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IBHJ Chapter 624
🕑 Added 2023-12-16 01:49:19 +0000 UTCThe sun blazed endlessly in the cloudless sky as thunder crashed like rolling floodwaters across the land.
With an earsplitting boom, Arjuna fell from the sky like a meteor, obliterating countless boulders before finally slamming to a halt, buried in rubble.
Lightning sizzled and thunder grunted as the stones entombing him shuddered and rose into the air like disturbed dust before raining back down.
Arjuna crouched amidst the debris, blood trickling from his temple, his body caked in gore. He sucked air desperately into his burning lungs.
Sweat and blood mingled, dripping down his face.
Drip. Drip.
The ruthless sun baked the air around him, evaporating even the toxic miasma spreading from afar.
Blood seeped from the corner of Arjuna’s mouth as he raised his head, frustration smoldering in his eyes as he glared at the radiant sun.
Arjuna clenched his fists, gritting his teeth.
He was already grievously injured, yet his opponent remained unharmed. Karna's golden armor, a divine gift from Surya, shielded its master as faithfully as the light itself. While thunder had failed to inflict any damage, the sun instead overwhelmed all lightning that dared oppose it.
In the end, Arjuna simply was no match after all.
Dissatisfaction roiled within him.
In a distant past, through the machinations of the gods, he had unfairly triumphed over Karna. Thus, reborn as a Heroic Spirit, he sought nothing except an honorable rematch with Karna.
Regardless of outcome?
No.
What he wanted was victory!
True, fair victory!
Yet in the end, he failed to defeat Karna.
Of course, this outcome was no surprise. His father knew well of Karna's might, which was why he had stolen Karna's golden armor through deceit. So this ending was to be expected.
But to lose just like this would be too laughable!
Boasting of his peerless archery, brazenly demanding a duel with the Undying Hero, even refusing his Master’s Command Spell...
To fall in this manner would be truly ridiculous!
Who was he?
He was Arjuna!
How could the invincible Arjuna possibly lose to Karna?
Glaring at Karna, Arjuna grit his teeth.
He knew clearly that if he wished to fight Karna, if he hoped to defeat him, there was only one thing he must unleash.
Yet that side of him...that alone he would rather die than set free...
Arjuna clenched his fists.
...
In a flash, Shirou charged at Kiara like a shooting star, wielding a spear of endless light.
Kiara watched him dispassionately as her smooth, tender belly suddenly split open into an enormous rift.
He saw clearly - within that gaping cavity surged an endless vortex, countless pale hands stretching out like the grasping hands of heaven trying to catch him.
Unafraid, he deftly sidestepped those seeking hands, moving as swift and agile as rays of light themselves.
Peering inside, he saw at the heart of that vortex a spiraling abyss of light, like the bottomless well of desire lurking deep within the human heart.
This was Sessyoin Kiara's Noble Phantasm - All the World's Desire, the ultimate manifestation of humanity's boundless craving.
Those grasping hands were given form through her skill - Ten Thousand Colored Leisure Stagnation. But that radiant vortex was the manifestation of her essence as a Beast.
Within its depths swirled countless billions of unimaginable pleasures, enough to instantly sublime the very meaning of "life" for any sentient being drawn inside, regardless of their nature. Its effect transcended the limitations of the Earth itself!
This anti-human order Noble Phantasm was what Kiara had gained upon becoming a Beast - through All the World's Desire, she could exploit the entire world for self-gratification, a distortion of truly obscene magnitude.
To put it simply, she had become a carnivorous pitcher plant, luring all prey to oblivion.
Once caught in her vortex, escape wouldn't come easily to those ensnared. The prey would be firmly trapped within the endless spiral of Kiara's all-consuming desire.
Moreover, All the World's Desire's special attack effect scaled in power with the target's sentience - the more intelligent the victim, the greater the damage inflicted. Similarly, the greater their ego and desires, the more devastating the destruction wrought upon them.
Among Servants, Gilgamesh who possessed tremendous ego and hedonism would suffer the worst backlash.
In other words, it specialized in targeting the sentient mind and its cravings. Virtually no sapient being could resist its influence.
