With a sharp whistle, a chariot powered by three military horses suddenly appeared in the sky, precisely catching the falling Red Rider, Achilles.
The warrior, who once dominated the battlefield of Troy with grandeur, gripped the reins from his chariot seat and lashed the horses fiercely. The thunderous neighs of the muscular horses reverberated across the battlefield.
"Come, let's fight! I, the Red Rider, will take the lead now!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Achilles brought the chariot down to the ground.
Before him stood androids and golems. But not just the combat-specialized androids—even the golems weighing over a ton were pulverized under the hooves of the immortal horses bestowed by the sea god.
The enormous grinder of the chariot cut through the earth and world at bullet speed. Just by racing across the ground, the chariot driven by Achilles could ravage the entire battlefield.
"Come on, Servants of the Black Faction! Show us your strength! If anyone can stop my Rider's chariot, feel free to try!"
It wasn't a Servant who responded to his provocation but the golems.
Three golems moved to intercept the rapidly advancing chariot. Clicking his tongue, Achilles naturally chose to crush them to pieces.
"Get out of my way, you lowly soldiers!"
Hearing his words, the Black Caster Avicebron, observing the battlefield from afar, responded:
"Well, that's not necessarily true, Red Rider."
At the moment of collision, the three golems dispersed simultaneously.
To Achilles' surprise, the golems suddenly hardened as they entangled the legs of his horses.
"Ugh...!!"
The chariot, which had been charging at full speed, finally came to a halt.
Seeing this, the golems raised their battle axes and leaped towards the chariot.
"Stop playing your little tricks!"
Achilles released the reins, grabbed his spear, and leaped off the chariot.
With his skills, it only took an instant to take the lives of the golems, without missing a single one.
However, just as his spear cut through the weapon of the first golem and was about to slice through its body, a thunderclap suddenly erupted in the sky.
Faster than the thunderclap was the golden lightning. Infused with immense magic, the lightning of Indra, at its peak power, descended from the sky, manifesting as a thunder dragon aiming to engulf Achilles.
"Tch, Black Assassin, still as underhanded as ever!"
As the thunder dragon descended, Achilles remained fearless. With a twist of his spear, he swept away the encroaching golems in an instant. Using the recoil from his spear, he also leaped away from the chariot, escaping the range of the lightning.
Then, the thunder dragon poured down from the sky to the ground, and from the ground, it ascended back to the sky.
"Well, it looks impressive, but it means nothing if it can't hit. I've been on guard against you. Don't think the same trick will work twice."
Achilles shouldered his spear, leisurely watching the raging pillar of lightning before him, even having the time to shield his eyes from the dazzling light with his free hand.
But the next moment, his smile faded because of the agonized cries of his horses and a sudden, unidentifiable voice.
"Idiot, you were never my target!"
"What? Oh no!!!"
The slow-witted Achilles finally realized that while he had easily escaped, his chariot was still ensnared by the golems. The B+-ranked Noble Phantasm, imbued with the power of the Thunder God, had struck the chariot directly.
Countless golden divine thunders crawled over the chariot, turning its frame, which shimmered silver under the moonlight, to a charred black. The thunder continued to spread along the reins. The three divine horses pulling the chariot screamed in agony, unable to escape until the mad lightning shattered the golems binding their hooves. Only then did they muster the strength to dash out of the terrifying domain of the thunder.
However, after escaping, two of the horses were severely injured and exhausted, while the last one couldn't hold on anymore, its head drooping as it collapsed to the ground.
"Damn it! Pedasos!"
Achilles' Noble Phantasm, "Troias Tragōidia: Tempestuous Immortal Chariot," is a chariot pulled by three horses. Two of them are the immortal divine horses "Xanthos" and "Balius," gifts from the sea god Poseidon, while the last is the rare and swift horse "Pedasos," stolen from a city during the attack on Eetion.
Of course, as a summoned Noble Phantasm, even if the original text explicitly mentions immortality, "Xanthos" and "Balius" couldn't achieve true immortality, at most possessing extremely high defense, which is why they survived the thunder punishment. Unfortunately, "Pedasos" didn't have such legends, nor the divine nature or divine blood, and couldn't withstand a strike from Indra's most renowned Noble Phantasm, dying on the spot.
With one horse dead and two injured, the chariot was naturally unusable. Achilles glared hatefully at the golden vajra that fell to the ground and dissipated into spirit particles, then waved his hand:
"Xanthos, Balius, I don't need you for now. Withdraw."
The horse called Xanthos turned to its master and spoke: "A wise choice, my lord."
Xanthos had gained the ability to understand human speech and even speak on it thanks to the blessing of a certain goddess. However—
"We should have done this when we were first tripped up."
—it also had the worst personality.
"Be careful not to be led to the same fate as before."
Faced with the sneering immortal horse, Achilles couldn't help but knock it once with his spear handle. With a cry of protest, Xanthos disappeared along with Balius, who seemed to give a resigned look.
The remaining Red Rider, with a cold expression, scanned the entire field, searching for the elusive Black Assassin.
Unfortunately, his search was destined to be in vain, as Shinji was not within his sight but above him.
Satisfied with the result of using Indra's thunder to disable Achilles' anti-army Noble Phantasm, the assassin looked at his slingshot and muttered to himself:
"Good, though it's far inferior to Divine GunBlade, with the archery skills I learned from Chiron, I can execute long-distance 'Indra's Thunder' shots. It's a pity the war spear is too large to use as ammunition, and getting too close would alert Achilles. Otherwise, I might have destroyed his chariot in one go—I'm so envious of Red Archer. When will I be able to freely modify Noble Phantasms like that?"
As he spoke, Shinji lowered his altitude, his magically enhanced vision firmly locking onto Achilles. The impatient warrior, unable to find his target, was becoming increasingly agitated, his booming voice particularly loud under the night sky.
"Where is the Black Assassin! The unresolved duel from before, let's continue it now! Tonight, let's indulge in a good slaughter!"
"It's about time. If I hide any longer, this guy might vent his anger on the Homunculus—Astolfo went through so much to save them, I'd be embarrassed if they died right after."
Calming his ragged breath from the rapid descent, Shinji casually pulled out a stone and shot it at Achilles' forehead.