Chapter 123
"Hah, you’re a cheeky one, golden boy. Are you ogling the princess’s body? I think you need to be taught a lesson," I sneered maliciously, standing up and summoning my bow. At the sa ti, a white glow began emanating from within , cleansing my body of alcohol.
"I’ve been wanting to wipe that smirk off your face for a long ti," Saber echoed, rising from the table and summoning her armor and sword. Though unlike , she was swaying slightly from the alcohol.
"In that case, it’s ti to dance!" Gilgash donned his golden armor, golden portals opening behind him.
Gilgash and I made the first moves. As soon as the tips of his weapons erged from the portals—so aid at the people at the table—I blinked a short teleport to increase the distance and infused my body with Electro energy so intensely that lightning started to spark off , affecting the area around. In the next instant, my arms blurred from the speed of my movent. Countless Electro-charged arrows were fired in a flash, knocking down the Noble Phantasms just as they began to erge from the portals, completely shutting down the King of Heroes’ attack.
Of course, Artoria wasn’t sitting idle: the mont the first arrows and Noble Phantasms were fired, she shot forward at supersonic speed like a missile, charging at the King of Heroes. Wind swirled around her sword, ready to strike the enemy with a blow as powerful as the hamr of the Lord of the Winds. Unfortunately, the tip of her blade t an insurmountable obstacle—the shield Gilgash raised at the last mont. Streams of compressed air splashed against the shield’s surface, which seed like an entire world unto itself, and only the cracks in the marble floor testified to the true strength of her attack.
"Foolish woman, I am the KING OF HEROES!" he roared, swinging his shield at Saber. It created the illusion of an entire world materializing behind him, ready to crash down on the chest of the armored woman. Arrows aid at his head shattered against an impossibly dense mana shield. His swing looked deceptively slow, but under the pressure of the world within the shield, Saber couldn’t move. Just when I expected the attack to land on Artoria, golden particles surrounded her like a barrier, and everyone around heard a soft whisper: "Avalon." Once again, an overwhelming attack was nullified, but unlike Achilles’ shield, Avalon is an absolute defense surpassing even True Magic.
After that so-called exchange of opinions, Saber and Gilgash took distance. Both had drained a lot of mana for the brief Noble Phantasm clash. However, Artoria lacked the handy Treasury containing all possible Noble Phantasms, even the most despicable ones. While Artoria was limited by the mana of the second-rate mage Emiya Shirou, Gilgash needed only to set aside his disdain and hang a particularly vile book at his belt, granting him an endless supply of energy.
"You play dirty, Archer, attacking the bystanders during our duel. Aren’t you ashad?" I decided to stall a little, all the while materializing a ring with a small rune in my right hand—to allow to share mana.
"If they cannot survive the aftereffects of our battle, they are unworthy to stay here," the king sniffed contemptuously.
"Your Majesty, if you don’t mind, perhaps I could deal with him myself?" Kevin interjected. Cold began radiating from him, frosting the surface nearest to him.
"No need, just see to everyone’s safety—and, please, save wine samples for i," I replied. From the look of things, our casual attitude, as if Gilgash’s defeat was a given, only made him angrier.
"Pathetic mongrels," Archer growled, and the room filled with thousands of golden portals, tips of at least B–rank Noble Phantasms glinting within.
While it took Kevin just a single sweep to shield everyone else at the table, I grabbed Saber and teleported us to the balcony leading outside—safely outside the blast radius.
"Put on this ring. I’ll share mana," I pressed the ring into Saber’s hand, the Norse Gebo rune on its tip glowing blue, symbolizing connection and energy exchange.
To her credit, Artoria didn’t resist and put the ring on calmly, imdiately feeling an overflow of energy, so different from before, giving her full freedom of action. anwhile, I fired a lucky shot—a rapid infinity arrow—straight at the back of Gilgash’s head. It crashed into an invisible barrier, which for a pitiful instant was covered in a fine web of cracks.
"What an annoying guy," I grimaced, summoning Oz for fusion and started gathering energy in the clouds, teleporting into the manor’s yard, planning to gradually draw the battle into the forest.
"What was that that protected him?" Saber asked, dodging more Noble Phantasms flying her way.
