"Please stay back, Irisviel."
Sensing something was off with Irisviel, Lancer stepped forward to shield her, drawing her lance and pointing it at Ryuuto. "Thanks for your care the other day, Morgan's servant. But for what you did to humiliate a married woman, you should be ready to face the consequences."
Artoria released an intimidating aura as she faced him. He frowned slightly in response. "Lancer, if you're going to get between me and Iri, I'll have no choice but to take you down right here, okay?"
"Go ahead and try." Her eyes gleamed like flowing emeralds as she gripped the holy lance tightly.
"Assassin, don't get involved." It was Caster who spoke, deliberately calling him by "Assassin" to mislead their opponents.
"Yeah, yeah~" he put his hands behind his head with a helpless sigh, taking on a casual attitude as he settled in to watch the show.
"..."
Morgan positioned herself exactly ten meters in front of her sister, facing her directly.
With her armored boots digging deep furrows into the soft forest soil, Lancer exploded forward. Her powerful figure tore through the dark forest like a meteor breaking atmosphere, leaving a trail of disturbed air and scattered leaves in her wake.
The mana burst acceleration closed the ten-meter gap in less than an eyeblink—it was almost impossible for the human eye to track. Irisviel nervously clenched her fist. "Did she get her!?"
Lancer thrust her lightning-fast lance straight toward Morgan's chest without hesitation, putting her strength behind the blow. The blazing holy lance lit up the entire clearing with waves of faint golden light as it came so close it nearly brushed against the witch's pale, perfect skin. But facing this impossibly fast attack that would have skewered any normal Servant, Morgan simply shifted her shoulder with an elegance that seemed almost insulting, seemingly avoiding the deadly thrust without the slightest hint of effort or concern.
A sudden violent gust of air erupted from the ground beneath her feet, sending fallen leaves and forest debris swirling in chaotic patterns as the witch rose effortlessly into the night sky. With the brilliant full moon framing her silhouette from behind, she gazed down at her sister with eyes that held nothing but cold, calculated composure.
"I see," said Ryuuto, the first to figure out what really happened. He smiled mischievously. "Morgan didn't actually dodge the attack. She somehow... made her opponent miss."
"...Hmph." Artoria didn't seem particularly shocked that she'd missed. Instead, she locked eyes with Caster.
The lake-blue eyes of her sister had mysteriously transformed to a deep vermilion color.
"That's... a Mystic Eyes," Irisviel whispered, pressing her lips together as she stood behind Lancer.
Mystic Eyes were a type of magecraft that worked through the eyes, something that powerful magi or legendary warriors might possess. There were all kinds of Mystic Eyes out there: Binding, Charm, Compulsion, Contract, Flame, Illusion, Misfortune... And what Morgan had was actually the most common, most basic kind—the "Mystic Eyes of Enchantment."
Usually, Enchantment Mystic Eyes just worked to bind and restrict an opponent's movements, something that could be easily blocked by anyone with decent magic resistance. But somehow, Morgan had managed to refine hers to the level of a Noble Color class "Jewel" through methods nobody knew.
She'd completely abandoned all the normal functions of the Mystic Eyes, focusing entirely on raw power output... With this approach, her souped-up version of Enchantment Mystic Eyes could even break through the King of Knights' magic resistance.
Artoria's attack just now had been subtly interfered with by these Mystic Eyes, unconsciously shifting the path of the holy lance that should have pierced right through Morgan's heart. And because it was just the most basic Enchantment, Lancer couldn't even tell she'd been affected at all.
Next, Morgan, still floating in midair, raised her left hand to eye level. Her dark robes billowed around her as pine needles and fallen leaves swirled in the vortex beneath her feet. Just a few inches in front of her palm, a huge blue magic circle appeared, spinning rapidly. The magical energy surging from it was so intense it made the air itself vibrate, sending ripples through the mist that clung to the forest floor.
The scent of ozone filled the clearing, sharp and electric, as if lightning had struck nearby. This was actually a major spell equivalent to ceremonial spellcasting that would normally need ten people casting it together. But Morgan didn't just cast it alone—she completed it with just one verse of the incantation, her voice echoing unnaturally among the old trees.
The massive magic circle, powered up by her high-speed incantations, made a thunderous roar as blue light like a lake lit up the quiet night. The entire forest filled with magical energy, causing the shadows to dance wildly across the moss-covered trunks. The temperature plummeted, frosting the grass beneath them as a stream of light shot straight at Artoria!
"Hiss." Lancer tilted her head up slightly, taking a deep breath. Her chest expanded as she filled her lungs with air, the magical core—her Dragon Heart—working harder inside her. The ground beneath her armored feet cracked slightly, small fissures spreading outward like a spiderweb.
She calmly raised her holy lance, pointing it directly at the incoming beam of light.
Pure magical energy gathered and swirled around the white lance tip, the air shimmering with heat distortion around it, instantly hitting maximum speed before bursting out all at once. The blast kicked up a cloud of dirt and debris, forcing nearby creatures to flee deeper into the forest.
The lake-blue light and the raging storm, two powers from the Age of Gods, crashed into each other violently. The collision sent a shockwave through the clearing that bent the treetops back and stripped leaves from branches. In the end, raw power won over magical complexity. After a brief moment where neither gave way, the storm from the holy lance easily tore through the queen's grand spell. The spiraling air cut through everything—wind, air, and space itself—advancing relentlessly.
"Hmph..." As the continuing storm rushed toward her, Morgan quickly raised her other hand. A red shield shaped like an eyeball appeared in front of her, blocking the hurricane force from the holy lance.
"I see... trying to hurt you with 'regular' magecraft really is impossible."
The first clash had ended for now. The older sister didn't look discouraged or worried. The younger sister wasn't smug or relaxed either. Both their faces showed the same satisfied smile—they were enjoying the fight.
"You're floating too high up there, sister. My next strike will bring you back down to the ground," Artoria said with a slight smile, looking at Morgan who was still hovering in the air. In response, the Queen narrowed her eyes.
"You've gotten quite the sharp tongue, Arthur. If you bend the knee now, I might still let you live."
The deadly tension between them kept building. Both sisters' impressive figures were wrapped in white light, with the magical energy pouring from the queen and the red dragon overwhelming everything around them.
Just then—
Bang!
A gunshot cut through the night, startling birds throughout the forest and making Morgan and Artoria freeze.
"!?"
All three of them immediately looked toward where the shot had landed.
"...Ah." The black-haired boy who'd been watching the battle from beside a gnarled oak made a strange sound as his body pitched forward. Thud. With a dull sound, he collapsed face-first into the undergrowth, crushing delicate ferns beneath him.
An anti-materiel rifle bullet had blown a massive hole through his chest, with internal organs and bone fragments scattered across the forest floor. Steam rose from the wound in the cold night air, the metallic scent of fresh blood overwhelming the natural forest's pine and moss scent.
Ryuuto lay sprawled in a pool of blood, his left hand stretched out as if reaching for something. While he'd been completely focused on watching the sisters' battle between Morgan and Arthur, some hidden sniper in the forest had taken him out. Just like that old saying—the mantis is so busy hunting the cicada, it doesn't notice the bird coming for it from behind.
"...W-what." Irisviel and Lancer were left speechless as they stared at the bloody scene. With wide eyes and half-open mouths, what they felt in that moment wasn't exactly shock or happiness.
Because they had both clearly seen that when the black-haired boy fell... his face actually had a smile on it.
"...Found you, Emiya Kiritsugu."