"This is... Kama?!"
Through the familiar's eyes, [Illya], seeing the appearance of the young, silver-haired girl, blurted it out subconsciously.
Kama (Sakura Matou)
Class: Assassin
Strength: D | Endurance: B | Agility: B
Mana: A+ | Luck: B | Noble Phantasm: EX
Inherent Skills: Goddess's Divine Core B+, Uncrowned Arms Master EX, Mara Papiyas EX
Class Skills: Magic Resistance A, Riding A, Independent Manifestation C, Divine Core of the Love God B
Noble Phantasm: Kandarpa Kama: Love Scorches, But Love is Not (Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm) C
True Name Discernment revealed her Servant panel completely.
Undoubtedly, it was precisely that Hindu god of love—Kama.
Although originally a male god, due to various reasons, he could basically only manifest in female form.
"Summoned by demotion through possession, huh?"
[Illya] rested her chin on her hand, instantly understanding what was going on.
Although, according to common sense, a normal Holy Grail War couldn't summon Divine Spirit-class Servants—even the lowest-ranking gods, like Medusa's two sisters—because the spiritual foundation provided by the Holy Grail War was insufficient to support the existence of Divine Spirit-class Servants.
Therefore, demigod heroes like Gilgamesh were almost the limit for summoning in a conventional Holy Grail War.
Water cannot exceed the capacity of the cup. The existence of the love god Kama was undoubtedly a complete violation, a summoning that shouldn't have happened. But if the form of 'possession' was used, the god's rank could be appropriately lowered, completing an out-of-spec summoning.
"It's actually Kama." She glanced at the purple-haired girl—François Prelati, also known as Miss Flies-Sideways.
Normally, the Assassins that could be summoned in a Holy Grail War should be limited to the Hassans. Even if some special Hassans could be summoned, they would be confined to this pool, as the Old Man of the Mountain was the origin of the term for the Assassin class.
Jiang Qiao had originally thought that the Assassin among the seven additional Servants would, at most, be a somewhat special Hassan. But he never expected it to be the love god Kama.
However...
"Is the compatibility too high?" [Illya] instantly saw through the essence of this summoning. The reason Miss Flies-Sideways could summon Kama was entirely because the compatibility between these two was too high.
Normally, she could, outside the Hassan pool, additionally choose to summon her historical self, François Prelati, who was from the same era as Jeanne d'Arc and Gilles de Rais, and was the mastermind behind Jeanne's downfall.
In fact, Miss Flies-Sideways' ideal target was herself.
Though she knew very well that she was weak, Hassans and the like were just no fun, were they?
But, always messing things up, clearly wanting to do bad things but always ending up getting beaten and sent flying sideways—Miss Flies-Sideways, with such a trait, unexpectedly had another accident this time, just like in the False Holy Grail War where she wanted to use someone else to summon Saber (Artoria) for ultimate humiliation, but ended up becoming a little fanboy of Saber, Richard the Lionheart.
She directly, by virtue of extremely high compatibility, summoned the love god Kama, who could be demoted and summoned using Matou Sakura as a vessel.
And the source of this compatibility... though difficult to trace, so ancient that even Miss Flies-Sideways herself almost couldn't remember, this magus with a comical track record was actually a goddess who had fallen due to love. From her Noble Phantasm, which could exhibit traits of Beelzebub, the Lord of the Flies, it was clear the close connection between her and Beelzebub.
Overly intense love, due to various reasons, eventually fell and became an extreme distortion, thus creating the current Miss Flies-Sideways.
She found joy in seeing others' misery, others' downfall, and took pleasure in it—of course, this fallen goddess didn't mind taking pleasure in her own misery and downfall either. Or perhaps, her current state was precisely because she wanted to see herself, who was a 'god of love,' become such a wretched figure who 'rejoiced in the misfortune and downfall of others.'
And quite coincidentally.
Kama happened to be such a god as well.
Although clearly the god of love in Hindu mythology, in charge of human love and affection, due to a mythological story where he enthusiastically took on a job to help a certain crazy goddess and a certain crazy god, he ended up doing a good deed but was burned to ashes by the fire of anger sprayed from the third eye on the forehead of that crazy god Shiva, who felt his ascetic practices had been disturbed.
Since then, the love god Kama could no longer have a concrete form, only existing in the world as an 'Uncrowned Arms Master.'
Although this might be in accordance with dharma in the eyes of that crazy god and goddess, for Kama, it was simply an undeserved disaster.
He had merely responded to the Matriarch's request, fulfilling his duty, yet he met such an end.
Since then, this love god instantly transformed into a slacker king.
My dear old gods, if you want to use the arrows of love, go ahead and use them. Use one, and don't make a sound. Don't look for me! The bow is right there. If you want love or whatever, go shoot it yourselves! Don't look for me!
