Chapter Eighty-Nine: The Demonic Chaos Unleashed in the City

A guttural howl rose ahead of them. The convoy was only partway there and had not yet linked up with the second unit when chaotic noises broke out in front; faintly, one could also hear the shrieks of demonic monsters and the crack of gunfire.

“Squad leader,” Fu Jian, who was driving, became grave at once. The vehicle did not slow, but the way his hands gripped the wheel showed how taut his muscles had become.

“It’s fine. Keep going. Looks like the evil gods who slipped into the city are more than the ones we saw before.” Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s expression likewise grew solemn. Though the monsters’ howls were somewhat indistinct from this distance, she had seen enough of them not to mistake it. Something had certainly gone wrong up ahead, and any demonic creatures appearing in the city could only have been summoned by the evil gods that had infiltrated it.

Rat-a-tat-tat, the chattering of guns rose. “Demons, go to hell!”

“Captain, Captain, this is Vanguard Platoon One Zero Nine. We’ve encountered demonic monsters. The transport vehicle has been blocked. Requesting support, requesting support!”

“It’s over, the road is completely blocked. What do we do, Platoon Leader?”

As the vehicle drew nearer without slowing, a clamor of voices reached them in every direction: the roar of weapons, radio calls, and the commands of combat personnel all poured into the cabin.

“Hah. Looks like it’s my turn to step in. I knew demons commanded by evil gods wouldn’t just keep charging straight ahead like fools. Lao Fu, no need to slow down. Drive straight through. I’ll handle these trash.”

Exhaling softly, feeling the far more abundant divine power within her than before, Zhuang Xiaoyuan patted Fu Jian’s shoulder to reassure him, told him not to slow down, then opened the door and climbed up from it onto the roof.

“Since the vanguard unit probably can’t finish this quickly, and supplies and the wounded can’t be delayed, let me give you a hand.” A card bearing an illustrated figure materialized in Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s right hand.

“Squad leader, what are you doing? It’s dangerous to stand on the roof while the car is moving!” Just as she took out the transformation card, Lü Xiaowei’s chatter came from behind her. The words were clearly meant in concern, but could you not treat me like a child? I am your squad leader, for heaven’s sake.

“Stop talking nonsense and stay put,” Zhuang Xiaoyuan snapped, turning to glare at Lü Xiaowei in the back of the truck, who could see her through the translucent front opening specially made for that purpose. She raised the card high. “Divine Armament, divine descent transformation.”

Golden light flashed once more. When it faded, the figure standing on the roof was no longer Zhuang Xiaoyuan, but a dusky-skinned girl with long silver-white hair and a red, revealing combat suit: the sword-forging maiden known as Chloe von Einzbern.

Chloe von Einzbern came from the world of Magical Girl Lyrical Illya, sharing the same cosmology as Fate and Tsukihime. She was a new individual born from the class card, derived from the personality Ilyasviel possessed before her sealing, back when she was the Holy Grail’s vessel. Bound to the Archer class card of Heroic Spirit Emiya, she could use all of Emiya’s abilities.

As one who had obtained the full capabilities of a Heroic Spirit, Chloe could easily wield Emiya’s unique projection magic and his various combat techniques. Naturally, as an Archer, her greatest specialty was long-range archery.

Some time ago, when she had been able to recover broken appliances and, after repairing them, resell them to secondhand electronics markets, that had been thanks to Chloe’s projection ability, directly projecting the damaged parts of the appliances and replacing them to achieve the repair.

“Squad leader transformed? The squad leader actually became a divine-armored warrior!” In the rear cargo bed, Lü Xiaowei and Yang Xiayu, who had witnessed Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s divine descent transformation with their own eyes, both widened their eyes in shock. Though they had only trained and spent time with the squad leader for a period of months when the ordinary class first formed, they had never realized that she was a divine-armored warrior.

“Projection. Caladbolg.” Her transformation complete, Zhuang Xiaoyuan no longer paid attention to the startled people behind her and began projecting immediately. Red light blossomed in both palms; in Chloe’s form, a very ordinary black longbow appeared in her left hand, and in her right, a black, broad-bladed short sword.

“Arrow alteration.” The moment the short sword appeared, it was stretched and narrowed within the red light, becoming a peculiar black arrow bristling with barbs.

Standing steadily atop the truck, unaffected by the occasional jolt, Zhuang Xiaoyuan raised the longbow with her left hand and placed the black arrow against the string, drawing it to a full moon.

They were still a fair distance from the battlefield. Though the chaotic sounds of fighting could be heard over there, human eyes could not yet make out the situation clearly. But in Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s vision, the demons were crystal clear. The eagle eye of Heroic Spirit Emiya as an Archer had undoubtedly been inherited by Chloe, and under that eagle eye, the demons in the distance were as plain as if they were right before her.

Soundlessly, the drawn bowstring was released. The black arrow turned into black light, vanishing from Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s hand, and in the next instant pierced the shell of a marquis-class demon and sank into its body.

“Phantasm Break.” Her right hand, now empty, clenched hard into a fist. As the ability known as Phantasm Break was unleashed, the black arrow of Caladbolg embedded in the marquis-class demon’s body suddenly exploded, erupting with terrifying force. The violent blast did not merely blow the marquis-class demon to pieces; it also engulfed several soldier-class demons nearby, along with lower and middle-ranked evil gods beside them, shattering their cores and souls.

“Projection. Caladbolg.”

Without bothering to look again at her target, Zhuang Xiaoyuan projected the same black arrow anew with her right hand and set it against the bowstring. The demons summoned by the evil gods were numerous, all blocking the road and fighting the warriors of the transport and vanguard groups.

Fortunately, all of them were only marquis-class and soldier-class demons. There were no chariot-class demons. That was why Zhuang Xiaoyuan chose to project Caladbolg, which consumed relatively little power. Caladbolg was not highly ranked among noble phantasms, nor especially famous, and its destructive power was not particularly great either. It had only one ability: so long as the archer survived, no matter how many times it was shot down, it would continue pursuing its target until the target was finally killed.

Compared with Excalibur, which could topple a fortress in a single strike, Gae Bolg, which inverted causality, and Excalibur Galatine, which bore the thunder of the heavens, Caladbolg’s consumption was exceedingly small. And though its attack power was not high, when combined with Chloe’s Phantasm Break, which directly destroyed noble phantasms to create an explosion, it was more than sufficient for dealing with marquis-class and soldier-class demons.

Arrow after arrow flew from Caladbolg, and the demons blocking the road were swiftly cleared out. By the time the truck beneath Zhuang Xiaoyuan, driven by Fu Jian, passed through the stretch where the battle had begun, only two or three soldier-class demons remained, still shouting and posturing. Such petty trash was more than enough for the warriors of the vanguard regiment to handle.