You call this a projection?

In fact, Emiya Shirou’s guess was not wrong.

The moment Gilgamesh was teleported back to the Fuyuki Church via Command Spell, the first words out of his mouth were: ”To think this King was actually... by a mere mongrel!?”

Only after the initial shock did he regain enough composure to reach into the [Gate of Babylon], pulling out a restorative potion to treat the lethal wound in his chest.

Even so, Gilgamesh looked utterly unable to accept what had happened. It was an even greater blow to his pride than in the original story when he lost to Emiya Shirou and was forced to admit the boy’s strength.

After all, if he fought the original Shirou again, Gilgamesh would have 100% confidence in killing him, even if Shirou deployed [Unlimited Blade Works].

But against Bazett and her [Fragarach]... if he were to do it again, what could he possibly change?

Faced with a Noble Phantasm that must trigger whenever he uses his own, and which reverses time to strike him before his own attack can land, could Gilgamesh choose not to use the [Gate of Babylon]? That would only result in an even more pathetic defeat. Without Kirei’s Command Spells, Gilgamesh wouldn’t even have had the chance to open the Gate to retrieve his healing potions.

Of course, a counter-strategy against [Fragarach] did exist. Kotomine Kirei had just demonstrated it to him: simply increase the distance. By attacking from outside the effective range of [Fragarach], one could naturally bypass its causality-reversing effect.

But could Gilgamesh accept such a thing? Absolutely not!

To force his proud self to admit inferiority to Bazett, to skulk away from her and attack from afar like a stray dog—it would be a miracle if Gilgamesh could stomach that!

”King of Heroes, leave Bazett to me.”

Just as Gilgamesh was locked in this internal struggle, Kotomine Kirei spoke up at the perfect moment. ”A King has a King’s duties, and a subject has a subject’s tasks.

Servant vs. Servant, Master vs. Master—such is the nature of the Holy Grail War. Leave the enemy Master to me, your Master, to handle.

Only an opponent of sufficient weight is worthy of your intervention, my King.”

Kirei spoke these words to provide Gilgamesh with a graceful exit, giving him a reason not to face Bazett and her [Fragarach]. Inwardly, however, Kirei was deeply satisfied with Gilgamesh’s defeat.

It wasn’t just the rare pleasure of seeing such a sight; the sight of Gilgamesh humiliated and cornered into a dilemma brought such joy to Kirei that he could barely suppress the twitch at the corners of his mouth.

Furthermore, after this incident, Gilgamesh wouldn’t need to be persuaded or coerced with Command Spells. He would find his own way to crush Emiya Shirou and the others to wash away the shame of having been forced to flee.

The use of a single Command Spell here was far more effective than Kirei had originally estimated, back when he thought he’d have to use them purely for forced obedience.

”Then, to prepare for the coming Great War, your servant shall take his leave to make arrangements.”

Kirei’s words were respectful, but in reality, seeing Gilgamesh’s usually arrogant expression reduced to a tight-lipped silence was almost too much for him to handle. He feared that if he didn’t leave immediately, he would burst out laughing.

Whether or not Gilgamesh realized what Kirei was thinking, he was the one who had ”raised” Kirei into this state. Now, forced by Bazett’s [Fragarach], he had no choice but to accept Kirei’s proposal.

At least this way, things wouldn’t look too ugly. Otherwise, if Gilgamesh had to face Bazett again and was forced to use the ”dishonorable” sneak-attack methods he despised just to win against a ”common” magus who wasn’t even a Servant? That would be even more disgraceful.

Yet, after Kirei withdrew, a series of curses could be heard echoing from within that room in the church—sounding remarkably like Suneo Honekawa from the national Japanese classic Doraemon.

”Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!!”

(Note: Gilgamesh’s voice actor, Tomokazu Seki, also voices Suneo.)

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Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Fuyuki City.

Emiya Shirou and his group, having fended off Gilgamesh, encountered a new situation. This time, however, it wasn’t a Servant attack. In fact, now that Berserker and Gilgamesh had both been beaten back, very few participants dared to confront Shirou’s group head-on.

Rider couldn’t do it. Caster certainly couldn’t.

But while they didn’t dare fight directly, they weren’t afraid to use magecraft to spy on them. Caster’s side, in particular, was quite bold.

Having incorporated magical energy—which, like Stand energy, originates from life—into the detection parameters of his life-detection flames, Shirou frequently sensed ”insects” tailing them.

Without a doubt, this was likely Matou Zouken looking to stir up trouble. In Zouken’s mind, he and Kotomine Kirei were the true puppet masters of this war. They both knew the actual state of the Holy Grail and had their own designs for it.

Now, Kotomine Kirei seemed to be the primary target of Shirou’s group. Among all the participants not yet drawn into the direct conflict, only the Matou family and Caster’s faction at Ryudou Temple remained.

In other words, if he were to make a move now, it would be extremely convenient. This shift in the battlefield made Matou Zouken start to feel restless.

’No matter how I look at it, the advantage is mine! Should I intervene?’

While Zouken was mulling this over based on the intel from his familiars, Emiya Shirou—who had just cleared another wave of ”bugs”—turned to Tohsaka Rin.

”Tohsaka, what do you know about Sakura?”

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