No—rather than failing to meet Cú Chulainn's expectations, the outcome was so far beyond them that it completely overturned his assumptions.
At this moment, his shoulder had indeed been slashed by the enemy's blade. Yet the crimson spear he had thrust out—the Spear of Piercing Death—had been seized firmly at both the tip and the shaft.
The spearhead was less than a few centimeters from the opponent's body. And yet, no matter how desperately Cú Chulainn strained with every ounce of strength in his body, he could not force the spear forward even a single inch.
He was gripping the weapon with both hands.
The opponent had caught it with only one.
And despite that, he couldn't wrest control back at all.
That alone was enough to prove how terrifying the intruder's Strength parameter was.
No—more accurately, the fact that the man had been able to precisely seize a lightning-fast thrust in the first place already went far beyond a simple question of raw strength…
"Assassin? Saber? Or some other class?"
The long blade in the man's hand was an extremely ordinary weapon. Other than Archer, nearly every class could conceivably use such a thing.
By rotating his body and leveraging his footing, Cú Chulainn finally managed to regain control of his spear, retreating far enough to open distance between them. As he did, he activated his class skill Battle Continuation, forcefully stabilizing his condition.
That brief exchange was enough for him to realize one thing clearly—
He had underestimated this opponent.
He had come here expecting to find only a Caster hiding in her own territory.
Instead, what appeared before him was a Servant with absurdly high combat ability.
Judging by the man's skill and weapon, Cú Chulainn leaned toward Assassin or Saber.
Saber, the strongest and most balanced of the seven classes, had never once produced a weak Servant in the history of the Holy Grail War.
After all, throughout the vast sweep of human history, there had been countless figures skilled with the sword. Anyone chosen by the Grail from among them was bound to be extraordinary.
As for Assassin…
While it was true the man had approached him without making a sound—something that fit the Assassin class perfectly—Cú Chulainn simply didn't want to believe it.
To pure warriors like him, Assassins were a class he held in open disdain.
A true warrior should face their opponent head-on, not skulk about like a rat in the sewers, relying on sneak attacks.
And this man had chosen to clash directly with his cursed spear—willing to risk mutual injury.
No matter how Cú Chulainn looked at it, this didn't resemble the behavior of an Assassin who lived for ambushes.
Besides—
He had never heard of an Assassin with Strength this absurd.
"As you guessed, my class is Assassin," Ren Kuroda said calmly. "There's really no reason to hide it.
"That said, I'm far more curious about your intentions."
"According to the rules of this Holy Grail War, we should both belong to the Blue Faction for now. By the rules alone, that makes us allies.
"So tell me—why is the Lancer of the Blue Faction so relentlessly hunting our own Caster?"
Ren genuinely couldn't make sense of it.
If this were the Fifth Holy Grail War as he knew it, Cú Chulainn chasing Medea would have made perfect sense.
After all, under the original rules, there were only seven Master–Servant pairs.
But now the rules had changed.
Cú Chulainn and Medea were supposed to be allies.
Yet here he was, pursuing her with stubborn persistence.
"Damn… I didn't expect you to actually be an Assassin," Cú Chulainn said with a crooked, self-mocking grin. "So I, a Lancer, ended up at a disadvantage in a straight-up fight against an Assassin, huh?"
He then fixed his gaze on Ren and fired back a question of his own.
"This is Caster's territory, isn't it? The place reeks of that woman's magecraft.
"So why is an Assassin like you hanging around inside a Caster's domain?"
Cú Chulainn did hate Medea—especially after witnessing her kill her own Master.
But today, he hadn't come here to finish her off.
His goal had been to provoke her, to give her a hard time.
That was all.
"Isn't it obvious?" Ren replied casually. "We're allies in the same faction. My Master and Caster's Master have reached a temporary agreement, so we're staying together.
"After all, we're facing seven Servants from the Red Faction. If we split up and get picked off one by one, wouldn't that be idiotic?"
Naturally, Ren did not mention that his Master was actually Caster herself.
After all, even within the same faction, once the faction war ended, an internal battle was inevitable.
Revealing that secret now would only invite unnecessary suspicion.
Besides, no one in their right mind would imagine that Medea had exploited a loophole in the Grail itself and summoned an additional Servant using her Noble Phantasm.
