"Trash-tier counterfeit.Kneeling before me like a beaten dog—that is the posture you were always meant to assume."
Standing atop Vimana, the Hero King looked down at the battered Emiya Archer, who was already teetering on the brink of elimination, his gaze as arrogant and contemptuous as ever.
Earlier, within the Reality Marble—Unlimited Blade Works—the Hero King had ultimately swung his EX-rank Noble Phantasm, the Sword of Rupture.
That blade, said in legend to cleave the very world apart, did not unleash quite the apocalyptic power the myths promised once manifested as a Noble Phantasm—but even so, it was more than enough to effortlessly split Emiya Archer's Reality Marble in two.
With a single strike, Unlimited Blade Works collapsed completely, shattered beyond recovery. Worse still, because Emiya Archer himself existed within that inner world, he was struck directly by the aftermath of the Sword of Rupture's power.
Only by projecting Rho Aias—The Sevenfold Shield of the Burning Heavens at the very last moment had Emiya Archer managed to cling to life.
Yet even Rho Aias—each layer said to rival a fortress wall, capable of directly blocking Cú Chulainn's Gáe Bolg—proved woefully insufficient against the Sword of Rupture.
The Hero King had swung only once.
And in that instant, the sevenfold shield was annihilated completely, leaving Emiya Archer grievously wounded.
Seeing Emiya Archer in such a miserable state, Ren Kuroda still clung to a shred of hope—thinking this might finally be the "desperate brink" where a protagonist erupted with one last miraculous power-up—
Only for another Noble Phantasm launched by the Hero King to pierce straight through the Emiya Archer who was kneeling on one knee.
Emiya Archer's elimination as the fifth Servant to fall was something Ren had never imagined.
He had always believed his so-called "protagonist theory" applied universally across worlds.
Yet here was one of the supposed main characters—Emiya "the mutt" Shirō—well and truly dead.
Back when Ren watched anime, he had always thought Emiya Shirō killing the Hero King in close combat was blatant author favoritism—a textbook case of plot armor.
After all, the Hero King was a being who had once defied gods themselves, who had battled the Bull of Heaven that brought famine upon the world.
Though a king of Mesopotamia, he had endured countless wars. How could someone like that have his arm casually severed by a high school student with barely any combat experience?
Even so, buoyed by Shirō's protagonist halo, Ren had assumed that swapping in Emiya Archer would make the outcome even more stable.
Instead, reality slapped him in the face.
Red Archer had punched his ticket early.
With another Servant eliminated in overwhelming fashion, and the oppressive aura radiating from the Sword of Rupture sending chills through everyone present, the Hero King once again became the unquestioned focal point of the battlefield.
When Emiya Archer dragged the Hero King into his Reality Marble, the Chains of Heaven restraining Heracles vanished along with their target, freeing the Berserker at last.
At present, Saber and Mordred were still locked in a brutal father-and-child duel. Berserker and Rider both watched the Sword of Rupture warily, eyes fixed on the Hero King.
Kiritsugu Emiya repeatedly called out for Mordred to return, but the problem was that she had never been the obedient type. Now that she was facing Saber, she had completely tossed the concept of "Master" out the window.
Meanwhile, Shirō Emiya, upon seeing his adoptive father in his younger years, was visibly overwhelmed with emotion. Kiritsugu had always been his idol—the reason he dreamed of becoming a "hero of justice."
But when Shirō called him Father, Kiritsugu froze.
Because Kiritsugu Emiya had absolutely no memory of having a son that old.
And Shirō's red hair only made things worse—it clearly had nothing to do with him.
Kiritsugu had black hair. Irisviel was a homunculus, and their daughter Illya had inherited her silver hair.
Hearing Shirō call him father, combined with Illya's earlier look of pure hatred—as if he were her sworn enemy—Kiritsugu's imagination began to spiral.
Could this boy be the child I had with another woman?Is that why Illya hates me so much?
But that didn't add up either.
Even if he had an affair, the only possible candidate would have been Maiya—and she had black hair too.
