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IBHJ Chapter 638
🕑 Added 2023-12-24 08:46:23 +0000 UTCTrapped in the kaleidoscopic void between dimensions, Shirou floated alone. Nothing but drifting colors and a feeling of endless atomic space.
Yet he smiled.
That child must be furious now. She'd likely wear the same lion-like rage as Artie.
Yes, as Gray guessed, he had decided from the start to give his one chance at summoning to Mordred instead.
No real reason why. Not to atone, or out of mere kindness. He simply couldn't bear to see that child's lonely despair anymore, nor Artie's anguished regret whenever she spoke of Mordred.
Let them reunite.
As for him...
There would still be chances. And if no chances came, resting here wouldn’t be so bad either. At least “it” was still with him.
He smiled down at the black mud oozing over his body. “As expected, no matter where I go, only you would always stay by my side, right?”
——Of course, as long as you do not abandon 'me', 'I' will not abandon you either.
The mud echoed back, though not with any will. From the moment he had first accepted this evil, this mud, that answer had existed. As long as he didn't abandon it, the mud would remain inseparable from him.
He stood in the empty dimension rift, gazing into the distance at the shattered connection channel. After seeing Caster Francois Prelati's soul return to the Throne when Mordred destroyed the Greater Grail, he had moved swiftly to demolish the connection channel.
The linked passages crumbled, severed from one another.
A low, eerie chanting reverberated - the roar of the Outer God. Though it sounded as usual, like the devil's hymn, irritation tinged its voice.
Without coordinates and its anchor to that world with the Grail's destruction and Prelati's demise, the Outer God could only look on helplessly as the passage splintered and collapsed, the monstrous Chthonians tumbling out in droves, burrowing frenziedly towards that world in desperation.
Shirou summoned his black mud with a chuckle, "How troublesome. Looks like it's time to work again, huh."
His expression remained carefree, bearing no heaviness. Only the glimmer of regret and faint wrinkles of concern marked his face.
...
Saber looked down at her dissipating body and then to the fading wooden stakes on the ground - clear signs that the Greater Grail had been destroyed. As it faded, so too would the Heroic Spirits summoned for the Holy Grail War. More importantly, the bizarre magical beasts emerging from the earth were also decreasing in number.
Assassin's plan had clearly succeeded. Destroying the Greater Grail freed the Red Caster's soul, severing the anchor point for the evil god coveting their world, resolving the crisis at hand.
However...
"Hiss hiss hiss!"
"Roar roar roar!"
The Primordial Human and the enormous Chthonian - no, it's not an ordinary Chthonian. What had appeared here by using Amakusa's Saint Grapgh and Core was Shudde M'ell, the supreme regent of the Chthonians. It turned to the sky and let out frightening hisses.
The two monsters' growth had stopped, but their hulking bodies now stood over 700 meters tall, the size of small mountains, extremely terrifying!
The wooden stakes restraining them had vanished along with the Greater Grail.
“This is bad.” Spartacus frowned.
Saber gripped her invisible holy sword tightly. "I should have enough strength for one more Noble Phantasm."
“Eternal King said your Noble Phantasm is especially effective against these monsters," Spartacus replied. "But even then, you can probably only take out one of them. The main problem is..." He looked around at the worms around them, feeling discouraged.
Eternal King's plan had worked. After destroying the Greater Grail, fewer and fewer worms were emerging from underground. But many still remained above ground, surrounding them.
And it was up to Saber and Spartacus to deal with them.
Modern humans and magi would struggle against creatures this dangerous. If they tried to fight, there would surely be many casualties.
As Heroic Spirits summoned by mankind's hope, it was their duty to face and defeat these monsters that threatened human lives with despair and death.
Saber understood this well.
Their strength was already spent; the few remaining Heroic Spirits would soon fade away.
But destroying these magical beasts before disappearing would make for a heroic and meaningful final act, preventing immense casualties across the land if the beasts remained unchecked.
Especially those two massive 700-meter behemoths...modern humans stood no chance against monsters like that.
What should be done?
Gray and Mash hurried over, followed from behind by a scowling, sullen Mordred.
Seeing the group arrive, Darnic frowned. "Where is Assassin? Weren't you supposed to summon him again with that plan of yours?"
"Don't mention that shameless swindler!" Mordred spat through gritted teeth.
The others noticed then that unlike the other fading Heroic Spirits, Mordred showed no signs of disappearing.
Not sure how to explain, Mash could only trouble the seasoned Gray to explain the reason.
"I see, so that's what happened..." Darnic clenched his fists. "It seems we only have ourselves to rely on now."
Mordred took a deep breath to calm herself before speaking up. "No. The situation has stabilized somewhat, just as Eternal King predicted. If we can take down the remaining magical beasts here on the ground, as well as those two massive creatures, this crisis will be as good as resolved."
"The problem is how to take them down," Spartacus said with a frown. "To be blunt, it'd take an army of top-tier Heroic Spirits to defeat even one of those behemoths. With just us here...I fear we don't stand a chance."
Like Mash, Kiara had been quietly listening to the debate, playing the part of an obedient child.
But now she noticed Mordred looking right at her.
Mordred raised her hand, finger pointed directly at Kiara.
“Huh?...Me?” Kiara raised her hand, pointing at herself, a look of confusion on her face.
Mordred nodded, an extremely serious look on her face. “King Arthur's Excalibur should be able to destroy one. Shove the other one into your black hole and that should settle things.”
"I-I can't...It's impossible!" Kiara shook her head urgently. "It won't fit inside! That thing's way too big to swallow!"
"Is it truly impossible, or are you just unwilling?"
"It's too big, I swear it won't fit!" she said tearfully. "Please, Teacher, spare me!"
Mordred frowned. If Kiara was useless here, they really had no options left.
She understood her mother's power well - Excalibur might destroy one creature, but nothing was guaranteed. And Saber would likely fade away immediately afterwards in her current state. Leaving them with no way to handle the second monster.
No, there was still one method left.
Mordred took out her chalice, eyeing the third eye.
She hesitated. The power that came with it was one she desperately wished to avoid. But...
"Screeech—!"
A cry split the air.
They looked up to see a hippogriff slicing through the sky.
"Astolfo?" Spartacus was surprised. "Hasn't he disappeared yet?"
"It's not just Rider, but Caster too!" Saber said grimly.
They all realized now that the Primordial Human was Black Caster Avicebron's Noble Phantasm. And one of the masterminds behind this whole mess had shown up with them!
It wasn't until Rider's magical beast landed before them that they noticed, to their shock, there was a third person present along with Astolfo and Avicebron. The homunculus, A-11072 - Adam!
Astolfo and Avicebron were in the middle of an argument.
"Geez, if you hadn't been shouting all that random crap, we wouldn't have been blindsided by the Primordial Human's sneak attack and knocked halfway across the countryside!" Astolfo complained.
Avicebron just snorted coldly. "You got distracted by everything going on and forgot to use your skills, right? But sure, go ahead and blame me!"
"That's not what happened at all!" Astolfo yelled as their bickering continued.
Comments
JeanMartin Freites
Good to know that even with all this serious stuff going on you can still find some moments of levity especially at the end.
ItsDragonking
Can you pls uppload more
