Artoria, clad in her blue and white skirt armor, stood in front of Tsuchimiya Utata.
Utata desperately wanted to stay and continue fighting.
He wanted to personally kill the one responsible for his wife's death and the destruction of the Tsuchimiya Family.
But he knew he could no longer participate in the upcoming battle.
Even if he stayed, he would only be a burden.
"I understand. I wish you success in battle."
Utata turned and left the Tsuchimiya estate, dragging his severely burned body.
Rather than stubbornly fighting to the death and becoming a burden to Artoria, it was better to retreat quickly and let her fight without restraint.
He could also report the situation to the other Families as soon as possible and seek reinforcements.
Utata wasn't sure of Artoria's true strength, but the words "Special Grade" carried heavy weight.
"Don't think you can escape."
Several fireballs flew from Sanzu Kawa's hands.
Half shot toward Artoria, and the other half toward Utata.
Artoria flashed forward, appearing in front of Utata. With a series of slashes from her Holy Sword, she intercepted all the fireballs.
"Wind Barrier."
Propelled by the gust, Artoria charged at Sanzu Kawa.
Sanzu Kawa hadn't expected her to suddenly explode with such speed and awkwardly dodged the strike.
He immediately ordered the fire foxes that had just materialized beside him, originally meant to pursue Utata, to pounce on Artoria instead.
"Mana Burst."
Artoria reinforced her armor and Physical Body, enduring the fire foxes' assault as she went straight for Sanzu Kawa.
The fire foxes' claws struck her armor, but with her Magic Resistance and Mana Burst-enhanced defenses, they caused little to no damage.
However, Sanzu Kawa, who only had Cursed Energy to protect himself, wasn't so lucky.
The Holy Sword left a deep gash on his body, down to the bone.
"Damn it!"
Sanzu Kawa unleashed all his foxfire in a furious assault, taking the chance to widen the distance between himself and Artoria.
Thanks to the Sesshoseki, his injuries began to regenerate.
He glanced at Artoria, then at Utata, who was about to leave the estate.
Gritting his teeth, Sanzu Kawa still chose to chase after the Sesshoseki held by Utata first.
A swarm of butterflies flew in from outside the estate, their wings glowing blue. Countless scales fell from the air, drifting toward Artoria.
Sanzu Kawa summoned another dozen fire foxes to encircle her.
"Wind Barrier."
A strong gust of wind surged around Artoria, blowing away the butterflies and scattering the scales.
With her vision clear, Artoria locked her eyes on Sanzu Kawa again.
The fire foxes tried to block her, but they couldn't stop the experienced Artoria.
Swish.
Boom.
Artoria once again rushed up to Sanzu Kawa. He could only defend with fire.
"Don't think you can escape, Evil Path."
Artoria's stern voice rang out in front of him.
Escape?
A flash of rage crossed Sanzu Kawa's face.
"I was planning to deal with you later, but since you're in such a hurry to die, I won't hold back."
He fully activated the Sesshoseki, instantly turning the area around Artoria into a sea of flames.
Artoria leapt out of the fire, landing in a position that perfectly cut off Sanzu Kawa's path toward Utata.
The two clashed again.
On the ground, fire foxes kept forming from Sanzu Kawa's flames, while fireballs rained down from the sky like a storm.
Faced with a dual assault from both ground and air, Artoria handled it effortlessly.
For most, such an onslaught would be overwhelming. But for Artoria, there was no pressure.
It felt like she had returned to the battlefield.
Arrows constantly rained down.
After the arrows came waves of charging enemies.
While slashing through foes, she also had to guard against stray arrows and sneak attacks.
"Hmm?"
Artoria's ahoge twitched. A bad premonition rose in her heart.
She abruptly halted her advance. Instead of cutting down the fire fox in front of her, she suddenly leapt to the side.
In the next moment, the fire fox dispersed, flooding the area where she had just stood, and Sanzu Kawa's figure appeared behind it.
The sneak attack failed. Sanzu Kawa immediately launched a fierce follow-up assault as Artoria landed.
But Artoria had already created distance, enough to react.
His attack failed again.
"Damn it, does this woman have radar on her head? Why do you keep dodging!"
Sanzu Kawa snapped.
"How rude. This is a King's intuition."
Artoria's sword grazed Sanzu Kawa's neck.
A cold sweat broke down his spine.
He didn't know if the Sesshoseki could still heal him if he were decapitated.
Knowing he couldn't win in close combat, Sanzu Kawa widened the distance again, floating into the air by stepping on butterflies.
Artoria could also move swiftly in the air using the wind.
However, her movement was straightforward, so Sanzu Kawa could still dodge it.
At least it was better than fighting her on the ground.
As soon as he rose, he saw Utata leading the remaining Tsuchimiya Family members out of the estate.
"Damn it, why is it always like this?"
Sanzu Kawa was boiling with rage.
His recklessness three years ago was one thing.
Over the past three years, he had grown stronger and meticulously planned how to acquire the Sesshoseki.
Why did obstacles always appear just when success was in reach?
That Special Grade who could summon Shikigami and manipulate shadows was bad enough.
Now this girl who could suppress him in combat showed up out of nowhere?
On the ground, Artoria noticed Sanzu Kawa's momentary distraction.
A weakness.
Sensing an opportunity, she raised her Holy Sword and aimed it at Sanzu Kawa floating mid-air.
Mana Burst was typically used to enhance weapons, the Physical Body, and similar things with magical energy.
Artoria had once used Mana Burst to engage Berserker Heracles in direct combat, despite his overwhelming strength and size.
But Mana Burst wasn't just about reinforcement. The word "Burst" had a literal meaning too.
Artoria channeled a large amount of magical energy into her Holy Sword.
A golden beam of light shot toward Sanzu Kawa.
During the Holy Grail War, Heracles once caught Artoria's Holy Sword bare-handed.
At that time, she used this very Mana Burst beam to obliterate half of his upper body.
'Dodge it!'
Tamamo-no-Mae's anxious voice echoed in Sanzu Kawa's mind.
Just as he glanced at Utata, a flash of golden light caught the edge of his vision.
In the next moment, he felt his body being forcibly moved by the Sesshoseki.
The beam of light grazed his body as it shot past.
Even a graze from the Holy Sword, infused with sacred magical energy, caused massive damage.
Under the burning of that energy, his Cursed Spirit-like body suffered severe injuries.
Tamamo-no-Mae could no longer afford to hide. She forcibly took control of Sanzu Kawa's body and escaped in a panic.
(To be continued.)