Crack—!
As Kotomine Shirou finished speaking, his figure flickered, vanishing entirely from the room. At the same moment, the sound of something breaking echoed faintly in Emiya Shirou's ears.
An icy chill crept down Shirou's spine, and cold sweat broke out uncontrollably on his forehead, instinctively warning him of the unimaginable danger about to erupt.
Buzz!
The air around him trembled violently.
"[Incursio]!"
At the very instant Shirou shouted the words, a blindingly radiant light surged through the window, swallowing his entire room in a wave of destructive energy.
He felt clearly the tremendous magical power contained within this terrifying beam. Its oppressive force vastly exceeded even Atalanta's Noble Phantasm, which he had previously faced.
There was no possibility of evading or retreating from an attack of this magnitude.
A massive shield instantly materialized in front of Shirou just before the destructive beam made contact.
Yet, the overwhelming torrent slammed Shirou harshly into the ground, his back scraping violently against the floor beneath. The shield, conjured desperately in front of him, rapidly melted under the relentless assault. Frantically, Shirou projected countless chained swords one after another, layering them desperately behind the dissolving shield to reinforce it.
His reckless consumption of magical energy was evident as brilliant blue magical energy radiated uncontrollably from his body—clear proof he was pushing himself beyond all reasonable limits.
Right now, Emiya Shirou was burning through magical energy without restraint or care for consequences.
Yet he had no other choice.
This beam's destructive power had already surpassed mere A-Rank—it was undoubtedly EX-Rank, an attack of extraordinary, immeasurable magnitude.
Even the highest-ranked [Magic Resistance] would have been instantly reduced to ash under its fury.
Not seconds—but in less than a single second, ten layers of chained swords from [Incursio] had melted down to their final thin barrier, unable to withstand such overwhelming force.
In the face of this apocalyptic torrent, any resistance felt utterly futile, and the merciless light moved relentlessly forward, devouring everything in its path.
Shirou could only watch in horror as the dazzling wave reached him, enveloping him instantly in unbearable heat.
Zzt—!
But suddenly, as if someone had cut the power supply, the destructive beam vanished entirely. All that remained was a scorched landscape and Shirou himself, bloodied, battered, his armor shredded in multiple places.
Exhausted yet defiant, Shirou projected [Incursio] once again, desperately gazing toward the source of the attack.
It wasn't that the assault had ended naturally, nor was it due to insufficient magical power.
It was—
Shirou fell heavily to one knee, overcome by fatigue.
Far in the distance, an immense floating garden hovered ominously in midair, bathed in the silvery glow of the moon. Its vast shadow blocked out the sky, completely obscuring the moonlight behind it.
Massive magical circles unfolded on the sides of the floating fortress, transforming into countless artillery-like platforms.
From another direction, a golden pillar of light burst forth, colliding violently with the fortress's immense magical bombardment in midair. A colossal shockwave erupted outward from their collision, toppling every tree around them.
Even from hundreds of meters away, the powerful aftershocks nearly drove Shirou back to the ground.
This is merely the collision of two beams from thousands of meters away, Shirou realized grimly, forcing down a mouthful of blood as he struggled back onto his feet.
Around him, aside from the charred earth, nothing remained.
His table, bed, room, the corridor, and even the castle's hallways—every maid and butler who'd been moving through the castle—all had been instantly reduced to ash.
Half of Yggdmillennia Castle had been obliterated by that single, devastating strike.
Most of the castle's remaining guards had also been caught up in the destructive blast, hurled violently through the air and slamming lifelessly against walls or onto the ground below.
The entire Yggdmillennia faction was plunged into utter chaos. Injured survivors sat numbly amidst the rubble, oblivious to their wounds or their impending death.
With the loss of Red's Archer and Berserker, and the unexpected extra Servant that had appeared among Black's ranks, the Red Faction had chosen not to make a frontal assault, but instead moved stealthily under magical concealment, unleashing a devastating sneak attack.
The barrier that had previously covered the entirety of Trifas, though expansive, had only surveillance and detection capabilities. It had been thoroughly disrupted by Kotomine Shirou and Caster of Red the previous night, robbing Black of their comprehensive monitoring.
Red had deliberately chosen this exact moment—while Black's defenses remained compromised—to strike.
Although Vlad III had anticipated this possibility and prepared accordingly, deploying a hidden contingent of homunculi and golems around Yggdmillennia Castle ready to counterattack, he never expected Red would unleash such a terrifying weapon.
A single attack had effortlessly broken through Caster's defensive barriers.
The Red Faction had not intended to completely destroy all of Black's Servants with one blow; causing utter chaos and disrupting their ranks was more than enough.
"To trespass brazenly upon my territory, slaughtering my subjects without hesitation—!"
Under the cold moonlight, Vlad III covered his face with one hand as he sat upon his steed, suddenly laughing softly—a sinister laughter befitting a true demon king, dark and horrifying.
"My warriors! My brave soldiers! Invaders have dared step onto our proud lands! You have but a single task ahead of you!"
Vlad lifted his spear high into the night sky, pointing angrily toward the floating garden suspended ominously above.
From the surrounding forest, the hidden golems and homunculi emerged boldly, gripping their weapons with steely resolve as they faced the flying fortress that had destroyed their stronghold with a single devastating attack.
"Eradicate these invaders! Spare none!"
As if in direct response to Vlad's declaration, the floating garden unleashed countless razor-sharp teeth-like fragments down toward the ground below.
As each tooth struck the earth, it sprouted and grew rapidly like twisted saplings, forming skeletal warriors who rose relentlessly from the soil, clutching bone swords, their movements accompanied by the chilling sounds of bones scraping against each other.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
---
T/N: IS ARTHUR ALIVEEEEEEEEEEEE
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