Fight Saber, then replenish mana.

Archer took Rin Tohsaka and left, while Suye put away his corpse clone and returned to his home.

Logically speaking, Sakura Matou and Taiga Fujimura were still waiting there for him to finish dinner.

After the meal, before Suye could once again propose that Sakura stay the night, Taiga directly busied herself with making up a bed in the next room. Clearly, she intended to play the role of the ultimate wingman to the very end.

Suye did not say much. In the middle of the night, after the two of them fell asleep, he got up and walked into the utility room, looking at the somewhat hazy magic circle on the floor in the corner.

This magic circle was used to summon the descent of heroic spirits.

In the original work, when Emiya Shirou came under attack, the magic circle activated on its own, summoning the Saber-class servant, the King of Knights, Artoria Pendragon.

That was the legendary figure who pulled the sword from the stone, the leader of the Knights of the Round Table, the eternal king of British legend, the immortal hero—the gender-bent version of King Arthur.

Saber was a Servant who had been summoned by Emiya Shirou's adoptive father, Emiya Kiritsugu, during the previous Holy Grail War.

Therefore, this self-activating magic circle, along with the scabbard "Avalon, the Everdistant Utopia" buried inside Emiya Shirou's body, were clearly trump cards left behind by Emiya Kiritsugu.

Thus, even though Shirou seemingly lacked the talent to become a mage and had not actively initiated the magic circle, he still managed to summon Saber.

However, a Saber summoned in this manner was heavily restricted.

Because Shirou did not understand how to use magecraft and could not properly supply Saber with magical energy, Saber—renowned for her bravery and skill in battle—was forced to remain in a weakened state for quite a long time.

Often, halfway through a fight, she would simply run out of power.

Now, however, everything was different.

After Suye inherited the role of Emiya Shirou, nothing would ever unfold like the original story again.

In the warehouse, standing before the magic circle, Suye reached out his hand and, like a delusional adolescent suffering from chuunibyou, chanted a line full of embarrassing pathos.

"Hear my command! My body is under your command, and my fate is in your hands. If you are willing to heed the summons of the Holy Grail, if you will obey this intent and reason, then respond here!"

"Entangle your body in the three great primal words for seven days, come forth from the restraining wheel!"

"Guardian of the scales!"

This was the summoning incantation Rin Tohsaka had chanted when summoning Archer. Suye had no idea whether it was the same as the incantation for summoning Saber, but trying it cost nothing anyway.

Along with his chuunibyou performance, the magic circle on the ground soon began to slowly emit a blue light.

Shortly after, a girl with a golden bun, an unruly strand of hair standing stubbornly on top of her head, a petite figure, and wearing a blue undergarment beneath silver armor slowly emerged from within.

"Complying with the summons, I have arrived. Master, please give your orders. From this moment on, my sword shall be with you, and your fate shall coexist with mine. Here, the contract is completed!"

Saber, standing at 154 cm tall, stood before the 190 cm tall Suye, speaking words about protecting him. This scene truly felt utterly incongruous.

At that moment, Suye looked down at the Saber before him, the corners of his mouth curling up into a smile as he said, "Welcome, Saber. So, care for a round?"

"..." Saber was a blank-faced, expressionless girl. Whether she was injured or locked in a death battle, her facial expressions rarely fluctuated much.

Yet upon hearing Suye's words, she froze visibly, a look of utter astonishment appearing on her face.

The Holy Grail War had been going on for hundreds of years across four or five iterations, and she had never once heard of a Master challenging their Servant the exact moment they were summoned.

"I understand," Saber said, gripping a transparent, invisible longsword tightly with both hands while adopting a strict combat stance. "Master, you are questioning my ability, aren't you? Rest assured, I will not let you down. Pick up your weapon, Master. I will prove the value of my existence with my strength!"

Every heroic spirit harbored an unfulfilled obsession, which was why they forged a contract with the "World," willing to bear the price of eternal reincarnation in exchange for a chance to make a wish upon the Holy Grail.

Saber was naturally no exception. Before fulfilling that wish, any challenger had to be defeated, even if that person happened to be her Master.

Furthermore, as a female monarch, she was inherently sensitive about being underestimated because of her gender and stature.

