"You truly are bold—attacking us without even finishing off Sabrac?"
Friagne hastily drew upon his Power of Existence, igniting clusters of pure-white flames around himself as a fierce presence erupted from his body.
He had fought Shirou Emiya only twice before, and both times he had been swiftly crushed.
Friagne was thoroughly aware just how terrifyingly strong Shirou was.
At the very least, Friagne knew clearly he stood no chance at all if forced into a direct confrontation. Ultimately, he relied far too heavily on his Treasure Tools; losing their advantage had effectively stripped him of half his combat ability.
"Actually, I rather admire his courage and decisiveness," Sydonay remarked casually. "The moment he realized he couldn't kill Sabrac, he didn't waste time in pointless fighting, nor did he choose to flee. Instead, he charged straight toward us."
"You've accepted our request, haven't you? You can protect us, right?"
Beside Sydonay, the sweet-faced Gothic Lolita blonde girl spoke with a reproachful gaze. She understood her own abilities clearly; facing a human like Shirou Emiya, she and her companion had absolutely no means to fight back.
They were ordinary Crimson Denizens, after all. Friagne might be relatively weak compared to powerhouses like Sydonay and Sabrac, but he was still a genuine Crimson Lord. Even such a Crimson Lord had been easily defeated by Shirou—how could weak Denizens like themselves hope to survive?
Yet Sydonay didn't seem as cautious as Friagne. Part of it was because, much like Sabrac, he was a Crimson Lord who excelled in close combat, utterly confident in his own abilities.
On top of that, while Sabrac mostly accepted assassination missions, Sydonay specialized in protection jobs, making him supremely confident in his defensive capabilities.
But before Shirou could reach Sydonay and Friagne—
A shadow surged out from the earth with terrifying swiftness, wrapped in monstrous dark-red flames, like a meteor piercing straight toward Shirou midair.
Splurt—!
Blood sprayed freely as a blade pierced through flesh.
Shirou's abdomen was ruthlessly impaled.
This sudden strike came faster and fiercer than even the earlier pursuit.
It wasn't that Shirou had failed to detect movement beneath the ground.
But this sudden burst of speed was simply too swift—so swift that even with Shirou's reflexes, he could barely manage a partial evasion.
If Shirou had been even slightly slower, that blade wouldn't have pierced his abdomen but his heart.
Shirou's earlier success in killing Sabrac twice had largely relied on exploiting the element of surprise.
Just as Friagne had reversed situations on multiple Flame Hazes before, misinformation and lack of knowledge about his Treasure Tools had turned victory into disaster for them. Similarly, Sabrac had been caught off-guard by Shirou's unfamiliar Treasure Tools—their duplicates, the explosions, and the poison lurking within. Without proper intelligence, Sabrac had succumbed to Shirou's surprise attacks.
Why was Friagne renowned as a cunning Crimson Lord? Precisely because his raw strength was never enough to overpower Flame Hazes directly.
Yet earlier, when Sabrac fought Shirou, he'd not once utilized his full strength, neither offensively nor defensively.
Though the battle had seemed destructive, devastating even a whole district instantly, being so easily killed twice by a mere human hardly matched the terrifying reputation of a Crimson Lord like Sabrac.
To someone of his caliber, Power of Existence was merely a number. Even Sydonay couldn't grasp just how vast Sabrac's reserve of power truly was.
The reason he became an assassin—taking jobs willingly—was merely to fulfill his own insatiable desire and passion.
Struck in midair, Shirou fell from the sky like a kite with its string severed.
Sabrac twisted the sword already impaling Shirou's stomach, causing blood to gush out freely.
Shirou desperately swung his heavy sword toward Sabrac's head—only to be effortlessly blocked by the sword in his other hand.
The gap in raw strength between a human and a Crimson Lord was simply too vast.
Crash—!
In the midst of their midair struggle, Shirou and Sabrac crashed violently onto the ground.
The scorching pavement beneath them sizzled against the armor protecting Shirou's back.
While the Azure ring could repel flames, it couldn't guard against the already superheated stone fragments seared by flame.
"[INCURSIO]!"
Hesitation now meant certain death.
The second Incursio Armor swiftly covered Shirou's body, instantly aggravating the wounds he'd already suffered. Blood seeped visibly through the gaps of his armor.
"Haaah!"
With a fierce shout, Shirou kicked hard, sending Sabrac flying away before the Crimson Lord could even raise his defense.
Boom—!
Shirou swiftly stabilized himself after the kick, turning his gaze toward Friagne's location.
At the center of the crater where Shirou landed, rubble suddenly exploded upward, violent shockwaves spiraling outward like a tempest.
The ground beneath Shirou's feet shattered without warning—crushed by sheer, raw power.
And in the next instant, Shirou's figure vanished completely.
A terrifying aura enveloped Friagne and Sydonay in an instant.
"Is this guy really human?"
Sydonay's expression finally turned grave. Previously, Shirou had been merely threatening, but now his aura had surged tremendously—transforming him into a genuinely troublesome existence.
Under such circumstances, Sydonay even drew out a Treasure Tool he hadn't needed for ages—Shintetsu Nyoi.
A flash of brilliant scarlet pierced Friagne's vision.
"—!"
As before, Friagne desperately raised the white cloth beside him in a futile attempt at defense.
A blade-light flashed past like the glinting of a distant star.
Beneath Shirou's Clarent, the supposedly protective white cloth parted as easily as ordinary fabric.
Clang—!
At that critical instant, a heavy iron staff, roaring like thunder, met the descending greatsword just before it cleaved Friagne in half.
Yet the immense power of Shirou's strike forced Sydonay to half-kneel, cracking the ground beneath him into a spiderweb of fissures.
---
T/N: WHERE ARE THE OTHERSSS
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