Durendal was immediately knocked out of its long handle, then Lancer struck it squarely with his mechanical or perhaps steel arm? Probably mechanical.
That blow sent the sword Durendal flying like a rocket, embedding itself straight into the Primordial Sin of Humanity: Lust. It caused the creature to spew an unimaginable amount of blood.
The Great Sin Lust thrashed wildly in pain with its tentacles, but Archer had already anticipated this. Standing on a nearby skyscraper, he unleashed a continuous barrage of flaming arrows.
The arrows flew straight into the tentacles, piercing through them and inflicting intense burns that turned the tentacles into charred barbecue.
Saber stood there, summoning two black dogs that charged forward to tear into the flesh of the Great Sin Lust, while she gathered a certain amount of mana.
Then she roared and leaped high into the air. Her sword Galatine became enveloped in flames as she delivered a vertical slash from above downward, causing the Great Sin Lust to burst into flames.
Let me remind you again — they were only at Level 1. This was their weakest possible state.
Yet with the three Servants working together, they were beating the boss as easily as clearing a raid (even though the raid itself was no joke in difficulty).
Robert, watching the battle, felt only one emotion: shock after shock.
No matter how huge and utterly disgusting the Great Sin Lust looked, the three of them were bullying it so thoroughly.
It seemed he had still severely underestimated the power of Servants.
The Great Sin Lust, under continuous assault, finally counterattacked. Its entire body released a purple-colored seductive mist.
The monsters that had already been killed, upon contact with the mist, began trembling violently. Their bodies transformed, becoming even more spiked and grotesque.
They then charged toward Lancer and Saber. Their swings were strong enough to force even Lancer to step back.
"Welp, looks like these guys are stronger than us in terms of raw strength now," Lancer said, swinging his "spear" into one's shoulder and making it spurt blood.
One also swung at Saber, only for its weapon to shatter upon impact.
"Get out of the way." Saber slapped it — and the monster's head flew clean off.
A+ Endurance really is something else. Who could even damage her at this point?
"Master! Permission to use my skill!" Saber turned and shouted to Robert.
"Huh? Uh, sure! Do whatever you want!"
Hearing that, Saber stepped back. The air around her instantly grew hotter.
Since she hadn't yet ascended, she currently only had one buff skill but that alone was more than enough!
Golden mana wrapped around her like fire. Because there was no sun present, its power was halved.
But that had never been a problem for her.
"UOHHHH!!!" She charged forward, her body blazing like a miniature sun, and drove straight into the Great Sin Lust.
A pained roar erupted from the Great Sin Lust, so loud that nearby glass windows shattered from the sound alone.
"What the—? Phase 2 already?" Angra muttered in confusion. "I don't remember adding this."
"Ah, that's my doing," Vincent said, scratching his head innocently. "In FGO there are often multiple HP bars, so I just copied that."
"…" Jalter and Angra stared at him, speechless.
"Also, after Phase 2 starts, there's a little extra event," Vincent added casually.
"Huh? What event?" Jalter asked.
"Look, it's about to start."
After dealing massive damage to the Great Sin Lust, Saber's buff skill now had to enter an 8–9 turn cooldown.
In other words, 80–90 minutes before it could be used again. Pretty rough. In exchange, the buff lasted 3 turns — meaning 3 minutes.
"Nice shot, Saber!" Lancer called out while dealing with the smaller monsters one by one.
Meanwhile, Archer, still sniping from above, noticed a police car speeding toward the area.
"Stop right there! Hands up!"
It was the police. Several officers stepped out, pistols aimed directly at Saber and Lancer. (Archer, being high up on the building, went unnoticed.)
"?" All three Servants looked at them in confusion.
"Those guys… they're from the same station as me. Why are they here?!" Robert panicked and worried — these were his colleagues.
"This is the police. We're asking you to return to the station for questioning. Please cooperate," said a chubby officer, approaching with an unmistakable "no refusal allowed" tone.
"Who are these idiots? Don't they see the giant monster right there?" Lancer scratched his head.
"Lancer, they can't see it," Archer explained from above. "The Great Sin Lust was born from human emotions. Only people who can activate their magic circuits can perceive it."
"Get out of here! We won't be able to protect you!" Saber shouted.
But the officers only exchanged glances, clearly not taking her seriously.
"Wow, those cosplays are pretty professional, huh? Don't tell me the fire in the city center was you guys taking your role too seriously?" the chubby officer sneered.
