"Riezel!"
Artoria, who saw Riezel being sent flying and crashing not far away, could not help but cry out instinctively.
"Mr. Riezel!"
Mash’s expression changed as well, then she bit her lip and actually prepared to rush over.
Riezel was her savior.
Even though Da Vinci had told her before that she should be cautious around Riezel and the others, given their unclear identities, she was just too pure-hearted. It was simply impossible for her to stand by and watch her savior die without trying to help.
However, just as Mash was about to rush over, the enemy reinforcements finally arrived, though belatedly.
"Target sighted!"
"They’re with the Child of Prophecy!"
"Hurry! Surround them!"
One after another, horse-headed fairy soldiers arrived with loud, forceful steps.
Seeing that Baobhan Sith was already engaged with Riezel, they immediately spread out to encircle Artoria and Chaldea’s group, charging toward them.
Artoria was the first to be surrounded, immediately trapped by a considerable number of fairy soldiers.
It was only natural.
Artoria had infiltrated Camelot and attacked the throne room, so she was already on the blacklist of the Queen’s Army. In the eyes of the fairy soldiers, her priority was much higher than the relatively unfamiliar Chaldea.
For that reason, quite a few fairy soldiers encircled Artoria.
Some raised their spears, stabbing at her, while others hoisted their halberds and summoned a huge wave of flames, blasting them toward Artoria.
"Tch!"
Seeing this, Artoria clicked her tongue, raised the Staff of Selection, gathered magical energy, and prepared to fight back.
Soon, Chaldea’s group was also surrounded by fairy soldiers and had no choice but to fight.
"Fujimaru! Get back!"
Da Vinci quickly pulled the unarmed Ritsuka back, retreating behind the others.
Seeing this, the fairy soldiers wanted to pursue, but Mash blocked their way.
*BANG!*
Mash glowed faintly and, like a tank, charged at full speed, smashing her shield into a fairy soldier and sending him flying high into the air, not coming down for quite some time.
*BANG!**BANG!**BANG!**BANG!*
She showed unexpectedly impressive strength, dashing back and forth among the fairy soldiers. Her shield spun fiercely in her hands, sending a fairy soldier flying with each swing, and dull noises rang out continuously.
*Ting-ling-ling~*
Tristan also joined the fight, plucking the strings of his harp without hesitation, which released invisible attacks that struck down the incoming fairy soldiers one by one.
Given that the power Baobhan Sith had just used originally belonged to Tristan, this combat style of firing invisible attacks from harp strings was something he could use naturally, much more skillfully than even her.
Baobhan Sith’s attacks were too monotonous, focusing only on killing power and cutting force.
In contrast, Tristan’s attacks followed complex and unpredictable trajectories—sometimes striking from the sky, sometimes shooting up from the ground, sometimes rushing in from either side, and sometimes even coming from behind, weaving a web from which there was no escape.
In terms of threat, Tristan far surpassed Baobhan Sith.
Because of that, Baobhan Sith, even after using Tristan’s power, still could not reach Level 7.
By contrast, Tristan himself displayed true Level 7 strength, if not even stronger.
Needless to say, this was the true strength of the legendary Knights of the Round Table, or more specifically, the true power of Tristan, the Knight of Lamentation—one of the strongest among them.
With the two Knights of the Round Table unleashing their power, the fairy soldiers’ offensive was finally blocked, making it much safer for Ritsuka and Da Vinci, who had retreated to the rear.
This made Da Vinci abandon any thought of joining the fight and instead focus on protecting her Master, Ritsuka.
"Everyone..."
Ritsuka really wanted to help, but knew that rushing in would only cause trouble, so he gripped the hand bearing the command spells tightly, took several deep breaths, and concentrated, ready to support at any moment.
It went without saying that with things like this, no one could go help Riezel.
Of course, Riezel did not really need help.
*BANG!*
As the ground beneath him cracked, Riezel, who had been knocked away by Baobhan Sith’s blood energy, finally steadied himself.
’So that’s how it is...’
Feeling waves of pain from all over his body, Riezel raised his head from behind his black sword, his clear, glassy eyes full of calm.
