"Ahem~ so this is this child's world?"
To Miss Illya's astonishment, a woman appeared out of thin air, looking around with great interest.
"A... a super pretty big sister suddenly appeared!"
Hearing Miss Illya's comment, the woman leaned in closer with a smile.
"My, my... what a sweet mouth you have, little sister. I think you're very cute too."
"By the way, what's the deal with this child?"
Her gaze fell on the silver-haired girl calmly sipping her tea, a questioning look in her eyes.
"She's a Servant, that much is true, but I never expected to summon this child."
"In terms of strength, she's a bit of a handful, but how should I put it? I'm actually quite satisfied, more or less."
"Is that so..."
"Well, whatever~ It's not like it's anything important."
Elysia decided not to probe any further, her face alight with eager anticipation.
"Speaking of which, you look so cute like this~ Naughty Jiang Qiao~"
"Well, it is that child's body, and she's still just a kid." With that, she scooped [Illya] into her arms and started nuzzling her affectionately.
[Illya] could feel the pressure of Miss 55kg's ample chest, but of course, for Jiang Qiao, she'd had more than her fill of this kind of experience!
She let herself be held by Elysia with a deadpan, salted-fish expression.
"Um, Master! Who is this big sister!?"
Seeing their intimate display, Illya felt a strange pang of jealousy, but her curiosity was even stronger.
"Ahem~ ahem, I haven't introduced myself yet, have I?"
"Hee hee—I'm Elysia. As you can see, I'm a beautiful and charming Fae girl," she introduced herself cheerfully. But when it came to her relationship with Jiang Qiao, Miss Elysia faltered.
What exactly is my relationship with this naughty girl?
Lovers? Girlfriend? I haven't agreed to that yet! And she's never even brought it up! Thinking about this, Miss Elysia, who had been waiting for a long time, silently puffed out her cheeks.
"Well, let's say we're lovers," [Illya] finished for her.
Hearing this introduction, Miss Illya froze for a moment. The next second, she looked at [Illya], who had no intention of correcting the statement and was just calmly sipping her tea. It was a clear, unspoken confirmation!
She looked back and forth between her and Elysia in disbelief.
"You two..."
"But it looks like you didn't pay any attention at all."
At this, Miss Illya looked embarrassed and couldn't help but say:
"You didn't explain it in detail, Master!"
"You didn't ask, did you? I thought you understood. Besides... you dragged me out of that snowy city in such a hurry before I could even finish."
In that instant, it all came back to Illya. She vividly recalled the scene.
Irisviel wasn't too surprised by this. Although Mr. Jiang Qiao hadn't explained everything, they had understood the gist of her self-introduction.
"It seems," Elysia said, playfully poking [Illya]'s cheek, "you're quite the hands-off manager."
"And what about the other me?"
"Oh, her."
"That child is with Walnut right now. Honestly," Elysia said, a little exasperated.
"You're taking it easy, delegating everything. We were supposed to be traveling together, you know!"
"I am traveling with you all..." [Illya] said, a bit helpless.
Although she had indeed swapped bodies with Illya at this moment, for the current Jiang Qiao, a body swap didn't prevent her from existing in multiple places at once.
The Jiang Qiao body the other Illya was using was, in essence, also her. She had simply given that child control over its autonomy.
"Alright, I've already sent you the details about the Holy Grail War."
"Also..."
"Due to the nature of this world, I've rewoven a magecraft version of Origin Magic for you. You should know how to use it, right?"
"...Ooh, so this is magecraft. Yep, I received it." Elysia pressed a hand to her chest, feeling the power, and nodded.
"The goal is to help this child? Hmm, I understand."
"But speaking of which—" Elysia's meaningful gaze fell upon [Illya]. "While I was away, it seems you've attracted another very cute girl."
"...I've been trying my best to avoid her, but as you've seen, she's incredibly persistent."
"You can't just casually reject a cute girl's feelings. You're the one who taught me that," the silver-haired girl said, blinking innocently.
The pink-haired miss puffed her cheeks out slightly.
While the logic was sound, and she knew that if she were in Jiang Qiao's shoes, she'd probably be even more proactive...
Why is she so infuriating!
"Hmm?"
[Illya] noticed a new development in the magic mirror.
When she saw the scene displayed, she couldn't help but sigh.
"Well, now this is just kicking a dog when it's down."
---||---
The night before the third day was no quieter than the previous two. The ambush by Lancer and Saber against the Gilgamesh-Enkidu duo was incredibly bloody.
Although things didn't go exactly as Manaka Sajyou had envisioned. If that useless goddess, Ishtar, hadn't jumped the gun, she could have ensured that the man-in-the-ham-can was taken out along with them.
But alas, the moment Ishtar saw an opening in Enkidu's defense, she charged out, wasting the mana concealment Morgan had provided for her.
