"..."
Achilles was stunned.
The girl, surrounded by the spirits of the dead, spread her arms and smiled in rapture.
He couldn't shake the feeling that she looked familiar. This girl named "Manaka Sajyou" seemed like someone he had seen before...
Then the hero of the Troy War remembered.
In the distant past, on the earth where Achilles had once lived, there had been beings exactly like Manaka Sajyou.
They were the so-called "gods."
Arrogant beings who toyed with the world, with humanity, and with heroes in the palms of their hands.
Her innate omniscience and omnipotence, along with her pure innocence, had shaped the girl's values. She was just like a god descended into the modern age in human form.
Achilles gritted his teeth and asked, "Are you planning... to destroy the world for Saber's sake...?"
"Destroy the world? If that's necessary, I wouldn't hesitate."
Manaka Sajyou answered without the slightest pause.
There was even a shy look on her face, and she gave off the delicate scent of fresh flowers.
There was a faint pride in her tone. Why was that?
Achilles knew why. She was convinced that what she was doing was absolutely right.
"Why?"
"Because I've fallen in love with him."
"...!"
The answer was painfully direct.
So simple it could not be any simpler, so absurd it could not be any more absurd.
The girl lived in a world of her own.
She cared nothing for tracing The Root. To achieve her goal, she would not hesitate to sacrifice every last thing in the world.
She absolutely could not be allowed to remain in this world any longer.
"All right."
The "Red" Rider drew in a deep breath. He had his answer.
He carefully set his feet apart and assumed a boxing stance.
Unfortunately, the Meteor Spear had already been destroyed, and his trump-card Noble Phantasm as a Rider would not work well inside the Hanging Gardens.
At this point, Achilles could rely only on his fists and the speed he took pride in.
The Rider's iron fists could easily crush ordinary Heroic Spirits, but his opponent was a monster who had brought even the dead Karna, Siegfried, and Vlad III under her command.
Could he take them all down with just these fists? Not a chance.
Damn. I should've spent more time on martial arts when I was alive.
The Rider thought with a self-mocking laugh. Maybe training to challenge the Nemean Lion barehanded or something... Haha.
Manaka Sajyou tilted her head in confusion. "Oh? You're still going to put up a pointless fight at this point?"
"Sorry, little lady, but surrender isn't an option for me."
Achilles smiled. "The only place I die is on the battlefield. If you want to turn me into your puppet too, try killing me first, assuming you can."
"Hm? Rider, haven't you misunderstood something? Actually, I..."
"Shut up!!"
Achilles roared and clenched his fists.
He took a wide step, lowered his stance, and poured Mana and divine aura into both legs.
His chance of victory would last only an instant.
Achilles' speed was true godspeed.
"Dromeus Komētēs." This was the ability that activated whenever Achilles left his chariot.
A constantly active Noble Phantasm, materialized and elevated from the legend that he was "the fastest of all heroes in every age."
Achilles moved.
He charged toward the girl surrounded by powerful undead, without the slightest unnecessary feint, driving straight ahead like a gale.
The Rider would stake everything on this fastest, strongest strike and kill the girl before him for certain.
A stake shot out and pierced Achilles' abdomen.
The Mana of the sun scorched Achilles' arm.
Saber and Berserker shattered the ground, destroying his path forward.
Caster summoned a golem to stand between him and Manaka Sajyou.
But none of it was enough to stop the hero of Greek mythology.
Born as the strongest warrior, and dead as the strongest warrior.
For all his fame, known to all across the world, Achilles' time in the spotlight was remarkably brief.
His life was as brilliant and fleeting as a shooting star.
It was said that when Achilles had just been born, he was prophesied to die on the battlefield.
His deeply worried mother, Thetis, tried to turn him into an immortal god by roasting his body in sacred fire, hoping to evaporate the impure human blood within him.
But that act would have destroyed Achilles as a human, and his father, Peleus, fiercely opposed it.
After that, the goddess Thetis returned to her homeland. The hero Peleus, after careful thought, brought Achilles to the sage Chiron and asked Chiron to educate him.
