Sparks fly as Saber's invisible sword hits Lancer's twin spears.
Lancer uses his long reach to dictate the fight. He steps forward and thrusts the long red spear straight at her stomach. Because Gáe Dearg nullified magical armor saber use, Saber cannot just let it hit her breastplate.
She forcefully swings her sword with her right hand to parry the red spear aside.
But parrying a two-handed spear thrust with only one hand is incredibly difficult especially with her left wrist tendon severed, Saber cannot wrap her left hand around the hilt for support.
The heavy impact knocks her balance off and forces her to step back onto the uneven dirt.
Lancer does not give her time to recover. The moment she steps back, he steps in. He quickly thrusts the short yellow spear upward. Since Gáe Buidhe can't penetrate her armor, he aims directly for the exposed skin on her face.
Saber tilts her head back just in time as the yellow spear grazes past her chin.
Realizing she cannot win a stationary fight with only one good hand, Saber quickly retreats into the dense trees to limit his spear swings.
She dashes behind a thick pine tree, her armored boots crunching over dead leaves and twigs.
Lancer chases right after her and he spots her stepping out from behind the trunk and violently thrusts his red spear at her chest.
Instead of blocking, Saber quickly side-step making the red spear misses her completely and violently pierces straight through the thick wooden trunk.
"Hah!" Saber shouts.
Using the split second his red spear is stuck in the wood, Saber steps into his guard and swings her invisible sword in a fast, horizontal arc aiming right for his ribs.
Lancer reacts instantly, he lets go of the red spear with his right hand and he grips the short yellow spear with both hands and holds it vertically to block her incoming sword.
The invisible blade crashes into the yellow shaft creating a shockwave rips through the clearing, blowing away the dead leaves and dirt beneath their feet.
Saber grits her teeth, pushing her sword forward with all her strength.
"Tch" Lancer clicks his tongue.
He knows he cannot win a contest of pure physical strength against Saber.
Instead of pushing back, Lancer suddenly shifts his weight and kicks Saber forcefully in the stomach armor.
The heavy kick pushes Saber back a few feet, giving Lancer the space he needs.
He instantly grabs the red spear with his right hand, rips it out of the tree, and shifts right back into his dual-wielding stance.
Lancer steps back, lowering his spears just an inch to catch his breath. A genuine smile of admiration crosses his face.
"I must praise you, Saber" Lancer says warmly. "To hold your ground against my dual spears with a crippled hand... your skill is truly magnificent."
Saber keeps her invisible sword raised, her green eyes locked sharply on him.
"I do not need your pity or your praise, Lancer" Saber replies firmly, her voice unwavering. "A knight does not make excuses for their condition on the battlefield. I will fight you until my last breath."
"It is not pity, it is deep respect" Lancer counters, his smile fading into a serious, conflicted expression. "And because of that respect, my pride will not allow me to keep you in the dark. You have earned the right to know the truth."
Saber narrows her eyes, sensing the shift in his tone. "What truth?"
"While I am keeping you occupied out here, my Master is launching a direct assault on your base" Lancer confesses, his grip tightening on his spears. "His target is your Master. If you do not hurry back, your Master will surely die tonight."
"What?!" Saber gasps, her eyes widening in alarm.
Her duty to protect Irisviel and Kiritsugu instantly overrides the duel. Saber immediately shifts her footing, channeling prana into her legs to sprint past him and rush back toward the castle.
But the moment she moves, Lancer steps directly into her path. He violently thrusts his red spear forward, forcing Saber to halt her sprint and block the strike.
"Do not misunderstand me, Saber" Lancer warns her, his eyes hardening with absolute resolve. "I told you my Master's plan because hiding it felt like a stain on my honor. But my orders are still to defeat you right here. I will not simply let you walk away."
He drops back into his flawless dual-wielding stance.
"If you wish to save your Master" Lancer declares "you will have to strike me down first!"
Saber's eyes narrow, but the initial alarm quickly fades from her face, replaced by a cold, furious resolve.
She knows exactly what kind of man Kiritsugu is.
He is a deadly killer who fights dirty, and Irisviel is securely guarded by Maiya inside the castle.
They will not fall easily.
But Saber is completely out of patience because between the humiliating ambush by Manaka's endless shadows yesterday and Lancer Master using cowardly distractions today, she is absolutely done playing games.