Love my ass!
Compared to loving something, the current Kama had fallen into a state similar to Miss Flies-Sideways, preferring to see others' downfall, hinder others, and appreciate the mediocrity of those powerless mortals.
Fallen due to love, enjoying others' tragedies, causing trouble for others—Yes, that's right, it all matched up!
Miss Flies-Sideways thought, This is basically another me.
Even more so, Kama's other aspect, 'Mara Papiyas,' just like her 'Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies,' belonged to the 'Demon Lords' despised by the world.
[Illya], having analyzed why these two got together through her appraisal eye, was speechless and couldn't help but sigh:
"These two... their compatibility is off the charts."
The compatibility of this pair was even more intense than the Berserker group, purely two maggots crawling into the same pit.
Even more ridiculously, their abilities were complementary.
Miss Flies-Sideways, suspected of being taught by a certain useless court magician, was best at illusions. She originally had Prelati's Spellbook, but that was lent to Gilles de Rais, so she couldn't use it until she got it back.
This also meant Miss Flies-Sideways had very little actual combat power, which was why she was often beaten up and sent flying.
And Kama, although the god of love, whose Sammohana flower arrows could even sway Lord Shiva, was undoubtedly an EX-rank top-tier Noble Phantasm. But this love god's frontal combat ability was just like her Assassin class—stat monsters wouldn't care if you were a god or not; they could kill her with a single blow.
And with the life-or-death instincts honed by Servants on the battlefield, as long as they were prepared, they could completely dodge the arrows of love beforehand.
But if Miss Flies-Sideways used illusions to confuse the opponent and assist—the result would be just like Kirei Kotomine.
His Assassin, Hundred-Faced Hassan, didn't even notice this pair approaching. The priest was hit directly.
Undoubtedly, an ultimate shit-stirring combination.
"Master, you really have wicked tastes, knowing the relationship between Mom and me."
"Well, what does it matter? Aren't you enjoying it too?"
"In the end, isn't the god of love supposed to be like this?"
"Or are you still harboring some illusions about your dear father?" Miss Flies-Sideways said with delight.
Tormenting her own Servant was also a way for her to derive pleasure—though, in reality, it was completely meaningless. After all, for Sakura Matou, who had just recently been thrown into that hellish insect pit.
This level of 'mischief,' compared to her own experiences, was almost like 'child's play.'
Although she wouldn't hate Aoi for sending her into the fire pit, she still somewhat resented this cruel mother.
And as the Kama aspect, she didn't care about it at all.
Since familial love could be so easily discarded, then conversely, being trampled upon in matters of love should also be an easy thing, right?
"Look, they're also very happy, aren't they~ Maybe you'll have a new little sister~" The immoral priest and the derailed wife, Miss Flies-Sideways thought this was simply fantastic. If not for fear of alerting the enemy, she was so excited she almost wanted to join in.
"Truly vile."
"Speaking of which, the battle over there seems quite intense too."
Kama didn't turn her head, looking towards the huge magical energy fluctuations erupting from the direction of the Tohsaka residence, showing great interest.
Of course, Kama wasn't the only one paying attention to the battle unfolding at the Tohsaka residence.
The other teams couldn't possibly ignore such a high-intensity battle.
Even...
At the closest vantage point to the Tohsaka residence, Kiritsugu Emiya, in a black trench coat and wrapped in bandages, was adjusting his high-precision sniper rifle.
And his target was... no, or rather, Tokiomi Tohsaka, who was currently tormenting Kariya Matou.
According to intelligence, the Master of Archer Gilgamesh was precisely this Tohsaka family head.
After the encounter on the first night, upon discovering he was Archer's Master, Kiritsugu Emiya had, of course, already set his sights on this person.
He had originally planned to ambush him, but before he could gather much intelligence in the first half of the night, his own Saber started fighting another Servant, revealing all their cards—to escape, he ultimately had to waste a Command Spell, ordering Saber to flee with him and Irisviel.
The result... Saber's spiritual foundation was severely damaged.
Although this wouldn't cause her to be eliminated, it caused Saber's stats to drop significantly, and her Noble Phantasm, Invisible Air, was directly disabled, making it difficult to recover in a short time.
This outcome made Saber throw a tantrum and get angry upon returning.
Damn you! If you had just spent one more Command Spell, I would have blasted that rebellious son to bits with one shot!
Even if that one Command Spell was used for strengthening, she could have barely held on and still beaten that traitor.
But you used it to escape and made me tank the damage?!
It was a good thing this was the Knight King, with a good temper, and Irisviel was there to somewhat alleviate the situation. Otherwise, any other Servant would have long since cut down this screwed-over Master!
Is it so hard for you to stand up straight and fight honorably?!
Am I, the renowned King Arthur, weaker than others?!
Kiritsugu didn't answer this.
