Before becoming a world history and social studies teacher at Fuyuki City’s private Homurahara Academy, Kuzuki Souichirou—this cold and gloomy man—was once a mber of an assassination organization. He had killed before.
Though now severed from that past, he still excelled at the assassination art known as "Serpent," which carved special trajectories to punish his enemies.
Enhanced by Caster dea’s body-strengthening magecraft, Kuzuki Souichirou’s already formidable close-quarters combat beca even deadlier. His limbs were his weapons, and so long as his combat patterns weren’t exposed, he could even contend briefly with Servants, occasionally pulling off a reversal kill (Rin would agree, painfully).
In alternate tilines, his technique was so bizarre and unpredictable that even Rider and Saber suffered heavy losses the first ti they fought him.
Of course, a larger reason was the incompetence of their mana-supplying Masters. One was the talentless waste known as Shinji Matou, and the other was Emiya Shirou, who had only just begun learning magecraft.
A Rider without her steed, a Mystic Eye rendered unusable, all stats significantly debuffed; a Saber unable to spirit form, also nerfed across the board... tsk.
So it wasn’t all that surprising Kuzuki managed to get the upper hand.
But this ti, Kuzuki Souichirou, as a re human, challenged one of the most skilled mbers of Durandal’s team.
It was like an old man chugging poison.
Senti was no underpowered Rider or Saber struggling from poor mana supply.
"Trash!"
Seeing Kuzuki unard, Senti tossed her weapon aside and engaged him barehanded.
Yes, her physical stats were limited as a Servant, and her Herrscher abilities capped. But in pure martial arts, she remained unaffected.
With Fu Hua’s fifty thousand years of experience, Senti had seen her share of strange martial styles in Shenzhou. Compared to real serpentine beasts (serpent-type Honkai beasts), Kuzuki’s techniques were nothing special. After all, he was human. His anatomy simply couldn’t replicate true snake-like movent.
No matter how much he relied on magecraft reinforcent, his physical capabilities were still inferior to a Servant.
"And you dare raise a snake-fist stance at this immortal with your half-baked garbage?"
Even as Kuzuki struck at her chest and the back of her neck, Senti yawned, completely unimpressed, and caught the arc of his assassination technique "Serpent" with ease.
Snap!
With a crisp crack of bones, Kuzuki’s left arm twisted at a ninety-degree angle, and his right shoulder dislocated on the spot.
"Hup!"
To Senti’s surprise, the arrogant man didn’t even flinch. Despite the trauma, he stoically launched a kick.
But—"Weak!"
Bang!
A single sweep of her leg smashed into Kuzuki’s raised knee, shattering it and slamming into his abdon like a club.
"Wah—ghk!"
His 150-pound fra flew like a cannonball, tumbling across the stone floor of Ryuudou Temple, skipping several tis before crashing into the courtyard wall.
The wall cracked inch by inch, debris scattering. His body crumpled like a broken sack, head drooping, coughing up a grueso mix of blood and flesh. Red soaked through his clothes almost instantly.
"No, no—Master Souichirou..." Caster dea’s voice broke into sobs.
Kuzuki Souichirou could no longer respond to her.
Whoosh! Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!
Caster dea, panicked, raised her staff. A deep violet magic circle ford in the air, unleashing a volley of magical projectiles that surged toward Senti, who was steadily approaching.
"You’d better worry about yourself."
With a swing of her Key of Castigation, Raiden i released a dense barrage of thunderbolts, accurately sealing off the area around Caster dea.
At that mont, Senti was fully in character. With a wicked grin, she grabbed Kuzuki Souichirou by the throat.
"Now then, tell : will you obediently confess everything you know about the other Masters, or shall this immortal pry open your skull and find out for myself?"
"If you cooperate nicely, maybe I’ll be rciful and let you and your dood little lover die together."
Her short stature didn’t matter—Senti lifted dea’s Master effortlessly and dragged him across the ground toward her.
Watching this scene, Fu Hua, Kiana, and Raiden i all twitched at the corners of their eyes.
They recalled Senti’s grumbling before departure: "I am such a righteous, universally respected immortal. You want to play the villain? How am I supposed to do that? I look like a good immortal, okay?"
Fu Hua had calmly retorted, "Play the villain? Do you even need to act? Just tone down your arrogance and sharp tongue."
"I will withdraw from the Holy Grail War! Just don’t hurt Master Souichirou!"
"As long as he lives, I’ll agree to anything!"
Seeing Senti’s fingers tighten and Kuzuki’s expression contort in agony from lack of air, Caster dea ripped off her cloak, revealing her desperate and sorrowful face. With a humble and devout posture, she collapsed to the ground, pleading to what appeared to be the leader—Durandal.
Her voice cracked, hoarse with emotion.
"Noble child of the gods, I, dea, daughter of King Aeetes of Colchis, am willing to return to the Throne of Heroes and surrender everything—but please, spare my Master. He is not a magus and poses no threat to you."
Of course, Caster dea had no intention of relying solely on rcy or forgiveness. As she begged, she was also weaving a teleportation spell to move her Master to safety.
Beneath her cloak, her hand subtly manifested a strange, twisted dagger.
It was her Noble Phantasm—Rule Breaker: All Spells Must Be Broken!
A dagger capable of nullifying contracts between Servants and their Masters, transferring Command Seals to her!
Yes—she had one last, desperate gamble.
She would try to stab either the knight who seed to be leading them or the magus. If she succeeded...
Then this entire situation could be overturned. She could even seize control of multiple powerful Servants.
