Chapter 52: Precognition
The battle on the field was about to erupt. Excluding Su Xiao, who was a pseudo-Heroic Spirit, there were four Heroic Spirits on the field: Hundred Faces, Saber, Rider, and Archer. Among them, three Masters were hidden in the shadows, with only Rider's Master, Waver Velvet, present. As for the beautiful young lady Irisviel, she was merely a proxy Master.
Su Xiao leaped down from the wall. The moment he landed, a boom sounded beneath his feet as crushed stone flew. Su Xiao transformed into a black shadow, charging straight toward Archer.
"Hmm? This speed..."
Archer, clad in golden armor, was arrogant but not stupid. Sensing Su Xiao's speed, he immediately judged that engaging in close combat with Su Xiao would be unwise.
Standing atop a streetlamp, Archer looked down from his high vantage point. He preferred being elevated, and if there were no other high spots nearby, he wouldn't have chosen a streetlamp with such a small foothold.
The golden spatial ripples behind Archer fluctuated as Noble Phantasms slowly emerged from them.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~
Dozens of Noble Phantasms shot out from the golden spatial ripples, flying at incredible speed with immense force, piercing through layers of air as they hurtled toward the charging Su Xiao.
Su Xiao's pace didn't falter. As he sprinted forward, he narrowed his perception range, sharpening his senses.
A Noble Phantasm entered his perception range. In Su Xiao's mind, it felt like piercing a water balloon—that was his perception field, somewhat similar to the "Circle" of Nen abilities.
The moment the Noble Phantasm entered his perception range, Su Xiao's pupils slightly contracted, his neural reflex speed perfectly manifesting.
Dragon-Slaying Flash cut through the air. The slash seemed to strike empty space, but that wasn't the case—it was a preemptive strike based on perception.
Clang.
A halberd-type Noble Phantasm was severed in half. The broken pieces veered off their original trajectory, spinning sideways with a whistling sound before dissipating into particles of light not far away.
Observing this, Su Xiao's eyes flickered. These Noble Phantasms weren't physical entities, meaning it was unlikely he could use the Supreme Blade to devour blade-type Noble Phantasms to enhance Dragon-Slaying Flash.
That made sense. If the Holy Grail fully manifested all of Archer's Noble Phantasms, the energy required would be terrifying—far beyond what a single Holy Grail could bear. Archer's Gate of Babylon held the crystallization of an era's wisdom, craftsmanship, and mysticism.
Unable to devour the Noble Phantasms from the Gate of Babylon with the Supreme Blade, Su Xiao felt some disappointment, but now wasn't the time to dwell on it. Other Noble Phantasms were already incoming.
Clang, clang, clang...
Slash marks appeared before Su Xiao as sparks flew and blades clashed. He deflected all dozens of incoming Noble Phantasms, with many severed halves embedding into the ground nearby, sending dirt flying and raising clouds of dust.
At this point, Su Xiao was about twenty meters from Archer. For Archer, this was barely a safe distance—but he was mistaken. This distance wasn't safe, and he was about to pay the price.
Su Xiao's speed suddenly surged. The "Shave" skill in his skill list entered cooldown.
Skill Effect: Move forward at ultra-high speed for 2 to 50 meters, reaching the maximum speed your body can withstand during the movement.
Note: Each use of Shave consumes 50 Stamina points, with a cooldown of ten minutes.
Note: You can adjust direction or stop during the movement.
...
Su Xiao's Shave was unique—extremely fast but with many limitations. His Stamina attribute was 62 points. What did "reaching the maximum speed your body can withstand" mean? It meant unleashing the fastest speed generated by his Strength + Agility + Shave ability, limited only by what his body could endure.
In that instant, Su Xiao vanished—not just from sight, but from the perception of all Heroic Spirits.
"What?!"
The composure on Archer's face disappeared.
In a flash, Su Xiao had somehow leaped into the air, now at the same height as Archer standing on the streetlamp, and had already closed in before him.
When facing a Heroic Spirit like Archer—flawed in character (arrogant) but immensely powerful—either don't strike, or strike to kill before the opponent gets serious.
Azure Steel Shadow energy surged along Dragon-Slaying Flash. Su Xiao's speed was so incredible that with Archer's pitiful Agility B attribute, if Su Xiao had already swung his blade, it would be a miracle if Archer could react.
Though Archer's close-combat attributes were trash, his Noble Phantasms were formidable. He was like a "rich man's foolish son"—extremely extravagant. Most Archers shot arrows; he shot Noble Phantasms.