Hearing Ren's explanation, Cú Chulainn finally lowered his spear.
It made sense.
In fact, the reason he'd come here in the first place was because he'd been assigned a task.
"In that case," he said, turning away, "do me a favor and pass a message along to Caster and her Master."
"My Master is planning to hold a meeting tonight at the Fuyuki City Church.
"As for who's invited—it'll be all the Masters and Servants of the Blue Faction."
"If we want to win the faction war, sharing information is necessary, don't you think?"
With that, Cú Chulainn left.
Though before departing, the so-called Hound of Ulster made sure to throw down a challenge—
He declared that once the faction war ended, he would definitely seek Ren out for another fight.
And next time, he promised, his spear would strike true.
It would pierce straight through Ren's heart.
Ren, however, didn't take those parting words seriously at all.
Cú Chulainn's Noble Phantasm—Gáe Bolg, the Spear of Piercing Death—was indeed terrifying.
When its true name was released and it was thrown, its destructive power reached the level of an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm.
More frightening still, it reversed causality itself.
The "result"—the enemy's heart being pierced—occurred first.
The "cause"—the spear striking the heart—followed afterward.
In short, it was a "guaranteed hit" cursed spear.
Once thrown, it was said to always pierce the opponent's heart.
Unfortunately…
Techniques based on causality were influenced by Luck.
And Lancers throughout history seemed utterly incapable of escaping the iron law of Luck: E.
If Ren remembered correctly, in the original storyline, Cú Chulainn's "guaranteed hit" spear never actually killed a single enemy.
The only heart it ever pierced—
Was his own.
Under the influence of a Command Spell.
A Noble Phantasm that never struck an enemy's heart, yet successfully harvested its owner's.
There was no helping it.
Luck E was a nightmare.
Ren felt genuinely grateful that he had been summoned as an Assassin rather than a Lancer.
Even he doubted he could survive that kind of bad luck.
After leaving Ryuudou Temple, Cú Chulainn still had more work to do.
As the host of the upcoming meeting, he needed to notify the others.
The identities of the Masters might be secrets to most—but to Cú Chulainn's Master, they were anything but.
If Ren's memory served him right, the unfortunate soul saddled with Luck E in this war was serving none other than Kirei Kotomine.
Just like ten years ago, he now held the position of priest at the Fuyuki City Church.
With that unique status, he possessed far more information about the Holy Grail War than anyone else.
Including the identities of the other Masters.
For that reason alone, he was the perfect host.
"We have to attend this meeting," Medea said as she emerged after Cú Chulainn left. "If everyone else goes and we don't, we'll only end up isolated from the faction. That wouldn't benefit us at all."
She was clearly pleased with how Ren had handled things.
Not only had he indirectly avenged her previous humiliation at Cú Chulainn's hands, but he had also helped conceal the fact that she was both Master and Servant.
Just as Ren believed, Medea felt that revealing their trump cards too early would put them at a severe disadvantage.
Even within the same faction, tonight's meeting would undoubtedly be full of hidden agendas.
The Grail could grant only two wishes.
And even if the Blue Faction won, there would still be seven Master–Servant pairs left standing.
Before the faction war ended, everyone could smile politely and drink tea together.
Afterward?
All pretenses would be torn away.
"Your idea of hiding your Master's identity is fine," Medea continued, "but are you planning to attend the meeting alone and pretend to be my Master?"
Kirei Kotomine's intent in holding the meeting was transparency.
If only a Servant showed up without their Master, objections were inevitable.
"Don't forget," Medea said with a faint smile, "my class is Caster. Creating magical tools is what I do best."
"I'll make a magical puppet, temporarily transfer the Command Spells onto it, then put it in a black robe.
"If I want to fool people, it won't be difficult."
If the rules hadn't changed, Ren would have seen no need to attend such a meeting at all.
After all, he already knew exactly how everything would unfold.
But now, with the appearance of an entirely unknown Red Faction—
Information parity was critical.
This meeting was unavoidable.
That night, Medea used her class abilities to create a lifelike magical puppet.
Then, together with Ren Kuroda and Souichirou Kuzuki, she left Ryuudou Temple and headed toward the church.