Bright red blood sprayed from the blood vessels, arcing enchantingly through the dark night, splashing onto the scorched earth, and then evaporating rapidly.
An arm was flung into the air out of nowhere.
Roy's face twisted for a moment, as searing pain pierced through his shoulder, causing his eyes to bulge almost out of their sockets. The muscles all over his body tensed in pain, his breathing became uncontrollably rapid, and his face turned as pale as paper.
If it had been his old self, he would already have lost his composure and been rolling on the ground in agony.
But now, he only let out a muffled groan and quickly calmed down.
'Master?'
Taigong Wang's anxious voice echoed in Roy's mind, seemingly urging him.
'Just do as you said!'
Roy gave the order without hesitation.
On the battlefield.
The blackened Berserker didn't kill Rin with a single blow but instead severed Roy's right arm. He was momentarily stunned, seemingly surprised by this unexpected turn.
But he immediately turned his head and once again locked his eyes onto Rin.
His King's order was to kill this girl, so all he needed to think about was how to cut her in two—everything else was irrelevant.
The blackened Berserker stepped forward in large strides, closed the distance, and slashed diagonally at Rin again.
Rin staggered from Roy's push, and in the blink of an eye, she saw his right arm had been severed. Caught off guard, she found herself targeted once more by the blackened Berserker.
At such close range, and with such speed, there was no chance to resist.
In this split-second moment—
"Wait!"
A spear suddenly appeared, slanted in front of Rin.
With a sharp shout, a black-haired middle-aged man in bright yellow armour suddenly materialized on the battlefield. His spear blocked the blackened Berserker's greatsword like it was parting rivers and seas.
The armour on the man clearly bore characteristics of ancient Chinese design, and the red tassel hanging from his spear reinforced this. His face carried the sharp, precise look unique to seasoned warriors. He looked like a hero who had just stepped out of a historical drama.
The blackened Berserker appeared visibly surprised, not understanding where this man had come from. Yet his greatsword showed no mercy, sweeping down like a storm toward the middle-aged man.
The man's eyes were sharp, not daring to be careless. He spun his spear into an airtight defense, blocking the blackened Berserker's onslaught.
Though Rin didn't fully understand the situation, she reacted quickly, retreating swiftly away from the two combatants.
"That man is…"
Suppressing the panic from her near-death experience, her gaze landed on the middle-aged man who had just come to her rescue.
"He should be the Rider who hasn't shown up until now."
Roy also retreated to her side.
His face was pale, clearly still in pain, but his speech remained coherent.
As he spoke, he used his left hand to draw runes, stopping the bleeding from his right arm.
After stopping the bleeding, he quickly formed a rune barrier, using his Mystic Eyes to replicate it and form a protective barrier around the two of them.
With that, they were temporarily safe.
But doing so completely drained his magical energy.
"You really are...!"
Rin turned her gaze to him, staring at his arm.
Thinking that he had lost it to save her left her heart in turmoil.
She wanted to say something, but nothing came out.
"It's just an arm. No big deal."
Roy shook his head.
His tone was weak but very calm.
He actually didn't see the loss of his arm as a big deal.
"The danger isn't over yet."
Rin bit her lip at those words, pushing down her complex emotions and trying to calm her mind as she observed the current situation.
Things were still extremely dangerous.
The Chinese-style man must be the Rider summoned in this Holy Grail War. Though she didn't know why he had saved her, he could only barely hold back the blackened Berserker.
'Archer, how's your situation?'
'...'
'Archer?'
'...'
Rin's expression gradually darkened.
There was no response to her mental communication.
Though she could confirm Archer was still alive through the Command Seal, he was likely in critical condition, perhaps unconscious from serious injuries.
"Roy, where's your Saber?"
"Probably tangled up with the blackened Saber…"
Rin's mood grew even worse.
In this situation, the only Servant on their side still able to fight was Roy's Saber.
But her opponent had become the blackened Saber.
Even worse, against the blackened Saber, it wasn't just a matter of stalling—survival itself was uncertain!
Boom!
A figure fell from the sky, creating a shallow crater in the ground.
As the dust cleared, the pitch-black figure of the blackened Saber emerged.
"Just what I feared…"
Rin gave a bitter smile.
Saber really couldn't restrain the blackened Saber.
With the Lesser Grail in her possession, the blackened Saber could easily shake off Okita Souji whenever she wanted.
Even someone as strong as Rin finally felt despair in this situation.
As the blackened Saber arrived, she ignored Roy—who had taken Illya from her earlier—and locked straight onto Rin.
She swung her sword, and a blood-red magical slash several meters long roared out toward the two of them.
The ground was gouged out with deep scars, the air itself sliced into a momentary vacuum, and the terrifying pressure was suffocating.
The barrier made of hundreds of runes was almost half-destroyed in a single strike.
Seeing this, Rin's expression completely darkened.
Roy's face didn't look good either.
He was already deathly pale, and now looked like he could drop dead any second.
The blackened Saber and blackened Berserker were both powerful enemies, and now they were working together against them.
Meanwhile, on their side, Archer's condition was unknown, and Okita could barely handle even one of them.
What should they do?
Roy's gaze turned to the Chinese-style Rider fighting the blackened Berserker.
That Servant was actually Taigong Wang in disguise.
He had disguised himself as someone from his lifetime—no, more accurately, someone from the war between the Shang and Zhou dynasties—Wu Cheng Wang, Huang Feihu.
Because he was using Chinese ideographic sorcery, different from Western magic, it was hard for others to see through the disguise.
Roy didn't want him to reveal his true identity, so this method of appearing as another person was Taigong Wang's idea.
But in this situation, unless Rider revealed his true self, there was no saving them!
"Master!"
Okita quickly arrived on the battlefield.
Seeing the blackened Saber about to unleash a second sword strike at the barrier, Okita rushed forward with all her speed and slashed at the blackened Saber.
"Annoying."
The blackened Saber forced Okita back with a single strike.
For the first time, her expressionless face showed a trace of irritation.
This Saber had interrupted her several times already, yet was slippery as an eel.
"I'll finish all of you in one go!"
A flash of murderous intent passed across the blackened Saber's face as she finally lost her patience.
Endless magical energy poured into the sword in her hand, and a massive pitch-black aurora, like a black sun, explosively expanded.
In that moment, everyone present had a drastic change of expression.
***
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