A black shadow crossed the docks with a sonic boom like thunder.
At the same time, a golden light arrived immediately following Rider's shout.
The distant shadow and the golden light caused no surprise in the hearts of the spectators. It was not just a guess that the distant shadow and the golden light were two more Servants responding to Rider's provocations.
The truly terrifying part was that the start of hostilities was a gathering of five Servants. No one could predict what the outcome of such events would be.
Then…
A black shadow landed on top of one of the containers, where a figure dressed in black could be seen.
And at the same time.
The golden light came from ten meters above, atop a streetlamp, where a figure clad in shining armor could be seen.
Waver held his breath upon seeing the two new Servants staring at him and Rider.
Waver averted his eyes and looked at the Servant in golden armor.
"That guy is…"
He had only seen him for an instant the previous time, but there was no mistaking such an intense presence. The one standing calmly atop the streetlamp was none other than the enigmatic Servant who, the previous night, had sent the Assassin that invaded the Tohsaka mansion into oblivion with overwhelming destructive power.
This golden Servant could not be Caster; his entire body was covered in armor. If he had materialized in response to Rider's call, it meant he had the good sense to recognize the provocation as such, so he could not be Berserker either.
By elimination, the only one left was… the last of the Three Knight Classes, Archer.
Meanwhile, the black-clad Servant, dressed in priestly robes atop the container at a height similar to Archer's.
"That's Caster…"
Waver immediately recognized him as a Servant of the Four Cavalry Classes, Caster, due to his simple priestly attire. But Waver also knew that a Berserker would not be provocative, that Assassin was already dead, and that Rider was his Servant.
Thus, Waver identified the black-clad Servant as the Caster-class Servant.
Waver swallowed hard. A Servant who attacked from a distance with a bow and a Servant specialized in the use of magic older than the magic used in the era he lived in.
Waver's eyes met the abyssal black eyes of Caster.
Waver felt fear, a fear rooted deep in his soul as he gazed into the profound black eyes of Caster.
"Gy…"
A silent scream escaped Waver's mouth, and he shrank back, clutching Rider's cape tighter than ever.
There was something deeply wrong with the Caster Servant. Something Waver didn't understand and didn't want to understand—it was simply sinister. Waver averted his eyes and dared not look again at the sinister Servant he accepted as the Caster of this Holy Grail War.
"I didn't expect there would be two fools in one night with the insolence to call themselves Kings and ignore me."
Among the two new Servants present at the scene, the golden Heroic Spirit spoke first. He sounded displeased, looking down on the Servants with a furious gaze. His arrogance and tone were comparable to Rider's arrogance, but they differed at their very core. There was never cruelty or ruthlessness in the voice and eyes of the King of Conquerors.
Even Rider didn't expect someone more domineering than himself to appear, as he stroked his chin with a perplexed look, devoid of malice.
"You're mistaken… I, Alexander, am the one known worldwide as the King of Conquerors."
"Fool. The only hero in Heaven and Earth who is a true King is me. The rest are a collection of mongrels."
Archer brushed him off with a statement that was more than an insult. Naturally, the color had already drained from Saber's face, but the tolerant Knight let out a sigh of astonishment, completely ignoring it.
"If you mean that, could you first introduce yourself? If you're a king, you wouldn't be ashamed of your fame, would you?"
With Rider's jest, Archer's red eyes grew even more with proud anger as he looked at the giant below him.
"You're questioning me? A lowly mongrel questioning a king like me?"
Frankly speaking, Rider's argument was reasonable, but apparently, Archer considered it an unforgivable disrespect from his perspective. It wasn't about gaining interest by hiding his true name, but rather a personal irritability; the golden Heroic Spirit was emitting a very clear killing intent.
"I grant you the honor of my presence, but you fail to recognize me. Such ignorance isn't even worth living."
At Archer's conclusion, the space around him warped into a haze… in the next instant, the gleam of beautiful blades began to emerge from the empty space.
There were bare swords and spears as well. Each one was adorned with captivating ornaments and emitted fierce magical power. Clearly, they were not ordinary weapons but Noble Phantasms.
Without a doubt, it was the same thing as the previous night, the mysterious attack that unilaterally annihilated Assassin. All those who had observed the Tohsaka mansion the previous night understood this.
"…ah"
Waver was stunned. The invisible Master of Lancer swallowed hard. Kiritsugu and Maiya, observing from a distance, also felt the tension in the air from the magical energy.
