had somehow completed his incantation.
[Unlimited Blade Works]!
In an instant, Xia Yu was trapped inside his Reality Marble.
This was the true killing move discussed by Tohsaka Rin, Emiya Shirou, and the group of Heroic Spirits!
"Is this your plan?" Xia Yu looked at the vanished crimson spear in her hand and praised, "Trying to trap me?"
As she spoke, she surveyed this desolate world.
The interior of Archer's Reality Marble was a world resembling a foundry, filled with Armaments, flames, and giant gears. Though technically a Noble Phantasm, it was more accurately a top-tier Great Magecraft.
This Reality Marble contained the elements to form all swords. Everywhere the eye could see, there were swords packed closely together—long ones, short ones, light ones, heavy ones, ancient ones, ornate ones, broken ones, and intact ones...
A Reality Marble is the rewriting of reality into a mental world for a certain period. Archer's Barrier came from his origin: Sword. Every weapon the caster had seen and recognized up to this point, or any weapon used in this place, could be instantly copied and stored.
"Truly amazing," Xia Yu couldn't quite control her hands; what if they started itching to move?
"I only need to delay you for a short while," Archer was very self-aware. He never expected to defeat her on his own.
His task was to stall for time. Now that there were seven Servants outside, plus Tohsaka Rin with infinite mana, dealing with Illya alone would be easy.
In just a few minutes, Medea's Noble Phantasm could completely sever the connection between Matou Sakura and the Greater Grail. That way, their strategic objective would be achieved.
After all, fighting such a monster head-on was too difficult. Fortunately, their goal didn't require them to actually surpass her.
"You're very confident," Xia Yu's lips curled. "Do you think you've trapped me?"
"Stalling for a minute or two shouldn't be a problem," Archer said with extreme caution.
"Fine, then... Firefly Type-IV, secondary combustion," crimson flames erupted from Xia Yu's body. "Protocol accepted. Executing Scorched Earth Operations!"
"You'd better hope you can actually last a minute!"
Boom!
"Illya," Emiya Shirou stood before Illya. "Hand Sakura over to me. You have no chance of winning."
"Hey, you of the Einzbern family," Tohsaka Rin said with an unkind expression. "You'd better think this through. We have plenty of Heroic Spirits here."
She mainly didn't want to truly offend Miss Firefly to death; otherwise, she would have simply attacked.
"You don't think that, based on Archer's strength, he can actually stall her, do you?" Illya, who had truly seen Xia Yu's dreams, wasn't panicked at all. She said with a smile, "Why don't we make a bet, big sister."
"Let's bet on..."
"You're trying to stall for time?" Tohsaka Rin wasn't interested in her nonsense and stepped forward, clutching the Jeweled Sword Zelretch. "Now, hand over Sakura!"
Every second wasted meant more danger for Sakura. No one knew how long Archer could keep her trapped.
"Well then, why don't you look behind you, Rin," Illya said with a smile. "Right behind your back."
"Huh? How is that pos—" Tohsaka Rin didn't believe her at all and reached out toward Illya.
"Rin, what are you trying to do to my Master?" But the synthesized voice coming from behind her made the blood in her body turn cold.
Tohsaka Rin turned around and saw the iron warrior, appearing as if she had walked out of the flames, holding Archer in one hand while looking at her.
"I'm sorry... Rin..." The bloodied Archer barely managed to lift his head and said, "I couldn't..."