Sighișoara, Mountain Church
At that moment, the quiet sanctity of the church was shattered by the deafening roar of heavy-caliber gunfire.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang… A barrage of standard 0.75-inch explosive rounds tore through the air.
The fiery storm of metal instantly shredded the wooden pews where Amakusa Shirou Tokisada had just been praying.
Then came the thunderous booms.
Explosive flames burst outward, the shockwaves shattering stained-glass windows!
The ancient church was being dismantled piece by piece.
Ornaments and sacred items scattered in all directions, flung against the walls like broken kites.
Smash! Smash! Smash! Smash…
Within the chapel, the crucifix in the center and several of the larger pillars were reduced to fragments.
The stained-glass images of Christ were now blanketed by an onslaught of metal, casting brilliant and chaotic colors beneath the moonlight.
Bang! Whiz—! Splat!
A single explosive round pierced through the church's thick walls, striking Shakespeare's midsection as he gleefully shouted about his "inspiration," "heroic battle," and "the grand finale he needed."
Splurt! Blood sprayed as the Red Caster's upper and lower halves separated.
"Master! Be careful!" The expression of Semiramis, the ancient poisoner and Empress of Assyria, was more serious than ever, her earlier composure long gone.
The moment the guns roared, an explosive round tore through the wooden door and slammed into Semiramis' face, only to explode upon impact.
Thankfully, through her EX-ranked Territory Creation skill, Semiramis had used a large portion of her energy to set up defensive magic barriers for her own stronghold, the church, while focusing most of her attention on constructing her "Hanging Gardens."
Otherwise, seeing the statue of the Virgin Mary shattered and smoldering from a single shot, Semiramis had no doubt that her own D-ranked Endurance wouldn't have withstood the hit. Even if it didn't remove her from the fight outright, she might end up like Caster, incapacitated on the ground.
She activated the magic barrier, casting a glance at the blood pooling around Shakespeare's fallen form. Semiramis raised an eyebrow, murmuring, "There's no saving him…he can restore himself."
Indeed, as the Red Assassin, her attributes and Noble Phantasm were hardly weak. But fully unleashing her strength came with severe restrictions.
Semiramis's trump card, The Aerial Gardens of Vanity, was an EX-ranked, Anti-World Noble Phantasm.
Since she hadn't been the actual builder of the Hanging Gardens in history, her Noble Phantasm bore the name "Vanity." And with this came strict activation conditions—it couldn't be conjured purely by mana. It required significant quantities of wood, stone, minerals, plants, and water from her ancient residence before she could perform a lengthy ritual to transform the illusion into reality, a process that would take no less than three days.
But now, facing a surprise attack with her Noble Phantasm still incomplete and her close-combat allies absent, she was at her most vulnerable.
"A miscalculation… my mistake. I hadn't expected Black to so directly storm our location. And what's with these weapons?"
Holding up a few rounds halted by her magic barriers, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada murmured in disbelief, his voice a mix of astonishment and suspicion.
Quickly sensing the mana within the larger-than-usual, fiery rounds, Amakusa realized they were created by a Servant.
"Assassin, retreat to the inner chamber. We must get all the Masters out of here!" he said, pulling Semiramis along as they both withdrew swiftly.
Just as they retreated, the rounds stalled by the magic barrier exploded violently in midair.
Various statues of saints and holy figures were reduced to white dust within the chapel.
With the support pillars now fractured, the tall, painted ceiling of the church began to collapse, falling in heaps that joined the shrapnel-covered walls, forming a scene of pure destruction.
At that moment—Boom!
"Attack—crush them!!"
Amidst an earth-shaking war cry, the front wall of the church was obliterated. No, more accurately, most of the church had already collapsed.
Boom! Boom!
Brick fragments flew as heavy impacts shattered them, and through the dust and debris, figures emerged—hulking soldiers clad in thick gray armor, some bearing colossal firearms, others wielding massive weapons.
Leading them was none other than Black Lancer, Vlad III!
Alongside Vlad, three more Black Servants entered the fray, as well as an army of elite soldiers summoned by a Servant's army-type Noble Phantasm.
"Assassin, forget retreating—command the other Red Masters to use their Command Seals and recall their Servants immediately. We've lost this first round."
"Don't conserve the Command Seals; if one doesn't bring them back, use two! Our every move must have already been laid bare to the Yggdmillennia's Black Masters…"
Using a magic transmission, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada muttered bitterly.
Based on the golden-armored giants that destroyed their scouting familiars, it was likely that the unidentified god involved in the city skirmish with Saber controlled an army-type Noble Phantasm filled with these monstrous soldiers.
As for the Black Servants present, Amakusa didn't discern any divine entities in the vicinity. If his guess was correct, the god in question must be intercepting the Red Servants they had sent to the forest.
"Assassin, deploy the Command Seals, defend against their assault, and recall the Servants—can you do it?"
"I can!" Semiramis spread her hands, blue mana swirling around her as she affirmed his command.