"Another Noble Phantasm. He must really want to win, with how much he’s stacked up," I replied grimly, as an activated Gáe Bolg flew at —only to be knocked aside when I struck its death point. Imdiately after, Gilgash appeared in the sky, seated on his vimana, more portals unleashing a torrential rain of anti-space weapons—aid at , and anti-dragon ones—for Saber.
I continued teleporting actively, pelting him with ever-more energy-charged arrows, hoping to pierce his barrier. Saber, using the mana I supplied, parried with explosions of compressed wind, gradually retreating into the forest to allow larger-scale attacks.
"Why don’t you just kill him? You have eyes like Shiki’s, don’t you?" Saber asked as we managed to fall back deeper into the forest, catching a brief respite from Gilgash’s renewed arrogance. He didn’t even bother with Enkidu, rely bombarding us with countless Noble Phantasms—so even wounding Saber, though she quickly recovered thanks to Avalon.
"If I kill him like that, he’ll be erased from the Throne of Heroes. And even if I dislike Archer-Gilgash, he’s still useful to this world."
"Naïve princess. Just surrender. You stand no chance against ," the haughty voice of the King of Heroes bood over us, seated on his golden throne.
Saber glanced at dubiously, as though to ask, "Him? Useful?!"
"Doesn’t matter. Just use your Noble Phantasm—we’ve retreated far enough."
"Very well," Saber nodded. Her sword no longer concealed by the wind, the blade glowed with golden light, which she trained on Gilgash.
"Hmph," the King of Heroes snorted disdainfully, pulling from the Gate of Babylon an identical sword, which glowed with the sa golden light.
"Ex—"
"Ex—"
"Calibur!" they both shouted, unleashing pillars of light capable of erasing nearly anything in their path. The two blasts canceled each other out, clashing midway between them. With neither side lacking for energy, neither was able to overwhelm the other. But there was a crucial difference: unlike Archer, Saber was not alone.
Teleporting behind Gilgash, I fired two arrows at once. The first—a rapid infinity arrow—targeted at the death point of his barrier. The second—to serve as a beacon for the lightning I’d gathered in the clouds. As expected, the barrier shattered, and in the next instant, all the energy stored in the clouds descended as bolts of lightning, striking Gilgash as he dueled Saber.
"Bzzzzt—BOOM."
A concentrated Electro energy explosion erupted on the flying throne, amplified by Saber’s Noble Phantasm, no longer restrained by Gilgash’s.
By rights, this should have ant the King of Heroes’ end in this Holy Grail War. The amount of energy I compressed in that attack alone could wipe out a whole city if not so concentrated—especially when combined with Excalibur.
But, unfortunately, just as I thought that, a charred figure staggered from the trees. A gaping hole, the size of a waterlon, was burned through its torso, almost splitting it in half—yet the figure stayed on its feet, gulping a strange golden liquid from a flask that swiftly regenerated the injuries.
"Excalibur!" Saber didn’t wait for his recovery; she unleashed her Noble Phantasm, which slamd into the shield Gilgash sohow held up with one hand, while the other, still charred, retrieved from a golden portal a strange weapon: a handle with three spinning cylinders.
I knew exactly what weapon that was. EA—the strongest Noble Phantasm Gilgash possessed. This was one of those tis where holding back was no longer an option.
For the first ti since becoming the Princess of Judgnt, I appealed directly to the energy within myself—a golden sun. Instead of converting this energy into anything weaker, I readied my bow and drew the string, barely holding steady as I notched an arrow composed of raw primordial energy. The aura from this arrow was overpowering. I could feel my skin start to peel and burn, unable to withstand the energy’s intensity. It hurt. It hurt so much, my arms were raw to the elbows, blood scorching as it welled up, only to crust instantly. The more energy I poured into the arrow, the harder it beca—my desire just to let go growing stronger. To forget how useful Archer might be in a potential nasuverse crisis, and just kill him outright, erasing this version from the Throne of Heroes by the simplest ans. But the sense of responsibility welling up from deep inside helped hold back, refusing to let myself show weakness.
"Your sentence is death," I whispered. Yet, despite speaking softly, everyone heard . I released the arrow. It destroyed my bow and my arms in the process. In slow motion, I saw it fly toward the now-realizing Archer, and then there was a flash of golden light—after which I lost consciousness, barely managing to cast an Anemo healing skill, summoning a flurry of teal feathers around to begin repairing my body.
Reviews
All reviews (0)