Seeing the initiative slip further and the situation descend into complete chaos, Tokiomi Misaka had already begun to consider retreat.
Unfortunately for him, retreat was something he might accept—but certain people absolutely would not.
After all, his Servant was the Hero King, the self-proclaimed sole monarch beneath heaven and earth. To turn tail and flee in front of a handful of so-called minor characters—where would that leave the dignity of the Ancient King of Kings?
And unlike earlier, matters had just grown worse.
In his rush to support Medusa, Emiya Archer had instinctively resorted to his specialty—Projection Magecraft—right in front of the Hero King himself.
That single act instantly painted a massive target on his back.
Because to the Hero King, this was nothing short of sacrilege.
He had always claimed that every treasure in the world belonged to him alone. The Gate of Kings—his pride and proof of sovereignty—was something he had always held above all others.
And now?
Some cheap knockoff suddenly appeared.
As the original manufacturer, was the Hero King supposed to tolerate counterfeit goods?
What made it even more infuriating was this: although Emiya Archer's projected Noble Phantasms were undeniably inferior in raw power compared to the originals—
Once detonated, they could still block the genuine articles.
Anyone with eyes could see it. Emiya Archer was a complete impostor, and his entire fighting style was a blatant imitation of the Hero King himself.
To Gil—no, to the Hero King—this was the ultimate insult.
An unforgivable affront to royal dignity.
Previously, the person topping his list of contempt had been Tokiomi Misaka, another mongrel who dared to look down on kingship.
But after laying eyes on Emiya Archer?
That ranking skyrocketed.
So much so that Emiya Archer overtook Tokiomi in one leap.
And as for Emiya Archer himself—standing beside Rin, he wore an unmistakably smug expression.
His eyes practically said it all:
See that? The great Hero King you hyped up so much? Against your so-called "third-rate Servant," he can't do a damn thing.
For the first time in this Holy Grail War, Emiya Archer finally felt a sense of vindication.
His Projection Magecraft had been useless against the monstrously powerful Assassin.
Useless against Lancelot, with his Knight of Owner.
And even against the regenerating sea monstrosity, his projected weapons had proven inadequate.
But now?
With the very magecraft others dismissed, he had single-handedly enraged a top-tier Servant beyond reason—
—and the Hero King had no immediate answer.
When the Hero King finally became serious and began drawing out the highest-grade treasures from the Gate of Kings, Emiya Archer responded in kind—
By activating his Reality Marble for the first time in this war.
Unlimited Blade Works.
Within this world, Emiya Archer's analysis and projection speed increased drastically.
To the point where the instant the Hero King fired a Noble Phantasm—
Emiya Archer had already completed a near-perfect one-to-one projection.
While the projected weapons were still slightly inferior to the originals, Emiya Archer was no slouch in Reinforcement Magecraft.
The moment circuit-like patterns crawled across the blades, their structural integrity surged instantly.
Genuine versus counterfeit.
Blade against blade.
Noble Phantasms collided and detonated midair like disposable munitions.
So intense was the exchange that even Medusa—once involved—found herself completely unable to intervene.
"Wretched mongrel," the Hero King snarled, fury burning in his eyes."You have truly angered me. A Reality Marble, you say?Then I shall cleave both you and this crude imitation of a world apart!"
To have one's greatest pride copied—and matched—was enough to enrage anyone.
For the Ancient King of Kings, it was unforgivable.
At the height of his wrath, the Hero King finally reached into the Gate of Kings and drew forth a sword—
A bizarre weapon with a cylindrical blade, divided into three spiraling segments.
The instant Emiya Archer saw it, his pupils constricted sharply.
He had seen this sword before.
During the Fifth War.
And he knew exactly what it was.
If the Hero King truly swung that blade—
Cutting apart a Reality Marble would be no idle boast.
Because that sword was an EX-rank Anti-World Noble Phantasm—
The Sword of Rupture: Ea.
A blade said in myth to have split the world itself.
Its rank was so high that Emiya Archer couldn't even begin to analyze or project it.
The moment the sword appeared, Emiya Archer rushed forward without hesitation.
In his memories, during the Fifth War, he—while still a Master—had defeated the Hero King by doing exactly this.