Meanwhile, one of the caped Astartes officers strode over to a pile of shattered pews soaked in blood.
On the ground, Shakespeare didn't blame Assassin and her Master for leaving him to die. He knew his time was up.
Lying in the blood pooling beneath him, with his lower half severed and his hands drenched in red, Shakespeare contemplated many things in his final moments. He couldn't help but regret his early exit from this grand story.
There was so much he wanted to witness still—the battles of legendary heroes, the tragic tale of the manipulated Berserker Spartacus. The dramatics of war would have made a marvelous play!
To Caster Shakespeare, the world was one vast, breathtaking story that must unfold in grandeur.
Seeing the towering gray-armored giant before him, he realized he had underestimated his foe. (Spartacus was 221 cm tall.)
"So…so unwilling! My perfect, flawless curtain call… I should be the first to leave!" he cried in his native tongue, his dramatic plea confusing the Astartes officer before him.
"Next time, I'd love to be the protagonist…"
Disregarding the strange words of Red Caster, the Astartes officer lifted his heavy boot and slammed it down with merciless force.
Thump! Splat!
The skull burst like a melon underfoot, spattering red and white in all directions.
Vlad III observed the discipline and lethal prowess of the Astartes troops with satisfaction. Now, that was what warriors should be like!
"So, Red Masters, you venture onto my territory yet lack the courage to face me directly? It seems only Assassin and her Master have the fortitude to meet me…" Vlad taunted, his voice echoing through the ruins.
"Dragon Tooth Warriors!" Having retreated to the hidden chamber entrance, Semiramis summoned skeletal soldiers to fill every open space within the church's ruins, each one prepared to attack.
At her command, they surged forward to meet the advancing Black faction forces.
"Hmph, so be it…" Vlad muttered as the Dragon Tooth Warriors advanced. Summoning his own troops, he thrust a hand forward and commanded.
"Lord of Execution!"
As Vlad's voice rang out, the entire church trembled slightly.
In a blink, his summoned stakes of black wood burst up from the ground, impaling the oncoming Dragon Tooth Warriors one by one.
Swish, swish, swish… Dark spikes erupted throughout the church, forming a forest of skeletal limbs and bones skewered on Vlad's wooden stakes.
Stretching from Vlad himself, these sinister trees of the dead reached everything before him, skewering any object in their path.
The majority of Semiramis' defensive magic arrays collapsed under the relentless assault of Vlad's stakes.
The bristling spikes continued advancing, barbed thorns reaching for the Red Assassin and her Master.
"By the Command Seals bestowed by the Greater Grail, Assassin, block the attack! Recall all Servants!"
With sleeves rolled up, Amakusa Shirou's Command Seal glowed brightly as he spoke.
"Noble Phantasm: Arrogant King's Alcohol—Sikera Ušum!"
In a honeyed, serene voice, Semiramis invoked her Noble Phantasm, and in an instant, everything around her was transfigured into a blackish-green vapor.
Sickly hissing sounds emanated from objects as the venomous mist corroded everything within reach, from her own summoned Dragon Tooth Warriors to Vlad's stakes.
The closer it approached Semiramis, the faster the corrosion. In mere breaths, everything in the church was melting into a dark green sludge, which slowly pooled and oozed toward the Black faction Servants.
"Poison?" Vlad stepped back, watching his Execution stakes dissolve. He had no fear of a mighty opponent but was wary of poison
"This is… the venom of the Hydra?" Chiron's pupils shrank, his expression darkening as he recognized the venomous mist's unmistakable toxicity.
No one knew better than Chiron about the horrors of the Hydra's venom—this very poison had tortured him to the point of renouncing his immortality and abandoning his divine nature. The pain was that profound.
"Lancer, Saber (Siegfried), Berserker (Frankenstein), be on guard—this is the venom of the Hydra!" Chiron shouted a grave warning to his allies, fully aware of its lethal nature.
"Ah." Vlad, taking Chiron's words seriously, grew even warier. Indeed, Semiramis was no ordinary poison user; she was the Queen of Assyria, Semiramis, and had earned her infamy as one of the deadliest poisoners in history.
As expected, the Servants of the Black faction also knew information about our Servants. Given that so much knowledge of her poison had leaked, it was likely due to the foresight or clairvoyant abilities of that mysterious god on their team.
"Fascinating. But to face the Queen of Assyria in her poisonous domain—it seems I've underestimated this encounter," Vlad muttered, his voice tinged with respect for his opponent.
Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, watching this unfold with renewed resolve, nodded at Semiramis' silent transmission. He ordered her to conserve no mana and give her all to the attack. They had one chance: eliminate as many of the Black Servants as possible before the opposing god interfered.
"Understood. Sikera Ušum! Appear!" Semiramis commanded, pouring her mana into the rapidly spreading poison mist.
Dark green poison surged from her like a rising tide, flowing toward the Black Servants, threatening to consume everything in its path.
"Saber, prepare your Noble Phantasm!" Vlad commanded without hesitation.