Kamen Rider Date A Live

So in his spare time, Assassin was also pondering why Master wanted him to attack Tokiomi Tohsaka, who was originally an ally.

Although it is still unclear what caused Kirei to have murderous intent, it was probably caused by Tokiomi summoning Sevrant a few days ago.

I heard that the Servant who made a contract with Tokiomi is a Servant Archer, but upon observation, this Heroic Spirit is even more fragile than Kirei had imagined. It seems there's no benefit in continuing to cooperate with Tokiomi; perhaps that's why he issued such an order tonight.

Even the weakest assassin, Assassin, "did not need to fear" when facing him—it's clear that the Archer's spirit summoned by Tokiomi must have been very disappointing to Kirei.

Just then, the assassin arrived at the final barrier, a place without any blind spots in the barrier. To pass through, the barrier had to be physically destroyed to eliminate it, a task impossible to accomplish in his invisible spirit form.

After hiding in the shadow of the plants, Assassin began to transform from a spirit into a physical form, and a slender body wearing a skull mask began to appear.

He then arrived at a place different from the other barriers in Tohsaka, where many "gazes" were directed at him from afar. These were probably the familiars of the other masters who were monitoring the mansion from outside the barrier.

However, as long as Tokiomi doesn't discover them, these spying individuals can be ignored. As rivals also aiming for the Holy Grail, they have no reason to inform Tokiomi that Assassin Tohsaka has infiltrated the area.

When faced with such cutthroat competition between rivals, everyone will likely adopt a bystander attitude and watch from the sidelines.

Assassin chuckled to himself as he reached out his hand towards the outermost sealing point of the barrier.

The instant his hand was outstretched, a gleaming gun flew down from directly above him like lightning, piercing through the back of his hand and pinning it to the ground.

"...!?"

Excruciating pain, fear, and even more intense astonishment. Deeply surprised by the sudden, dazzling strike of the spear, the assassin looked up, his face filled with disbelief, searching for the person who had thrown it.

No, there's no need to search for it at all.

On the roof of the Tohsaka mansion stood an exceptionally magnificent golden figure. It was a majestic presence that could even dim the stars and the moon, a radiant glow like that of a god.

The assassin could no longer feel the anger of being hurt or the pain of his wounds; all he felt now was fear of that overwhelming sense of authority.

"Who gave you permission to raise your head, you mere crawling insect on the ground?"

The golden figure looked down at the Assassin lying on the ground with his burning red eyes, questioning him in a contemptuous tone.

"You don't see my qualifications. A reptile should just be like a reptile, lying on the ground with its head down, ready to die."

Then, around the golden figure, countless shimmering lights appeared. Swords and spears of countless kinds materialized in the air, each unique, and every single one was a jewel-like weapon adorned with dazzling decorations. And the tips of all these weapons were pointed towards the Assassin.

Unbeatable—assassin didn't even need to think; his intuition told him that the man in front of him was unbeatable.

Fighting a guy like that would be foolish; I could never beat him.

Judging from the fact that he was able to injure me, a Servant, that golden figure must also be a Servant. And he is guarding the Tohsaka mansion—meaning he is an Archer-class Heroic Spirit.

Is this what they mean by not having to be afraid?

After carefully recalling what Master had told him, the Assassin finally realized that Kirei's words were not wrong.

Faced with such an overwhelming enemy, there was not even a chance to feel fear—yes, there was no room for fear at all.

All I could feel was despair.

Accompanied by the sound of wind being cut, countless sharp blades gleaming with cold light flew towards Assassin.

Assassin could feel those gazes. The gazes of his familiars watching him from outside the barrier. The other Masters must have seen it too, right? The first loser in the Fourth Holy Grail War, a Servant defeated without even making a move.

In the final moments of his life, Assassin finally understood the true purpose of his master, Kirei Kotomine, and... Tokiomi Tohsaka, his ally.

By concealing his own death from the other masters, he keeps the other versions of himself hidden deep behind the scenes... his trump card!