Suye retrieved a longsword he had prepared beforehand. He wasn't questioning Saber; rather, he held a sense of respect for her.

Though she looked like a junior-high-school-aged girl on the outside, she was a monarch who had shouldered the destiny of an entire nation and ultimately died fighting for it. For that reason alone, Suye deemed her worthy of the utmost respect.

As for any strange notions of finding an excuse to drain her magical energy—Suye harbor no such thoughts.

Though a Saber brimming with magical energy wasn't necessarily a bad Saber, only a Saber whose magical energy was depleted and in need of mana replenishment was a good... cough!

Holding his sword in a reverse grip, Suye cupped his fists in a salute and said, "Please!"

After performing a knightly salute in her own fashion, Saber directly charged forward, wielding her invisible longsword.

Clang!

Suye's iron sword collided fiercely with the invisible Sword of Promised Victory.

Just from that single clash, Saber felt a sense of foreboding.

The opposing Master could not only clearly "see" the Sword of Promised Victory shrouded in the Wind King Barrier, but his physical strength was terrifyingly great—it felt comparable even to a Berserker.

Most importantly, why was this Master able to block the attack of the Sword of Promised Victory with a mundane iron sword without it being destroyed?

The Sword of Promised Victory was a Noble Phantasm, after all—an A++ grade Noble Phantasm forged from human desires crystallized within the planet, serving as one of the ultimate divine constructs known as the "Strongest of Illusions."

How could such a powerful Noble Phantasm fail to cleave through a regular iron sword?

Naturally, the sword in Suye's hand was not truly an ordinary iron sword.

This sword had a straight back and a single-edged blade; rather than a traditional sword, it resembled a saber—a Tang dao.

However, in the hands of Li Bai from Honor of Kings, this item was called a sword.

This sword was not crafted by anyone Suye hired; rather, it was materialized using the "Projected Magecraft" capability he had acquired from Emiya Shirou.

Then, utilizing his magnetic field control abilities, he reinforced the texture of the blade, granting it strength rivaling a Noble Phantasm.

With formidable strength, a weapon of comparable quality, and the powerful close-combat skills enhanced by countless abilities, if Saber refrained from using her skills, defeating him would be exceedingly difficult.

Furthermore, even if she did unleash her skills, with Suye's Spider-Sense, hitting him was nearly impossible.

Thus, the outcome of this battle had been predestined from the very beginning.

While Suye and Saber were engaged in fierce combat within the warehouse, throughout the entire city, the already-summoned Servants and their Masters also sensed the aura of combat between heroic spirits.

In solemn churches, temples under the moonlight, and gloomy basements, mages and heroic spirits alike furrowed their brows.

"Archer!"

In a manor-like estate, Rin Tohsaka abruptly sprang to her feet, glaring at the composed Archer sitting to the side.

"Could that Lancer have realized the witness didn't die and returned to finish the assassination? Should we go check it out?"

Archer turned his head, casting a subtle smile toward Rin. "You seem... awfully concerned about that male classmate?"

Rin's face flushed slightly. Clenching her small fists, she shook her head in denial. "No way! He's just a bit tall, somewhat handsome, and has a nice build, that's all. I couldn't care less about him!"

To be frank, given Suye's height, looks, and chiseled physique, the number of girls capable of resisting his charm was vanishingly small.

Moreover, Suye was the boy Sakura liked, and Sakura was Rin's own younger sister.

Consequently, Rin had been paying attention to Suye for a long time. The more she observed him, the more she felt that her sister had exceptional taste...

"That's right, Sakura! It's only because Sakura likes him that I care so much! I never paid any attention to him myself, and his vibe doesn't do a thing for me. Yep, exactly!"

Having finally found a high-sounding justification for herself, Rin looked up at Archer with a pleading expression.

"Archer, let's go take a look! If Suye is really dead, Sakura will be heartbroken! She's already suffered enough; I don't want her to be hurt by this too!"

Archer had actually already learned the cause of the commotion beforehand via telepathy, but since Rin was already pleading, he couldn't very well refuse.

Besides, this was originally one of his wishes as a heroic spirit anyway.

"Let's go!"

Without further ado, Archer scooped Rin up in a bridal carry and leapt away, practically defying the laws of physics.