"Do not think my Master is so easily killed, Lancer" Saber states coldly. "But you are right about one thing. I am going to strike you down right now."
"Come!" Lancer shouts, gripping his spears tight.
Saber tightens her grip on her hilt when suddenly the violent winds swirling around her invisible blade burst outward in a massive shockwave, blowing the dirt and dead leaves away.
The cloaking winds scatter, revealing a beautifully crafted, magnificent holy sword.
The blade shines with a brilliant, golden light that illuminates the dark forest.
By removing the Invisible Air, her sword's true length is exposed, and its striking power is fully unleashed.
Lancer's eyes widen in awe and tension the moment he sees that sword.
He digs his boots into the dirt and crosses his spears, bracing himself for a brutal, full-power clash.
Saber raises the glowing golden sword, channeling prana into her legs to launch a devastating strike.
But right before they clash...
The entire forest freezes.
Both Saber and Lancer violently gasp, their bodies instinctively locking up in pure terror.
The golden light of the sword remains, but the fighting spirit between the two knights is instantly crushed.
A suffocating, monstrous pressure suddenly descends upon the clearing, pressing the air out of their lungs.
The sheer density of the magical energy feels like a physical weight pressing down on their shoulders, completely dwarfing both of their auras combined.
Footsteps softly crunch against the dead leaves.
From the dark shadows of the trees, Manaka steps out into the clearing while humming a cheerful little tune.
"What a lovely night we have, Saber, Lancer" Manaka says cheerfully, stepping fully into the pale moonlight and looking at the two Servants in front of her.
Lancer and Saber instantly turn their attention toward her. While Saber immediately recognizes the terrifying girl from last night, Lancer has absolutely no idea who she is.
"A child? Are you Caster's Master?" Lancer asks, his grip tightening on his dual spears.
It is the only logical conclusion he can make, assuming a little girl wandering into place like this must be connected to the missing Caster class.
"No, Lancer, this girl is extremely dangerous! Watch yourself!" Saber yells in warning.
But before Lancer can even process her words, the black shadow resting beneath Manaka's feet violently expands.
It shoots across the forest floor toward them with a speed that easily rivals Saber's own sprinting.
"!" Lancer gasps, completely caught off guard by the sudden, blinding speed of the ambush.
The rushing mass of darkness suddenly erupts creating multiple razor-sharp spikes shoot straight out of the shadow, aiming directly to impale Lancer from below.
Clang!
Saber violently swings her golden sword, stepping in and managing to deflect the closest shadow spike.
A loud, ringing sound echoes through the clearing, exactly like solid steel clashing against steel, as her holy blade strikes the solidified magecraft.
"Ugh... heavy!" Saber grits her teeth, her right arm trembling under the pressure.
The physical force behind Manaka's attack is far stronger than Saber expected, and trying to hold it back with only her one-handed grip pushes her to her absolute limit.
Seeing her struggle, Lancer instantly reacts.
"Haaah!" Lancer shouts, gripping his long red spear and slashing it fiercely across the remaining spikes.
Because Manaka's shadows are formed purely from her prana and magecraft, Gáe Dearg immediately takes effect.
The crimson blade cleanly slices through the hardened spikes, completely nullifying the prana binding them together.
With a wet splash, the solid spikes instantly break apart, dissolving back into harmless, liquid shadows on the dirt.
Lancer steps back to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Saber, both of their faces locked in incredibly tense, serious expressions as they stare down the smiling little girl.
"Gáe Dearg and Gáe Buidhe... not as interesting as Excalibur, but pretty decent tools that you have, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne" Manaka says smoothly, her shadows retracting and pooling back beneath her feet.
Lancer flinches, his body reacting instinctively to his true name being called out so casually.
He did not bother wrapping his spears in charms to hide their identity tonight like he did at the docks, but the fact that this little girl managed to instantly deduce exactly who he is from a single glance is enough to deeply unsettle him.
"Alright, Saber, you seem to already know her. Care to tell me what she is?" Lancer asks, casting a brief glance at the knight beside him.
"She said her name is Manaka Sajyou. She ambushed me last night after the battle at the docks, but I do not know what she truly wants. All she said was that she wanted entertainment during this Holy Grail War!" Saber explains, her grip tightening on her sword as she glares at the smiling girl.
