"Phew... th-that was close. Good job, Saber. You did well just now. I will definitely reward you when we get back!"
Looking at the three-meter-tall pitch-black spikes slowly dissolving into magical energy and dissipating on the spot, Gordes, whose fat body couldn't possibly have dodged them, couldn't help but wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.
One must know that he hadn't detected the slightest sign of this magecraft being cast just now. If it weren't for Saber, he might have already been skewered like a shish kebab and nailed there.
And judging by this attack method and the youthful appearance of that kid opposite them, it should be the Red Faction's Caster and her Master, right?
Hah! To think they'd only send a mere Caster to attack Ruler, and even shamelessly sneak attack me! The other side is clearly not taking me, Gordes, or the Yggdmillennia clan seriously!
Thinking how he—who was supposed to display the elegance and confidence of a veteran magus in front of a junior—had been in such a sorry state that he had to rely on a familiar like a Servant to dodge the attack, the naturally arrogant Gordes couldn't help but grow furious.
So he waved his large hand, pointing at Souya, and shouted loudly.
"You damn brat! To think you'd act without martial virtue, deceiving and sneak attacking a senior in the magus world like me! If you have the guts, fight me fair and square! Furthermore, how dare you attack the referee, Ruler, right in front of me! As a Master participating in the Holy Grail Great War, I have the right to punish you!"
With that, without waiting for Souya's reaction, Gordes turned to Siegfried beside him and yelled.
"Don't hesitate, Saber! Hurry up and kill that Caster on the other side! While we have the chance, we're going to be the first team to kill an enemy Servant!"
"Yes, Master."
Having received his Master's order, the Heroic Spirit of the Sword, Siegfried, was no longer silent. After responding to Gordes, he drew the silver-white greatsword from his back. With a plain yet inexplicably oppressive gaze, he looked at Morgan and Souya beside her.
"I apologize. Although according to my code of conduct I would not raise my hand against a woman, this is a Holy Grail War. Compelled by my Master's orders, please forgive my offense."
With that, Siegfried said no more. Raising the Demonic Sword Balmung high, he charged toward Morgan.
In just a few breaths, Siegfried's figure appeared in front of Morgan and Souya. Then, Balmung completely ignored Souya beside her and slashed straight toward Morgan's neck.
"Heh, I do not need your pity."
Facing Siegfried's words and attack, Morgan's expression remained unchanged from beginning to end. Even with the opponent's attack right in front of her eyes, she still didn't dodge or evade, her face incomparably cold.
There was even a trace of disdain in her eyes.
"Hm?"
Noticing the emotion in Morgan's eyes, Siegfried's gaze instantly sharpened, abruptly realizing something was wrong.
But at this point, the Demonic Sword Balmung had already been swung; it was too late to pull it back.
The next moment, as the blade of the silver-white greatsword sliced across the Queen's snow-white neck, the feedback Siegfried received wasn't the sensation of a sharp blade breaking through a body, but a lack of resistance as if cutting through air, followed by a sudden, explosive, scorching heat.
In a mere instant, Siegfried's figure was swallowed by black flames erupting from Morgan's afterimage. Even the air became distorted under this scorching high temperature.
"Saber!"
Seeing this scene, Gordes, who had thought victory was in his grasp, instantly panicked.
But just as he anxiously wanted to rush forward to check, he saw Siegfried swing his greatsword. The black flames, which should have clung like maggots to bone, were scattered by the swing. The anticipated burns and sorry state did not appear.
Not even a single strand of Siegfried's hair was damaged.
"Hm?"
Seeing this scene, both Morgan and Gordes, as Siegfried's Master, froze for a moment.
"Is... is this..."
Looking at Siegfried, who stood unharmed amidst the black flames, Gordes couldn't help but mutter to himself.
And Souya, watching this from the side, instantly understood in his heart.
Nullifying all damage and magecraft of Rank B and below. So this is "Armor of Fafnir"?
A continuously active Noble Phantasm sublimated from the mythological feat of Siegfried—the protagonist of the German epic Nibelungenlied—who bathed his entire body in dragon's blood, thereby obtaining an invulnerable body. It is a powerful defensive Noble Phantasm that acts on the surface of his body, and is the strongest armor belonging to this great hero who possesses the characteristics of both spear and shield.
