On the surface of Fuyuki City's sea, the colossal sea demon—now fully fused with Caster—continued its slow advance toward the shoreline. But the moment Caster noticed Saber standing along the coast, he forcibly altered the sea demon's trajectory, redirecting it as it swam steadily toward his Saint.
"This isn't good… I've already cast a dispersal spell for ordinary civilians, but the disturbance here is far too large. It's not working at all."
Tōsaka Rin looked on as more and more Fuyuki residents began gathering along the shore, drawn in by the commotion.
No matter the country or the world, a love of spectacle seemed to be an innate human trait—something endlessly reinforced by movies, television, and anime alike.
At its core, a civilian-dispersal spell was nothing more than a type of suggestion magic, subtly convincing people that there was nothing worth seeing here, making them instinctively want to avoid the area.
But the scale of chaos Caster had unleashed was simply too great. The suggestion magic was completely overwhelmed. If the sea demon made landfall, these curious onlookers would become its first course.
"Seriously… people who love flirting with death exist in every world, huh? Still, since this mess started because of me, I guess I should take at least a little responsibility."
To be honest, even Ren Kuroda was starting to feel a headache coming on as he stared at the monstrous Caster before him.
He hadn't anticipated that Caster would sacrifice so many offerings in such a short time—let alone burn through all three Command Spells without hesitation.
Under the stacked amplification of three Command Spells, the current Caster and sea demon were far stronger than in the original course of events—by an absurd margin.
Most of Ren Kuroda's combat strength came from his vast reserves of demonic power, his refined swordsmanship, and the monstrous physical strength inherent to his oni bloodline.
But facing the sea demon now, he found himself hesitating.
If it were the original version of the sea demon, he was confident he could finish Caster in a single strike using Invasion Like Fire. But now…
Command Spells were the most precious resource in the Holy Grail War, and their amplification was terrifyingly potent—especially when all three were used at once.
Against the current sea demon, Ren Kuroda wasn't even sure he could kill it in a single blow.
At the end of the day, no matter how strong he was, he still lacked a truly large-scale, overwhelmingly destructive move capable of guaranteeing an instant kill.
Under Caster's control, the sea demon lashed out with one of its massive tentacles.
A hundred-meter-long torrent of water swept across the coast in a single horizontal strike, collapsing large sections of Fuyuki's seawall in an instant.
The civilians who had gathered to watch immediately panicked. Faced with a sudden attack from an unknown creature and a direct threat to their lives, they began screaming and scattering in all directions.
Rider took Uehara—his "beloved consort"—into the sky atop the Chariot of Divine Authority. Saber and Archer each grabbed their respective Masters and leapt onto the elevated bridge above the sea.
As for Ren Kuroda, who remained where he stood—
Just as the enormous tentacle was about to reach him, a flash of silver light split the air.
The hundred-meter tentacle fell cleanly to the ground, instantly dissolving into a massive splash of seawater.
"This won't do… We have to stop Caster from advancing any further. If he reaches land, we'll be far more constrained in what we can do."
Watching the coastline crumble under a single sweeping strike, the King of Conquerors frowned deeply from above.
But as he looked at the sea demon's massive form—and then at the sword in his own hand, the Cypriot Blade—it felt laughably inadequate. Against a monster of that size, his sword didn't even qualify as a toothpick.
And Rider had also noticed something else: the tentacle Ren Kuroda had severed was already regenerating, fully restored in a shockingly short time.
"If I remember correctly," Rin said from the bridge, watching the sea demon's overwhelming destructive power and terrifying regeneration, "Caster summoned a sea demon ten years ago too, didn't he? And Saber was the one who defeated it."
Her eyes filled with hope as she turned toward Saber.
"In the previous Holy Grail War, it's true that I defeated Caster using my Noble Phantasm, Excalibur," Saber replied calmly.
"But Rin… Caster's Master died before the sea demon appeared back then, so no Command Spells were used to enhance him.
And with my current mana reserves… forget unleashing Excalibur at full output. Even releasing my Noble Phantasm at all would be extremely difficult."
Excalibur, the Sword of Promised Victory, was an A++-rank Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm. Not only did it require time to gather light proportional to the desired output, its mana consumption was equally terrifying.
Saber's current mana supply came almost entirely from the scabbard Avalon within Emiya Shirō's body. It simply wasn't enough to support her strongest "beam attack."
"In terms of mana, I could help with that, you know," Ren Kuroda said lightly."Would the Knight King like some mana replenishment services?"
