Wanting to respond to Lancelot's challenge, Saber quickly realized just how severely her strength had been weakened. From start to finish, she was being completely overwhelmed—pressed down and beaten without respite.
Lancelot's innate skill was "Knight of Owner", infamously nicknamed the NTR Hand. Anything he grasped could be transformed into a Noble Phantasm of varying rank. Even the Noble Phantasms of other Heroic Spirits, once seized by Lancelot, would be forcibly corrupted and brought under his control.
In the original records, with nothing but his extraordinary martial skill and that absurd ability, he had once fought Gilgamesh toe-to-toe.
Ten years ago, poor Saber had still been able to trade blows with him.Now, she was being ground into the floor—helplessly dominated from beginning to end.
Even in his maddened Berserker state, Lancelot began to feel a deep sense of confusion as he repeatedly sent Saber flying.
When he saw Artoria, he had undeniably recovered a fragment of his sanity. As both her vassal and a comrade who had fought beside her for years, Lancelot knew all too well that Saber's strength should not be so lacking.
Then why… was she letting herself be beaten like this?
Had she recognized him as well—and was deliberately holding back?
Knowing Artoria as he did, that was entirely possible.
And that realization only drove Lancelot deeper into madness.
He had entered this Holy Grail War with the sole intention of dying.Arthur's restraint only made his sin feel more unforgivable.
"Why is Berserker here…?" Rin muttered, stunned."No—if this is the Berserker from ten years ago, then that means his Master is…"
Her gaze snapped toward the underground chambers of the Matou estate.
"So… should I say it's been a long time, Rin?"Matou Kariya's voice emerged from the shadows."You and Sakura… you've both grown to resemble your mother quite a bit."
Rin didn't share Sakura's deep emotional bond with Kariya, but she did recognize him. When she was younger, this man had often appeared before them.
Since he was originally a member of the Matou family, his presence here wasn't strange.
The real question was—
Did Sakura know Kariya was hiding here?Or had he been lurking beneath the Matou house all along, without her knowledge?
After all, they had just seen it themselves—this former magecraft workshop was layered with spells that completely concealed magical presence. Even Sakura's Servant, Rider, shouldn't have been able to detect Berserker down there.
But Rin didn't have the luxury of pondering that now.
The immediate problem was Berserker.
Saber stood no chance against Lancelot. If not for the fact that Lancelot was deliberately holding back when facing his king, Saber would have already been forced out of the war.
Seeing this, **Archer—Emiya—**ignored Saber's attempt to stop him and joined the battle.
It was useless.
Against Lancelot's overwhelming martial prowess, Emiya's third-rate close-combat skills were instantly crushed.
Worse still, Emiya's specialty—Projection Magecraft—only made things worse. The Noble Phantasms he projected didn't hinder Lancelot in the slightest. Instead, once seized by Knight of Owner, they further amplified Berserker's strength.
Emiya wasn't King Arthur.
Lancelot showed him no mercy at all. His massive fists hammered mercilessly into Emiya's face.
Clearly, Berserker had decided that this pretty-faced Archer was bad news. To prevent his king from being deceived by such a man, Lancelot resolved to kill him first—then return to Artoria to receive death as penance.
Two Servants against one, and still losing.
Rin frowned deeply, gritting her teeth as she pulled out a precious ruby, preparing to intervene despite the pain to her wallet.
"Wow, this place is lively," a voice suddenly echoed through the air."The Holy Grail War's been quiet for so long, I thought the fighting wouldn't really start until the final days."
It was a voice that belonged to no one present.
As everyone tensed, Yūdō, who had been conspicuously absent for quite some time, slowly materialized from the air itself.
According to Medea's original plan, Yūdō was supposed to lie low and let the other Servants tear each other apart. They had no grudges against the rest—if they could just survive until the final stage of the war, that would be enough.
But during his idle days at home, Yūdō had seen news reports about women and children disappearing across Fuyuki City.
Only then did he remember—Ryūnosuke and Bluebeard.
After withdrawing from the Tohsaka estate on the first night, Tohsaka Tokiomi and Ryūnosuke had gone their separate ways soon after.
Obsessed with Saber as a "holy maiden," Caster had grown increasingly unhinged, even resorting to sacrificing civilians to strengthen his black magecraft.
