"By the fury of lightning that scours the flesh,by the surging might of the Thunder Star—Move like thunder… Rokusei!"
"Spear That Pierces Death and Thorns!"
The crimson demonic spear, now saturated with Kurenai Kōrin's full mana, burned brighter than fresh blood. With a violent twist of his body, he hurled it downward—
Like a red comet tearing through the sky, it screamed toward the earth.
At the same moment, Ren Kuroda, standing on the ground below, erupted with terrifying demonic power. His feet smashed the earth apart, cracking it into a massive spiderweb crater, and his body shot upward—
Like feral lightning exploding straight into the heavens.
When the Spear That Pierces Death and Thorns was thrown rather than thrust, it transformed into a terrifying Anti-Army Noble Phantasm.
Not only did it possess overwhelming destructive power—it also carried the curse of absolute certainty, a guaranteed hit by causality itself.
And now, on top of that, Kōrin had reinforced it with Rune Sorcery.
The sheer magnitude of that attack was beyond imagination.
"BOOOOOOM—!!!"
The red comet and the raging lightning collided in midair above Ryūdō Temple.
Two overwhelming torrents of mana smashed together, detonating in a thunderous explosion that shook the heavens.
The shockwave alone blasted everything nearby away. Walls shattered. The ground split apart. The surrounding structures of Ryūdō Temple cracked and collapsed as if struck by a natural disaster.
Kōrin froze for a split second when he saw Ren's choice.
Because Ren hadn't used a Noble Phantasm.
He had chosen to meet the killing spear head-on—with his own body.
Kōrin's spear was a causality-type attack, locked directly onto the opponent's heart.
To face something like that without deploying a Noble Phantasm, relying instead on raw strength—was that even sane?
The instant God-Blessed Nichirin Blade collided with the spear's tip, Ren felt it—
An overwhelming, crushing force.
Even with Mind's Eye and his other skills assisting him, Ren only barely managed to intercept the spear before it pierced his heart, blocking it with God-Blessed at the last possible moment.
The violent force transmitted through the spear made the veins in Ren's arm bulge grotesquely.
An Anti-Army Noble Phantasm, fully powered and thrown with everything behind it—how could it be easy to stop?
Speed was power.
Ren's lightning-charged strike carried terrifying weight, but Kōrin's thrown spear was no slower.
"Feral Strength—Chaotic Deities!"
RIIIP—!
A sharp tearing sound rang out as the sleeves on both of Ren's arms exploded apart, shredded by the sheer force.
With Feral Strength—Chaotic Deities activated, Ren's already monstrous Strength parameter surged yet another level higher.
The lightning along his blade roared more violently than ever, its crackling brilliance gradually overpowering the crimson mana clinging to the spear.
"CLANG—!!!"
The blade of God-Blessed bent slightly under the immense pressure—
Then, with a crisp, ringing sound, the red spear was violently knocked aside in midair.
Once the mana coating the spear was fully consumed, the so-called Spear That Pierces Death and Thorns was reduced to nothing more than a high-grade weapon.
Kōrin's eyes widened in disbelief.
He had poured everything he had into that throw.
And it had been blocked—head-on.
Before the shock could fully register, a flash of lightning filled his vision.
The violent glow stopped directly in front of him.
Revealed within it was Ren Kuroda, his body still crackling with electric sparks.
And the Nichirin Blade in his hand had already pierced straight through Kōrin's heart.
Originally, Ren had aimed for the neck.
But in that final instant, he chose to thrust instead of slash.
For a warrior worthy of respect, a clean end was the least he could offer.
"So… even my spear was stopped head-on," Kōrin said quietly, a wry smile on his lips."This time, I truly lost—fair and square. You're absurdly strong… like a monster."
There was no pain on his face.
Only acceptance.
"How ironic. I've always been the one harvesting hearts… yet this time, mine was pierced instead. Perhaps this, too, is causality."
He looked straight at Ren.
"Assassin… no—Ren Kuroda. I'm glad I met you. If we could fight again in the flesh, I'd welcome it. But it seems… this is as far as I go."
Golden particles began to rise from Kōrin's body.
The Nichirin Blade slid free as if it had lost all resistance, returning to Ren's grasp.
And just like that—
Lancer, the Irish Light-Bearer Kurenai Kōrin, exited the Holy Grail War.
Seeing Kōrin fall, the two false priests attempted to retreat—
But they were immediately pinned down by Medea and Kuzuki.