It seems the black flame attack just now was merely a casual strike from Morgan, which is why it didn't break Siegfried's defense. Otherwise, given Morgan's Mana A++ parameter, even if that strike couldn't heavily injure him, it would definitely cause Siegfried considerable trouble.
Thinking this, Souya wasn't overly worried. He merely used the spiritual connection between Master and Servant to inform Morgan of the setting regarding "Armor of Fafnir" and the weakness on his back.
As the Lord of the Isle, the Master of Fairies, and the strongest magus in all of Britain, Morgan completely absorbed and assimilated the information and specific details Souya provided about Siegfried in a mere instant, formulating a countermeasure in her mind in advance.
Although she didn't quite understand why Souya knew all the information and weaknesses of the opposing Servant like a prophet, Morgan didn't actually care about that.
He was Lamorak, the man belonging to her, Morgan le Fay. Even though his current identity was no longer that of the clear, water-like knight, wasn't it completely normal for him to possess some abilities that ordinary people found hard to understand?
And just as Morgan made a prompt decision, planning to use higher-tier magecraft to attack Siegfried, the latter saw Morgan's movement and mistakenly thought she hadn't given up, so he proactively stated his information.
"It is useless, Red Caster. Unless you unleash a Noble Phantasm of Rank B or higher, you cannot break through my armor and harm me."
"So, surrender or release Ruler. You have no chance of winning, Red Caster."
"Heh, are you underestimating me?"
Hearing this, Morgan's eyes instantly turned icy. But before she could say anything more, her words were instantly interrupted by a voice.
"Saber! What are you doing?!"
Gordes, who had been excitedly pumping his fists on the sidelines, expecting to see his Servant display great power, flew into a rage upon seeing that Siegfried didn't take advantage of the enemy's momentary daze to attack, but instead proactively revealed his Noble Phantasm's effects to the enemy. He shouted loudly at Siegfried.
"Why are you telling the opposing Servant your Noble Phantasm information?! Are you an idiot?! You should be taking advantage of the fact that the enemy doesn't know your information to hurry up and defeat that Caster! As a Caster, there is no way she can beat you in close combat! Saber, you fool..."
"Instead of worrying about your Servant, you should worry about yourself first."
Just as Gordes was furiously berating Siegfried, Souya's voice suddenly rang out not far from him. When Gordes instinctively looked over, what met his eyes was Souya, who had already dashed in front of him, and the opponent's fist wrapped in golden Magic Circuits.
"Saint's Punch!"
"You damn brat! Sneak attacking again!"
Seeing the opponent's clearly non-simple punch coming, Gordes was instantly startled. He instinctively raised his arm to block while circulating magical energy and shouting lowly.
"Alteration, Iron Arm!"
The next moment, the golden fist collided with the iron-gray arm. But before Gordes could react, he felt an immense force mixed with surging magical energy abruptly erupt at his wrist.
Boom!
Like being hit by a speeding truck, under Souya's attack, Gordes's fat body was instantly sent flying backward, crashing into the forest.
"Master!"
Sensing his Master was in danger, out of instinct, Siegfried wanted to leave and check the situation.
But Morgan clearly wasn't going to give him that chance.
"Did I give you permission to leave?"
Danger! Danger! Danger!
Accompanied by the words of the Red Caster, almost instantly, Siegfried felt a sense of threat.
This didn't stem from his perception or skills, but a warning from his Noble Phantasm "Armor of Fafnir." The meaning was clear: the opponent had brought out an ability reaching Rank A, sufficient to break through the defense of "Armor of Fafnir."
Abruptly turning his head back, Siegfried was astonished to discover that at some point, the Red Caster had been enveloped in a layer of brilliant golden light.
Compared to normal golden light, this gold wasn't glaring. Draping over Morgan, it was like a thin golden veil. But Siegfried didn't underestimate this seemingly ordinary change, because through his perception as a Servant, he acutely detected that under that golden light, Morgan's aura had undergone an earth-shattering change compared to a moment ago.
If he had to describe it specifically, it was a manifold, explosive increase in parameter data.
"Is it a Noble Phantasm?"
Gazing at this scene, Siegfried couldn't help but guess.
And the reality was indeed as he thought. What Morgan had activated was her Noble Phantasm: "Camelot: The Radiant City that Never Falls."
