Chapter 601: Thus Kishinami Hakuno Closed Her Eyes
[Mourn for death]
[Feel no shame in grieving what is lost]
[Death is inevitable]
[If conflict hastens its arrival]
[Then mourn death and despise strife]
[Accept death, cease battle]
[Third Round begins]
[Remaining: 32 participants]
————
The steam from tea swirled as a bright moon hung in the midnight sky.
The girl gazed absently as the vapor drifted across azure walls, climbed crystal chandeliers, chased floating dust motes—following its winding path, she imagined childish shapes in its dance.
After indulging in this willful languor for some time, Kishinami Hakuno finally sighed, threw off the covers, and rose. A few steps brought her to the dining table.
Perfectly brewed morning tea, meticulously prepared Chinese breakfast... this daily, familiar scene still stirred gratitude in her heart.
How fortunate she was to have encountered such an excellent Servant.
Now that the Second Round had ended, this feeling grew ever stronger, accompanied by such reluctance that tears threatened to spill.
Were she still a child, she might have wept freely—partings always brought sorrow, regardless of time or place.
But things were different now. She was an adult.
Even with memories lost, she remained someone who had joined this Holy Grail War with resolve—a challenger stepping over friends' corpses, inheriting an old man's convictions, climbing steadily toward the summit.
Thus she couldn't cry. Even if it meant bleeding, not a single tear could fall. This wasn't a world where the weak could survive.
Even if her dependable companion had left, she couldn't give up. That person had taught her survival skills, beliefs, and willpower—it would be too disappointing to whimper like a toddler taking first steps.
Finishing breakfast with care, donning the protective charm left behind, the girl pressed her palms together and whispered softly:
"I'm heading out."
The empty room glowed bright, moonlight on the vanity, wind rustling through chairs and tables.
Like a response.
————
Walking down increasingly desolate corridors, passing hurried Masters honed sharper by successive battles—unsheathed blades one and all—Hakuno brushed past them, her thoughts returning to yesterday when she'd stepped from the Second Lunar Sea.
A girl claiming to be 'Saber' had tackled her, that crimson-gold dress like leaping flames or blazing roses.
And how she'd addressed her...
"Master." Raising her arm to study the crimson pattern on her hand, Kishinami Hakuno pondered.
The Master named 'Kishinami Hakuno' possessed no Servant—this she knew well. To outsiders, their partnership appeared seamless, victorious through every battle. In truth, it had been forcibly assembled through the girl's willfulness—a tale of a soaring eagle breaking its wings to share vast dreams with some tiny sparrow.
That young man had also speculated about the reason Hakuno lacked a Servant. He believed the most likely possibility wasn't that she had failed to summon one, but rather that the Servant bound by the contract had somehow become separated from her—hence why Hakuno bore Command Spells on her hand yet lost all connection to her Servant before the contract could be established.
However, without a Master's magical energy supply, the Servant would most likely have dissipated.
The young man's theory wasn't flawed, but neither he nor Hakuno could have anticipated that even after the second round had concluded, the Servant she summoned was still alive and kicking—even reuniting with her true Master.
Except…
"What kind of capricious person just suddenly acknowledges their Master but refuses to form a proper contract?" Even someone as mild-tempered as Hakuno couldn't help but grimace at the memory of Nero's bizarre behavior—hugging her one moment, then running off the next.
Why had things turned out like this? She had won the second round, and her lost Servant had returned to her. Two joyous events overlapping should have granted her a blissful time, like something out of a dream. So why… why had it turned out like this?
A bone-chilling surge of malice cut off Hakuno's melodramatic musings. Before she could call for her Servant or brace herself, an overwhelming force yanked her backward and hurled her through the air.
Straight toward a wall—she was going to crash!
BAM!
Darkness swallowed Hakuno's vision. When her senses cleared, she was no longer in the school building. Though she hadn't felt the impact of hitting a wall, the oppressive gloom of this coliseum-like space made it hard to breathe.
Scanning her surroundings, she saw corpses clad in familiar school uniforms strewn across the ground. Towering among them was a man clad in what looked like burning martial attire. The moment their eyes met, his murderous intent struck her like a physical blow, numbing her fingers.
Could killing intent really be so palpable, so suffocating?
A web of fear ensnared Kishinami Hakuno. Sensing her terror, the towering red-haired martial artist scoffed, unable to hide his disappointment.
"There's a limit to how pathetic one can be. For a magus, this level of weakness is worse than a puppet. I've grown tired of simply strangling my prey. I'd hoped to at least recapture some semblance of feeling… but this!"
Before Hakuno's instincts could react, the red-haired warrior had already raised his powerful arm. A blazing fist descended upon her like a meteor!
