After becoming a "guardian" tasked with defending a designated area in this digital realm, Suzuka Gozen—who was never considered among the top-tier Saber-class Servants—was able to fully capitalize on her class's strengths.
As a result, the battle lasted longer than Shiomi had anticipated.
Not only did enemy attack programs keep rushing in to interfere, but more critically, even after taking several direct hits from Shiomi's relentless and suffocating onslaught, Suzuka Gozen still showed no signs of faltering. She defended most of the blows effectively, but her resilience remained unshaken.
Of course, Suzuka herself had similar thoughts.
"Ugh… What's with you?! Are you some kind of freak? How are you still going?!"
Her hand gripping the Daitouren sword trembled slightly as she shouted in frustration. He was clearly human, yet his sheer strength was more terrifying than most Servants. Even with magical reinforcement, it was absurd—far beyond what she could comprehend.
"You're one to talk. How about giving up already? I'll make it quick." Shiomi yanked his spear from the skull of one of the digital beasts.
The monsters of this computer world looked vaguely like quadrupedal mammals, but it was hard to say whether they resembled wolves or hippos. Thankfully, while their exteriors were sturdy, they weren't tough enough to withstand Gungnir.
"Who'd want to just lie down and die—?!" Suzuka stuck out her tongue. "Servants are Heroic Spirits who've already died once. I don't know about the others, but I'm not going out like that."
"So you're just going to follow Beast's orders without question?" Shiomi raised an eyebrow.
"Beast? What are you—"
The retort slipped out before she could stop it, but she abruptly fell silent. She clutched her head, her expression twisting in discomfort like she'd been hit by a sudden migraine.
Shiomi quietly watched her. "This Holy Grail War is warped. Servants without Masters, senselessly fighting each other…"
"Don't be ridiculous! Of course I had a Master, I really did!" Suzuka swung her sword hard and charged again. "Becoming a 'guardian' wasn't my choice. I belong to the Master who summoned me."
"Oh?" Shiomi didn't rush to counterattack. He simply stood his ground and met her charge.
"I heard it… when I was summoned here. A faint, yet unmistakable voice." Suzuka's eyes clouded over with sorrow. "'I want to win.' 'I don't want to die for nothing.' It was just muttering, the kind of thing people say on their deathbed—but I heard it. And I swore I'd fulfill that wish. Even if I've never seen their face, even if I don't know if they're still alive."
"How loyal of you."
Shiomi suddenly sidestepped, redirecting Suzuka's sword strike, and slammed the shaft of his spear into her shoulder.
Caught off guard, Suzuka cried out and tumbled across the ground before landing on one knee.
"It's not loyalty! That trembling, desperate voice reached me… It was a final wish, entrusted to a stranger like me by a stranger. That's why I have to win this Holy Grail War! If I turned my back on that plea, I'd be nothing but a cowardly woman!"
Clutching her injured shoulder, she slowly rose. The privileges granted to a "guardian" allowed Suzuka to quickly recover from minor wounds.
"Well said," Shiomi murmured, visibly moved.
Even under immense pressure, Suzuka Gozen showed no intention of backing down or giving in.
He had underestimated her resolve.
She wasn't fighting for her own desires. She was fighting to fulfill the wish of a Master she had never even met.
That alone was enough to earn Shiomi's respect for this opponent.
And now, the battle would be decided.
"Written work, If one unties a pillow by its string, be known far and wide, Daitouren."
Suzuka tossed her golden sword into the air. It hovered above her head, radiating an intense light.
The overwhelming surge of magical energy—her Noble Phantasm—bared itself without restraint.
Shiomi immediately braced himself to meet the attack.
"Many clouds shall rise and cover the skies like roof tiles and evil spirits shall swarm, spearing the sparrow."
She chanted like reciting a poem. Behind Suzuka, a red torii gate appeared. In an instant, the golden sword Daitouren split into four concentric circles—blades aligned in neat formation.
This was Suzuka Gozen's Noble Phantasm, the manifestation of legend.
"Sword of Transcendent Wisdom and Knowledge Daishintou, Love Blast, Demonic Sun-Shower!"
Unlike the usual dozens, this time her beloved sword split into a staggering 250 blades all at once. It was said she could go up to 500, but this was her current limit.
However, thanks to her Personal Skill, "Blessing of Wisdom," Suzuka could control the trajectory so that the blades fell around her without ever striking her.
In other words, while it looked like an indiscriminate area attack, she alone remained untouched.
The Noble Phantasm wasn't a single burst—it sustained as a focused area-of-effect targeting one enemy.
That enemy was Shiomi, standing right in front of her.
If she could defeat him, those three troublesome-looking Servants wouldn't be easy to handle either—but they'd be without their Master.
However, Suzuka hadn't anticipated what happened next.
Just as the swords locked onto Shiomi, instead of trying to escape the barrage, he charged straight into the storm of blades.
Fast as lightning, thunder in motion.
Shiomi nimbly dodged the falling swords but refused to let even a single one land near Morgan behind him. His spear danced up and down—Gungnir's gleaming edge flaring like pear blossoms in full bloom.
Seeing there was no time to hesitate, Suzuka released the rest of the unlaunched blades all at once.
The air thickened with steel, the swords nearly encasing Shiomi completely. If even a few struck, he'd be reduced to a mangled mess on the ground.
But just as the blades were about to pierce him, a blinding light exploded from Shiomi's body. The surge of Mana from his Noble Phantasm erupted in full force, scattering the incoming swords in all directions.
"Urgh—!"
Suzuka flinched, nearly blinded by the blast.
In the middle of the light, Shiomi shot forward like a comet. His spear gleamed coldly, already at her front before she could react.
Realizing the danger too late, Suzuka raised her sword to block the unavoidable thrust—but her judgment slipped in that instant.
Their figures crossed.
Amid the sea of fallen blades, Suzuka clutched the wound on her chest and fell to her knees.
"Why... didn't you kill me?"
The blow she took hadn't struck any vitals, but the injury was severe—enough to leave her unable to fight.
"Because I figured it out. You're not like Passionlip. You weren't being controlled—you were deceived."
"What...?"
"The one who tricked you is the mastermind behind this fake Holy Grail War—the disaster known as Beast, the one making Servants kill each other."