This Noble Phantasm, which should have been her core as a Caster, was now opened slightly by Morgan, acting only upon herself.
Although this method of use couldn't even be considered a half-release, and even the barrier effect of "Britain" couldn't be deployed, it was more than enough to increase Morgan's physical parameters and strength to a certain degree.
Without the slightest hesitation, right in front of Siegfried, Morgan slowly extended her right hand.
Seeing this, the former's eyes instantly changed. Thinking the opponent was going to use magecraft again, he immediately raised his sword to block in front of him.
But to Siegfried's surprise, what appeared in Morgan's palm wasn't the fluctuation of magecraft activating, but a gorgeous longsword slowly forming within the golden light.
That is...
Feeling the faint, familiar aura radiating from the longsword, a look of shock instantly flashed through Siegfried's eyes.
"This aura... is it a Holy Sword?!"
Although the greatsword Balmung he held was called a Demonic Sword, that was only because Balmung was currently wielded by him.
As a Sword of Twilight that switches back and forth between Holy Sword and Demonic Sword based on its master's magical attributes, the wielder of Balmung inherently possesses a perception for the auras of Holy Swords and Demonic Swords.
And right now, Siegfried was absolutely certain that the longsword appearing in the Red Caster's hand was a Holy Sword.
Although the aura was slightly unstable, judging purely by the aura and might, it was undoubtedly a Holy Sword.
Then, a Servant who is both a Holy Sword wielder and a magus, and a female at that... who exactly is she?
Instinctively, Siegfried began to guess the identity of the Caster before him.
But Morgan clearly wasn't going to give him that chance.
"The Black Faction's Saber, is it? Since both you and your Master underestimate me because you think I am a woman and a Caster, then do you dare to have a sword duel with me?"
Gently swinging the "Excalibur Galatine (Fake) (A)" in her hand—crafted by supplementing the light of "Britain" with "Item Construction (A+)"—Morgan cast her gaze at Siegfried, who was fully prepared for battle.
"...I apologize, Caster. Although as a warrior I should not refuse your request to fight you, a Servant's primary duty is to protect their Master, so please allow me to decline."
Seemingly sensing that Gordes had already fallen unconscious, and that Souya was gradually approaching, preparing to deliver the finishing blow, Siegfried's expression was incomparably grave.
"But, what does that have to do with me? My husband is stronger than your Master, so he rightfully receives the treatment of a loser."
As if to show off something, Morgan chuckled softly and said to Siegfried.
The latter, however, only remained silent for a moment. Then, leaving behind a sentence of apology, he immediately turned to leave.
Seeing this scene, Morgan surprisingly didn't stop him, instead allowing him to leave.
Of course, this wasn't because she was kind-hearted or moved by Siegfried's words. The reason she let him pass was purely because Souya had anticipated long ago that Siegfried would rush back to save Gordes, so he had asked Morgan in advance to let him fight Siegfried.
That's right. He, Souya, was going to fight Siegfried—one of the top-tier Servants—with his current human body.
Initially, Morgan had intended to oppose this request. After all, a Master being no match for a Servant was considered common sense in a Holy Grail War.
But Souya clearly did not adhere to this common sense, because he himself had once been a powerhouse comparable to a top-tier Servant.
After pondering over this period, Souya believed that although the trash system hadn't granted him its descent, that didn't mean the simulation he had painstakingly completed was completely useless.
After all, those nine paths were still lying right there, and the Lamorak at the end of the first path hadn't disappeared either.
Then, did this mean—just as the trash system had said, that it was merely a guide and of no real use—that the true power of Souya's nine paths actually lay within himself?
Therefore, out of this consideration, Souya ultimately made a request to Morgan.
He wanted to fight Siegfried to see if he could use the pressure from him to stimulate the power belonging to Lamorak within that path.
Thus, this scene came to be.
"Here he comes."
Detecting the approaching dematerialized Siegfried through his shared perception with Morgan, the corners of Souya's mouth curled up slightly. The next moment, a flash of golden light transformed into a long spear made of light in his hands.
"Rhongomyniad (Fake) (A)"
Without the slightest hesitation, Souya violently swung the long spear, slashing behind him.
Clang!
In an instant, the long spear and the Demonic Sword collided, emitting a crisp ringing sound.