Discussion of Article 117

Discussion of Article 117

What did a mouse see through the eyes of the Tohsaka mansion?

(Mysterious voice: Should we play Decade's opening theme at this point...?)

"Assassin got killed!?"

"Mouse... Ugh!" Weber sighed, disappointed by the extremely simple process.

Ah, to clarify beforehand, it's not that Waver turned into a mouse, but rather that Waver used a familiar control magic to control a mouse, transferring all the scenes that the mouse saw at the Tohsaka mansion onto Waver, which is why Waver sighed like that.

But excitement followed immediately. Webber sat up in bed and excitedly said to Rider.

"Hey—Rider! There's been progress! One person's already out!"

Even with Webber's calls, Rider, as a servant, lay on the floor like a lazy otaku, eating a pancake and staring intently at a DVD player playing "Records of World Air Combat Power Part 4" on the TV screen—a show that only military geeks would watch. As for Master's words, Rider just gave a perfunctory "hmm" and continued watching his own video and eating his pancake.

"Hey! Can't you be a little bit like Shido and have even a little bit of awareness as a servant?!"

Waver pointed to Shido, who was fast asleep in a spirit form on the other side of the bed, and continued to speak to Rider with dissatisfaction (though Waver couldn't see him, he could still sense it).

"Shido goes out on patrol, scout, and train during the day. Although he goes straight to sleep at night, that's to avoid consuming my magical energy. But what are you doing, Rider?! You stay at home all day, sleeping comfortably, or watching rented DVDs while munching on pancakes! What kind of servant are you?!"

"Seriously! Assassin has already been defeated! The Holy Grail War has begun! Besides, the mana that sustains your physical form is being wasted on such trivial matters!"

Unable to contain himself any longer, Webber raised his voice and shouted. Rider finally turned around and looked at him with a reluctant expression.

“I’m telling you, because of Shido’s special [Retention Skill], he doesn’t need your magic power at all when he materializes during the day, okay? And he also goes to sleep in spirit form very early at night, so the magic power you expend isn’t just enough for one Servant. Besides, since Shido is already scouting, why should I go?”

"Besides, what is that assassin anyway? His only strength is his stealthy assassination skills; he's no match for me at all."

"..."

"Forget about that, kid, come look at this, it's really impressive."

Suddenly, Rider's tone changed, and he pointed passionately at a stealth bomber on the television screen.

"Look, this big black guy called B2 is pretty fierce! I want to take down ten of these, what do you think?"

"...If you had that kind of money, it would be much more convenient to just buy a country, definitely."

Webber threw down this sentence in despair, "Yeah," Rider muttered with a very serious expression.

"Is that so...so the problem really is with funding...If there's a country as wealthy as Persepolis, we should hurry up and seize it."

Webber felt somewhat helpless about Rider's dangerous remarks, but he couldn't stop the big guy at all. Thinking of this, Webber sighed helplessly.

"In short, this man named Clinton is a formidable foe. He seems to be the second formidable foe I have encountered since King Darius."

"..."

Ever since summoning this Servant, Waver has had a constant stomachache from anger. If this keeps up, he'll definitely get a stomach ulcer by the time he gets the Holy Grail. Should I go ask Shido tomorrow if he knows any medicine for my stomach...?

However, although this unreliable servant made him so angry that he started to overthink, Webber was still grateful that he had a pretty good servant. Furthermore, Webber was also relieved that the first one to be eliminated was Assassin.

Because, well, my own Rider personality is definitely the kind that charges head-on into the fray. And for this type of person, the greatest enemy is none other than an assassin who shoots from the shadows. An assassin is exactly that type.

Saber, Lancer, and Archer—the three great knights—along with Berserker, who only possesses brute strength, are not a threat, provided, of course, that they don't team up. With the abilities of my two Riders and my Noble Phantasms, I can easily overpower them and achieve victory.

