Chapter 27: Mutual Scheming
Su Xiao wasn’t surprised that things had developed to this point. The Blood Gate was, after all, a large adventure group, one that dominated the fourth rank. How could they not have some tricks up their sleeves?
He glanced at Tohsaka Rin, Illya, and the others in the distance, considering which link in the chain had gone wrong. Soon, his gaze settled on Illya.
The chances of Amu and Tohsaka Rin being tracked were slim, so the problem likely lay with Illya. One possibility was that before Su Xiao arrived at the Einzbern castle, members of the Blood Gate had already reached it and placed a coordinate marker on Illya.
Thinking this over, Su Xiao quickened his pace to regroup with Tohsaka Rin and the others. As he moved, he stored the phone in his team storage space.
Once he met up with Tohsaka Rin, Su Xiao began sensing Illya for any traces of coordinates or similar markers. But he wasn’t a perception-type contractor and couldn’t detect anything unusual.
Su Xiao wasn’t disappointed. Instead, he led the group toward the center of Fuyuki City, striding quickly through the streets. The final battle had begun ahead of schedule.
As Su Xiao rushed toward the central district of Fuyuki, inside a barrier at a suburban abandoned building complex, a contractor sat on a metal chair, eyes tightly shut. His body was covered in wires, each one deeply embedded into his flesh.
“Captain, they’re heading toward the central district of Fuyuki.”
The wire-covered contractor relayed this crucial information to Stan himself, who was currently near the central district.
Through a special channel, Stan learned that the Holy Church had already dispatched someone. This confirmed that Su Xiao knew what their team’s main mission was—a nearly hopeless situation.
But Stan didn’t despair. He immediately ordered an assassination squad to secretly leave the barrier, instructing them to delay Su Xiao for as long as possible. They had already obtained Kirei Kotomine’s coordinates; now it was a race—whoever got there first would win.
When Stan received word that Su Xiao was heading toward the central district, he paused mid-step. Kirei Kotomine’s location was on the outskirts of Fuyuki, yet Su Xiao was charging straight toward them.
Su Xiao’s move puzzled Stan. He knew how difficult Su Xiao was to deal with. This reckless behavior meant either Su Xiao was blinded by rage and had lost his reason, or he had another agenda.
“Stan, what now? He’s charging straight at us. Should we gather everyone and take him out?”
Neroi made a throat-slitting gesture as she spoke. Stan remained silent, knowing that any wrong decision now could lead to utter ruin.
“You and Old Smoker stay behind to intercept him.”
“Fine.”
Neroi immediately stopped in her tracks. Old Smoker hesitated beside her; the gruesome death of Iron Rat was still fresh in his mind.
“Captain, he’s very close. At most one kilometer… 900 meters… 700 meters… 500 meters… He’s stopped.”
“Hmm? Stopped?”
Stan paused for a moment, his mind racing. Then he turned and shouted at Neroi and Old Smoker.
“Go! Head to the coordinate location at full speed!”
“No more intercepting Bai Ye?”
“It’s… meaningless now.”
Stan leaped onto the roof of a residential building, bounding quickly between the low structures. Neroi and Old Smoker, though unsure of what was happening, chose to follow.
In a dark alley, a black-and-white figure was sprinting wildly. Judging by the slick drifting moves as it turned corners, wasn’t that Bubu Wang?
At this moment, Bubu Wang was running for his life, putting in the kind of effort usually reserved for tearing up the house. In his mouth, he carried a phone—Father Dawn’s phone. The Blood Gate adventure group had originally tried to destroy it but had failed.
The reason the Blood Gate had found Su Xiao was indeed because they had placed a coordinate on Illya. It wasn’t foresight but a precautionary measure, as well as a way to monitor this Master’s movements.
After Su Xiao arrived at the Einzbern castle, Stan and his team received the news. When they learned Su Xiao intended to contact the Mage’s Association to report Kirei Kotomine, Stan and Neroi both guessed that Su Xiao knew their main mission.
After Su Xiao’s report succeeded, Stan thought the method wasn’t bad. But knowing his own movements were being watched, he had Neroi make the proposal. Though the couple wasn’t on good terms, their acting was passable. Bubu Wang didn’t notice anything off. When Stan contacted the Mage’s Association, he also reported Su Xiao, but it had little effect.
What followed was simple. Father Dawn arrived, and the moment he took out that phone, his fate was sealed.
The Blood Gate’s first move was to destroy the phone. But as Father Dawn produced it, Su Xiao, acting out of caution, snatched it away. He hadn’t predicted the bullet; he had intended to take the phone all along, so he was faster than the bullet.
This series of events showed that the Blood Gate indeed had the qualifications to dominate the fourth rank. At the start of the Holy Grail World, they had been caught off guard by Su Xiao, but once they recovered, this team machine began to operate.
Now, both sides had coordinates. Whoever reached the coordinate location first, capturing or killing Kirei Kotomine, would win.
A few minutes ago, Su Xiao’s sudden charge toward Stan and his two companions had greatly surprised them. Instead of heading toward the coordinates, Su Xiao was moving in the opposite direction.
This was Su Xiao deliberately drawing their attention. To make sure they noticed, he even brought Illya—the “traitor”—though Illya herself didn’t know she was one.
Su Xiao did this to buy time for Bubu Wang. The entire series of events had unfolded in just a few minutes. Tohsaka Rin and Illya were both bewildered, standing in the dark alley like two cute girls silently asking: Who am I? Where am I? Who just attacked us?
After a few forward strides, Su Xiao leaped high. His fingers hooked like claws, piercing the outer wall of a tall building, and he climbed upward at incredible speed.
Setting up the Duke of Annihilation on the rooftop as fast as possible, Su Xiao activated the thermal imaging device. After a quick scan, he found three fast-moving red dots about a kilometer away.
Boom! Boom! Boom!…
Su Xiao began bombarding Stan and his two companions. Hitting them wasn’t the priority; slowing them down was more important.
Stan, who was leaping between residential buildings, faltered as a bullet struck five meters beside him.
The three of them endured Su Xiao’s relentless bombardment as they charged toward the western side of Fuyuki. But the Duke of Annihilation wasn’t easy to withstand; their speed noticeably decreased.
After a barrage of explosions, the three broke out of the Duke of Annihilation’s maximum range and vanished into the night. The next moment, Su Xiao suddenly disappeared from his spot, his whereabouts unknown.
On the outskirts of Fuyuki, the barrier within a cluster of abandoned buildings opened. Over a hundred contractors surged out, a spectacular sight. They all charged in the same direction—toward the western side of Fuyuki.