"Master!"
"Fujimaru!"
A sudden and shocking turn of events caused everyone from Chaldea to cry out in alarm, their voices full of fear and panic that had not been present before.
Especially Da Vinci, who was closest to Ritsuka, her face turned pale because she had failed to react in time and protect him.
"Eh... Ah..."
It was only then that Ritsuka seemed to feel the pain, finally letting out a pained sound.
Behind him, as a hand pierced through Ritsuka’s body, a man whose palm was jutting out from Ritsuka’s chest let out a low chuckle.
"Well, well, how can you let your guard down just because the fight is over? A Master like that will never be able to save humanity, y’know?"
As he spoke, the man pulled his hand out of Ritsuka’s body right in front of everyone, and a spray of blood followed.
Ritsuka immediately collapsed to the ground, just like Baobhan Sith, staining the ground beneath him red as he gradually lost his aura.
At this scene, everyone from Chaldea was deeply shocked, and soon, it ignited a storm of emotion in their hearts.
"Ahh... AAAAAAAAHHH—!!!"
Mash, now shrouded in a faint light, completely lost her innocent appearance as if she had been pushed past her limit and lost all reason, shouting through her tears and charging at the man.
"BERYL GUT!"
Da Vinci also shouted at the top of her lungs, throwing her backpack as she wept.
In the next moment, that backpack morphed in midair, sprouted several mechanical arms, and then shot toward Beryl with a heavy roar.
*Ting-ling-ling~*
Tristan did not say a word, but his closed eyes opened, now flashing with a cold light as he strummed his harp, unleashing countless invisible attacks that formed a giant net, covering the sky to swallow Beryl.
*BOOOM!*
In that instant, Mash’s shield, Da Vinci’s mechanical arms, and Tristan’s harp strings all struck Beryl’s position at once, setting off a tremendous explosion that sent a raging shockwave sweeping outward.
Dust billowed up, instantly shrouding the spot where Beryl had stood, but it couldn’t fully cover the ground, which was starting to crack and collapse from the immense force.
After the attack landed, no one paid Beryl any more attention as they all rushed to Ritsuka’s side.
"Fujimaru! Fujimaru!"
Da Vinci cradled Ritsuka, calling his name again and again.
"Master!"
Mash dropped her shield and knelt before Ritsuka, also shouting his name nonstop.
As for Tristan, he had already placed his hand on Ritsuka’s neck, and after a moment, he shook his head with a heavy look.
"He... no longer has any vital signs..."
Everyone instantly understood what this meant.
"Chaldea’s Master... is dead...?"
Artoria, who had rushed over, stood there in a daze.
"...No way, that’s a lie, right?"
Oberon, hiding in the shadows, was also stunned at this moment, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Dead?
Chaldea’s Master was dead?
Chaldea’s Master, who had restored so many Singularities, saved humanity multiple times, and even cleared five Lostbelts, died just like that?
What about the Mirror Clan’s prophecy?
What about the foreign traveler who was supposed to help the Child of Prophecy?
What about Proper Human History, which was facing a threat and on the brink of collapse?
What about Faerie Britain?
All of these were the thoughts flashing through Oberon’s mind, leaving him in a daze.
Until...
"Move."
A cold voice sounded from behind the crowd surrounding Ritsuka’s corpse.
"Ri-Riezel?"
Artoria stared blankly at the speaker, unable to react.
Mash, Da Vinci, Tristan, and the others were all taken aback by Riezel’s sudden voice, looking up at him.
Riezel walked to the back of the group, his brow deeply furrowed, but he did not lose his composure like the others. He passed Artoria and Mash, knelt on one knee in front of Ritsuka, and then placed a hand on him.
"True Resurrection."
Riezel immediately cast the highest-tier resurrection magic without a moment’s hesitation.
*Zing—*
In an instant, dazzling, radiant light burst forth from Ritsuka, turning into particles of light that merged into his body.
