As expected, once Assassin splits up, their strength drops significantly compared to an ordinary Servant. Stopping them isn't too difficult.
While feeling relieved at how little effort it took, Souta closed in on the dark figures.
He raised his hand, fingers straight like a blade, and with immense strength, stabbed into each skull-masked Assassin, crushing their hearts one by one.
With the task complete, Souta snapped his fingers—lifting the time stop.
A chorus of strangled groans rang out as the Assassins, who had been mid-attack just moments ago, collapsed onto the ground. Their bodies dissolved into flickering motes of mana.
"What... just happened?" Rin Tohsaka blinked, bewildered as she glanced around.
Why had all the Assassins attacking them suddenly dropped dead and dissolve into light.
"I told you before—it's a time-stop ability."
Souta activated his divine spark again, casting another hypnosis spell. This time, he targeted Kotomine Kirei, who had just hoisted Kotomine Risei onto his back.
Kirei stumbled and fell onto the basement steps, instantly losing consciousness.
"A time-stop...? That's such a broken ability!"
Rin groaned but quickly became curious.
"Wait a minute—if time was stopped, how did you kill them? You shouldn't have been able to move either, right?"
"This ability works based on my subjective perception. If I had to explain, it's more like energy simulating the effect of a time freeze as humans understand it."
Souta's explanation was vague.
Truthfully, he didn't fully understand the mechanics himself—he simply knew how to use it.
Maybe once he cultivated his time abilities into a divine authority, he'd gain deeper insight.
"You can move..." Rin's expression suddenly shifted. Hugging her arms protectively, she took a few steps back. "You didn't do anything weird to me while time was stopped, did you?"
"...Rin, you're worried about the wrong thing." Souta sighed, exasperated. "Even if I were going to take advantage of you, I'd go for your legs. Your, uh... modest chest doesn't interest me."
"Oh? So that's how you see me? Flat?"
Rin slowly lowered her arms, her expression completely blank. Her eyes seemed to lose their shine.
If she had a hatchet in hand, this would've been a classic murder scene.
Souta sighed. "Hey, you were the one who brought it up. Don't go making me out to be the villain here."
"Hmph. Only a scumbag would care so much about a woman's chest."
Rin snorted and turned to walk toward Kotomine Kirei.
Souta chuckled. He knew she was just trying to save face, so he didn't call her out on it. Instead, he followed along.
Kirei was still unconscious on the ground, his Command Seals clearly visible on the back of his hand.
Souta crouched down and made a swift motion with his fingers. Divine energy surged as the Command Seals transferred from Kirei's hand to his own.
"Is Assassin dead?" Rin asked.
Souta pulled out the heart he had replicated with his divine power—Illya's heart, now a new Lesser Grail.
After examining it for a moment, he remarked, "There are no new Servant souls inside. The ones who died earlier must've just been fragments of Hundred-Faced Hassan's split personalities. His ability makes him a real pain to kill completely. But... with these Command Seals, things are different."
Souta smirked mischievously. Without further delay, he brought his hand—the one now covered in Command Seals—close to his lips and issued an order:
"Assassin, by my Command Seal, I order you—kill yourself."
At that moment, in a place out of sight, the remaining Assassins—who had been gathering intelligence—each plunged their daggers into their own hearts.
Since Hundred-Faced Hassan's personalities didn't share memories, the ones outside had no idea what had happened here.
They probably died in utter confusion.
They never even understood why Kotomine Kirei had betrayed them.
...In that sense, they would have a lot to talk about with Tokiomi Tohsaka.
Souta sighed, somewhat sentimental. "Command Seals really are all-powerful when it comes to ordering Servants around. There are actually a lot of interesting ways you could use them."
Rin was intrigued. "Like what?"
"Well, for example, in the original timeline, Emiya Kiritsugu used a Command Seal to instantly teleport Saber from one place to another."
Souta shared his thought process.
"So if you timed it right—say, when a Servant was separated from their Master—you could teleport your Servant directly to the enemy Master's side and have them take them out in one strike.
"Take your dad, for instance. Gilgamesh used to wander off on his own every night. If you ordered Lancelot to teleport to your father's location, he could beat him to a pulp before leaving unharmed."
She stared at Souta, speechless. She hadn't expected him to encourage her to attack her own father.
So... Souta must really not like him.
Rin let out a small sigh.
To be honest, ever since she learned the truth about Sakura, her feelings toward her father had become complicated.
Looking back, wasn't he the root cause of everything?
If she had once been a secret daddy's girl, now... she was more like a disappointed daughter.
"What's wrong?" Souta asked, noticing her silence.
"Nothing." Rin shook her head. "Let's hypnotize Kotomine Kirei. We still have to deal with that golden guy next."
"Yeah, that's the plan."
Souta reached into his divine domain and drew out a portion of divine power, which he infused into Kirei's mind, creating an unbreakable suggestion.
To devote himself to being the best father possible—to the point where, for his daughter's sake, he'd even Defeat a Demon Lord.
Of course, Souta didn't forget to erase Kirei's twisted enjoyment of suffering.
That personality trait was nothing but a hazard. Best to snuff it out entirely.
Before long, the process was complete.
Souta put away the Lesser Grail. He could sense that another soul had been added inside.
"That's three Servants down. Just two more, and the Grail will manifest."
He felt a rising sense of anticipation.
In every Holy Grail War—whether it was the Fourth, the Fifth, or any other iteration—the wish-granting opportunity at the end always went unused.
Frankly, Souta had always found that a shame.
This time, he would make sure there was a real wish at the end.
As he was thinking this, his phone suddenly vibrated.
He and Rin exchanged a glance before both took out their phones to check the group chat.
The sender was Illya. Her message carried an unmistakable urgency.
Illya: "@Souta. Onii-chan, bad news! The golden guy is fighting us!"
"The golden guy... Gilgamesh?"
Rin stared at her phone in shock.
"Why is he fighting them?"
Souta frowned. "Could it be that your father made the first move?"