"Mr. Sho, will he be alright...?"
"I was told he's not in critical condition..."
The bald bodyguard tries to console her with concern, but his words are utterly meaningless.
"This happened because I asked for his protection..."
"N-no, that's not..."
"Would you stop saying that?"
Kuro is clearly on edge. She's already in her combat gear with her Infinite Banderan wrapped around her head. It's a bit of an odd way to put it, but she's waiting for the assassin who sent Sho to the hospital.
"I'll definitely send that person to the hospital."
Her usual playful demeanor has vanished, replaced by a murderous aura unbefitting her age. The fact that even an elite bodyguard is intimidated shows how intense she is.
"M-Miss Chloe? I understand how you feel, but please, calm down a little..."
"You better focus, or you'll get stabbed from behind."
"...I hate this, being a middle manager."
The bald man's eyes look dead.
The other bodyguards are worn out from dealing with yasuwaki, who has recently become someone you'd step aside for if you saw him, the negotiations with Saibu, and taking care of the Holy Maiden, who is groggy from being targeted by the assassin (the Holy Maiden refused yasuwaki's help). Their already fragile spirits have taken another hit.
He's stuck between two girls whose moods are at opposite extremes. The bodyguard vowed to himself that he would take a vacation after this job was over.
"S-speaking of which, he's late, isn't he? Mr. Saibu!"
Still a serious man, he tries to lighten the mood.
"Maybe he was assassinated?"
"Hmm... it's been almost an hour since the promised time, and there's still no word?"
"Ah, yes. Nothing yet. We've tried contacting him, but the call won't go through..."
"...Isn't that, like, really bad? Oh well, that old guy is no big deal anyway."
The bald bodyguard agrees with her inwardly. He also doesn't think it's a good idea for the Holy Maiden to be taken over by Saibu.
Suddenly, Kuro shouts.
"Baldy! Protect the Holy Maiden!!"
--------
Tina was looking through the scope of her sniper rifle from the floor of the building across the street.
The scope showed three people: the bald man, who was visibly sweating; the target, the Holy Maiden; and Kuro.
Her aim was perfect. All she had to do was pull the trigger, and the Holy Maiden's head would be gone. But she couldn't. Her finger wouldn't move to pull the trigger.
Her heart was pounding, and her breath was short and shallow, even though she wasn't exerting herself. She was just lying there, holding the rifle. She just had to follow her master's orders, pull the trigger, and blow off the head at the end of her barrel.
In other words, she had to—
(—kill... the Holy Maiden?)
The crosshairs were perfectly centered on the Holy Maiden's head, but her gaze was on Kuro. What was she thinking right now? The person she called her brother, even though they weren't related by blood, was injured.
As her vision narrowed, she saw it.
After Kuro blinked, she was holding a bow.
"!!"
Tina instinctively leapt up.
It was no longer just a bow. The arrow, which had the speed and power of a handgun, grazed the sniper rifle on the floor, half-destroying it, and carved a gouge in the ceiling all the way up to the floor above.
It was an arrow filled with magical energy to the limit thanks to the Infinite Banderan. Released without any concern for magical consumption, it—
—Broken Phantasm
...detonated.
It's a technique that overloads a magic-infused Noble Phantasm, causing the energy within to explode. With her Infinite Banderan, Kuro can use this better than anyone else.
"Tracing On!!"
While escaping the crumbling floor of the building, which had been damaged by a single attack, Tina used her Class Card with a movement she had memorized.
Tina's clothes changed. The blue dress was replaced by a gray-based outfit, and a skull mask was placed on her head.
A Class Card is a key item from Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya. It's a card imbued with the power of a Heroic Spirit, a great person from the past. Using it allows the user to materialize the Heroic Spirit's Noble Phantasm, a manifestation of their legend or weapon.
The card Tina holds contains the power of Hassan of the Hundred Faces. Its Noble Phantasm is Zabaniya: Delusional Illusion.
Normally, this Noble Phantasm can separate and control each of Hassan's multiple personalities as a separate entity.
As a Class Card, it creates copies of the user that have their own consciousness.
This was the first piece of equipment Tina received from her master, and she had a longer history with it than with her sniper rifle.
"Trace On!!"
Kuro broke through the window of the room where the Holy Maiden was, and threw herself into the sky. She projected swords in the air, using them as footholds. Their quality was minimal—just enough to support her foot as she pushed off. It was as if she was running through the sky.
(I saw her properly dodge! I don't know how many people are attacking today, but it's bad that there's a sniper in a position to aim at us. I'll take her out first!)
In a matter of seconds, she arrived at Tina's sniping point.
"It was you after all."
"Ah, um...!"
