Chapter 89: War Chess Strategy Clash
"Saber, activate Excalibur!"
Saber followed the command.
Immediately, it used Excalibur—targeting the diagonal line it occupied and the two adjacent diagonal rows. There were no special effects; Rin's Saber piece and one soldier were simply picked up by hand and removed from the board. This was a skill that could be used once every twenty turns, corresponding to the specific ability of the Saber piece.
The real Saber sat next to Sakura, blinking her eyes as she literally watched the game while eating watermelon.
"Impressive... the timing to force the opponent's pieces into a specific position just to unleash Excalibur..." She even went so far as to ask for pointers.
The game Rin had brought out was called Heroic Spirit War Chess.
The board was similar to international chess. Each side's configuration consisted of seven Heroic Spirits—Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Berserker, Caster, and Assassin—along with seven Soldiers.
The original set was something Rin had dug up at home; it bore faint traces of having been borrowed in the past, and only heaven knows why the Tohsaka family possessed such a thing. However, Rin said, "Even though it was my father's, I just can't bring myself to like it," so they were currently using a modified projection.
One had to wonder if the original had been touched by something "unclean." Like a wraith, a ghost, or a spiritual entity?
Though the pieces were pre-existing, the skills for the Heroic Spirit pieces were of their own design. They had lifted information from the Fifth Holy Grail War they had experienced, turning the Noble Phantasms they had encountered into the pieces' skills. This was likely a way to play that even the original designer of the set never anticipated.
Since there was no "King," the rule was that the first side to lose all seven special soldiers known as "Masters" was judged the loser. Master pieces could move freely within a 3 * 3 range, while Heroic Spirit pieces were required to protect them.
The Saber piece's Excalibur could target not only three diagonal rows but also three vertical columns, provided there were no friendly pieces on the attack path.
As Rin's Saber piece, which shared the same skill, was cleared out along with a Master piece, the situation suddenly turned in Shirou's favor. Shirou looked up to see Rin pouting resentfully as she entered "thinking mode."
About fourteen turns later.
Shirou's Saber was backed into a corner by a Rider moving like a "Rook." Although Saber was powerful, it could only move within a 3*3 range; the disparity in mobility meant that without using a skill, it couldn't catch the Rider and was instead pinned into a dead end.
Shirou urgently sent a Berserker as reinforcement, but to his surprise, Rin burst out laughing.
"Too naive, Shirou!"
The Berserker knocked the Rider to the ground, but the Rider didn't die—the Rider's skill: after being hit once by a non-Noble Phantasm attack, it discards "Pegasus" and changes to a cross-shaped single-square move.
Conversely, Rin's Caster piece suddenly lunged out like a "Bishop" and touched Saber.
"Rule Breaker! Your Saber is mine now, ho ho ho! So that's what your Saber looks like on your side? On my side, it takes on a different form!"
Under the influence of the magecraft, the Saber piece turned from white to black. Shirou and the real Saber nearby both wore subtle expressions.
""Gnuuu...""
It wasn't a big deal, but it was inexplicably annoying. The Red Devil was a nuisance—more annoying than the actual Caster.
Two minutes later.
"You're the one who's too naive, Rin. This isn't a seven-way Battle Royale; this is 7 { vs } 7. Rule Breaker!"
The Saber piece changed back from black to white. After all, Shirou's side had the same skill. If it were reality, Shirou could mass-produce that dagger.
"Ah, my Saber..." Rin looked utterly bereft at the loss of the piece.
"It's not your Saber; it's my Saber," Shirou corrected.
"..."
For some reason, Rin glanced toward a direction unrelated to the game, then retracted her gaze with a look of resignation. Shirou remembered that was where the real Saber was currently eating watermelon.
"Fine, it's your Saber," Rin huffed, making her next move.
She seemed to be in a bit of a sulk for some reason.
Shirou didn't make his next move immediately. Instead, he keenly noticed that her gaze had shifted alongside her sulking: "Besides Saber, were you just thinking about something?"
Rin's lips twitched, but her eyes sharpened. On the board, there were exactly thirteen Heroic Spirits. Only one Saber remained (one had been cleared out); of the others, there were two of each.
Alright, laid out like this, the situation was very clear.
"The overall situation is settled, isn't it?" Rin said abruptly.
"Huh?" Shirou expressed his confusion.
"Look, the classes Saber, Caster, Berserker, and 'True' Lancer are all on our side. Lancer is an ally of Saber, and Assassin belongs to Saber's side. Counting it up, even if we can't guarantee they'll help us, there are very few who are genuinely on bad terms with us."
'Oho, time for the post-match summary of the Holy Grail War', she seemed to be saying.
The score was in Team Shirou's favor—a 3-1 landslide victory. It was currently halftime, but the invitation to share a bottle of champagne over it still needed to be declined.
"No, you can't say that, can you? There are still 'True' Assassin, 'True' Berserker, and 'True' Caster that we don't know about. And finally, those two Archers, the dangerous Rider, and even the 'True' Rider's alignment is unknown."
"Do they look like the type to form an alliance?"
Rin posed a "soul-searching" question that left Shirou speechless: "Even if not a single one of the Heroic Spirits friendly to us participates, we have 'those two familiar ladies' over there to cooperate with you, Shirou. The strongest beings that can appear in a normal Holy Grail War are at the level of those two Archers. I refuse to believe every other participant is at that same level. We have no reason to fear in a head-to-head army clash."
In other words, aside from guarding against Alcides' sniping, Shirou and the others no longer needed to look over their shoulders; they could act with confidence. There was no camp on the field worth worrying about or that was invincible. Even if a "near Archer-level" threat appeared, as long as one wasn't alone, they were qualified to challenge it.
Moreover, Saber, Flat, and Clan Calatin—for various reasons—would certainly come to help if asked. A being capable of fighting the combined combat power of six camps on their own simply wouldn't deign to be in this Holy Grail War.
Rin's logic did indeed make sense. Perhaps finally finalizing the method to handle the black mud had caused Rin to relax, leading to this optimistic outlook during their idle chat.
Indeed, now that she mentioned it, Shirou realized it too. The scales of the Holy Grail War had long since tilted. Defeating Alcides was now on the agenda. Furthermore, even without defeating him, as long as they continued the investigation, found the Grail, and destroyed it, this Holy Grail War would be successfully concluded.
The end of the journey in Snowfield was coming into view. It was almost strangely simple.
This was the first time he had fought such a "wealthy" war; compared to his previous experiences, the Snowfield Holy Grail War felt very novel. It wasn't that the difficulty was lower than Fuyuki's... it was just that the Fuyuki Holy Grail War was too long ago.
Desperate straits from the past had become obstacles that could be crushed with a single step today. This Holy Grail War definitely wouldn't last seven days.
Because things were going this smoothly... an instability began to stir somewhere in his heart. This was the backlash caused by an excessive sense of fulfillment. Shirou still felt that something was off and that they couldn't afford to be careless.
But what kind of event could violently shatter this distribution of power?
While thinking, Shirou resumed placing his pieces. As the match between Shirou and Rin progressed, the pieces on the board gradually diminished. By the time Shirou won, he still hadn't come up with anything.
To Shirou's doubts, Rin offered some philosophical advice: "If something goes wrong, we'll just adapt on the fly. As long as the head doesn't move, there's no need to fear the hands and feet or force yourself to change your core thoughts. Think of this result as a reward for Shirou, who has struggled until now and broken through even the most difficult hurdles."
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