Harem on Fire (Literally) / Group B United by the Holy Grail / His Servant

"..."

Ibaraki-Douji, as the Berserker, looked at her Master, Illya. Her expression seemed troubled.

"Um—my Master... must we find Rider in such a conspicuous way? I think it's inappropriate. I believe this action should be carried out secretly."

"Eh?" Hearing Ibaraki-Douji's words, Illya also hesitated. "I guess so."

"But—" Illya looked at Homurahara Academy before her, tilting her head slightly. "If we don't do this, we won't be able to attract big sister Artoria's attention, right? So—Berserker, let's proceed with the original plan!"

"..." Ibaraki-Douji was momentarily unsure how to refute Master Illya. Plus, she knew she was a Servant, and a Master's orders must be obeyed.

Boom! Ibaraki-Douji's arm burst with even fiercer flames—a sight that once seen, would never be forgotten. Thankfully, Homurahara Academy was empty at this hour, otherwise, Ibaraki-Douji's appearance would surely have been the headline of tomorrow's newspapers!

Meanwhile, inside the Kyudo dojo.

"..."

The Tohsaka sisters, witnessing the flash of firelight outside the window, both looked a little tense. "Sister, did you see that?" Tohsaka Sakura whispered.

"...I saw it," Tohsaka Rin stared at the window. "It's fire."

"Why would there be fire at this time?" Tohsaka Sakura's face showed difficulty.

"I don't know... but it doesn't look good." The Tohsaka sisters looked at each other, both realizing something.

"Archer!" Tohsaka Rin shouted.

"What's wrong, what's wrong?" Atalanta, tidying up the dojo, popped her head out, looking at the Tohsaka sisters outside. "What happened?"

"There might be an enemy," Tohsaka Rin confessed the situation to her Servant.

"..." Almost instantly, Atalanta shed her docile appearance, replaced by the sharp gaze of one entering battle. As a hunter, she knew how to adjust her emotions in the shortest amount of time.

A flash of blue light. A black and gold bow appeared in Atalanta's hand—it was her weapon, Tauropolos. "Master," Atalanta looked at Tohsaka Rin before her. "Let's go."

Realizing that Servant Archer's fighting spirit was vigorous, Tohsaka Rin no longer hesitated. Her gaze fell on her sister beside her.

"Sakura, you..."

"Wherever Sister goes, I go," Tohsaka Sakura was equally resolute.

"Good."

And so—they came outside the dojo. As soon as they stepped out, the girls discovered the true identity of the flames.

It was a petite loli, but she had a pair of very conspicuous angry horns on her head, making her look quite unique—an absolutely impossible creature to appear normally. Considering the Holy Grail War, it was most likely a Servant. Both the Tohsaka sisters and Atalanta realized that the little loli before them was an opponent in this Holy Grail War.

So—what would her class be? This question didn't last long—because the other little loli beside the fiery loli soon gave a further command. And this sentence simultaneously revealed Ibaraki-Douji's class.

"Berserker! Attack them!"

As soon as the words fell, the little loli with angry horns immediately acted—indicating a Master-Servant relationship between them. The next moment, her arm actually detached from her body out of nowhere and flew towards the three people opposite! It was an offensive like a rocket mortar, whose power could be felt just by looking at it!

"Master and Master's sister, hide yourselves first!" Atalanta said this, then quickly ran to the other side. Although she usually acted like a soft pet around Ian, this didn't mean the little cat-girl had forgotten how to fight. And Berserker clearly realized she was the enemy Servant, and quickly aimed her flaming arm solely at her.

It was a chase. Atalanta fled in front, while Berserker's flaming flying fist relentlessly pursued her. Of course, the cat-girl Servant was not completely defenseless. While fleeing, she observed the school's terrain and quickly made the appropriate counterattack.

Atalanta pushed off the ground, then jumped onto the school wall, using that momentum to leap into the air—Tauropolos was already ready during this process.

"Take this!" A green arrow of wind quickly shot from Tauropolos, flying towards the tracking flaming fist.

Boom! Gusts of wind and flames collided, forming an extremely powerful backflow. Tohsaka Rin used one hand to shield herself and the other to pull Tohsaka Sakura. Years of study had long made the Tohsaka family's young lady aware of the Holy Grail War's cruelty. So, facing this situation, she was already mentally prepared and not afraid at all.

What's more—Tohsaka Rin looked at Atalanta in the distance, secretly adding a hint of admiration. There would be no weak Servants in the Holy Grail War, even if they appeared to have no combat power on the surface!

The smoke dispersed. The glass of the windows near the collision zone was shattered all over the ground. The detached arm also returned to Berserker's body—would her attack stop here?

No! Far from it! Berserker, with her arm reattached, spoke to the little Master beside her: "Master, the one opposite seems to be the fastest Archer... please assist me a little."

"Understood." Illya responded to her Servant Ibaraki-Douji, and her ruby red eyes simultaneously began to glow with a different light, as if they could even influence the twilight glow of the evening. On the surface, this seemed to be the activation of the large number of magic circuits implanted in Illya by the Einzbern family. But in reality, there was a deeper reason!

