Out of the seven Servants in the Red Faction, three were busy fighting each other.
Lancer was occupied dealing with a massive skeletal dragon that had appeared out of nowhere.
Assassin was completely unreliable—against mere Dragon Tooth Soldiers, he was struggling so badly it looked like an even fight. He was already too overwhelmed to be of any help.
Caster's Master, Ryūnosuke, was nothing more than an ordinary human. As a result, Caster couldn't stray far from him at all.And even setting that aside, as a Caster-class Servant, the odds of stopping the highly skilled Blue Faction Assassin—Ren Kuroda—were slim to none.
In short, due to a whole chain of factors, the Red Faction had descended into total chaos.Infighting, solo engagements, scattered priorities—no one had the spare capacity to intercept Ren Kuroda anymore.
The Conqueror King, Iskandar, soared through the sky atop the Chariot of Divine Might, making him the only Servant on the field who still had room to maneuver. From the very beginning, he had already seen through the truth—these magical constructs were nothing more than a smokescreen to cover Ren Kuroda's retreat.
But even if he had seen through it, what then?
Judging from the power Ren had just demonstrated, Iskandar knew that unless he used his trump card—the Noble Phantasm "Ionioi Hetairoi: Army of the King"—there was no way he could stop Ren from leaving.
And if he unleashed his Reality Marble, even if it might stop Ren, the price would be devastating. He would lose a huge portion of his chances in the Holy Grail War.
A Reality Marble was an ultimate form of magecraft—an almost-miracle that manifested the user's inner world into reality. It was hailed as the pinnacle of magic, bordering on true sorcery.
"Ionioi Hetairoi" was a Reality Marble born from the shared ideal world of Iskandar and his army. The mana required to sustain it was distributed among every soldier within it—a perfect testament to the bond between king and vassals.
Even so, as the one who invoked it—and as their king—Iskandar would still bear the greatest mana burden.
Servants did not possess infinite magical energy. Nor could they recover mana naturally over time. They could only draw it from their Masters.
That was why, in a Holy Grail War, having a powerful Servant was not enough—an excellent Master was just as crucial.
A Master with superior magic circuits could allow their Servant to fully unleash their strength. A weak one would only bind them in chains.
Waver, as a student of the Clock Tower, certainly had talent—arguably even more than Emiya Shirō.But compared to monsters like Kayneth or Tokiomi Tohsaka, his magic circuits were painfully ordinary.
The mana he could supply Iskandar was extremely limited, while "Ionioi Hetairoi" was notoriously expensive to maintain.
After much hesitation, Iskandar ultimately chose to watch Ren Kuroda leave.
He already admired Ren's martial prowess, and besides—this war wasn't won by whoever defeated the most enemies.
Laughing loudly, Iskandar steered the Chariot of Divine Might and slammed straight into the gigantic skeletal dragon that was fighting Lancer.
Having narrowly escaped death, Ren Kuroda looked back from afar at the howling, thrashing bone dragon and the lightning tearing across the sky. He let out a quiet sigh.
He had been too careless.
His recent surge in strength had made him complacent—almost arrogant.
Armed with his knowledge of the Servants and the rough benchmarks he'd learned from his earlier clash with Cú Chulainn, Ren had thought he could act without fear.
But after witnessing the sheer magical pressure unleashed when the golden Archer fought Mordred and Lancelot, Ren realized he had underestimated the heroes of every era.
That brief exchange he'd had with Cú Chulainn at Ryūdō Temple…It was probably nothing more than a warm-up.
If those Servants went all out—pouring out their mana and fully releasing their Noble Phantasms—their true strength would be terrifying.
And more importantly—
That still wasn't their limit.
They could amplify themselves even further through Command Spells.
As the skeletal dragon was finally brought down by the combined efforts of Lancer and Rider, the remaining Dragon Tooth Soldiers became nothing more than cannon fodder. Even though three Servants hadn't joined the fight, the thousand-strong horde was quickly wiped out.
As for the ongoing battle between the Sabers—
Mordred was forcibly calmed down by Emiya Kiritsugu using a Command Spell.
The chaotic brawl came to an end, but the Assassin they had almost secured had slipped through their fingers. Worse still, the already fragile relationships within the Red Faction had deteriorated even further.
Tokiomi Tohsaka was in an awful mood.
Nothing had gone his way tonight.
