"Now you're all done for!" Jounouchi laughed loudly as he looked at the severely weakened Servants surrounding him.
"Whoosh!"
"Bang!"
But just as he was laughing, a flying sword pierced through Time Wizard, shattering it to pieces.
"Huh?" Jounouchi snapped back to attention and saw Gilgamesh glaring at him from a nearby rooftop.
"You lowly worm! How dare you!" Gilgamesh seethed, clutching his wound. His eyes were blazing with fury, and his twisted expression made him look terrifying.
"You're still standing?!" Jounouchi was shocked. Saber, Assassin, and Rider were all on the ground, barely able to move, yet this flashy golden guy was still on his feet. Jounouchi couldn't understand it.
"I won't let you interfere any longer!"
Behind Gilgamesh, countless portals opened, filled with the glimmer of gold as if preparing to unleash a barrage. Gilgamesh was ready to turn Jounouchi into a pincushion.
"Hmph! Your weird attacks don't scare me!" Jounouchi quickly reached for one of the face-down cards on his duel disk and flipped it over with a confident grin.
In that instant, all of Gilgamesh's portals vanished.
"What?!"
Unable to summon any more weapons from his treasury, Gilgamesh, for the first time, felt completely bewildered.
"Heh, you guys are all relying on those fancy Noble Phantasms and skills to fight, right? Well, if I just seal those, you're finished!" Jounouchi smirked, rubbing his nose proudly.
Skill Drain—a powerful Trap Card that, when activated with sufficient magic, could negate the effects of all Noble Phantasms and skills. Whether it was Gilgamesh's **Gate of Babylon** or the healing effects of Saber's Avalon, everything had been rendered useless.
Even worse, Saber and Kenshin could feel their Instinct and Mind's Eye abilities fading, leaving them vulnerable. Without their Noble Phantasms, they couldn't even fight properly, let alone in their injured state.
'Although I can't use new spells or traps during this time,' Jounouchi thought to himself, 'but with it active, I'm not worried.'
Of course, this Trap Card came with a drawback—Jounouchi's own abilities were also sealed. For now, he could only rely on summoning monsters.
But as he glanced at the black dragon hovering overhead, a wave of reassurance washed over him.
Red-Eyes Black Dragon—his strongest card at the moment. There was nothing more reliable in his hand.
"Alright, let's do this!" Jounouchi slapped the card onto his duel disk, his voice deep with determination.
"Roar!!"
The enormous black dragon soared into the sky, much larger than Jounouchi had expected.
"Huh?"
"Was Red-Eyes Black Dragon always this big?"
He looked up at the dragon, which seemed to have grown to an enormous size, covering nearly a fifth of Fuyuki City.
If it weren't nighttime, the citizens of the city would have been thrown into panic at the sight of such a colossal beast.
"He summoned a dragon?" Saber, barely able to rise to a crouch, stared in shock at the enormous black dragon.
"Hah…"
Kenshin, still heavily injured without the aid of **Avalon**, opened his eyes to gaze up at the dragon that nearly blotted out the sky. He felt utterly powerless.
To think that such a creature from ancient legends had been summoned so effortlessly—what kind of incredible mage had Caster been during his lifetime?
"Ahh! A dragon!!" Waver screamed, collapsing to the ground, his legs trembling in fear. Lelouch, meanwhile, clutched his chest, grimacing in pain.
'I really underestimated him,' Lelouch thought, watching the massive dragon. 'Caster's combat prowess is far more terrifying than I imagined.'
First, the little creature had nearly wiped out all the Servants with one attack. Then Caster had sealed everyone's abilities and summoned this gigantic dragon.
'This level of power is on par with Berserker and Archer.'
His meticulous planning felt laughably insignificant in comparison.
Unbidden, memories of past failures resurfaced—moments when he thought victory was assured, only for Suzaku to tear through his plans with brute force.
"Hmph. Do you think you can humiliate me again and again?" Gilgamesh growled, locking his gaze on the black dragon. "Berserker, let's call our battle off for now."
Gilgamesh's attention was focused entirely on the dragon above. Having lived through countless fantastical experiences, he wouldn't be intimidated by a mere dragon.
"Clang, clang."
Berserker, encased in black armor, removed his helmet, revealing his mature face. He, too, looked skyward at the dragon. If that thing launched an attack, it would spell disaster.
And thanks to Caster, Berserker's ability to switch classes was also sealed. Currently in his Saberclass, he gripped a massive golden sword—perfect for facing off against the dragon.
"Jounouchi…" Kyoko Sakura, lying on the ground, weakly called out to him.
"You can rest a bit longer. I'm running on empty, too," Jounouchi replied, standing tall.
Summoning Red-Eyes Black Dragon had drained the last of his available magic. Meanwhile, Kyoko needed magic to recover, so this was their final stand.
He glanced at the far-right card on his duel disk—Skill Drain—and felt a sense of relief. As long as their enemies' skills and Noble Phantasms were sealed, their combat effectiveness was severely limited.
"Hah…"
"Assassin, can you still move?" Saber asked, her eyes on Kenshin, who was still lying on the ground.
"I can move… barely. Thanks to the earlier healing," Kenshin replied, his voice strained.
Without the protection of Avalon, he would have been far worse off.
"So… it was my scabbard you had after all." Saber's suspicions were confirmed. When she had instinctively moved closer to Kenshin earlier, it wasn't a coincidence—her Instinct had detected the presence of Avalon.
Now, everything made sense. Kenshin must have acquired the scabbard when Irisviel had been kidnapped. Kiritsugu had given it to her for protection, but she had fallen victim to the enemy's ambush.
'I misjudged Kiritsugu…' Saber thought, understanding now that he had given his most valuable protective artifact to Irisviel, proving how much he cared about her.
"Right now, none of us—whether it's you, me, or Rider—can fight the way we normally would," Saber continued. "Berserker and Archer may be able to hold off the black dragon, but with the magic Caster is using and their injuries, they won't last long without their Noble Phantasms."
She glanced at the two Servants already engaged in combat with the dragon and spoke with calm resolve.
"So, what do you want me to do?" Kenshin asked, panting heavily.
"I have a way to destroy the black dragon in one strike," Saber said. "But Caster's magic is a problem. I need you to help me, Assassin."
"The only one fast enough to get to Caster before he can react is you."
"You really know how to push people, Saber," Kenshin replied, managing a faint smile. "But I suppose we don't have much of a choice."