With Ishtar's blunder, Manaka had to seize the opportunity and settle for taking out Goldie and Enkidu first.
But plans rarely go as smoothly as imagined.
At the brink of death, Enkidu powered up, using a skill similar to Battle Continuation to hang on and protect the critically wounded Goldie, who was nearly hacked to death on the spot, buying him a chance to escape.
This unexpected turn meant that the originally bountiful harvest only yielded Enkidu.
While it was still a significant gain, it fell short of her expectations.
Fortunately, she had achieved her primary objective.
She had finally found the Prince she had been painstakingly searching for since the first night of the Holy Grail War. And although she couldn't keep him by her side, she had at least received his promise.
And now, all that was left was to win the Holy Grail War.
Eliminating the other Servants had originally been a means to an end, but now, it had become something Miss Manaka had to do.
She was bursting with motivation.
Eager to be reunited with her Prince, Manaka Sajyou had no desire to wait. She began her crusade without even waiting for the next day.
And the first target on her list was the prey that had previously escaped her grasp!
---||---
Unlike the highly motivated Manaka, the atmosphere in the Tohsaka residence was grim.
On the back of Tokiomi Tohsaka's hand, only a single stroke of his Command Spells remained, faint and dim.
To save Archer, he'd had to grit his teeth and use another one.
But...
Why did it turn out like this?
He was in agony, his face twisted in a snarl. Gilgamesh, grim and sullen, leaned against a chair.
At this moment, Mr. Goldie was only a torso. His lower body was gone. The reason was painfully simple.
His arm was one thing; it had just been severed by the replica Holy Lance. But his lower half was a different story.
The wound inflicted by Gáe Buidhe, the Yellow Rose of Mortality, could not be healed due to its curse.
And in his treasury, he had no Noble Phantasm that could remove such a curse.
Thus, Mr. Goldie could only remain in this humiliating state.
What enraged him even more, however, was Enkidu's death.
They had promised to have a proper battle... it was a rare reunion, yet because of that damned goddess, that mad dog, and the mongrels hiding in the shadows, it had all come to this...
"ONORE!"
A chilling killing intent radiated from him. This setback had revealed the tyrant side of the young King of Heroes. He wouldn't even allow Tokiomi to look at him for too long, lest he kill the man without a second thought.
"My King, what should we do now?"
"Isn't it obvious? First, we eliminate that mongrel dog! And the mongrels hiding in the shadows!" Goldie decided without hesitation.
He would make those mongrels pay for Enkidu's death!
Besides, if he didn't break that Lancer's yellow spear, he could never lift the curse on his lower body. Was he supposed to stay like this forever?
The mere thought of revealing this ridiculous appearance to the other kings made him want to slaughter the entire family of the mongrel hiding in the shadows.
His royal dignity, his very pride—it had all been dragged through the mud!
Only blood could wash away this shame!
However, the man who always took the blame did not agree with this opinion. He said:
"My King... your servant believes... it would be best for us to reconsider our long-term strategy."
Suppressing his anger and dissatisfaction, he desperately wanted to say—Have you taken a look at the pathetic state you're in? And you still have the guts to provoke that black knight? Recalling his living disaster of a Servant's track record against Lancelot, Tokiomi felt like a complete fool for ever choosing to go on the offensive.
He thought Gilgamesh was powerful, but he was completely untrustworthy.
What invincibility? My King, you're not invincible at all! Tonight's defeat had shattered Tokiomi's confidence in a sure victory. He felt...
It was necessary to change his mindset and adopt a defensive, turtling strategy.
As for his family's legacy in Fuyuki... he had already gone all-in.
If he couldn't win, the Tohsaka family would truly be finished.
Even if he couldn't reach the Root in the end, he had to at least reclaim his pride as a magus, right?
Gilgamesh was furious.
He was about to shoot a death glare at this cripple to remind him of his place.
However.
In the next moment, his Sha Naqba Imuru screamed with an intense sense of crisis.
Almost instantaneously.
"BOOM—!!!"
Dark red mana, accompanied by a colossal shockwave, swept over the dilapidated Tohsaka residence.
The so-called defensive wards shattered almost instantly before this terrifying surge of power.
In the process, one could faintly glimpse space itself fracturing.
The Tohsaka residence vanished.
All that remained where it once stood was a shield wall composed of many different shields, each with a unique style.
Without a doubt, these were shields from mythology, once wielded by heroes.
Now, with a series of cracking sounds, they slowly crumbled to pieces.
Covered in wounds, Gilgamesh glared with crimson, murderous eyes at a dark figure in the nearby woods. The figure held a strange, pillar-like sword, its three inscribed stone tablets slowly coming to a halt.
"ONORE! YOU MONGREL DOG!"
He ground his teeth as he stared at the object in his opponent's hands.
His own ultimate treasure.
—Ea, the Sword of Rupture!
He had been attacked... by his own Ea