With Kansho and Bakuya pointed at her, Tina was frozen, even with the distance between them.
"...Why are you crying? That's ridiculous. I'm the one who should be crying."
"......!!"
Those words made Tina realize once again that she had done something irreversible. She, who no longer had a family and couldn't survive without following her master, and Sho, who had people who would mourn him, had a fundamental difference in their lives.
At that moment, another intruder appeared.
"I found you... one of you is Chloe von Einzbern. But the other one... was not among the bodyguards. You are the assassin target."
"Eh, eh...?"
"Huh? W-what are you talking about... and who are you?!"
Kuro and Tina both stopped moving.
Yami, who had the audacity to carry out an assassination in broad daylight, had at least hacked the street cameras in the vicinity.
No footage was left behind, and the park was a mess, concluded to be the result of a fight between Sho and the perpetrator who stabbed him in the stomach.
In other words, Kuro knew nothing about Trans, Yami's ability.
Yami's right hand closed in on a completely disarmed Tina. The hand, which had been in a blade shape, morphed into a knife.
But it didn't slice Tina's neck. Kuro had blocked it.
Tina was shocked.
"W-why...? I... I did that to Mr. Sho..."
"...I know. But if I attacked you with a face like that, I'd be the bad guy, wouldn't I?"
Seeing Tina's tears, the fire of anger in Kuro's heart subsided a little. Her intent of sending the assassin to the hospital without a word had changed to listening to her story first before doing so.
"I don't care if it was a job, if someone ordered you to, or if they had something on you. It doesn't change the fact that you stabbed my brother."
Tina lowered her eyes at Kuro's words.
"You're not getting away with this by dying!"
"!!"
Kuro's words gave Tina's body a little strength.
(If I'm going to die, I have to at least apologize to Mr. Sho first...)
Pushed back, Yami created some distance.
"...Understood. Then I will kill you as well."
A battle between three beings beyond the realm of common sense began. Yami and Kuro exchanged blows, running on walls, ceilings, and even by creating wings or using swords as footholds.
However, Yami had the advantage in close combat.
No matter how many weapons Kuro created, she only had two arms and four limbs in total. Some pirates might hold one in their mouth, but Kuro is a girl; she wouldn't do that.
Yami, on the other hand, was a weapon herself. Her freely moving hair was particularly troublesome.
Dealing with an iron ball that appeared out of nowhere was an extremely difficult task, even with her own formidable combat abilities.
The blade of Kuro's Bakuya was broken in the middle. As she tried to project a new one, she was grabbed by a hand made of hair, and her movements were stopped.
Two free hands were brought down—but Yami dodged them just before they struck.
Tina, using her Zabaniya: Delusional Illusion clones and Presence Concealment, had dodged the attacks and targeted Yami with a spare sniper rifle she had hidden.
"The two wings that break mountains and cleave water."
Kuro projected three sets of Kansho and Bakuya. She threw two of them.
"And yet do not fall."
The total of four Kansho and Bakuya bounced off the walls and steadily tightened the noose around Yami.
"Triple-Link Crane Wings!!"
An unavoidable sword technique that projects and throws three pairs of Kansho and Bakuya, which are drawn to each other, to land a series of throwing and slashing attacks.
Then,
"Zabaniya: Delusional Illusion!!"
Five clones of Tina attacked.
To fill even the tiniest hole in this unavoidable technique, Tina's Noble Phantasm, armed with daggers, attacked.
This combination attack would have killed a normal person, or even a master, three or four times over.
"It's useless."
However, her opponent easily overcame it.
Yami's hair, which glowed in the darkness, reacted to the attacks from all directions. It changed the trajectory of the flying Kansho and Bakuya, pierced through Tina's clones, and clashed with Kuro, who had charged in to attack.
"Tch!! Give me a break!!"
Yami deflected Tina's throwing knives with her hair without even looking and continued to pursue Kuro.
With Trans, her versatile ability for both offense and defense, Kuro couldn't find a breakthrough. The Infinite Banderan was also ineffective in close combat. If she became even slightly slower before her magic ran out, it would be an instant defeat.
"How about this!"
"What?!"
Three of Tina's Zabaniya: Delusional Illusion clones, who had been secretly approaching with Presence Concealment, clung to Yami, stopping her.
"Fake. Fake. Caladbolg III!!"
Taking advantage of the opening, Kuro created a spiraling drill-like arrow and fired it.
Its power was incomparable to the first shot she fired at Tina. It broke through the wall of the building to the other side. The building was now very airy. The fact that it could withstand the weight of the upper floors after being so ravaged was a testament to its design.
"How was that?"
