Chapter 254
"So even Lancer was defeated."
Watching Kiriya return unharmed and reunite with Jeanne, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada’s pupils contracted, and a faintly bitter smile appeared on his face.
"Assassin... every one of us underestimated that human boy."
"What are you going to do now, Master? Give up?"
Semiramis had already recovered from her earlier shock.
Her composure as the Queen of Assyria returned almost immediately, and she smiled as she looked toward Amakusa.
"Give up? How could I possibly do that?"
Perhaps infected by Semiramis’s confidence, Amakusa’s expression gradually relaxed as well.
"I have spent sixty full years preparing for this day. I’m not abandoning everything now merely because an unexpected obstacle appeared."
He turned and began walking toward the Greater Grail.
"It does mean, however, that the careful, methodical plan I originally prepared is no longer viable. I’ll have to take a risk."
Semiramis raised an eyebrow.
"You intend to modify the Greater Grail immediately?"
"Yes. At this point, it is the only option left."
Amakusa stopped and looked back at her. There was determination in his eyes, but there was also complete trust.
"Can you keep them away from me, Assassin?"
"Honestly, Master, what a terribly insulting question."
Semiramis casually swept a strand of long hair back behind one ear, her voice relaxed but unwavering.
"Who exactly do you think I am?"
Amakusa smiled.
"That confidence of yours really is reassuring."
Then he turned away again, his footsteps echoing crisply through the vast and shadowed hall.
"In that case, I leave them to you, Assassin."
"Of course."
Semiramis watched him disappear before lowering her gaze toward Mordred, who lay unconscious on the floor nearby.
A cruel smile slowly curved across the Queen of Assyria’s lips.
...
"Hm?"
At almost the exact moment Amakusa left the throne hall and headed toward the Greater Grail, both Jeanne and Kiriya sensed the change.
Their expressions sharpened at once.
"He’s moving toward the Greater Grail."
Jeanne’s voice carried obvious urgency.
"We can’t allow him to begin altering it."
If Amakusa succeeded in modifying the Greater Grail’s system, defeating him afterward might no longer matter.
Once activated, the Grail would continue operating automatically, drawing magical energy from the leylines of the entire world until enough power had been gathered to fulfill Amakusa Shirou Tokisada’s wish.
"Agreed."
Kiriya nodded once, then immediately began assigning roles as they continued forward.
"When we get inside, Jeanne, you stay in the middle and handle command and support. Archer, your job is to keep Assassin occupied and disrupt her whenever you see an opening. Astolfo, you’re taking the magical bombardments."
Astolfo’s eyes widened.
Kiriya continued without giving him time to complain.
"As for me, if Assassin gives me an opening, I’ll kill her as quickly as possible. If she doesn’t, I’ll bypass her entirely and go after Amakusa Shirou Tokisada."
"Kill Assassin?"
Both Chiron and Kairi Sisigou were visibly startled.
Semiramis was not merely a powerful Servant.
Within the Hanging Gardens, she possessed magecraft comparable to the greatest magi of the Age of Gods, and they were currently fighting inside the very magical fortress she had constructed as her absolute territory.
Saying that he would simply eliminate her at the first opportunity sounded almost absurdly confident.
Yet when they looked at Kiriya’s expression, there was no boasting or uncertainty there. He spoke as though this were merely the most practical arrangement available.
Neither man found a reason to challenge him.
"I keep telling you I have a name!"
Astolfo, meanwhile, waved his fists in outrage.
"I’m Astolfo!"
"Got it, Astolfo."
Kiriya nodded seriously.
"Now lend me your sword. Mine shattered during the fight with Karna."
Astolfo muttered and grumbled under his breath for several seconds, clearly offended by the entire exchange, but in the end he still handed his sword over.
"This is the best sword from my village, you know. Don’t break it."
"I know, Astolfo."
Kiriya accepted the weapon and tested its balance briefly before looking toward both Astolfo and Jeanne.
"One more thing. If anything goes wrong, channel magical energy into the daggers I gave you. I’ll sense it and find a way to support you."
"I understand."
Jeanne nodded firmly.
Kiriya secured the sword, then swept his gaze over the group and finally noticed that someone was missing.
"Where’s Caster?"
Chiron and Jeanne exchanged a brief look before Chiron answered.
"He said the Holy Grail itself was never his objective, so he chose to withdraw."
"He did, huh?"
A cold smile touched Kiriya’s lips.
"Fine. We’ll deal with him after this mess is over."
"Master."
