The exciting Eight Extremities Fist combat naturally drew many gazes on the beach.
Taiga's wooden pole moved so fast it was airtight, turning into a flurry of spear strikes that enveloped Caren and Shirou.
Shirou, whose skills were inherited directly from Kirei, was not to be outdone. He used nimble footwork to dodge most of Taiga's attacks, and for those he couldn't avoid, he either parried or deflected them, making all of Taiga's strikes miss.
However, Caren, whose skills were mainly focused on Church combat methods and who didn't care for Eight Extremities Fist at all, was having a hard time. Caren, who was physically weak and relied primarily on magecraft and Mystic Codes, was being suppressed everywhere in this 'exam' that only allowed martial arts.
Having already been hit several times by the pole, Caren retreated out of the combat circle of Shirou and Taiga with a frustrated look, rubbing her bruised arms and thighs.
Just then, a large hand was placed on Caren's head, gently rubbing it.
"It seems you really aren't suited for the path of an Agent, Caren."
Caren crossly slapped the large hand away and glared unhappily at the Kirei beside her.
"The battles ahead will only get tougher. During this holiday, Caren, I plan to teach you some new things."
"You aren't planning to use me as a test subject, are you!"
Hearing Caren's interrogation, Kirei was slightly stunned. A dangerous smile then appeared on his face as he looked toward the fighting Shirou and Taiga, causing both of them to shiver for no reason.
Seeing the expression on Kirei's face, Caren stomped her foot in frustration.
"Kirei, you're being bad again!"
Kirei glanced at Caren, pressed his palms together, and chanted.
"Amitabha!"
"What 'Amitabha'? I don't see you becoming a monk!"
At that moment, Rin, wearing a swimsuit, appeared beside Kirei, accompanied by Fujino and Sakura.
Kirei's pupils constricted as a bad premonition arose in his heart. He then stiffly asked the enthusiastic Rin.
"Rin, are you planning to..."
Before Kirei could finish, Rin threw a punch that grazed past him. The massive wind from the punch made Kirei's skin sting, and the resulting sonic boom even caused a trickle of blood to leak from the corner of his mouth. Beside him, Caren, who was protected by Sakura's magecraft, watched the scene in shock.
"Kirei, we haven't fought in many years, have we! I learned my Eight Extremities Fist from you, after all. Let's practice!"
Now, the attention of the entire beach was drawn by the sonic boom from Rin's punch. Even Taiga and Shirou stopped their match, watching the scene in disbelief.
"Shirou! Master won't be killed by Rin if they fight, will he?"
Shirou swallowed hard, nodding dully before quickly shaking his head again.
Kirei wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. A faint Buddhist light flashed across his body as his expression returned to calm. He then quickly pointed to the crowd of onlookers nearby.
"Rin, don't you think Arcueid or True Moon would be more suitable opponents than me?"
If, before the world's expansion, Kirei could have barely held his own against Rin using the Kalaripayattu taught by The Enlightened One, then against the current Rin, whose mana had expanded several times over, Kirei was completely outmatched. One careless move and he might be killed by a single punch from her.
It seemed the world's expansion had only strengthened Rin's mana. If it were Rin's magecraft, it would only allow the scale of her spells to be enhanced, but it wouldn't cause a qualitative change.
However, in close-quarters combat, the current Rin could maintain Mana Burst throughout the entire fight while simultaneously using magical reinforcement. Although Mana Burst didn't have much of a strengthening effect for Rin, who already had Strength A+++ in Eight Extremities Fist combat, her other attributes weren't A+++; most didn't even reach A. But now, if she maintained Mana Burst, her physical attributes would likely be above A for the entire duration. In this state, Rin could go toe-to-toe with the great hero Heracles.
Arcueid and True Moon reacted quite differently to Kirei's words. Arcueid looked eager to try, her eyes firmly locked on Rin.
True Moon, however, just stretched lazily, looking at Kirei with interest.
True Moon, whose Moon UO powers had been completely stripped away, now only existed as a Heroic Spirit. Although most of his combat skills remained, due to the attribute gap, let alone his daughter, he probably couldn't even defeat most of the True Ancestors now.
In this situation, True Moon had no interest in being Rin's sandbag.
Just then, Aoko walked up to Rin, pulling Alice along.
"Hey, hey, Rin! This is the holiday you approved. Let's not talk about all this fighting and killing now, right, Alice!"
Alice gave Aoko a dissatisfied glance but still nodded in agreement. Aoko and Alice, who had officially joined Chaldea and were training as reserve Masters, also cherished the rare holiday Rin had granted. After all, there were still six Singularities to resolve, and the first Singularity had already left many in Chaldea physically and mentally exhausted.
Seeing the look in Alice's eyes, Rin unconsciously thought back to the time they lived in the Tohsaka Villa. Regarding her friend's suggestion, Rin also suppressed her desire to test her new powers.
"Uh, alright then!"
At this point, Sakura and Fujino, seeing that Rin had intended to test her newly acquired power, suggested to her in unison.
"Sister, why don't we hold a competition!"
"Master, look, even though it's a holiday, most people don't really have any activities. Why don't we hold one, just like Sakura said, a competition!"
Rin rubbed her chin, muttering to herself.
"An activity? A competition? How should we do it?"
Fujino and Sakura looked at each other and smiled, saying in unison.
"Beach Volleyball!"
Hearing Fujino and Sakura's proposal, most people showed eager expressions. Indeed, although it was a rare holiday, there weren't many leisure and entertainment facilities here, so most people could only sunbathe and feel the sea breeze.
"Rewards! Director, are there rewards?!"
"Can we gamble?"
...Suddenly, a cacophony of discussions surrounded Rin's ears.
"Hmm, reward, reward... let me think..."
A moment later, Rin suddenly snapped her fingers. A spatial rift opened behind her, and a tattered war banner was pulled out of the space by Rin.
This tattered banner was the very banner of Jeanne d'Arc that Rin had excavated in France during her journey to collect catalysts before the Fifth War. Having confirmed that the time of the next Singularity was during the Hundred Years' War between England and France, although she couldn't be 100% certain the next Singularity would be the Orleans and Jalter from the original story, based on the timeline, she was about eighty or ninety percent sure.
So Rin took the opportunity to bring out this banner. First, that 'Country Girl' was actually quite suitable as a reward; second, it was to summon the 'Country Girl' to Chaldea in advance as insurance for the plan she intended to implement in the second Singularity. Thus, Rin held up the banner and announced loudly.
"This is the catalyst of Saint Jeanne d'Arc, and the winning team will gain the right to use Saint Jeanne d'Arc for three days!"
As she spoke, Rin snapped her fingers, and a scantily clad projection of Jeanne appeared behind her, drawing wolf-whistles from many staff members.
Mordred's eyes widened. She looked at Lily beside her, then at the projection of Saint Jeanne d'Arc, and cried out in surprise.
"Eh eh eh~! Another Father!"
Lily twiddled her fingers as she looked at the scantily clad projection of Jeanne, whose face was almost identical to her own. Her face turned bright red as she stared at her toes and whispered.
"Um, um, Mo-chan, that is definitely not me!"
As she spoke, Lily unconsciously glanced at her own chest.
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