In his view, this was a gain.
After all, one Command Spell was exchanged for the opponent's three—of course, if it weren't for this坑爹 Servant, he wouldn't have had to waste a single Command Spell.
As for the damage, Kiritsugu, who never had much hope for Saber anyway, only wanted her to help him stall in a frontal battle so he could take the opportunity to sneak attack.
Anyway, as long as Excalibur wasn't broken, the Holy Grail War would go on!
While Kiritsugu was looking for an opportunity to send Tokiomi Tohsaka off.
The oblivious Tokiomi was still happily tormenting Kariya Matou.
He could, of course, easily kill this disgrace to magi, but Kariya's actions made even Tokiomi, who always adhered to the Tohsaka family precepts of elegance, feel angry.
Getting close to my wife is one thing, but you dare kidnap my daughter? And you come to fight in the Holy Grail War to obstruct me?
Damn it... If you retired from the world of magecraft, then stay retired. I was even planning to let Sakura inherit your family's magical legacy. But you, halfway through, came running back? Saying it's for Sakura's good, isn't it just that you don't want to hand over the Matou family's magical legacy to Sakura?
And now you come to obstruct me from fighting the Holy Grail War and pursuing the Root. If Tokiomi didn't thoroughly whip this guy with a copper-buckled belt today, he'd feel he was being too kind.
"Speak, where is Sakura!"
With the sizzling sound of roasting meat, Tokiomi, while controlling the heat of his 'human barbecue,' sternly reprimanded the barely breathing Kariya Matou, trying to learn his daughter's whereabouts from this scoundrel.
"Come closer."
Looking at the dying Kariya Matou, speaking in a weak voice, Tokiomi wasn't too wary. He was confident that his magical defenses, even at close range, couldn't be threatened by this half-dead fellow.
And that was indeed the case.
Under the malicious intent of a certain undying old man, Berserker's stats were high, but he was also the biggest mana consumer. For Kariya, who had been rapidly trained using Crest Worms, he was completely exchanging his life for magical energy.
And to fight a monster like Gilgamesh, although Lancelot's stats and strength were up to par, it would inevitably burn through his mana bar instantly.
Being drained of mana by Berserker on one side and beaten by Tokiomi on the other, Kariya had long since run out of strength.
But, this didn't stop him, after Tokiomi got closer, from spitting a mouthful of bloody, insect-filled saliva onto Tokiomi's face with vicious intent.
"You scoundrel!"
Tokiomi, who prided himself on elegance, was directly triggered by this.
His face contorted in anger, he viciously slammed the jewel-tipped staff in his hand onto Kariya's palm, grinding it forcefully, and roared loudly:
"Tell me where Rin is! I said, tell me where Rin is! Speak! Speak!"
Kariya sneered mockingly.
"In a place you'll never find."
"You disgrace to magi!" Tokiomi's pupils constricted, and the next moment, he was filled with shock and anger.
Enraged to the extreme, he directly unleashed his fire magecraft, turning Kariya into ashes—but this wasn't the end. Tokiomi planned to use necromancy to bind Kariya's soul, not only to interrogate him about Rin's whereabouts but also to cruelly torture this scoundrel bastard.
With the Master eliminated, Lancelot, who was fiercely battling Gilgamesh, let out a roar and a mournful cry to the heavens.
"Hmph, a mere mad dog, also knows how to wail? Well, it's rare for you to do something that pleases this King."
Seeing this, Gilgamesh relaxed his guard, standing on the streetlight with a mocking expression.
Without the class skill of Independent Action, with Berserker's mana consumption, he would dissipate in a short while.
...Wait...
Suddenly realizing something, he paused, somewhat surprised and uncertain.
This guy, how did he seem to become even more berserk?!
Could it be—
"He really hates him deeply." Through the magic mirror, [Illya], who clearly saw Kariya confronting Tokiomi, turning to ashes under the flames, and the three dim Command Spell marks on his palm that Tokiomi completely failed to notice, sighed softly.
—Berserker, this is my final order. By these Command Spells, I order you, annihilate Archer and his Master at any cost.
—By the second Command Spell, I order you, repeat, annihilate Archer and his Master at any cost.
—By the third Command Spell, repeat.
"Servant Lancelot, this is my final request!!!"
The voice echoing in his mind was the final reverberation, followed by the immense magical energy reinforcement brought by the three Command Spells.
"This mad dog!!!"
Watching Berserker charge towards him at an exaggerated speed, Gilgamesh cursed, his eyes wide with anger.
At this moment, he instinctively wanted to open a thousand gates of Babylon and quickly eliminate this troublesome mad dog.
However, the next moment—
He felt his magical energy supply stagnate.
Instantly understanding what had happened, Gilgamesh was shocked and enraged:
"Tokiomi?!"