The dazzling blade light flashed and vanished, slicing across Ethan's body repeatedly. The red-clad man wielding the blade immediately retreated after one strike grazed Ethan's figure.

Clapping sounds.

Clapping sounds came from behind him. The white-haired man in red did not turn back. While retreating, he forcefully kicked the ground to change direction, altering his movement pattern continuously. Only after putting some distance between himself and the source of the clapping did he stand up again, then quietly looked toward the two figures by the wall, one tall and one short, dual swords in hand.

"Archer. I told you not to act alone and leave me behind."

Following the voice, Ethan looked up at the wall and saw the hotheaded girl with twin tails who liked red clothes, a short skirt, and black stockings standing there. Then, ignoring the situation in the courtyard, she jumped straight down. Unfortunately, the real world obeys many physical rules, so...

"Cough."

Pulling his gaze back, Ethan turned again to look at Artoria, Cú Chulainn, and Shirou Emiya, who stood in front of the warehouse completely bewildered by what was happening.

Adding Kirei Kotomine, the nominal supervisor, in reality a cheat, hiding in the shadows, and the faint, nearly imperceptible mana fluctuations in the air, Medea, summoned as a Caster, was also secretly observing the situation here.

That was why Ethan said the Emiya residence was currently the center of the entire Holy Grail War. It was not an exaggeration at all.

"I just came to say hello. You do not need to mind us, just continue with what you were doing."

Neither Artoria nor Cú Chulainn could continue fighting in this situation. A one-on-one battle between the two could be fought with full force, but facing a chaotic scene with multiple Servants present, no one would be foolish enough to unleash their full strength.

"Master, hide behind me."

At this moment, protecting the Master's safety became the most important thing. Although Artoria had just been summoned, as a knight with extensive combat experience, she could immediately identify her side's biggest weakness, an injured and very young Master who was clearly inexperienced.

"Huh? Ah!"

Shirou still had not figured out what was going on, but he could tell that this girl wearing armor and wielding an invisible sword was on his side. Was she trying to protect him?

"How pitiful, forced into this without knowing anything."

Shirou heard Ethan's words, then shifted his gaze to Rin... Why was Rin here too? Perhaps he could get some answers from her.

"It seems we need some allies, Archer."

"Hmph."

Rin had not expected Shirou to be the final Master in this Holy Grail War. Although he seemed completely clueless, this guy had summoned the Saber she had coveted for so long, which was truly infuriating and left her speechless.

Deep down, she did not want to fight Shirou. Considering the current situation, perhaps forming an alliance was a good idea.

Archer protected Rin as they moved toward the warehouse, while carefully keeping an eye on Cú Chulainn and Ethan, wary of any sudden attacks.

At the same time, he pondered why his previous strike had missed. He had clearly attacked, but it felt like slicing through air. And when had the other party gotten behind him?

"Was it Magecraft that creates illusions?"

Archer saw the other party actually smiling and waving at him again, which left him completely speechless. While he was cautiously on guard, the person opposite greeted him as if seeing a friend on the street. What was this? Was he not being taken seriously?

Just then, Cú Chulainn, who had been standing in the center, looked left and right, finally pursing his lips in silence.

"It seems we cannot fight anymore."

Cú Chulainn understood his current Master's personality. In this chaotic situation, he would only be told to retreat, making it impossible to fight to his heart's content.

"Hey, the new friend I have not met before, are you a Magus?"

Cú Chulainn appeared carefree, but in reality, he was an excellent warrior. Besides that, he was proficient in Rune Magecraft and could also adapt to the Caster Class. The way Ethan appeared just now, and the Magecraft he used later to confuse Archer, were not techniques ordinary Magi could perform.

"No, I am a Berserker."

"Huh?"

The several Servants present all wore expressions that said, "Are you kidding me?" This Servant, who could appear silently, whose presence was hard to sense, and who could casually use powerful Magecraft, actually claimed to be a Berserker. Did he think they did not understand the Holy Grail War's rules?

Only Shirou did not understand what was happening; the rest had constipated expressions.

"Stop with the nonsense, kill them, Berserker."

Illya had not spoken since she appeared, just standing there quietly, making people even wonder if this child was actually a finely crafted puppet.

