As soon as we arrived, Okita swung her blade in a dazzling arc and went straight into a head-on clash with King Arthur.
It was obvious even from far away that Okita was fighting with her teeth clenched, throwing herself at Arthur in a frenzy. She was incredibly on edge right now. I could see blood at the corner of her mouth. She must have coughed it up.
She didn’t seem to be badly injured, but Okita knew as well as anyone that coughing up blood in front of Arthur meant death. I aimed a guided shot at the bridge of Arthur’s nose and fired.
"Ansuz!"
Cu Chulainn attacked with me. It didn’t leave a scratch, but it did block Arthur’s vision and create an opening for Okita.
The instant Arthur’s sight was obscured for less than a second, Okita slashed at his throat more than ten times with her sword. And yet it still didn’t leave a single wound.
If her sword had been in better shape, that bitch would’ve had her head cut off already. Damn it, just because that four-star girl was carrying a Holy Grail, her rank was changing on the fly.
I shouted in frustration.
"Why the hell are you still fine?!"
Then I sent Cu Chulainn a telepathic message.
"Cu Chulainn, in a moment I’m going to use [Order Change] to swap you with the Guardian.
Get ready. Move behind Arthur."
"Got it."
After hearing me, Cu Chulainn quickly circled behind Arthur.
Damn it, now. [Order Change].
Light flared from the Mystic Code, and Cu Chulainn and the Guardian switched places. At that exact moment, the Guardian summoned his sword.
Arthur’s sword came flying in suddenly, and Arthur blocked the Guardian’s Excalibur with his own Excalibur.
At that instant, the two Excaliburs let out a scream I had never heard before.
Ugh!
Arthur, the original owner of Excalibur, groaned. His stance broke for a moment, and Okita seized that opening to use her Noble Phantasm. This time, she planned to attack Arthur using the Guardian’s Excalibur.
On her second stride, Okita grabbed Excalibur, and on the third, she teleported. Then she appeared directly in front of Arthur and raised the sword high with all her strength.
And then she cut diagonally across Arthur’s torso.
Okita wasn’t used to western swords, and she made a mistake. She should have just thrust straight in, but since she had never seen the Guardian properly thrust a sword before, she must have thought western swords were only meant for slashing. So she slashed Arthur’s torso instead.
His armor shattered instantly, and blood spilled from the cut.
Seeing that, I had two thoughts.
One was that I had failed to tell Okita to thrust.
The other was that I should have put emergency evasion into the Mystic Code instead of healing.
"Ah... ahhh! Damn it!"
Because of my mistake, Okita looked like she was about to die.
She spat blood onto the ground.
"Kuh... cough... hack..."
She had only used her Noble Phantasm once, but the frail Okita, who had been darting back and forth at almost Noble Phantasm speed, had reached her limit. She covered her mouth with both hands and collapsed where she stood.
"M-Master..."
"Run, Master."
Since she couldn’t say it out loud, she sent it to me telepathically in a hurry. You little bitch, who the hell do you think you are, giving orders when you’re a girl?!
Goodbye.
Arthur’s words froze my thoughts.
I was screwed. That was the only thing I could think. Because of my mistake, the Director, Okita, Cu Chulainn, the Guardian... all the Chaldea staff were about to die too... damn it all...
Arthur’s sword rose high. Okita couldn’t dodge. Even if I used [Order Change] now, Okita would just die to Berserker...
Right before Arthur brought the sword down, something rolled across the ground at his feet.
Then it exploded.
No matter how strong Arthur was, if the ground blew apart, he couldn’t keep his footing. The blast also widened the distance between him and Okita.
Arthur tried to get back up, but eight explosive rounds came flying in. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. As the smoke cleared, Arthur glared at the Guardian.
...You bastard...
"Honey, I’m home~"
The Guardian held a revolver-shaped Mystic Code in his left hand, one that had been altered into guided magecraft, and a baton in his right. Then he fired the gun while charging at Saber.
"I’ll draw aggro, so don’t panic and take care of Okita."
"Thank you, Guardian."
"Now you get why I’m the Guardian, right?"
"Yeah... there’s no one else like you..."
