In Hinata, Artoria saw a shadow of her past self.
This made Artoria instinctively develop a fondness for her talent.
Rin never intended to kill these people.
Since that was the case, it was only natural for Artoria to scout for talent in advance and raise them under her command, wasn't it?
"Surrender."
Artoria said, "I know that with your personality, you can't accept surrendering without a fight, but what about them?"
"Do you want them to die with you?"
Artoria was referring to the Holy Knights. "If it were you, you should understand. If I wished, I could kill all of them instantly."
"You bastard…"
Hinata growled, "Despicable!"
"Despicable?"
Artoria didn't think so.
Though she was threatening them, this was also a form of mercy toward Hinata.
"Captain!"
Leonard and the other five Saints rushed toward her, intending to assist.
"Don't come over!"
Hinata halted their movement and shouted, "Take everyone and retreat immediately. Kingdom of Falmuth's side—"
Clang!
Boom!
A golden sword light, like a towering wall, shot straight past Hinata, carving a deep gully into the already scorched earth and cutting off the Holy Knights' retreat.
"I cannot allow you to obstruct his plan."
Artoria could ignore Hinata and the others' rudeness, but attempting to rescue the Kingdom of Falmuth army crossed her bottom line.
First of all, the Kingdom of Falmuth was an enemy of the Monster Nation.
The war had been started by them.
Artoria had no intention of showing mercy to soldiers who willingly stepped onto the battlefield.
An enemy was an enemy. There was no such thing as pity or innocence.
In fact, even the Holy Knights in front of her were, by definition, no different from invaders.
The reason for showing mercy was only because Rin intended to subdue Luminous.
It was to leave room for reconciliation, so as not to push things too far.
"I see."
"Your target is the Kingdom of Falmuth!"
Hinata frowned deeply. "Why would someone like you help monsters?"
"Monsters?"
Artoria looked at Hinata in confusion. She didn't understand the contempt or rejection in her words toward monsters.
"You're not a monster, are you?"
"A spirit?"
"Or a hero?"
The only thing Hinata could be sure of was that Artoria definitely wasn't a monster. There was no chaotic aura on her at all.
What she exuded was brilliance and holiness, a sense of fairness and tranquility.
If Hinata had never seen a god before, she might have truly mistaken Artoria for a deity descended from the heavens.
No, to be more precise—
Artoria's image and temperament were practically the embodiment of a "Holy Knight."
It was difficult to imagine that such a person would help the monsters of the Great Forest kill humans.
"Are you perhaps mistaken about something?"
Artoria wasn't foolish. She understood what Hinata meant. "In your eyes, what's the relationship between monsters and humans?"
"Enemies!"
"Then what about humans subjugating monsters?"
What could Hinata say to that?
Call it justice?
Even she couldn't say such a thing shamelessly.
Monsters and humans were fundamentally in opposition by race.
There was no good or evil in their conflict.
What made Hinata feel conflicted was primarily Artoria's aura.
She even suspected...
Were the monsters of the Great Forest some kind of peerless seductresses?
First Shizue, now Artoria.
Thinking about it carefully, the only ones capable of deploying large-scale barriers in the Great Jura Forest were the Dryads.
Shizue, Artoria, Dryads.
All of them were working for that lord.
"I'm human."
Hinata said, "Is that answer good enough for you?"
"Hmm."
Artoria didn't dislike those who abandoned notions of good and evil and only spoke of their stance. "Since that's the case, why ask me again?"
"What?"
"Just like you."
Artoria said calmly, "I stand here only because we each serve our own masters."
It wasn't a matter of right or wrong. It was simply Rin's command.
Artoria owed too much to Rin.
He had pulled her out of the Throne of Heroes, given her this strength, and even granted her a future.
If she wanted to save Great Britain, she could do so at any time.
As long as Artoria asked, Rin would use Void God to rewrite the time and space of the Type-Moon World and create a true utopia.
But that wasn't what Artoria wanted.
Among her many clones, there were some who never pulled out the holy sword. Instead, they lived like ordinary people and built the Kingdom of Great Britain with their own hands.
She still had much to learn.
Her power was still insufficient.
Only when she found the right path for Britain would she return to her homeland and realize her dream.
"His order is to annihilate the invading Falmuth Kingdom army."
"Annihilate, annihilate…"
Hinata's voice trembled. "That's fifty thousand people!"
To so casually speak of slaughtering fifty thousand humans—Hinata could not accept that no matter what.
"So what?"
Artoria said coldly, "You, and all of you, what can you do?"
Buzz buzz buzz.
As her words fell, a golden barrier rose from all directions, completely enclosing the 3,000 Holy Knights.
"You're too weak."
"Even if I do nothing," Artoria said, "you still won't be able to leave."
"Damn it!"
Leonard, unwilling to believe it, quickly ordered his Knights to try to break through the barrier.
But the result was exactly as Artoria had said.
They couldn't do anything to it, nor could they escape.
"Now, you have two choices."
"One, surrender now."
Artoria said, "According to his will, he won't do anything to you, because you are not worthy yet."
"Impossible!"
Hinata rejected the idea without hesitation.
Surrendering without a fight.
Not just her, but even her Knights would never accept such humiliation.
But more importantly, Hinata was pondering the deeper meaning of Artoria's words.
Not worthy?
What did that mean?
"Could it be?!"
Suddenly, Hinata thought of something. She looked at Artoria and asked through Thought Communication,
"Is your target Luminous?!"
(To be continued.)