"Eh? Have we arrived so soon?"
Suddenly, Jeanne's voice came from behind. Ryou could sense a hint of reluctance, confusion, and inner conflict in her tone.
He wasn't the typical oblivious character from Japanese anime; he naturally understood what this meant.
Jeanne had feelings for him, but she was struggling internally due to her responsibilities.
This made Jeanne all the more endearing to him, strengthening his resolve to take her away.
"Let's find a place to eat and rest first. We'll move out at night. According to the information, Jack the Ripper usually operates late at night," Ryou said calmly.
Jeanne naturally had no objections.
Sighişoara, this famous ancient city in Romania, stood resilient even after the brutal Second World War. Its old buildings, reflecting ancient Saxon cultural styles, were everywhere.
Most of the buildings here were built from stones, now weathered by wind and rain, showing signs of gradual erosion by nature.
From a high vantage point, the entire Sighişoara resembled a massive military fortress. The houses were compact and sturdy, like a maze where one could easily get lost without a local guide. Some buildings, clearly designed as watchtowers, still retained arrow slits from their original designs.
Most residents here were middle-aged or elderly, with many young people having moved to the more developed capital, Bucharest.
So when locals saw two strikingly attractive tourists, they couldn't help but cast curious glances.
Ryou, pushing his flashy Harley, walked beside Jeanne, looking like a romantic couple seeking adventure. Some elders, reminiscing about their youthful days, smiled and nodded at them.
"People in this city are really warm and simple," Jeanne said softly, smiling as she returned the greetings.
Her smile was pure, clearly showing that she genuinely liked this unpretentious ancient city.
"That's why we need to catch Jack the Ripper as soon as possible, to restore the city's peace."
Hearing Ryou's words, Jeanne's expression turned serious.
"You're right."
They found a small tavern and enjoyed a meal of Romanian-style grilled bread and roasted meat. After a brief rest, they continued their search in the town.
As time passed and the sun set, the city grew quiet. This ancient city had very few streetlights.
Seemingly affected by a series of tragedies, the streets were nearly deserted at night.
Especially in the old town area, even the lights inside the houses were rarely seen.
The whole city suddenly felt like a ghost town.
Jeanne's eyes suddenly lost focus for a few seconds, then she pointed in a direction.
"This way!"
Ryou's eyes narrowed, recognizing that Jeanne's Revelation skill had been activated.
Jeanne started walking, then transitioned to running, gradually picking up speed. Ryou had to quicken his pace to keep up with her.
Before they knew it, they plunged into a dense fog.
The fog was not only pungent but also felt like inhaling sulfuric acid, burning from the mouth through the throat to the lungs.
Visibility in this fog was extremely low, at most only about a meter, making it more terrifying than smog.
It was a magically created acid fog, mimicking the severe pollution of 19th-century London.
Fortunately, neither of them were ordinary people. Ryou's endurance and high recovery rate made him impervious to the fog's effects.
Jeanne, with her EX-level Magic Resistance, found the acid fog created by magical power to be merely a slight hindrance to her vision.
Ryou understood—they had finally found their target.
As Jeanne ran ahead, unaware, Ryou gradually slowed his pace.
Before long, Jeanne vanished into the fog ahead.
Knowing the original story, Ryou understood that despite Jack the Ripper's appearance as a little girl, she was composed of the vengeful spirits of thousands of unvoiced infants. She was extremely intelligent and combined with the legendary cunning of the original Jack the Ripper, she had become a naturally high-IQ killer.
If Ryou stayed with Jeanne, Jack might not acted. But once they separated, she would come for him.
After all, he appeared weaker before transforming.
Ryou mocked himself inwardly.
At that moment, a sense of extreme danger suddenly welled up inside him.
Is it?
She's found me!
Just as the thought crossed Ryou's mind, a clear and cheerful loli voice whispered in his ear.
"Nii-san~, let we see your heart~"
Ryou felt a chill down his back. Although he didn't feel any weight on him, Jack the Ripper, like a vengeful spirit, had silently leaped onto his back and was whispering in his ear.
This scene was straight out of a horror movie.
And given her position, Jack could easily slit his throat in an instant.
She had silently seized his vital point—this loli was indeed a natural-born killer.
Despite the dangerous situation, Ryou remained incredibly calm.
He had faced far more perilous situations before; this crisis wasn't enough to faze him.
After a moment's thought, he adopted a flippant tone.
"Why not let me show you something bigger first?"
His tone was like that of a middle-aged pervert trying to lure a loli to see a goldfish.
"We guess it's better to just kill you right away!"
Jack's tone turned icy cold.
Sensing the anger in her voice, Ryou smiled. He wasn't a pervert; there was a reason for his words.
He knew Jack the Ripper's background well.
In 19th-century London, there were tens of thousands of prostitutes. Due to the brutal abortion techniques of the time, many infant corpses were discarded into the rivers near the city.
These unborn infants turned into vengeful spirits, and Jack the Ripper was an amalgamation of these spirits.
If she had a twisted love for prostitutes, then she had nothing but pure hate for their lecherous clients.
Ryou intended to provoke her by acting like one of those lecherous men.
A calm assassin and an enraged, irrational one—which was easier to deal with was obvious.
Feeling the bone-chilling killing intent emanating from the loli Jack, it was clear Ryou's plan had worked.
Without a word, Jack drew the dagger from her waist and aimed it at his neck.
At that moment, a dazzling white magical light suddenly emanated from his body.
Startled, Jack the Ripper quickly leaped off his back and clung to the wall like a spider.
