"Ughhh..."
Waking up in the morning as usual, I stretched my arms, trying to shake off the lingering sleep.
Every day had been incredibly peaceful since the Holy Grail War ended, and I had just been enjoying my time having fun with everyone.
I still needed to study and do my homework later, of course. Auntie Nana and Auntie Ria were homeschooling us since they couldn't afford to send us to an actual kindergarten right now.
Fortunately, I still retained most of the knowledge from my past life as a student, so I often ended up helping them teach the others. They all thought I was some sort of brilliant child prodigy who picked up lessons instantly, but really, I was just cheating using my past life.
"Alright, time to brush my teeth~"
I stood up, fully intending to walk to the bathroom, when I suddenly noticed something entirely wrong.
"This happened again!?"
I was no longer in my bedroom back at the orphanage. The layout was completely different from Manaka's room, too. This was a quintessential, stereotypical little girl's bedroom-bright pastel colors, scattered dolls, plush toys, and bedsheets that practically screamed 'childhood innocence.'
"Why do I keep getting kidnapped!?"
At this point, I had been abducted in my sleep and woken up in bizarre, unfamiliar locations at least six times. I seriously didn't understand why this kept happening to me.
But complaining wasn't going to change anything. The first thing I needed to do was get out of this room and figure out exactly where I was.
Knock, knock.
"Rikka! It's time to wake up! Mama said breakfast is ready!"
It was a little girl's voice coming from the other side of the door. It sounded light, clear, and incredibly soft, carrying a gentle, innocent cheerfulness.
That's weird. I don't think I've ever heard that voice before.
But she had called me by my name, which meant she obviously knew who I was. The bright, energetic way she knocked and called out to me also suggested she didn't have any malicious intentions.
"Wait... did she just say 'Mama'?"
But while I was still trying to place the voice, the door suddenly opened, and a girl slightly taller than me stepped inside.
She seemed incredibly familiar. Her most striking feature was her brilliant, snowy-white hair that fell past her shoulders, perfectly framing a face with large, expressive crimson eyes.
She looked like a delicate porcelain doll, but the way she huffed at me with her hands planted firmly on her hips made her feel very real and very much alive.
"Rikka! If you're already awake, why didn't you answer me!?"
"Illya...?" I stuttered, my voice barely above a whisper. "Are you Illya?"
Her appearance was exactly like the Illya I remembered from the anime. I always knew she was cute, but seeing her standing right in front of me is really different from the anime and I also noticed she actually looked a little bit older than her animated counterpart.
"Gaackk!?" Illya suddenly let out a bizarre, choked gasp. Her eyes widened in absolute shock as she stared at me.
Then, her shoulders completely slumped. She hung her head in despair, letting both of her arms dangle lifelessly at her sides like all the energy had just left her body.
"Huh?"
Like a zombie, she slowly walked toward me and tightly grabbed both of my shoulders while still keeping her head down.
Then, she slowly looked up, her crimson eyes filled with an expression of pure despair.
"Why did you just call me Illya? Did your Onee-chan do something to you?! Did you find out I stole your yogurt yesterday? I'm sorry, I thought you didn't want it!" she suddenly blurted out, breaking into a full panic.
"I'm sorry! I'll buy you another one later, please don't stop calling me Onee-chan!"
"Ehh? Wait, wait, what's going on?"
She didn't hear a single word I said.
She just kept shaking me back and forth, frantically begging me to call her Onee-chan again.
"Alright, alright, fine, Onee-chan! Can you stop?" I finally gave up and just said it.
The moment she heard the word, she instantly stopped shaking me. "One more time..."
This was so incredibly embarrassing. I never had siblings in my past life, so I had never called anyone 'big sister' before.
"Onee...chan." I forced the word out just so this nightmare would end.
Hearing that, a massive smile broke across her face, and she completely let go of my shoulders.
"Yes, yes, your Onee-chan is here! Now don't worry, I'll buy back the yogurt I took yesterday." She happily grabbed my hand.
"Now let's go!"
she cheered, dragging me right out of the bedroom and down the stairs.
Illya's grip on my hand was surprisingly strong as she dragged me down the stairs and straight into the brightly lit dining room.
The warm smell of freshly cooked breakfast filled the air. Someone was clearly busy cooking in the kitchen, though from where I stood, I couldn't see who it was.
Several people were already gathered around the dining table.
"Mama! Rikka is acting really weird today!" Illya whined the second we walked in. "She called me by my name, and she looks completely confused!"
Sitting at the table was Irisviel von Einzbern. Unlike the tragic, fiercely determined homunculus I knew from the Holy Grail War, this Irisviel wore a cheerful, radiant smile. She looked completely healthy and full of life. Beside her was an empty chair, perfectly set but no one sitting on it.
Slumped in another chair was a woman who shared their snowy-white hair and crimson eyes. She looked half-asleep, letting out a long yawn and leaning against the table like she barely had the energy to sit up.
"Oh? What's wrong, Illya?" Irisviel asked, turning her attention to us with a bright smile.
Illya immediately launched into a frantic retelling of everything that had just happened in the bedroom.