First, cracks had formed in his relationship with the King of Heroes.Then he had wasted a precious Command Spell.And worst of all—the Blue Faction Assassin he deemed extremely dangerous had successfully escaped, even when the entire Red Faction lineup had been present.
"If we continue the Holy Grail War in this state," Tokiomi said stiffly, "then victory will undoubtedly elude us.Tonight, it was only one Assassin, and our flaws were already laid bare. If all seven enemy Servants had come… wouldn't we have been forced to withdraw from the war on the spot?"
"Oh? I don't think you're in any position to lecture others," Kayneth snapped coldly."Everyone saw what happened. If we're talking about infighting, your Servant alone accounts for at least half of it."
Kayneth's patience finally snapped.
Leaving aside Saber's sudden rampage, the fact that Archer had dragged Lancer into his indiscriminate attacks earlier had been eating at Kayneth all night.
And as for Saber's explosion—anyone with eyes could see it was triggered by Archer's foul mouth.
Berserker's involvement stemmed from Kariya Matō's personal grudge against Tokiomi.
Taking everything together, Kayneth was convinced that Archer bore at least half the responsibility for tonight's disaster.
And since Archer was Tokiomi's Servant, that meant—
It was all Tokiomi's fault.
"Unbelievable," Kayneth muttered bitterly."Lancer's Luck stat is E—does that mean mine is E as well? To end up in the same faction as people like you."
He had once thought Tokiomi was the most reliable among them.
Now, he realized Tokiomi was the biggest headache of all.
As a prodigy praised since childhood, Kayneth had only just escaped the humiliation of being cuckolded by his own Servant—only to find himself surrounded by utterly incompetent allies.
"I propose we abandon any notion of joint operations," Kiritsugu said calmly."If anyone wishes to cooperate, they may form teams freely. We can stay in contact via familiars.As for moving together as a group… I think tonight's outcome speaks for itself."
On the very first night, the Red Faction's internal fractures had been completely exposed—far worse than the Blue Faction's.
At least the Blue Faction merely disliked one another.The Red Faction, on the other hand, was bordering on outright hatred.
After leaving his contact information, Kiritsugu departed with Mordred—still bound by a Command Spell.
He didn't dare stay any longer. If Mordred lost control again, even Command Spells might not restrain her. Her magic resistance was simply too high.
In another world, he might've had Maiya at his side as support.But here, he stood alone—and his allies were utterly unreliable.
He needed time and space to carefully plan his next move.
Watching Kiritsugu disappear without hesitation, Kayneth sneered—but when he looked at those who remained, a deep sense of exhaustion washed over him.
Waver had stolen his relic; cooperation was out of the question.Caster's Master was an ordinary man—more liability than asset.
That left only Tokiomi… and the younger version of Kirei Kotomine.
Kirei was Tokiomi's disciple and had yet to develop any rebellious thoughts. For now, he followed Tokiomi unquestioningly.
No matter how reluctant he felt, Kayneth realized the truth—
If he didn't want to stand alone, Tokiomi was his only viable partner.
Driven by his desire for the Grail and victory, Kayneth suppressed his resentment and joined them.
Seeing that three Masters had already reached an agreement, Waver grew anxious.
He couldn't join Kayneth's camp.
When he looked toward Kariya Matō, the man simply clutched his arm and walked away, ignoring everyone.
Joining Tokiomi was impossible—Kariya would never do that in his lifetime.
And with Tokiomi now backed by three Servants, the odds of assassinating him were slim at best.
Left with no other options, Waver departed alone.
He had originally hoped to ally with Saber's Master. Judging from earlier events, Saber clearly harbored strong resentment toward Archer.
But for some reason, as Berserker's Master, Kariya could sense Berserker's emotions fluctuating whenever he encountered Saber.
If Kariya hadn't been suppressing him, Berserker might have attacked Saber as well.
If Kariya had known Saber's true name was Mordred, he wouldn't have found this strange at all.
Because Berserker was Lancelot—one of King Artoria's most loyal knights.
Though his affair with the queen had caused his rift with the Round Table, his loyalty to Artoria had never wavered.
As one of the prime causes of Artoria's death, Mordred was someone Lancelot could never tolerate.
If Kariya's Command Spell earlier hadn't ordered Berserker to assist Saber in killing Archer—
The blade Lancelot swung would have been aimed straight at Mordred.