"You think I would believe you?"
Artoria raised her invisible holy sword, pointing it at Gilles de Rais, not believing a word from that bastard.
"Wait, Saber. If Caster isn't here to cause us trouble, then don't fight him."
From his vantage point, Kiritsugu Emiya could see the full scale of the sea demon horde. They packed the entire street, at least seventy or eighty of them if not a full hundred.
With Saber's left hand injured, it would be foolish to face them head-on. So when he heard what Caster said, he immediately decided to avoid battle.
Through the link of mana, he relayed his thoughts to his Servant below.
"Master, do you believe that man?"
Artoria frowned and demanded.
"I don't believe him. But if he's willing to let us leave, there's no need to fight."
The bounty Command Spells on Caster were tempting, but he was no small fry. They had already learned how troublesome his familiars were in last night's attack.
If Lancer had not barged in and, out of knightly honor, helped Saber strike at the child-murdering fiend, there was a real chance Saber—her fingers cursed by his lance—might have fallen last night.
"But Caster is clearly going off to hurt someone else."
"Only a Servant can stand against a Servant. And only a Master can kill another Master. If a mad Servant wants revenge on the one who killed his Master, there's no reason for us to stand in the way for some unknown Master."
While Master and Servant argued, the blood-guidance spell Gilles had cast flowed past Saber, weaving under Artoria's wary gaze toward the Fujimura estate behind them.
"Found you. The one who killed my Master is in there!"
Gilles saw it as well. Mana surged from his body as he unleashed his killing intent, aimed directly at whoever was inside that estate.
"Master, do you think there's another Master living right next to the base you picked?"
Kiritsugu said nothing. There was no way it was just coincidence that Caster's revenge target happened to be right beside their new hideout.
Watching the sea demon army surge forward, he laid his finger on the trigger and fired the first shot of the battle.
The bullets, of course, could not harm a Heroic Spirit. Before they reached Gilles's head, the black mana swirling around him corroded them away.
"If you insist on blocking my path of vengeance, then I, Gilles de Rais, will crush you where you stand.
"Shine to your heart's content. In the moment your life withers like a flower, I will take your corpse into my arms and bind your soul beneath my sorcery.
"Then even God himself will not be able to take you from my side."
"Strike Air!"
Answering Caster's operatic monologue, Artoria swung down a ferocious gale. She meant to do exactly what she had done the previous night—cut a path through the sea demon army, go straight for the king, and take his head.
"The same trick will not work on Gilles de Rais."
Caster chanted, retreating into his horde. Two nearby sea demons wrapped around him, melting under the spell into a black, spiked suit of armor. The invisible blade of Excalibur struck it and bounced off, the spikes shooting back like spears toward their attacker.
Artoria jerked her arm up, blocking the spike aimed at her face with her gauntlet. The next moment, Gilles's boot slammed into her midsection and sent her flying.
"Are you really a Caster?"
The armor had kept her from being hurt, but the force of the kick was powerful enough to make her question his class.
"Holy maiden, have you forgotten even that? No matter. I can remind you. Gilles de Rais, your lieutenant, was also a competent noble swordsman."
"Fiend. I told you you've got the wrong person. I've never had a lieutenant like you, you depraved bastard!"
Her invisible blade cleaved another sea demon in two, but with Gilles's mana pouring into them, the pieces rejoined almost instantly and the creature was whole again.
"Damn it!"
As more and more sea demons surged in, Artoria found herself mired in a bitter fight.
"What's that noise?"
"M–monsters?!"
The gunfire jolted many in the Fujimura compound awake. Hearing the commotion outside, some stepped out to look.
One glance was enough: it looked like seafood octopi had invaded the land.
"Hey, don't just stand there staring! Help us out!"
On the rooftop, having switched to a submachine gun to cover his Servant with suppressing fire, Kiritsugu shouted at the ever-growing number of people pouring out of the Fujimura estate.
"Mr. Emiya, what on earth is going on?"
Raiga Fujimura, robe thrown on over his pajamas, looked up at the neighboring rooftop and called.
"Just like your men said—monsters. Creatures from another world. If you don't want to die, grab weapons and fight them with me."
Raiga hesitated only for a moment. Then he saw sea demons bursting into nearby houses and heard the screams from within.
"Grab whatever you can use. Don't let those things get over here. Mr. Emiya, we don't have enough firearms. Can you spare some?"
"All the guns are in the warehouse. Go help yourselves."
Kiritsugu answered without looking back as he slammed a fresh magazine home.
Soon, a group of yakuza with whatever weapons they could find had climbed up onto the roofs.
Taking the high ground, and with Raiga's blessing to follow Kiritsugu's lead, they poured more intense fire in support of Saber's hard fight.
The sea demons were hard to kill, but for a time their advance was checked by the rain of bullets.
Healing those familiars cost mana. If Caster's Master really had said goodbye to this world, then Caster's own mana reserves would be tight.
He might barely have enough to maintain his own existence, with the sea demon army sustained only by slaughtering lives for mana.
That was Kiritsugu's assessment, and the fact that some sea demons stayed down after being torn apart proved him right.
"Damn you buzzing flies, getting in the way of my revenge!"
His main focus had been Saber, but the hail of bullets soon drew Gilles's attention to the humans further back.
"Go around and kill them!"
He sent part of his horde along the flanking streets. Artoria tried to intercept them, but the sea demons around her held her back.