She dramatically emphasized the part where I didn't call her 'Onee-chan' right away, genuinely convinced that her stealing my yogurt was the reason for my weird behavior.
Hearing the panicked explanation, Irisviel just blinked before laughing softly.
"Oh, Illya, don't worry so much," Irisviel smiled warmly. She reached over and gently patted my head. "Rikka just woke up, that's all. She's probably just a little groggy, right?"
I just nodded in a daze, letting Illya push me into an empty chair at the table.
The others immediately started chatting about normal, everyday things, but I completely tuned them out.
My mind was racing trying to figure out what was going on. Was this an illusion? It had to be. But I had been trained by Lady Ava. I knew how to detect and break mental interference.
Unless the person who cast this was on the exact same level of power as her, I should have easily noticed I was trapped in a spell by now.
But everything around me felt completely, terrifyingly real.
My thoughts were suddenly interrupted when two people walked out of the kitchen, carrying plates piled high with breakfast.
One was another woman who looked very similar to Irisviel, dressed sharply in a neat maid uniform.
The other was a teenage boy wearing a high school uniform. He was tall, with unique, naturally messy auburn hair and a gentle expression. I wasn't going to lie to myself-he was actually really handsome. If I wasn't currently stuck in an eight-year-old's body, I probably wouldn't mind dating a guy like him.
"Here you go," the boy said with a warm smile, setting the plates down in the center of the table.
The smell hit me instantly. It was so unbelievably delicious that I actually started drooling right there on the spot, my stomach growling loudly as I completely forgot about my internal crisis for a second.
Hearing my stomach rumble, the auburn-haired boy let out a warm laugh.
"Are you already hungry, Rikka?" he asked.
Without hesitating, he grabbed a plate and immediately started serving me a generous portion of the food, even though he and the maid hadn't even finished setting the table yet.
From the way he just casually handed me the food first with that gentle smile, it was pretty obvious I was the pampered youngest child in this house.
I didn't know what the 'me' of this world was usually like, but it seemed like everyone here was naturally used to spoiling me.
"Onii-chan, that's not fair!" Illya immediately complained, puffing out her cheeks in a massive pout. "Why does Rikka get to start before everyone else?"
"She's hungry, Illya," he replied with an easy smile, placing the steaming plate right in front of me. "If you want, you can have yours right now too."
I didn't even wait for Illya to answer. The smell was driving me crazy, so I picked up my fork and took a bite.
Instantly, my eyes went completely wide.
What the hell is this?!
It was just regular breakfast food, but it tasted better than anything I had ever eaten in my two entire lifetimes.
The flavor was absolutely perfect. All my deep, serious thoughts about illusions, and being kidnapped suddenly disappear I just ducked my head and started shoveling the food into my mouth as fast as I physically could.
While I was busy stuffing my face, I could hear Irisviel talking softly to Illya across the table.
"See, Illya?" Irisviel said with a gentle laugh. "Rikka is acting exactly like she always does. Whatever happened upstairs was probably just a one-time thing. She was just a little sleepy."
Illya still looked a bit skeptical, but seeing me devour the food at record speed seemed to finally convince her. The rest of the breakfast passed incredibly peacefully.
It was warm, loud, and so entirely normal that I almost forgot about my actual life back at the orphanage with Auntie Nana and Auntie Ria.
Once we finished eating, Irisviel clapped her hands together with a bright smile.
"Alright, you two! Hurry upstairs and prepare yourselves so you aren't late."
I just nodded blindly. I had absolutely no idea what she meant by 'prepare ourselves,' but it seemed safest to just keep my mouth shut and follow Illya's lead.
We walked out of the dining room and started heading back up the stairs together. As we reached the second floor hallway, I finally couldn't hold back my curiosity anymore.
"Hey, Onee-chan..." I mumbled, the embarrassing title still feeling completely foreign on my tongue. "What exactly are we preparing ourselves for?"
Illya stopped dead in her tracks. She slowly turned around and stared at me, her crimson eyes blinking in confusion.
"What do you mean, what are we preparing for?" Illya asked, looking at me like I had suddenly grown a second head. "We have to get ready for school!"
"School!?"
---
---
---
Time passed. I ended up going to school with Illya and meeting her friends, who all agreed that I was acting completely weird today.
Illya and I actually attended the same school, but I was placed in a different class since I was two years younger than her.
I didn't pay any attention to the lessons. I just stared out the window, desperately trying to figure out how to get back to my own timeline.
At this point, I already knew about the multiple branching timelines of the Fate universe. This had to be an alternate reality where Illya got to live with a completely normal family.
There was also that teenage boy I had never seen before living with us, and somehow, I had become a member of the Einzbern family and Illya's little sister.
During the lunch break, Illya and her friends came to my classroom to invite me to eat with them. I just tagged along, quietly eating my food without talking much.
After school, we went back home only to find out that Irisviel-my 'Mama'-had already left to work abroad again. It seemed to be a regular occurrence, because Illya wasn't surprised by it at all.
That night, I stood in my bedroom, staring into the mirror. I needed to check on something important.
My reflection stared back at me. I still had the exact same appearance as usual, complete with my familiar black hair.