And one man… like Rider and Waver, he was a Master who had followed Lancer's movements during the day with his Servant, watching hidden inside a warehouse outside the barrier to keep ordinary people away.
That man with white hair, blind in one eye, and with one arm and one leg completely paralyzed on one side of his body.
Worms crawled through his head beneath his skin. The shapes of the worms in his head were visible on his skin due to their movement as they writhed inside his head, feeding.
This man was Kariya Matou, the Master of the Berserker who wore the black priestly robes that Waver believed to be Caster.
While Matou Kariya spied on the battlefield through the vision of a familiar, he looked at Archer's strange battle preparations.
"Yes, without a doubt, it was the same. Archer was definitely the shining golden Servant who defended the Tohsaka mansion from Assassin's invasion the previous night… in other words… this was his Servant… Tohsaka Tokiomi…"
The Lust Worms writhed inside Kariya's head as something ignited in his soul.
"Haha, hahahaha…"
In the darkness, with ancient hatred burning in his bloodshot eye, Matou Kariya let out a laugh.
Now was the moment he had eagerly awaited. He had endured a year of hellish life in anticipation of this moment.
Tohsaka Tokiomi…
Husband of Aoi, father of Sakura, but the man who trampled on the happiness of mother and child.
The hated, cursed sworn enemy who took everything Kariya Matou desired, who degraded everything.
Now, the old resentment was erased. This was the time to face that man, transforming into a sword with the hatred boiling in his heart…
"Kill him…"
There was unimaginable pleasure in filling his voice with hatred. Now, Kariya understood the meaning of the saying.
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
Tokiomi himself could wait. His Servant must be crushed first, to make him lose the Holy Grail War.
He was maddened with excitement just thinking of Tokiomi's face stained with frustrating humiliation. Naturally, Berserker himself knew that what Kariya was feeling was pleasure caused by the Lust Worms eating Kariya's brain.
Once awakened by the activation of the Magic Circuits, the worms would force the body to continuously produce magical energy to sustain themselves. If those with worms did not produce enough magical energy, the worms would feed on the mage's flesh as nourishment or… they would stimulate the mage's sadistic sexual desires.
Both cases applied to Kariya. The worms not only ate his flesh, but they also stimulated the sadistic sexual desires that Matou Kariya had suppressed deep in his heart.
"Kill him, Berserker!! Pulverize that Archer!!"
The Berserker Servant, atop the container, furrowed his brow.
Berserker wanted to see how the battle between Archer and Rider would unfold. That was why he had ignored Archer until now, to avoid drawing his attention and fury.
Berserker sighed and thought about what he would say.
Berserker looked at the golden Archer atop the streetlamp. A cold killing intent began to emanate from his indifferent eyes into the atmosphere.
"Hey! You half-mongrel! It's been 4,600 years since you were no longer a King."
With the cold, emotionless words of the black-clad Servant atop the container, a torrent of magical energy surged from Archer.
The killing intent made the atmosphere extremely heavy for all those watching.
"You mad dog! Who are you to say that I, the legitimate King of the world, am no longer a King!"
"So you don't deny being a half-mongrel. Good to know, half-mongrel."
"Dog!!!"
Archer's furious voice echoed with magical energy throughout the port as the weapons emerging from the air behind him changed direction and pointed at Berserker atop the container.
The number of weapons multiplied with the magical energy surging fiercely on the battlefield, in quantities far greater than those in the battle Saber had with Lancer.
"Don't expect mercy from me, mad dog!!!"
There was no doubt or hesitation in Archer's red eyes, only absolute rage and killing intent as he glared at Berserker atop the container.
The gaze of a scoundrel is equally humble and filthy. Being subjected to such a gaze is an intolerable disgrace for a noble. For Archer, who claimed the title of King even more than Rider, Berserker's insolence in proclaiming he was no longer a King made him a complete criminal in Archer's eyes.
"You should at least entertain me when you scatter, mongrel."
A sword and a spear stirred in the air with the cruel verdict.
"Then entertain me, oh Great King of Mongrels."
Berserker looked at Archer with a superior gaze from above, increasing the fury of the golden King.
"Dieeeeeeeeee! Humble dog!!!!!"
The weapons emerging from nowhere fired without warning. This was why the golden Heroic Spirit was an Archer. But this improvised Noble Phantasm of Archer's was highly abnormal.
