Angelica von Einzbern, captain of the Einzbern family's battle maid squad and the first guard of their patriarch Acht, descended through the hole in the ceiling, swinging her great sword towards Shinji Matou's back.
With a Servant-level strength, combined with a weapon forged using special alchemy and the energy from the altitude, she could cleave through even the armor of a main battle tank with a single strike, assuming a direct hit.
However, the Shinji below wasn't an armor plate, nor would he stand still to be hacked. In the split second before the sword could land, Shinji pushed off the ground with one foot, shifting his body slightly to the side while extending his arms.
Angelica, mid-air, noticed his strange movement but had no idea—or perhaps no time—to consider what this enemy was trying to do. After all, she had put all her strength into this strike.
The answer came shortly.
This seemingly fragile young man caught hold of her wrist and shoulder just before the sword reached its peak momentum, skillfully shifting his center of gravity, transforming the downward strike into a forward thrust.
At that moment, two of Acht's maid guards rushed up, only to be struck by Angelica, who was sent flying sideways, causing all three to tumble to the ground.
"Leysritt!" someone shouted.
"I'm fine, Sella," the homunculus who had fallen to the ground responded.
Great, two more familiar faces—maids who had served under Illya in the original timeline.
In a sense, they were outliers among homunculi like Illya and Irisviel, though to a lesser extent. Acht had deemed them defective products and had no qualms about using them recklessly.
"You two, along with Angelica, stop this magus. The rest of you, escort me out."
"Yes!"
The homunculi responded in unison, creating a bizarrely spectacular scene.
"Think you can escape? —Kazikli Bey!"
With the true name release of Vlad III's Noble Phantasm, dense, crisscrossed stakes extended from the floor, walls, and ceiling, sealing off the entire corridor where Acht stood, including the hole Shinji, Angelica, and the homunculi had entered through.
The homunculi, whose retreat was blocked, swung their axes and spears in a flurry, trying to crush the stakes. However, just as they broke a small hole, new stakes formed, sealing the gap even tighter.
Meanwhile, Shinji who had created this terrifying cage subdued two of the battle maids who lunged at him. Pressing them against the wall like prisoners bound to the stake, he locked their necks, waists, and limbs with crisscrossing stakes.
His overwhelming strength was so terrifying that even the most loyal of the homunculi felt a primal fear.
"You have two choices now. First, surrender, sever your contracts with your Servants, and hand over the Lesser Grail and the remaining Command Seals. Second, I'll defeat you all and take them myself. Choose: will you do it, or shall I?"
"You... know about the Lesser Grail? Who are you?"
Acht clutched the box in his hands tighter, his voice trembling.
"I don't mind telling you. Frankly, you should have known ten years ago." Shinji released the two homunculi he had pinned, speaking with a commanding tone. "Shinji Matou, an old friend of Kiritsugu Emiya and Irisviel. I'm the one who got Kiritsugu to blow up the Grail, and I'm the one who stole Illya from the pile of corpses! If you want revenge, you shouldn't go after them. It was me who destroyed your plans single-handedly!"
"Matou... Matou... Shinji!!!"
Acht stared intensely at the young man in front of him, as if trying to etch both his face and name into memory.
"Why? Why would you do something like this?"
"Because you Einzberns were wrong from the start. And because you, Acht, are a complete fool!"
With age and experience, Shinji rarely used such harsh language to describe someone. But seeing Acht's old face and thinking of the fates of so many others, he couldn't hold back.
Most people in the world would find it hard to remain calm after such an insult, but homunculi were different. Acht merely responded with a slightly agitated tone: "The Einzbern mission is absolute and cannot be defiled."
"As expected, there's no way to communicate with you people," Shinji sighed.
To be honest, he had hoped the homunculi would get angry. That would have been a good sign. Unfortunately, aside from the ones considered defective like Sella and Leysritt, the others were even colder than Acht.
"I'll say it one last time: surrender and hand over the Lesser Grail, or don't blame me for what comes next."
"Impossible! Everyone, kill him!"
At Acht's command, all the homunculi who had been intimidated by Shinji moved into action.
Some charged at his face with spears, others snuck up behind with daggers, some cast spells for support, and others drew bows for long-range attacks. Over ten maids were present, each with a distinct role, their movements perfectly coordinated.
"Oh? Do you even understand teamwork and coordination? A group battle? Even though Kiritsugu is gone, his tactical ideas have persisted and have developed quite well. I must say, Acht, you aren't entirely useless."
Surrounded from all sides—near and far, left and right, front and back—Shinji began with a word of praise before quickly changing his tone.
"Too bad, though. Your two-hundred-year-old, rusted brain is too rigid. You've opened the door to the treasury but only grabbed a handful of sand at the entrance, completely missing the real treasures. This level of opposition doesn't even warrant me taking you seriously."
As he spoke, small points of light appeared in the dim, stake-filled space—golden, flickering, fragmented lightning—Indra's Noble Phantasm variant: Divine Lightning Barrier!
The homunculi of the Einzbern family, biologically similar to humans, reacted the same when struck by the electric current.
They trembled, paralyzed, their tightly knit formation falling apart instantly.
Though it lasted only a brief moment, it was more than enough time for Shinji to act.
He grabbed a spear, and swept it horizontally, knocking down the approaching homunculi. Simultaneously, he manipulated Kazikli Bey to construct a cage no higher than fifty centimeters, tightly sealing off their movements.
Making a threatening gesture, he created pit traps in the ground as the long-range attackers moved, trapping them underground.
By the time the Divine Lightning Barrier effect dissipated, the only ones left standing in the corridor were Acht, who had been hiding in the back, and the barely recovering Angelica and Leysritt, who had been knocked down earlier.
"Still want to fight?"
Shinji asked, stepping towards the two.