"They're getting through. We're almost out of ammo. What do we do?"
Panic spread.
"Damn it."
Kiritsugu cursed his decision not to buy a few heavy machine guns for just such a defense.
"Maiya, get Irisviel ready to pull out."
He jumped off the rooftop as he spoke. The situation was already beyond what he could handle.
The only option now was retreat—and then using a Command Seal to pull Saber out as well.
"Mr. Emiya, where are you going?"
"Run for your lives. Those things coming this way are beyond us."
Kiritsugu did not hide anything. For all his ruthlessness, he felt responsible for dragging the Fujimura into this by making a deal with them. Telling these civilians the truth and giving them a chance to flee was the least he could do. He was not so vile as to lie and leave them as a rear guard.
"Grandpa, what are those things?"
Taiga had been woken by the staccato of gunfire. Coming out and seeing the flood of sea demons, she was terrified and turned to her grandfather.
"There are a lot of things in this world ordinary people don't know about. I've picked up a bit of that side of things because of my line of work.
"Those creatures are probably from that hidden side of the world. Mr. Emiya, you're from that world too, aren't you?"
"Yeah."
Kiritsugu nodded.
"This is probably all because of you. The Fujimura got dragged in just because I agreed to your deal. I accept that risk. But my granddaughter is only staying here temporarily. I can't let anything happen to her. Will you take her and get her somewhere safe?"
"Following me will be even more dangerous."
"At this point, I don't have any other choice, do I? If you agree, I'll take my men and hold those monsters off for you."
"Fine."
In a few short words, Raiga and Kiritsugu struck a bargain. Raiga then moved to bundle his granddaughter toward the Emiya family Hummer.
"Huh?"
Taiga still had no idea what was happening, but she had not forgotten the other child in the house.
"Grandpa, Broly's still in his room!"
She cried.
That concern for a child in a moment of crisis almost broke Raiga's composure—but he was still an adult, and would not fight his granddaughter over it.
"Then wake him up and take him with you."
He waved her off.
"We don't have much time. Hurry."
Kiritsugu said, using his last few magazines to slow the sea demons that were looping around.
Taiga sprinted back into the house, straight for the guest room. Broly's sleep had been deep the past couple of days; the gunfire outside had not stirred him at all, and even when the girl burst in and shook him, he kept snoring.
"Stop sleeping. There's meat to eat!"
"There's meat?"
At those words, Broly's eyes snapped open.
"Fujimura sis, where's the meat?"
Blinking sleepily, he scanned the room.
"There isn't any. I just needed to wake you up. Something's happening outside. Monsters are attacking and we have to run."
Broly: "???"
Taiga grabbed his hand and dragged him out without even bothering with shoes.
"Grandpa, we're going. What about you?"
After shoving Broly into the vehicle, Taiga finally thought of her grandfather and the rest of the Fujimura.
"Don't worry about us. This is the Fujimura Group—our home. We'll crush any enemy that comes."
The gunfire had already eased. The Fujimura men now all held melee weapons. The women and children were climbing into the household vehicles and would flee alongside the Emiya car.
"Grandpa, let me stay too."
"Don't talk nonsense."
"Miss, this is between us, the old man, and the Fujimura Group. If you're not going to inherit, it has nothing to do with you. Go with the others and take shelter. I swear I'll protect the boss."
Scarface pledged, the mood turning grim and heroic.
"What's going on?"
Broly still did not understand. Leaning on the window, he peered outside—just as a hand reached from behind to rest on his shoulder.
"It's all right. You'll be fine."
Irisviel said softly. She felt deeply sorry that the Grail War had dragged ordinary people into it, but all she could do now was comfort the children of those victims.
Broly turned. The Crystal Palace in his mind chimed:
Target found: Irisviel von Einzbern. Current Happiness Value: 0.
Reminder: Taiga Fujimura's Happiness Value is dropping!
"Huh?!"
The warning snapped the last traces of sleep from his brain.
At that exact moment, a sea demon vaulted over the roof of the former Fujimura house and landed in front of the group. Screeching, it lashed out with its tentacles, sending several Fujimura men flying.
Taiga's Happiness Value plummeted, and Broly immediately locked onto the cause.
"Hold the line!"
Raiga shouted.
"Bang!"
A car door flew over the crowd and smashed into the sea demon just as it raised its tentacles for another attack.
Carrying terrifying force, the door slammed the sea demon off its feet.
With a wet crack, the creature was driven into a power pole at the side of the road. In an instant, it became a pile of shredded meat.
Everyone gasped and turned together—just in time to see a little boy hop out of the wrecked vehicle, his small face clearly furious.
Under their stunned gazes, he stepped forward and began kicking the sea demons dropping from the rooftops, one by one, into chunks of meat.
He made it look as easy as if he were kicking apart blocks of tofu, not incredibly tough creatures.
The sea demons' catastrophic injuries triggered an enormous drain on their summoner. To regenerate, they demanded vast mana from the one who had called them.
The sudden, intense pull finally drew Gilles's attention.
Caster found it odd. Against mere ordinary humans, his sea demons should not have been taking such damage, nor should they have been demanding this much mana. It was almost as costly as summoning a fresh horde.
Then he looked up and saw—a child, gleefully trampling his sea demons.
Before that boy, his familiars were like toy blocks, kicked to pieces at will, utterly helpless.