The fortress Noble Phantasm of the Red Assassin, "The Hanging Garden of Babylon," stands eerily silent and stable amidst the tumult of the battlefield. Though surrounded by chaos, this stronghold remains an island of tranquility.
The Red Lancer, Karna, lands steadily in the center of the courtyard, sheathing his Immortal blade. He walks into the throne room with a calm, measured pace, showing no signs of injury.
"Welcome back, Lancer. And I apologize for interrupting your battle with Vlad III," greets Shirou, the priest who stands beside the throne. It was he who had ordered Karna to return swiftly to the Hanging Garden.
"No matter."
Karna shakes his head slightly.
"Staying there would have put my life at risk."
Though unaware in advance of Spartacus's monstrous transformation, Karna's judgment remained sharp. Just as Jeanne had recognized that Spartacus was on the verge of explosion, so did Karna.
Given the publicly known effects of Crying Warmonger, it was clear that Spartacus's final attack would convert all his magical energy into a physical shockwave, resulting in unprecedented destruction.
As Jeanne had noted, Spartacus had surpassed the limits of a Servant, reaching new heights. Even with Karna's Golden Armor mitigating ninety percent of the damage, the remaining ten percent would be lethal if he were at the explosion's center.
Karna, courageous and steadfast, does not fear powerful foes. However, he is not foolish enough to let a berserker on the verge of self-destruction take him down.
Hearing Karna's reasoning, Shirou isn't surprised. He merely smiles and says, "It's good that you realized it."
"What about the others?"
"They are still fighting. Because they are far from here, I did not call them back," Shirou replies, pointing to the various projections spread across the room.
The Red Rider, Achilles, is locked in an intense battle with the Black Archer, Chiron. They are fully engaged, using fists, arrows, spears, shields, and even their heads in a frenzied fight.
The Red Archer, Atalanta, is sprinting at an exaggerated speed towards Achilles' location.
The Red Saber, Mordred, is struggling the most against the immensely powerful Artoria. Fortunately, she is not alone in this battle, supported by her Master, Kairi Sisigou.
In this variant Holy Grail War, most Masters have become accustomed to staying in safe places, leaving the fighting to their Servants. But not Kairi. Knowing that they would likely face Artoria and aware of the vast gap between Mordred and Artoria, he prepared meticulously.
He has scattered over a dozen Eyes of the Owl around the battlefield, using visual sharing magic to observe from multiple angles. Additionally, he has established a visual link with Mordred to provide real-time information as needed.
This setup ensures that Mordred can see Artoria's every move clearly, regardless of her maneuvers.
The Eyes of the Owl, constructed differently from human eyes, can handle what human eyes cannot. This allows Kairi to employ necromantic interference against Artoria effectively.
While direct magecraft on a Servant isn't feasible due to their magic resistance, indirect interference is still possible. For example, using magecraft to lift a stone and throw it, or as Kairi often does—creating a large cloud of toxic mist.
The toxicity of the mist isn't Kairi's goal; rather, he seeks to impair Artoria's vision. Before the battle, Kairi asked Mordred about the weaknesses of "Instinct." Mordred explained that while "Instinct" can sense danger, it is a form of crisis intuition and not actual sight, thus often failing to provide precise judgment.
For instance, if someone attacks Mordred from behind, she can sense the danger and even pinpoint where the weapon is aimed, but not what kind of weapon it is—be it a sword, spear, or dagger. Therefore, while "Instinct" is highly useful, it cannot replace all senses. Impairing the senses is effective even against those with "Instinct."
For a normal warrior, the most important sense is undoubtedly vision. Sisigou releases the toxic mist precisely to weaken Artoria's vision.
Artoria wouldn't normally be concerned about conventional mist, as she has Mana Burst and Invisible Air, which can easily blow the mist away. However, this time is different. This is a battlefield, a necromancer's paradise, filled with corpses—not just any corpses.
The combat homunculi, born from the combined technologies of the Yggdmillennia and Einzbern families, all possess top-tier magic circuits, making them excellent magical materials for a necromancer. Without expending much mana, simply embedding a spell formula into these corpses causes their high-quality magic circuits to automatically transform, producing repulsive and noxious gas.
At first, Artoria managed to disperse the mist a few times. But eventually, all the nearby corpses turned into toxic mist generators. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't clear it all at once, forcing her to fight under severely restricted visibility.
In contrast, Mordred, benefiting from the visual sharing of the Owl's Eyes, was far less affected.
Besides the toxic mist, Sisigou did much more.
For instance, he would activate Corpse Explosion when Artoria approached a corpse, disrupting her balance and splattering her with debris.
Furthermore, he would occasionally fire a few shots. This time, Sisigou wasn't using a modified magic-imbued double-barreled shotgun but a real rifle equipped with night vision, loaded with armor-piercing rounds. Though these bullets lacked enchantments and couldn't harm a Servant, Sisigou never intended to cause harm. His goal was always interference.
The balance of power gradually shifted from a one-sided battle to occasional counters, and eventually to an even exchange. By the time Artoria realized something was amiss and aimed to eliminate Sisigou first, he had already moved beyond her range of perception.
Through his actions, Sisigou demonstrated to all participants that the Holy Grail War is not just a stage for Servants but also Masters. A Master can do more than just issue commands, ensure their safety, heal their Servants, and use Command Spells—they can provide comprehensive support to their Servants!