A BOOM rang out as Saber shot through the skies of Fuyuki City, an expression of annoyance and worry flashing across her eyes.
She had warned her Master multiple times to let her go to the Academy with him. But Shirou had rejected her request, stating that having her by his side was as good as using her.
Now, just a moment ago, Saber had sensed an immense threat to Shirou's life. With the little Mana he supplied her, even if she used her entire strength to go to the Homurahara Academy, it would take some time.
Time that she direly lacked and could barely afford to lose.
So, kicking the roof of a skyscraper as hard as she could, and gritting her teeth, she again boomed like a supersonic missile, her short, blond hair flailing against the moonlight.
…
A HISS slithered through the tall buildings of Fuyuki City as Assassin rushed toward the Homurahara Academy at his greatest speed.
With the little Mana his Master could afford to supply to him, he couldn't even use his Noble Phantasm.
Otherwise, he could have crossed the distance between that abysmal place and the academy within a few seconds.
It's been over 24 hours since he began analyzing the Bounded Field around the Einzbern Castle. However, despite claiming expertise in infiltrating such magical fields, the more he studied the field, the more complex it became.
If it were just about breaking into the Bounded Field, then Assassin was sure he could have done it in mere hours.
However, infiltrating the Bounded Field without letting anyone inside know of him, doing a preliminary surveillance, and rescuing a hostage on top of that…
To Assassin, that seemed like an impossible task now — unless he got another 24 hours.
As if that wasn't enough of a blow to his ego, just as he had been making progress, the constant supply of little Mana from Rin got interrupted as well.
With a foreboding sense jolting his existence, Assassin had rushed to reach the Academy as soon as he could.
If Rin was in danger despite that kid that next to her, then it meant they were really in huge trouble.
He couldn't afford to lose time over chasing empty clues at a distant place at this moment.
So, kicking the roof of a truck and denting the steel, Assassin hissed across the space, leaving behind a fiery sizzle.
…
The path of distant BOOM and HISS happened to cross each other even before they could reach the Homurahara Academy, now barely a few hundred meters away.
Saber's eyes widened. An invisible sword manifested in her hands as she lunged at the Servant, who was seemingly rushing to her Master's location as well. It was obvious that a foreign Servant would like to finish a Master who didn't have his Servant's protection.
Saber couldn't let that happen.
Assassin's eyes narrowed. If Rin was in trouble, and Archer was defending her, then it was obvious that there were many Servants involved in this ambush. So, it made sense that another Servant would also rush to that place to take advantage of that chaos.
Assassin couldn't let that happen.
A deafening screech rang out as Saber hacked and Assassin parried that blow with a dagger.
Like fiery golden and red-black trails, the two Servants began attacking each other with all their might, both trying to reach the Academy first.
However, in a few blows, it became clear who had the upper hand.
Saber spun on her feet and hacked at Assassin well over a dozen times in a fraction of a second.
Assassin effortlessly dodged a few.
Those he couldn't dodge, he parried.
But every slash that he parried rang his bones, making him cough blood.
In only a few seconds, both had already arrived on the academy's main building, sparks exploding off them with every exchanged blow.
"You aren't my match, Assassin!" Saber screamed, her blue eyes glowing with determination. "Back off!"
In a few moves, analyzing her opponents' strength, Saber had guessed what Class of Servant she was dealing with.
On the other side, even though he disliked admitting it, Assassin felt the same.
He didn't say anything. He disliked even speaking. If it were in his hands, he wouldn't even open his mouth.
Yet, when he stood in front of Archer yesterday, Assassin didn't know why, but he failed to stop himself from mocking the kid.
Against Saber, though, he didn't need to open his mouth.
Assassin's only priority right now was to reach the Academy, not fight against Saber, who was many classes higher than him in raw Strength.
Good thing was — Assassin's specialty didn't lie in Strength, to begin with.
Distancing himself from Saber as she rushed at him with a storm raging around her invisible sword, Assassin's left hand flashed and took out a weapon.
The moment Saber's eyes landed on that weapon, a chill ran down her spine.
"Impossible…" Saber's entire face fell, her gaze jerking to land on Assassin's hooded face. "… Thompson Contender?! You can't be…"
In front of her, dozens of meters away, hearing the name of his pistol out of Saber's mouth, even Assassin got stunned, his eyes widening under the hood.
Still, his hesitation only lasted for a moment.
A bang resounded as Assassin fired the shot.
Even though Saber had lost her momentum because of her realization, she was still strong enough to deflect the incoming bullet.
However, the bullet wasn't just a simple bullet.
As Saber hacked at it, the bullet passed right through the blade as if it didn't exist, and lodged itself in her left shoulder without making her bleed.
In the very next moment, Saber's body jolted as if someone had electrocuted her from the inside, reassembling her Magic Circuits.
"Arghh!" Saber let out a grunt, holding her blade with her right hand as her left hand fell lifelessly. "I will…"
Gritting through the pain, she boomed toward Assassin, closing the gap between her and him instantly.
Wind surged like never before.
Golden gusts of wind lashed out, making it impossible for Assassin to aim.
And, just as Saber was about to hack him to pieces, shouts rang out from below them.
"Assassin!" Rin shouted.
"Saber!!" Shirou screamed.
Then, both of them raised their voices even higher. "STOP!!"
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