Beneath the night sky, yet another figure was sprinting rapidly toward the direction of Suye's home.

It was a woman with long purple hair, clad in a tight-fitting, low-cut mini-dress with black fabric and purple trim, high boots on her legs, and a voluptuous figure. No matter how one looked at her, she resembled a seductress of the night.

Yet this woman, much like Archer, was flying and dashing across the city in an utterly unconventional manner, defying gravity.

Clearly, while this woman was not a literal courtesan, her lethality was precisely on that level.

Her name was Medusa. Like Saber, she was a summoned heroic spirit, and her class was Rider.

Suye had never quite figured out why Medusa ended up as a Rider class. For one, she didn't have a mount; for another, she didn't... well.

Perhaps the Rider class referred not to her personally, but to her Master?

Medusa was originally Sakura Matou's Servant. The seemingly harmless Sakura was also one of the seven Masters of this Holy Grail War.

However, shortly after Medusa was summoned, Zouken Matou coerced Sakura into transferring her command seals to that idiot, Shinji Matou.

Therefore, the one actually participating in the Holy Grail War was the seaweed-haired Shinji Matou.

Similarly, perhaps due to Suye's proposal for Sakura to stay over or for other reasons, the event where Sakura was violated by Shinji in the original story did not occur.

Right now, Medusa was performing reconnaissance on the battling Servants on behalf of Shinji.

For some reason, the Lancer Cu Chulainn, who had appeared during the day, was nowhere to be seen this time.

As Archer and Medusa converged on Suye's residence, Suye had already perceived their arrival through his telepathy.

"Saber!"

With a single strike that knocked Saber back, Suye straightened up and said with a solemn expression, "That's about enough."

By this point, the two had been fighting for over ten minutes.

Opposite him, the inner lining of Saber's armor was thoroughly soaked with sweat, and she was panting heavily, her chest rising and falling rapidly with each breath.

"Not enough! I haven't proven myself yet. I can still fight!"

Saber wasn't purely stubborn, but the fact that she had been easily defeated by her own Master was something she struggled to accept. Furthermore, the massive consumption of magical energy within her body was taking a toll on her physical condition.

As a result, the overall impression she gave off was that she had become somewhat single-minded.

Leaning on her sword with her head bowed, her bangs cast a shadow over her eyes, and even the stubborn strand of hair on top of her head lacked the energy to twitch.

"I am going to win the Holy Grail War, and I am going back!"

Seeing her obstinate, unyielding appearance, Suye couldn't help but shake his head.

"Having a firm will is a good thing, but you also need to recognize reality."

"The reality is that your stamina and magical energy are no longer sufficient to support you in continuing to challenge me. Moreover, I sense that other Servants are launching a surprise attack on our location. Are you certain you wish to continue?"

"Servants?"

Saber's head snapped up instantly, her dazed eyes regaining a modicum of clarity.

She suddenly remembered that she hadn't come here to measure herself against her own Master, but rather to defeat other Masters and Servants and claim ultimate victory in the Holy Grail War.

From that perspective, wouldn't the stronger her Master was, the higher her chances of securing final victory?

Though winning passively didn't align with her consistent adherence to chivalry, as long as victory was achieved, everything else was worth it.

Besides, defeating other Servants would also be a chance to prove her strength to her Master.

"Very well!"

Saber acknowledged the command and attempted to stand up, only for her legs to wobble, nearly causing her to collapse straight to the ground.

Fortunately, Suye reacted with lightning speed, scooping her up from the floor in one fluid motion.

"Are you alright?"

Suye lifted Saber with both arms, holding her in the exact same bridal carry Archer had used for Rin.

"I'm fine, put me down!"

Saber was no Rin Tohsaka; she couldn't just let herself be carried around in someone's arms. Despite being gender-bent, she remained King Arthur of Britain, the hero who led her country to prosperity, not some caged canary to be protected.

Regrettably, Suye's strength was overwhelming, and she had no way of breaking free.

At that moment, Suye's deep, magnetic voice sounded softly near her ear.

"Stop thrashing around. Your magical energy has been completely depleted. How do you intend to fight right now—by sheer stubbornness?"

