"Hahaha! Hahahaha! Not bad! This is the feeling!" Achilles bounded and leaped through the mountain forest, dodging Chiron's arrows, then turned to deliver a thrust, disrupting Chiron's combat strategy. This feeling of running on the line between life and death at every moment, yet having the chance to deliver a fatal blow to his opponent, finally allowed Achilles to rediscover the joy of fighting to the death with an evenly matched opponent.
As for the previous battle with Artoria... that was a one-sided crushing; Achilles refused to accept that it was a proper battle.
Although he hadn't done this sort of thing little in his lifetime, and was exceptionally good at it.
But, well, he's a Greek hero, double standards are a basic operation.
"Hiss—" Taking a deep breath, Chiron used the bow in his hand directly as a melee weapon and slammed it towards the face of Achilles, who was sprinting wildly towards him.
Slap!
With a crisp sound, followed by the sharp pain from his cheek, Achilles was a bit stunned.
Then, with another kick, he was sent flying more than ten meters away by Chiron.
"Relying on your speed to be arrogant and complacent, and wanting to show off your skills in front of the enemy—this is another one of your fatal flaws." Chiron said, looking at Achilles with a cold expression.
It can only be said that your teacher is still your teacher; even on the battlefield, he is still playing a training match with you.
"...Sorry." Achilles rubbed his cheek, which was twitching in pain, and then resumed his battle stance. "Because I haven't seen you in a long time, Teacher, I had a slight desire to show you how much I've grown."
"As a result, while his martial prowess has grown, his mindset is still much the same as when he left me—just like a child."
"Should I be happy or guilty?" Achilles asked, twitching the corner of his mouth.
To be evaluated this way by the person he respected most, even Achilles felt a bit of irritation.
Glancing sideways at the place where a violent magical energy reaction had just erupted, then looking up at the Hanging Gardens where the explosion had ended, Chiron turned his gaze to Achilles.
"It seems things are not going well on your side."
"Aren't you the same?" Achilles countered. "Not long after our Lancer unleashed his Noble Phantasm, a Servant disappeared over there. Either Saber or Lancer must have exited the stage first, right?"
"As for that Hanging Gardens overhead, I don't understand what its purpose was anyway," Achilles replied with a shrug. "So if it's blown up, it's blown up."
"...Wait, things might actually be a bit bad." Achilles's expression suddenly changed. "That priest fellow... did he actually abandon my master?"
"It seems you aren't far from exiting either." Chiron was stunned for a moment, expressing his lack of understanding regarding the Red Faction master's actions.
Although this disciple of his was somewhat arrogant and overbearing, his combat power was quite strong. Abandoning his master like that was essentially just waiting for him to exit the stage, wasn't it?
Was it because the Black Faction Servants couldn't lift their blades anymore?
Or was the Red Faction master simply too incompetent to save anyone in time?
"Teacher, can I go back to renew a contract first, and then come back to continue fighting you?" Achilles asked, scratching his head with some embarrassment as he looked at Chiron.
Chiron's mouth hung open; he looked at Achilles in shock, speechless.
Are you trying to turn the battle between us, master and disciple, into a farce?
After the Hanging Gardens exploded, Achilles wasn't the only one affected.
On the other side, Karna, who was in the middle of a battle, also dithered for a moment.
He was fighting with all his might, only for his 'home' to be blown up and the master supporting his existence to be turned to ash. What was he supposed to do now?
Keep fighting for a bit, and then obediently wait to exit after the battle?
Or should he pause the fight, go find the only surviving master on the Hanging Gardens—the priest—and renew a contract?
And then come back to continue the fight?
...Forget it, better to keep fighting. If there's still time to renew a contract with the priest after the battle, it means he wasn't meant to meet his end here. If it's too late, then it simply means this is as far as he goes.
Watching Siegfried's ever-swelling battle spirit, the corners of Karna's mouth curled up slightly.
Truly, what a blood-pumping battle!
"Cough, cough, cough—!"
Not far below the Hanging Gardens, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada was kneeling on one knee, coughing incessantly.
