Noble Phantasm?
Before the opponent assumed the stance, Surtr already understood what the opponent was going to do; rather, she had been on guard against the opponent using a Noble Phantasm all along.
Reversing causality, the magic spear that is bound to pierce the heart once thrust, Gáe Bolg.
For those who have never seen it, Lancer’s Noble Phantasm can be said to be a first-encounter kill.
Even knowing it, Miss Surtr has no real way to block it.
Aside from dodging with sheer luck and intuition like official cheating, the remaining options are only being able to resurrect and escaping the range of attack.
Options one and two are clearly impossible to achieve, so it seems Miss Surtr’s only remaining option is to escape the range.
But she also wanted to end the battle quickly.
If they keep fighting, it might attract other Servants, and the situation will become even more complicated then.
Just dodging is not enough; she needs a powerful enough strike to end the battle.
When the opponent releases the Noble Phantasm might be her chance.
The release of a Noble Phantasm requires the liberation of its True Name; although short, it is already enough.
Spending 0.01 seconds thinking of a countermeasure, decisively and without hesitation, Surtr hurled the Lævateinn in her hand into the sky.
Lancer noticed the opponent’s action, but did not stop; as long as he killed her before that, there would be no problem.
Stepping forward fiercely, the distance of barely five meters vanished in an instant.
“I’ll be taking your heart!”
He shouted out the declaration of sure victory.
But a step faster than him, centered on Surtr, a scorching pillar of fire soared into the sky, resembling an erupting volcano, covering the battlefield and roaring like a tide to engulf the earth.
Tongues of fire climbed up Lancer’s body, and the firelight obscured his vision.
A gust of hot wind swept past, and in merely the blink of an eye, Surtr’s figure vanished within the flames.
“…”
Losing his target, Lancer had to halt his movement, and the Noble Phantasm’s True Name that was already on the tip of his tongue had to be swallowed back down.
This feeling akin to edging made Lancer exceptionally uncomfortable, but he had no time to think about such things.
His body fell into stiffness after the strike, revealing an opening.
It’s a trap.
The moment the thought arose, the smell of sulfur poured into Lancer’s nasal cavity, and a sense of crisis surged into his heart.
The tremor of the ground came from the soles of his feet, and dark shadows swayed in the fire.
The next moment, a ferocious giant composed of magma tore through the raging fire and stood tall upon the earth.
The giant raised its hands high, holding the flame sword falling from the sky.
Light and heat converged on the blade, resembling a sun rising in the dark night.
The firelight filled Lancer’s entire field of vision.
Rich battlefield experience and a beast’s instinct made him almost subconsciously raise his hand and draw in the air.
Then, the sun fell.
The scorching torrent of flames rushed into the distance in a fan shape.
Rainwater was vaporized halfway through the air, the woods along the path turned to ashes in an instant, and the damp soil rapidly melted into a viscous liquid splashing in all directions.
Until the flames engulfed everything in sight—the woods, the earth, including Lancer himself standing in front.
A moment later.
As the flames dissipated, a fan-shaped gap with a radius of nearly a hundred meters appeared in the woods, and Lancer’s figure had also disappeared.
After confirming that there were no traces of enemies around, the magma giant sank back into the earth, and the surrounding spontaneously combusting trees gradually extinguished in defiance of common sense.
A gust of hot wind blew past, and like a mirage, Surtr’s figure appeared out of thin air in the woods.
This was an inspiration she got from a certain novel in her past life: using thermal energy to control airflow and distort light to achieve the effect of invisibility.
Similar to a certain bed-sheet-wearing Wind King’s Barrier.
Although looking closely would still reveal obvious abnormalities, with the cover of the flames, it was already enough to fool Lancer in that situation.
Retrieving the Lævateinn, Surtr glanced at the devastated woods.
A piece of land in the center looked distinctly different from its surroundings.
Presumably, that was Lancer’s location.
There is a high probability that he is still alive.
Presumably, he offset part of the power through Runes, and coupled with his perseverance skill, even if he died, he could still get up and bounce around a bit.
Not seeing him now probably means he was transferred away by a Command Seal.
The opponent is undoubtedly an excellent warrior.
The same trick will be hard to succeed a second time, and if they meet next time, it probably won’t be so easy to succeed.
