Archer of Red—Atalanta—nocked two arrows on her favorite bow, Tauropolos. She aimed not at the ground far below, but at the night sky which shined in the faint moonlight.
A chilly and dry late-autumn wind shook her hair, and her animal ears twitched.
It was time.
"With my bow and arrows, I respectfully ask for the divine protection of the sun god Apollo and the moon goddess Artemis."
The arrows started to shine bewitchingly. Her Noble Phantasm wasn't her bow, nor the arrows shot by her bow. Those were both merely the catalysts for it. Her Noble Phantasm was the technique itself of nocking and shooting arrows with her bow.
"I offer thee this calamity—Phoebus Catastrophe: Complaint Message on the Arrow!"
The two arrows she shot towards the sky pierced through the clouds and disappeared from sight, leaving a glittering trail behind them. This was the starting signal to begin fighting, the first shot.
...Those arrows were a complaint to the gods. The sun god Apollo and the moon goddess Artemis. They were gods deeply connected to the sun and moon respectively. Apollo was the god of the bow and arrow, and Artemis was the goddess of the hunt.
In compensation for Archer requesting divine protection from them, they sought a calamity. In other words, their divine protection equated to—a calamity for the enemy.
A faint light filled the night sky, along with a quiet sound like falling rain. But it wasn't something as simple as a blessed rain. The malevolent gods sought a sacrifice, and scattered a torrential rain under the name of catastrophe.
Arrows of light rained down incessantly from the sky and homunculi were pierced and killed by the arrows one after another. Even the strong and sturdy golems had their bodies smashed apart one after another by the countless arrows. The Black Servant naturally evaded, blocked and repelled the arrows, but their battle line still fell into disorder.
Watching that dreary scene with an extremely cool expression, Archer of Red looked over her shoulder and spoke.
"—With this, the opening move is over. Time to switch, Rider."
"Yeah!"
Rider struck his knees and ran out with an extremely happy expression, jumping off from the Hanging Gardens. He whistled, and a chariot with three steeds appeared tearing through the sky and scooped up the falling Rider.
He grasped the reins in the driver's stand and whipped them once. The neighs of the strong-muscled horses roared through the sky above the battlefield.
"Now then, the battle is starting! I, Rider of Red, shall cut through the enemy vanguard!"
Saying so, Rider descended his chariot towards the ground below. Homunculi and golems stood in his path. But both the battle-specialized homunculi and the over one-ton golems pulverized in the path of the immortal divine horses gifted to him by the sea god Poseidon.
The huge chariot was as fast as a bullet and scraped off the ground where it passed. Rider of Red's chariot trampled the battlefield just by riding it.
"Come out, Archer of Black! Show us your power! If you think you can stop this chariot of mine, just try it!"
The ones who answered his provocations weren't any Servants, but golems.
Three golems stepped in front of the fiercely galloping chariot. Clicking his tongue, Rider of Red chose to run them over as if it were natural.
"Out of my way, small fry!"
