Chapter 238
Amakusa Shirou Tokisada and Semiramis had been keeping a close eye on Kiriya the entire time.
Amakusa had sensed it as soon as Kiriya’s fierce battle with Mordred began, and he immediately had Semiramis use projection magecraft to observe the fight in real time.
When they witnessed Kiriya’s astonishing combat ability, they were surprised, but not entirely shocked.
After all, he was someone capable of fighting Lancer of Red, Karna, head-on.
This level of performance was well within what they had already come to expect from him.
Neither of them had any intention of joining Saber and giving Kiriya a righteous three-on-one beating.
They understood Mordred too well for that.
She might currently be completely caught up in the fight, throwing herself into battle without the slightest concern for anything else, but the Knight of Treachery was also notoriously sensitive about being interfered with.
If they suddenly stepped in, there was a very real possibility that she would simply stop fighting altogether.
Hell, knowing Mordred, she might even turn around and join Kiriya in making trouble for them instead.
So rather than involving themselves in a battle whose outcome was impossible to predict, it made far more sense to let Saber keep Kiriya occupied while they used the opportunity to storm the Black faction’s headquarters and seize the Greater Grail.
Once the Grail was in their hands, the Red faction would hold the absolute initiative.
If the Black faction wanted it back, they would have no choice but to enter the Hanging Gardens.
And the Hanging Gardens were Semiramis’s domain.
Magical energy saturated every corner of the enormous fortress.
Countless mechanisms, traps, and winding passages turned the entire structure into a colossal weapon of war.
Merely breaking through the layers of defenses and finding Amakusa and Semiramis would consume a tremendous amount of the Black Servants’ magical energy and stamina.
It would not even be surprising if several Servants were eliminated along the way.
Meanwhile, Semiramis and the others could remain safely within their home territory, conserving their strength while waiting for the exhausted enemy to arrive.
No matter how they looked at it, there was only one conclusion.
The advantage was theirs.
Unfortunately, their plan ran into trouble before the first step had even properly begun.
Kiriya had decided to snipe them.
The moment that mysterious young man began forming the sphere of plasma in his hand, both Amakusa and Semiramis sensed danger.
Their rational minds found it difficult to believe that an attack launched from the ground could threaten the Hanging Gardens at such an altitude.
Their instincts, however, were screaming.
Semiramis immediately contacted Achilles, who had been stationed outside the fortress as a guard.
"Rider, incoming attack from below. Use your Noble Phantasm to defend."
Achilles narrowed his eyes and looked down.
His extraordinary eyesight immediately picked out Kiriya far below—as well as the fully formed sphere of crackling plasma in his hand.
"Another new trick?"
Achilles summoned his shield and called forth its True Name.
And so, just as the Lightning Release: Rasengan Railgun reached the Hanging Gardens—
The projection of an entire world appeared before it.
Magnificent temples.
Grand arenas.
Majestic rows of columns.
Beyond them stretched a raging sea beneath towering waves.
It was the world of Achilles’s era, reconstructed as an impregnable miniature reality.
"Akhilleus Kosmos—The Miniature World Enclosed by the Azure Sky!"
BOOOOOOM!
The Rasengan Railgun struck the miniature world like a meteor crashing into a planet.
A tremendous explosion erupted across the heavens.
For an instant, it was as though a second sun had blossomed in the sky, its light so intense that everyone on the ground was forced to shield their eyes.
Then came the shock wave.
A hurricane tore outward in every direction, ripping enormous trees from the earth by their roots.
Mordred was caught completely off guard and sent flying.
Kiriya, having anticipated the blast, immediately caught Jeanne as she was swept away and summoned a defensive wall around them.
"Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall!"
Thick wooden barriers closed around the two, firmly shielding them from the storm.
"What?!"
High above, both the Queen of Assyria and the young priest stared in shock.
Even with Akhilleus Kosmos between them and the attack, they could feel the Hanging Gardens shaking violently.
The fortress itself had suffered no meaningful structural damage, but that only made the power of Kiriya’s attack even more alarming.
"What monstrous destructive power..."
Semiramis bit her fingernail, her expression darkening.
"Master, we need to move quickly."
Her voice became serious.
"We must seize the Greater Grail while he is still away from Yggdmillennia."
"Once that man joins the battlefield, there will be far too many variables."
"Agreed."
Amakusa nodded, accepting his Servant’s judgment.
"Then full speed ahead."
Semiramis swept out one hand.
The speed of the Hanging Gardens immediately doubled as the enormous fortress raced toward Yggdmillennia Castle.
"Whew..."
Beneath the Hanging Gardens, Achilles dismissed his Noble Phantasm and stared down at the increasingly tiny figure of Kiriya far below.
He grimaced.
"What the hell is that guy made of?"