My gaze shifted in the glass as I focused, activating my Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
The moment they activated, the familiar jagged lines crawled across my vision. It was a clear indication that my eyes were working perfectly, even in another timeline.
Seeing my irises shift into that beautiful, iridescent glow shimmering with multiple colors like a radiant rainbow actually made me exhale in pure relief. At the very least, something I was truly familiar with was still right here with me.
After confirming my eyes were functioning properly and my Magic Circuits were still flowing smoothly, I realized I wouldn't have any issues casting magecraft, even in this timeline.
"Hahhh... so much has happened in just one day." I walked over to the window and pushed it open to let in some fresh air.
The night was incredibly peaceful and silent. The only sounds I could hear were the quiet chirping of insects and the gentle rustling of the wind.
But just as I was enjoying the scenery, a sudden movement caught my eye. Down below, just outside the boundary wall of the house, I saw Illya. She was sprinting frantically down the street in a massive hurry.
And for some bizarre reason, there was some kind of strange, floating object chasing right behind her...
"Illya?"
---
---
---
The cold night air whipped past Illya's face as she sprinted down the empty Fuyuki streets.
Floating faithfully right beside her was the Kaleidostick, Magical Ruby, leaving a faint trail of pink sparkles in the dark.
"Hurry up, Illya-san! Rin and the others are probably already waiting at the park!" Ruby's annoyingly cheerful voice chimed in. "We can't keep them waiting when the Caster Class Card is out there tonight!"
"I know, I know!" Illya huffed, gripping the hem of her jacket.
She was trying to focus on the mission, but her mind kept drifting back to her house.
Today had officially been the weirdest day ever-except maybe for the day she actually became a magical girl. Her cute, sweet, perfectly pampered little sister had looked at her this morning with the cold, calculating eyes of an absolute stranger.
Rikka had struggled just to call her Onee-chan, and during their school lunch break, she had just sat there in a total daze.
Instead of chatting with everyone like usual, Rikka had stared off into space, lost in some terrifyingly deep thought while chewing her food with a bizarrely serious expression.
"Did I do something wrong?" Illya worried, taking a sharp turn toward the park entrance. "Is she still mad about the yogurt? No, she looked... scary. Like a completely different person."
She just wanted to finish this card hunt quickly so she could go back home, crawl into bed, and figure out how to get her normal little sister back.
As she burst into the clearing of the park, she immediately spotted them. Miyu was standing quietly to the side in her magical girl outfit, while Rin Tohsaka and Luvia Edelfelt were already glaring at each other like they were seconds away from starting a brawl.
"You're late, Illya!" Rin crossed her arms, tapping her foot impatiently.
But Rin quickly noticed that Illya had arrived alone. "Wait, where is Rikka? Did you not wake her up?"
"Yes, you two usually arrive together. Where is she?" Luvia added, turning her attention away from Rin.
Miyu seemed to have the exact same question. She glanced between Illya and the dark entrance of the park, as if waiting for Rikka to come running out of the shadows.
"Rikka couldn't come today. Something weird has been going on with her since this morning," Illya explained, catching her breath.
"It's true! Rikka has been acting incredibly strange," Ruby chimed in, bobbing up and down. "I actually decided not to show myself to her at all today because I noticed she seemed completely different."
"Acting weird? What happened?" Miyu asked, her stoic expression shifting into mild concern.
"Well, it's like this..." Illya began.
The group finally started moving, walking together toward their destination the Fuyuki Bridge, where they could already feel the heavy, oppressive mana of the rogue Servant Card.
As they walked, Illya explained everything that had happened throughout the day. By the time she finished, the rest of the group had fallen into deep thought.
"She's acting completely different?" Rin asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. "Are you absolutely sure she's really Rikka and not just some kind of copy?"
"No, Ruby already checked. She said her magical signature is exactly the same, it's just her personality that's completely different," Illya replied, shaking her head.
Besides, she remembered the sheer joy on Rikka's face while devouring her onii-chan breakfast that morning. A fake wouldn't have reacted exactly like the usual Rikka when it came to his cooking.
During their walk, they kept debating why Rikka had suddenly changed until they finally arrived at the bridge.
"We should stop for now," Rin said, her voice dropping into a more serious tone. "We can continue this discussion tomorrow after we're finished here. I'm going to head over and check on her myself."
"Me too, then. I'm actually quite worried about her," Luvia added, her usual competitive edge softening for a moment.
But what none of them realized was that someone was already following them. She was moving through the shadows, keeping herself perfectly hidden so they wouldn't notice her presence.
---
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---
Following them from the shadows was surprisingly easy.
I kept my distance, moving through the dark alleys and staying out of reach of the streetlights.
My training with Lady Ava was more than enough to let me follow them without being noticed.
As I watched from behind a thick concrete pillar near the base of the Fuyuki Bridge, I narrowed my eyes.
"So, they're worried about me, huh?" I muttered under my breath.
Hearing the woman who looked like Rin and that unfamiliar blonde talking about coming to "check on me" tomorrow made my stomach twist a little.
I didn't want them poking around. If they started investigating me, they might realize I wasn't the "Rikka" they knew, and I still had no idea what their reaction would be.
But that wasn't the main problem right now.
