As Jack the Ripper approached at high speed, Mordred swung her sword in a flash.
At the sword strike of Clarent, imbued with lightning from Magic Resistance, Jack the Ripper blocked it with two daggers and used the impact to rotate, performing a breakfall to minimize the shock. Jack the Ripper's eyes sharpened.
"Strong. Yeah, and it's tingly."
"Is a serial killer a pervert to the point of admiring that?"
"Hey, you know? What's a pervert?"
At Jack the Ripper's question, Mordred felt her insides burning up.
"How old are you?"
"Huh? Don't know?"
"Haah, it's my fault for asking in the first place."
Mordred never expected an answer from Jack the Ripper to begin with.
To begin with, looking at her appearance: short, messy silver hair, ice-blue eyes, several chains hanging around her waist, not wearing a skirt, and a leather garment draped over her top, creating a provocative atmosphere like a prostitute despite her young appearance.
So Mordred released her Magic Resistance and instantly closed in on Jack the Ripper. Jack the Ripper panicked, parrying the attacks while throwing surgical scalpels toward the gaps in Mordred's helmet.
Mordred blocked the surgical scalpels with her vambrace, and Jack the Ripper threw more. Mordred blocked with Clarent and shouted.
"You serial killer brat!"
"Swearing is bad, Mommy said!"
"Did that 'Mommy' person say it's okay to devour souls?"
"Yeah, she said all mages are inhumane, so it doesn't matter?"
"Ah…. I half agree."
Mordred thought of Merlin in Britain, but she shook off the stray thought and spoke again.
"So, do you have enough magical energy?"
"Yeah, yeah, plenty~ Honestly, the mages hunted as reserves have piled up quite a bit~ So I don't know your gender, but I'll slowly cook and eat you, tingly-tingly knight!"
And Jack the Ripper disappeared into the fog.
"Fuck!"
As she disappeared into the fog, her presence vanished completely. Realizing she had lost the enemy right in front of her, Mordred released magical energy into the ground to vent her anger.
Showing a drastic shift from a good mood to an extremely bad one, Mordred ran in the direction Jack the Ripper disappeared and began her pursuit.
==========
Artoria was just waiting.
Although the talisman was burning away, considering the long time limit, it was nothing to her.
Unlike Mordred, she had no helmet, so she had no way to resist the fog, but she could push the fog away with her Magic Resistance.
"Hoo… I never thought a day would come to fight again."
Apart from eating, bathing, sleeping, and training, she had nothing particular to do, so she felt strongly like she was just idling around. But thinking she could warm up her body in this situation, she slowly stretched and examined her condition while checking the function of her Magic Core by releasing magical energy.
"Condition is good.;;;"
Artoria was worried.
She was worried about Gray, but also about Mordred.
Mordred had gone out, satisfied with just taking the initial talismans while putting up unnecessary pride, but Artoria had requested and received additional talismans from Tamamo.
The number of talismans was 50 in total.
One might think if she needed to bring this many, but her intuition was ringing, so she had no choice but to take them.
"Hmm… the fog doesn't seem to be a curse, but perhaps because it's fog made of magical energy… it seems to be treated as a curse."
Artoria was just talking to herself and touching the burning talisman.
Judging by the speed at which the talisman was burning away, it seemed like one would burn away about every 30 minutes.
Even though the talisman was burning, it wasn't hot, and Artoria judged there was no risk of getting burned.
"Everyone is carrying paper strangely? Is that why they're fine in my fog?"
Artoria aimed Excalibur and looked in the direction of Jack the Ripper's voice.
Then, Artoria was taken aback.
"A child? I never imagined the serial killer's true identity would be such a young child…."
"Yeah, is that a problem?"
"No, from the moment you devoured souls, regardless of your identity, I believe the situation is that I've prepared to fight."
"Heh? Then I'll dissect you!"
As Jack the Ripper disappeared into the fog, Artoria closed her eyes, maximizing her intuition and senses, waiting only for where Jack the Ripper would come from.
"From here it's hell. 'We' are the flame, the rain, the power—the slaughter is here……『Maria the Ripper』!"
