Shirou, who returned from the Fairy Kingdom

Saber didn't care about anything else and hugged the boy tightly in her arms: "Shirou! Are you alright, Shirou! Cheer up!"

Irisviel hurriedly stepped forward to cast a healing spell, and emerald-colored healing magic flowed from her fingertips.

"Ugh...Saber..."

Shirou seems to have something to say.

"Yes, Shirou! I'm right here!"

Saber gripped Shirou's hand tightly, and Shirou said with a pained expression:

"Your breastplate is making my head hurt so much..."

"Ah... I'm sorry..."

Artoria quickly removed the magic-woven armor and carefully cradled the boy's face with her small, soft breasts.

"..."

Only then did Shirou finally show a peaceful expression.

that's it.

After the battle with the King of Heroes, Shirou Amamiya was exhausted and passed out.

He pretended.

As Shirou buried his face in his beautiful ideal world, savoring the post-battle bliss, he thought to himself.

...I'm counting on you from now on, Assassin-nee.

……

……

Meanwhile, in Fukayama Town.

Not long after Gilgamesh disappeared, the sight of Shirou collapsing weakly reached Tokiomi Tohsaka's eyes.

Oh... how could this be!

Was he just putting on a brave face the whole time?

Was he actually completely incapable of fighting at that time?

If Archer had stayed even a second longer, he could have easily killed Shirou Amamiya.

"..."

Tokiomi Tohsaka began to question the meaning of life once again:

Then wasn't my action of even expending Command Spells and angering the King of Heroes to recall Archer... just shooting myself in the foot?

No, wait... tonight has only just begun.

Amamiya Shirou has completely lost his fighting ability.

Saber also consumed a lot of magic power in the battle with Archer just now.

Now is the perfect time to crush them...

Tokiomi Tohsaka had another brilliant idea, so he asked his disciple in the distance:

"Kirei, how long will it take to gather all the Assassins?"

Volume 1, Chapter 75: I asked you to act, not to create a chaotic scene!

Under what circumstances can Assassin maximize its value?

Tokiomi Tohsaka and Kirei Kotomine have already provided the standard answer to this question.

It happened when everyone thought he was dead.

Only when everyone believes Assassin is gone and lowers their guard can the Master better utilize the assassin to carry out their shadowy work in the sunlight.

Conversely, how will Shirou and Hassan, who have formed an alliance behind the backs of the Tohsaka family, maximize their own interests?

The answer is to make Tokiomi Tohsaka and Kirei Kotomine believe that Assassin is dead.

In other words, they planned a staged death to be performed for the Tohsaka faction.

This was Shirou and Hassan's plan.

By faking his death to escape the Tohsaka family's control, he also managed to conceal the existence of the Assassin without anyone noticing—a perfect plan that killed two birds with one stone.

But things weren't as simple as they seemed.

The first thing to consider is how to wipe out all the Assassins, who have nearly a hundred spirit origins, in one go.

At this point, Hassan's abilities become a burden.

"What, you're disgusted?" Assassin rolled her eyes.

"I never said that, did I?" Shirou said ingratiatingly.

After thinking it over, Shirou finally decided to use himself as bait.

He publicly announced that he was aware of the Tohsaka family's private dealings.

She made Tokiomi Tohsaka realize that she was the seventh enemy he considered a major threat, while also demonstrating her mysterious power to him.

That's not enough; we also need to create a situation where Archer can no longer play.

Only when all the above conditions are met can Tokiomi Tohsaka be forced into a desperate situation where he has no choice but to use all his Assassins.

Tonight, Shirou's goal has been perfectly achieved.

The stage is already set up.

Next, Shirou only needs to deliberately appear weak in public.

In that case, Tokiomi Tohsaka, driven to desperation, will probably send Assassins to attack Shirou and Irisviel.

At that time, Assassin and her gang will willingly offer themselves up to Saber, staging a tragic fake death.

However, at this point, a new problem arose.

A simple fake death wouldn't be enough to fool anyone, because Kirei Kotomine is the Master of Assassins.

The Master knows better than anyone whether the Servant they supply with magic is alive or dead.

If Archer possessed the cheat-level skill "Acting Alone," it might be possible to fake his death and even fool his Master, and even exist for a period of time without the need for a magician's magic supply, but this is clearly beyond Hassan's capabilities.