Chiron readily accepted his friend's request.
And so Achilles was raised by Chiron himself. After receiving the education of a hero, he threw himself into the Troy War.
His meeting with his ally Patroclus, his meeting with his wife, his meeting with his fated rival Hektor...
Achilles embraced all of it with joy, racing down the road of life on those very feet.
Of course, he probably did not know what tragic ending awaited him once he joined the war.
But even if he had known, would he have stopped?
Would he choose a life that raced like the wind, dazzling on the battlefield at the cost of its own speed? Or would he choose to live long and unnoticed?
The young Achilles answered his mother without hesitation. He would live brilliantly, even if only for a short time.
Even in the second life he had gained as a Servant, Achilles would not change his creed.
This "Dromeus Komētēs: Comet Form" was both proof that he was the fastest in human history and a reflection of his soul and his life.
"Haaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Like a comet, Achilles crossed the encirclement of five powerful Servants in an instant and charged right up to Manaka Sajyou.
Prepared to die with her, he swung a fatal punch at Manaka Sajyou's chest.
And yet he could not reach the girl's heart.
"What a shame. You're still a little short on killing intent."
The girl's fair, soft fingertip forcibly stopped the hero's comet-like iron fist.
That punch was at least equivalent to B+ rank, strong enough to easily pierce any Servant's Spirit Core, yet Manaka Sajyou had stopped it with just one finger.
"I imagine it must be pretty hard for you to kill a girl, right?"
Manaka Sajyou said with a smile.
"I know. You once swore you would never kill a woman with your own spear again. No matter how much you see me as an enemy or a monster, you can't truly direct killing intent at me."
The girl spoke calmly. "That's why your punch was far, far too light."
"Ugh...!!"
Achilles tried to attack again, but he could not move.
He noticed a black shadow spreading from the girl's feet, crawling up his body.
Was that... the power of the Holy Grail...?
A chill ran through him. Achilles gradually understood why she could control the souls of Heroic Spirits already reclaimed by the Holy Grail.
But it was too late.
The "Red" Rider tried to leap backward, but now he could not even move freely.
"!!!"
At that moment, Manaka Sajyou's pupils widened slightly.
Yet even a god wearing the form of a young girl could not change what came next.
Manaka Sajyou vanished.
Using a form of Magecraft bordering on Magic, she opened more than ten meters of distance between herself and Achilles.
When the girl reappeared, an arrow had already pierced her shoulder.
"How could this happen..."
Manaka Sajyou stared at her shoulder in surprise, then turned her gaze toward the other "still-living Servant" present.
"Professor...!" Achilles shouted.
The "Black" Archer knelt on one knee, clutching the chest that had been pierced by a stake, gasping heavily for breath.
"This is my Noble Phantasm. A single arrow, aimed and fired directly, without any preparatory stance."
The Noble Phantasm was called "Antares Snipe."
Among all the attacks Chiron could perform, it was an absolute shot with the highest power and precision, the embodiment of Chiron becoming Sagittarius and forever aiming at Scorpio.
It could be fired the instant the decision was made, relying not on a bow, but on a meteor strike launched from the constellation itself.
Once Chiron decided to activate the Noble Phantasm, it would automatically trigger one turn later, even if he had already died.
It required only a chosen target for the arrow. There was no need to release its True Name or accumulate Mana, and it completely eliminated the unavoidable time lag of bow-type weapons, such as nocking an arrow and drawing the string.
This was a meteor strike possible only for Sagittarius, Chiron, who had always kept his bow drawn toward the scorpion in the heavens.
By the time the enemy noticed, everything was already over.
For Manaka Sajyou, who possessed divine power yet had a body as fragile as a human's, this Noble Phantasm was a natural enemy.
Unfortunately...
"Did my star fail to pierce the point it was meant to...?"
Chiron looked regretful.
No. Chiron, whose skill had reached the very pinnacle of archery, had indeed pierced Manaka Sajyou's heart.