Artoria's intuition activated, and she used Excalibur's Invisible Air.
"Wind, be scattered!"
She was slightly pushed back by the wind before Jack the Ripper's Noble Phantasm could hit, but Jack the Ripper succeeded in hitting Artoria by throwing a dagger.
However, it was blocked by her armor, but Maria the Ripper was a curse of causality reversal. The conditions were met, but because the fog was pushed away by Invisible Air, the condition of being in a foggy situation was removed, so the causality reversal couldn't occur. But Jack the Ripper thought a simple curse had been applied.
The first condition: to be female.
The second condition: to be in fog.
The third: for the time to be night.
One of these was nullified, but with two applied, it was clear that a critical effect would be applied to Artoria.
"Cough."
Artoria coughed up blood and felt as if dozens of talismans had burned away, realizing that the Noble Phantasm just now was quite dangerous.
'It seems if the conditions were fully met at range, it could cause instant death….'
Artoria heightened her guard against Jack the Ripper, pushed the fog away with Magic Resistance, and charged toward Jack the Ripper.
"Why? Did the paper block it for you? Ah, really…."
Jack the Ripper fled to an unfavorable location but was on the verge of being caught by Artoria's charge, who was scattering the wind.
"This is far enough!"
Bang!
At the sound of a gunshot, Artoria blocked the bullet with Excalibur, but in that short moment, a gap was created, and Jack the Ripper disappeared into the fog.
"What is this?"
Artoria became suspicious.
What if Jack the Ripper survived by devouring souls alongside her Master?
She began to wonder what on earth that Master was thinking by doing such a thing.
But the bullet wasn't a Magecraft Bullet, so it felt distant from being a mage, and she speculated it might be an ordinary person. However, she became suspicious of why they didn't think to resolve this situation and instead made a big deal out of it.
"Father!"
At Mordred's voice, Artoria looked at Mordred.
"Mordred, why did you come?"
"No, I came because a big fight broke out."
"First, let's head toward where Akira is."
"Got it! Let's go together, Father!"
And so, the two knights ran south.
============
"Hum hum~ Where should I go?"
"Jack, what you just did was too dangerous."
"Yeah, I'll be careful! Mommy!"
Meanwhile, Jack and Rikudo Reika were heading toward the Clock Tower.
At the point where the mages and Servants were dispersed, the place where mages gathered had weak defenses, and the bounded field could be easily deactivated.
But….
Upon arriving near the Clock Tower.
"Chirp, I was waiting!"
"A sparrow?"
"Chirp? I never thought you were an existence formed from the fusion of souls that died before being born…. That's pitiful."
"Hey, you know? Are you really a sparrow?"
"Yes, do you know about the sparrow with a cut tongue?"
"No, don't know~ Then I'll dissect you! Mommy, step back!"
"Be careful, Jack. If it seems dangerous, it's okay to retreat."
"Yeah, okay!"
As Rikudo Reika disappeared into the fog, Jack the Ripper's presence faded away due to the thickening fog.
She threw surgical scalpels at Benienma.
But Benienma had shrunk in size, so there was no chance of being hit, and she flew nimbly, searching for Jack the Ripper.
"Don't you think that's kind of unfair?"
"Chirp, if this is unfair, try living a sparrow's life."
"Hmm… well, you are a sparrow. You must be small. You're exactly sparrow-sized."
Sword and dagger crossed, sparks flying. Jack the Ripper realized she was being overpowered in strength.
In fact, Benienma had an Assassin-class aptitude, but having been incarnated as a Saber, she was not at a disadvantage against Jack the Ripper.
Sword and dagger crossed, sparks flying. Hitting and retreating, hitting and retreating, gradually speeding up while the weapons seemed to grow hot from colliding dozens, hundreds of times, as if sparks were igniting.
Jack the Ripper had no chance to use her Noble Phantasm, and due to Benienma's agility, it was doubtful she could even hit her, let alone use it.
She confirmed Benienma was female, recognized the fog was present, and the time was night, but she felt she would decisively lose the moment she used her Noble Phantasm, so she couldn't use it recklessly.
In contrast, Benienma only had her talisman burning away.
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