The battle between Lancer Zhao Yun and the King of Conquerors Iskandar's [Ionioi Hetairoi] ultimately ended with Lancer Zhao Yun gaining the upper hand in the war of attrition after using two Command Spells to replenish his magical energy.
Zhao Yun alone had fought his way deep into the million-strong army and clashed with the true warriors within [Ionioi Hetairoi]. A small number of powerful warriors who had once followed the King of Conquerors, Iskandar, were unable to display their full strength due to the limitations of Iskandar's own capabilities as a Heroic Spirit, but they still possessed abilities approaching those of B-rank Heroic Spirits.
Once enough of them gathered together, combined with their flawless coordination, they posed an even greater threat than the million-strong army itself.
To break through the encirclement of Heroic Spirits, Kayneth had no choice but to activate a second Command Spell to strengthen Zhao Yun, allowing him to use his Noble Phantasm, [A Battlefield for One Alone].
With the destruction of his weapon, the Bright Silver Dragon-Gall Spear, as a prerequisite, Zhao Yun could greatly enhance his own attributes for a short period of time and summon the dragon horse [Jade Lion of the Shining Night] to launch a single anti-army charge.
It was precisely this Noble Phantasm charge that tore apart the formation of the million-strong army.
Whether soldier or warrior, everything standing in Zhao Yun's path was scattered.
These dozen-plus minutes of spectacular combat used animation on twos at Kamiyā Yuu's request, full-motion filming techniques, and Kamiyā Yuu's extreme mastery of shot composition and cinematography.
The resulting visuals drew cries of amazement from countless viewers.
Even the massive spectacle of [Ionioi Hetairoi] being unveiled in Episode 11 seemed minor by comparison.
However, just as Zhao Yun was about to break through the million-strong army's blockade, the battle ultimately had to end early for certain special reasons.
Almost the entirety of Episode 12 had consisted of Zhao Yun's battle against [Ionioi Hetairoi]. Its length was already more than enough to satisfy the audience, and in a certain sense, the winner had already been decided.
Two Command Spells had been spent, and victory was clearly within reach. There were not many reasons that could force Kayneth, as the Master, to order a retreat at such a moment.
A threat to the Master's own life was certainly one of them.
Director Kayneth, who had become weaker than an ordinary person after being struck by an [Origin Bullet], had been hiding in the shadows of Einzbern Castle.
He never could have imagined that although Emiya Kiritsugu had failed to discover him and he had avoided triggering the castle's magical defenses, he would instead encounter a small [Deep-Sea Monster] that should never have appeared there.
The magus workshop built atop sacrifices of countless living humans had previously been destroyed by the King of Conquerors, Iskandar.
The dejected Caster then spoke with the serial killer Uryū Ryūnosuke. Their mutual recognition and consolation inspired Caster to raise the banner of "salvation" and unleash his ultimate art—Prelati's Spellbook.
[Here, I shall once again raise the banner of the Savior!]
[Those who have been abandoned! Those who have been scorned, gather around me!]
[I shall command you! I shall lead you! The resentment of we who have been persecuted shall finally reach God!]
[O Lord in Heaven! I shall cleanse away my sins and praise You!]
[Arrogant God! Merciless God! We shall drag you down from your divine throne!]
[Beloved lambs of God! You who possess bodies made in God's image! We shall **** you to our hearts' content and tear you apart! The laughter of we rebels shall accompany the screams of God's children and knock open the gates of Heaven!]
Caster's actual storyline would not appear until Episode 13.
Kamiyā Yuu had slightly raised the rank of the Noble Phantasm [Prelati's Spellbook]. In addition to summoning the enormous phantom of an ancient evil god, countless Deep-Sea Monsters would simultaneously crawl ashore and continuously devour magical energy by slaughtering ordinary people.
It would not even take one night for them to destroy Fuyuki City.
The magical energy consumed in such a short period would be enough for it to transform into an ancient evil god capable of threatening all humanity.
The origin of [Prelati's Spellbook] was the 'R'lyeh Text', a grimoire that stood alongside the 'Necronomicon' in the Cthulhu mythos.
Caster, originally a Marshal of France, did not possess the attributes of the Caster class. It was precisely because of this book that he had been granted the Caster class.
In the character side novel 'Bluebeard' written by Kamiyā Yuu, Caster became obsessed with the forbidden knowledge contained within this grimoire and repeatedly sacrificed living humans in an attempt to resurrect Jeanne d'Arc.
However, the forbidden knowledge had no effect other than driving him increasingly mad and deepening his obsession.
When Caster summoned the [Deep-Sea Monsters] in Episode 13, Kamiyā Yuu gave [Prelati's Spellbook] a close-up shot. The pages contained incantations written in Italian, serving as a small Easter egg for viewers.
Unfortunately, the Cthulhu mythos did not exist in this world.
Even after watching Episode 13, viewers would probably only think that the Deep-Sea Monsters summoned by Caster looked extremely disgusting.
Kamiyā Yuu himself was rather fond of the Cthulhu mythos.
In his previous world, the mythos had influenced countless works of literature, games, film, and television. Dark Gothic aesthetics combined with a Cthulhu-like setting could create an unparalleled atmosphere of despair and suffocating oppression.
When Kamiyā Yuu had watched the original anime in his previous world, he had wanted to complain about the setting of the [Deep-Sea Monster] summoned by Caster.
Aside from being absurdly tough, it did not seem to have any particular characteristics.
Overall, the only ones capable of destroying that mass of flesh were Saber, the King of Heroes Gilgamesh, and Lancelot.
The first two needed no explanation.
As for Lancelot, if he used [Knight of Owner] to reinforce a fighter jet, he could probably destroy it as well.
The appearance of the [Deep-Sea Monster] forced the Church, which acted as the supervisory authority, to take emergency measures.
The moment the massive fluctuation of magical energy was detected, a ceasefire agreement between the Heroic Spirits was simultaneously issued.
They first had to deal with Caster, the troublemaker disrupting the Holy Grail War.
From there, the plot would proceed largely the same as in the original.
Lancelot would take control of a fighter jet and engage the King of Heroes Gilgamesh in an aerial dogfight.
On the ground, Caster would ultimately be annihilated by [Excalibur].
...
"It's over."
Even Kamiyā Yuu himself was left wanting more after finishing the episode.
Episode 11 had ended without playing the ending theme, mainly because he did not want the atmosphere they had created to be ruined and because it made the transition into the next episode smoother.
Kamiyā Yuu glanced at the number of viewers currently online displayed on the video page.
At present, fewer than five hundred thousand people were online across the entirety of BIUBIUBIU.
Yet as many as one hundred and eighty thousand were watching 'Fate/zero'!
That was more than one-third of the platform's entire online user base.
Leaving the contents of Episode 13 aside for now, after Episode 12 finished airing, every viewer who had watched it felt that the episode had exploded on an unprecedented level.
Although Zhao Yun and [Ionioi Hetairoi] had not directly settled their battle, the performance of both sides had already left viewers immensely satisfied.
Did Lancer taking on [Ionioi Hetairoi] by himself mean that [Ionioi Hetairoi], despite being an EX-rank Noble Phantasm, was too weak?
In reality, the fact that Zhao Yun had required two Command Spells as enhancements and had to use the Noble Phantasm [A Battlefield for One Alone] merely to gain a slight advantage was already enough to answer that question.
It also helped enormously that Lancer Zhao Yun himself possessed strong anti-army capabilities.
If the original Lancer had been put in his place, trying to confront [Ionioi Hetairoi] head-on with nothing but those two spears would have been no different from an ant trying to shake a great tree.