Through the first night's clash with Assassin, and the later battle at the Tōsaka residence, Caster had already come to an important realization: the Servants of the Blue Faction were in much the same situation as those of the Red Faction. Very few of them were truly aligned with their Masters. They were not of one mind at all.
Moreover, his Saint—his precious Saint—was a Saber of the Blue Faction. And the one who had captured her was also a Caster from the Blue Faction. This alone proved that internal strife was already tearing through the Blue side.
If the Blue Faction itself was divided, then the possibility of multiple Servants gathering at Ryūdō Temple could be safely ruled out. And so, in Bluebeard's estimation, with the combat power of his sea demon, leveling Ryūdō Temple would hardly be a difficult task.
"Cool… this is just too cool, Lord Bluebeard!"
On the once-calm surface of Fuyuki City's sea, a colossal magic circle flared to life. Amid the surging mana, a gigantic sea monster with countless writhing tentacles descended upon the world.
The creature towered nearly a hundred meters tall. However, lacking any true intelligence of its own, Caster had no choice but to fuse himself completely with the sea demon, using his own consciousness to command its movements.
"Ryūnosuke, do me a favor and use your Command Spells to strengthen me further. Tonight's feast—no, this grand spectacle—I will make sure you witness what true killing art really is."
Unlike most Master–Servant relationships, Ryūnosuke was nothing more than an ordinary human who had summoned Caster by sheer accident.
Unlike other Masters, he never cared about the Holy Grail in the first place. To him, this was all just a game—an indulgence.
But after witnessing Bluebeard's so-called "art of murder," the serial killer had already begun to worship him like a god. Now, upon hearing Bluebeard's command, Ryūnosuke didn't hesitate in the slightest—he spent all three Command Spells at once to strengthen Caster.
Caster, already monstrously powerful after merging with the sea demon, now surpassed his original incarnation by a vast margin under the amplification of three Command Spells.
And Fuyuki City's population was enormous. As long as the sea demon could make landfall and devour more living beings, its power would undoubtedly surge again.
At that point, let alone three or four Servants—even facing all the remaining Servants at once, Caster believed he could still seize the Holy Grail and present it to his Saint without much difficulty.
With Caster causing such a massive disturbance, and with the overwhelming mana radiating from the sea demon, anyone within Fuyuki City would inevitably sense it.
"Just which lunatic is causing this kind of chaos? Is the Fuyuki Church—supposedly the overseer and judge of the Holy Grail War—really not going to intervene?
Wasn't the Holy Grail War supposed to be fought without ordinary people witnessing it? With this scale of destruction, countless civilians are bound to get caught up in it!"
Riding atop the chariot of divine authority, thunder and lightning trailing behind him as he raced across the sky, Uehara could only stare in shock at the sea monster rising from the ocean.
"The Holy Grail War has gone on this long. What Caster has done already violated the rules ages ago.
If there really were any so-called supervisors, they would've acted long ago. It seems the Church in Fuyuki City, ten years later, is nothing more than a hollow shell."
The King of Conquerors had long since grown disgusted with Caster's actions as well. But being in the same faction—and much like Ren Kuroda, unable to locate Caster's lair—he had never had the chance to deal with him.
"It seems I'm not the only one who's already arrived."
Watching the sea demon advance steadily across the surface, everyone present understood one thing clearly: it was preparing to come ashore.
To prevent that—and the massive civilian casualties that would follow—Ren Kuroda, Saber, and Tōsaka Rin had already taken positions along the coastline, waiting.
When Rider saw Ren Kuroda and the others appear at the shore, he instinctively urged the divine chariot forward. But Uehara immediately reached out and stopped him.
"Rider, are you insane?! Haven't you noticed the problem here?
They're all Servants of the Blue Faction! And among the Red Faction present, aside from Caster, you're the only one!
If you go down there now, you'll be mistaken for Caster's accomplice. I doubt they'd mind eliminating one more Red Faction Servant!"
Seeing the King of Conquerors steer the chariot straight toward Ren Kuroda's group nearly gave Uehara a heart attack. This was practically handing over his own life!
"My young Master," Rider said calmly, "haven't you realized it yet?
Saber and Assassin appearing here means they came specifically for Caster. In fact, Caster making such a massive move tonight is inseparably connected to them.
Caster's earlier excesses were ignored by the other Servants because they all wanted to conserve their strength.
Only Saber and Assassin chose to step forward now, taking on this burning-hot problem themselves. That alone proves they are different from the rest—they have their own bottom line.
I have fought countless battles in my life. I trust my judgment of people. Since we're all here to deal with Caster, I see no reason why Saber and the others would lay a hand on me."