Had she not instinctively used "Spatial Transfer" the moment she was hit, causing a slight shift in space-time, Manaka Sajyou would already be dead.
It truly was a pity. Even Lady Luck stood on the enemy's side.
The disciple, Achilles, had only D-rank Luck, while the teacher, Chiron, had no more than C-rank Luck. Both of them had been given a chance to kill Manaka Sajyou.
"Rider! Run...!"
Chiron shouted over his shoulder.
"Professor, I..."
Achilles, shocked and overjoyed that Chiron had risen, froze in confusion for a moment.
"Don't call me Professor. I am no longer in a position to be addressed that way. The duel is over. You should call me the 'Black' Archer."
The "Red" Rider was about to object, but the "Black" Archer shouted again.
"Run, Achilles! No one can stop your feet! As long as you live, there is still hope to turn defeat into victory!"
"Ugh...!"
Achilles was shaken to his core.
No matter what he had faced in life, he had never once shown his back to an enemy.
After all, he had never encountered an opponent stronger than himself. More importantly,Achilles, a man who had always treated death on the battlefield as a matter of course, could never accept the shame of fleeing before a little girl and his Professor.
Chiron had reached his limit. Achilles could tell that the release of that Noble Phantasm had consumed the last of his Mana.
This was the precious chance Chiron had created for him at the cost of his life.
"I understand, Archer."
After a brief hesitation, Achilles nodded to Chiron, then turned into spirit form and disappeared.
"As expected of the fastest hero in history..."
Manaka Sajyou let out a quiet sigh.
It had happened in an instant. Rider's presence could no longer be sensed at all.
He possessed top-class martial skill, defense, and speed among all Heroic Spirits, along with numerous armaments, including a spear and chariot, as well as that defensive Noble Phantasm he had yet to use.
The "Red" Rider was undoubtedly a terrifying Servant on par with Karna. She really did want to turn him into a combat asset too...
But never mind.
Sooner or later, all Servants would become her pieces anyway.
For Saber's sake, she had to keep trying...!
Manaka Sajyou clenched her fist to cheer herself on as she walked toward the "Black" Archer.
Chiron fearlessly watched the girl and her black Servants approach.
Before long, his consciousness would be taken as well, and he would become Manaka Sajyou's puppet.
But he felt no regret, because he had already entrusted the hope of survival to Achilles.
He had lied earlier. Telling Rider not to call him "Professor" had not been what he truly wanted.
If the person before him had not been Achilles, the student he was so proud of, Chiron never would have gambled his life like that. At the very least, after the stake pierced his Spirit Core, he would have lamented his misfortune, accepted his fate, and vanished on the spot.
What a troublesome man, right to the very end, Chiron thought with a smile.
"...Saber doesn't know about what you're doing right now, does he?"
"I can't let him know."
Manaka Sajyou said it as if that were only natural.
So Saber really doesn't know, Chiron thought in relief. He truly had not misjudged him.
If that was the case, then Fiore should have nothing to worry about either.
As the black shadow swallowed him completely, Chiron breathed out in relief.
The girl he had met as a Servant was both his Master and his final student.
Just like Achilles, at the end of his life, Chiron prayed for Fiore's safety, and for her future to keep shining.
Though he knew the thought was arrogant, he still wished to teach, to learn from, to guide, and to be guided by the humans of the present.
Even with a troubled girl like Manaka Sajyou, Chiron had truly hoped she could walk the right path.
But that is not my work...
Saber will teach her properly in my place...
The Archer's thoughts ended there.
The wise and compassionate Sage vanished from the earth.
In his place stood a Dark Archer who had lost all reason, knowing only how to scatter a rain of death.
"One, two, three, four, five... and that makes six~"
Standing in the darkness, Manaka Sajyou looked like a noblewoman counting cream puffs on her plate.
Or perhaps she was a goddess wearing the Domina Coronam, surrounded by beasts of calamity.
"All right~ Let's find the next target~"
With utter ease, the girl continued onward toward Dies irae.