Under the worn-out pullover was a man who was nearly insane. After a mindless murmur, he rushed toward Ritsuka like a madman.
The two short swords connected by chains were swung out by the hooded man. Their startlingly high speed raised more alarms in Ritsuka's heart; this guy was no slower than she was.
This was a contest of the highest level of agility.
Ritsuka did not retreat; instead, she advanced, her Demonic Blade cutting in diagonally from above.
The short sword collided with the tip of her blade. The short sword, which was not a Noble Phantasm, was knocked away, and the hooded man's forward momentum was stifled by the single strike. As his body lowered slightly, Ritsuka kicked him in the stomach.
The impact cracked the ground and sent gravel flying. With that single kick, blood splattered. The hooded man, whose physical strength was not particularly outstanding even with the class card's enhancement, began to bleed from the corner of his mouth.
After the initial exchange, the hooded man tried to create distance. He used the chained short sword for suppression, and his powerful whipping strikes snapped the remaining trees in the park in half.
After dodging backward slightly, Ritsuka held the Demonic Blade in her right hand and caught a broken tree trunk with her free left hand.
She threw the thick trunk with great force, like a cannonball. The wood, which compressed the air as it flew, went straight toward the hooded man. While swinging his chained short sword to create an impenetrable defense, he leaped high into the air, attempting to avoid this blow that could severely impact his speed.
Seizing the opportunity while he was in the air with nowhere to gain leverage, Ritsuka rapidly approached. "[Hounds of the Underworld]!"
Pitch-black magical beasts lunged out from the shadows. The Three-Headed Hellhounds roared as they pounced toward the hooded man. Simultaneously, Ritsuka gripped an exquisite bronze arrow.
"[Arrows of the Monstrous Birds]!"
Hades's Three-Headed Hellhounds and the bronze monstrous birds raised by Ares, the God of War—two powerful types of beasts surrounded the hooded man from all sides.
Aside from one Three-Headed Hellhound, the arrow decomposed in mid-air, giving birth to dozens of bronze monstrous birds.
Trapped in an inescapable net, the hooded man grew slightly flustered. Countless bronze monstrous birds surrounded him in the air, launching an offensive with their razor-sharp beaks and feathers. The feathers shot out like sharp arrows.
The hooded man swung his chained short sword rapidly, knocking down many bronze arrow-feathers, but he was still hit by a few.
Taking advantage of the moment he was about to land and had yet to steady himself, the Three-Headed Hellhound lunged forward, accurately targeting his waist and attacking from a blind spot behind him.
—Ugh!
Bitten by the Three-Headed Hellhound, the intense pain forced the hooded man to play his trump card. He struggled to tear off the binding over his eyes, exposing a pair of eerie eyes to the air. Wherever his gaze landed, the situation changed drastically!
In an instant, the bronze monstrous birds and the Three-Headed Hellhounds all turned to stone, and a corner of the park was not spared either.
"As expected, Heroic Spirits always have a trump card capable of reversing the battle. Your trump card... is the Petrifying Mystic Eyes."
"Is it the Goddess Medusa, or the monster Gorgon?"
The Petrifying Mystic Eyes were powerful, being the top-tier Rainbow-rank among Mystic Eyes.
Ritsuka couldn't be sure if she would fall into a petrified state if those eyes stared at her, but fortunately, she had successfully forced out this move and bought herself valuable time.
Everything within his line of sight turned to stone, demonstrating the domineering power of the Mystic Eyes. When the hooded man looked down at the Three-Headed Hellhound biting him, Ritsuka attacked from the side, accurately seizing the fleeting opportunity.
The Demonic Blade slashed upward, and Ritsuka's other hand grasped at the air. Another tachi appeared in her hand, and she delivered consecutive slashes with both blades.
One strike severed an arm, and the next sealed his throat. Blood began to spray from the side of the hooded man's neck.
Within a few short seconds, Ritsuka delivered over a dozen slashes. Every hit of the dual Nine Lives struck a vital point, killing the hooded man on the spot. Even the chained short sword he used for defense was completely severed.