With a hearty laugh, the King of Conquerors ignored Uehara's advice entirely and drove the divine chariot straight toward Ren Kuroda and the others.
"And what if you've misjudged them?" Uehara's worried voice was torn away by the wind.
"Hahahaha! Then I'll simply accept my bad luck! But if I lacked even this much resolve, how could I ever reclaim a body and conquer this world once more?!"
With an open, heroic laugh, the King of Conquerors descended before Ren Kuroda, Saber, and the others.
"Assassin. It's been a few days. As I thought, you weren't so easy to remove from the stage."
Landing before them, Rider showed not the slightest sense of hostility expected between enemy factions. Instead, he greeted Ren Kuroda like an old friend.
"Rider—Iskandar, was it? Then why are you here? To lend a hand? Or to recruit subordinates?
Surely you're not here to help Caster, a fellow Red Faction Servant."
To be honest, Ren Kuroda deeply admired the King of Conquerors' magnanimity.
Unlike Ren Kuroda and Saber, who understood his character well, Rider knew next to nothing about them beyond their true names.
Even having discerned their identities, among the three Servants present, Rider likely only truly recognized Saber.
As for Ren Kuroda and Archer, knowing their true names was practically meaningless.
And yet, despite that, Rider still trusted his own judgment and courage enough to stand alone before three enemy Servants.
It was no wonder that even after becoming a Heroic Spirit, his peerless army was still willing to follow him.
"This Holy Grail War really is unfair," Rider said with a grin. "It seems you all know quite a bit about me, while I know almost nothing about you beyond your names.
Still, perhaps that makes this better. I know the chances are slim, but let me ask anyway.
Saber, Assassin, Archer—would you be willing to follow me, Iskandar the King of Conquerors? If so, I would no longer consider you enemies, and I would share the Holy Grail with you."
After briefly freezing at Ren Kuroda's earlier question about recruitment, Rider burst into laughter and looked at them with genuine seriousness.
Having been asked this once before ten years ago, Saber—now well aware of Rider's personality—didn't react with the same fury as before.
"Rider, you've seen my true name. Then you should understand that I could never agree to that."
Rider nodded to himself. As the Knight King famed throughout history, Saber's renown rivaled his own. Her submission was never a possibility.
He then turned his gaze to Ren Kuroda and Archer.
Unfortunately, Archer made it clear that if it were the so-called 'Ahoge King,' he might have considered it—but as for Rider… Archer cast a meaningful glance at Uehara and stated bluntly that he had no interest in becoming someone's second "favorite consort."
"As for me," Ren Kuroda said with a light chuckle, "my reason's basically the same as Saber's. I'm a king too, in my own way—so you can put that act away, Rider.
If my subordinates were here right now, you'd probably be torn apart alive for saying that."
Ren Kuroda said it jokingly—but only he knew how true it was.
He was no longer the lone drifter he once was.
Setting aside the tens of thousands of human troops he commanded in the Kingdom of Falmuth in another world, even within the yokai world, the ranks of the Kidōin were steadily expanding.
The Night Parade of Thirty-Six Demons continued to grow stronger by the day.
By now, the hundred demons under Ren Kuroda's command likely numbered well over three thousand six hundred.
Among them, key retainers like Spider Princess and Nekomata were utterly loyal to him, to the point of devotion.
To suggest that the "Lord of Yokai" they revered should serve as someone else's subordinate was no different from a direct insult—especially to Spider Princess, who placed Ren Kuroda's dignity and authority above all else.
Ren Kuroda had no doubt that if Rider's words had reached her ears, his "perfect secretary" would already be throwing herself into battle with Rider.
"Well now, this is fascinating," Rider said with delight. "To think the Assassin I took such a liking to is also a king.
A Knight King over there, a kingly Assassin here, and earlier an Archer who also called himself a king… Four kings gathered in a single Holy Grail War?"
"Hah! This just keeps getting better. Next time, we should invite Archer too and hold a proper Banquet of Kings!"
Even after being rejected by all three, the King of Conquerors showed no embarrassment whatsoever, instead enthusiastically inviting Ren Kuroda and Saber to a future gathering.
"Talking about a Banquet of Kings might be a bit premature," Ren Kuroda said, glancing toward the advancing sea demon.
"There's still a big problem right in front of us.
We went to great lengths just to lure Caster out… but I never expected him to go all in and burn every Command Spell to strengthen himself.
Looks like tonight, he's not just trying to rescue his Saint—he's planning to end the Holy Grail War ahead of schedule."