Everything happened in a flash. Almost the moment Atalante's words fell, the magical arrow condensed with the power of the sun arrived instantly, right in front of Souya.
But things didn't play out as Achilles expected, with Souya's body being pierced by the arrow and sent flying backward.
Instead, the magical arrow containing the divine power of the Sun God Apollo was caught dead in its tracks at the very last moment by a hand reaching out from the side.
And the owner of that hand was undoubtedly Morgan.
Seeing this scene, not only Achilles, but the other Servants beside him, including the "Little Sun" Karna, couldn't help but freeze for a moment.
Having spent these past few days together, they naturally recognized how powerful Archer Atalante was.
She wasn't a standard iteration from records, but a powerful huntress who gathered the powers of the sun, moon, and constellations. That strike just now was genuinely unreserved—a strike containing divinity.
Yet such an unreserved strike was actually caught so effortlessly by this female Servant they had never seen before?
With such strength, is she really a Caster? The Red Faction Servants couldn't help but think to themselves.
And at this moment, Amakusa Shirou, the nominal leader of the Red Faction, finally recovered from his surprise and astonishment.
He hurriedly spoke up:
"Wait a moment! Archer, what is wrong with you? Why did you attack Souya for no reason? He is also a Master of the Red Faction. Have you met before?"
"..."
Atalante remained silent. Seeing her strike blocked by Morgan beside Souya, she gave the latter a deep look. Upon noticing that the physical distance between her and Souya was overly close, a bit more resentment was added to her already complex and restless eyes.
Immediately after, three more arrows were nocked on her longbow, flashing with the light of the sun, moon, and stars respectively. Clearly, the Hunter Miss had no intention of paying attention to Amakusa's words.
Seeing Atalante's reaction, Amakusa felt an instant headache coming on.
What is going on today? Morgan aside, why is even Atalante—who was originally willing to listen to me out of respect for her Master—ignoring me now?What exactly is happening? How are things slowly slipping out of my control? At this moment, Souya finally reacted to this baffling attack.
After thinking slightly, though he couldn't figure out the reason, Souya first raised a hand to soothe Morgan, whose eyes had turned icy and whose magecraft was about to erupt. Then, facing the cat-girl Hunter Miss and her three nocked arrows, he said frankly:
"Archer, that is, Miss Atalante. I believe this is our first time meeting. Why did you call out someone else's name and suddenly attack me?"
He had clearly heard the name Atalante muttered: Orpheus. And a few moments later, he recalled the stories related to this name and this person.
The son of the Greek Sun God, the prototype of the constellation Lyra, the tales of life and death, the lover of Eurydice, the one who conquered all things with music, and so on...
These were the facts engraved in Souya's memory regarding Orpheus, the protagonist of the famous Greek tragic love story. But what did all these stories have to do with Atalante?
From the situation just now, she must have been calling him Orpheus, right? But the problem was that he clearly hadn't opened the path to Greece yet. In other words, he shouldn't know her right now, and she should be the same as in the original work. So why did things turn out like this?
Inexplicably, Souya felt he had encountered some extraordinary situation.
Harboring these various doubts, Souya simultaneously stabilized Atalante while frantically calling for the system in his mind, asking what was going on.
But unfortunately, at this critical moment, the trash system started playing dead again.
Souya couldn't help but curse it out.
Fortunately, perhaps because his attitude seemed relatively sincere, Atalante ultimately didn't loose the arrows, though she didn't lower the Bow of Heaven either.
The Hunter Miss stared with burning eyes, the two fluffy cat ears on her head twitching slightly, as if trying to see right through Souya.
Just then, relying on his tough body and believing he was somewhat close to Atalante, Achilles stepped forward.
While standing in front of Atalante, using his body to shield Souya, he tried to console her:
"Big Sis, did you really see it wrong? This young man looks like he should be Caster's Master, a genuine modern human. How could he possibly be the Orpheus you speak of?"
"Furthermore."
As if remembering something, Achilles continued:
"Didn't you say, Big Sis, that you have a Noble Phantasm existing specifically to, uh, hunt down Orpheus? You mentioned earlier that this Noble Phantasm wasn't activated this time. That means this young man is definitely not Orpheus, Big Sis."
Hearing this, Atalante's eyes twitched slightly. She instinctively fixed her gaze firmly on Souya, but silently discovered that even at this distance, that Noble Phantasm showed not the slightest sign of activation.