As if ignoring him, Saber continued to struggle. "I am a Servant. Even if my magical energy is exhausted, even if I die on the battlefield, my sword will not stop."

"Yet dying on the battlefield is not your goal. What you must do is win the ultimate victory by any means necessary! Only then can you realize your wish, isn't that right?"

Suye's single sentence instantly caused Saber's movements to freeze.

That's right. To fulfill her wish, she had been willing to contract with the "World," accepting the price of eternal reincarnation to become a heroic spirit. Compared to that, being carried by her Master for a moment—what was the big deal?

Yet why did he have to hold her like this? If a Servant lacked magical energy, couldn't the Master simply use magecraft to replenish it?

Just as Saber was wondering this, she saw Suye's face rapidly magnify in her field of vision.

"Mm!"

At the exact moment their lips met, Saber almost spat out a mouthful of...

"Yamete!"

Saber's eyes widened instantly as her arms tensed in preparation to resist. At that very moment, a voice echoed directly inside her mind.

"Don't struggle. I'm replenishing your mana. Other Servants are about to arrive; this is the fastest and most effective method. Do not resist—experience it with your heart!"

Mana replenishment—yes, precisely mana replenishment. Suye had provoked Saber's competitive fire and made her fight him precisely for this moment—cough!

Strictly speaking, Servants existed as astral entities. As long as they possessed magical energy, they could continue fighting indefinitely.

Since Suye, a half-baked mage, hadn't yet learned the ability to transmit magical energy to a Servant from a distance, he had no choice but to resort to the most primitive and effective method.

Naturally, Suye was a noble person, a pure person, a moral person who had cast off low-brow interests. Therefore, he was truly conducting purely academic research into replenishing Saber's mana.

As for wandering hands, groping, or anything of the sort—that certainly didn't exist.

After all, Saber was wearing a full suit of iron armor, and the inner lining was thick as could be. Even if Suye reached out, what could he possibly accomplish?

Listening to Suye's tone and observing his deadpan, earnest expression, Saber inwardly began to feel that perhaps she was making a fuss over nothing and lacking worldly experience.

Mana replenishment between a Master and Servant was a common enough occurrence; it was just that her Master had chosen a somewhat aggressive method in pursuit of efficiency.

That was entirely understandable... as if!

Saber was, after all, a young maiden from the early Middle Ages. Though inexperienced in matters between men and women, she possessed plenty of her own thoughts and inhibitions. Having her lips captured so casually was something she still found difficult to accept on short notice.

Just as she prepared to resist, however, a massive surge of magical energy suddenly rushed into her body.

In that instant, the breathtaking impact of that overwhelming magical energy coursed through her like the spawning vitality within a male salmon—millions of microscopic pulses, ceaseless and surging.

And at that moment, Saber was that female salmon; she was instantly filled with boundless power!

"Yo! Fully restored and resurrected on the spot!"

Just as Saber was savoring the sensation of overflowing magical energy, Suye released her, stepped back a pace, and looked at her with an expression of appreciation.

That polite, utterly serious expression truly made one feel as though he had merely delivered a friendly embrace a moment prior.

Saber's fingers tightened around the hilt of the invisible Sword of Promised Victory, though in the end, she had to abandon the impulse to swing it. After all, this was her Master; while the method was somewhat radical, it was ultimately an efficient means of mana replenishment.

"Thank you, Master. I feel wonderful... but never do it again!"

Having recovered her magical energy, Saber also regained her iron-willed queenly aura forged through years of battlefield command.

"The other Servants are about to arrive. If we don't want this place destroyed, we had better head outside to meet the enemy!"

"Well said!"

Suye nodded, then pointed in the direction from which Archer and Rin were approaching. "You head that way. The other side is mine."

"Master! Be ca—"

Saber habitually started to utter a warning for Suye to be careful, but halfway through, she remembered that this was a Master even stronger than her as a Servant, and promptly shut her mouth.

"Then, I'm heading out!"

With that, Saber dashed out the door and flashed into the night.

This battle had to be won. She could not allow her Master to look down on her again.

Meanwhile, Suye donned his Batman gear before turning his gaze toward the direction from which Medusa was approaching.

"A Rider, eh? Not having a mount is fine. Perhaps you'll become a mount yourself before long."