Chapter 625

"Nii-san—!!"

A crisp, excited shout rang out.

A little girl, barely over a meter tall with chubby, baby-faced cheeks, came flying over.

Yukinoshita Haruno caught her, lowered her head, and smiled unconsciously: "Little Yukino, long time no see."

She glanced apologetically at Yingdao Mai: "Well, let's stop here for today, Mai-chan. We'll communicate about the follow-up battle plan later."

Yingdao Mai withdrew her complex gaze and smiled: "Then I hope you all achieve a flag-raising victory and lift the Cauldron of Omnipotence."

She also had to go investigate the situation of the eighth Servant and find traces of the mastermind as soon as possible.

Watching the girl from another world, wreathed in a storm, soar into the sky and disappear into the night.

Yukinoshita Haruno chuckled.

"An alliance?"

Let's just call it that.

However, she still had to make two-handed preparations—preparations for the other party suddenly turning hostile and snatching the Holy Grail.

Being able to summon such a terrifying existence as a Heroic Spirit meant the level of the Holy Grail was far beyond her expectations; it was hard for her to believe anyone wouldn't be tempted.

"Haruno-nee..."

Without knowing when.

Shiromeguri Meguri, also dressed in a capable black suit, stood on the high ground of the riverbank, though her expression looked somewhat exhausted, and there were red marks from tape on both sides of her cheeks.

Hmm.

Little Yukino had finally remembered her and returned to untie her bonds.

She walked quickly to Haruno's side and whispered in her ear about the arrival of the Caster earlier, and how Little Yukino had gained an incredibly vast amount of magical energy through a terrifying form of magecraft.

"Caster?"

Haruno's pupils shrank sharply, her body trembling involuntarily.

Only after truly getting close to that man who called himself Li Shuwen could one understand what kind of terrifying sensation it was.

It was a feeling of insignificance, as if standing beside something vast and macroscopic.

That kind of magnificence, as if it had existed since time immemorial—a suffocation and despair where even a slight touch felt like it could crush her and her greatest reliance together.

Even having witnessed the majesty and peerlessness of Saber just now, she still felt somewhat uneasy.

350. Haruno: Watch me eliminate the correct answer first!

"So..."

She took a few imperceptible deep breaths to calm down slightly, then smiled playfully: "Caster might not be that close to Miss Yingdao, huh~"

She had been saying, with Caster's ability, even without a Command Spell transfer, he could have arrived in three breaths to save the situation; how could he have been missing the whole time?

So, was Matou Kariya not a smokescreen, but the real Master of Caster?

Or was it...

Haruno frowned, thinking about her observations of the magecraft position remodeled in the abandoned factory.

That girl named Rikka was just an ordinary person, with no magical energy fluctuations, and her personality was completely that of a girl from a greenhouse.

She kept calling the other girl "Chief, Chief," and Haruno could tell it wasn't fake; she could clearly be ruled out directly.

And that pink-haired girl named Chika gave her a very strange feeling.

She was overly familiar, chatting with her, with a sunny, bright appearance, just like the mask Haruno often wore herself—very approachable.

Yet it didn't seem as fake as her own; it was as if she were showing her true self without any concealment, treating everything with genuine sincerity.

But could such a person really exist?

Yukinoshita Haruno's gaze was cold.

Showing one's true self frankly and treating others with sincerity was like an animal exposing its weak belly; what it usually invited was merciless harm.

Eventually, amidst constant pain and injury, one would either head to the other extreme or gradually fall silent, building thick walls to seal oneself off.

How could she possibly remain the same as always, just like her?

Moreover, she couldn't see through her magecraft either; she seemed to have no magical energy fluctuations.

But she had feigned a fall to get her to help her up, testing and finding that the other party's strength was shockingly powerful.

That thin arm probably didn't need reinforcement magecraft to easily punch a monster weighing dozens of tons to death.

So...

Was it her?

Subconsciously taking out a cigarette and sniffing the scent of tobacco, Yukinoshita Haruno narrowed her eyes, thinking carefully.

After being captured, she had stayed obediently and hadn't even tried to escape when the Servant wasn't around.

It wasn't that she hadn't wanted to take this opportunity to figure out the situation of the most mysterious Caster team.

"So, you're eliminating the correct answer first, right? Hahahaha."

"I'm dying of laughter, who could have guessed that Rikka, who has the lowest status and has to call Chika 'Chief,' is the Master?"

"Hahahaha, there's no way Haruno's circle could possibly come into contact with the concept of 'Chuunibyou'."

People were laughing like crazy.

They had guessed that Haruno didn't want to escape because she wanted to figure out the intel on Brother Luo Shu's team.

But they hadn't expected the conclusion to be so outrageous.

With the Chaotic Evil Chika as Brother Luo Shu's Master, this Holy Grail War was truly doomed.

With Chika's unique brain circuits, she might just roll her eyes and run off to run for Prime Minister of Japan.

Or she might just announce the existence of the magecraft world and become a Great Demon King waiting for the heroes to crusade against her.

"It's just that from the moment Lancelot's identity became Matou Kariya, the intel was fundamentally wrong, okay?"

"Tall stature, NTR fetish, the iconic purple hair of the Matou family's ancestral magecraft. It's Matou Kariya, confirmed face."

"Hahahaha, I'm dying, 'God-tier Matou Kariya,' I laugh every time I hear it, Brother Luo Shu's operation is too flashy."

Kuoh Academy.

Rias couldn't help but smile, but she quickly held it back.

Himejima Akeno shook her head: "If you want to laugh, just laugh, Rias. You don't need to be too mindful of Gremory family etiquette here."

As she spoke, she elegantly picked up her black tea and took a sip, looking up at the sky-curtain and murmuring: "Facing that Caster who is like an invincible sacred mountain, that mage Miss Haruno probably has no other way."

In that strange communication area.

Even though Saber had already unleashed that brilliant light which, just by indirectly shining, had almost cleared out the Hell Demon Realm.

Those veterans known as the God-Kingdom people still didn't think she was a match for Caster.

They weren't even on the same level.

Clearly, that Caster was far more incredible than these newcomers thought; he was a much greater existence.

It was almost impossible to defeat him head-on.

So they could only find a way to find his Master and defeat him from the side.

Honestly.

Himejima Akeno admired the resilience of that Miss Haruno.

On the river embankment.

"Sure enough, I still have to find a way to unite with a group of Servants..."

Haruno shook her head.

There was still too little intel; let's put the question of who Caster's Master is aside for now.

At the end of the day, her attempt to start with Caster's Master was due to a lack of strength.

Seeing Haruno regain her focus, Shiromeguri Meguri asked: "Then, should we still launch the battle plan against the Lancer team?"

"Lancer?"

Saber frowned.

Haruno put away her cigarette and said with a smile: "I'll leave Lancer to you, and I'll handle his Master. Let's see who defeats their opponent first. No problem, right, Saber?"

Turning against Caster was just a possibility.

Currently, it was still better to clear out the team that posed the greatest threat to Saber.