"Go ahead, tell me the secret you wanted to share," Kayneth asked.
In front of Tia sat his Noble Phantasm, Moonlight Mercury.
Tia guided the mass of Moonlight Mercury toward Kayneth.
"That's right, it was made for me in the first place, so I'll accept it without holding back," Kayneth said. Then he magically summoned his Mystic Code, Moonlight Mercury, and merged it with the Noble Phantasm Moonlight Mercury.
Through her magic circuits, Tia cut off her connection to it. Soon Kayneth received it fully.
But the moment Kayneth did, his face changed, dark and grim, as he looked toward Emiya Kiritsugu in the distance.
Kiritsugu felt the stare, frowned, and turned to glance back at Kayneth, then at Tia. In his eyes, it was after Tia handed over the Noble Phantasm that Kayneth suddenly gave him that look, so clearly Tia had done something.
And indeed, Tia had.
Inside Moonlight Mercury, she had hidden the original course of the Fourth War, the truth about the Holy Grail, and Kiritsugu's secrets—including the fact that she herself was Shirou, the boy Kiritsugu once saved.
"Hmph!" Kayneth snorted. After seeing all this, he still hated Kiritsugu, but he also felt pity for him. So he decided not to bother with him anymore. Kayneth had already planned to leave right after this battle anyway, not staying even one more second.
But Kayneth had also seen Waver's future just now, including the future with Reines.
"Waver, huh~" Kayneth's gaze grew complicated. "I didn't expect it to be my most useless student. Heh… destroying that thesis was indeed the right call. But Reines… turns out she's my niece. I never noticed she had such talent. She's only five now, yet without me, the family had to rely on a girl not even ten years old to keep the Lord's seat. Pathetic… The Tohsaka girl is a good child, with more talent than Reines, but her methods are far too lacking. Looks like I'll have to teach that child how to survive in that world."
After learning so much, Kayneth muttered softly to himself. Only Tia could hear.
But Kayneth didn't know that Matou Sakura was already someone with two sides. If her darker side really got nurtured, with both "BB-chan" and Reines, the El-Melloi family would never know peace again.
Hearing Kayneth's words, Tia really wanted to remind him: if you raise Matou Sakura, make sure you guide her in a positive way, don't let her dark side grow too much. But… once again, in her head, she suddenly recalled: "Se-ni-or~~"
— ¶ —————————————————————
Tia shook her head, telling herself not to keep thinking about BB-chan.
"Not bad, I didn't think you once had that. I'll accept this return gift," Kayneth said to Tia, meaning the Clairvoyance.
Tia nodded.
At that moment, after using her Noble Phantasm, King Arthur looked a little tired. At the same time, Alexander the Great hadn't really relied only on Command Seals to block King Arthur's Noble Phantasm.
King Arthur's Noble Phantasm still broke through Alexander the Great's Command Seal shield. The blast completely swallowed him, but because the shield had already eaten away so much of its power, the Emperor managed to take the last of the attack with his body alone. Still, he was left completely exhausted.
This fight basically ended with both sides badly hurt.
But this was with King Arthur having no Command Seal support, while Alexander the Great did. And on top of that, Alexander the Great chose to face the Noble Phantasm head-on.
With his speed, dodging a straight-line beam shouldn't have been a problem.
If he had used his soldiers' lives to burn out King Arthur's Noble Phantasm, he could have still reached her safely. And with endless soldiers, it's doubtful the three on King Arthur's side could have held out long.
Of course, if Alexander the Great really had tried to dodge the blast, then Lancelot and Diarmuid would definitely have gotten in his way, turning the fight into a three-on-one. In that case, his soldiers might not have been much help against them.
But now it was different.
Because he faced the beam directly, Alexander the Great slowed down. That let his soldiers rush past him to fight Lancelot and Diarmuid, so those two never managed to form a three-on-one with King Arthur.
Just then, the Reality Marble began to break apart, and the soldiers started fading away.
It seemed that when Alexander the Great took King Arthur's blast head-on after the shield broke, he burned through too much mana and could no longer hold it together.
As the Reality Marble shattered, everyone returned to the outside of Einzbern Castle.
"Looks like tonight won't have a winner," Alexander the Great said, looking battered and tired. "Kid! Tia! Let's head back!"
As he spoke, Alexander the Great summoned his ox cart to take the two away.
Tia looked at Waver. Waver looked back at Tia, then noticed Kayneth watching him. He stiffened, then quickly ran to get on the ox cart.
"Well then, I'll head back too," Tia said. Since things were ending for the night, she might as well return. "Lancelot, stay with the King. I've used up all my Command Seals—I'm no longer a Master."
"Thank you, Master! It was an honor to be your Servant," Lancelot replied.
Tia obediently got into the cart, and Alexander the Great immediately drove it off.
"Hyah!" With a shout, the ox cart flew away.
In the sky, Tia looked back at the shrinking view of Einzbern Castle, feeling a bit emotional that the night had ended again. She wondered what tomorrow would bring. By the usual flow of events, would it be Gilles de Rais's giant octopus?
"Rider, I'm sorry. My mana is too weak, I can't help you recover," Waver said quietly, guilt in his voice.
"Kid, you did well. You used the Command Seals at just the right time—any earlier or later wouldn't have worked," Alexander the Great said, patting Waver's shoulder. But Waver noticed there was little strength in his touch.
"Rider, you…" Waver said in shock.
"Ah… yes, I'm at my limit. If I don't leave soon, I'll have to worry about that Emiya Kiritsugu trying to kill me while I'm down," Alexander the Great admitted.
Tia suddenly realized why, as soon as the Reality Marble collapsed, Alexander the Great had called out his ox cart to carry Waver and her away. So this was the reason.
But then, while flying in the sky, the three of them saw strange fog spreading over the river below. At the same time, mana was spreading out from that direction.
(End of The Chapter)
----
You can read 30 chapters ahead on patre on
patr eon.com/JYouyi
Pssst, Free tiers can read 2 chapters in advance