Therefore, there is only one way to make even the Master believe it.

That is to make Assassin not just fake his death, but truly die.

……

……

"Kirei, how long will it take to gather all the Assassins?"

Kirei Kotomine was taken aback by the sudden question from the other end of the communication.

Tokiomi Tohsaka added in a teacher's tone, "Kirei, trying to take the initiative in this situation might be a good idea."

With the Holy Grail War progressing to this point, only three enemy Servants remain.

Saber is a perfect Servant worthy of the title of strongest, but Tokiomi Tohsaka believes that if the King of Heroes were to take out the sword hidden deep in his treasure vault, he would not be able to lose to the Star Sword Wielder.

Rider is a formidable enemy no less formidable than Saber, but Tokiomi Tohsaka has already found his weakness and sent Kirei Kotomine to take care of it earlier today.

Although it was a despicable act that was clearly inconsistent with the Tohsaka family's style, Tokiomi Tohsaka was willing to become a stain on the family if it was to fulfill his long-cherished wish.

The biggest threat is still Amamiya Shirou.

Unlike the Knight King and the Conqueror King, whose true names have already been revealed, Tokiomi Tohsaka doesn't even know his origins.

Now that he is exhausted from his battle with Archer, it is the perfect time to defeat him.

Not only that, Saber's Master is also there, so successfully killing either Amamiya Shirou or her would be a win!

Even if we can't kill either of them, we can at least deplete one of the Knight King's Noble Phantasms.

Kirei Kotomine instantly understood his teacher's intention and said:

"It takes about ten minutes to get all the Assassins together on site."

"Alright, give the order. This bet was huge, but fortunately we didn't suffer any losses."

For Tokiomi Tohsaka, Assassin was merely a means to help Gilgamesh obtain the Holy Grail, a tool to be used and discarded, and his apprentice Kirei had no objection to this idea.

Tokiomi Tohsaka made up his mind, sat down easily in the chair, and crossed his legs again.

He picked up the teapot beside him, filled his teacup with tea, and began to enjoy the aroma of the black tea while waiting for the results of the ruthless strategy.

……

……

Irisviel and Saber arrived at the parking lot.

It's only a little past eight o'clock now, but let's call it a day for tonight.

The two glanced at the unconscious Shirou and made the same decision without prior agreement.

"This is terrible. The Master is already this weak, and Shirou's Servant still doesn't plan to show up?"

Saber said indignantly, while Irisviel tilted her head.

"I think there's some kind of trust between Shirou and his Servant that we can't understand, isn't there?"

Although this is just my feeling, it's not as powerful as Saber's "intuition."

Upon hearing her Master's words, Artoria fell silent.

"Saber, you can drive us home today."

When they arrived at the car, Irisviel, quite unusually, suggested that Saber drive, of course—

Her real target was the red-haired boy in Saber's arms.

Seeing Master open her arms, Artoria smiled and hugged Shirou even tighter:

"No, Irisviel, you should drive. You're much better at driving."

"Gu..."

Irisviel bit her lip resentfully: I should never have shown off my driving skills in front of Saber—

She genuinely believed that her driving skills were superior to Saber's, who possessed an A-level "riding" skill.

Half an hour had passed since the battle with Gilgamesh began, and Shirou's condition seemed to have improved somewhat.

It seems he simply overused his magic power and wasn't harmed.

Seeing this, Irisviel and Saber felt much more relaxed.

The two were chatting and laughing, but in the next instant, Saber's expression suddenly changed.

Soon, Irisviel also noticed that the atmosphere around her had become strange.

Although he couldn't see the form or hear the sound, the intense killing intent made his skin temperature drop several degrees.

"........."

The two exchanged a glance and nodded in tacit agreement.

Pale skull masks appeared one after another around the parking lot in the moonlight, like flowers blooming in the darkness.

In an instant, multiple figures shrouded in black robes surrounded Irisviel and Saber.

Assassin...

The two of them paused slightly, taken aback.

They had already heard Shirou talk about Tokiomi Tohsaka's private dealings with Kirei Kotomine, so they naturally knew that the Assassin was still alive.

The Assassin in this Holy Grail War is not just the one who was defeated in the Tohsaka family's courtyard on the first day, but many Assassins are involved.

The fact itself was already quite strange, but the sheer number of people in front of them could only be described as abnormal.