The Noble Phantasms, which should be a treasure for a Heroic Spirit, were being thrown carelessly, as if casually tossing a handful of stones.
Yet, the destructive power was immense. When they hit the other containers around the one where Berserker stood, it was as if the containers had been struck by an explosive blast.
But the black-clad Servant, whom others saw as if he were Caster, merely raised his left hand casually without fear or concern.
The swords and spears Archer fired ricocheted in the air as if hitting an invisible iron wall. Not only that… some of the weapons even broke into pieces and shattered, while others gained cracks in their structure, and only a few remained relatively intact.
"…Kh!"
Everyone swallowed hard equally.
The black Servant atop the container didn't suffer a scratch from Archer's attacks; he blocked everything casually with his left hand.
The black Servant's clothes swayed calmly in the wind.
The port warehouses where the Servants were gathered had been overtaken by a deathly silence at that moment.
The Servant that everyone else imagined to be Caster didn't even move from his spot. Even the part of the container he stood on was still relatively intact.
Only the surrounding containers were damaged by Archer's attack.
All the weapons that should have hit the black Servant were blocked and were mostly broken or damaged by the invisible force that protected the black Servant from the weapons thrown by the golden Archer.
How many saw the swift attack and defense?
At the very least, Irisviel and Waver couldn't comprehend what had just happened.
But…
Rider, Saber, Lancer, Assassin, and Archer. Even they, the Servants, were confused, unable to understand what had just happened.
All the Servants saw Archer's attack perfectly. But they couldn't keep up with the true speed of the black Servant's defense. All they saw was the black Servant raising his left hand with incredible casualness, blocking the weapons Archer launched with some red energy shield without magical energy that appeared almost instantly in front of the black Servant, protecting him.
"Hey, kid, what kind of Servant is that, huh… Caster?"
Rider asked Waver, but the young Master shook his head, stunned by what he was seeing.
"…I don't know. I just don't understand."
"What? You're a Master, aren't you? His strengths and weaknesses should be visible to you, right?"
As a Master who contracted with a Servant, it is possible to read a Servant's condition with Clairvoyance. This is a unique ability granted by the Grail that summoned the Heroic Spirits. This doesn't work for the "False Master" Irisviel, but for Waver, Rider's legitimate Master who possesses Command Seals, he is able to see through the abilities of other Servants and compare them to Rider's to guide him as efficiently as possible in battle situations.
In fact, Waver already had a clear understanding of the abilities of Saber, Lancer, and Archer. But…
"I can't understand! That black Servant looks like a Caster, but… but his Mana stat is ranked E!? Strength is C+, Endurance A++, Agility D, Luck E, his Noble Phantasm A++… that black Servant is confusing. He's not Caster?"
Rider frowned, suspicious of Waver's confused explanation, and took another look at the black Servant.
"If he's not Caster, and Assassin is already dead, then…"
"…B-Berserker?"
Waver finished Rider's words as he connected the dots.
"As unbelievable as it seems, kid… that's what it looks like. He can only be Berserker. For someone who abandoned reason and threw himself into the madness of insanity, he's an extremely intelligent guy and… he doesn't seem to have lost his reason either."
Saber, Lancer, Waver, Irisviel, even those hidden in the shadows like Assassin, Kiritsugu, Maiya, Lancer's Master. And Tokiomi, who received news from Kirei through Assassin's eyes.
All of them swallowed hard equally.
They could hardly believe that the black Servant who dressed like a Caster and spoke normally was, in fact, a Berserker-class Servant, the Servant of Madness.
"It seems we have another troublesome enemy…"
Saber nodded at Irisviel's murmur.
"That's not all. With four opponents, we can't make any careless moves."
As Berserker had entered a battle against Archer after provoking him, all the other Servants were tense.
Whether by miracle or skill, it should be impossible to casually repel such a clear consecutive attack in the blink of an eye with a wave of a hand.
And yet, more than just surprise, it was apparently rage that consumed Archer. Every kind of facial expression distorted his elegant face, frozen in a frenzy of murderous rage.
"…How dare you destroy my treasure with your filthy hand… You want to die so badly, you damned fool!"
The air around Archer began to dance again.
Like a halo, a golden majesty swirled in circles to reveal a new batch of Noble Phantasms… now forty of them.