Because of him, I could finally breathe a little easier. I was grateful to the Guardian for covering even my own control mistake.
"Okita, are you all right?"
I stood right in front of Okita and healed her. The moment she recovered, she said,
"Master, this is dangerous. We need to get out of here..."
The healing function only restored her a little, so I couldn’t make Okita perfect again. I still had two [Order Change] uses left, one basic Mystic Code use, and a Command Spell. I had to save the Command Spell for last. It could be used for more than [Order Change], so I needed to think carefully. Two heals left, two Gandr shots left. Damn it... I’d made another mistake. I hadn’t realized it because things were so urgent, but I had one more Gandr. The Chaldea combat uniform had one shot of Gandr too. Damn it, why the hell didn’t I remember that?
"Shut up. I need you. I need you right now, not because I’m thinking ahead, but because I need you this instant. So stay still."
At my words, Okita fell silent.
Looking at the Guardian’s situation now, he was fighting far better than I’d expected. His swordsmanship was so bad I wanted to smack the back of his head, but the way he danced around while firing was art. He kept fighting at a distance where Arthur’s Mana Burst could still threaten him. And whenever it looked like he wouldn’t be able to dodge Arthur’s beam, he switched to explosive rounds and shot Arthur’s wrist, creating an opening to evade.
And he even had the nerve to keep talking trash.
"You little bastard, you can’t control me~"
His dodging had surpassed first-rate.
Okita was watching that scene too.
"Do you... really need me?"
"Look me in the eye. Do I look like I’m lying? The Guardian’s biggest problem is that he can’t land the finishing blow right now. The only one who can take Saber’s head is you. That guy over there dies if he makes even one mistake. Even Cu Chulainn, the so-called great Heroic Spirit, is the same.
He came to me because he couldn’t find a way out on his own.
You came to me, and that’s why I’ve been able to build a plan this far. I didn’t think of it in the first place. You don’t know western swordsmanship, so the Guardian’s sword didn’t suit you. That’s why you couldn’t thrust. That was my mistake.
You didn’t do anything wrong. So, Okita, heal first. After that, I’ll swap you with Cu Chulainn. Cu Chulainn isn’t as fast on his feet as you and the Guardian, so if I don’t swap him out, he might die. I told you, didn’t I? We’re all getting out of here alive. You’re the key, so don’t get discouraged. Next time, I’ll make sure I kill him."
Okita’s eyes regained their light. I had praised her so much that she seemed ready to squeeze out strength she didn’t even know she had.
"Begin... Okita."
"Understood."
You damned trickster!
"Look over here, idiot~"
The moment the aggro shifted, I fired the fastest bullet I had at both of Arthur’s eyes. Wow, and even after getting hit in the eyes that many times, he still wasn’t taking damage?
"[Order Change]! From Okita to Cu Chulainn!"
I will kill you for this.
"Whoa! That was close, kid."
He summoned the hand of the Wickerman, grabbed Arthur, and slammed him into the ground. Arthur wasn’t taking damage, but if this were normal, he should have been dead already.
Arthur shook his head and tried to get back up. The Guardian rushed in at that moment and kicked him square in the face.
Even for the Guardian with E+ Strength, a kick roughly thirty times stronger than an ordinary human’s was more than enough to launch Arthur into the air.
Then he quickly pumped mana into the gun-shaped Mystic Code again and shot only for the eyes.
"Heeheeheehee, you pathetic bastard."
Arthur was so thoroughly humiliated that he finally snapped. He could not hold back anymore. Could this really be happening? A Heroic Spirit who attacked like this, irritating him like Teemo, the Guardian...
Arthur no longer bothered blocking Cu Chulainn’s attacks.
In truth, Cu Chulainn’s attacks had more power than the Guardian’s, but they weren’t landing, and more than anything, catching that infuriating little rat had become Arthur’s top priority. At first, he had only meant to test the Master’s skill, but he no longer had any such intention.
You bastard... I’ll kill you... I’ll definitely kill you...
Wow... damn, just how much blood was pounding in his face? One, two... there were five bulging veins. Could the Guardian even survive this?
Cu Chulainn looked like he was thinking the same thing, because his expression was terrible.
Damn it, what is this, Deadpool or something...
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