Fate: I Will Eventually Become the Hero of Justice

Shirou and Vlad's group gathered together, their expressions solemn as they relayed the information each had gathered.

Gray also emerged from the underground. Nero was somewhat surprised to see Shirou present, but Gray did not seem surprised at all.

She passed the intel she had gathered to him. As expected, the Grail beneath the Castle was not one planted by the Council, but rather a normal Grail used for Holy Grail Wars.

Having heard about what transpired with Mash, Gray walked over to her bedside. Looking down at Mash's unconscious form, Gray smiled, seemingly happy for the girl.

"I see...so that child has finally stepped forward. She even unleashed her Noble Phantasm."

Gray gently brushed a lock of hair from Mash's face. "Congratulations, Mash. You were at last able to wield your own Noble Phantasm."

...

"So you mean to say, she's the [Beast] that you speak of, Assassin?" Vlad said, stretching out his palm towards the dumbstruck Kiara Sessyoin.

After a brief exchange, Shirou laid out all the information and guesses he had gathered, including intelligence on the Devil's Bodhisattva.

"Isn't this going a bit too far, Shirou?" Astolfo said, looking at Kiara. "She's just an ordinary woman. There's no way she looks anything like a [Beast]!"

Hearing this, Shirou let out a sigh. "I already said, it's highly likely there exists another version of her as the [Beast]. Listen carefully - I said it's 'highly likely'!"

Arjuna stared coldly at Kiara, his tone icy. "So you mean to say she has a high chance of becoming an alter ego of the [Beast]? Then why don't we just kill her and prevent it from happening?"

Murderous intent radiated from Arjuna, causing Kiara to shudder in fear.

Frowning, Shirou stepped forward to stand protectively in front of Kiara, blocking Arjuna's gaze. "That won't do. Karna told me to protect her properly. And killing someone over something that hasn't happened to prevent something is not something I can do."

"Since it comes from Karna, that foul-mouthed fool's words do carry some weight... hmph!" Arjuna let out a cold snort, folding his arms as he watched coldly from the sidelines.

Looking at Shirou's back, Kiara felt some measure of relief in her heart, subconsciously inching a bit closer to him.

"Just because of a 'possibility', you would take such risks and pull us to your side?" Vlad looked at him questioningly.

"That's right," Shirou nodded. "Precisely because it is possible. And you haven't lost anything, right? Since I've given up on the grail, working with you to defeat Red faction indirectly helps your victory."

He looked at Vlad with a faint smile.

"That is indeed the case," Vlad nodded, then asked: "So what do you plan on doing?"

"Well, that's an issue," he frowned. "To be honest, I truly do not know the exact situation with the Red Faction. And if the [Beast] descends there, I wouldn't know how to handle that either."

"Isn't that just admitting you don't know the answers to these questions?"

Hearing this, he smiled wryly with a nod.

Darnic was standing by Vlad's side, listening to all this information. He found it utterly preposterous!

A Heroic Spirit summoned as a so-called Grand Servant, then the appearance of some [Beast], strange anomalies...

Ridiculous!

It was no different from the Holy Grail War in Fuyuki sixty years ago.

Absolutely preposterous!

And at that moment—

"Kyaaa!!!!"

A scream pierced the castle's tranquility, followed by a rumbling explosion thick with killing intent.

None gathered were ordinary—they reacted instantly to the threat!

Shirou and Saber's expressions changed drastically. That scream belonged to Saber's Master, Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillennia!

And the explosion came from Mash's room.

Trouble! Shirou shouted internally as he rushed towards Mash's room, with the other Heroic Spirits following as well.

"Clang----!"

The sound of metal clashing rang out.

Before even reaching Mash's room, Shirou caught sight of Nero carrying the unconscious Mash and Saber's Master Fiore.

"Mmmph...you guys finally made it!" Nero put them down, breathing a sigh of relief with a smile and laugh.

Saber quickly moved to prop up Fiore. "Master, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Fiore shook her head.

Darnic asked, "What happened, Fiore?"

"Enemies invaded!" she said panickly.

Vlad raised an eyebrow. This poked at his sore spot.

Shirou looked to Nero. "What about Gray?"

"She is fighting the enemy."

Everyone hurriedly rushed over. Vlad took the lead with a darkened expression.

"Clang clang clang----"

The clashing of metal was like a heavy symphony, echoing loudly through the castle corridors.

Arriving at the scene, Shirou and the rest indeed saw Gray wielding a golden sword battling against someone.

Only, her opponent greatly shocked Shirou and company.

Aside from strange runes on her face, she looked exactly like Gray!

Saber had rushed over furiously, but upon seeing the person facing off against Gray she was startled, subconsciously crying out: "Mordred!"

Shirou frowned as well.

Indeed, the intruder was none other than Mordred!

However, Mordred's current state was very abnormal. Aside from the bizarre runes marring her face, her eyes also radiated the same madness as Karna.

It seemed she was being controlled just like him.

Come to think of it, Sisigou Kairi had said Mordred went to the Red Faction. Could she have fallen under their control as well?

No! Shirou realized, recalling Mordred's legends.

With a sword slash, Mordred shook Gray off and stared fiercely at Fiore, Darnic and unconscious Mash with maddened eyes. "Kill...the Masters!"

So it turned out Mordred had come to assassinate the Black Faction's Masters. She had burst out from underground without anyone noticing, and with her strong Noble Phantasm it was impossible to detect her.

Luckily, the first one she tried to assassinate after emerging was the unconscious Mash. But Mash was being guarded by Jeanne, Gray, Nero and others, so she didn't manage to accomplish much.

"You dare assassinate this king's retainers?" Vlad said coldly, about to activate [Kazikli Bey]. But Shirou stretched out a hand, "Leave her to me!"

His body surged with the black mud as he grabbed for Mordred.

He assumed she would dodge or use her Noble Phantasm. But unexpectedly, she barreled straight toward him without dodging.

However—

With a "shua", the black mud passed straight through her body, not impeding Mordred at all.

Seeing this, Shirou was caught by surprise. He was somewhat shocked that his black mud just phased through Mordred. Not just that, Vlad and company had all unleashed their attacks on her, but all of them simply passed through her body.

Shirou frowned. This feeling...

It was just like facing Uchiha Obito's Kamui, or encountering a higher dimensional being.

Vlad and the rest weren't willing to give up as they charged straight for Mordred, while she also rushed forwards without dodging.

With another "shua", Mordred moved past their encirclement. Her blackish-red sword swung down from high at Shirou.

He frowned. 

Projecting Caliburn, he met her attack.

And this time, Mordred's sword didn't phase through. The blackish-red sword collided with the Caliburn in midair with a clear "clang" of metal.

Vlad's group surrounded Mordred again as she took a few steps back.

Saber watched Mordred in some disbelief, "Mordred... you, you were actually being controlled by someone?"

She truly found it hard to believe. Mordred being controlled by someone else...

Although their contact had been brief so far, she had left quite a deep impression on Saber. Making her find it unbelievable that she could be controlled by someone.

"Controlled? Wrong. This is the power of the great evil god. All of you will eventually fall before the might of the evil god!"

"Evil god?" Saber questioned.

"Yes," Mordred nodded madly. "My current Master summoned this god's power, to pass judgement on you worms."

Saber hurriedly asked: "Isn't your Master Sisigou Kairi?"

"Hmph. That foolish worm is no longer my Master," Mordred declared. "My Master now is an apostle who seeks to save the world! While you squabble over a mere Holy Grail, my Master already has it in his grasp!"

Hearing this, everyone frowned.