As the light particles fused with him, the gaping, bloody hole in Ritsuka’s chest began to wriggle and heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Once the wound closed, the aura that had left Ritsuka began to return.
*Cough!*
Suddenly, Ritsuka coughed hard, spitting out a mouthful of blood. Yet upon seeing this, everyone was delighted instead of shocked.
"Fujimaru!"
"Master!"
Da Vinci and Mash both cried out in joy.
"He... actually came back to life?"
Tristan opened his eyes once more, even wider than before.
"Resurrection... magecraft...?"
Artoria, who thought she would never be stunned again by Riezel’s magecraft, was left stunned once more—only this time, she was stunned in an entirely new way.
Of course, she was not the only one left stunned.
"Oy, oy, oy, seriously? Resurrection? You can’t be serious..."
A voice full of disbelief came from the other side.
"He actually got resurrected? Is that really something magecraft can do? I’ve never even heard of it!"
At this, not only Riezel and Artoria, but everyone present turned furious once again.
"BERYL GUT!"
Mash shouted in the direction of the voice.
Over there, Beryl, who should have been utterly destroyed by the attacks of three Servants, had reappeared completely unharmed, which should have been impossible.
Against the combined wrath of three Servants, a normal human could never have escaped unharmed. Compared to Servants who appeared in all kinds of myths and legends, people from the modern age could not possibly measure up.
And Beryl was, without a doubt, a human.
Even if he was a magus, in this world, magi who could contend with Servants were exceedingly rare.
Considering that, for Beryl to sneak up behind Ritsuka and attack without being noticed was already astonishing, but to come out unscathed after taking the full brunt of three Servants’ wrath?
It should have been impossible, yet Beryl had done it.
In fact, the reason was simple.
"Looks like I won’t get to see your faces twisted in despair after all. What a shame."
Suddenly, an enchanting and beautiful fox woman, who had one hand resting on Beryl’s shoulder, spoke up with a bright smile.
It was obvious that Beryl had managed to escape safely, all thanks to this fox woman.
"Koyanskaya!"
Da Vinci called out her name.
"Hello, everyone from Chaldea~ Long time no see~ How have you all been~"
Koyanskaya, now with fox ears and a fox tail, waved at Chaldea’s group as if she were reuniting with old friends, her smile dazzling, yet there was not the slightest hint of laughter in her eyes—instead, they were filled with coldness and malice.
"Who... Who is she...?"
Artoria could not help but take a step back upon seeing the fox woman.
In her Fairy Eyes, it looked as though something extremely terrifying was emerging behind the breathtakingly beautiful fox woman, roaring at her.
It was a presence of pure evil.
It was also an overwhelmingly massive evil.
In the presence of such thick evil, Artoria felt as though even her own world, made up of swirling storms of malice, was being crushed and replaced by an even more dreadful and terrifying malice.
Not knowing what Artoria was seeing, Da Vinci merely responded with an unpleasant expression.
"She’s called Koyanskaya, an enemy who once crossed several Lostbelts and has always stood against us."
In short, she was like Beryl, an enemy of Chaldea.
She was neither a being from Proper Human History nor a lifeform from the Lostbelt, but something even worse, even more hostile, and fundamentally antagonistic to humanity.
She had appeared in the first five Lostbelts as well, so the members of Chaldea had actually already prepared themselves mentally for the possibility of encountering Koyanskaya, Beryl, and others hostile to Chaldea here.
What they had not expected was for her to appear in such circumstances.
However, what made them angriest was that Koyanskaya greeted them as if nothing had happened, and even Beryl raised his hand in greeting.
"Long time no see, Mash. I’m really glad to see you here, safe and sound."
Beryl, as if he had completely forgotten everything he had just done, and even forgotten the current state of Ritsuka, acted as if it did not matter whether Chaldea’s Master was dead or alive, smiling as he greeted Mash.
