Though somewhat hesitant, Rider of Black rode his hippogriff towards the Hanging Gardens. The only one who could fly through the sky among the Black camp was himself, so first he should restrain that thing. That was the conclusion he came to after straining his non-existent wisdom.
However, he had one concern. He had summoned the hippogriff and was simply using it as a mount. At this level, its prana consumption wasn't that much. A single homunculus was enough to cover the cost. The problem was if he recited its true name and displayed its full power.
Its prana consumption then would equal that of unleashing the full power of an A rank Noble Phantasm. Moreover, the prana consumption wouldn't decrease after firing it once. It was a Noble Phantasm with an exceedingly bad fuel consumption that would continue expending prana non-stop as long as he continued to keep the hippogriff deployed.
...In his mind, he recalled the homunculi who were being sucked dry of prana without their consent. He remembered Sieg's extremely feeble plea.
After wavering over it for a short while, Rider of Black decided to seal away the use of his Noble Phantasm's true name. After all, right now, he didn't want to use it. So he had no choice but to choose an alternative option where he didn't need to use it.
Yes, he truly was a fool. What a foolish thought. And weak as well. He should unleash his Noble Phantasm's true name without minding the homunculi who served as prana batteries. Even Sieg wouldn't condemn Rider for it. He wouldn't ask that much of a Servant who was summoned in order to fight and win.
But Astolfo was that kind of Heroic Spirit. Since he didn't want to do it, he wouldn't do it no matter what anyone said.
"...All right, let's go!"
In front of the floating fortress, Rider lightly clapped the nape of the hippogriff's neck with his usual carefree manner. The hippogriff responded with a shrill bird-like cry and strongly flapped its wings. And so it flew forward—with particles of light flowing out from the wings along with a raging wind and lighting up the air, like countless fireflies, before disappearing immediately after.
Rider flew towards the Hanging Gardens... Though naturally, the mistress of the floating fortress wouldn't allow his thoughtless actions.
"—Hoh, it seems the other camp's Rider also has a mount that can fly across the heavens. In that case, these ones I've prepared won't go to waste then."
The only remaining person within the floating fortress—the Hanging Gardens of Babylon—Assassin of Red, smiled faintly and released 'them' into the sky.
"Go, ugly winged ones. Fly and devour the enemy to your hearts' content."
Along with those words, countless big humanoid [things] flew off from the gardens all at once.
Rider flew across the sky over the battlefield. He saw that the second powerful clash between the two armies had already begun. Dragon Tooth Warriors, homunculi and golems. Additionally, the other Servants were clashing with each other and fighting life-or-death struggles.
"All right. I have to work hard too...!"
As Rider renewed his fighting spirit, monsters appeared and swooped down to attack him with good timing. Their upper halves were the same as the Dragon Tooth Warriors, but these had wings sprouting from their back and their lower halves were clearly bird-like.
"Harpies...? No, modified versions combined with Dragon Tooth Warriors?"
Harpies, avarice-filled flying beasts, were creatures that couldn't help being easily led astray by their appetite, possessing cruel habits and a cowardly nature that made them unsuitable as soldiers. But Assassin of Red had fused them with Dragon Tooth Warriors. Rather than Dragon Tooth Warriors, perhaps it would be more appropriate to call these Dragon Wing Warriors. Either way, considering they were named after 'dragons', they were very thin and ugly-looking soldiers.