"Entertainment?!" Lancer repeats in shock. As a proud knight, he cannot fathom anyone treating a bloody, honorable war for an ultimate wish-granting device as a mere game.
"She is also not a Master. She is just... I do not know what she is, but she is something similar to a magus...?" Saber adds, her voice laced with heavy confusion and tension.
She still remembers the terrifying, endless well of prana Manaka displayed yesterday, completely breaking the standard rules of what a normal magus should be capable of.
Manaka tilts her head as her cheerful smile drops for a brief second, replaced by a look of genuine disgust.
"Similar to a magus?" Manaka sighs. "Please do not insult me, Saber. A magus is just a boring person digging in the dirt. I am nothing like them."
Lancer glares at her, spinning his red spear once before resting it by his side.
"Whatever you are, child, you have stepped onto a battlefield" Lancer warns her sternly. "If you are here for our lives, my spears will not hold back."
"That is good!" Manaka giggles, her bright smile instantly returning.
"Because I need both of you to feed the Grail tonight, but summoning those same shadow puppets from yesterday is just boring. I want to try something else."
Lancer frowns, genuinely confused by her casual tone.
"Feed the Grail?" Lancer asks, glancing briefly at Saber. "Is she aiming for the grail..."
Saber keeps her glowing golden sword raised, her expression tense.
"I do not know what she is" Saber answers truthfully. "But do not let your guard down, Lancer. She is not normal."
Despite their confusion over her bizarre presence, the suffocating pressure radiating from the little girl tells both seasoned warriors exactly what they must do.
They instinctively shift their stances and step forward in unison, wordlessly forging a temporary truce to face the overwhelming threat.
As Manaka giggles, the black shadow beneath her feet begins to violently bubble and expand across the dirt forest floor.
Instead of forming spikes or puppets, the darkness rises upward, twisting and morphing into dozens of thick tentacles of black shadow.
The dark tendrils whip through the air around her, tearing up the dead leaves and dirt as Manaka simply stands in the center, smiling warmly at the two knights.
As the suffocating pressure around Manaka keeps increasing she almost moves her leg to step forward before suddenly stopping to look toward a dark section of the forest.
"Rikka?" Manaka murmur to herself as she senses the tracker she put on Rikka is now incredibly close to her location.
The only reason she feels it just now is because Rikka is already near them, meaning if not for the magecraft Rikka uses to mask her approach Manaka probably would have sensed her earlier.
Even worse because Rikka's soul originates from another world her existence is not recorded in the Root, so Manaka's future sight cannot predict her actions at all.
Rikka suddenly appears like this is completely outside of her expectations, this becomes the very first time Manaka's face is filled with genuine panic since the moment she was born.
She looks back at the deeply confused Saber and Lancer after seeing her stop, clicking her tongue she murmur "Tch now is not the correct time" right before she completely disappears completely.
She does not just turn invisible or use high-speed movement but rather pulls on her connection to the Root to completely remove the very concept of her own presence from the world.
Deleting her physical, magical, and conceptual footprint so thoroughly that even an observer like Lady Avalon wouldn't be able to see her because now Manaka simply lacks a presence or conceptual perspective anymore.
With the monstrous pressure gone, Saber and Lancer immediately raise their guards and step backward until their shoulders touch to protect each other's blind spots.
"Do you see her, Lancer?" Saber sharply asks while scanning the dark trees.
"No, I cannot sense her at all" Lancer replies when suddenly both Servants feel something completely bypass their armor to pierce directly into their chests.
The invisible force reaches deep inside them to directly touch the Spiritual Cores housed within their Saint Graphs, and the moment that contact is made both of them completely lose the ability to move.
Saber's glowing golden sword slips from her numb grip while Lancer's grip fails and his spears hit the dirt with dull thuds.
Both knights grit their teeth while desperately struggling to force prana into their limbs to break the paralysis but their bodies refuse to obey, instead forcing them to endure an unnatural, violating sensation deep inside their chests.
It feels exactly as if someone is physically reaching into their Saint Graphs to rewrite and edit the very foundation of their existence as Heroic Spirits for a few agonizing moments before the invasive feeling finally vanishes.
Causing their vision to go entirely black amd both Servants instantly lose consciousness and collapse into the dirt.