[118] A New Character

"Assassin, I allows you to use Noble Phantasms, stop him."

"Yes—I got it!" Assassin chuckled as the thick mist gradually enveloped the surroundings. "This time, I'll definitely disintegrate you!"

"Well, just in case! To command the command spells, kill Caster and all witnesses," said Kotomine Kirei, realizing that he had only eight command spells left... No, actually, only seven. One had been used before.

"I love you, Master... Well, it's time to start disintegrating now!" With that, Assassin disappeared into the thickening mist.

"Love me? Hmph... You must want to kill me... an Heroic Spirit who attacked the Master immediately upon appearing..." Kotomine Kirei snorted. There was still a long scar on his chest, a wound inflicted by Assassin when she was summoned.

If he hadn't reacted quickly and retreated several steps at that moment, simultaneously using a command spell to bind the Heroic Spirit before him, he would be a corpse by now. Even so, a long wound remained on his chest, a testament to the power of an Heroic Spirit.

Assassin had said such a pure statement like "I'm going to enter your stomach" and then attempted to cut him open, truly living up to the name Jack the Ripper.

"Fog is rising?" Kazuya looked around and said, "Well... in any case, I need to act quickly this time. I only have three command spells left."

Pffft...

At that moment, Kazuya's pupils slightly contracted, and on his back, blood sprayed out.

In an instant, he flipped off the motorcycle, and a blade sprang out from each of his hands: "Assassin? So fast—"

"What's happening? How did the fog roll in at this time?"

"Cough... I don't know, but do you feel something wrong with your throat?"

"Yeah, I feel a bit uncomfortable too..."

Listening to the sounds around him, Kazuya's faces grew serious. Assassin dared to use her Noble Phantasm directly in the middle of the city.

"By the way, I have something to do, so I'll go first."

"I'm the same. I'll leave too. Goodbye."

Kazuya glanced at Assassin, who had not yet attacked him, with narrowed eyes. In his minds, he recalled the description of Assassin's ability.

Mist: A Rank C Boundary Noble Phantasm that deploys a boundary field of mist. The mist, produced by magical energy, is itself a Noble Phantasm. It has the effect of "dispelling bystanders," and if ordinary people stay inside, they will slowly die. Magus will suffer continuous damage, and even Heroic Spirits will see their agility drop by one rank.

Kazuya originally had only a C rank agility, and now it was probably reduced to D. Moreover, compared to the fog deployed at the church earlier, this mist was even denser and more powerful.

"—Hiss!"

The collision between the bone sword and the dagger sparked briefly, but it was only a moment. Assassin had already disappeared. However, Kazuya were left with deep bloodstains on his necks.

Although his wounds quickly healed, continuing like this was not a solution.

"There's no other choice... I'll have to use a command spell." Kazuya's eyes darted as he judged the faint shadows he could barely see around him. "This time, the character I possess needs to have extremely fast speed and strong tracking abilities... after all, my current goal is not to defeat Assassin but to obtain Kotomine Kirei's command spells! No, it's not just that. It's not enough to have only speed and tracking... I also need a character with strong hypnosis and suggestion abilities. Otherwise, even if I get in front of Kotomine Kirei, I won't know how to obtain the command spells. So... it's him..."

Hiss...

The next moment, the command spells on Kazuya's back hand lit up.

...

"Indeed," Kotomine Kirei, who had rushed back to his residence, said as he observed the glow from Kazuya's command spells through his connection with Assassin. "It's command spells, as expected... It seems that guy is going to use that ability again. But I wonder if he still has four left or even fewer? Hmm... I see, using it once consumes two command spells, so after this, he'll only have one left. Just in case... I should inform Tohsaka Tokiomi"

...

"Is this the ability Master was talking about?" Assassin, hidden in the thick fog, looked at Kazuya and said, "Well, it seems so. I can sense the danger."

A red beam of light covered Kazuya—

The next moment, countless shurikens scattered like rain in all directions.

"Do you think you can find me this way?" Assassin said, blocking one of the shurikens that was hurled at her. "I'll disintegrate you!"

"No, that's enough."

"Huh?" Assassin was taken aback. She didn't know when, but suddenly, there was a person behind her. The man had short golden hair, a forehead protector, held one of the shurikens she had deflected, and wore a robe with the words "Fourth Hokage" written on the back.

"When did—" Assassin's face changed, and she turned around to find that Kazuya had already disappeared from where he was. In the next moment, she vigorously shook off the grip of Namikaze Minato, who held her wrist, and at the same time, her hand moved toward his chest.

"Um, miss, can you please dispel this fog? Your people can't handle it," the man, the Fourth Hokage named Namikaze Minato, said with a somewhat helpless smile.

Assassin was stunned. What was happening? Had her attack missed? What was going on?

Why... why couldn't she hit him, no matter how she attacked, and why did he always stay close to her, no matter how she tried to evade?

"Minato Namikaze, kill her. She's an aggregation of countless vengeful spirits... an Heroic Spirit. Even if she dies here, it's just like losing a clone to her... well, to put it simply, it's like losing a shadow clone. You don't need to worry too much," Kazuya handed over control of his body to the summoned person, as usual.

"That's true... but..." Namikaze Minato was quite relaxed now because the Flying Thunder God's seal had been released, and there was only one enemy. However, the feeling he got from this enemy was a bit strange.

"Don't underestimate me!" Assassin said, turning her body back, and her dagger moved toward Namikaze Minato.

Clang! The dagger clashed with the shuriken. Both of them stepped back a few steps.

"Indeed... I take back what I said earlier. You're quite strong. I see, you're an 'Heroic Spirit,' after all... I shouldn't underestimate you."

"You better finish this quickly... My summoning time is enough, but... there are still people in this thick fog who might not hold up much longer."

"I understand..." Namikaze Minato nodded. "In that case, I'm going in, Assassin!"

Although Kazuya watched the battle, he was experiencing a more unusual feeling right now—a doppelganger.

He had become two!

One consciousness fought alongside Namikaze Minato against Assassin. The other consciousness had been following him since his appearance, or rather, following the "Shadow Clone" he had used to track down Kotomine Kirei!

---

If you're interested in reading more, feel free to visit my patreon which already contains 20 chapters: 

https://www.patreon.com/XElenea