"Oh, Sola!"
Kayneth's heart skipped a beat.
Because he was so confident in his victory in this Holy Grail War, he had brought his fiancée, Sola-Ui, with him.
Sola-Ui was also a skilled magus.
To increase his chances of winning, Kayneth had altered the summoning circle, making Sola-Ui the one to provide magical energy to the Servant.
This way, while the Servants battled, Kayneth could focus on dealing with the opposing Master.
Although Kayneth and Sola-Ui's engagement had been arranged by Sola-Ui's father, Kayneth truly loved her.
He could accept his own death, having come to the Grail War of his own volition. But Sola-Ui couldn't die!
With that thought, the mercury-like liquid beside Kayneth, his Volumen Hydrargyrum, condensed into a single point, then shot towards Ailin like a spike.
Then, Kayneth called out to Diarmuid, "Lancer, I no longer have the Command Spells to control you, but I implore you, as your lord in this life."
"I will stall Berserker for now. I beg you, take Sola-Ui and flee Fuyuki City as fast as you can!"
"My Lord!"
Seeing Kayneth running towards Berserker, Diarmuid was momentarily stunned.
In his previous life, because of his wife, Gráinne, he had been resented and suspected by his lord, Fionn, ultimately leading to Fionn's plot to kill him.
This time, Diarmuid had answered the Grail's call to make up for the regrets of his past life, to be loyal to his lord.
While Diarmuid served Kayneth as his lord, he didn't hold the same respect for him as he had for Fionn in his previous life.
But now, Kayneth's willingness to face the stronger Berserker to allow his wife to escape, allowing the faster Diarmuid to take Sola-Ui away… this image instantly replaced Fionn's in Diarmuid's heart.
Kayneth, his lord, could risk his own life to ensure his wife's escape, choosing to face the stronger Berserker, ordering the faster him, to take Sola away.
What about his lord, Fionn?
He had deceived him, plotted against him, and ultimately killed him.
At this moment, Diarmuid felt that participating in this Holy Grail War, serving a lord like Kayneth, was truly wonderful.
To avoid disappointing Kayneth, Diarmuid wasted no time. He rushed into the villa, quickly found Sola, scooped her up, and fled in the direction away from Fuyuki City.
Ailin was somewhat surprised by Kayneth's choice.
While he had no intention of killing Kayneth, Kayneth couldn't have known that.
He would only act based on his own assumptions.
In the Holy Grail War, Kayneth would kill any enemy before him.
Therefore, he believed others would do the same.
To risk his own life to save Sola-Ui's… it was clear Kayneth truly loved her.
Ailin didn't know whether Kayneth's heart was filled with sorrow or joy when he was forced by Kiritsugu Emiya to use a Command Spell to order Diarmuid's suicide.
But the current Kayneth was undoubtedly willing to die to buy time for Diarmuid to escape Fuyuki City with Sola-Ui.
Kayneth's attacks, controlling Volumen Hydrargyrum, amused Ailin, though they were ultimately futile.
Clang! Clang Clang!
Facing the attacks of Volumen Hydrargyrum, Ailin didn't even bother dodging, allowing the mercury to transform into countless spikes and strike him.
Although Volumen Hydrargyrum was Kayneth's strongest and most prized Mystic Code, to Ailin, its attacks were simply too weak.
Attacks of this level couldn't even pierce the "Hierro" that Ailin possessed when he manifested as a Hollow. How could they possibly harm him?
"Damn it!"
Seeing that his Mystic Code couldn't harm Ailin, Kayneth's eyes narrowed.
Then, Kayneth waved his hand, and the Volumen Hydrargyrum transformed into a soft, fluid liquid, rapidly wrapping around Ailin's limbs, seemingly intending to restrain him.
"Courageous, but weak."
Ailin came to find Diarmuid this night, to take him out of the game before Kiritsugu Emiya could. This way, the noble knight would not have to relive the nightmare of his death.
Now that Diarmuid had taken Sola away at Kayneth's behest, he'd already fulfilled his wish to serve his lord.