"It probably didn't hit. More importantly, you shot it with the clones attached, are they okay?"
"Ah, yes. They're made by dividing my magical energy. They have their own consciousnesses, but they're just lumps of magic, so they don't feel pain."
So, the Zabaniya: Delusional Illusion clones were like shadow clones from Naruto.
"I see. But you should be careful not to overdo it. Your magical energy will run out in no time, won't it?"
"That's right... If five more get destroyed, I won't be able to fight anymore."
"I see."
"!!"
Yami, almost completely unharmed, was standing next to the large hole in the wall.
"Seriously, what is that woman...!"
"Mr. Sho repelled her."
"My brother...? Wait a minute. My brother fought that woman? When?"
"...Right before I stabbed him... Can't you figure out her weakness from Mr. Sho's abilities?"
"Huh, e-even if you say that..."
As Yami walked slowly, seemingly relaxed, Kuro racked her brain.
However, she couldn't think of any effective attack methods.
(Could it be my brother had something "H" with someone?)
If so, it would mean he had a new ability she didn't know about.
Even Kuro wouldn't think that Yami had ambushed him when he was frozen after declaring his intentions for a pair of pants.
Then, Yami's body was...
...pierced by a super-high-voltage electric current.
"Hii, gaah...! Wha-what...!?"
A normal person would have surely died, but Yami hadn't even lost consciousness. But that was all. Her body was completely limp, and she couldn't move an inch.
The nanomachines that activate her Trans are, being machinery, weak to high-voltage electricity. They don't break, but their functions are severely limited.
Kuro and Tina stood there stunned, staring at the crumpled Yami lying in the rubble and dust.
Thinking it might be some kind of tactic, the two remained still. Then, they heard footsteps approaching them.
It was Takuto yasuwaki.
He looked at the pitiful Yami, who was lying in the rubble and dust, as if she were dirt.
"Useless, utterly useless! Golden Darkness! You can't even kill one Butei and two brats?! You're a piece of garbage, you are!!!"
He was not just yelling like a madman; he was truly insane. yasuwaki was screaming like a madman.
"I have to clean up this garbage quickly! With my Stand, 'Red Hot Chili Pepper'!!!"
yasuwaki loudly announced this to everyone there.
--------
"M-Miss Chloe!!"
"Holy Maiden! Let's do as she says for now!!"
The bald bodyguard desperately stopped the Holy Maiden, who was about to rush to the shattered window where Kuro had jumped out.
He knew that a sniper was involved in the first attack. It was dangerous to go near the window carelessly. The best course of action was to use himself as a shield and move to a place without windows.
"That's right, Holy Maiden. It's dangerous here. Come this way."
"!!"
yasuwaki was standing behind them without a sound.
"Mr. yasuwaki...?"
His expression was normal, but it wasn't "normal." The Holy Maiden realized that her body was trembling not because of the assassin she knew was behind her, but because of the man she thought she knew so well in front of her.
yasuwaki, who had been smiling and holding out his hand, suddenly became serious, whether he knew what the Holy Maiden was thinking or not.
"By the way, what the hell are you doing touching the Holy Maiden so casually?! Huh?"
"Huh? What's with the sudden--AAAGHAAAAAAAGHHH!!!!!"
The bald bodyguard screamed and fell. The smell of something burning wafted from his body, and he was convulsing like a dissected frog.
"Mr. yasuwaki!? W-what are you doing!!"
"What am I doing, you ask?"
"...Eh?"
"Well, isn't it strange? I'm not 'doing anything' in particular, but a 'tragic accident' like this just happened."
Even the pacifist Holy Maiden knew immediately that his words, "I'm not doing anything" and "tragic accident," were a lie.
However, it was also true that yasuwaki had never had this kind of ability.
(Could this person be an assassin disguised as Mr. yasuwaki?!)
The Holy Maiden, who didn't know that yasuwaki had obtained a Stand ability, came to this conclusion and began to distance herself from him.
"Holy Maiden? My, you're a difficult person. Why are you keeping your distance from me?"
yasuwaki slowly began to walk toward her.
At that moment, something flew from the building across the street.
It was Fake. Fake. Caladbolg III.
yasuwaki's expression became blank.
"Excuse me, Holy Maiden. I'll go check out the situation in the building across the street. I'll have the other bodyguards accompany you, so please wait a moment."
The Holy Maiden breathed a sigh of relief as yasuwaki left the room.
Her sitting down in the shadow of the sofa, hugging her own shoulders, happened almost simultaneously with someone breaking through the glass wall and invading the room.
"Kya---... Eh?! You, you are!!"
The mouth that had opened to scream in panic froze as she saw the person who had entered the room.
--------------------------------------------
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