303 Too Strong

"Who said I only know rune?"

Arkhan spoke calmly, his eyes as tranquil as a still lake.

He casually waved, replacing the earlier green runes with more intricate, ancient, and deeper green ones. These runes seemed to encompass all the mysteries of the universe, even a glance inducing dizziness and awe.

With a mysterious and vast surge of magical energy, these runes turned into an endless sea of thunderous flames, instantly devouring all magical beams.

They continued unhindered, rushing toward Medea.

Startled, Medea quickly used spatial magecraft to shift her position, but pitifully, her reaction was a bit slow.

*Whoosh—*

As a result, her cloak was burned halfway, and numerous holes appeared in various places, making her look extremely disheveled.

"Damn it, you bastard..."

As the princess of Colchis and a great mage under the tutelage of Goddess Hecate, Medea had never experienced such a miserable moment. She stared at Arkhan, furious like a lioness in a rage, as if eager to devour his flesh.

Seeing all of these, Karna furrowed his brows slightly.

Even he didn't expect that Rider of Black could compete with their Caster in the field of magecraft. How many tricks did this man still have up his sleeve?

He finally realized that Rider of Black's earlier words were probably not an exaggeration; this man truly had the ability to take on multiple opponents.

Fortunately, they had a backup plan.

Medea's Noble Phantasm, Rule Breaker, was an Anti-Thaumaturgy Noble Phantasm, capable of severing any magical contract. As long as they could hit Rider of Black with this Noble Phantasm, they could break his connection with his Master, causing him to disappear.

His task was to create an opportunity for Medea to use her Noble Phantasm.

However, just as Karna was about to join the battle, a figure suddenly stood in his way.

"Sorry, this path is closed." Mordred nonchalantly slung her sword over her shoulder. "If you want to get through, you must beat me first."

Karna stared expressionlessly at the rebellious knight.

"We are on the same side."

"Sorry, but not anymore." Mordred grinned. "Honestly, all your Red Faction's doings make me sick, so we don't plan on cooperating with you bunch anymore."

Kairi stood silently on the side, clearly not intending to stop her.

Ever since he learned that the white-haired priest was aware of Assassin of Black's deeds, unscrupulously murdering the mages from the Mage's Association, yet chose to ignore it, he knew that this priest intended to oppose the Mage's Association.

Since they were now on their own, he would let Mordred do as she liked.

"That's just your excuse. The true reason you're stopping me is you don't want me to go after Rider of Black, right?" Karna said calmly as he gazed at her.

"Hmph, so what if I don't?" Mordred scoffed. "He's King Arthur, fated to die by my hands. Before that happens, I won't allow anyone else to touch him."

"You're lying. You don't actually want to kill him." Karna's tone remained calm.

After hearing that, a sense of indescribable embarrassment instantly surged in Mordred's heart.

"Damn, you're so noisy! Where do you get off with all that bullshit?! If you're a man, let's fight! Why are you so chatty, always spouting nonsense endlessly?!" Mordred yelled in anger, like a cat with its tail stepped on.

"But I've only said three sentences so far." Karna said with a serious expression.

"..."

Mordred fell silent.

"But you're right, actions speak louder than words." Karna raised his spear, assuming a fighting stance. "Since you're now my enemy, I won't hold back."

"Hmph, should've been that way from the start." Mordred held her sword with both hands, the madness of battle flickering in her eyes. "Watch how I smash your golden armor into pieces!"

However, just as she was about to make a move, an inexplicable sense of danger suddenly surged from the depths of her heart. Her body instinctively turned sideways, with her sword swept out.

*DING!*

Accompanied by the crisp sound of metal, an arrow that came rushing toward her was instantly cut in half by her sword.

"Leave Saber to me. Lancer, hurry up and support Caster."

A voice, indistinguishable between male and female, echoed from all directions. At the same time, another volley of arrows shot out from the darkness, heading straight for Mordred.

Mordred swung her sword again, deflecting the arrows, and sneered.

"Do you think you can hold me back with this kind of attack, Archer of Red?"

Though the opponent hadn't revealed themselves, the nature of the assault had already exposed the newcomer's identity.

"Give it a try and find out for yourself."

*Swish!* *Swish!* *Swish!* *Swish!* *Swish!*

Archer of Red's words accompanied a sudden gust of wind, echoing with a loud bang through the night sky as dozens of arrows descended like a shower of stars.

Feeling the terrifying power within these arrows, Mordred furrowed her brow slightly. Abandoning her previous arrogance, she exerted herself to wield the sword, intercepting the incoming arrows.

Meanwhile, Karna took advantage of the distraction to bypass Mordred, heading straight for Arkhan.

"I told you, the two of you alone are not enough." Arkhan said casually.

He used the primordial rune to block Medea's magical beams while turning to clash Abyss Flower with Karna's god-slaying spear, creating intense sparks upon collision.

*BOOM!* *BOOM!*

*Clang!* *Cling!*

The roar of magecraft and the clash of metal, two completely different sounds merged into a symphony of war. Despite being outnumbered, Arkhan showed no signs of falling behind, flawlessly executing both offense and defense.

His ease in battle was mainly due to Fenghuang Down. With the power of this Divine Key, he had separated a personality dedicated to controlling the primordial rune to counter Medea, while focusing himself on battling Karna.

In essence, this was a seemingly two-against-one scenario, but in reality, it was a battle of two-against-two.

===

"Looks like things are getting a bit tricky."

Watching the scene unfolding in the crystal ball, Shirou shook his head in frustration and remarked with a wry smile.

"Indeed..." Ozymandias nodded in agreement. "Even I didn't expect this man to be so strong. He truly deserves to be a Rider, the most powerful class, just like me! Hahahahaha—!"

'This narcissist... The focus shouldn't be on that, why do you seem so proud...?' Semiramis couldn't help but silently mock Ozymandias in her mind.

Shirou rubbed his throbbing temples.

The situation was starting to slip out of control. He initially thought that engaging in battle within the city would restrain Rider of Black, at least enough to restrain his black dragon. Little did he know that this man also possessed the long-lost primordial rune, putting him on par with their Caster in magecraft.

A Rider that excelled in both martial arts against Lancer and magecraft against Caster—where did this freak come from?

Although their Lancer and Caster weren't losing ground, they didn't have any significant advantage either. Meanwhile, Rider of Black, even against two strong opponents, seemed to handle it effortlessly, clearly with room to spare.

At this rate, they might not be able to defeat Rider of Black by dawn.

Yet, Shirou couldn't figure out any effective strategy.

Their Rider's abilities mostly involved powerful wide-range attacks, unsuitable inside a city. Assassin's combat capabilities were only average without her Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and Berserker was too unpredictable—placing her on the battlefield could lead to anything.

'If only Saber hadn't betrayed us...' Shirou sighed inwardly.

If not for Saber's sudden change, the situation wouldn't have been this challenging. In a four-on-one situation, they should easily take down Rider of Black.

'Should we retreat?'

Shirou clenched his fists, feeling reluctant.

This was a hard-earned opportunity, which meant letting Rider of Black go now might mean they wouldn't get another chance.