The air around the bridge was heavy. It felt thick, oily, and completely wrong. It was a dense concentration of mana that felt like a rotting wound in reality.
It was like the signature of a Servant, but twisted-like a hollow shell of the real thing.
Suddenly, a brilliant light erupted from where Illya was standing. When the flash finally faded, her clothes had completely changed. She was now floating in mid-air, holding a wand with a star design on it.
"Hah? What just happened?"
That getup looked exactly like the transformations from the magical girl anime I used to watch in my past life.
Speaking of which, the other girl the one around Illya's age was wearing a similar outfit, just with a different color and design.
"Does that mean both of them are magical girls?"
Not long after Illya transformed, Rin threw some kind of beautifully colored stones to the ground.
A glowing magic circle appeared around them, and with a flash of bright light, they completely vanished from the area.
Seeing them disappear, I immediately came out of my hiding place and rushed over to where they had just been standing.
"Where did they go?"
I looked around frantically, trying to track them, but there wasn't a single trace of anyone left in the area.
"Teleportation? No, that's impossible. True teleportation borders on the realm of True Magic."
I looked down at the ground where the multicolored stones lay. Most of them had already crumbled into dust, but a few pieces still seemed intact. I picked one up to examine it closer.
"A jewel? Wait... I can still sense a faint trace of magical energy inside of this. Did she use these to cast that magic circle?"
I rolled the cracked, faintly glowing stone between my fingers, my mind racing through all the bounded fields and spatial magecraft Lady Ava had taught me.
If it wasn't True Magic, then it had to be a pocket dimension. A mirrored space layered directly on top of our reality.
But knowing that didn't help me.
Without the proper key or a massive amount of mana, breaking into a closed spatial field was nearly impossible.
"Pardon my intrusion, Rikka-sama."
I froze.
The voice was incredibly polite, speaking with the refined, elegant tone of a high-class noblewoman.
Startled, I dropped the jewel and immediately pulsed prana through my Magic Circuits, quickly stepping back.
"Who's there?!" I demanded, looking around the empty space beneath the Fuyuki Bridge.
I scanned the pillars and the dark water below. Nothing. There wasn't a single physical presence anywhere near me.
"There is no need for alarm, Rikka-sama. I am right here, desu."
My eyes widened. The voice wasn't coming from anywhere around me. It was echoing directly inside my head, resonating from my own magical circuits.
Before I could even process what that meant, a warm, golden light flared from the center of my chest.
The ambient mana in the air swirled as a physical object suddenly manifested right out of my own body, floating gracefully down into my open hand.
It was a wand.
It looked ridiculously similar to the one Illya was holding earlier, but instead of pink and stars, this one was a deep, regal gold, crested with a brilliant amber jewel at the center.
It had a pair of elegant, bat-like wings folded neatly at its sides.
"Allow me to formally reintroduce myself, seeing as you seem a bit disoriented tonight," the wand said. The golden jewel flashed gently in time with its words, its tone perfectly calm and endlessly polite.
"I am the Kaleidostick, Magical Amber. If it is your desire to pursue Illya-sama and the others into the Mirror World, you need only give me the command, and I shall open the way for you with the utmost elegance, masu."
I just stood there in the dead of night, staring at the talking, ridiculously fancy magical stick that had just popped out of my own soul.
My brain felt like it was short-circuiting.
"...You end your sentences with 'desu' and 'masu'?" was the only thing I could manage to say.
"It is simply proper etiquette, desu," the wand replied smoothly, completely unfazed by my utter disbelief.
I rubbed the bridge of my nose, feeling a massive headache starting to form behind my eyes.
"Okay, let's back up. Why were you inside my chest? And why can I feel my Magic Circuits perfectly linked to yours?"
"Because we are partners, Rikka-sama. We formally forged our contract several weeks ago," Amber explained, floating gracefully a few inches above my palm.
"Since then, my core has been intrinsically tied to your own magical signature. That is how I safely reside within you when my physical form is not required, masu."
"Several weeks?" I repeated, my voice entirely flat. "Doing what, exactly?"
The golden jewel pulsed with a soft, warm light.
"Gathering the Class Cards, of course. You, Illya-sama, and Miyu-sama are Magical Girls, tasked with retrieving all seven corrupted Heroic Spirits that have manifested here in Fuyuki, desu. Miss Tohsaka and Miss Edelfelt act as your supervisors, though you three are the ones executing the actual combat operations."
I just stared at the glowing stick. Slowly, all the chaotic pieces of the day clicked into place.
The twisted, oily Servant mana I had felt radiating from the bridge. The ridiculous, frilly outfits. Illya and that Miyu girl jumping straight into a distorted pocket dimension with Rin and blonde girl.
In this timeline, my alternate self wasn't just living a peaceful, pampered life with an adopted family. She was moonlighting as a Magical Girl hunting down rogue Servants.
"So... the thing they just went in there to fight..." I muttered.
"The Caster Class Card," Amber confirmed, her refined tone shifting into something slightly more serious.
"It is a highly formidable opponent with territory creation capabilities. And if I may be so bold, Rikka-sama, your sister usually relies heavily on your tactical support in these battles. Illya-sama going in without you puts her at a significant disadvantage, desu."
