Section 9: Rushing In

Intruder alert, intruder alert.

Enemy Servants detected. All Heroic Spirit Soldiers to your positions.

Out of my waaay!

Our guns aren't working on them! Get the Heroic Spirit Soldiers! Overwhelm them with sheer numbers!

How can there be this many of them!? It's too narrow here for so many! This is just like Okehazama!

And what the hell are Heroic Spirit Soldiers, anyway!?

They're artificial soldiers made from the Spirit Origins they've collected from Heroic Spirits.

In Western terms, they're basically golems.

Of course, they can't hold a candle to Servants individually, but there are enough of them that they don't really need to.

Grr, if I only had my own body, I could wipe these things out in an instant! Argh, this is so frustrating!

...We'll never get anywhere like this.

Looks like we'll have to handle this ourselves. The rest of you, go on ahead.

？！

Don't worry about me. My wounds are all healed, and I've got Oryou AND Izo with me.

How about it, Izo? Would you mind helping me out again?

I never agreed to that! I'm only here to cut down that Caster!

If you're just stalling for time, Ryouma, then do it yourself!

You're only good for taking out weaklings anyway. Trim their numbers before you die so Oryou can finish the job.

What was that? You want to die first, snake-woman?

Ahahaha... Please, Izo? I could really use your help.

...?

Ryouma...

Tch, fine! Just go stand in a corner or something so you don't get in my way!

Let's go, Fujimaru!

Rider's Noble Phantasm is no joke. Having an ordinary human like you around'll just make it harder for him!

？！

I'm sorry to leave this all up to you, Rider. ...Thank you.

...Sorry to leave you like this, Rider.

...So they saw right through us, huh? I wonder if he noticed as well?

Hey, Oryou... You can barely move at all anymore, can you?

Boo. Oryou can't believe the stupid weak Assassin saw through us. That is going to be a painful memory for the rest of Oryou's life.

Well, I have been pushing too hard for a while now... Guess it's about time for me to hang up my hat.

Ryouma!!! Don't you even start with that nonsense!

What happened to the man who left us behind at Tosa!?

...Huh?

Haha... You really got me there.

Oryou still doesn't like you, but Oryou will forgive you this once.

Oryou is as kind as the Inland Sea.

Go after the ones who ran off ahead! We can take care of these fools lat

Urk...!

Don't ignore me, fool. I've killed everyone who's ever tried.

Hraaaaaahhh!!!

...My name is Izo, the man-slayer of Tosa! ALL of you will die here!

Well, what do you know. Guess Izo isn't worthless after all.

Of course not. After all...

...he's a genius swordsman!

？！

Hm? What are you lot doing here? I don't see Rider with you...

So you're the Caster.

...How odd. The Three Knight Class Servants are all down, and both Rider and Assassin will be soon.

Who are you...?

...

Well, it doesn't matter. You're too late.

Take a look. This is the mass of Heroic Spirits I have accumulated over countless years.

This is Lady Nobunaga's Spirit Origin, and the Holy Grail, now both within my grasp!

At last...the true Lady Oda Kazusa-no-Suke Nobunaga will be reborn!

？！

...Yes, of course I did. But I had no other choice.

He is the one who stopped Lady Nobunaga from truly being Lady Nobunaga...

？！

That's right! It was all that ape's fault!

Lady Nobunaga stopped being Lady Nobunaga right after he showed up!

Lady Nobunaga was MY light! MY salvation! She was everything to me!

I gave everything I had to her! Everything!

I even offered up my own mother to her without a second thought! And yet, she only smiled at him, never at me! Why!?

...

Lady Nobunaga was mine and mine alone... I was the only one who ever understood her!

I had to be the only one who understood her!

She had no right to go around sharing her dreams of world domination with anyone but me!

...This man...

...So I killed her.

？！

I had no other choice, Lady Nobunaga. Everything I did, I did for you!

That ape could never hope to rule all of Japan!

That's why he failed so miserably! That's why he lost everything before dying a pitiful death!

But worry not! None but Lady Nobunaga can ever rule Japan!

Yes! Lady Nobunaga! MY Lady Nobunaga! Now, hear me, Holy Grail! Hear me, Heroic Spirits!

Bring forth Lady Nobunaga...MY Lady Nobunaga...!

Ugh... How dull.

...Huh?

You bore me, Kumquat...

Who are you...?

Don't get me wrong, your scheme isn't terrible. It gets full marks for scale, and I actually like the whole mood you've got going here.

What are youWait. You're...

But why do you have to bring me into it?

It can't be... Lady Nobunaga?

If you're going to do this, you might as well finish it yourself. That's always been your worst flaw.

...Wh-what are you saying?

...I can see right through you, Kumquat. You were terrified of a world without me, weren't you?

...What?

Even though you killed me yourself, just the thought of going on without me petrified you.

...That's the difference between you and Monkey.

...Difference?

When I died, he didn't waste his time thinking about a world without me. He thought only of a world in which he was dominant.

Shut up...

You didn't lose to him.

You lost to your own fears.

Shut up...!

What would you know of Lady Nobunaga!?

Um, can I say something too, Sister?

Honestly, after hearing all that, I'm kind of ticked off!

I don't know who this guy is...

...but no one understands you better than I do!

？！

Don't interrupt me, you idiot!

At any rate, you don't get to use my body. It's time for you to give it back, Mitsuhide.

...Never mind. I don't care who you are anymore.

Not when my own Lady Nobunaga is about to be born!

Heroic Spirit Soldiers! Eliminate these fools!

...!

Hmm, it seems I went on a little too long.

I only meant to scope the scene out, but Kumquat's little speech pissed me off so much, I just had to say something.

...We should have attacked while he was talking. I think that's what that Saber would have done.

？！

...Okay, Master, let's go!

...Well? Still alive?

...How about you, Izo? You're looking pretty sliced up from where I stand.

I'm still doing better than you, idiot.

I was in a really foul mood today, so all this bloodshed is exactly what I needed to let off some steam.

This worked out great for me.

Hey, Izo, do you see any frogs anywhere? Oryou can't move anymore.

...Even if they are just delaying the inevitable, I can't believe how many Heroic Spirit Soldiers these three defeated...

Dammit, this ALWAYS happens whenever I let you sweet talk me into something! I KNEW I should've gone and killed the Caster myself.

Haha... Sorry, Izo.

...Kill them.

...!

...I can't even lift my arms anymore. Hey, Oryou, hurry up and turn into a dragon or something.

Shut up, Izo, or Oryou will have you for a snack.

Hmph. Guess this is it.

...Nope. Perfect timing, as always.

Wh-what was that!? What's going on!?

...Hey, you.

...Are you with Satsuma, or Choushu?