In other words, Souya was not Orpheus.
But how could this be...That face... those eyes... and the feeling of hunting prey that inexplicably arose the moment I saw him... All of this was hinting to my heart that he is Orpheus.How could this be... The Hunter Miss hesitated, but ultimately, under Achilles's persuasion, she lowered the longbow and arrows.
"I apologize. I seem to have mistaken you for someone else."
In front of everyone, the young girl apologized to Souya somewhat stiffly and rigidly. However, her cat-like gaze fell sharply upon Souya, as if trying to see through him.
This made the latter feel a massive headache, and the voice cursing the system and its eighteen generations of ancestors grew even louder in his heart.
"You think a mere apology allows you to escape the fact that you offended and nearly harmed my husband, you country bumpkin?"
Seeing the young girl staring straight at Souya, Morgan, who had already been suppressing her emotions, instantly turned icy-eyed, her tone carrying a deep chill.
She even deliberately emphasized the word "husband," as if declaring sovereignty.
"Husband?!"
Hearing this word, Atalante reacted like a cat with its fur bristling. The fuzz on her ears stood up, and her cute tail instantly began to swish.
Although she told herself in her heart that the person before her didn't seem to be Orpheus, for some reason, hearing Morgan call him "husband" was like a fire instantly igniting in her heart.
Right at this moment, Amakusa's voice suddenly rang in everyone's ears. The presence of the word "Command Spell" almost instantly silenced the Servants.
"Everyone, please do not forget that until we defeat the Black Faction's Servants and Masters, we are comrades, co-conspirators. As comrades, the first thing we must ensure is that we do not harm each other. If this premise is violated, I do not mind using the power of a Command Spell. Understood?"
Having said that, Amakusa swept a solemn gaze over the crowd. Although he saw emotions like coldness and disdain in the eyes of a few, at least both Morgan and Atalante quieted down.
Seeing this, Amakusa sighed softly.
Being a leader is so exhausting... "Rationally speaking, you are correct, Father Shirou. But before that, I still have a question to ask you."
At this time, a voice broke the silence.
The speaker was the Lancer of the Red Servants.
He was a tall, fair-skinned, and handsome man.
He possessed long snow-white hair, his entire body wrapped in golden armor and a black bodysuit, leaving only a red gem worn on his chest exposed.
Although his complexion appeared slightly aloof, his aura was very warm and approachable.
He was Karna, the hero from the Indian mythological epic Mahabharata, and the undisputed number one in combat power on the Red Faction's surface.
"Please ask any questions you have, Great Hero Karna."
Seeing that the questioner was him, Amakusa relaxed while also feeling inexplicably grateful. If it's Karna, then things will definitely get back on track. Although these events had only happened within an hour, Amakusa had already been scared by the changes slipping out of his control. He desperately wanted to pull the center of the conversation back to the Holy Grail War.
Not so-called Orpheus or husbands.
"Then I shall be bold and ask, Father."
Having received Amakusa's affirmation, Karna nodded and then asked:
"The war completely began when the Servants were fully summoned last night. Yet, aside from seeing our hosts once when we were first summoned, why haven't we been able to see them since?"
"If it weren't for the fact that we can still sense them steadily transferring magical energy to us through the Command Spells, I would have thought they encountered danger. Do you know what is going on, Father Shirou?"
With that, the "Little Sun's" gaze fell firmly on the latter. Although he had a good temper and didn't understand worldly affairs well, his IQ wasn't low. In a Holy Grail War, Masters and Servants were supposed to be joined at the hip. A situation like this—where they hadn't seen their Masters for days but were constantly enjoying a mana supply—would truly be strange if it didn't invite suspicion.
Hearing this, everyone present—except for Souya, who already knew the truth—looked over, even Morgan and Atalante.
Upon hearing Karna's question, Morgan, the Queen who led Britain to brilliance, instantly realized something, casting a gaze filled with inexplicable danger at Amakusa.
Compared to her gaze, the others were much more varied. Karna's gaze was scrutinizing, Achilles's was amused, Atalante was expressionless as if pondering something, and Empress Semiramis, as Amakusa's Servant, naturally knew everything, so she merely sneered at the crowd.
And the final one, Berserker Kriemhild—this pale beauty dressed in Gothic style—had a cold expression, as if she didn't care at all.