If his weaker, human self could manage it back then—
There was no reason his Servant self couldn't do it now.
That was his belief.
And he was confident.
Unfortunately for him, the Hero King had anticipated this completely.
Golden ripples surged once more behind him, and from within emerged a magnificent flying craft—
A vessel forged entirely from pure gold and emerald gemstones.
Vimana.
The moment it appeared, the Hero King leapt effortlessly onto its throne and ascended into the heavens—
Leaving Emiya Archer staring helplessly from the ground below.
"I noticed it back when we fought at the Misaka estate," the Hero King said coldly."You may share my class, mongrel, but you clearly favor close-quarters combat.Such barbaric hacking is beneath my aesthetics.I prefer watching you scurry about in disgrace."
Watching the Hero King soar through the sky aboard Vimana, Emiya Archer was utterly dumbfounded.
This wasn't how the script was supposed to go.
In the original timeline, the Hero King had been caught completely off guard—his arm severed before he could even draw Ea.
So what the hell was this?
Did being weaker somehow have its perks?
Back then, against the insignificant Emiya Shirō, the Hero King hadn't even bothered to dodge—so Vimana never came into play.
Now that Emiya Archer posed a real threat, everything had changed.
Staring at the outrageously flashy flying throne, Emiya Archer felt the urge to get one for himself—
But just like Ea, Vimana was far beyond his ability to project in such a short time.
Now he knew the Hero King's weakness in close combat—
And yet had no way to exploit it.
Worse still—
This was no longer about countering Vimana.
The Hero King had already raised Ea.
And he was already beginning to chant its True Name.
"Hearken, the primordial truth—Let the heavens and earth part, returning all to nothing—By my Sword of Rupture that weaves the very fabric of creation—The convergence of stars, the abyss called 'a paradise forged from hell'—The silence that marked the end of genesis—Accept annihilation—Enuma Elish!"
How powerful Ea truly was, Emiya Archer had never known.
In his memories, the blade had never been fully unleashed.
But now—
He was about to witness the terror of a true Anti-World Noble Phantasm firsthand.
A Reality Marble was the magecraft that rewrote reality using one's inner world—magic closest to true sorcery.
While activated, it forcibly dragged others into a space born from the caster's heart.
Strictly speaking, that space existed outside normal reality.
Which was why, the moment Emiya Archer pulled the Hero King into Unlimited Blade Works, Ren Kuroda and the others lost sight of both of them entirely.
Outside—
Medea scoffed openly at Ren's earlier claim that their Archer would defeat the Hero King.
She didn't believe it for a second.
True, the Archer she'd dismissed as useless had unveiled a Reality Marble—an incredible feat.
But the Hero King had fought three Servants at once—
Including Heracles, the very existence she feared most.
And he'd held the advantage.
To say such a being would fall to an unknown Archer?
Absurd.
If that were true, Medea herself could slaughter the battlefield unchecked.
Ren Kuroda, however, had no easy way to explain concepts like protagonist plot armor.
Emiya Archer's stats and origin didn't measure up to the Hero King.
But he could break limits.
Just as Ren was about to enlighten Medea on the mysteries of "main character buffs"—and subtly discourage her continued fixation on Saber—
A sharp crack echoed through the sky.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
The space above Ryūdō Temple began to shatter.
Fragments of reality fell like broken glass, and violent spatial turbulence forced every Servant present to halt and look upward.
Almost immediately, a battered figure was violently expelled from the ruptured void, skidding across the ground for a long distance.
Moments later, a streak of golden light burst out as well—
Accompanied by a disdainful, triumphant laugh.
When Medea recognized the bloodied figure sprawled on the ground—
The very Archer Ren had praised so highly—
She slowly turned toward him, utterly unimpressed.
"So this is your 'protagonist halo'?" she said dryly."Looks like Archer didn't 'awaken' at all.He's getting absolutely demolished.Or is he simply not desperate enough yet?"
Watching Emiya Archer face-plant and slide across the ground—
Hearing Medea's merciless sarcasm—
Ren Kuroda wore a genuinely haunted expression.
Because he couldn't understand it either.
How could the Emiya Shirō who once dominated the Hero King—
End up getting dominated himself after becoming a Servant?
No matter how he looked at it—
It made absolutely no sense.