Face, forehead, eyes, throat, shoulders, arms, legs, groin... Unsure whether the opponent was using the power of the Goddess Medusa or the monster Gorgon, Ritsuka simply treated him as a human and performed precise strikes on his fragile points.
The severely wounded hooded man collapsed directly onto the ground, unable to move even an inch.
Unless he possessed immortality like Ritsuka, there was no way he would recover his mobility in a short time.
"You..."
The hooded man's eyes were ruined, and blood flowed down from them. Ritsuka shattered the tachi that had been petrified after slashing the Mystic Eyes, then she thrust the Demonic Blade into his chest with a backhand strike.
Puchi—!
His body trembled violently as he lay on the ground. Suddenly, as if he had regained his sanity, he slowly opened his blood-filled mouth—
"Cough...! That form... you... what is the name of that Heroic Spirit?"
"..."
Ritsuka met him with silence, choosing not to answer the question.
The Demonic Blade dissolved into magical energy and slowly drifted away. The hooded man fell completely silent. She had dealt with the enemy cleanly and efficiently.
Ritsuka took a few steps forward, preparing to retrieve the card.
The next moment, she was stunned. "A doll?"
Lying in the center of the ruins, a strange smoke rose from the dead hooded man's body, and he subsequently turned into a doll. The class card was quietly attached to it.
Ritsuka hurried forward and looked at the doll on the ground, her brow furrowing tightly.
"—I see, so this is Displacement Thaumaturgy."
Besides having the abnormal effect of manipulating space to a certain extent, it could even place the personality and soul of a deceased person into a doll, allowing this individual with the same name as before to function again.
This was Displacement Thaumaturgy. At this moment, Ritsuka's mood turned sour.
What were the conditions for this kind of Displacement Thaumaturgy used on dolls?
Could the people related to her be turned into dolls by Displacement Thaumaturgy?
Ritsuka had likely already guessed part of the answer. She silently picked up the card, turned around, and walked out of the park.
The moment the self-suggestive illusion was dispelled, Sakura was already not far from withering. At that time, she had asked Sakura the reason for her injuries, but Sakura did not answer her directly.
Instead, she shook her head helplessly and said the words, 'Brother is already dead.'
"Shinji..."
Her long-deceased father, her kidnapped sister, the junior who faded away in her arms, and the friend displaced into a doll—Einzbern had taken everything from her.
At some point, she had become truly alone.
———
"Hello, I'd like to ask, do you know how to get to Miyama Town?"
An elderly voice sounded in her ear. Ritsuka, who had been lost in thought, felt a jolt in her heart and immediately became alert.
Currently, she possessed the full power of two servants and a double dose of Eye of the Mind (True). She was also covered in suggestion thaumaturgy to deal with ordinary people, yet someone had managed to come up behind her without her noticing.
Turning around, Ritsuka saw an elderly man with a face full of smiles.
He had gray hair and red eyes, wore a dark robe, and held a sword in his hand that could only be described as inconceivable—it was made entirely of jewels.
He carried no aura of power at all, looking just like an ordinary wealthy man—an old man with a temperament quite outstanding compared to ordinary people, giving off the vibe of a collector.
"Old gentleman, is there something I can help you with?"
Ritsuka inquired.
This old man was definitely not an ordinary person. No ordinary person could approach her so easily, completely disregarding her Eye of the Mind.
Furthermore, she had an intuition that this fellow was very dangerous.
"I have just arrived in Fuyuki City to look for someone. Could I trouble you, young lady, to give me some directions?"
Frowning slightly, Ritsuka knew deep down that the person before her was not ordinary, but she held onto the principle that less trouble is better than more and pointed him in the right direction.
Moreover, this potentially powerful existence didn't seem to have any hostility toward her, so she didn't have any extra thoughts.
The priority was to quickly find her next opponent.
"Thank you, young lady... By the way, my name is Kishua Zelretch Schweinorg. If you ever have the chance to visit London, you can mention my name."
The old man departed. Based on his introduction, he seemed like a kind, wealthy man from London. Ritsuka thought about it for a moment but did not linger.
As he watched Ritsuka leave, the old man abruptly vanished from the spot.