Once Diarmuid escorted Sola out of Fuyuki City, completing Kayneth's final order, Diarmuid's descent this time would be without regret.
Snap!
Ailin exerted his spiritual pressure, instantly shattering the Volumen Hydrargyrum that bound him.
Then, Ailin took a step forward.
Whoosh!
The next instant, Ailin appeared behind Kayneth.
"Pfft…"
Only then did Kayneth cough up a mouthful of blood. His eyes bulged, his hands clutched his abdomen, and after a few dry heaves, he knelt forward, collapsing to the ground.
Senka!
Senka was a powerful technique of the Shinigami, a combination of Shunpo and swordsmanship.
Ailin had shown mercy to Kayneth.
The original Senka involved two consecutive strikes in the instant of passing an opponent, destroying their Saketsu and Hakusui, rendering them powerless.
But the Senka Ailin used against Kayneth involved only two light punches. While this attack would cause Kayneth significant injury, it wouldn't be fatal, given Kayneth's magical prowess.
Without bothering with the unconscious Kayneth, Ailin leaped into the air, flying towards Diarmuid's escape route.
…
Even without the Command Spell's boost, Diarmuid's A+ rank Agility made him faster than cars on the road.
Even carrying Sola-Ui, Diarmuid, running through the forest, overtook car after car. The people in those cars could only see a black blur flash past, unable to discern what it was, before it disappeared far behind them.
Three minutes later, Diarmuid, running at full speed, suddenly felt the magical energy within him begin to dissipate. He immediately stopped and set Sola-Ui down.
The Holy Grail War was a ritual performed by the Greater Grail, drawing upon the leyline energy of Fuyuki City, sacrificing the magical energy of seven Servants to open a path to the Root, allowing the victor of the Holy Grail War to reach the Root directly and master the Third Magic.
One of the functions of the Command Spells was to, upon achieving final victory, order one's Servant to commit suicide, replenishing the magical energy of the seventh Servant.
Therefore, a Servant's range of activity was limited to Fuyuki City.
Once a Servant left Fuyuki City, losing the support of the leyline energy, they would naturally be unable to maintain their form.
Now that Diarmuid felt the magical energy constructing his body begin to dissipate, it meant he had already left the boundaries of Fuyuki City.
"Lady Sola-Ui, I apologize, but I can only escort you this far. Master is still battling Berserker. I must return to aid him. Please, follow Master's will and leave this place!"
With that, Diarmuid, without waiting for Sola-Ui's response, immediately turned and vanished from her sight.
After ascending to the Throne of Heroes, the love spot beneath Diarmuid's eye, due to his legend, had been sublimated into a "curse." Any woman who saw this love spot would be irresistibly captivated and fall in love with him.
Diarmuid himself was deeply troubled by this.
Indeed, in his legend, he had fallen in love with his lord Fionn's fiancée, Gráinne, and ultimately lived with her as husband and wife.
But Diarmuid and Gráinne's love hadn't stemmed from Gráinne being seduced by Diarmuid's love spot.
Gráinne was a princess of Ireland, betrothed since childhood to Fionn, the leader of the Knights of Fianna.
As a member of the Knights of Fianna, Diarmuid was naturally Fionn's subordinate, considering Fionn his lord.
As the strongest knight of the order, Diarmuid had also been tasked with protecting Princess Gráinne. During their time together, Gráinne fell deeply in love with Diarmuid.
Of course, as in the myths, Diarmuid couldn't betray Fionn and be with Gráinne.
To be with Diarmuid, Gráinne used certain ploys, ultimately leading others to believe that "Diarmuid had eloped with Princess Gráinne," prompting Fionn to order the knights to pursue Diarmuid.
Although Diarmuid was the strongest, out of respect, he wouldn't fight his fellow knights, and simply retreated with Gráinne, living in seclusion.
During this time, Diarmuid was also deeply attracted to Gráinne.
He felt that Gráinne, willingly abandoning her honor as a princess and her life of luxury to be with him, was remarkable and worthy of his respect.
