Fujimaru Kaede was well aware of the strength of these Heroic Spirits. Even though she had become the Elden Lord, changed her weapons, equipment, and skills, her physical fitness was only sufficient to tear apart third-rate or even second-rate Heroic Spirits.
Facing top-tier Heroic Spirits like Arash or Gawain one-on-one, she might be able to win, but in a one-on-many situation, it was a different story.
Running was inevitable, but her short legs and the massacre of civilians by these people gave Fujimaru Kaede an idea: kill their horses.
Without horses, the knights in heavy armor couldn't catch up, and the Heroic Spirits would just be waiting to be pursued.
"Don't run!" Gawain drew his weapon, the Holy Sword of the Sun. With this weapon, he was almost invincible during the day, and almost no Heroic Spirit could defeat Gawain in daylight.
He wanted to intercept the disruptor of the Holy Selection Ceremony and complete the Lion King's mission, but before he could act, the Mimic Tear rushed up directly. Fujimaru Kaede raised her middle finger: "Do you think I'm stupid? As a Tarnished, I'm not good at fighting multiple enemies. Goodbye, brother. Use your ultimate move; I'll take the people away first."
At that moment, the Mimic Tear leaped into the sky, capturing the attention of all the heroes and knights in the city. Fujimaru Kaede saw that the surrounding civilians had evacuated and ran out right after them.
Previously, the civilians were tied up at the city wall, and when Fujimaru Kaede and the Mimic Tear simultaneously turned into meteorites, they smashed the city wall. Now, with the civilians and Fujimaru Kaede able to evacuate, the Mimic Tear had no reason to hold back.
Scarlet Rot Incantation·Scarlet Ionia
This was the flower released at the beginning of the second phase of Malenia, but bigger and more terrifying. When the Mimic Tear jumped into the air, the Lion King, who had not taken action before, activated her Noble Phantasm.
The golden star-like light struck the Mimic Tear, but it was too late. Red flowers bloomed on the earth, and scarlet rot, so potent that even gods had to retreat, spread through the Holy City.
Outside the Holy City, Fujimaru Kaede felt the scarlet rot behind her. Without even turning her head, Fujimaru Kaede urged the civilians who had spontaneously grouped together: "Everyone, run in this direction quickly. There is a village where people will take you in. You can survive there. I will cover you."
Ahead, Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash, who had received Fujimaru Kaede's message, hurriedly ran in their direction.
Killing civilians in the Holy City might be doubted if said by outsiders, but coming from a companion, it must be true.
Fujimaru Kaede might beat up Heroic Spirits, rob Noble Phantasms, and even steal the doctor's coffee, but she never lied or exaggerated.
Fortunately, their teammates were there to support; otherwise, the wild monsters alone would have killed all the civilians.
Meanwhile, the Mimic Tear had dissipated before the Holy Spear hit it, but the scarlet rot it caused incapacitated a large number of Knight Enforcers and even inflicted varying degrees of damage on the Heroic Spirits.
"She is an unclean person, destroy her." This power disgusted the Lion King to her core. She wanted to completely eradicate its source. For this, she dispatched all the Knights of the Round Table with a single mission: to kill Fujimaru Kaede, to eliminate this unclean being.
Fujimaru Kaede didn't know this yet, but based on past singularities' experiences, she was sure that causing such a commotion would make her the Holy City's target. In this case...
Her plan was complete!
She was very greedy. Seeing civilians, she wanted to save them. Seeing the knights' equipment, she wanted to seize it, especially the Sun Holy Sword in Gawain's hand. The value of this Noble Phantasm made her drool.
Apart from Arash's body, this Noble Phantasm was the most valuable. The price in the Internet cafe exceeded 100,000 for just one Noble Phantasm. She had barely made that much before by robbing a group of heroes' weapons and Noble Phantasms.
Now, one item could be worth this much, and her greed was almost tangible. If converted into Japanese yen, more than 2 million yen would be enough for her to play for several years.
It's a pity the system evaluated the Holy Spear in the Lion King's hands as non-tradable, or she would have wanted to snatch it.
Although valuable, the problem was Gawain's immense strength, and the other Knights of the Round Table were no pushovers either. She needed to use a bit of strategy to steal his weapon.
A head-on battle might draw other Heroic Spirits, and failing to steal the sword and getting caught would be disastrous.
While she was devising her strategy, a message from Fujimaru Ritsuka arrived on TT.
"We found the Holy Grail and sought external help to aid us."
Fujimaru Kaede asked curiously, "How did you do it?"
"He acknowledges strength, and Mash and I defeated him."
"Very good! The combined firepower saved many people. See if you can ask them to send someone to rescue the civilians. I'm going to poke their nest."
Fujimaru Kaede had synchronized what the Holy City had done with everyone. The other two forces were aware of the city's actions but couldn't attack the extremely powerful Lion King.
Let alone them, even Fujimaru Kaede couldn't guarantee safety under the siege of several Heroic Spirits. For the Tarnished, killing wild monsters might be as easy as killing chickens, but facing a boss, especially multiple bosses with different attack styles, was not something to be taken lightly.
"But although the sword is valuable, I want the spear more."
Fujimaru Kaede narrowed her eyes, contemplating her next move. Through brief contact, she had identified her opponents. If they were Knights of the Round Table, they could be defeated one by one.
Coincidentally, she recognized most of these Knights of the Round Table. The one with purple hair should be Lancelot. She had seen Berserker Lancelot, so she remembered his features. The one in armor covering her face was Mordred. She and Mordred had a very good relationship in London, but she hadn't expected them to become enemies now.
"It seems she doesn't remember me. In that case, sorry, Mordred~~"
On the necessary path of pursuit, Jalter had been lying in ambush for a long time.
When the pursuing knights appeared, flames imprisoned Mordred.
"Hey~ thief!"
"?"
At that moment, Mordred got angry.
Mordred was irritable, proud, and very rebellious. She could tolerate taunts during the mission, but not when they were this blatant.
"I'm going to kill you!"
"You can't catch up with me~"
"Damn it! Don't run if you dare."
Mordred chased after her.
Except for the heroic horse under King Arthur, all the other biological horses in the city were killed by the Oceans of Blood(Rivers of Blood buffed version) from the Mimic Tear.
They didn't have horses, but Jalter did.
All the spectral steed that had been through the standard Elden Ring were precious to the Tarnished. Many spectral steed had climbed mountains and waded through rivers, with wild bosses slain by their riders.
But Jalter had a horse, and Mordred's speed was not negligible. With a burst of magic, she sprinted and chased after her.
"Mordred!" Lancelot in the team wanted to call her back, but Tristan rejected the idea: "We can't stop him, and his presence doesn't affect the mission."
Their mission was simply to locate Fujimaru Kaede, and once found, their king would naturally deal with her.
Before, they couldn't kill the strongest of the two invaders with full force, but their king could easily kill the remaining one.