While the last remaining Caster is also troublesome, compared to his almost bug-like Shido and Rider with her super-powerful Noble Phantasm, he doesn't need to worry too much.

However, it would be best to find out the origin of that caster—

"Speaking of which, how was Assassin killed?"

Rider, still watching his TV, suddenly threw out this question at Weber, who was deep in thought.

"……Why?"

"I said, didn't you see that servant who defeated Assassin?"

Weber was unsure how to remain silent. He had indeed seen it—but what exactly was it?

"It seems to be Tohsaka's Servant...probably. Judging from both her appearance and her attack techniques, she's a dazzling and powerful figure. Anyway, it just happened in that instant, I don't know how it happened..."

"This is the key point. You idiot."

As he spoke his own silly, incoherent voice, Webber suddenly felt as if his forehead had exploded. A sharp pain, far beyond his wildest expectations, sent him sprawling backward.

It was Rider's middle finger that flicked Webber's head. Although he didn't use much force, Rider's finger, which resembled an old pine root, still managed to give Webber a big, red, and swollen bump.

"Hey you, the guy I'm fighting is the one who defeated the Assassin! How can you, as a Master, not carefully observe your enemy?!"

"..."

Weber couldn't refute it. Because Rider was right. Although he was very unwilling to be lectured by this servant who only knew how to sleep, read books, watch DVDs, and eat all day long, what he said did make sense. The problems in the future would not lie with the defeated opponents, but with the enemies that still existed.

"Fine, whatever. After you saw that guy called Goldpika (Golden Gilgamesh) or something, did you notice anything else that was particularly noteworthy?"

"Even if you say that, it was nighttime, and it only lasted for a moment..."

And it happened in an instant, who knows what exactly happened?

Just as Webber was saying this, he saw Rider preparing to flick his forehead again. Webber hurriedly protected his forehead and said...

"I was saying that a Rider/Servant can generally only have one Noble Phantasm, right?"

"Theoretically, yes. But occasionally there are special Servants who possess two or three Noble Phantasms. For example, I, Iskandar, am that type. By the way, Shido doesn't count, because he's not a true Servant."

"It's pointless to count the number of Noble Phantasms. You know, a Noble Phantasm is a crystallization of the most famous stories or legends surrounding a Heroic Spirit, so it doesn't necessarily have to exist in the form of a weapon. In other words, the meaning of 'a Noble Phantasm' can be understood literally as a weapon, or as a special ability, or a means of attack."

"So, are there also Noble Phantasms that can unleash dozens or even hundreds of swords at the same time?"

"Can it split into countless swords? Hmm, that's possible. This is also an ability that can be defined as a single 'Noble Phantasm'."

"..."

That being said, it's still different from the moves used to defeat Assassin.

Because, as Weber saw through the familiar's eyes, each of the launched weapons possessed its own unique shape; they were definitely not fragmented versions of the same weapon. Rather, each was an independently existing weapon.

Could it be that all of those were Noble Phantasms? But that should be completely impossible. Even Shido doesn't have that many Noble Phantasms. The weapons that killed Assassin were definitely not just two or three; there were at least dozens of them.

"Well, never mind, it's alright. Anyway, we'll find out who the enemy is when we see him."

Rider laughed heartily as he forcefully slapped Waver on the back, who was deep in thought. The powerful impact sent shivers down Waver's spine and ribs, making the diminutive magician cough incessantly. Although the blow wasn't meant to be humiliating, Waver still hoped that Rider wouldn't use such a crude way of expressing his feelings in the future.

"Are you really sure it's okay!?"

"Of course! It's more like it's even more inspiring!"

Rider, with a confident smile on his face, made a bold statement.

"Eating and love, sleeping and fighting—whatever you do, try to find joy in it. That's the secret to life."

"..."

Weber felt no joy in any of these four things. No, he hadn't even experienced two of them.

"Alright, how about we go out and have some fun? Let Shido sleep in bed."

The burly man cracked his neck as he stretched and said.

"Let's go, kid. Get ready!"