Assassin let out a breath, rubbing his eyes.
Including the time he had spent here on the night when Rin had almost died at Homurahara Academy, this moment marked the completion of the 48th hour.
Two days.
That's the time Assassin took, unraveling the mysteries of Caster's enhanced, many-layered Bounded Fields.
He wasn't short of Mana, Assassin noticed.
Moreover, as long as that brat didn't use another Broken Phantasm, he could last against any Servant without using his own Noble Phantasm.
That gave Assassin enough confidence to outlast Berserker, should the need arise later.
Assassin held his chin, contemplating the idea of attempting to infiltrate the Einzbern Castle now.
After seeing Berserker fight last night, they had already given up on killing him. If that thing could survive against the Blackened Saber, then there was no saying if even Assassin's Noble Phantasm would be enough to end it.
Assassinating Berserker's Master was on the table, but he wouldn't be alone, either.
Between Berserker and Caster at his disposal, it would become insanely difficult even to approach him. Much less needed to be said about using Phantasm Punishment on him, as he would need to close the gap first.
So, the only option, and perhaps the most practical one, left to Assassin was to attempt to rescue Sakura — if Rider didn't give away his position.
With Assassin's innate Presence Concealment ability, even the likes of Ruler-Class Servant and TheShadow had failed to sense his presence.
But Assassin couldn't take away the girl unless her Servant wished it so.
Let's hope Rin is right about this girl, Assassin thought, taking out his dagger. Worse comes to worst, I will use — that…
So, carefully eying the invisible Bounded Field, Assassin lifted the dagger and — nicked it.
Even Caster herself wouldn't notice the massive tear that opened up in front of Assassin, he knew. As long as the Bounded Field itself didn't register any change in it, no one would be able to tell if there was a foreign element in it.
That's why Assassin needed so much time against Caster's defenses.
Otherwise, if it had just been a matter of infiltrating and assassinating the enemy, then he could have done so the very moment he had arrived here two days ago.
So, with blatant confidence in his abilities, Assassin stepped forward, blurring out of existence.
However, the scene that awaited him beyond the first layer of defense wasn't what he had expected at all — his eyes widening at the black and bronze guards, eying him down.
…
Assassin had been right about one thing.
As long as it came to Presence Concealment, even Black's Observation Haki wasn't enough to predict Assassin's movements. Nor had he, or Medea, seen Assassin outside the Einzbern Castle, working on the Bounded Fields.
The only reason Black pinpointed Assassin's arrival and his subsequent location was that he knew exactly what kind of Magic the Counter Guardian was using — Severing and Binding!
That had been Kiritsugu Emiya's Origin when he was alive during the last Holy Grail War.
All Black had to do was look for the nature of the Magic itself. With Assassin not knowing that someone had figured out his identity, it became much easier to make him fall for the trap.
On the vast screen in front of them, Black and Medea eyed Assassin facing two of Grimoire's Characters.
One was a black-armored woman with giant bat-like wings, shadows screaming around her in hushes — Shadow Queen Cersei Lannister.
Seeing a gun appearing in Assassin's hand, she too took out her Mana-Engineered Pulsars, or MEP, two extremely potent weapons synthesized by Okabe, Mayuri, and Orochimaru, using Kaiju Blue as the basis.
The dual pistols, shaped like Desert Eagles, carried ten rounds of bullets, each holding a solution of magical potion with the base of Kaiju Blue.
Not only did it cause MP Damage, but it also attacked Spirituality itself — something crucial for existences like Heroic Spirits.
The other character was none other than Bronze Titan Petyr Baelish, wielding Valyrian Swords, a blue-green Strengthening Potion of Kaiju Blue coursing through his veins.
"Odd," Black remarked, as the Heroic Spirit and the Characters lunged at each other.
He had made Medea set the Bounded Fields in such a way that the layers didn't interact with each other.
In this way, Assassin would think of Cersei and Petyr as a part of the outermost Bounded Field itself, instead of getting spooked by their sudden presence.
Caster, in her purple robes, knew that as well. "What is it?"
"Assassin is Holy Grail's beloved," Black pointed out. "Yet, he entered the trap…"
Medea frowned. "… We took all measures to make Assassin believe that it was his idea to step in. Why wouldn't he enter, then?"
Black shook his head. "He should have had a feeling... an intuition, warning him against stepping in," he said, watching Cersei and Petyr blur around Assassin, pushing their limits. "Even if he didn't know it was a trap, we did…"
For once, Medea found the words beyond her comprehension. Even when she had been alive in the Age of Gods, she had rarely faced a situation where she had found herself unable to keep up with a conversation.
So, as she looked at Black, barely able to process the meaning behind his words, the respect she carried for him boiled over.
He was no mere Master.
He was no mere man, either.
"Are you studying Luck?" Medea asked, hiding the shock in her voice.
Black smiled. "I will try…" he admitted. "Luck has dictated my past, present, and future for far too long… for worse and then for better… But I have never truly studied it. I hope Assassin would shine some light on it, making me understand a concept that is already mine."
Still, even as he explained the matter to Medea, the question he had asked persisted.
Why did Assassin step into the trap, despite his Luck surpassing Kai's?!
Why did neither the Counter Force nor the Holy Grail bubble a feeling inside Assassin, preventing him from doing so?!
The answer, fortunately or unfortunately, was materializing at Tohsaka Mansion —
— where Berserker was headed right at this moment!
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