A bit troublesome.
Moreover, the opponent’s performance today also surprised her greatly, being much gentler than in her impression.
The only reason she could think of was probably the opponent’s Master, but whether Mapo changed his nature or Bazett is serving as his Master remains to be seen.
It will require a careful investigation afterwards.
However, although no winner was decided, the battle with Lancer gave her a rough judgment of the Servants and her own strength.
Pure physical abilities should not differ much, and she might even have more of an advantage; probably only a monster like Berserker could confront her head-on.
As for Noble Phantasms, that strike probably had anti-army level power; ordinary Servants would basically be killed in one hit.
There is an advantage, but it cannot be said to be a guaranteed victory; she can’t charge in mindlessly anymore.
But those are things to consider later; the most urgent matter now is to solve Medea’s problem first.
Without thinking further, Surtr came to the location where Medea’s “corpse” was placed.
During the battle, she intentionally kept the battlefield away from her, so nothing like the hostage being killed along with the perpetrator happened.
Squatting down, she picked up the other person again and left the area before the Holy Church arrived.
Meanwhile, on the edge of the city, in a villa called the Phantom Mansion.
A few days ago, this mansion welcomed its master.
Lancer’s figure appeared in the basement of the mansion.
His originally flowing short blue hair had vanished without a trace, and his bodysuit had several large holes scorched by flames, revealing the charred skin underneath.
“Tch, I really got played.”
Lancer clicked his tongue.
As if he couldn’t feel the pain on his body.
As long as it’s not a fatal wound, a Servant can quickly recover through magical energy.
Rather than the pain on his body, he felt more excitement; although he lost, tonight’s battle undoubtedly made him feel physically and mentally refreshed.
Although fighting directly to the death wouldn’t be bad either, right now not even all the participants of the Holy Grail War had arrived yet.
Dying at this time would be too much of a loss, and he still wanted to meet other Servants.
“Thanks to you this time, Master, otherwise I might have had to exit the stage.”
Lancer thanked the woman across the table carelessly.
That was a beautiful woman wearing an azuki-red suit, with rose-red short hair and pupils.
Her expression was cold, and she looked somewhat unsympathetic.
“If you exited the stage right now, I would also be very troubled.”
Bazett unassumingly looked away from his head.
After a few days of getting along, she no longer had the initial excitement towards this childhood idol in front of her.
“If possible, I still hope you can change your habit of toying with your prey. If you had gone all out from the start to kill Caster, there wouldn’t have been so much trouble.”
“After all, it’s a boring job, I don’t have much drive.”
Although he would basically obey his Master’s orders, slack was still inevitable for a boring job.
It’s a bad habit, but he didn’t plan to change it either.
“Now Caster has been taken away by the other party, and the next opponent is likely to be very tricky. Next time, I will go with you.”
Bazett knew his personality fairly well and didn’t say anything more, deciding on the next action.
“Then those Masters are in for a hard time; I hope they can last a bit longer.”
Lancer whistled.
He had personal experience with his own Master’s strength, after all, he fought with her on the very first day of summons.
Without the slightest exaggeration, Bazett had a cliff-like gap with the other Masters of this Holy Grail War.
Relying on her own magecraft and combat skills, she could even confront Servants head-on.
If she uses mystic codes, the best result would be mutual destruction.
Referring to the opponent.
She and Lancer could completely be considered two Servants.
For their team, as long as it’s not that kind of extremely out-of-spec Servant, wanting to achieve victory is not a difficult task.
This is not arrogance, but merely stating facts.
Not to mention, besides that, they still have a trump card.
Bazett turned her gaze to the table in front of her, her eyes carrying helplessness and sadness.
A blood-stained right hand was quietly lying on the table, its exposed skin covered with crimson lines.
Command Seals left behind by the Holy Church from several Holy Grail Wars.
Tonight is destined to be a sleepless night.
The battle between Lancer and Surtr caused widespread discussion, and the Fuyuki Gas Company was pushed into the limelight once again after a decade.
The person in charge of the company was arrogant first and humble later towards the citizens of Fuyuki City, promising to guarantee that similar events would not happen.
And far away in a country on the other side of the continent, someone’s mood was also constantly fluctuating.