’Is this the confidence you have to face me alone?’
Even though he did not know what had happened, Baobhan Sith had clearly grown stronger—there was no doubt about that.
Now, she might even be slightly stronger than a fully armed Shalltear, or else she would not be able to perform so well.
Unfortunately, it seemed there was a price to pay for this power.
"It’s all your fault... It’s all your fault!"
Baobhan Sith was clearly not in her right mind, as the way she looked at Riezel was full of hatred and anger.
"If it weren’t for you, Mother wouldn’t have scolded me..."
"If it weren’t for you, Mother wouldn’t have hit me..."
"It should have been enough with just me... I was enough!"
Aura of death and blood energy surged from Baobhan Sith’s body like steam, enveloping her entirely.
"What husband? A husband who gets more of Mother’s love than me is not needed at all!"
"I don’t need a father, I just need a mother!"
"If I kill you... If I get rid of you... Mother will go back to the way she used to be... she’ll love me again, like before!"
Baobhan Sith’s tiny, iron-soled feet stepped forward one by one, closing in on Riezel.
"Kill you... Kill you... Kill you kill you kill you kill you kill you!"
Her hatred and anger lashed out like a storm, pounding against Riezel’s body as if to slice him into a thousand pieces, making his skin sting sharply.
Yet Riezel’s gaze at Baobhan Sith remained calm, even cold.
"I have no interest in playing some twisted house game with a lunatic like you."
Riezel stepped out of the cracked ground, walking toward the approaching Baobhan Sith as he spoke indifferently.
"Besides, do you really think that by becoming this half-human, half-demon monster, you can actually threaten me? Funny."
With that, Riezel activated ’Message’ and spoke to Artoria, who was still in the midst of battle.
[Remove your Reinforcement from me.]
With Artoria’s Reinforcement in place, Riezel could not use Sun Breathing.
[What?]
Not knowing about Sun Breathing’s usage details, Artoria was momentarily stunned, almost getting hit by the flames from the fairy soldiers.
However, she did not have time to think about it, so she just did as Riezel asked and removed Reinforcement from him.
"Huuu... Haaa..."
At almost the same moment, Riezel’s breathing rhythm changed.
It became powerful.
It became fierce.
It became scorching.
Soon, the lightning bolts flashing over his body were replaced by firelight, causing blazing flames to ignite all over him.
"!!!"
Baobhan Sith suddenly froze, her twisted expression changing instantly.
Clearly, she sensed a threat.
Riezel, on the other hand, did not stop moving, still walking straight toward Baobhan Sith.
In the next moment, his voice slowly drifted to her ears.
"Even if you’ve gotten stronger, you still can’t compare to Gawain or Lancelot."
"Don’t even talk about them regaining their true forms—just in their weakened, named state, they’re both far stronger than you are now, and not just by a little."
"If one of those two had shown up tonight, I’d actually be in danger."
"But you?"
"At best, you’re only good for a warm-up."
As Riezel spoke these words, his tone remained calm and steady, yet the contempt and disdain in his voice could be felt completely, provoking Baobhan Sith.
"You damn human! AAAAAAAHHH—!!!"
In an instant, the hatred and anger in Baobhan Sith’s heart exploded all at once, making her ignore the warnings and danger in her mind as she charged madly toward Riezel.
*BOOM!*
Her speed surpassed what it was before, easily breaking the sound barrier as sonic booms thundered through the air.
As the aura of death and blood energy around her grew even more intense, surging outward like a hurricane, the blood-soaked Baobhan Sith shot forward, tearing through space as she closed in on Riezel.
Yet, Riezel actually sheathed his sword, putting it away.
However, Riezel’s hand never left the hilt—in fact, he gripped it even tighter.
*BANG!*
In the next moment, with a loud explosion, Riezel, wreathed in roaring flames, shot into the air like a streak of fire.
The flames flashed through the night sky like a meteor, vanishing in an instant.
The fire whirled, roaring like a tornado.
In her frenzy, Baobhan Sith saw nothing but a burst of flame filling her entire vision.
