Achilles VS Chiron (Achilles)

Rider of Red took the ‘poisonous serpent’ stance with his spear. It was an effective style where he held the middle part of the handle and could use quick thrusts while warding off the enemies attacks. He aimed at the stomach of his enemy, Chiron, with that stance.

However, the attack was avoided quite naturally by the enemy screwing his body with a side step.

The enemy saw through Rider’s movements. The moment he took this stance, the enemy understood where he would aim.

—How should he respond as he pitched forward in readiness? After remaining vigilant for a counter and dodging to the left or right, the
enemy used a punch or kick. There was an 80% chance the enemy would do a roundhouse kick and attack at the same time as he twisted his torso; that was the most logical course of action. That’s why, now that he was pitching forward, the enemy would be forced to aim at his head. How should he defend himself? He could draw back his spear and thrust it again… but it wouldn’t make it in time. He could lower his head and dodge… but that would cause his stance to collapse even further.

Cut and retry.

He resolutely set up his first move by jumping and then thrusting—

Retry.

He tried to thrust after tripping his enemy up—Retry.

He swiped his spear horizontally, turned around as the attack was blocked and swiped his spear again. He aimed at the knees and thrusted downwards—No good. Retry.

“Damn it, nothing works.”

Rider of Red closed his eyes with a sigh. His palms were soaked with sweat. The back of his neck was cold, and his entire body hurt as if he’d actually been punched and kicked everywhere.

Rider was imagining a hypothetical one-on-one battle against Archer of Black in a situation where they were on a flat field without any obstacles.

In the end… he had gone over five battles, and made mistakes and lost each time. As long as he fought with the spear that Archer had
taught him how to use, all his combos were seen through. Additionally, Archer’s power of observation was practically on the level of future sight. If Rider tried to use a surprise attack, Archer would read it and deal him a counterattack.

Naturally, the situation wasn’t as bad as it seemed. The way Rider lunged with his spear was truly divine speed incarnate. Even if his attacks were seen through, they couldn’t all be avoided. In the hypothetical battle just now, he had fought in a situation where his speed was not taken into account.

But he couldn’t say for sure that it wouldn’t actually go that way. Archer of Black’s skills knew no depth. He was perfectly balanced in all aspects; that was precisely why all heroes sought to be trained by him. Moreover, Servants were summoned in the form of their prime. Though his appearance was human, his stats were of that when the being known as Chiron was at his most perfect.

If he ignored all their feelings and bonds in the coming battle and simply considered and compared their respective power, Archer of
Black was the enemy wanted to fight the least. Therefore, Rider always imagined the worst situation as he fought—and continued to lose each time.

“…I feel like I keep making a mistake right from the first move.”

Since his opponent had greater battle power than him, making a mistake right from the start was fatal. Since they both knew almost all of each other’s moves, he could tell the fight would end in this manner by logically thinking it through.

Since both of them moved completely logically, the first one to make a mistake would lose.

[...]

Rider of Red continued to repeat hundreds of battles in order to take down Archer of Black—

- Vol 4 Chapter 3