Beside him, Semiramis, her face pale, was trying to help him up.
"Assassin, what is your current condition?" After catching his breath, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada's first concern was how much of his Servant's combat power remained.
"Not even one-tenth remains." Semiramis's expression was very ugly.
Although her overall strength would swell to a point where anyone would have to take her seriously once the Hanging Gardens were built, without them, she would instantly fall into an extremely weak, neutralized state.
Great Magecraft and summoning spells could no longer be used. The only thing she could still offer was her specialty, 'Poisoning.'
"...No, we must relocate as soon as possible." After his expression shifted for a while, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada forced himself to stand and urged Semiramis, "Help me locate Lancer and Rider. I must renew contracts with them immediately to transfer the master-Servant affiliation."
"Otherwise, with just the two of us, there will be absolutely no chance to contest the Holy Grail again."
Semiramis nodded with a heavy expression.
"Moreover, our movement escaping the Hanging Gardens just now must have been noticed. If we don't relocate quickly, I'm afraid Ruler's obstruction will be waiting for us."
At this time, Ruler Jeanne d'Arc was drinking tea inside the castle with Daniel and the others.
After glancing in Semiramis's direction, Jeanne shook her head and continued drinking her tea.
Since Red Saber was running around in her stead anyway, she might as well rest her feet for a bit.
Besides, watching the scene of Daniel contesting the ownership of the homunculus with others was quite interesting.
It was just that fat guy who wasn't up to snuff.
When he first heard someone wanted to contest the ownership of the homunculus, the alcoholic fat guy rushed out and sternly refused, stating that if they had the guts, they should just take his life, because he would absolutely not accept such a compromise!
Then Aura just gave him a look, and the fat guy immediately collapsed to the ground in terror, not daring to speak another word.
Caules looked at him with a headache and eventually could only try to have a detailed discussion with Daniel.
He attempted to use some of the Yggdmillennia Clan's less important fixed assets to replace the homunculus.
After all, a war was still going on; it was truly difficult to pull the homunculus off the battlefield.
But what the hell use would Daniel and his group have for these fixed assets?
Even the homunculus were intended to be tools for teaching children in the future.
So Daniel directly took a 'this is non-negotiable' stance, stating that the number of homunculus they had saved back then had already been counted, and once the homunculus were withdrawn from the battlefield, the lost numbers must be replenished by Yggdmillennia.
This included, but was not limited to, compensating for the newly lost homunculus on the battlefield by 're-adjusting new homunculus (lifespan) and (knowledge).'
Hearing this, Caules said nothing and immediately ran to find his sister for the final decision.
Berserker Frankenstein couldn't communicate normally with anyone other than herself, and as for Rider Astolfo... it would be better to send Frankenstein than to ask him to notify his sister.
This guy's Evaporation of Sanity had screwed over the Yggdmillennia Clan quite a few times already.
When Caules returned, the look on his face made it seem like he had just been scolded by his sister.
"The order has been given to withdraw the homunculus from the battlefield," Caules explained to Daniel, then turned to look at Frankenstein. "Berserker, please go to the battlefield now to support the remaining magic dolls and Dragon Tooth Soldiers in combat."
"Mmh!" Frankenstein gave a heavy nod and then turned to charge forward like a wild boar.
"Ah, in that case, do I need to go to the battlefield too? master?" Astolfo shifted his body awkwardly and then looked at his master, Celenike.
That gaze of hers looked as if she wanted to swallow him whole, making him feel even more uncomfortable than when she was tormenting him.
Astolfo was very resistant.
"No, they're just mere Dragon Tooth Soldiers; there's no need for you to go, Rider." Celenike looked at Daniel with untrusting eyes.
Now that only her Rider remained as a Black Faction Servant in the castle, he definitely had to stay to protect her safety.
Though she didn't think Rider could beat the opposing Ruler Faction either.
But it was for psychological comfort; those who know, know.
Beside them, Morgan suddenly spoke a number.
"This was the number of homunculus remaining on the battlefield when the explosion occurred."
Then a second number.