Even a fully armed, top-tier magus would meet a gruesome end—skull shattered, body torn apart—under such a strike. But before death could claim her, an indestructible barrier rose. The savage fist collided with it, unleashing a deafening shockwave that left Hakuno dizzy despite the protection.
Undeterred, the martial artist roared, unleashing a relentless barrage of blows, each strike channeling the monstrous strength of a Servant's body into the barrier. The cacophony of impacts sent Hakuno tumbling to the ground, her ears ringing. She could only watch helplessly as the Assassin stomped the earth, splitting it apart with a mournful crack, before launching another devastating attack!
CRASH!
The Archer-class mystic code shattered. Against the red-haired Assassin's assault, this supposedly indestructible defensive mystic code couldn't even last two breaths. Just as Hakuno turned pale and tightly shut her eyes, the peerless martial artist didn't press his attack. Instead, he took a step back, his arrogant demeanor instantly fading into tranquility as if nothing had happened.
Only when his gaze fell upon the spell formula clutched in Hakuno's left hand did a hint of appreciative amusement flicker in his eyes.
"Hoh, seems you've got some backbone after all. Looks like you didn't survive this long just relying on trinkets."
Turning away, the red-haired warrior vanished as swiftly as a passing gale, soon disappearing from Hakuno's sight.
"Though it's disappointing our time's up, if I can't kill you now, so be it. Maintaining this cover has reached its limit... As they say, third time's the charm. When we meet again, we'll surely have ourselves a proper fight."
"I'll be looking forward to that day."
Darkness swallowed her vision once more. When Hakuno came to, she found herself back in the school corridor. Though the building appeared unchanged, the aura drifting through these halls—
"With skills like yours, how did you manage to escape?"
Soundlessly, the man in the dark coat materialized several meters ahead. From behind the long hair framing his face, his piercing gaze stabbed toward her.
The mysterious killer who had nearly ended Kishinami Hakuno's life during the preliminaries.
"I thought you were just small fry. Did you draw a high-tier Servant? Or are you hiding something... Regardless, you survived those demonic fists."
This wasn't praise. The instant his words faded, the atmosphere around the man shifted. Unlike the unrestrained red-haired brawler, the killing intent radiating from him was honed like a blade's edge—focused, icy, and razor-sharp.
"If you're not to be underestimated, I can't let you proceed further. Best to eliminate dangerous elements here and now."
Taking a step forward, his murderous aura crashed through the corridor, making Hakuno's consciousness waver. Without hesitation, she raised her arm and unleashed the attack she'd been preparing.
"I won't... let you defeat me twice!"
A colorless sphere of light bloomed in the girl's palm. In the next instant, violent radiance exploded outward in all directions. Seizing the opportunity, Hakuno turned and fled.
She knew her limits. Compared to this clearly formidable man, she was just a Master who couldn't remember anything, with magic skills barely cobbled together through last-minute studying. Unless the dark-coated man suddenly coughed up blood and dropped dead, any confrontation would be like delivering herself to death's door on a silver platter.
Of thirty-six stratagems, running away was best!
But the instant Hakuno turned, an icy hand clamped onto her shoulder with crushing force. Pain whitened the girl's face as bone-chilling dread seeped into her heart.
"Clever little rat." The dark-coated man's whisper might as well have come from the underworld itself. The light that should have blinded human eyes had no effect on him. "Die."
A gust of wind stirred as frigid power coalesced in the air, forming a thin, razor-sharp blade of energy that shot toward Hakuno's vulnerable neck.
Just as death loomed over the girl—
An emerald gemstone tumbled before Hakuno's eyes. With a crystalline chime, it shattered into an enduring azure wind that dissolved the lethal blade and sent the dark-coated man reeling backward!
"Hmph, so you're the infamous 'After-School Murderer' who keeps killing Masters."
Before Hakuno stood a twin-tailed girl who snorted coldly. Her crimson sweater and miniskirt accentuated her graceful figure, while her azure eyes held the proud gaze of a stag—natural yet wild. "Thanks to you, my second-round opponent went missing. Made for a rather dull victory."
"...Rin Tohsaka, is it?"
"My, seems you know me. As expected of the world-renowned head of the Leo Financial Group's intelligence division, Mr. Julius Belkisk Harwey—or is it because I made too much noise in the Middle East?"
The dark-robed man called Julius smirked slightly, tilting his head. Behind him, Rin Tohsaka cocked her head with a smile as bright as sunlight.
"Hmph..."
"Hehehe..."
The atmosphere was peaceful and harmonious.
Only Kishinami Hakuno cowered in the corner, trembling.
So scary.
So terrifying.
...Maybe I should just kill myself to liven things up for you all!