Silence fell over the room as Assassin lay motionless on the floor.
Ryuuto knelt beside her, roughly grabbing her hair to lift her limp upper body.
"After damaging my precious body, you didn't think you'd be allowed to die so easily, did you?"
"..."
The assassin's once-composed, fair face had lost all color and expression, now blank as a doll's.
"Woman without even a name," he said cruelly, "I'll make your Saint Graph disappear completely from the Throne. I'll deny your existence, destroy your beliefs, defile, degrade, and humiliate everything about you, until—damn, she's already dead."
He clicked his tongue in annoyance and slung the fanatic over his shoulder. "Caster, I'm heading back to my room. Have the maids repair the broken wall. I've given you quite a scare today. Take the next two days off—just rest at home."
When he reached the living room door, Morgan blocked his path, hands on her hips and a fierce look on her face. Her eyes were cold, her voluptuous chest rising and falling with emotion. "Master, you're not seriously planning to keep this bitch around, are you?"
The time they had spent together had created an understanding between Morgan and him. She immediately understood her Master's intentions.
'Yes, because this woman will make an interesting toy,' he nodded. A toy as fascinating as the fanatic was difficult to find.
He explained to her calmly, "Assassin has already been punished with death for attacking me. What I do with her body now is something completely different."
But Morgan was someone who held grudges more deeply than most. "You can't be serious. I refuse to accept this. She's the one who blew your head off. Or are you suggesting I'm inadequate as your Servant? That I can't satisfy you?"
So that was what truly bothered her.
Was it her wounded pride, or was she blaming herself for allowing the enemy to find their hideout?
"Morgan," he said suddenly, taking her hand and raising it to examine it closely. The witch's fingers, once as beautiful as the world's finest art, had become a bloody mess from frantically clawing at the floor earlier. "Thank you, Morgan. I will never forget the injuries you suffered for my sake."
He channeled magical energy into her hand. With a gentle warming sensation, the wounds on her hand quickly healed.
She showed no gratitude, though. She merely snorted and pulled her hand away. "I'm not injured. You're the one who got hurt."
"...Haha, Caster. Can't you make an exception just this once? Especially considering I'm still alive and well," he said with a playful wink, which she answered with a cold stare.
"..."
Blue eyes met black eyes as they stared at each other in silence.
After a long moment, she finally relented and turned away. "...Do whatever you want."
Ripples of light like the surface of a lake spread through the air, and the bloodstained witch vanished from the living room.
"Only I would put up with such stubbornness from you."
"Whew, thank you, Morgan," he breathed out with relief.
If she had insisted on destroying Assassin, he would have had to agree. He wouldn't risk creating tension with Morgan over a mere toy; he understood where his priorities lay.
"Don't you think Caster is truly a wonderful woman?" he said, turning to address the woman draped over his shoulder. "Now then, let's spend the entire night together, Miss Assassin."
…
It was as if someone had pressed a start button, causing the Holy Grail War to develop at breakneck speed. Just today, more than one Servant had left the main stage. Besides the fanatic who died alone in a place unknown to others, with her soul already returned to the Lesser Grail, another Servant had also been eliminated. This one had disappeared before the eyes of all participants, at least according to reports—
"A Servant likely belonging to Kirei Kotomine broke into the Tohsaka mansion late last night and was taken down by the golden Heroic Spirit waiting there. It was completely one-sided; the intruder couldn't put up any fight at all."
The next morning, when Morgan reported this to Ryuuto, he had just finished working through the entire night. He had completed restoring the fanatic's Spirit Core, making her an incarnated Heroic Spirit like Gilgamesh in the Fifth Holy Grail War.
"...I see, so the Servant that attacked the Tohsaka mansion was eliminated?" He nodded without much interest. Assassin position was already filled by the fanatic, so which Servant had played out this boring drama with King Gilgamesh?
What ability had been used? Resurrection, or... I see, it was a clone? How boring. Maybe he should add some excitement to this Holy Grail War… As he stroked the fanatic's smooth cheek, a smile formed at the corner of the boy's lips.
…
The mouth of the Mion River opened to the sea nearby, with the Fuyuki Bridge connecting its two banks. The impressive arched structure spanned 665 meters in length, rising to a height exceeding fifty meters at its peak. Waver Velvet stood at the highest point of the bridge, trembling uncontrollably as he gazed down at the water.
"R-Rider... please come down... now!" Shaking from both cold and fear, Waver addressed the massive man beside him.
Rider, also known as Iskandar, with his sharp features and towering frame, seemed completely unbothered. "This is the perfect spot to keep watch, but for now, I'm just enjoying the view to lift my spirits."
From time to time, he would take a sip from the bottle of red wine in his hand while calmly observing the seaside park on the western shore. The Servant they had been following for nearly four hours should be there.
Having finally tracked down an enemy, Waver wanted to move in for the kill, but Rider was content to monitor from a distance. When Waver questioned this approach, Rider simply scoffed. "It's obviously a trap to lure us out. How could anyone miss such an obvious presence? Other Servants are probably watching them too. If we wait patiently, some impatient Master might make the first move. That's what I'm waiting for."
Waver found Rider's strategy quite sensible, even surprisingly so. This giant of a man, who came across as bold and straightforward, actually possessed a careful, tactical mind. Indeed, as Rider suggested, they should observe first, wait for someone else to act hastily, and then benefit from the conflict like a fisherman taking advantage of fighting prey.
At this moment, Waver had no idea that his Servant was thinking of something entirely different—this King of Conquest, who had swept across vast territories throughout history, was planning to wait until everyone arrived and then challenge everyone simultaneously!
"Look, they're here."
Waver followed Rider's gaze to where two foreign women had appeared near the road.