Ren joined in without hesitation.
Double kill.
To be fair, the mapo-loving priest was a cut above most Masters—but compared to Servants, the gap was still enormous.
In the Fifth War, he had once used Command Spells to force Lancer to commit suicide, only to be killed himself by the dying Servant.
This time, although the ending remained the same—Lancer dying with his heart pierced—it was a far more honorable conclusion for Kōrin.
"Ryūdō Temple is lively tonight," Ren muttered."At this rate, the Holy Grail War might accelerate… maybe even end early."
After dealing with the two priests, Ren turned his gaze toward the temple's front courtyard.
The mana fluctuations coming from there were intense.
While not as violently catastrophic as his final clash with Kōrin, the chaos of multiple Servants fighting was enough to keep the entire temple shaking nonstop.
Between Ren and Kōrin's final collision and the ongoing battle outside, more than half of Ryūdō Temple had already been destroyed.
Even if the fighting stopped now, Medea would likely need to relocate her base entirely.
In the front courtyard, six Servants and six Masters had gathered.
Who was fighting whom no longer had anything to do with factions.
It was pure, unfiltered chaos.
After Medea used a Command Spell to summon Ren, Saber and Tōsaka Rin had rushed over as well, worried about Sakura's safety.
And the moment they arrived—
They were stunned.
The Berserker Heracles, whom they had always considered an insurmountable threat, was hanging helplessly in the air, bound and roaring in rage.
Meanwhile, the red-faction Archer—the golden king—was single-handedly fighting Saber from his own faction and Rider from the opposing side.
Even two-on-one, he showed no signs of faltering.
First, he had suppressed Heracles with the Chains of Heaven.
Now he was holding his own against Mordred and Medusa simultaneously.
If anything, it was closer to one-versus-three.
There was no doubt—the MVP of the battlefield was the golden king.
When Saber and Heroic Spirit Emiya arrived, the situation became even more chaotic.
Mordred's obsession with Saber rivaled even Lancelot's.
Seeing the king she both worshipped and despised appear before her, there was no way she could stay calm.
The instant she laid eyes on Saber, Mordred switched targets without hesitation.
She raised the radiant Clarent, the King's Sword, and charged straight at her.
With Mordred gone, Medusa was immediately pushed to the brink against the golden king.
Because Sakura was Medusa's Master, Rin ordered Heroic Spirit Emiya to jump in and support her.
Ren and Medea stood together on a rooftop, watching the chaos unfold below.
"There are six Servants and six Masters down there," Ren said dryly,"but they're basically all one big family. I honestly don't even know if we should join."
If they did join—whose side would they even take?
Despite half the war's participants gathering here, Ren wasn't wrong.
They really were one big family.
Illya and Shirō—one was Kiritsugu's biological daughter, the other his adopted son.
Rin and Sakura were both Tōsaka Tokiomi's daughters.
And if the future played out as expected, both girls would somehow end up in Shirō's romantic orbit.
Which meant—
Tokiomi was Shirō's father-in-law.
Kiritsugu and Tokiomi were in-laws.
And yet, the in-law Tokiomi was now trying to kill Kiritsugu's biological daughter—
While the adopted daughter harbored nothing but hatred for him.
Ren sighed.
"Even late-night soap operas aren't this messy."
If this family actually united, the rest of the Holy Grail War wouldn't stand a chance.
The golden king plus Heracles.
Mordred and the King of Knights.
Medusa and Heroic Spirit Emiya.
Even Ren and Medea would probably choose to detour rather than fight that lineup head-on.
Watching the chaos spiral further out of control, with the Lesser Grail still out of reach and both daughters openly opposing him, Tōsaka Tokiomi was practically foaming with rage.
He was also waiting.
Because he knew his two prized disciples had already taken Lancer to deal with Caster inside Ryūdō Temple.
The original plan was simple:
Kill Illya.
Extract the Lesser Grail from her body.
With Illya's death, Berserker would disappear as well.
That alone would provide the mana of four Servants.
Add Caster, and they'd have five—more than enough to summon the Greater Grail.
But no matter how long Tokiomi waited—
No reinforcements came.
Instead, he received one piece of news.
Lancer had been eliminated.
"…What?"
Hadn't Kotomine sworn that Caster was no match for Lancer?
So how did this turn into Lancer getting wiped out instead?
What kind of joke was this supposed to be?