I gritted my teeth, looking back at the empty space beneath the Fuyuki Bridge where the portal had vanished.
I still didn't fully understand the rules of this timeline, and the mere thought of putting on a frilly magical girl costume made my soul want to leave my body.
But Illya was in there.
The same Illya who had dragged me to breakfast this morning, pouted over me getting food first, and genuinely treated me like her precious little sister.
If she got killed in there by some corrupted Servant, I wasn't going to just stand out here and do nothing.
"Fine," I sighed heavily, running a hand through my hair. "How do we do this? Do I just... wave you around and yell a catchphrase?"
"There is no need for anything undignified, Rikka-sama," Amber replied delicately, her golden wings fluttering in the cool night air.
"We already have a firmly established contract. Simply grasp my handle, channel your prana into my core, and visualize the connection between us. I shall seamlessly handle the rest, desu."
"Visualize our connection?" I asked, gripping the golden wand tightly in my hand. "Wait, if we've been doing this for weeks... what exactly does my outfit look like?"
The golden jewel pulsed with a bright, cheerful warmth.
"The very pinnacle of elegance, of course. Transformation sequence initiating, masu!"
"Wait, you didn't answer the-"
Before I could even finish my sentence, a blinding, radiant golden light erupted from the wand, completely engulfing my vision.
I felt a sudden rush of ambient mana swirling around me, the sensation of fabric weaving itself directly over my clothes, and the undeniable, horrifying weight of frills and ribbons rapidly attaching themselves to my body.
My mind flashed back to all the ridiculous, over-the-top magical girl anime I used to watch in my previous life.
"Oh no."
The light finally shattered into a shower of golden sparkles, fading into the night air. I slowly opened my eyes, looking down at my newly transformed body.
Instead of the simple, practical clothes I would have normally worn, I was dressed in a highly elaborate, Victorian-style magical girl dress.
It was primarily deep amber and black, layered with perfectly pressed ruffles, a corset-like bodice, and a massive, elegant ribbon tied perfectly at my lower back.
I even had matching laced boots and a pair of delicate, formal gloves.
I violently shivered as the freezing night air hit my bare skin. I looked down past the corset, my eyes widening in absolute horror.
The skirt was practically nonexistent. It was a mass of ruffled layers that stopped entirely too high up my thighs, leaving an embarrassing amount of skin exposed between the frilly hem and the top of my boots.
It wasn't just a magical girl outfit. It was the absolute embodiment of a rich, snobby ojou-sama.
"You look absolutely flawless tonight, Rikka-sama," Amber chimed happily from my hand. "Shall we proceed to the Mirror World and show that Caster our refined grace, desu?"
I stared blankly at the overwhelming amount of lace on my sleeves, my soul slowly leaving my body.
"...I wonder if it's too late to just slice myself with my Mystic Eyes...."
---
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"Gáe Bolg!"
With Illya's help, Miyu managed to stab Caster directly in the heart after Including the Lancer Card and summoning the crimson spear.
As Caster died in midair, she immediately dissolved into glowing particles, condensing into a single Servant Class Card that Miyu quickly snatched out of the sky.
"Miyu, you did it!" Illya cheered, flying over and stopping right beside her.
Since Miyu still couldn't fly like Illya, she used a different method-creating solid magical platforms beneath her feet to stand and run on thin air.
"Excellent work, Miyu-sama. The Caster Class Card has been neutralized," Sapphire, Miyu's Kaleidostick, stated calmly.
"Yeah, it was awesome how you managed to use my mana blast as a stepping stone to jump at Caster so fast!" Illya beamed.
"Mm," Miyu hummed, giving a small nod. Beneath her stoic expression, she actually didn't mind being praised like that.
Down on the ground, Rin and Luvia were catching their breath as they watched the two magical girls in the sky.
"I can't believe we struggled this much against Caster. The battles are starting to get really heavy," Rin sighed, crossing her arms.
"It is truly unfortunate that we didn't have Rikka's tactical support tonight. If she were here, we likely wouldn't have struggled half as much," Luvia agreed, brushing off her skirt.
"Yeah, tell me about it. We only managed to clear the previous ones so easily because of her," Rin added.
She then glanced around the distorted, red-tinted landscape of the Fuyuki Bridge, waiting for the inevitable shift that always happened after they defeated a rogue Servant.
"Huh, that's weird. Why hasn't this mirror dimension collapsed yet? Caster is already defeated."
"You're right. Why hasn't this place disappeared?" Luvia frowned, her guard instantly going back up.
This was not what usually happened.
Clank. Clank.
Suddenly, the heavy sound of armored footsteps echoed through the eerie silence.
The sound of shifting steel made both magi whip around toward the noise.
Emerging from the shadows behind them was a woman clad in pitch-black armor, a dark visor covering her eyes.
Without a single word of warning, she rushed straight at them, raising a blackened, corrupted sword with every intent to cleave them in two.
"Not a chance!"
But before the dark blade could land its lethal hit, a massive surge of thick, magical roots erupted from a completely different direction, wrapping tightly around the armored woman.