However, for the sake of Ireland's reputation, history books attributed the ability to seduce women to the love spot beneath Diarmuid's eye, claiming that Princess Gráinne had been seduced by Diarmuid's love spot, leading to her elopement with him.
And because this legend was more widely accepted, Diarmuid's love spot was sublimated into a curse of "seduction."
This was also why Diarmuid had never looked up at Sola-Ui since his summoning.
Sola-Ui was only human. Diarmuid didn't want to gamble on the possibility of her not being seduced by the curse of the love spot.
This time, due to the urgent situation, Diarmuid had been forced to carry Sola-Ui while fleeing.
He could sense that, during their escape, Sola-Ui's gaze had been fixed on the love spot beneath his eye.
If he lingered any longer, something terrible might happen.
After returning within the boundaries of Fuyuki City, Diarmuid felt the dissipating magical energy stabilize, and he sprinted towards the villa.
Suddenly, several streaks of blackish-red lightning struck. Diarmuid brandished his two spears to meet the attack.
Boom! Boom!
Amidst the explosions, Diarmuid backflipped and retreated, his feet carving two long furrows in the ground.
"Berserker?"
Diarmuid looked up and quickly spotted Ailin standing in the sky.
"I didn't expect you to have the ability to fly, Berserker."
Perhaps having a better understanding of Ailin's strength, even seeing Ailin hovering in the air, Diarmuid was only momentarily surprised before returning to his composure.
"It's just a minor application of magical energy, nothing special."
Ailin shook his head.
Condensing Reishi beneath one's feet to stand in the air wasn't a particularly remarkable technique in the Shinigami world.
Any Shinigami who had mastered Shunpo to a certain degree could do it.
Of course, in the Type-Moon world, it required extremely precise control of magical energy to achieve.
"Heh…"
Diarmuid shook his head.
Perhaps only Berserker could say such a thing.
However, thinking about Berserker's swordsmanship, which could unleash powerful slashes purely through technique, it seemed that hovering in the air wasn't such an extraordinary feat.
"Thank you, Berserker."
Diarmuid thanked Ailin.
Diarmuid was still standing here, so he knew that Ailin hadn't killed his lord in this descent.
"To express my gratitude, I will fight with all my strength!"
"Ah, I eagerly await it."
"To fight against the 'Radiant Face' with all my might, I, too, will feel honored."
…
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Boom!
Boom!
Ailin brandished his Zanpakutō, clashing with Diarmuid.
Having abandoned thoughts of life and death, and having fulfilled his dream, Diarmuid's current strength, while not comparable to the state boosted by two Command Spells, was much stronger than the night before at the Mion River port.
To show his respect for Diarmuid, Ailin didn't use the barrage of Noble Phantasms, but instead casually drew a Zanpakutō and engaged Diarmuid in close combat.
Although Diarmuid's current strength was greater than during their first encounter, Ailin was also not the same Ailin from their first fight.
At that time, Ailin had dispelled his class skill, causing all his parameters except Luck and Mana to decrease by one rank.
Now, with Sakura as his Master, Sakura's immense magical energy had enhanced Ailin's base attributes, bringing them almost to their peak.
In this state, although Diarmuid was stronger, the outcome of their battle remained unchanged.
With his swordsmanship alone, Ailin completely suppressed Diarmuid.
And with his superior Strength, each of Ailin's attacks forced Diarmuid back.
In less than three minutes, Diarmuid had sustained several fatal wounds, his body covered in blood.'
Whoosh!
A flash of blades, and Diarmuid could no longer hold his spears. Gáe Dearg and Gáe Buidhe were knocked away by Ailin, spinning through the air before embedding themselves in the ground.
Pressing his Zanpakutō against Diarmuid's throat, Ailin suddenly asked, "Diarmuid, are you satisfied with this Holy Grail War?"
Diarmuid was taken aback, then smiled.
"Yes, I couldn't be more satisfied. Thank you, Berserker. In this life, I have no regrets."