—"W-What's going on, Eternal King?"
—"Something doesn't feel right, Mr. Assassin?"
Adam and Salter frantically @ Shirou with the black mud, alarmed by Hel's words.
But Shirou frowned, replying:
"Don't speculate randomly or reveal anything. We should just wait calmly."
"There's no need for these useless words, Hel," Skadi quickly composed herself after the initial shock. She gazed coldly at the hysterical goddess. "Show your hand."
Hearing this, Hel clenched her fists as hatred flashed in her eyes. She glared angrily at Skadi, "As expected, you can still maintain a normal state of mind. Or has absorbing two-thirds of the Father's divinity completely destroyed your sense of self?"
Skadi met her gaze evenly. Terrifying divinity erupted from her body, emanating dazzling golden light from her wine-red eyes.
"Awooo!"
"Roar!"
The cries of magical beasts sounded from behind Skadi. Two discs shot out from the Creation Mural, encircling her. Golden light radiated from them like mini suns orbiting around her. Gradually the discs took illusory forms—one the golden eagle Hræsvelgr that Shirou's group had shot down, the other a gold squirrel-like creature.
Hel was unwilling to show any weakness. At this moment, extremely powerful divinity also erupted from her body, but it was still far weaker when compared to Skadi, who shone like the sun. However, a similar spectacle appeared behind her. A pitch-black disk slowly rose like a full moon, giving off a faint, bewitching glow resembling a bodhisattva's halo.
"Awoooo!"
As the pitch-black disk rose behind Hel's head, the illusion of a three-headed hound appeared.
At the same moment, illusory beasts manifested within the giants' abodes in Muspelheim
Then, with a deafening "boom", a colossal explosion blasted lake waters skyward like arrows, piercing the sky. An unbelievably massive serpent, its size rivaling the world itself, burst out and charged upwards. Vertical pupils glared dangerously as it flicked its tongue out.
...
In the Grand Temple, Shirou stared intently at the disks surrounding Hel and Skadi, raising his eyebrows slightly in surprise. With his sharp vision, he discovered that aside from the different engraved patterns, the three disks were nearly identical to the one the Black Dragon had dropped when killed!
—"E-Eternal King!"
A shocked message popped up from Salter in the Black Mud. He looked back to see her pointing at his abdomen, an astonished expression on her face.
—"You-You're glowing!"
Glancing down, he was surprised to see his abdomen emitting a ring of light with a very familiar Black Dragon-shaped pattern!
His mind raced. He quickly concealed the glow with black mud to hide it from view. Fortunately, everyone was distracted by Skadi and Hel's confrontation, so no one had noticed.
Shirou instinctively sensed this was connected to Nidhogg and likely tied to the secrets of this Connection Point. He hurriedly told Salter not to speak of this and refrain from looking at him.
She nodded in agreement.
...
Skadi surveyed the surroundings, her gaze sweeping over Shirou, Salter, Adam, Sigurd, before finally settling on Hel as she said indifferently, "You can all come at me together."
"How dare you look down on me!" Hel glared furiously, provoked to anger. She kicked off powerfully, moving swiftly as if blinking through space. In a flicker she appeared before Skadi and stabbed straight at her with the black spear.
Skadi gave her a bored glance and in that moment – crack – Hel froze into an ice sculpture.
Stepping past frozen Hel, Skadi headed straight for Shirou and the others.
Panic arose in Adam's heart. "What do we do?" he shouted.
"What can we do? Fight!" Shirou yelled.
Sigurd charged ahead of the others, but Skadi merely glanced at him and he transformed into an ice sculpture.
"W-what kind of spell is this?!" Adam shrieked, feeling his entire worldview crumble.
Seeing Skadi approaching, Adam struck out, but one look from her froze him into an ice sculpture as well.
Skadi headed straight for Shirou.
"Be careful, Eternal King!" Salter shouted, Excalibur Morgan in her hand emanating a faint black light.