The dark Servant flinched, suddenly immobilized. With her immense strength, she could have easily torn her way out of the bindings, but before she got the chance, the roots violently dragged her backward and hurled her away from Rin and Luvia.
CRASH!
The armored woman was thrown entirely off course, completely destroying multiple trees alongside the street before disappearing into a thick cloud of dust and debris.
"Rin-neechan, Luvia-neesan! Are you two okay?"
Another magical girl landed gracefully beside them, her overly frilly, Victorian-style dress fluttering in the wind.
"Rikka? What are you doing here?" Rin asked, her eyes widening in surprise at the sudden appearance.
"We thought you were sick and couldn't come tonight," Luvia added, still recovering from the shock of the near-lethal ambush.
"I'm fine now. But that was incredibly dangerous thankfully, I managed to stop her in time," Rikka replied, keeping her eyes locked on the tree line.
"Rikka!"
Illya and Miyu quickly descended from the sky, having heard the massive crash before spotting Rikka's arrival.
"Are you feeling fine now?" Illya asked with genuine concern as she landed right beside her little sister.
"I don't entirely know what you mean by 'fine,' but yes, I should be fine now," Rikka answered, her tone carrying a hint of lingering confusion.
Unfortunately, they didn't have any more time to catch up. A violent explosion suddenly erupted from the exact direction where the dark Servant had been thrown.
The thick cloud of dust was instantly blown away, revealing Saber Alter standing amidst the wreckage, her terrifying Mana Burst fully activated.
"A Saber class?! This is really bad!" Rin yelled, her face paling at the sheer pressure the new enemy was emitting.
But for Rikka, the shock came from an entirely different reason. She knew exactly who that Saber was. What completely stunned her was seeing the proud, noble knight so twisted and darkened.
Even her mana felt completely wrong. It was foul, heavy, and deeply corrupted—nothing at all like the beautiful, golden light full of hope that Rikka remembered from her own timeline.
"Illya, Miyu! Both of you, attack from the air!" Luvia ordered immediately, quickly analyzing the Servant's weapon. "Seeing her sword, she likely lacks long-distance attacks. Keep your distance and stay high!"
"Rikka, support those two from the rear, just like usual!" Rin added sharply.
Nodding, Illya and Miyu immediately took to the sky, and Rikka channeled her mana to follow them up into the air.
For now, Rikka decided the best course of action was to play along, follow their orders, and properly support both Illya and Miyu in the fight.
Hovering high above the Fuyuki Bridge, the cold wind whipped at Rikka's ridiculously frilly skirt.
Despite her overwhelming embarrassment over the outfit, her focus was completely locked on the dark knight standing amidst the rubble below.
"Amber," Rikka whispered urgently to the golden wand in her hand. "How exactly do I cast support spells with this thing?"
"It is quite simple, Rikka-sama," Amber replied delicately. "As I mentioned before, the foundation of a Magical Girl's power is her imagination. Simply picture the effect you wish to create and let your prana flow, desu."
Rikka grimaced. She had to rely on her imagination again. Digging deep into her memories, she thought back to when she was just a child in her previous life, sitting in front of the television watching overly dramatic magical girl anime.
If that was how this ridiculous magic system worked, she just had to mimic those movements.
Taking a deep breath, Rikka raised the Kaleidostick high above her head. She began spinning it in a wide, fluid motion, a trail of brilliant, golden light blooming from the amber jewel and following the wand's path through the night air.
"Refraction, stay. Amber, bind. Shield of the morning sun—Set!"
With a sharp thrust, Rikka pointed the wand forward, sending the swirling golden light rushing toward Illya and Miyu.
The warm energy washed over both girls, enveloping them in a radiant aura that instantly amplified their magical power, bolstered their physical defense, and sharpened their speed.
Feeling the sudden, massive surge of energy coursing through her, Illya's eyes lit up. "Here we go, Miyu! Let's hit her with everything we've got!"
"Understood," Miyu replied calmly, raising Sapphire.
Both girls unleashed a massive barrage of concentrated magical blasts. Thanks to Rikka's support magic, the glowing pink and blue spheres were significantly larger and far more compressed than anything they had managed to fire during their fight against Caster.
They rained down from the sky like a devastating meteor shower, homing in directly on the armored woman.
Down below, Saber Alter planted her boots firmly into the rubble. She raised her blackened sword, attempting to sweep the incoming blasts aside with a standard, one-handed strike.
But the moment her blade collided with the first few spheres, the dark knight's arm actually jerked back. The sheer density of the amplified magic pushed heavily against her guard.
With her innate Magic Resistance degraded by her corruption, she couldn't simply shrug off an attack of this caliber.
Realizing a normal deflection wouldn't be enough, Saber Alter immediately shifted her stance. Blackened, corrupted mana flared violently around her armor, intensifying like a dark flame.
Gripping her sword tightly with both hands, she swung again, this time unleashing a much denser, roaring wave of dark prana that forcefully tore through the bombardment, shattering the amplified blasts mid-air.
The resulting shockwave rattled the bridge cables and nearly blew Illya out of the sky.
"No way!" Illya gasped, struggling to stabilize herself. "Even with Rikka's buff, she still broke through it!"