No need to sche for Saber. No more struggle. She could sweep the Holy Grail War.
Sadly, the dream was beautiful, but reality was cruel.
She hadn’t been sure at first, but now that she was close, dea clearly sensed the divine aura radiating from every attacking Servant present.
Divinity. Aside from Fu Hua and Senti, whose high divinity ca from the legends of the Immortal Phoenix without needing fictional embellishnt, the rest...
The others, like Durandal and the rest, truly had no divine affiliations. But that didn’t matter—not with Selene’s fabricated heroic epics and the false rumors spreading through the Empire.
"...."
As the golden-haired knight drew closer, the silver-white divine armor she wore emitted an aura that filled Caster dea with dread. She imdiately recognized it as god-forged armor.
In that instant, Caster dea dispelled her Rule Breaker’s manifestation. Success was now impossible.
As soone who lived through the Age of Gods and had suffered divine curses, dea knew all too well the resilience of divine armor and its resistance to curses.
Lifting her head, the radiant holy knight approached. Gazing at the gallant figure of Durandal, a flicker of sorrow and bitter self-mockery passed through dea’s dim eyes.
All Heroic Spirits tied to the divine... Heh. Even after reaching the Throne of Heroes, I still can’t escape the gods’ manipulation.
Unlike the carefree first half of her life, dea’s latter years were nothing but betrayal and lies.
Because of the goddess Aphrodite, dea had been cursed to fall in love with Jason, captain of the Argo. Her string of tragedies began there.
She betrayed her father Aeetes, butchered her own younger brother and scattered his body into the sea, and in a cruel act of revenge against Jason’s betrayal, murdered her own children.
Yes... as the "Witch of Betrayal," all I bring is misfortune. I’m the one who brought ruin to Master Souichirou.
"Ara~ Ara~, how amusing. A Servant who’ll disappear once the Holy Grail War ends, falling in love with a living Master? This Caster pair is just full of drama!"
Having had her fill of this lodramatic farewell scene, Rita finally spoke, her tone leisurely:
"Lady Durandal, by my assessnt, Caster isn’t trustworthy. Who knows if she’s just putting on an act."
Standing beside Durandal in her [Stygian Nymph] armor, the alluring maid Rita wore a soft smile—but her words hit dea like ice.
As a loyal and all-capable maid, Rita took it upon herself to fill in the gaps for Durandal. In Greek mythology, dea’s cruelty and wickedness had beco synonymous with betrayal and witchcraft.
Rita lacked Selene’s foresight, but based on the available facts, she couldn’t believe this "fallen" witch would truly reform so easily.
"It doesn’t matter. Whether she lives or dies isn’t for us to decide."
"In Greek myth, didn’t dea once possess the Golden Fleece? Perhaps we can use its power to tear open a rift."
"Lady Durandal, you an... I understand now."
The Golden Fleece, a legendary treasure in Greek mythology, symbolized not just wealth but also adventure, indomitable will, ideals, and the pursuit of happiness. It was said to carry the conceptual power to summon Phantasmal Species, dragons, even gods.
"So, dea, tell : what would you sacrifice for that man?"
"Depending on your answer, I may not only spare him, but heal his wounds and allow you to reunite with him."
Upon hearing that, a spark returned to dea’s lifeless eyes. "Really?"
"A promise is a promise. My word is unbreakable."
"I’m willing to give up everything!" Caster dea’s reply ca without the slightest hesitation.
This was the only chance—the only way to win even a sliver of hope for Master Souichirou!
"Very well. But dea, you only get one chance." With that, Durandal furrowed her brows slightly and placed her massive lance across dea’s slender neck.
"Senti, leave a safety asure, then spare his life for now."
Hearing this, Senti nodded and gave a knowing gesture. She tapped Kuzuki Souichirou lightly at three points—his heart, throat, and brain—then flung him into Caster dea’s arms.
"You’re a Caster. You can heal, can’t you?"
Watching dea gently lower him and, with tears in her eyes, begin treating his injuries, Durandal shook her head. The scene gave her a strange sense of familiarity. She couldn’t help but begin to believe this "Witch of Betrayal" might truly be on the path to redemption.
Still, the mission ca first.
She looked back at Lev, who was already linking the underground leyline of Fuyuki and setting up the summoning ritual. "Master, how many steps remain?"
Rising from his completed rune carvings, Lev still had a flush of excitent on his face.
"The Holy Grail has been placed at the leyline node underground. Her Majesty’s ’sacred relic’ has also been positioned. Now, we just need to retrieve the Grail nurtured by Fuyuki over the centuries and fuse it with our system."
"Once the Saint Graphs of six Servants fill the Holy Grail system, the gateway to the Root will open. Using the accumulated magical energy of this world as a sacrifice—the Age of Gods will return!"
King Solomon’s temple will be reborn. Together with the foreign god, mysteries shall be restored, and the Age of Gods will once again envelop the world!
After Solomon’s death, the age of mystery began to rapidly decline. Lev’s goal was simple: to resurrect King Solomon and bring back the divine era.
And now, he had struck a deal with an otherworldly god. A double safeguard: he would summon both Solomon’s temple and the foreign god.
To Lev, foreign or not, mystery was still mystery.
As for the consequences of restoring the divine age? The number of humans who might die? That had nothing to do with him!
The foreign god may have ulterior motives, but if reviving the Age of Gods ant burning away humanity, Lev would pay that price without hesitation.
"Now then! Let us begin! I can’t wait any longer! The Age of Gods—ah hahahaha!!"
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