Robert couldn't believe it — not only were they being disrespectful, they were actually treating these people like criminals, even though everything around them really was caused by the Servants.
"Alright boys, these guys are probably escaped psych ward patients. If we get too close they'll attack us. Let's just shoot them and call it self-defense," the chubby officer said. The others nodded in agreement.
'These bastards!!' Robert was furious. He never imagined his own colleagues would behave like such scum.
He refused to accept that these people were part of the same force as him!
"Stop!" Robert stepped forward, flashing his police badge as he approached.
The officers noticed him, saw the badge, and lowered their guns.
"Oh! Robert! You here to help us apprehend the mental patients?" The chubby officer waved cheerfully.
"I'm advising you to lower your weapons! They're just… filming a movie! You're seriously accusing people of being psych ward escapees just because they're shooting a film?!"
Right as he spoke, he noticed one officer trying to hide a suitcase.
Could it be—?!
He rushed forward, shoved the officers aside, and grabbed the suitcase.
"H-Hey! Don't open that!"
Robert ignored him and opened it anyway.
"…YOU BASTARDS!"
The case was stuffed full of cash. No mistaking it.
These guys… were taking bribes!
Click.
"Too bad. Looks like I have to kill my own colleagues now." A pistol barrel pressed against the back of Robert's head.
"You pieces of shit — you still dare call yourselves police?! You're no different from maggots ruining the whole pot of soup!"
"Oi oi, why don't you take a good look at yourself?" the officer sneered.
"What do you mean?!"
"You took bribes too, didn't you? You personally accepted money from the same squad as us."
"…"
"Come on, just keep quiet and cooperate. This money gets split among everyone. You happy with that?"
"…I'm done taking filthy money like that! From now on, I swear to myself—"
Robert turned around. His eyes locked onto the officer with fierce determination.
"I will never betray my own ideals again!"
"Then die, hero of justice." The officer smirked as he disengaged the safety.
Suddenly, a chimera lunged out of nowhere.
"Wha—"
Crunch!
The officer's arm was bitten clean off. Blood sprayed everywhere; some splattered across Robert's face.
"AGHHHHHH!!!" The chubby officer collapsed, squealing like a stuck pig.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?!"
"HELP MEEE!!!"
Seeing the others panic, Robert drew his gun and aimed at the officer's head.
"D-DON'T! DON'T SHOOT—"
BANG!
The bullet punched straight through his skull. The light vanished from his eyes as he died on the spot.
"YOU!! YOU ACTUALLY KILLED SOMEONE?! YOU THINK I WON'T REPORT THIS TO THE STATION?!" another officer screamed in terror.
"MURDERER!"
Robert turned to him, eyes blazing with rage.
It was the first time he had ever killed a person. Guilt surged up — only to be crushed back down.
In the end, these scum were ready to kill him. They would probably kill innocent people in the future too.
If achieving his justice required killing to protect those who deserved to live… then he was willing…
…to become a murderer!
The chimera charged again. The remaining officers panicked and opened fire.
But their bullets only lodged shallowly in the chimera's thick hide, barely drawing blood — which only made it angrier.
Its snake tail whipped forward, spraying potent venom. Several officers were corroded on contact and screamed in agony.
Robert shot a few more. Soon only he and the chimera remained.
The chimera now turned toward Robert.
But before it could act, Saber leaped in and cleaved it in half with one powerful stroke. Dead instantly.
"…Saber." Robert stared at her back.
She turned around and gave him a gentle smile.
"Master, if that is your decision, then I will bear the responsibility together with you."
"As long as you are my Master, I will never regret it."
Then she smiled softly.
"Also… you looked very knightly just now."
"…Haha, you're giving me too much credit," Robert laughed weakly.
"Um… everyone? Sorry to interrupt your precious moment, but… the Great Sin Lust is powering up like crazy over there," Lancer called from nearby.
"Ah." "Ah."
Both Saber and Robert looked up — the Primordial Sin of Humanity: Lust had now grown so tall it pierced the clouds.
Meanwhile, over by Angra and Jalter—
"So that's the event you were talking about? The justice cop gets to kill his corrupt colleagues?" Jalter asked.
"Yep. Character development hits different. Way more entertaining this way," Vincent replied honestly.
"…"
It seemed the Masters chosen to participate in this bootleg Holy Grail War were pretty unlucky — because the organizer clearly enjoyed watching each person's character development a little too much.