[122] Intermission

Boom—

The intense explosion caused those nearby to experience ringing in their ears, and some even lost their hearing completely in the midst of this violent blast.

Flames engulfed the entire forest.

Even after the radiance of the Noble Phantasm subsided, the flames continued to burn and were spreading further into the distance.

The afterglow of this Noble Phantasm would likely result in a large-scale wildfire if left unattended.

"Flames..." Karna's voice rang out amidst the blazing inferno.

The flames around him gathered and slowly dissipated.

Leaving behind a devastated landscape.

"Is he dead, or did he run away?" Looking at the surroundings, Karna spoke uncertainly.

However, there was no longer any presence in the vicinity to be detected.

In that case, whether it was dead or had escaped, there was nothing more he could do. It was time to conclude this.

...

"It seems my time here is coming to an end," Namikaze Minato sighed. He glanced at the location of his previous battle.

He couldn't stay much longer.

Even after deactivating his Nine-Tails mode, he had at most one or two minutes left. Just as he had suspected, trying to complete the Tailed Beast Bomb wouldn't have been enough time. Even if he had managed it, it probably wouldn't have been enough to block that Noble Phantasm.

Indeed, it was a formidable Noble Phantasm. Although he could use the Flying Thunder God to teleport, he wanted to try to resist it directly in the end.

As a result, his Nine-Tails chakra was continuously dissipating as if it were snow melting in a fire.

Although it was a bit stubborn of him, he didn't want Kazuya to be affected by the attack. So, in the final moments, he used the Flying Thunder God to teleport back to where he had initially battled Assassin and escaped.

Time passed quickly, only two to three minutes.

Namikaze Minato disappeared.

Only Kazuya remained in place.

He looked at the eight Command Spells on his hand and arm with satisfaction. With these, he could summon his ideal characters three or four times. He might even be able to try summoning them with just three Command Spells.

But using two would be safer. Two Command Spells could limit the time a character could exist from the normal thirty minutes to just six minutes, or one-fifth.

In other words, Namikaze Minato's Nine-Tails mode and Zaraki Kenpachi's removing his eye patch both required three Command Spells to use under normal circumstances.

Next, he had some other characters he wanted to summon.

He couldn't wait to try.

...

"The battle has ended. Master, do you have any further instructions?"

"Hmm," Kiritsugu replied after organizing himself. "Now, prepare to go to Ryuudou Temple... Lancer has used his Noble Phantasm, and we can probably guess his true name. In that case, Matou or Kayneth will certainly go after Lancer. This is the best opportunity... After all, the location of Tohsaka Tokiomi's residence is clear. Of course, it's possible he's already fled... but it's not like we can't probe a little. In other words... the second opportunity is about to present itself!"

...

However, that night passed peacefully, without any unexpected events or further battles.

Kayneth did not take action.

This was surprising not only to Kiritsugu but also to Tohsaka Tokiomi. It was clear that he was vulnerable at the moment, yet no one had made a move.

"Currently, the most powerful force in terms of strength is undoubtedly on Kayneth's side. All of his Heroic Spirits are top-notch, and... the most uncertain factor is Caster. Is he dead? Or alive... His Master is also unknown. No, it's possible that Caster doesn't have a Master at all. His existence is very peculiar, and it seems that he has Command Spells on his own."

Tohsaka Tokiomi pondered for a moment. "Perhaps Caster's Master has already died. This explanation seems simpler. Lancer, what do you think?"

"He's probably still alive," said Lancer, who had materialized on the side. "Although I hit him, I didn't get the feeling that I 'killed' him. It's very likely that he used his spatial teleportation ability at the last moment."

"I see... But it's a shame that he specifically had you use your Noble Phantasm and it still didn't kill Caster. Not only that, it didn't even attract Saber and the others..." Tohsaka Tokiomi expressed some regret.

As the heroic hero from Indian mythology, Karna had unleashed his Noble Phantasm, "O' Sun, Abide to Death," which was a powerful attack obtained by temporarily discarding his armor. When fully unleashed, it was an EX-ranked Noble Phantasm.

But in the battle with Caster, it hadn't displayed its full power. He had limited the output of his Noble Phantasm. The strike he had delivered was just a fraction of its true might. It gave the impression that it could hold its own in a battle.

He had hoped to use it to attract the Heroic Spirits on Kayneth's side. Then, he would have used his full-power Noble Phantasm to defeat those two Heroic Spirits.

But it seemed to have failed.

For some reason, Kayneth hadn't come...

Of course, there was another reason—Tohsaka Tokiomi had been accumulating magical energy all along.

He didn't have a magical energy reactor, and his own Heroic Spirit consumed more magical energy than usual, especially when using his Noble Phantasm. Even participating in battles at full strength would deplete a significant amount of magical energy...

He couldn't help but lower Lancer's parameters and make others underestimate him in such battles.

There is only one battle that truly requires Lancer to use his full power...

And... That battle will deplete all the magical energy that Tohsaka Tokiomi has stored since he summoned Lancer!

...

"Professor Kayneth?" Waver asked with a hopeful tone as he looked at Kayneth holding his forehead.

"Waver," Kayneth sighed. "It seems that this Holy Grail War has failed."

"What...?" Waver was puzzled. What on earth...

"Take a look at this," Kayneth said, taking out a plate with seven equal segments, with only one of them illuminated. That was Assassin's segment!

"Damn Emiya Kiritsugu . As expected, he didn't bring the Holy Grail vessel with him. I heard he had already defected from Einzbern. Now it seems he didn't even have the idea of bringing the Holy Grail vessel to this Fuyuki City."

Waver seemed to understand something. "Could it be... is this?"

"Yes, this is the item the Clock Tower gave me, a temporary storage tool for Heroic Spirits... If this one is lit up, it means the Holy Grail vessel didn't work after all. Without the Holy Grail, how can we hold the Holy Grail War? We can't even observe the situation of the Holy Grail. Let alone the final outcome!"

"That..." Waver extended his hand and placed the documents he had been holding earlier in front of Kayneth. "The Association just sent a message saying that the Einzberns are willing to provide their technical services."

"Hmm?" Kayneth's expression changed as he looked at the documents.

---

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

https://www.patreon.com/XElenea