Chapter 1290

"I've lived over a thousand years, and I've never seen anyone who can keep up with my speed… you're the first! But my abilities aren't limited to just 'running fast'—today, I'll show you!"

Under the bright moon, Sai Fei'er's leaping figure trembled, splitting into two, then four, illusory and real, seeming true yet false; in the blink of an eye, a swarm of Sai Fei'ers lunged at the Fire-Thief from all directions.

But the Fire-Thief also quickly spawned several doppelgängers; black silhouettes spread out simultaneously from all directions, the long blades tearing the air with a "crack-clack" sound, so dense it was like a rainstorm striking banana leaves; dozens of successive impacts were compressed into a continuous, droning tone, sharply reverberating.

——

Demon Slayer

"Good, so fast——!"

Sweet Dew Temple could no longer capture any detail of this battle.

Her naked eyes could only see light—the light reflected from Sai Fei'er's golden boots—black afterimages darting frenetically through the gaps in the golden light, each flicker accompanied by the disappearance of one of Sai Fei'er's duplicates, but a new duplicate would appear the next second, filling the gaps.

Their speed was simply too fast… the afterimages didn't even have time to dissipate before new ones formed, layer upon layer piling in midair, as if hundreds of people were dueling in that tiny space.

"These clones… as many as you want!"

Sai Fei'er's voice came from the heavens, her words echoing from every direction of the attic; in that breath, she had already shifted to dozens of positions, as if she were everywhere, covering all.

Bu Si Chuan strained to track Sai Fei'er's position with his eyes, but after only a few seconds he gave up—just as when he once tried to follow Jing Liu's swordsmanship with the naked eye; when skill reaches its extreme, one can no longer trust one's own eyes and ears, only the flickering silhouettes in the air reminding him the battle continues.

"The Fire-Thief's clones haven't disappeared; rather, Miss Sai Fei'er's clones are vanishing one after another……"

The Stone Pillar's brows were locked tight; although he couldn't make out Sai Fei'er's movements, from the state of the battle he could roughly tell—their attacks were utterly incapable of shaking the Fire-Thief in the slightest.

"Look, the Fire-Thief's speed is slowing—no! He's about to use that move!"

The Fire-Thief's ritual sword and longsword joined together—that was exactly the killing move it used to wound everyone badly in the Suspended Blade Arena!

"Miss Sai Fei'er is in danger!"

——

"Obstruction… is ultimately futile……"

Sai Fei'er frowned, she also saw the Fire-Thief was brewing some killing move, so she simply sent all her clones rushing at it en masse.

"I've played with you long enough…… it's time to leave!"

"... See you later, stray dog!"

Sai Fei'er's figure flickered rapidly in midair; the Fire-Thief suddenly thrust from behind her, but what it pierced was only her afterimage.

The Fire-Thief jerked its head back, only to see Sai Fei'er already standing outside the gates of Stikokisia.

Sai Fei'er was feeling pleased, and reached a hand down to touch beneath her neck——

"No."

Sai Fei'er froze instantly; the flipping coin hanging beneath her neck was gone!

The Fire-Thief slowly opened its palm, and the silver coin slipped from its grasp……

Sai Fei'er had already used godspeed to reach the Fire-Thief, trying to snatch that silver coin——

"But this time, someone was faster than her……"

The Fire-Thief suddenly clenched its fist around Sai Fei'er's throat and slammed her hard into the wall!

As the rolling smoke and dust cleared, a jet of golden blood spurted from Sai Fei'er's mouth, and she slumped weakly to the ground.

The Fire-Thief examined the burdened world fire seed in its hand, put away the ritual sword, and was about to turn and leave when the fire seed in its hand turned into a broken clay pot.

"Only a mindless fool would fall for the same trick three times in a row……"

Even though her breath was faint and she kept coughing blood, Sai Fei'er forced herself to lift her head, pulling the corner of her mouth into a proud, triumphant smile.

"... I won, monster!"

With the sound of the pot shattering, the Fire-Thief completely lost its patience; as a sword flash flickered, Sai Fei'er fell silent forever.

——

Fate/Today's Meal at the Emiya House

"Ahhhh, I don't want this kind of thing!!"

"Sai Fei'er sis!!"

Accompanied by a rising and falling chorus of screams from within the Emiya household, Illya, her face streaked with tears, collapsed backward, gazing lifelessly at the sky.

Her chest surged with an indescribable mix of bitterness and absurdity.

The turn of events came utterly without warning—no sign at all. Just a second ago Sai Fei'er could have escaped, but the next instant…… Illya couldn't even make out what the two were doing; because they moved too fast, by the time she understood what had happened, Sai Fei'er had already been seized by the Fire-Thief and smashed into the wall.

Just a short while ago she had been thrilled over Bai Wu and Feng Jin's successful defeat of Aigle, yet now……

Her good mood didn't last long before being overtaken by an even longer stretch of gloom.

"She too shall perish at the 'minwen'—thus that flipping coin is the true meaning of 'minwen,' not a coin in the ordinary sense……" Archer only then belatedly realized that Sai Fei'er's prophecy had manifested in this extremely sudden way.

After the Fire-Thief displayed speed rivaling Sai Fei'er's, Archer had already begun to worry that continuing the fight might lead to an accident; thus when Sai Fei'er managed to shake it off, a flicker of relief rose in his heart.

"But……"

That relief was all too fleeting—misfortune struck out of nowhere and dealt him a harsh blow.

They all underestimated the Fire-Thief's speed, never even imagining its movements could match Sai Fei'er's. Could it be…… that it had never seriously taken on Bai Wu and Wandi before?

——

Azure Archive

"Please, no more deaths!!"

"I can't accept this… I really can't accept it——!!!"

After successfully defeating Aigle, Lu Bamu Ai Lu burst into tears of joy, excitedly announcing that she would pull out the club's remaining funds for everyone to enjoy a big bowl of ramen tonight in celebration. Little did she imagine that, just after placing their order at Chef Chai's ramen shop…… such a tragedy unfolded in the heavens.

Faced with the large bowl of ramen just set before her, Ai Lu had turned as pale as a sheet of paper.

"Why did this happen? … Sai Fei'er was just about to go back……" Ai Lu struggled to her feet from the chair, shouting, "It's all the Fire-Thief's fault!! Bai Wu, you must destroy it, avenge Sai Fei'er!!!"

Even separated by a table, Mutsu could almost hear little Ai grinding her teeth in anger.