"Her Magic Resistance is incredibly high," Sapphire analyzed mechanically from Miyu's hand. "Standard prana output, even amplified, will not be sufficient to penetrate her armor without a concentrated focal point."
Rikka narrowed her eyes, watching the dark mana swirling around Saber. That armor wasn't just steel it was practically woven from pure magical energy.
Standard attacks were never going to leave a scratch.
"Keep up the pressure!" Rin yelled from the ground. "Don't let her breathe! As long as you stay out of her sword's reach, she can't hit you!"
Rikka's head snapped down toward Rin and Luvia, her eyes wide with sheer disbelief. 'Did they really think this Saber lacked long-range attacks?'
She looked back down at the dark knight. Saber Alter was no longer looking at the magi on the ground.
Her glowing yellow eyes visible through the crack in her visor were locked dead onto the three magical girls in the sky.
Black and crimson prana began to aggressively gather around the blade of her sword, condensing into a terrifyingly dense sphere of destructive energy.
Saber Alter planted her boots into the ground, pulling the corrupted sword back. The air around her actually began to scream as the mana density reached a critical mass. It was a stance Rikka recognized immediately.
"Onee-chan! Miyu! Move out of the way, right now!" Rikka screamed, completely abandoning her assigned support role as she surged her own prana into Magical Amber.
Before Illya or Miyu could even process the warning, Saber Alter swung her sword upward, unleashing a massive, roaring pillar of dark, corrupted light straight into the sky.
"Golden resin, crystallize! Layer by layer, never break. Amber Aegis—Set!"
Rikka thrust her Kaleidostick forward, pouring every ounce of her rapidly spiking prana into the spell just as the roaring pillar of dark light eclipsed the sky.
The corrupted attack slammed into the barrier, resulting in a massive, deafening explosion that violently shook the air above the bridge.
"Illya! Miyu!" Rin and Luvia yelled in unison from the ground, their voices laced with sheer dread as they watched the two magical girls completely disappear inside a thick cloud of black smoke and turbulent shockwaves.
For a terrifying second, the sky was completely silent.
But as the smoke began to thin and blow away in the harsh wind, a massive silhouette emerged. Floating directly in front of Illya and Miyu was a thick, multi-layered shield made of translucent, golden resin.
It was heavily fractured, covered in deep, spiderwebbing cracks from the sheer force of the blow, but it had held together. It had completely absorbed the blast.
"This is... Rikka's shield?" Miyu murmured, her eyes widening slightly as the cracked barrier finally shattered apart into harmless golden sparkles.
"Thank you, Rikka!" Illya yelled over her shoulder, her confidence surging right back before she turned her fierce gaze down to the corrupted knight.
Hovering a safe distance behind them, Rikka let out a ragged exhale, her chest thumping wildly against her corset.
She placed a hand over her heart, trying to calm her breathing. She had cut it incredibly close if she had been even a half-second slower, that blast would have obliterated them.
But the dark Servant was far from finished.
Down on the ground, Saber Alter didn't even pause to register that her lethal attack had been blocked.
Her blackened sword flared with another violent surge of corrupted mana. With a terrifying, mechanical efficiency, she began swinging her blade in rapid succession, launching multiple massive, crescent-shaped waves of dark prana directly into the sky.
This time, however, Illya and Miyu were fully prepared. Relying on the speed and agility buffs Rikka had provided earlier, the two girls scattered.
They darted through the air, barrel-rolling and weaving gracefully between the deadly, blackened arcs of energy that tore through the clouds where they had just been hovering.
Rikka remained in the backline, keeping her distance as the chaotic dogfight unfolded above the bridge.
Her mind raced, analyzing every swing and every movement the dark knight made.
Standard blasts couldn't pierce her armor. She could easily power through basic support buffs. And her long-range attacks were devastatingly fast.
Rikka gripped Magical Amber tightly, her eyes tracking the dark mana swirling around the Servant.
If they were going to win this, they couldn't just keep trading blows and dodging. She had to think of a tactical way to break that absolute defense.
"Onee-chan! Miyu! I have a plan, listen closely!" Rikka called out over the roaring wind, gripping Magical Amber tightly as she hovered behind them.
Illya and Miyu nodded in unison, immediately breaking their evasive patterns to follow Rikka's instructions.
But reality proved far harsher than any strategy.
Their first coordinated strike a rapid pincer attack meant to exploit a temporary blind spot slammed directly into the dark knight.
But Saber Alter didn't even stagger. The impossibly dense, magical weave of her black armor absorbed the combined bombardment without leaving a single scratch on the metal.
Refusing to back down, Rikka quickly signaled for the second phase of her plan. Funneling the absolute limits of their amplified prana, Illya and Miyu unleashed one massive, highly concentrated beam of pure magical energy.
Yet, with a terrifyingly heavy swing of her blackened sword, Saber Alter forcefully deflected the attack, sending the raging magical torrent crashing harmlessly into the river below.
Spell after spell, tactic after tactic—everything they threw at her was rendered completely ineffective.
The continuous, high-speed maneuvering and heavy spellcasting quickly took their toll.
