"Let's go, Lancer. Alice has already spotted me."
Having paid his respects with a perfunctory prayer for Project Hope, Li Zihan watched the girl ahead place her hand on Nursery Rhyme's cover and raised an eyebrow.
The next moment, space began to ripple.
Without hesitation, Karna dematerialized and followed.
"You've come, Mad Hatter."
The girl, who would no longer call the one who invited her to Albion "White Rabbit," sensed the fluctuations in the surrounding space and smiled faintly.
The young man, with a Servant standing behind him who could probably flatten the entire city of Fuyuki if angered, stepped out from the distortion in space.
"Are you going to surrender?"
No pleasantries, no reminiscing—his first words were a call for surrender.
Alice, who had witnessed Lancer's terrifying destructive power, began to laugh. The sudden smile from the usually stoic, "sanwu" girl held a magical charm, like winter finally giving way to the full bloom of spring.
"Do you think that's possible?"
This was a battle where their views on love were on the line. No matter how slim her chances of victory, she would fight to the very end.
"You're right, it's not very likely."
Li Zihan shrugged and said.
"But you should know, if you fight me, you have no chance of winning."
Caster Nursery Rhyme had two Noble Phantasms.
The first was "A Story for Someone's Sake," a Reality Marble that reflected the Master's heart and could shape pseudo-Servants based on what the Master dreamed of. The second was "Perpetual Engine - Maiden's Empire," which, once certain conditions were met, could create an infinite loop, much like a certain Boki's third bomb, Bites the Dust.
Both were terrifying powers, but against Karna, they were frankly outclassed.
The Rider class allowed for a much wider variety of Noble Phantasms to be carried compared to other classes.
Karna, summoned as a Lancer & Rider dual-class Servant, possessed a frightening number and quality of Noble Phantasms.
Kavacha and Kundala (A), Vijaya (A+), Solar Chariot (A+), Vimana (A+), Brahmastra (A+), and Vasavi Shakti (A++/EX). ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩·𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖·𝘯𝘦𝘵
If Li Zihan wished it, he could even use a Command Spell to have Karna try to retrieve the legendary Serpent Arrow that was said to house the Serpent King, Takshaka.
The Golden Trio were the Golden Trio for a reason. Their raw power was undeniable. Barring a few monstrous exceptions, the only way to beat Karna in a Holy Grail War was to summon a serious Gilgamesh.
(P.S.: Under normal circumstances, the Golden Trio exist in a rock-paper-scissors relationship. Gilgamesh counters the Little Sun, the Little Sun counters Ramesses II, and Ramesses II counters Gilgamesh.)
"If we were truly enemies, I would certainly lose."
"Lancer is strong, but you won't allow him to use a Noble Phantasm on the place where I am, will you?"
A faint smile touched the corners of the girl's lips.
"Taking advantage of your affection isn't a good habit, but surely I'm allowed to act spoiled with my lover just this once, right?"
"Hey, hey, hey, this is way beyond the scope of 'acting spoiled'!"
The young man sighed, feeling that if he indulged Alice as she suggested, he would definitely lose the battle.
Nursery Rhyme wasn't strong—but that was only when compared to the Little Sun going all out.
Anyone who treated Nursery Rhyme as trash would likely get beaten into trash themselves.
"There will be compensation."
Alice, who would choose to stand by the Mad Hatter's side in the end, win or lose, gave a slight, alluring smile.
Li Zihan raised an eyebrow and asked.
"The kind of compensation between lovers."
The witch, cold on the outside but with a passion that burned even hotter than Aoko's, offered a faint yet incredibly captivating smile.
"I don't really get what you're talking about, Alice, but—"
"Bullying my lover by relying on my Servant's power... something about that just doesn't sit right with me."
The young man, who had originally intended to have Karna end the fight quickly while controlling his power, drew the longsword from his waist.
The crimson blade radiated a faint, dark aura.
"From here on, it's my fight. Lancer, you just watch."
Karna looked at his Master, who seemed to have suddenly become fired up, with a hint of bewilderment on his face.
According to the plan, wasn't he supposed to be the one to blast open the bounded field with Brahmastra and knock Caster's Master unconscious?
This development... seemed a little different from what they had agreed upon.
"Understood, Master."
Although he didn't know what his Master was up to, Karna raised no objections. He simply walked behind his Master and placed a hand on his shoulder.
A Heroic Spirit's Noble Phantasm was not something only they could use.
Under the condition of having a legend of "gifting weapons to others," a Servant could transfer a Noble Phantasm to someone else.
O Sun, Become Armor (Kavacha and Kundala)
Type: Anti-Unit (Self) Noble Phantasm
This was the golden armor and earrings that Karna's mother, Kunti, terrified of becoming an unwed mother, begged the Sun God Surya to grant so that her son would not be harmed after she abandoned him.
As an existence formed from light itself, it is an armor that even the gods find difficult to destroy.
It negates all hostile interference (physical attacks, magecraft, curses, and other conceptual interference), reducing the damage Karna suffers to a mere one-tenth.
Since his Master insisted on fighting on the front lines himself, this was the only help he could offer.
Having done this, he stepped aside, watching the battlefield with his seemingly indifferent eyes.
The girl named Alice did not try to stop any of this.
The young man, now supported by Karna's Kavacha and Kundala, tightened his grip on the dark red longsword and asked the Witch of Fairytales.
"Will you make the first move, or shall I?"
"Let me take the first move, then."
The witch, knowing she would likely be knocked out and lose her ability to fight if she let Li Zihan strike first, opened the first page of her picture book.
"I'm counting on you, Nursery Rhyme."
"Nursery Rhyme is a child's song, it is the lovely picture book of Tommy Thumb. The original form of Mother Goose. I, who am sad, entrust myself to you, who are lonely. Grant my very first wish."
A voice that was like a boy's and yet a girl's echoed through the forest.
It was the hero of children—Nursery Rhyme.
As the voice rang out, the Reality Marble—A Story for Someone's Sake (Nursery Rhyme)—unfurled.
The vast forest transformed into a field, and a rabbit in a waistcoat, clutching a pocket watch, charged toward a tree stump.
A giant rabbit hole appeared beneath everyone's feet.
Witch, picture book, and magus—all of them fell into it.