While Shirou's worldly desires paled compared to Gilgamesh's, neither did he wish to risk becoming trapped in that bottomless vortex of hedonism.
He could take no chances here.
Fortunately, to catch its prey All the World's Desire still relied on Ten Thousand Colored Leisure Stagnation. By escaping those grasping hands, one could evade being pulled into her Noble Phantasm's endless spiral.
Countless pale hands surged toward him.
Instantly tracing Scáthach's skills, he foresaw a path through the encirclement.
With nimble footwork he wove between the grasping hands, his spear of endless light disrupting each attempt to entrap him.
Mana Burst (C)!
Instinct (C)!
Knight's Strategy (C)!
Augmenting himself with these three Innate Skills, he slipped through the brief opening.
Having attained the state of Eternal King, his Mortal Series had evolved into Imperial Privilege EX. By buffing himself with the skills of various Heroic Spirits, he could enhance his existing abilities.
Flitting like an elegant butterfly, he nimbly evaded the countless pale hands extending his way, toying with them as if they were but rowdy children.
Next -
Instinct (C)!
Kalaripayattu (C)!
Triumphant Return of the Sword (C)!
Beast III was growing frustrated. Such base emotion should not plague an enlightened being like herself. Yet ever since Shirou had escaped her paradise, the vestiges of her innocent self imprisoned in her heart railed against her actions, struggling to break free.
Try as she might, even she couldn't fully destroy that splinter of conscience. And that reality vexed Beast III to no end.
The cause of this aberration - the thorn in her side - was none other than the young man before her.
She realized her mistake now. She should never have trapped him in paradise. Better to have crushed him straight away instead of wasting precious time assimilating him.
No matter - that error could still be rectified. Removing him from the equation now would surely quell the bothersome conscience rattling its cage within her.
"Let me...out!" came the faint yet resolute plea of Kiara imprisoned within the Beast.
At those words he turned briefly, gazing straight into the heart of Beast III.
How ironic that the Beast would entomb the last remnants of her human decency deep in the stygian darkness of her demonic heart.
He called out loudly, "That's right - walk toward the light, Kiara! Don't let that monster consume what's left of your humanity. Come out from that unholy Heart of Evil!"
"Assassin, enough!" Beast III hissed through gritted teeth.
A swelling tidal surge of Ten Thousand Colored Leisure Stagnation manifested at her command - numberless pale hands stretched out from the vortex accompanied by an ocean of scintillating light, grasping ravenously to engulf him.
Gripping his spear, Shirou poured mana into its form. With a roar the spear of endless light transformed, expanding instantly into an immense Tower of Light.
The colossal tower smashed into the oncoming tidal wave, obliterating thousands of those pale hands in one thunderous impact. Still it charged forward unfazed, a furious storm packing the power of divine retribution. Like a judgmental spear of the gods it stabbed toward the Beast's face.
Instinctively the Beast tilted her head aside. Strands of her long raven hair were sheared away by the relentless light.
She watched the severed locks drift gently down. Her eyes narrowed into merciless slits, all hints of compassion gone. Only icy wrath now stained the beauty of her visage.
With a resounding boom her gigantic palm swatted the Tower aside.
The endless pinnacle of light tumbled from the sky like a felled pillar of heaven.
As she dispersed his tower, he traced his signature spear again. But the restored weapon was now halved to a pitiful stump after her crushing blow.
"Your spear has been broken!" declared the incensed Beast.
"You don't understand - as long as my heart remains firm, this light cannot be extinguished!"
True to his words, the spear immediately reformed whole and pristine in his hands, blazing with defiant light.
Kiara clenched her teeth, scorching anger suffusing her entire being at his patronizing words.
Calm was the unchanging way of an enlightened Bodhisattva. But now, true rage toward Shirou churned within her.
She wouldn't stand anyone leading her innocent self astray!
"I said, let me out!" Kiara's cries rang out in defiance as she continued struggling.
Hampered by her resistance, the pale white hands shook, their movements growing more and more chaotic.
Comments
JeanMartin Freites
Quite a lot of Truth and desire in this chapter.