Such acts were strictly forbidden under the Grail's rules—but the Fuyuki Church, which once served as the overseer, was now little more than a hollow shell. No one remained to stop him.
Tokiomi, who prided himself as a "proper" magus, naturally despised Caster's actions. He had wanted to intervene—but the King of Heroes was like an overbearing father, utterly refusing to obey orders. In the end, Tokiomi had no choice but to sever ties.
Yūdō wasn't a saint.But because of his mother Yami and his younger sister Ruki, the people he hated most were those who slaughtered women and children.
Ryūnosuke—a killer who could murder even his own family without blinking—paired with the unrestrained Bluebeard was nothing short of a catastrophe for ordinary people.
With the Church no longer able to rally other Servants using Command Spells as payment, the only option left was for Yūdō himself to act.
Fuyuki City wasn't small—but it wasn't large either. If Caster deliberately hid, Yūdō would have no easy way of finding him.
After some thought, his attention had inevitably turned to Saber.
Finding Caster directly was difficult—but knowing how obsessed he was with Saber, Yūdō was certain that if he followed her, Caster would eventually come knocking on his own.
That was why Yūdō had appeared here.
To avoid alerting the sharp-eyed Archer, he had kept his distance, tailing the main group from afar—until he sensed the sudden outbreak of combat.
At first, he'd thought Caster had finally made his move.
Instead… it was Berserker Lancelot.
Recalling how Emiya had once supported him with a long-range shot when he'd been surrounded, Yūdō decided to return the favor. If he kept watching, Emiya was about to be beaten out of the war.
Sometimes, compatibility really was everything.
Berserker might not defeat Gilgamesh, but he could easily crush Emiya—who had once beaten Gilgamesh.
Why?
Because Emiya was catastrophically ill-suited against Lancelot.
Projected Noble Phantasms were seized by Knight of Owner, and the swordsmanship that once severed Gilgamesh's arm was laughable before someone who possessed Eternal Arms Mastery.
By the very definition of Knight of Owner, anything Lancelot touched became his to command.
And Emiya's greatest trump card?
Unlimited Blade Works—a Reality Marble classified as his Noble Phantasm.
Which meant that if Lancelot had enough mana, then once dragged into that Reality Marble, he could theoretically NTR the entire thing just by touching it.
The moment Yūdō saw Lancelot, he didn't hesitate.
He drew his blade and charged.
As a fellow Heroic Spirit who also possessed Eternal Arms Mastery, Yūdō felt a surge of excitement at the prospect of crossing blades.
Though Lancelot had lost his sanity, his instinctive sense of danger remained sharp.
Even though Yūdō's strike was a simple slash, Lancelot immediately recognized the refinement of his stance and the ferocity of his technique—nothing like the third-rate warrior Emiya.
CLANG—!
Without a moment's hesitation, Berserker abandoned Emiya mid-beating, tore the twin swords from his hands, and crossed them just in time to block Yūdō's blade.
The projected Kanshō and Bakuya, originally a black-and-white pair of short swords, were instantly stained with black-red patterns the moment Lancelot's Knight of Owner touched them.
Noble Phantasms of roughly C–B rank—successfully stolen.
The collision between the Nichirin Blade and the twin swords kicked up a violent storm of wind. Though Lancelot blocked the attack, Yūdō's superior raw strength forced him to skid backward across the ground for a long distance.
The instant his strike was stopped, Yūdō pressed the attack.
Lancelot blocked the next slash with the twin swords—but Yūdō's free left hand clenched into a fist and slammed forward.
CRACK—!
Even without activating Monstrous Strength, Yūdō's terrifying physical parameters were enough. His punch smashed straight through Lancelot's armor and sent the massive knight flying.
The force launched Lancelot skyward like a rocket, blasting through the roof of the Matou residence and into the open night sky.
Watching Berserker suspended in midair, Yūdō smoothly sheathed his blade. His eyes gleamed—
And in the next instant, a howling divine gale erupted from the scabbard, invisible to the naked eye, tearing upward toward Lancelot.
"Hear the scream of the divine wind—the charge that shatters armies!Swift as the wind—Hagun: Gale Breaker!"