Rin had even doubted whether this seemingly young girl was truly the Master. Perhaps it was a trick created by that guy to mislead people. After all, this Servant possessed considerable Magecraft, so perhaps it was also an illusion used to obstruct their vision.

She never expected that this beautiful little child was actually the Master.

Even more unexpected was that the Servant who claimed to be a Berserker was actually a Berserker.

"Kill everyone? Or prioritize killing Shirou Emiya and leave the others for now?"

Ethan did not immediately act, instead turning back to ask Illya this question first.

"No, leave the big brother for last. I want to do it myself."

Illya showed Shirou a sweet smile, but in this situation, combined with what she said, the smile only sent chills down everyone's spines.

"What a twisted little girl."

Ethan shook his head, still keeping his hands in his pockets. As he lightly shook his head, a giant blue hand suddenly appeared in the air diagonally above him, slamming straight down behind Shirou.

Amidst a deafening roar, the Emiya residence's warehouse was completely destroyed. Just before the warehouse was smashed into ruins by the giant energy hand, a figure shot out from the debris and landed lightly to the side.

"Another Servant?"

Artoria immediately pulled Shirou and moved rapidly, putting distance between themselves and the suddenly appearing Servant and the pile of ruins that had been the warehouse. She could not be sure what else might be hidden there.

At the same time, Rin took out several jewels and held them in her hand, ready to activate Jewel Magecraft to assist Archer in battle at any moment.

"It seems a true Assassin has appeared this time."

This time, it was indeed an Assassin who appeared, but what still bothered Cú Chulainn was Ethan's method of attack just now. That was definitely not a technique used by a warrior. This Servant who claimed to be a Berserker must be a powerful Magus. He just could not figure out why he would respond to the summoning as a Berserker.

Compared to that, everyone's attention was now focused on the newly appeared Assassin. This person wore local attire, carried a very long nodachi on his back, and stood there calmly, showing no sign of panic at being discovered.

"I already told that vixen that concealing my presence is not something I excel at."

After shaking his head and sighing, this native Heroic Spirit's gaze swept around, lingering on Cú Chulainn and Artoria in turn.

"However, being able to witness a battle of this caliber up close is fortunate. If possible, I would very much like to fight the two of you once without any interference."

After the Assassin spoke some nonsense, he turned around, ready to leave. However, just as he turned, he suddenly felt unknown changes in the surrounding space, and an immediate sense of alarm rose in his heart.

Out of instinct, he drew the nodachi from his back, then his gaze swept around before locking onto Ethan.

"Did you do this?"

"Now that you are here, why are you in such a hurry to leave?"

Seeing Mr. Nameless, summoned as an Assassin under the name Sasaki Kojirō, appear here, Ethan knew the person he was looking for had shown up.

In the original story, Sasaki Kojirō was a special Servant summoned by Medea using Magecraft, with the gate of Ryūdō Temple as the catalyst. After Medea converted Ryūdō Temple into her magical territory and used a barrier to seal off all directions to prevent Heroic Spirits from invading, making it so Heroic Spirits could only enter through the main gate, Sasaki Kojirō, who could only move near the temple gate, became the gatekeeper.

This also meant that in the normal storyline, Sasaki Kojirō absolutely could not appear at the Emiya residence.

His appearance here proved that someone had altered the plot, and the person who changed it was the Transmigrator Ethan was looking for. Sure enough, he was a Transmigrator with ambitions. Had this guy perhaps gone and conquered Medea?

Stroking his chin, Ethan found that this person's thinking was quite clear.

In this Holy Grail War, the possibility of an ordinary outsider getting involved was not high. The only opportunity that was relatively easy to snatch was to take ownership of Medea from another ordinary person.

Furthermore, Medea, as a Magus from the Age of Gods, possessed extensive magical knowledge and was a Heroic Spirit very suitable to be a mentor. Ordinary people had no chance to access such knowledge, and even if you knew who possessed it, it was not something you could learn just because you wanted to.

However, by becoming Medea's Master, one could learn a great deal, and Medea was also a relatively easy-to-conquer great beauty.

This Transmigrator had undoubtedly made a very correct decision, but he absolutely did not expect the appearance of Ethan, a character outside the original plot.

I wonder what the reaction is now of that friend who had been peeking here using Medea's Magecraft.

(To be continued.)