Right after that, a blazing slash, followed by the sound of a sword being drawn from its sheath, cut through everything before her eyes.
"Dancing Flash."
With a low voice, Riezel appeared from within the flames, landing behind Baobhan Sith.
Hermit, the black sword in his hand, had already returned to its sheath, and the flames gradually died down.
"..."
Time itself seemed to freeze in that instant.
Riezel stood facing the wind, his back to Baobhan Sith.
Baobhan Sith also stood with her back to Riezel, completely motionless.
It was as if the two had suddenly swapped places, causing the rest of those locked in battle to pause and turn their eyes this way, frozen in place.
In this silence, no one knew how much time had passed before Baobhan Sith finally moved.
*Splurt!*
With a sound like tearing fabric, Baobhan Sith’s body... split apart.
A burning, fiery wound appeared on her abdomen, severing her upper body from her lower body.
Blood burst forth.
Fresh blood surged.
Split cleanly in two, Baobhan Sith fell, one half to the left, the other to the right, both collapsing into the pool of blood beneath her.
"Aah..."
Broken sobs spilled from Baobhan Sith’s lips.
"Moth...er..."
With this final call, the vampire fairy finally lost all trace of aura and any further movement.
Silence instantly spread across the whole battlefield.
All the fairy soldiers stopped fighting, staring at Baobhan Sith’s fallen body, gripped by fear.
"D-Dead...?"
"Fairy Knight Tristan... is dead...?"
"Her Majesty’s daughter... is dead!"
"SHE’S DEAAAD—!!!"
As Baobhan Sith died right in front of them, the fairy soldiers seemed to see their queen’s wrath looming before their eyes.
In no time, every single one threw down their weapons and fled in a panic.
Artoria and the others also stopped fighting, their eyes drawn to Baobhan Sith’s body lying behind Riezel.
Some looked conflicted, others exchanged glances in silence.
"Baobhan Sith..."
Artoria’s face was filled with complicated emotions as she stared at the once-proud girl who had shouted about killing her, but now remained silent.
Meanwhile, Chaldea’s group did not know how to react, only exchanging glances for a long while, unable to speak.
They were new to this land, not understanding what a Fairy Knight truly meant here, nor the past of the girl who had inherited Tristan’s power, and so had no idea how they should feel.
"Uhh... that’s one problem solved, I guess?"
Hiding in the shadows, Oberon muttered quietly, feeling no particular emotion, only relief as he loosened his shoulders.
Soon, Riezel finally turned to look at the girl lying in the pool of blood.
He knew that this girl had a tragic past.
He knew she used to be kind, always showing goodwill before Morgan became queen, so much so that Morgan, who cared nothing for the life or death of any other fairy in the kingdom, saw this girl differently from all the rest.
However, because of her kindness, she was bullied and abused countless times by the other fairies, dying over and over.
For that reason, Morgan demanded she become cruel, demanded she become violent, shaping her into the bloody creature she was now.
Yet no matter how tragic her past, he could not simply ignore her murderous intent.
She hated him.
She resented him.
She wanted to kill him, torture him, cut off his limbs, turn him into a dried corpse, and hang him on the wall—this was what he faced.
Because of that, no matter how pitiful Baobhan Sith’s past, Riezel could not show her mercy, even if... this would enrage Morgan.
"You’ve only got yourself to blame."
Riezel withdrew his gaze from Baobhan Sith and walked toward Artoria.
"Riezel!"
Artoria put aside her conflicted feelings and ran toward Riezel.
Meanwhile, Chaldea’s group did not follow and stayed where they were, relaxing their guard as they watched Riezel with smiles.
However, none of them noticed a figure silently appear behind them, visible only to the one person who had started walking their way.
"WATCH OUT!"
Riezel’s pupils contracted as he shouted loudly toward Chaldea’s group.
Unfortunately, it was too late.
*Splurt!*
A hand shot out from a spray of blood, tearing through its victim’s body.
"...Eh?"
Ritsuka stood there in a daze.
A gaping hole had opened in his chest, blood soaking the front of his clothes.