Astolfo, now mounted on his Hippogriff with Kairi riding behind him, leaned down toward Kiriya with visible concern.
"I know I have that spellbook that raises my Magic Resistance, but that woman’s beams are ridiculously powerful. I’m not sure I can actually tank them."
"Then release your Noble Phantasm."
Kiriya answered as though the solution were obvious.
Astolfo immediately began fidgeting.
"Well... about that..."
He hesitated for so long that everyone started staring at him. Finally, under the combined pressure of their suspicious gazes, Astolfo gave up and blurted out the truth.
"I forgot its True Name!"
For several seconds, nobody said anything.
Kairi almost stumbled.
Even Chiron’s calm expression cracked.
A Servant had forgotten the True Name of his own Noble Phantasm.
What kind of absurd situation was this?
"Evaporation of Sanity?"
Jeanne was the first to understand.
"According to the legends, Astolfo once traveled to the moon to retrieve the sanity of his friend Roland, only to lose his own reason in the process. Because of that, his ’reason’ became connected to the moon itself. Whenever the moon is visible in the night sky, his rationality is considered to be elsewhere, preventing him from recalling certain things—including the True Name of that Noble Phantasm."
Astolfo nodded enthusiastically and continued the explanation himself.
"Exactly! Only when the moon can’t be seen—like during a new moon—does my reason temporarily come back to me."
Kairi frowned.
"But tonight isn’t a new moon."
"What’s difficult about that?"
Kiriya’s eyes transformed.
The pattern of his Mangekyō Sharingan emerged as he looked directly into Astolfo’s eyes.
"Astolfo."
His voice carried a subtle, irresistible pressure.
"Tonight is a new moon."
He smiled.
"You remember now, don’t you?"
"Hey, hey, what kind of ridiculous—"
Kairi had barely begun to complain when Astolfo’s expression suddenly lit up in realization.
"Oh!"
He slapped one fist into his palm.
"Of course! It’s Casseur de Logistille! That’s the name! I remember it now!"
Kairi slowly turned toward Kiriya.
"What the hell did you just do?"
Even Chiron looked genuinely surprised.
"Nothing complicated."
Kiriya smiled lightly.
"I just gave him a psychological suggestion."
With the ocular power of the Mangekyō Sharingan behind it, Kiriya’s genjutsu would rank at least around A-rank if translated into the Servant system.
Astolfo’s troublesome Evaporation of Sanity might interfere with his ability to recall the Noble Phantasm’s True Name, but the Skill itself was only D-rank.
Once Astolfo was placed under a sufficiently powerful illusion and genuinely believed that tonight was a new moon, there was nothing stopping his mind from recovering the information it normally could not access.
"That actually works?"
Kairi stared at him with a face full of question marks.
There was no logical response to something that absurd, but the evidence was standing directly in front of him, so he could only accept it.
Before anyone could continue discussing the matter, an enormous set of doors came into view at the end of the corridor.
"That’s it!"
Kairi’s entire demeanor changed.
"Saber and the Queen of Assyria are behind those doors!"
Kiriya looked at the others.
"Everyone ready?"
"Ready!"
The answer came almost simultaneously.
Kairi had already slipped one hand into his coat pocket and wrapped his fingers around the vial containing the Hydra antitoxin.
Astolfo clutched his spellbook, visibly nervous but determined.
Chiron had an arrow nocked and his bow partially drawn, ready to fire the instant an enemy entered his line of sight.
Jeanne raised her battle standard and moved into position, prepared to defend the group against whatever attack came through the moment the doors opened.
"Good."
Kiriya accelerated.
In a single burst, he reached the massive doors ahead of everyone else.
Astolfo’s borrowed sword flashed twice in his hands, two razor-sharp arcs of sword light crossing over the surface.
Shhk—!
Shhk—!
The doors split apart.
Before the severed sections could even fall, Kiriya planted one foot against them and kicked.
BOOM!
The enormous entrance exploded inward, fragments of stone and metal scattering across the throne hall.
"Hehehe..."
A soft, elegant laugh greeted them from beyond the debris.
"I’ve been waiting for you."
Semiramis remained seated high upon her throne, her posture regal and perfectly composed.
But the cold light in her eyes betrayed the murderous intent behind her smile.
Behind her, several enormous magical formations had already unfolded in perfect alignment.
Each one was filled with enough compressed magical energy to make the air itself tremble.
They were the same bombardments that had devastated the battlefield before.
Only now, at such close range, their oppressive presence was unmistakable.
EX-rank magical cannons.