Ren Kuroda, who had been entangling the sea demon alongside Rider and Archer—constantly dealing damage to slow its advance—suddenly appeared atop the bridge.
The moment he said that, Rin's face instantly turned bright red.
As a Master, she knew exactly what "mana replenishment" implied.
What she hadn't expected was for Ren Kuroda to say it so openly, right in front of everyone.
Maybe their suspicions had been right after all.
Assassin really was a shameless pervert.
Judging by his relaxed tone and practiced delivery, he must've done this kind of "replenishment" business plenty of times with his own Master.
But just as Rin's face burned crimson, she caught the meaningful smile on Ren Kuroda's handsome face—and immediately realized she'd been played.
Mana replenishment could only occur between a Master and their Servant.
Leaving aside the fact that Saber and Ren Kuroda weren't in a Master–Servant relationship, both of them were Servants. Replenishment shouldn't even be possible.
What Rin didn't realize, however, was that Ren Kuroda was a special case among Heroic Spirits.
He possessed a true physical body, could generate mana on his own, and wasn't bound by the usual limitations of Servants.
As for whether he could replenish mana for other Servants—hadn't Medea already provided more than enough proof?
Did she really think those hundreds of Dragon Tooth soldiers, or the bone dragons rivaling Servants, could exist without Ren Kuroda supplying the mana?
"I can replenish a Servant's mana," Ren Kuroda continued calmly,"but the situation isn't appropriate right now—and I doubt Saber would agree anyway.
So we'll have to settle for replenishing her Master instead. Emiya Shirō will do."
The instant he said that, both Rin and Saber froze in shock.
And when Shirō learned from Rin what "mana replenishment" actually meant, his face went pale as death. He clutched his backside and staggered backward in sheer terror.
Rin, meanwhile, was genuinely stunned.
Just how far did this guy plan to take it?!
Or was it that handsome guys all had… special tastes?
Yes—if Shirō's mana increased, Saber would indeed grow stronger as well.
But replenishing Shirō…
Rin felt that the mental image was far too beautiful. She didn't even dare look directly at it.
"Assassin… if you truly have a way to replenish a Servant's mana, then let it be me."
Seeing Ren Kuroda prepared to make such a "sacrifice" just to defeat Caster, Saber felt ashamed of herself.
Compared to him, her own hesitation over such trivial matters felt small-minded for a knight.
Indeed, for the Knight King—who lacked conventional feminine sensibilities—mana replenishment really might have been nothing more than a minor detail.
Under normal circumstances, Ren Kuroda would never refuse a beautiful girl offering herself willingly.
But this wasn't a normal situation.
Even if Saber was ready to make that sacrifice, there simply wasn't time.
After all, Ren Kuroda wasn't exactly known for being quick—and a proper replenishment would take a while.
Not to mention that a certain voyeuristic witch named Medea might still be spying on them with magecraft.
So despite his intense temptation, Ren Kuroda firmly rejected the offer and turned toward the trembling Shirō.
"You don't need to worry about anything strange. My orientation is perfectly normal—I have zero interest in men.
The replenishment process is very fast, and completely painless."
Before Shirō could react, Ren Kuroda's figure vanished.
In the next instant, he appeared behind Shirō and placed a hand on his shoulder—while Shirō stared ahead in absolute terror.
To be honest, Ren Kuroda really wanted to complain.
Rin and the others were thinking way too far.
As a perfectly normal, outrageously handsome guy, how could he possibly do the kind of things they were imagining?
In reality, "mana replenishment" in this case simply meant recharging the Avalon scabbard inside Shirō's body.
Calling Shirō Saber's Master was somewhat misleading—Avalon itself was far more like her true Master.
The mana sustaining Saber came from the scabbard, not from Shirō himself.
The reason Saber's mana parameters were currently so low was simply because Avalon's stored mana had been depleted over the years.
All Ren Kuroda needed to do now was refill it.
Replenishing a Noble Phantasm's mana was far simpler than people imagined.
Using mana perception, he located the scabbard within Shirō's body and poured his own mana into it.
That entire process was completed the instant his hand touched Shirō's shoulder.
"All done," Ren Kuroda said casually."The mana's been replenished. Saber, try checking your reserves and parameters—see if they're back to normal."
Shirō, who had been bracing himself for the worst, froze.
Rin, who had been watching with a mixture of dread and expectation, froze too.
Then both of them stood there, completely dumbfounded.
That was it?
The replenishment was already finished?
Why was this nothing like what they'd imagined?
And Rin didn't sense any increase in Shirō's mana at all. He still felt just as weak as ever.
…What the hell was that supposed to mean?