"He throws out an attack like that and still looks completely fine afterward."
Beside him, Karna tightened his grip around his golden spear.
Interest appeared in his normally composed expression.
"Such a powerful opponent is worthy of battle."
"Don’t even think about it."
Achilles refused immediately.
"That bastard killed Big Sis. I’m settling that score myself."
"...I see."
Karna fell silent for a moment before conceding.
"Then if you fail to defeat him the next time you fight, I will take your place."
Achilles’s expression immediately soured.
"What’s that supposed to mean?"
"You think I’m going to lose?"
"It is difficult to say."
Karna looked toward the distant ground.
"That young man is far from simple."
"His abilities... remain impossible for me to fully understand."
"Hmph."
Achilles snorted.
"Don’t worry."
"You won’t get the chance."
...
"Kiriya-kun... I think it’s safe now."
Jeanne’s slightly flustered voice sounded from within the wooden barrier.
"Looks like it."
Kiriya answered gently and released the technique.
Creak... creak...
The layers of the Wood Locking Wall folded apart, revealing Kiriya standing inside with the blond saint still held securely in his arms.
"You all right?"
Kiriya lowered his head and asked softly.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Looking at his face from such a short distance and feeling the warmth of his embrace, Jeanne’s heart suddenly began pounding uncontrollably.
It felt as though an overexcited rabbit had somehow gotten trapped inside her chest.
"Your face is really red."
When Jeanne failed to answer for several seconds, Kiriya raised a hand and touched her forehead.
"Are you sure you’re okay?"
"I-I’m fine!"
Jeanne finally snapped back to reality.
She hurriedly pushed against his chest, slipped out of his arms, and turned her back to him.
Her face was still red enough to practically glow.
’Jeanne, what is wrong with you...?’
The girl silently wailed inside her head.
Something about her recent behavior was becoming seriously strange.
In the distance, Mordred finally climbed back to her feet.
She rubbed her aching backside and head, then looked over just in time to witness the almost painfully romantic atmosphere surrounding Kiriya and Jeanne.
Mordred went silent.
For some reason, she suddenly felt very much like the unwanted third wheel.
She slapped both cheeks hard and forcibly dragged her thoughts back to the matter at hand.
Turning toward Kiriya, she spoke seriously.
"The Red faction is already heading straight for the Black headquarters."
"We need to get there quickly."
"If they manage to take the Greater Grail, stopping them afterward is going to be a huge pain."
"You’re right. We need to move."
Kiriya nodded repeatedly while admiring Jeanne’s ears, which were still as red as polished ruby.
Then he smiled.
"I have a way to reach the Black headquarters almost instantly."
"But I need you to cooperate."
"Cooperate?"
Jeanne blinked her bright eyes at him.
"How?"
"Like this."
Before Jeanne could react, Kiriya appeared directly in front of her and reached an arm around her slender waist.
"Eh?"
Jeanne’s brain stopped working for approximately one second.
Then her entire face exploded red.
"W-W-W-What are you doing?!"
Kiriya tightened his arm so she could not escape and patiently explained,
"My teleportation technique requires physical contact if I want to take someone else with me."
"But if all you need is contact..."
Jeanne lowered her head under his rather intense gaze.
"Do you really have to hold me like this?"
"Jeanne, it’s my ability."
Kiriya answered with complete confidence.
"Naturally, I’m the one who gets to explain how it works."
When Jeanne opened her mouth to protest again, he immediately cut her off.
"Or would you rather keep arguing here until Amakusa steals the Greater Grail?"
Jeanne fell silent.
Then, with the air of someone accepting an unavoidable fate, she closed her eyes.
The expression was so innocent that Kiriya very nearly leaned down and kissed her.
Fortunately, his reason remained intact.
Barely.
He simply kept one arm around Jeanne’s waist and activated the Flying Thunder God Technique.
The two disappeared instantly.
Leaving Mordred behind alone.
In complete silence.
"..."
Mordred stared at the empty space where they had been.
A moment later, she contacted Kairi through their mental link.
"Master."
"That helicopter you mentioned is definitely there, right?"
"Of course."
Kairi paused.
"Why? Something sounds wrong with your voice."
"Nothing."
A bloodthirsty smile slowly spread across Mordred’s face.
"I just really feel like fighting right now."
Her grip tightened around Clarent.
"I want to break that bastard’s bones and his balls at the same time."
On the other end of the connection, Kairi suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
His legs instinctively pressed together.
’What the hell happened to her?’
In only a few seconds, his imagination had already constructed several hundred thousand words’ worth of melodramatic romance, betrayal, jealousy, and heartbreak.
"Good grief."
Kairi sighed.
"No matter how powerful a knight she is..."
"She’s still just a kid."