Seeing this made Mash furious, while Da Vinci’s expression turned even uglier.
"Beryl..."
Saying this, the now-revived Ritsuka opened his eyes before trying to sit up.
"Don’t move." Riezel frowned and pressed Ritsuka down. "You just came back to life, so the weakness in your body hasn’t completely faded. You need to lie down and rest for a while."
"But..."
Ritsuka, however, seemed unwilling to listen.
Regardless, if he refused to listen to Riezel’s words, Riezel had no intention of listening to his, either.
"I didn’t save you with your consent."
Saying this indifferently, Riezel pressed his hand against Ritsuka’s forehead.
"Sleep."
Riezel used a 1st-Tier Magic that was capable of putting someone to sleep instantly.
Under the effect of Sleep, Ritsuka’s eyelids immediately grew heavy, slowly closing against his will.
Soon enough, the just-revived Master had fallen into a deep sleep.
Riezel handed Ritsuka over to Da Vinci, then stood up and turned toward Koyanskaya and Beryl.
"So you finally decided to show yourself?" Riezel, speaking flatly, glanced at Koyanskaya first, then looked at Beryl. "I thought you wouldn’t dare show your face in front of me again, loser."
Hearing this, the smile on Beryl’s face froze, and he quickly turned visibly sullen.
He hated being called a loser more than anything.
Riezel knew this, which was exactly why he said it.
"My, my, so you’re the Child of Prophecy everyone keeps talking about?"
Koyanskaya actually seemed surprised as she looked Riezel up and down, then let out a sneering laugh.
"Heh... so the so-called Child of Prophecy is actually a human?"
It seemed Koyanskaya had already seen through Riezel’s true identity.
"Human?"
It was Mash, Da Vinci, and Tristan who reacted to this, turning to Riezel with shocked looks.
In truth, they had no idea Riezel was a human, and none of them had ever considered that possibility.
Because the strength Riezel had just displayed was far too overwhelming, not inferior to a Servant at all, and easily crushed the majority of them. Even famous Knights of the Round Table like Galahad and Tristan, in terms of raw strength, could not compare to Riezel.
And now, they were being told Riezel was a human?
No wonder they were so shocked.
Riezel himself, on the other hand, remained utterly indifferent.
"I never once claimed to be the Child of Prophecy. In the first place, that was just something those foolish fairies decided for themselves."
Riezel spoke calmly as he stared at Koyanskaya.
"What? Does it bother you to know that I’m a human? Well, you are humanity’s enemy, a being born from humanity’s evil, after all."
"Humans must seem even lower than beasts in your eyes. To you, they’re no better than trash on the roadside, right?"
"You can’t stand seeing humans become strong, can’t stand seeing humans excel, can you?"
"Tamamo Vitch Koyanskaya."
As soon as Riezel called out this name, the smile vanished from Koyanskaya’s face.
"Hmm..." Koyanskaya stared at Riezel, her pupils turning into golden beast eyes. "So you know my true nature?"
"!!!"
In that instant, everyone present felt a primal fear run through them.
Something deep within their bodies screamed at them, warning that a terrifying being had been awakened.
Only Riezel remained as calm and indifferent as ever.
"I don’t just know your true nature. I know exactly what you are."
Riezel looked at Koyanskaya as if she were a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
"Shall I expose everything about you right here?"
As soon as Riezel said this, the feeling of terror among everyone there grew even stronger—even Beryl quietly slipped away from Koyanskaya, putting some distance between them.
"Heh... Hahahaha..."
Koyanskaya began to laugh.
Her smile was stunning.
Her laughter was especially vicious.
"I only came here to test out my new weapon, not to show my true colors or fight, but now... it seems I need to give you all a demonstration of what it means to be a ’Beast.’"
"Wouldn’t you agree?"
"Human."
As soon as Koyanskaya’s words fell, the storm of malice in Artoria’s eyes gradually became tangible.