And not just spears and swords. There were axes, hammers, and halberds. Even items of undefined use or origin, oddly shaped bladed weapons. Each one was polished like a mirror and still emitted a tremendous amount of magical energy. None of them were below the level of a divine mystery. All of them, without exception, were Noble Phantasms.
"This is impossible…"
That was Waver thinking aloud. But the other Masters and Heroic Spirits probably thought the same as him.
A Heroic Spirit doesn't need to stop at one Noble Phantasm. Sometimes, someone might cherish three or four superweapons that qualify as such. But no one could have so many.
And here… Archer was throwing them one after another as if he had an inexhaustible supply of them. And none of them had been seen before in the battle against Assassin the previous night.
"Let's see how far this little dog can keep up!"
At Archer's command, the batch of Noble Phantasms floating in the air was unleashed, advancing toward Berserker atop the container.
"…"
Berserker narrowed his eyes and raised his left hand again. And in front of Berserker, with his hand as the center, a red shield without magical energy manifested instantly for the other Servants watching.
Thunderous explosions shook the night air, and a flash of light burst in the sky.
Who would believe that such destruction could be caused by the launching of swords and similar weapons?
A countless number of Noble Phantasms rained down on the containers and the street of the port warehouse district, which already looked as if it had been bombed by military jets.
And yet, Archer's ferocious attack didn't stop. The Noble Phantasms fell like lightning on Berserker's location with enough force to shatter anything, and they kept attacking, attacking, and attacking again.
The attack was continuous, escalating to violence… because the target, Berserker, simply wouldn't fall, and his powerful shield didn't yield, no matter how many attacks it received; nothing seemed to shake the shield.
Everyone was shocked. Even in a critical situation with a large number of enemies around, they all shared the same thoughts.
This was a repeat of the miraculous defense of the first attack.
Berserker merely raised his left hand casually and formed a shield that didn't yield to any of the Noble Phantasms launched by Archer, repelling every single one.
Berserker's ability was perfect. The defense was practically impenetrable.
In retrospect, unlike the other three Servants, the identities of the golden Archer and the black Berserker dressed as a priest were still a mystery. Saber and Lancer shuddered at the threat. If they wanted to advance in the Holy Grail War, they might cross paths with these two.
But faced with these beasts beyond reason, how should they prepare to stand?
"…The golden one seems proud of the number of his Noble Phantasms, but the black one has the worst affinity with him. That shield without magical energy is impenetrable. It must be his Noble Phantasm."
The two Servants observed silently from one side, while the other, standing there, Rider, spoke with confidence.
"All the destroyed weapons can no longer recover. And while the golden one expends magical energy, the black one isn't spending magical energy. A Noble Phantasm that doesn't consume magical energy—no, the black one's Noble Phantasm doesn't even have magical energy like any other Noble Phantasm. But… whether that shield can also be used to attack is another story. Even though the black one has the advantage… it's basically a stalemate. But of course, if the black one is capable of attacking, that's another story."
As the King of Conquerors commented calmly, Berserker wasn't taking a step back in the face of Archer's ferocious attack.
The violent roar stopped when the last of the forty Noble Phantasms fell.
But when Archer's attack completely stopped, and Berserker lowered his hand, Berserker's right hand quickly rose to his side with the same red energy as the shield. It was a swift movement… less than 0.1 seconds after Archer's Noble Phantasm attack ended.
Contrary to what the Servants thought, Berserker's left hand was sore, and some bones in his left arm had actually cracked… if he continued using his Vibrations, he could break his hand or arm at some point.
But that wasn't all. Berserker also already knew the limit of what his Vibrational Shield could block without the use of his Staff. If any A+-rank Noble Phantasm were fired against his Vibrational Shield, the shield wouldn't hold.
This made Berserker reflect as he blocked Archer's attacks. If he, Berserker, had fought Saber without his Staff, he was now certain he would lose his arm in the first attack he tried to block with his Vibrational Shield.
So, the moment Archer's attack stopped, Berserker already planned to end this battle quickly, knowing that the Noble Phantasms in Archer's "Gate of Babylon" took 0.5 seconds to prepare.
With his right hand at his side with the same red energy as the shield, Berserker, without wasting time, moved his hand forward quickly and fired an extremely dangerous cutting energy toward Archer atop the streetlamp. But for some reason, the cutting energy didn't go toward Archer but toward the streetlamp, slicing it and several warehouses behind Archer as if they were butter.
