Seeing that La had temporarily lost his ability to fight, Chihiro prepared to move in ahe final blow.

  But suddenly, a sharp tingliion ran through his scalp.

  Danger!

  Trusting his honed instincts, Chihiro immediately dropped to the ground. A bullet whizzed past the space where his head had been a split sed ago.

  It was Assassin—Emiya Kiritsugu's ever-present lurking threat.

  And that bullet? It could only be the dreaded in Bullet.

  "That sneaky bastard again..." Chihiro muttered, gritting his teeth.

  Among all the enemies otlefield, Assassin's masterful ambushes made him the most frustrating. Just one mistake, and he'd be taken out instantly.

  No more hesitation. Assassin had to be eliminated here and now.

  "You want to py? Let's py!"

  With a swift gesture, the God Force transformed into a bow. Chihiro activated his Mystic Code— Royal Brand's Unavoidable strike ability—a feature that guaranteed his attack would hit its target.

  A glowing energy arrow formed in the air, crag with suppressed power.

  Chihiro fired.

  The light ohrough the battlefield, homing in on its target with unerring accurabsp;

  Caught in the crosshairs of Chihiro's skill, Assassin had no aveo escape. His attempts to dodge proved futile as the med into him with devastating forbsp;

  "Boom!!!"

  The explosio debris flying, and Assassin's body colpsed iermath. Though he narrowly survived the blow, it was clear he was critically injured.

  Chihiro approached, preparing to finish the job.

  Assassin, realizing the iability of his demise, shut his eyes and accepted his fate.

  But just as Chihiro prepared to strike, Artoria appeared, steppiween them.

  Despite the downpour of hail and rain jured by Zhang Jiao's fog, the King of Knights forced her way to Assassin's side, her armor scuffed but her resolve unshaken.

  Chihiro clicked his tongue in frustration.

  "Zhang Jiao! Stop her!"

  Unwilling to let Artoria thwart him, Chihiro used one of his and Spells to empower Zhang Jiao.

  The power of the and Spell surged through Zhang Jiao, amplifying his teiques to their peak.

  "By the energy of heaven ah, heed my call! Thunder God and Lightning Goddess, desd!"

  Lightning crackled through the storm clouds as Zhang Jiao unleashed a relentless barrage of bolts. Thunder roared, and arcs of electricity rained down around Artoria, f her on the defensive.

  Not stopping there, Zhang Jiao jured a dense mist to obscure Artoria's vision. The cloying fog hung heavily in the air, cutting her off from her allies.

  Uo see clearly and surrounded by stant lightning strikes, Artoria had no choice but to evade, leaving Assassin momentarily unprotected.

  Chihiro didn't waste the opportunity. He closed the distah a single leap and pluhe God Force through Assassin's chest.

  The on pierced his spiritual core, shattering it.

  Assassin's body dissipated into motes of light, his presence erased from the battlefield.

  At st, the ing and persistent Assassin was eliminated.

  Chihiro exhaled deeply. "Finally…"

  Thankfully, they were still within the fines of Iskandar's Ionioi Hetairoi. If this had been outside the Reality Marble, Assassin's master, Emiya Kiritsugu, would undoubtedly have intervened by now.

  ---

  But there was no time to celebrate.

  "Ahhhhhh!!!"

  A thunderous roar broke through the storm. Chihiro turned just in time to see La, whose injuries should have rendered him incapable of fighting, rise to his feet.

  His presence was overwhelming, his power skyrocketing.

  It was clear, Matou Kariya had used his remaining two and Spells to fully empower his Berserker.

  La moved faster than Chihiro could react. In an instant, the Knight of the Lake appeared before him, striking with enough force to send Chihiro flying.

  "Ugh!"

  The impact hurled Chihiro across the battlefield. He crashed into a mound of sand, his entire body wracked with pain. Blood spilled from his mouth as the css card was forcibly celed.

  La's sirike had left Chihiro critically injured.

  ---

  "Chihiro!" Zhang Jiao shouted, abandoning his atta Artoria to defend his fallen ally.

  But La, empowered by the and Spells, was faster than lightning itself. Not even Zhang Jiao's enhanced spells could keep up with him.

  Knowing his ratacks would be iive, Zhang Jiao instead cast a wide-area fog spell.

  The dense mist bhe battlefield, swallowing up batants on all sides and redug visibility to near zero. Soldiers from both armies were forced to scatter, retreating from the chaos.

  "It's going to be a war of attrition now," Chihiro muttered under his breath.

  Ign the pain c through his body, Chihiro uned an Invisibility Cloak—a gift he had received from Gilgamesh during their bet.

  "Zhang Jiao, give me cover!" he called out through their mental e.

  As Zhang Jiao stirred up a fierce gust of wind, kig up sand and obsg La's vision even further, Chihiro draped the invisibility cloak over himself.

  Hidden from sight, Chihiro rolled down the sand dune, every movement sending waves of agony through his battered body.

  Reag a safe spot, he quickly pulled out two potions, a recovery potion and a ma elixir. He dowhem in quick succession, feeling the healing effects take hold almost immediately.

  His wounds knit together, and his mana reserves were replenished, but his stamina was left dangerously low.

  ---

  Meanwhile, uo locate Chihiro, La turned his attention to Zhang Jiao.

  With blinding speed, the Berserker charged toward him, his bde cutting through the mist like a guillotine.

  Chihiro, sensing the shift in focus, burned yet another and Spell.

  "Zhang Jiao, hold him off!"

  The enhanced Zhang Jiao switched tactics, abandoning his direct attacks in favor of illusions. He expahe mist, weaving yers of deception into its folds.

  La, lost in the illusion, began to see phantom enemies.

  ---

  Even Artoria was caught off guard.

  Struggling to fend off undead soldiers within the fog, she suddenly found herself face-to-face with Chihiro—or so she thought.

  The figure lu her with startling speed, striking with precision and power far beyond what Chihiro had demonstrated earlier.

  "Chihiro?!" Artoria excimed, blog the attack with Excalibur.

  But the force of the blow seumbling babsp;

  "Impossible…" she muttered. "How did his strength increase so drastically?"

  'Chihiro' pressed the attack, f Artoria to fight defensively. Each strike was relentless, calcuted, and utterly uhe chaotic fighting style she had seen from Chihiro before.

  "Who are you?!" Artoria demanded mid-bat.

  Her oppo said nothing, their silence adding to her fusion.

  It wasn't until their swords cshed again, and she saw the wild, frenzied look itacker's eyes, that realization dawned.

  "La…"

  The mist had clouded her perception. Zhang Jiao's illusions had made La appear as Chihiro.

  Realizing this, Artoria's resolve hardened.

  "Sir La, is this what you have been reduced to? Then I will put ao your torment!"

  Their duel escated.

  Though La's stats, bolstered by the and Spells, far outstripped Artoria's, his wild frenzy left him vulnerable to her precise swordsmanship.

  The battle reached its climax as La's and Spell enhas began to fade.

  Artoria seized the moment, unleashing a flurry of strikes that overwhelmed her oppo.

  With one final swing, Excalibur came to rest against La's chest, poised to deliver the finishing blow.

  The King of Knights stood victorious.

  ***

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