[FMMISM] Chapter 55: Battle of Two Sisters

"Please step back, Iri."

Sensing something was off with Irisviel, Artoria stepped forward to shield her, raising her holy lance, Rhongomyniad.

"Thanks for your care the other day, Morgan's Servant. You should be aware of the disgrace you've brought upon a married woman."

Upon hearing Artoria's words and feeling the overwhelming aura she directed at him, Ragna furrowed his brow slightly.

"Lancer, if you're going to interfere with me and Iri, then I'll have to defeat you here."

"Try if you can."

With eyes like shimmering emeralds, Artoria tightened her grip on the holy lance.

"Assassin, don't make a move." Morgan suddenly chimed in.

Of course, calling Ragna 'Assassin' was just a ploy to mislead their opponents.

"Meh~"

Ragna, with a shrug and his hands clasped behind his head, adopted a nonchalant attitude and began to watch the show.

"..."

Morgan stood ten meters in front of her sister, confronting her directly.

At this moment, the aura they radiated seemed to isolate the surroundings.

Clearly, this was a continuation of the sisterly conflict that began 1500 years ago, and there was no room for a third party to intervene in this conflict.

Artoria, holding the holy lance, was the first to move.

BOOM!

Her feet sank into the soil as her body shot forward.

With a graceful stride like a meteor across the ground, she streaked through the forest in the deep night.

'So fast!' Irisviel clenched her fists nervously.

Artoria's acceleration from 'Mana Burst' which closed the distance of several meters in an instant was truly breathtaking. 

Whoosh!

Without a pause, Artoria thrust her lance with incredible speed toward Morgan's chest, and yet, the lightning-fast holy lance merely grazed past the witch's smooth, pale skin.

In the face of this lightning-fast attack, Morgan simply turned her shoulder gracefully, effortlessly evading the strike.

Whoosh!

A gust of wind swept across the ground as the witch's body floated into the air. With the bright full moon as her backdrop, she calmly gazed down at her sister.

'I see...' Ragna, the first to sense something, had a wicked smile on his face. 'Morgan didn't actually dodge it... she made sure it didn't hit.'

"…Hmph."

Artoria wasn't too surprised by her failed attack and calmly looked into Morgan's eyes.

Apparently, the blue eyes Morgan had, at some point, turned crimson red.

"That is… Mystic Eyes..."

Irisviel, standing far behind Artoria, bit her lip nervously as she gazed at Morgan's eyes.

Mystic Eyes were magical eyes possessed by mages or legendary figures, used for various magecrafts.

There were many types of Mystic Eyes like Binding, Enchantment, Compulsion, Contract, Flame, Illusion, Charm, and so on.

Morgan possessed one of the most common and ordinary types of Mystic Eyes—Mystic Eyes of Enchantment.

Typically, Mystic Eyes of Enchantment could bind or block the target's actions and could be easily resisted by a Servant skill called 'Magic Resistance'.

However, Morgan clearly had somehow refined hers to a level equivalent to the Noble Color.

By completely abandoning the functional aspect of Mystic Eyes and focusing solely on maximizing their power, these strongest Mystic Eyes of Enchantment could even break through Artoria's Magic Resistance.

Needless to say, the previous attack by Artoria had been interfered with by the Mystic Eyes, causing her to unconsciously divert the trajectory of the holy lance that should have pierced Morgan's heart.

Moreover, since it was the most common type of 'Enchantment', even Artoria, who was affected, couldn't detect it until she saw Morgan's eyes.

In the next moment, floating in midair, Morgan raised her left hand to eye level.

Soon, a massive, rapidly spinning blue magic circle appeared a few inches before her palm, the surging magical energy emanated from it shook the atmosphere.

Originally, this was a Greater Magecraft that was comparable to a Greater Ritual, typically requiring ten mages to perform it continuously to activate. However, Morgan not only performed it alone but also chanted an entire incantation by herself.

After several seconds, her 'High-Speed Incantation' finally completed the magic circle with a thunderous roar.

As the blue lake light illuminated the quiet night and filled the entire forest with magical energy, a roaring beam of light surged from the magic circle straight toward Artoria.

"Huu..."

Artoria tilted her head slightly back and took a deep breath.

Her towering chest, filled with air, appeared even more voluptuous as her 'Dragon Magic Core' worked intensely.

She slowly raised her holy lance, aiming it straight at the incoming beam of light.

With her emerald eyes half-closed, Artoria soon murmured.

"...Strike Air."

As magical energy gathered and swirled at the tip of the holy lance, it accelerated to its maximum speed in an instant before bursting forth in a unified blast.

BOOOOM!

In the next second, the clash of blue light and storm, two almighty forces, collided fiercely.

However, it was evident that brute force had overwhelmed Mystery in this collision.

In just a moment, Rhongomyniad's Strike Air easily shattered Morgan's Greater Magecraft.

Not only did the spiraling air currents cut through wind and air, but they also cut through space and the beam of light as well, advancing relentlessly.

"Hmph…"

Facing the storm continuing to shoot at her, Morgan quickly raised her other hand.

BOOM!

A red barrier in the shape of an eyeball appeared in the void, intercepting the storm from the holy lance.

"I see... I guess it really is impossible to damage you with 'ordinary' magecraft, huh?" Morgan muttered.

With that, the initial confrontation came to a temporary halt.

While the elder sister was neither discouraged nor anxious, the younger sister was neither proud nor relaxed.

Both of them wore a knowing smile as they were immersed in battle.

"You're aiming too high, Elder Sister. I'll make sure you return to the ground with the next strike."

Artoria's mouth curled into a contemptuous smile, while Morgan squinted her blue eyes in response.

"Seems like you've become quite the chatterbox, Arthur. Maybe if you kneel before me now, I might spare you?"

After mocking each other, the atmosphere of cold hostility gradually reached a boiling point.

As the figures of the two sisters were enveloped in white light, and the magical energy currents released by the fairy and the red dragon overwhelmed everything, suddenly—

BANG!

A gunshot in the dead of night startled the birds in the forest and made Morgan and Artoria stop their actions.

"?!"

In haste, the three people present turned their heads simultaneously toward the gunshot's final impact point.

"UGH!"

Letting out a growl, the black-haired boy who observed the fight fell forward.

Thud!

With a muffled sound, the grotesque corpse of the boy sprawled on the ground.

Evidently, an anti-material rifle bullet had blasted a large hole in his chest, tearing apart his internal organs and bones.

Ragna lay in a pool of blood, his left hand reaching out stubbornly toward the front.

While he was focused on Morgan and Artoria's sisterly battle, a hunter hiding in the forest had just shot him.

"...Wh-What?"

Irisviel and Artoria were speechless as they stared at the bloody scene. With their eyes wide open and mouths agape, their most direct emotion was neither shock nor joy—it was a shudder.

Both of them saw very clearly that, the moment the black-haired boy fell, he was actually smiling—smiling happily.

'...Emiya Kiritsugu, found you...'