Because her gaze had been looking in the direction of the Yggdmillennia castle the entire time, her mouth muttering something lowly. She had only glanced at Amakusa just now before turning her gaze back.
Facing the oppressive stares of the crowd, Amakusa appeared completely unfazed, even smiling very relaxedly before bringing out the rhetoric he had prepared long ago.
"This is actually out of strategic necessity. You all also know the uniqueness of this battle. The traitorous Yggdmillennia clan has long abandoned their pride as magi, so various assassination methods and magecraft will be directed at the easiest to resolve and most important targets: the Masters.
"Therefore, synthesizing everyone's wishes, it was decided that I—being from the Holy Church and possessing sufficient strength to protect myself—will take their place in commanding you Servants. As for them, they are safely hidden in a certain place, simply providing magical energy."
"So, everyone, are there any more questions?"
Hearing this, the Servants instantly fell silent, even Karna pondering secretly.
As for Amakusa, he maintained a smile, quietly waiting for everyone's response.
"These should merely be your side of the story, Father Shirou. Since you want us to listen to your commands, you should at least show some evidence, right?"
Ultimately, Achilles asked this question.
The gale-like warrior tilted his head with a smile as he looked at Amakusa Shirou and the Empress Semiramis beside him.
"With you being the Master of this woman, it is truly a bit difficult to make me believe your words."
"Rider! What is the meaning of this? Do you wish to rebel and disobey orders?!"
Semiramis was deeply repulsed by the word "woman" in Achilles's words, so her tone was extremely icy when she said this.
"No, no, no, this is simply a very reasonable suspicion. You must understand me, Assassin."
Completely ignoring the threat in the Empress's tone and the several highly toxic chains that floated up following her words, Achilles replied with a light chuckle.
"It's fine, Semiramis."
Seeing this, Amakusa merely smiled slightly. He first gently patted the back of the Empress's hand, signaling her not to be angry. Then, while waving his hand to summon a magical projection, he smiled:
"You are correct, Rider. To obtain the recognition of you heroes, I naturally need to show evidence."
In the projection, several Red Faction Masters were relaxing in a luxuriously decorated room, sipping afternoon tea and eating desserts. After the Amakusa Shirou in the footage proposed taking their place to command the Red Faction Servants in battle, almost everyone expressed their agreement without hesitation, placing great hopes in Amakusa.
Seeing this scene, Achilles was instantly left speechless, shrugging to indicate he had no objections.
Karna, upon seeing his Master personally issue the order, also expressed his recognition, promising to follow Amakusa's arrangements.
After Amakusa looked at the others, they naturally didn't say much. And as for Souya, the only other person standing there besides Amakusa, he naturally expressed his recognition as well.
Because he had no desire for the Holy Grail, and his goal had already been achieved, Souya had no intention of breaking away from Amakusa and acting independently.
He only needed to follow orders while incidentally "rectifying" some plot points that had become neurotic due to the miraculous Higashide's brain damage.
After all, this could be considered the long-cherished wish of everyone who had been disgusted by that piece of trash known as FA.
Thus, after everyone had stated their positions, Amakusa issued the first order.
"Because of the uniqueness of this war and the unprecedented 14-Servant Great War, out of the Holy Grail system's fairness and correction, the Holy Grail will definitely summon an extra special Servant this time: the descent of the 15th referee Servant, Ruler."
"For certain reasons, this Ruler will ultimately stand against us and obstruct our plans. So my suggestion is that while she has just descended here and hasn't yet had time to familiarize herself with the situation, we resolve her first."
"What do you think?"
Saying this, Amakusa's gaze swept over the crowd.
"I will follow your orders."
"It doesn't matter. If Ruler is strong, I am willing to go."
"Not interested."
"..."
Automatically ignoring Kriemhild, who wasn't listening to them speak, Amakusa turned his gaze to Morgan and Souya, who hadn't answered.
"Caster, what do you think?"
Amakusa smiled.
"I listen to my husband."
Morgan's answer was very simple.
"I have no objections either. Just proceed according to your plan, Brother."
Coughing lightly to avoid the strange gaze Atalante was casting at him, Souya then replied.
Having received Souya's answer, Amakusa immediately smiled.
"Then, Souya, you and Caster shall be the ones to resolve this Ruler. According to my 'Revelation,' Ruler will likely appear tonight near the highway at the border of Trifas and Sighisoara. You and Caster can go set things up in advance. How about it, Souya?"