The streetlamp fell with a shudder. But that was the only thing that fell clumsily to the ground. The golden Heroic Spirit jumped before the iron streetlamp was cut to pieces and landed on the ground, seemingly unharmed by Berserker's attack.
"Ma…"
Obviously, Berserker wasn't done. He advanced toward Archer on the ground with a sonic boom, breaking the sound barrier, and in his right hand was the same attack he had used to destroy the streetlamp.
Berserker reached Archer in less than 0.03 seconds… totaling less than 0.4 seconds of the 0.5 seconds Archer would need to prepare new Noble Phantasms from his "Gate of Babylon" after the wave of forty consecutive attacks.
With a sharp blade, Berserker attacked Archer.
Red blood, containing a vast amount of magical energy, spurted like a fountain from Archer's chest, splattering on the asphalt already destroyed by the previous battle between Saber and Lancer.
It was a swift and deadly attack that cut through Archer's armor like butter and, without being blocked, Berserker's blade struck the flesh of Archer's chest, cutting him with a wound that would be fatal to an ordinary human.
Unsurprisingly, the magical energy in Archer's body plummeted due to the wound near his heart.
The head and heart were the weakest points of Servants. Magical energy could be disrupted with the destruction of a Servant's head or heart, and even the Servant's soul would be damaged, preventing the main body in the Throne of Heroes from receiving the Servant's memories due to such damage.
A normal Servant whose heart was destroyed would immediately return to the Throne of Heroes, but a Servant with the skills of "Independent Action" or "Battle Continuation" could withstand damage to the heart and head and still remain temporarily in the world without returning to the Throne of Heroes.
"Mongrel, guh… damned, euuughul… I'll have… to KILL!!!!!!"
Archer's rage seemed to have reached its critical limit as he spoke, vomiting blood and stepping back slowly with a horrific expression of burning anger on his face from the humiliation he was suffering against Berserker.
Berserker had already prepared another blade to cut off Archer's head.
But…
Archer's red eyes glowed golden, and at the same time his eyes shone gold, golden portals opened in the air in every corner of the warehouse district street.
The sound of chains echoed from everywhere on the street.
In Archer's hands was a strange key.
Berserker immediately leaped back quickly as a long chain grabbed his left hand, and more chains emerging from the golden portals pursued him.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! Kill! Kill! Filthy divinity!!!!!"
With rage, Archer howled at Berserker, his red eyes burning with fury.
Berserker, watching everything with a face showing concern, had a single thought as a skull with unimaginable magical energy appeared in his left hand, bound by the Chain of Heaven.
'I should have separated his head from his neck in the first attack.'
__________________
Final Notes!
I ended up rereading the fight between Beelzebub vs. Tesla in the manga.
And I noticed some things regarding Beelzebub's Vibrations.
The cut that Beelzebub performs, which ends up cutting Tesla's armor, is normal, without being amplified by the Staff.
And in another chapter, we have an attack from Beelzebub using the Staff to amplify the power of the Vibration.
Tesla himself commented… "The power of your vibrations increased several times more than when you used your sword. That's very interesting. And apparently, you're using that staff to do it, right?"
So, Beel's normal Vibrations are already extremely powerful.
However…
This is basically a manga error… or we should say, "Plot Armor," because the attack that was greatly amplified by the Staff was much stronger than an unamplified attack.
But no, all the attack, several times stronger, did was crack parts of the armor near Tesla's head and cause a small wound on Tesla's head that was bleeding.
This is an example of "Plot Armor" in the 8th Round of Ragnarok.
I also want to clarify the minimum speed of High-Frequency Vibrations.
20,000 Hz exceeds the Speed of Sound. To be clearer, it's beyond the Speed of Sound.
There are cutting machines at this frequency. They're not a big deal, more used for polishing something than actually cutting like Beel's Blade.
And that's the thing…
Beelzebub's Vibrations are far beyond 20,000 Hz.
The Speed of Sound has a limit… which is 20,000 Hz at its frequency.
It's about 100x the Speed of Sound. That's roughly the limit of the Speed of Sound, about 105 times. Beyond that, there's no longer the Speed of Sound.
So that's it. The speed of Beel's Vibration formation is far beyond the Speed of Sound limit, which is roughly Mach-105.
Shuumatsu has a lot of variation in the Strength and Endurance of the Gods.
But their Speed is more than clear.