As the only Oni in the Heian period to directly receive the Holy Grail's blessing, Ibaraki-Douji herself had an extremely strong receptivity to the Holy Grail. And quite coincidentally, due to the Einzbern family's needs, Illya, whose body had been extensively modified, also had a similar function to a "Holy Grail"! This meant that she could perfectly satisfy the needs of her Servant, Berserker! This was also why Illya could summon Ibaraki-Douji—because it was essentially the "Holy Grail" summoning the "Oni blessed by the Holy Grail"! There was an extremely strong connection between them!

Of course, for Ibaraki-Douji and Illya, they were unaware of this. And the practical manifestation of this bonus was that Illya's excessively abundant magical energy could enter Ibaraki-Douji's body almost without loss.

Thump—thump—thump— The golden-haired loli's heart began to beat violently. Behind her, two flaming arms appeared out of nowhere. Thus, the petite Berserker began to resemble a ferocious red oni.

"Rashoumon Daiengi!" Ibaraki-Douji shouted these words, then rushed forward in an almost quadrupedal manner! This was an extremely terrifying scorching ability. Wherever Berserker passed, the ground became dry due to the extremely high temperature emanating from her magical energy, and even the air seemed to scorch out of nowhere. This was a situation almost impossible in a modern city, but it was now truly happening at Homurahara Academy!

"..." Atalanta's cat ears twitched. It was her first time seeing such a violent offensive—it completely disregarded any consequences! Was this Berserker?!

"Master—!" The cat-girl Servant directly shouted. And Tohsaka Rin understood, quickly responding, "Archer, you are permitted to use any means to win."

"Understood!" With the permission of her Master, Tohsaka Rin, Atalanta immediately let loose. She drew her bowstring taut, squinted one eye, and prayed in the most devout tone:

"Apollo, the sun-shining god! Artemis, the moon-brightening goddess! In the name of Atalanta, I offer this prayer to both deities. Grant that calamity descends and devours my enemies! Phoebus Catastrophe—!"

After completing this series of prayers, Atalanta shot her arrow once more. But unlike before, the little cat-girl was now aiming not at her enemy Berserker, but at the sky!

Whoosh! Atalanta leaped into the air and shot her arrow. A green stream of air flew towards the sky, passing through layers of clouds. Then—the full moon and starlight shone like dazzling diamonds. But their true nature was not stars, but a catastrophic arrow rain descending in response to Atalanta's call! Every arrow falling with the moonlight carried fierce flames, as if blessed by the sun god Apollo! This was Phoebus Catastrophe!

The arrows fell, striking at the rampaging Berserker!

Boom—! Boom—! Successive explosions echoed across the campus, and the shockwaves shattered all the glass in nearby windows. This was a much more intense collision than before. Even Tohsaka Rin had to use specific defensive magecraft to temporarily keep herself and her sister out of harm's way.

On the other side, Atalanta had considerable confidence in her Noble Phantasm, Phoebus Catastrophe. After all—although her compatibility with Tohsaka Rin had not yet reached its peak, assistance from two deities was definitely not something that could be easily withstood! She was gaining the upper hand in this battle!

However—things were not so smooth. An incredibly shocking scene unfolded. Berserker, enduring Phoebus Catastrophe, walked forward step by step. Although her speed was quite slow, there was no hesitation or wavering.

"How is this possible?" Atalanta looked at the scene before her, unable to believe her eyes. Wait a minute! The cat-girl's keen observational skills quickly helped her discover the problem. She... how did she get two more arms?

Yes. Just as Atalanta had observed, Berserker, who originally had only four arms, now had two more arms. This allowed her to defend against Phoebus Catastrophe almost perfectly! No—rather than defense, it was more like she was forcibly withstanding the arrow rain, jointly cast by the sun god and moon goddess, using her raw physical capabilities. This was something only a class like Berserker, whose entire body was enhanced, could do. Considering it further, her Master must also be channeling a huge amount of magical energy at this time!

But realizing this was of little use now. Berserker looked up at Atalanta, who was suspended in the air, and her yellow eyes showed a hint of admiration for her.

"Your arrows... are formidable. As powerful as Shuten's traps at Mount Oe back then. But—this is where it ends."

Saying this, Ibaraki-Douji stomped heavily, directly shattering the ground beneath her feet, then leaped into the air with incredibly formidable physical prowess! She wielded her six flaming arms (four of which were illusions created by Illya's magical energy) and swung them at Atalanta.

Darn it! She couldn't dodge! Atalanta, having just unleashed Phoebus Catastrophe, realized she couldn't evade such a terrifying attack.

However—something unexpected happened at this moment. Just as the distance between them closed to an extreme degree, Ibaraki-Douji's nose twitched, as if she smelled something extremely special to her, and then she actually stopped cold. The two of them fell to the ground together.

Just as Atalanta picked herself up, bewildered, Berserker took further action. She extended her real arm and gently brushed it across the cat-girl's lips.

Sniff, sniff. Ibaraki-Douji suddenly showed an expression of pleasant surprise. She looked at Atalanta before her and said excitedly, "You—have you also served Abe-sensei, like me and Shuten?!"