Skadi looked at the sword in Salter's hand, slightly surprised. "Tainted by my divinity...and also possessing a Sword of the Planet?"
"EX—!"
Just as Salter was about activate her Noble Phantasm, Skadi said flatly, "Useless."
With a sharp crack, Salter was frozen into an ice sculpture and Excalibur Morgan clattered to the ground with a clang.
How was she doing this? As Skadi approached, Shirou's heart sank. Her attack was simply inconceivable - freezing anything she glanced at with just a look.
What could this be considered? Some kind of Mystic Eyes? If so, they must be on par with the Crimson Moon's Rainbow Mystic Eyes.
Seeing Skadi nearing, Shirou took out Galahad's shield, hoping to block her attack. But the moment he pulled it out – crack – the shield turned into an ice sculpture.
Not only that, the moment it froze, he noticed all its effects and abilities were instantly sealed.
Skadi waved Gungnir with a boom, shattering the frozen shield into scattered ice fragments.
With the shield destroyed, Shirou's heart was oddly calm. He took out the Spear of Endless Light to block. This time, the spear was not frozen. With a clang, it blocked Skadi's unfathomable strike.
Gazing at Skadi's cold expression, he said, "As expected...you can't use that 'special' method to destroy something made by the Planet."
At this moment, the three-headed hound illusion behind the frozen Hel lifted its head with a long howl. The next moment – "boom" – Hel burst out from the ice.
She stared coldly at Skadi, who was blocked by Shirou, gnashing her teeth. "Using Father's authority against me - you really look down on me too much!"
A dense murderous aura erupted from her body as she furiously charged at Skadi. Skadi slightly turned her head to look at the approaching Hel, then lightly tapped her foot on the ground.
Crack crack crack – in an instant, spiky ice mountains sprouted rapidly from where Skadi tapped, spreading toward Hel.
Seeing this, Hel tried to block the attack.
At this time, "crack" – Salter broke through Skadi's frozen restraints. Her gaze swept over the frozen Sigurd and Adam before settling on Shirou and Skadi.
She saw that Shirou had not yet been frozen by Skadi. Salter hurriedly picked up her sword from the ground, preparing to unleash her Noble Phantasm at Skadi.
And in the moment she activated her Noble Phantasm, observant Salter noticed Skadi's lips move slightly as she faced Shirou, seeming to say something to him.
Undoubtedly, those were definitely derogatory words or taunts. She quickly sent a black beam from Excalibur Morgan raining down on Skadi.
"Boom!"
The black beam roared at Skadi. She glanced indifferently at it, divine light flashing in her golden eyes. The raging snowstorm around her froze the beam into ice.
"H-How is this possible...!"
Salter had an incredulous look on her face. This was simply inconceivable! Is this the power of a God?
Seizing this great opportunity, Shirou vigorously shook the Spear of Endless Light in his hand to repel Skadi, before unleashing it as the Tower of Light.
There was a loud "Boom!" as the Tower of Light pierced through the Grand Temple and in the next moment, another "Boom!" as the storm mixed with thunderclaps to unleash the tower's terrifying cannon at Skadi.
As it neared Skadi, her immense divinity came into effect. The raging snowstorm around her instantly froze the Tower's cannon into ice.
Shirou frowned. Her divinity was too powerful. Even with three stacks of [God Slayer C] attached, it was useless.
Skadi gracefully landed on the ice mountain she had created, where Hel was frozen, desperately trying to break free.
Divine light flashed in Skadi's eyes. She tapped her feet, about to attack Shirou again, when the light in her eyes suddenly vanished. Her body seemed drained of all strength as she collapsed limply atop the ice mountain before slipping down it.
"Lady Skadi!" Ortlinde cried out and rushed forward.
At this moment, there was a "shk" sound as a black spear suddenly jutted out from the ground, stopping Ortlinde in her tracks.