And judging by Shirō's age—roughly the same as Rin and the others—if he truly were Kiritsugu's son, he should have already been born ten years ago.
While the two Masters were tangled in a surreal family drama, their Servants were fighting with real killing intent.
Saber bore no particular hatred toward Mordred. In her eyes, Mordred was merely the product of her elder sister's greed.
She would never acknowledge Mordred's identity.
And according to the knowledge granted by the Grail, Saber knew all too well that the fall of her kingdom had been caused, in no small part, by Mordred herself.
So against this girl who shared her blood, Saber held nothing back.
From the start, the two had been perfectly evenly matched.
That balance was finally broken when a handsome young man wielding a long blade stepped into the fray.
"Assassin," Saber said calmly,"This is my battle. Mordred is a knight as well—this is a duel between knights.And this grudge… I wish to settle it myself. I appreciate your willingness to help, but until this battle is over, please stand aside and observe."
She assumed Ren Kuroda had entered to assist her, especially after he casually deflected both their swords with ease.
Ren shook his head.
"No, no—I'm not here to help. Our cooperation ended the moment Caster was eliminated.This is the Holy Grail War. Whether it's you or the red faction's Saber over there—you're both my enemies now."
With Emiya Archer gone, five Servants had already fallen.
And now, aside from the King of Conquerors and Diarmuid, every remaining Servant was gathered at Ryūdō Temple.
If he wanted to accelerate the Holy Grail War—
Tonight was the perfect opportunity.
Ren genuinely liked—and respected—Saber.
But positions were positions.
And he wasn't the kind of man who let sentiment cloud his blade when it mattered.
"So," Ren said lightly,"Out of consideration for our decent relationship so far—are you planning to come at me one by one, or together?"
Before Saber could respond, Mordred had already exploded.
Her duel with Saber had been interrupted—already infuriating enough.
Ren's blatant arrogance was the final spark.
With a furious roar, she raised her knightly sword and swung straight at Ren.
Both Saber and Mordred possessed high-level Mana Burst.
Without even invoking a Noble Phantasm, they could envelop their weapons in raw magical energy, unleashing overwhelming power with every strike.
Among all Servants in this war, Mordred's mana reserves were undeniably top-tier.
And as her Mana Burst surged, the Clarent—Radiant Sword of the King grew impossibly heavy, cleaving straight toward Ren's head.
"BOOM———!"
As the blade came down, the mana coating it detonated violently.
The impact gouged a deep trench into the ground.
"Just as I suspected—you're the rebellious knight, Mordred," Ren's voice drifted out from the settling dust."And just like I'd heard… you're a seriously short-tempered brat."
Hearing his voice—and feeling the resistance through her sword—Mordred's expression darkened.
She had killed countless enemies.
But the sensation just now—
There had been no feeling of steel biting into flesh.
As the dust settled, Ren's figure emerged.
To Mordred's shock—
Her Clarent was being held firmly in Ren's bare hand.
His palm was coated in solidified mana, gripping the blade directly.
Behind him, the ground bore a massive trench carved by her Mana Burst—
Yet Ren himself was completely unharmed.
Once you understood the principles behind Mana Burst, replicating it wasn't particularly difficult.
Ren had done exactly that—using the same technique to catch her sword barehanded.
"This might sound like bragging," Ren continued casually,"but if you insist on fighting one-on-one, you really aren't my match.And as a knight, shouldn't you know how dangerous it is to recklessly charge an opponent whose strength you don't understand?Straightforward fighters like you… are my favorite."
The moment his words fell, an immense surge of mana erupted from Ren's body.
Still gripping Mordred's sword with his right hand, he clenched his left into a fist—
And drove it straight into her abdomen.
Even encased in high-grade full-body armor, Ren no longer held back his power at this stage of the war.
With a single explosive punch—
Mordred's C-rank Noble Phantasm armor shattered completely.
She spat out a mouthful of bitter fluid as her body was launched backward like a cannonball, sent flying across the battlefield.
..
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