"You are…"
Watching the slowly approaching girl, Rozen couldn't help but frown.
He didn't know who she was, but judging by the unique aura she exuded and the completely out-of-place attire for this era, it was obvious she was no ordinary being.
"Senpai!"
"Tch!"
Mash and Anna immediately returned to Rozen's side, watching the girl with full alertness.
"This really is..."
Merlin was still smiling wryly.
Meanwhile, a communication came through from Chaldea.
"Servant response detected!"
"Spirit Origin values confirmed!"
"Be careful! That person is a Servant!"
Olga Marie, Da Vinci, and Roman all shouted urgently through the transmission.
Indeed, the girl before them was a Servant.
And more than that—a Servant from the enemy faction, one who had sided with the goddesses.
However, the girl herself said:
"I don't know anything about being a Servant."
As she spoke, she raised one hand.
In that hand, she held a dagger.
It was an extremely ordinary dagger—not a Noble Phantasm, not a magical artifact. Any weapon forged by the blacksmiths in Uruk might be of better quality.
Yet for some reason, the moment she raised that dagger, everyone present felt a chill crawl up their spine.
Especially when they saw the eyes with which she looked at them—those cold, spiral-patterned, ice-blue Mystic Eyes.
Rozen understood almost instinctively:
(Those Mystic Eyes are high-grade—and extremely dangerous.)
Their danger might even surpass the petrifying Mystic Eyes of Gorgon.
If that was the case...
"You're the one who shattered Merlin's flower field with an absurd level of power, aren't you?"
Rozen voiced his guess.
The girl responded coldly.
"I'm just doing my job. Now, let me get back to work."
As soon as the words fell—
Boom!
With a sudden stomp, her figure blurred into a phantom-like afterimage, dashing forward with terrifying speed.
Her target was clear—Rozen.
"Don't even think about it!"
Mash, already prepared, instantly reacted and leapt in front of Rozen, raising her shield without hesitation.
As the girl arrived before the shield, she didn't strike with her dagger—instead, she stepped onto the shield, launching herself into the air. Like a diving hawk, she descended toward Rozen from above.
"So fast!"
Mash's expression changed in shock.
This girl was most likely an Assassin-class Servant.
Her Strength, Endurance, and Mana were likely unimpressive—but her Agility was probably A+ rank.
At that speed, Mash was struggling to keep up.
But someone else just barely managed.
"Stop right there!"
From Rozen's side, a figure sprang upward—meeting the diving girl with a scythe drawn from her side.
As they met in mid-air, the scythe cleaved with a cold arc of steel.
Clang!
With a sharp clash, dagger and scythe collided, sparks flying as the weapons bounced apart.
The one who blocked her—who else but Anna?
Though a Lancer-class Servant, like the girl, Anna's Strength, Endurance, and Mana were modest, but her Agility had reached the peak A-rank, allowing her to just barely keep pace.
However—
"Hmph!"
The girl wasn't discouraged in the slightest.
She twisted midair, flipping the dagger in her hand, and suddenly threw it—straight toward Anna's forehead.
It was aimed directly at a vital point.
Anna hadn't expected her to throw her only weapon. Her pupils contracted, and she had no time to react.
But at that moment, Mash responded.
Though not as agile as Anna, Mash's Agility was also A-rank—not enough to keep up perfectly, but not slow either.
So—
"Obscurant Wall of Chalk!"
Mash slammed her shield down, lighting up the castle sigil upon it.
This was one of Mash's skills—when any ally is attacked, it grants temporary invincibility by displacing them in the time axis, causing the attack to miss.
Anna's form momentarily blurred. The dagger flew past her, narrowly missing.
Clang!
The dagger embedded itself into the ground.
But just then, the girl brushed past Anna and landed on the ground, yanking the dagger free in one motion—before lunging again at Rozen like a leopard.
Her movements, though not overly refined, flowed with effortless grace.
Yet she still failed to reach her target.
"Shield of Rousing Resolution!"
Mash raised her shield again, and its light blazed like a burning flame of mana.
The girl had just gotten close enough to Rozen and was raising her dagger—only for her vision to blur.
The next moment, she found herself inexplicably redirected toward Mash.
This was another of Mash's skills—one that temporarily boosts her defense while drawing enemy aggro.
The girl lost her target and turned her strike against Mash.
At that moment, Anna twisted her body midair and swung the chained end of her scythe. The chain wrapped around the girl, catching her off guard.
"Haa!"
With a sharp cry, Anna yanked the chain.
The girl was lifted like a kite and spun through the air before being slammed hard into the ground.
"Tsk."
Finally, the girl clicked her tongue.
Yet her face showed no surprise—only cold calm.
She reversed her grip on the dagger, and her Mystic Eyes flashed with icy light.
Clang!
A single stroke of the dagger sliced through the chain around her like paper.
"What?!"
Anna was stunned.
The girl regained her stance and landed with a thud, dust swirling around her as she straightened.
"You've got some fight in you."
The girl gazed at Mash and Anna with her Mystic Eyes.
At last, a faint smile tugged at her emotionless face.
"Since arriving in this world, all I've killed are random demonic beasts and dead spirits. I was honestly getting bored. Didn't expect that the first time I go after a real person, I'd run into such interesting opponents. So this… this is what a Servant is?"
As she said this, Mash and Anna remained on high alert, their caution plain as day.
They had fully realized just how difficult this enemy was.
Rozen, meanwhile, hadn't moved at all—just quietly observed her the whole time.
"Who are you?"
After a moment, Rozen finally asked.
The girl answered with indifference.
"Ryougi Shiki. Currently a guest of the underworld. I've accepted a request from its ruler… to kill you."
That was how she introduced herself.