Chapter 54: Tokiomi's Heartache
"Berserker, Saber, Assassin."
When everyone fell silent, the King of Conquerors spoke.
"Continuing this standoff is meaningless. Though a battle between us is inevitable, a chaotic melee now would be too rash."
The King of Conquerors meant to end things here for tonight.
"Agreed."
Saber concurred with the King of Conquerors' view. Her proxy Master was present, and if a melee broke out, the survival chances of the Masters on site were slim.
"No objections."
Hassan-i Sabbah (Hundred Faces) of the Assassin class also agreed with the King of Conquerors. His assassination attempt had failed, and his presence had been locked onto by the other Servants. Retreating now was the best option.
All three Servants looked at Su Xiao, because his aura was the most dangerous.
"End it here?"
Su Xiao hesitated for a moment, then slowly sheathed Dragon-Slaying Flash. He put away his blade but didn't voice his stance.
"In that case, we..."
Before the King of Conquerors could finish, Hassan-i Sabbah (Hundred Faces)'s figure gradually faded. This wasn't the Servant's spiritualization ability, but Hundred Faces' A+ ranked skill: Presence Concealment.
Presence Concealment (A+): Completely hides one's own aura. However, when transitioning to an attack state, the rank of Presence Concealment will drop significantly.
Hundred Faces suddenly using Presence Concealment made the King of Conquerors and Saber's expressions turn serious. Saber took her proxy Master and quickly retreated, soon disappearing into the abandoned factory.
The King of Conquerors was more direct. Blue lightning flashed, and an ancient war chariot materialized. This was the King of Conquerors' Noble Phantasm, Gordius Wheel + Flying Hoof Thunder Bulls.
The King of Conquerors grabbed his Master with one hand, and the two boarded the chariot. He cracked the reins, and the thunder bulls in front raised their hooves and charged forward.
Rumble, rumble.
The chariot was awe-inspiring. Two wheel ruts appeared on the road it passed, with lightning flickering along the tracks.
Hundred Faces suddenly concealing its aura undoubtedly displeased the King of Conquerors and Saber. Their Masters were present. What did suddenly hiding one's aura mean? To assassinate their Masters?
Only Su Xiao remained on the field. Would he let all three of them leave? Of course not.
The Apostle's Eye floated in midair. As a Light Gold quality reconnaissance equipment, the Apostle's Eye had already locked onto Hassan-i Sabbah (Hundred Faces), even though he had used Presence Concealment.
Equipment Effect 3: Aerial Guard (Active): The Apostle's Eye floats into the air or high altitude, scanning a half-kilometer radius. Any suspicious creature entering this range will trigger an alert from the Apostle's Eye.
Tip: Aerial Guard (Active) consumes 120 mana points per use, lasting 12 hours.
Tip: Aerial Guard (Active) can detect eighty-two types of concealment abilities, including invisibility, perception shielding, underground stealth, and magical energy shielding.
Tip: Aerial Guard (Active) cooldown is 24 hours.
...
An ability like Presence Concealment might seem powerful, rated at A+, but that wasn't the case. If Hassan-i Sabbah (Hundred Faces) had used 'Presence Concealment' in advance, the Apostle's Eye would have had some difficulty tracking his trail.
Hassan-i Sabbah (Hundred Faces) used Presence Concealment while the Apostle's Eye was already scanning. It would be strange if he could escape the Apostle's Eye's detection.
Su Xiao connected his mental energy to the Apostle's Eye, and a red phantom appeared three hundred meters away. Su Xiao seemed to have gained X-ray vision, but that wasn't the case. This was the enemy's positional information relayed back by the Apostle's Eye.
For Su Xiao, who had activated 'X-ray vision,' Hundred Faces, this already-invisible assassin, was about to be in serious trouble.
...
Hassan-i Sabbah (Hundred Faces), clad in black with a white skull mask, moved through the night. The night was his domain, both in life and after becoming a Servant.
Under normal circumstances, Hassan-i Sabbah (Hundred Faces) should have gone to rendezvous with his Master, Kirei Kotomine.
Kirei Kotomine was the son of Risei Kotomine, the old priest.
The old priest had helped Su Xiao before. Given Su Xiao's relationship with the old priest, he shouldn't have chosen to go after Hassan-i Sabbah (Hundred Faces) first. After all, this was the Servant of the old priest's son, belonging to the old priest's faction.
Was that really the case? No. The old priest's son, Kirei Kotomine, had a character flaw. According to the original plot information, Kirei Kotomine was not at all in the same faction as his father, the old priest.
Not only that, in the original story, when the old priest was shot dead, Kirei Kotomine showed no expression when he saw his father's corpse. Even more absurdly, Kirei Kotomine at that time felt a hint of regret—regret that the old priest hadn't died by his hand. The reason was that the old priest didn't understand him.
Ridiculous? Whether it was ridiculous or not was unknown, but from Kirei Kotomine's personality, it was clear that he and the old priest were only ostensibly in the same faction. In reality, they weren't. The old priest unilaterally considered Kirei Kotomine as one of his own, and the most trustworthy one at that.
Now, the old priest still didn't know his son's true nature. In the old priest's heart, Kirei Kotomine was upright in character, excellent in various abilities, and the ideal heir.
If the old priest could obtain the Holy Grail, he might not share it with his ally Tokiomi Tohsaka, but he would definitely share it with his son, Kirei Kotomine.
On the surface, the old priest's faction consisted of three parties: the old priest himself (Supervisor of the Holy Grail War), Kirei Kotomine (Assassin faction), and Tokiomi Tohsaka (Archer faction).
Kirei Kotomine's Servant was Hassan-i Sabbah (Hundred Faces). Tokiomi Tohsaka's Servant was the King of Heroes.
Calculated this way, the old priest's faction was the strongest in this Holy Grail War. The old priest had even developed the idea that they had the Holy Grail in the bag. Unfortunately, the old priest's faction was actually two groups.
One group was the old priest and Tokiomi Tohsaka, without Servants. Although these two weren't cooperating wholeheartedly, they wouldn't stab each other in the back before the final battle.
As for the second group, it was Kirei Kotomine and the King of Heroes. They weren't in a Master-Servant relationship, but the King of Heroes found Kirei Kotomine more interesting than Tokiomi Tohsaka. He occasionally tempted Kirei Kotomine to kill Tokiomi Tohsaka. Even more interestingly, some time ago, Kirei Kotomine had become Tokiomi Tohsaka's disciple, making them master and student. This was the old priest's idea—a master-student relationship would stabilize the alliance.
Tokiomi Tohsaka was also a pitiful man. Not only was he constantly targeted by the 'Berserker' Kariya Matou, but his disciple Kirei Kotomine also harbored thoughts of killing him.
The threats from these two were manageable. But tonight, Tokiomi used a Command Spell to order the King of Heroes to retreat, which solidified the King of Heroes' resolve to kill Tokiomi. This truly echoed Kariya Matou's words: It's all Tokiomi's fault.
Su Xiao didn't know if Tokiomi Tohsaka was at fault, but he knew that Tokiomi was definitely the designated scapegoat.
With Kariya Matou, Kirei Kotomine, and the King of Heroes all targeting him, who knew how long Tokiomi could survive. In any case, his remaining time was probably short.
Su Xiao wondered which of these three would succeed first. He favored Kariya Matou, because that big brother was persistent enough. After being berserked, the only three words he could say were 'Tokiomi, Sakura.'
Tracking Hundred Faces, Su Xiao's lips curled up. The Holy Grail War was getting more and more interesting. The Servants weren't fighting too fiercely, but the Masters' drama was about to begin.