"Luring us out deliberately?"
Saber detected the biting killing intent. Unmistakably Assassin's.
"Heh. Just like the first time we met."
She smiled faintly, recalling the day she'd sensed that very same presence while visiting the seaside with Irisviel.
"Saber--"
"You don't need to say it. This time, I won't hold back."
One glance at Kiritsugu. Saber materialized her armor and Excalibur, then burst into a sprint toward the signal.
"..."
Kiritsugu's hand rose reflexively -- the phantom gesture of reaching for a cigarette. It froze mid-air.
Illya's young face flickered through his mind. He remembered what he'd promised.
'No matter what... this time, I will see it through to the end!'
Lowering his hand, clenching it into a fist, his resolve hardened like forged steel.
Clatter...
A sound from behind him. In the deserted dockside warehouse, even the faintest noise cut like a blade.
Without hesitation, Kiritsugu drew his pistol and fired.
BANG!!
Clang!
A clear, ringing deflection. Kotomine Kirei emerged from a side passage, Black Keys gripped in both hands.
"I've been waiting, Emiya Kiritsugu!"
Geass-controlled or not, Kirei still behaved like himself. The only change was an absolute priority imprinted on his psyche.
The King above all. Nothing else had shifted.
"..."
Kiritsugu said nothing. He studied his opponent with ice-cold precision.
A martial artist priest. If Kirei closed the distance, the advantage would be entirely his.
So--
An unpinned grenade sailed toward the charging priest.
BOOM!!
The detonation belched thick black smoke, halting Kirei's advance.
Tap tap...
Blind in the smoke, Kirei relied on sound alone to track his enemy.
"?"
He deflected several incoming rounds, but when the smoke cleared, Kiritsugu had vanished.
"Hide and seek?"
"Slippery man."
Slash!
Swinging the recovered Kusanagi, Kenshin locked eyes with Saber. His gaze was frigid steel.
"A great deal has happened in between, but now there's no one left to interfere."
"Let's finish this, Assassin."
"My thoughts exactly."
They charged simultaneously. Holy sword met divine blade with a deafening ring.
CLANG!!
SCREECH!!
CRASH!!
SLASH!
'As expected... your swordplay is still that remarkable.'
'And paired with that divine weapon, the threat multiplies.'
Parrying the dizzying barrage, Saber felt the onslaught exceed their very first encounter.
"Hah!"
"Hyah!"
"Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu -- Ryukansen: Sen!"
Evading Saber's blade, Kenshin twisted mid-air and cut toward her waist.
Whoosh!
But Saber surged backward. The sword only sheared through her abdominal armor, leaving a gash.
"Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu -- Doryusen!"
No pause. Kenshin tore up the ground, sending a wave of stone and debris hurtling at her.
WHOOSH!!
"Hah!"
Saber drove wind pressure from her blade, deflecting the incoming rubble.
Crack crack...
Wind shattered stone, and Kenshin burst through the curtain of debris.
The rubble was just a screen. The real killing stroke came now.
"Ryushosen!"
From below, the divine blade arced upward toward Saber's throat.
'But you see, Assassin...'
'You have one critical weakness.'
Watching the lethal slash close in, Saber felt no panic. In her mind, she quietly identified his flaw.
Mana Burst!
Her body accelerated. In the split second she dodged, her own blade swung toward Kenshin.
Riiiiip!
SQUELCH!!
Both blades found their marks. The two combatants crossed past each other.
Screeeech!!
Boots and sandals scraped against ground as both skidded to a halt, distance between them restored.
"Ugh..."
Saber pressed her hand to her neck, where a crimson line welled up.
Even with Mana Burst, she couldn't entirely evade Assassin's godlike speed.
He remained faster than her. Always had been.
'What a terrifying opponent.'
'And in this war, your speed has even improved.'
'I can scarcely imagine what you'd become with the right mindset.'
Such was her assessment. She fixed her eyes forward.
Drip...
Blood fell. Kenshin stared at Saber without expression.
A matching wound had been carved across his chest by the holy sword. Yet he stood as if pain simply didn't register.
"This battle... could go either way."
Waver observed through a familiar, growing accustomed to the spectacle.
After the apocalyptic events of the night before, Saber and Assassin's stripped-down duel felt almost... pure.
"It doesn't matter. One of them will die here."
"And the outcome affects our next move."
"Personally? I'd prefer Assassin to win."
Lelouch was blunt. Victory was all that mattered to him.
"Because you've already enslaved Assassin's Master. You could sideline him whenever you want."
Waver shot Lelouch a weary look. He understood this man's "pragmatism" all too well.
Saber was technically their ally, yet Lelouch was rooting for the opposition.
Never swayed by sentiment. Always hunting for the winning move. Willing to use any method, no matter how underhanded.
"Only the victor gets to laugh last."
Waver didn't want to agree with such a philosophy. But he had seen too little of the world to craft a rebuttal.
"That stance from Saber..."
"Is she going to release Excalibur and force a decisive moment?"
Golden motes suddenly danced in the familiar's feed. Waver recognized the sight.
"?"
Even Lelouch was caught off guard by how quickly she'd committed.
A direct hit from Excalibur would annihilate Kenshin. But...
"Why release a Noble Phantasm at this stage?"
...the premise was hitting him. At Kenshin's speed, he could evade a forward-facing blast.
So what was Saber thinking?
'Come on, Assassin.'
'If it's you, you'll absolutely make that choice!'
Both hands gripped Excalibur. Saber poured every ounce of focus into the man before her.
Luminous motes swirled around her like fireflies, radiant even in broad daylight.
"..."
Recognizing Excalibur's power -- the same beam that had obliterated the Red-Eyes Black Dragon -- Kenshin knew he couldn't afford to tank it.
He had to dodge.
The moment he sensed the Noble Phantasm's release was genuine, his body committed.
"Excalibur!!"
A torrent of golden light surged straight at him. Kenshin's hair-trigger reflexes and honed body responded instantly.
He kicked off the ground, launching himself to the side.
"He dodged it!!"
"And he's closing in from the flank!"
Waver and Lelouch followed every frame.
Fighting through the shockwave's buffeting winds, Kenshin circled around and closed the gap from the side at blinding speed.
By the time Saber tracked his approach, he was already upon her, center of gravity low, sword ready -- precisely as Excalibur's discharge concluded.
She reflected on every encounter with this man.
Their first battle. Fighting Berserker side by side. The joint extermination of Lancer and Caster.
Brief as it was, Saber believed she understood him deeply.
"If it's you... you'd dodge Excalibur."
"If it's you... you'd close the distance."
"If it's you... you'd swing your blade right now!"
No hesitation. No wavering. Kenshin heard her voice ring with absolute conviction. The trust of someone who had read him completely.
"So... come!"
"Let's see which of us survives!"
Holy sword and divine blade swung at each other. Crossing arcs. An exchange with no room for defense.
SQUELCH!!
SQUELCH!!
Steel parting flesh. Blood splattered in every direction, painting the docks red.
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]