Chapter 136: The Blood-Stained Twin Sabers!

"What is this!" the madman looked with curiosity at the young girl glowing with blue light in his hands. He did not care about the power she displayed, yet he was also curious about what abilities the magicians of this world possessed.

"Father!" shouted the young girl at the top of her lungs, the weapon in her hands radiating an eerie glow. As she pulled the trigger, a silver-white beam shot forward.

"Did it work?" Simply reinforcing the weapon had exhausted all her strength, and Shiko could not help but lean against Ryoko's chest.

"Hehe! Not bad, a very entertaining little show!" The sneering man reappeared once the light faded, though this time he looked different from before, with his body flickering continuously like scales. "A fine attack. If I hadn't activated my armor, I might actually have been injured. But do you still have the mana to attack again?" With the demeanor of a cat toying with a mouse, he stepped forward toward them.

"I'm eighty percent sure she doesn't, but what of it?" A voice suddenly rang out.

"Who?" He had barely turned his head when a long sword, or rather a long sabre tinged with a green glow, came flying straight at his face.

"Your blood has already seduced my dual blades." Along with the voice, the newcomer appeared, though the first thing seen was a poisoned sabre.

"Bastard!" There was no time to dodge now; he hurriedly activated his shield, and then the fish-scale-like substance appeared once more.

Lancer muttered a curse. Although a clean slash was impossible, the opponent had been forced into a hasty defense, and a heavy blow still managed to contact the target's body.

"Bang!" When Lancer had approached, he had already seen the girl curled up behind Ryoko. He still remembered the smiling face when she had "fed" him at noon, but now she had fainted with a look of terror.

Driven by Lancer's resentment-fueled strike, the opponent crashed directly into the teaching building.

"Who the hell are you!" Roaring, a man wearing a silver-white coat burst out from the rubble and slammed a vicious punch toward Lancer.

"You piece of trash don't deserve to know my name!" Lancer's right hand, which had been gripping the dual blades, suddenly loosened. His left hand holding the sabre bypassed the opponent's counterattack and directly snatched up the other weapon that had just been thrown over.

"You scum, go repent in the underworld!" What Lancer despised most were people like this. In his view, a person's strength was meant to protect others—once to protect his country, later to guard that girl's dream, and still later to protect other players. He had never relied on his own power to bully others, for such behavior was beneath contempt.

Having been bypassed, the opponent immediately launched a counterattack. Using the momentum from the previous assault to spin around, he delivered a vicious elbow strike to Lancer using his left hand, which had just been resting at his waist.

"Go to hell!" Lancer had no desire to waste words. He crossed his dual blades to block the counterattack and immediately executed a cross-slash, though as expected, it was once again blocked by that suit of armor.

"Haha! You bastard can't break the defense of the Armed Alchemist at all!" The madman, completely unaware of Lancer's true identity, laughed derisively.

"So that's how it is." Lancer recalled this item. It was something he had seen a long time ago, but prompted by the opponent, he remembered it now. This thing was probably, aside from the protagonist's assault rifle and practically cheat-like robot, the most powerful single-combat gear in that anime series. It could attack, defend, and even bind. However, knowing what the opponent's equipment actually was gave him more confidence, for mysterious things were always the most terrifying.

"It seems I've been underestimated by a piece of trash like you!"

"The blood on my hands is already boiling!" Lancer's two Tang sabres were his true Noble Phantasms. As time passed, even though his offensive style wasn't exceptionally refined, he had grown accustomed to using them, and through Lancer's prayers, these weapons had become genuine Noble Phantasms. Their release, however, was quite troublesome.

The first release merely increased their sharpness with no intuitive visual change, but this layer of release served only to secure a single condition—the opponent's blood.

Only upon obtaining the opponent's blood did the true awakening occur, revealing the weapon's genuine form.

"The bloodthirsty blades, seduced by the enemy's blood, shall drink deeply of the enemy's blood once more!"

The long sabres, already stained crimson with blood, were now surrounded by eerie, floating droplets of blood. These droplets slowly converged, dancing around Lancer like ribbons of colored silk.

"Putting on a mysterious act, are you?" At this point, the madman had guessed the enemy's identity. Enhancing weapons through special incantations or awakening other items was the hallmark of the most distinctive group in the Type-Moon world—Heroic Spirits.

"Who knows whether this is good luck or bad luck today." Muttering to himself, he heightened his vigilance, tightening nerves that were already strung to their limit.

"Become the stepping stone to my success!" With a roar, he charged straight at Lancer. Their mission this time was precisely to defeat all Heroic Spirits and seize the Black Grail. Defeating each Heroic Spirit granted a substantial amount of experience, and even more for solo combat, which thoroughly stirred up his ferocity.

"Let me test whether you lot are really that powerful!" Roaring loudly, he reinforced the armor on his body once again.

The two engaged in fierce combat once more, but it was obvious that after Lancer's Noble Phantasm awakened, the madman was pushed onto the defensive.

"Damn it! What kind of Noble Phantasm is this!" he roared like a wounded lion. Although he appeared uninjured after each defense, he could feel the areas of impact gradually slipping out of his control. Blood from the bruised areas began to well up and pour out uncontrollably.

"As a Heroic Spirit, to use such despicable methods!" With nowhere to vent the grievance in his heart, he yelled at Lancer.

"Pardon me, but my class is—" Ignoring him, Lancer slashed toward the opponent's chest once more.

"You skulking rat! Bastard!" Driven nearly mad by the torment, he shouted obscenities without restraint.

"Clang!" Yet at that moment, an accident occurred. As the two clashed, a red light suddenly appeared at the spot where Rin was located.

"This is..." Both Rin, who stood nearby, and the two combatants locked in battle froze for a moment.