Golden light flickered in Archer's pupils, and pain appeared on his face. In that moment, he briefly saw the future. Clearly, he had set aside his arrogance and gotten serious.
Golden light shimmered in Archer's eyes. Two seconds into the future, his head was severed, his face full of shock.
Zheng~
The long blade swept through, severing a few strands of golden hair. Though Archer couldn't dodge the already-delivered slash, he had preemptively predicted it before Su Xiao struck and evaded, likely using some Noble Phantasm.
Judging by Archer's expression, using that Noble Phantasm wasn't easy. After all, he was summoned by the Holy Grail—no matter how strong, he had limits.
After dodging that perilous slash, Archer immediately leaped backward. A golden spatial ripple appeared beside his hand, and a golden sword hilt emerged from it.
Archer grabbed the golden hilt. If he could draw this sword, dealing with the enemy before him would be no problem.
This was the Sword of Rupture, an EX-rank Noble Phantasm. Normally, Archer wouldn't use it, but the current situation was different. The enemy didn't follow conventional logic—he charged straight in for a life-or-death duel without even basic probing.
This was Su Xiao's advantage: he knew Archer's abilities, but Archer knew nothing about him.
The Sword of Rupture, also known as the "Enuma Elish," was an EX-rank Anti-World Noble Phantasm with terrifying power.
"Ver..."
Archer retreated, and Su Xiao naturally pursued relentlessly.
Zheng!
The long blade swept through, and blood splattered.
Pfft.
A severed arm flew into the air, still clutching the Sword of Rupture, which hadn't yet analyzed the rules of this world. Though the Sword of Rupture was powerful, it first needed to analyze the world's laws.
Archer, mid-air, was full of disbelief. But as the severed arm fell, several Noble Phantasms shot toward Su Xiao. He had just delivered a slash, his momentum spent, and was also airborne.
Bang.
Several Noble Phantasms struck Su Xiao. A dull thud echoed as he crashed heavily toward the ground.
With a boom, the ground was cratered. Dozens of Counter Shields enveloped Su Xiao, their surfaces flickering with faint blue energy meridians, preventing Archer's Noble Phantasms from piercing through.
As Su Xiao stood up, iron chains suddenly shot out from the void around him. These chains had sharp spikes at their tips, aiming straight for Su Xiao.
Clang~
The spikes at the chains' tips were deflected by the Counter Shields, but the chains moved freely. In moments, several chains coiled around Su Xiao, though they only wrapped around the Counter Shields due to the shields' obstruction.
These chains were one of Archer's Noble Phantasms: the Chains of Heaven, his most trusted treasure.
Crack, crack, crack...
The Chains of Heaven tightened, binding the oval-shaped cluster of Counter Shields tightly.
Inside the shields, Su Xiao's expression wasn't pleasant. He couldn't figure out how Archer had dodged his first slash.
That slash had aimed straight for Archer's head. With Archer's close-combat ability, there was no way he could have dodged it. Moreover, Archer's evasive movement didn't seem like a reaction to seeing or sensing the slash—it was more like he had already foreseen it.
Realizing this, Su Xiao muttered inwardly: Could it be that Goldie can use "that" Noble Phantasm—an EX-rank Noble Phantasm on par with the Sword of Rupture?
Su Xiao thought it unlikely. First, the function of that item aside, if it appeared in a second-rank derivative world, it would be too exaggerated. Even if it did appear, it would be restricted and nowhere near as effective as he knew.
After several days of observation, Su Xiao had concluded that the Holy Grail World wasn't an open world like One Piece. Thus, it wasn't closely connected to the higher-rank Type-Moon world. Reincarnation Paradise had likely separated the Holy Grail World from the Type-Moon world; otherwise, the difficulty of the Holy Grail World would skyrocket, possibly even turning it into an open world.
Therefore, Su Xiao stopped considering that Noble Phantasm, which wouldn't appear in its complete form in a second-rank world. As for Goldie, the most troublesome abilities remained the "Sword of Rupture," "Chains of Heaven," and "Gate of Babylon." Among these, the Sword of Rupture seemed terrifying but wasn't actually world-ending. What "sword that splits heaven and earth"? Nonsense! The Holy Grail summoned in this Holy Grail War couldn't even split heaven and earth, let alone the Noble Phantasms of the Heroic Spirits it summoned. Even if the Sword of Rupture once had that power, it certainly wasn't that strong now.
In the original story, the mud from the Holy Grail only burned down Fuyuki City.