As the magical light gradually faded, Ryou's somewhat lean figure disappeared, replaced by a hulking giant weighing 300 kilograms.
Ryou had transformed directly into Spartacus's form.
"What are you?"
Jack asked, exasperated tilted her head cutely.
He had just been an ordinary human, and in the blink of an eye, he turned into a Servant. This felt like a trap!
"Guess," Ryou said with a smile.
However, with Spartacus's face, Ryou's smile looked rather sinister.
"It doesn't matter! We will rip out your heart!"
Jack the Ripper's eyes suddenly glowed red, a sign that her magical power had reached its peak.
In the next instant, the little girl on the wall vanished into thin air, her speed reaching an incredible level!
Slash!
Several deep wounds suddenly appeared on Ryou's back and shoulders, with blood gushing out like a fountain.
With Jack the Ripper's agility equivalent to a B-rank, combined with the concealment of the magical acid fog, he could barely detect her presence.
He could only catch a glimpse of her during her attacks.
But that was enough.
Swish!
Without thinking, Ryou used Mana Burst to significantly enhance his speed, then swung his sword in a powerful slash.
The immense force turned the air into a sweeping blade wind in the direction of his iron sword.
Crash!
A house, unfortunately in the path of the blade wind, was sliced open with a massive gash.
"Ah-la-la~ where are you slashing, you big oaf~"
Jack's cheerful voice came from another direction.
Ryou replied, "You should worry about yourself!"
Jack immediately noticed a slight scratch on her arm, with a trickle of red blood slowly flowing down.
Though the wound was tiny, it indicated that he could keep up with her speed.
As for Ryou himself, the seemingly deep, bone-revealing wounds were healing before her eyes.
With the combined endurance of Spartacus's EX-rank and the rapid recovery of the Goliath Mystic Code, unless one could kill him in a single strike, his monstrous regenerative powers made him nearly invincible.
"Big monster!"
Jack the Ripper exclaimed, seeing Ryou's absurd recovery speed.
"Do you have the right to call me that? You're just a mere vengeful spirit," Ryou scoffed.
"We've decided, We'll cut out your tongue first!"
Jack the Ripper, her face filled with rage, launched another attack.
But from the start, she had fallen into his trap.
What happens when an assassin clashes with a tanky warrior?
Jack the Ripper would tell you she's now incredibly frustrated, to the point of wanting to vomit blood.
Her attacks came in waves, leaving countless wounds on Ryou's body, with blood gushing out, staining the ground red.
However, Ryou's towering figure remained steadfast in the thick fog.
In contrast, he only managed to land a hit on her after enduring over ten attacks himself.
The problem was that even if she attacked him ten or a hundred times, it barely affected him.
But any attack from Ryou, even a mere scratch, was significant for her.
It was important to note that her Master, Reika Rikudou, was just an ordinary woman, neither able to supply her with magical energy nor capable of using healing magic.
As the battle intensified, Ryou's body showed almost no signs of injury, and he continued to swing his iron sword with vigor.
On the other hand, Jack the Ripper's body was gradually covered with small cuts.
These wounds didn't seem severe individually, but collectively, they were substantial.
If she weren't currently a Servant, these wounds alone might have caused her to bleed to death.
Even now, if she didn't come up with a strategy, defeat was only a matter of time.
Jack wasn't stupid; on the contrary, she was very clever. Once she calmed down, she immediately thought of retreating.
Ryou quickly noticed the reduced frequency of her attacks and immediately understood her intention.
"Didn't you say you were going to rip out my heart? Now you're thinking of running away?"
Ryou taunted.
But Jack wasn't falling for it.
"We had a lot of fun tonight. We'll come back to play with you some other time, strange big brother~"
With Spartacus's speed, Jack could easily escape.
However, Ryou had another trump card, the Descend Card that allowed him to transform into Sasaki Kojiro.
Once he became the Heroic Spirit Sasaki Kojiro, he would lose his super endurance and recovery but gain the unmatched absolute speed of a Servant.
At that point, Jack would experience what true speed domination felt like.
"Hmph! Coming and going as you please? It's not that easy, Kusogaki!" Ryou said coldly.
But just as he was about to use the Descend Card, a voice full of roguish charm spoke.
"It's quite lively here. How about I join in?"
A girl with golden hair and green eyes, clad in full silver armor, carrying a magnificent silver greatsword, and looking quite boyish, emerged from the fog.
Ryou squinted his eyes.
That iconic blue Saber face indicated her identity.
Mordred, the rebellious knight who appeared as the Red Saber, affectionately known as Mo-chan.
Mordred is one of the renowned Knights of the Round Table under King Arthur and also King Arthur's illegitimate child.
She was a homunculus created using the genes of King Arthur and King Arthur's sister through magic.
Her most infamous deed was inciting a rebellion by falsely claiming that King Arthur was dead while Arthur was away on an expedition in France to fight the Knight of the Lake, Lancelot. She declared herself the sole heir of Arthur, leading an uprising.
Though this rebellion was suppressed, it had severe consequences, leading to King Arthur falling into a deep sleep and Britain exhausting its last bit of national strength, eventually being conquered by the Saxons.
In short, Mo-chan was a troublesome child.
This was evident even from the name of her Noble Phantasm,
Clarent Blood Arthur, a family heirloom light cannon Noble Phantasm of the Artoria family, also had a special effect against King Arthur.
As for why Mordred appeared here,
Let's rewind to five minutes earlier.
On the other side of this ancient town,
Mordred was following the scar-faced Kairi Sisigou with an impatient expression.
PS: 1 Power Stone = 1 Push up