The glowing magical platforms beneath Miyu's feet began to shatter like fragile glass, and the radiant wings on Illya's back flickered violently before fading out entirely.
Completely out of magical energy, the girls were forced to drop back down to the ruined asphalt of the bridge, unable to maintain their flight any longer.
Before they could even catch their breath, Saber Alter closed the distance in a blinding flash of corrupted mana.
A deafening explosion ripped through the center of the bridge.
"Ahhh!" Illya cried out as she was violently thrown backward through the thick smoke. She crashed hard against the pavement, her Kaleidostick having barely managed to project a frail, last-second shield to save her from taking the dark blade's devastating impact directly.
She skidded across the broken ground, coming to a painful halt amidst the rubble.
A few yards away, Miyu gritted her teeth, pushing herself up on trembling arms, her breathing heavy and erratic. Further back, Rin and Luvia were already on their knees, completely drained of prana and struggling just to stand under the sheer, suffocating pressure of the Servant's aura.
Even Rikka was sprawled on the cracked asphalt, gasping for air. Her ridiculously frilly amber dress was stained with blood, and her muscles screamed in pure exhaustion.
She tried to push herself up using her golden wand as a crutch, but her arms simply wouldn't respond.
They had given it everything they had, but as the dark knight slowly stepped out of the smoke, her blackened armor completely untouched, the terrifying reality set in.
They were completely outmatched.
---
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"Holy damn, why is Saber so strong?"
All my ideas were completely useless against her.
This version of her doesn't even have Avalon, yet she's still this overwhelmingly powerful.
Where is Gilgamesh when you need her...
Looking up, I could see Saber standing menacingly amidst the destroyed asphalt, her glowing eyes locked onto us. She didn't even look the slightest bit tired, while we were completely wiped out.
"Amber... do I have some kind of secret spell or something? A last resort?"
"Unfortunately, Rikka-sama, you do not possess anything of the sort, desu."
Well, I figured as much. If I did have one, Amber probably would have told me about it earlier.
Gritting my teeth, I forced my battered body to stand, flooding my Magic Circuits with prana to cast Reinforcement over my entire physical form just to get my muscles to move.
With a thought, I commanded the frilly magical girl dress to dispel, reverting back to the practical clothes I had been wearing before this whole mess started.
"Rikka-sama, what are you doing?!" Amber's alarmed voice echoed as the amber fabric dissolved into particles of light.
That magical girl outfit wasn't just for show it was essentially a highly advanced Mystic Code that passively buffed our physical and magical strength.
But so far, I had only been relying on Amber's internal mana reserves instead of my own. Since her mana was practically depleted at this point, keeping the outfit active was completely useless.
"Amber, can you transform into a katana?"
The moment I stood up, Saber noticed. She immediately shifted her stance, raising her blackened sword as if anticipating my next move.
In the background, I could hear Rin and Luvia yelling, asking to know what I was doing. But I didn't hear Miyu or Onee-chan at all they were probably unconscious, or simply too exhausted to speak.
"Rikka-sama, what are you planning?"
It was weird. She had suddenly dropped her polite desu and masu speech entirely.
She had been using them non-stop until this exact moment.
"Just leave it to me," I smiled faintly at the floating golden wand.
What Amber had said earlier was true the foundation of this power was imagination.
I just needed to fully convince myself that a magical girl wielding a katana was perfectly normal.
The moment I pictured the blade in my mind, Amber's golden silhouette rapidly stretched and reshaped itself, transforming into the exact katana I had imagined.
The Kaleidostick should be able to withstand clashing against this corrupted Saber.
If I used my standard Projection magecraft, a normal sword would shatter in a single strike.
"Amber, I'm sorry, but I need you to hold on for a while," I apologized in advance. Clashing directly against Saber's Excalibur was going to put an incredible strain on her structural integrity.
Ever since the Holy Grail War, I had been training intensely with Lady Ava in swordsmanship.
Because she was Saber's original teacher, she had drilled the exact same fighting style into me. I knew exactly how to counter her techniques.
I pointed the golden katana toward Saber. Inhaling deeply, I slowly exhaled, trying to calm my violently thumping heart as I gently closed my eyes.
The moment I opened them again, I activated my Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
Staring down at her, I could see the jagged, chaotic lines of death etched across her blackened armor, though there were far fewer of them than a normal opponent would have.
"Rikka?!" Rin and Luvia gasped, sounding utterly shocked the second they saw my eyes shift.
Miyu simply looked on in confusion, completely unaware of what my eyes actually meant.
"Rikka-sama, since when did you possess Mystic Eyes?!" Amber cried out in surprise. It seemed the "me" from this timeline had never awakened them.
"I'll explain it later," I muttered. "For now, we need to focus."
I didn't know if this child's body could actually keep up in a close-quarters fight against an altered Heroic Spirit, even with full-body Reinforcement pushing my muscles to their absolute limits.
But I could at least hold her back for a short while—just long enough for everyone else to escape.
"I'm going to keep her occupied! Everyone, fall back and regroup later!" I yelled over my shoulder.
Without waiting for their response, I rushed forward, gripping the golden katana tightly as my Mystic Eyes tracked Saber's every micro-movement, already anticipating her counterattack.