"This is the number of homunculus currently withdrawing from the battlefield."
In the midst of that bickering just now, the number of homunculus had decreased by more than twenty again.
Even if they added the homunculus in the town responsible for concealing Sanzang's 'Temple,' there was still a shortfall of five people.
Caules's face turned a bit pale.
The cost of a homunculus wasn't actually that expensive; after all, Gordes had long ago mastered the art of cost reduction.
But for the shortfall of these five homunculus, they had to be re-adjusted according to the other party's requirements.
In that case, cost reduction would be impossible; they might even have to invest more resources into them.
After all, things like lifespan and knowledge couldn't be built from inferior materials.
Gordes, who was still slumped on the ground, fainted on the spot upon hearing this.
What level of nightmare guests are these!
Only Caules just nodded dejectedly, showing no resistance to Daniel's demands.
After all, their lives had been saved by these people.
What was there to resist?
The only one with the same thoughts was Fiore, who was watching the battle from the watchtower.
Although she felt some heartache that the Yggdmillennia Clan was about to suffer a major loss, she didn't resist the reasonable demands Daniel put forward.
After all, she could see that if they couldn't seize the greater grail, Yggdmillennia would basically have to disband on the spot.
Everyone would have to go their separate ways and prepare to hide from the Clock Tower's pursuit.
Or perhaps... she could become a hostage for the Clock Tower to prevent the rest of the family from being persecuted in the future?
On the watchtower, Fiore, observing the battlefield's situation through magical means, had negative thoughts.
After all, she could see that between Red Lancer and Black Saber, Red Lancer held an absolute advantage.
Between Red Rider and her Servant Chiron, the scales of victory weren't as obvious, but if it turned into a war of attrition, the immortal Heroic Spirit Achilles would definitely have an advantage over Chiron.
And the Servants on her side were only left with Rider and Berserker; even if both went together, they probably wouldn't be a match for Lancer or Rider.
Not to mention there was also a Red Saber whose stance was wavering, and the Ruler Faction who was clearly closer to Red Saber.
"Looking at it this way, not only has the Ruler Faction shown no signs of losing members over the past few days, but they've also added the original Red Archer and that Servant of unknown True Name suspected to be Caster. Their strength has actually grown stronger," Fiore sighed, looking down at the castle. "And now they've taken all of my clan's homunculus into their pocket..."
"Mr. Li Lin looks like an honest and kind person, more like an ordinary human than a Magus, but with just a little movement, he gains so much. Is he skilled at disguise and planning? What a terrifying person."
Fiore, unaware that her clan's greater grail had also been pilfered by them, felt both respect and fear toward Daniel.
The ownership of the homunculus began to transition. When Gordes was sent into the homunculus workshop to rush the production of the five newly specified homunculus according to Daniel's requirements, he went in crying.
"Oh, by the way, although it's a bit thick-skinned of me, could I trouble you to prepare a few more sets of spare clothes for the homunculus? After all, white clothes get dirty easily," Daniel asked, looking at Caules.
"No problem," Caules agreed.
Since hundreds of homunculus had already been given away, how could he have the heart to worry about a thousand pieces of clothing?
If anything, they wouldn't have to worry about the post-war settlement of the homunculus anymore.
After all, the food and drink for hundreds of people had to be taken into account too.
Come to think of it, even if Daniel hadn't taken these homunculus, they probably wouldn't have lived long.
After all, the Clock Tower would surely take the opportunity after the war to kick the Yggdmillennia Clan while they were down.
These homunculus would either die in subsequent battles with Magi or be scrapped by the Clock Tower after the Yggdmillennia Clan's defeat.
Either way, there wouldn't be a good ending for them.
Like Fiore, while Darnic was in his state of self-isolation, Caules's thoughts also began to shift toward the negative side.
Well, they couldn't be blamed for being too pessimistic; after all, they didn't know that the masters of the Red Faction's Lancer and Rider had been taken out by that explosion just now.
And Chiron, being in the middle of a fierce battle with Achilles, hadn't had the chance to inform his master of the latest intelligence yet.
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