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IBHJ Chapter 589
🕑 Added 2023-11-24 01:18:48 +0000 UTCShe first split into three illusory clones, dispersing them to scout the area. Using the clones, she investigated the Church’s interior state.
Yet the information made her raise an eyebrow in surprise.
The Church's interior had completely transformed.
The original prayer hall was gone, replaced by a majestic, sprawling garden complex with clear and grand layout—far larger than the cramped exterior suggested this space could contain.
Clearly, the Reality Marble had overtaken the Church. Though not visible outside, the interior had been wholly replaced, forming a separate realm.
Mordred's brows furrowed as she manipulated the clones to explore from different directions, their scenes reflecting in her eyes. She was astonished to find the interior seemed a completely different world, containing various sectors and rooms.
There were majestic, rugged mountain ranges, as well as secluded, spring-fed ponds.
She carefully maneuvered her three clones to scout out the interior areas.
Suddenly—
"Roaaarrrr!"
From a purplish bog zone, an enormous serpentine head burst out. Like a hunting beast, it opened its monstrous abyssal maw and swallowed one of her clones in a single bite.
Her brows creased slightly, but she wasn't really surprised by the sudden emergence of this monster.
She wasn't naive enough to think there wouldn't be dangers here.
However, doing so had clearly alerted Kotomine and the others.
Just as she guessed, her clone had agitated the monster lurking in the toxic bog, as well as drawn the reaction of the Red camp.
Her second clone was killed by Karna, while the third was dragged down by enormous octopus tentacles and crushed.
The Reds were alerted and began searching for Mordred.
Logically, she should have been safe hiding underground, but the Red Servants were no pushovers either.
That Reality Marble was also the work of the Red Servants; like trackers, Karna and Atalanta made straight for Mordred.
Crouching underground, she considered for a bit before deciding to leave the Reality Marble.
Since this was already the opponent's lair, she wouldn't be able to escape their tracking as long as she stayed in the bounded field.
Just as she was about to make a move however, she suddenly froze.
After some thought, she used alchemy to fashion a bright silver ring, putting it on the third finger of her right hand.
She then turned the Grail into spirit form, as arcane markings began to surface all over her face, like ancient runes of sorts.
She tunneled her way out from the earth.
The moment she emerged from below, Karna's spear Vasavi Shakti stabbed straight for her brain.
He struck with great force, spear twirling with explosive sounds, but the moment it slashed toward Mordred, it passed through her head and smashed into the ground with a clang, rupturing the earth.
She did not retaliate, instead bolting straight for another room.
Karna retrieved his spear as terrifying light blazed in his eyes and he unleashed a direct eye blast at Mordred.
Yet—
The beam passed straight through her body, obliterating the wall ahead into dust.
But neither Karna's eye blast nor the crumbling debris managed to harm Mordred at all, instead phasing through her.
She was currently like the projection of a higher dimensional being - nothing in this world could touch or affect her.
Without stopping, she raced toward the other room.
Just as Karna readied his spear again to strike her down, Atalanta knocked it off course with a shot from her Bow of the Darkened Heavens.
The maddened Karna turned his fiery gaze onto Atalanta.
She merely snarled at him wordlessly, making bestial roaring sounds, as though in warning or threat.
This made Mordred somewhat puzzled.
Why was Atalanta, who was clearly without reason, attacking Karna instead of her, seemingly protecting her instead?
Mordred shelved that question for now and continued moving through the room.
She raced swiftly across the partition to the next area.
This was where her first clone had been killed.
Sure enough, as she approached that patch of violet, visibly toxic mire, the monstrous hydra dwelling beneath the bog suddenly surged out. Enormous serpentine heads lunged to tear and bite at Mordred.
She was completely unafraid. Strange markings glowed faintly with stellar light on her face.
And, as expected, this massive monster could not touch her at all. Its snake heads simply phased through her body and smashed heavily into the ground instead.
The earth rumbled violently.
The hydra hesitated in bafflement, before eight more heads burst from the mire!
"So it's a Hydra?!" she was somewhat surprised.
She recognized the monster's true identity - the famous beast from Greek myths, the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra!
The Hydra stretched out nine heads, spewing venom at Mordred, but it was useless against her.
Neither venom nor the Hydra's attacks could affect Mordred's [Polar Star] state at all. It was like a two-dimensional being trying to attack someone from the third dimension - completely ineffective and laughable.
"Room 2," she muttered to herself and took the chance to leave while the Hydra furiously attacked empty air.
The Hydra was infuriated.
Its massive body emerged fully from the bog to chase down Mordred.
As she moved between rooms, she mentally mapped out the terrain and layout she passed through.
She discovered that many fearsome magical beasts lurked within this Reality Marble.
The Hydra was but one. There was also the great serpent Bashmu, birthed by Tiamat the Primordial Mother Goddess in ancient Babylonian myths. And enormous cephalopod sea demons and various other magical creatures.
"Whose Reality Marble is this? To contain so many magical beasts?" she frowned.
If not for the precautions she had taken, sneaking in with [Polar Star], she would have been instantly killed by the Hydra or Bashmu's miasma in the beginning.
The beasts, once coexisting peacefully in their own territories, were now enraged by her intrusion. Breaking free from confinement, they thundered after her, their massive forms shaking the earth.
Considering briefly, she entered a mountainous region, splitting into illusory clones that fled chaotically in all directions. The beasts chose to give chase, crashing repeatedly into each other, grappling furiously, unable to break free.
Mordred clapped in satisfaction, easily slipping away to explore the Red camp's Reality Marble. She moved methodically, constructing a mental map of the terrain and layout as she went.
Karna found her, attacking again with Vasavi Shakti. Each spear strike still simply passed through Mordred's body. Yet she did not dare let Karna attack for long, instantly slipping away to regain some distance.
She was about to head out to scout the few areas still left unexplored on her mental map. Starting from the edges, there were still three zones she hadn't surveyed according to the geographical blueprint in her mind.
Just as she was about to go take a look however—
A voice suddenly echoed by Mordred's ear: "My my, what a powerful Noble Phantasm."
Finally lost patience, huh! Mordred thought, as her surroundings abruptly shifted. The mountainous terrain transformed into a grand, magnificent palace.
Standing at the palace entrance, she gazed within. Her attention caught first on the elevated throne. A veiled woman sat high upon it, obscuring her appearance.
That was undoubtedly the Red Assassin she had briefly seen before.
Kotomine stood nearby, smiling at Mordred as she turned to him. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, her eyes fell upon the object in his hands and she jolted slightly.
It was a grail.
Black, somewhat like a wine goblet.
"The Holy Grail...!" she muttered.
Gently smiling, he said, "I didn't expect the one causing such chaos, leaving even the guardian beasts and Karna at a loss, would be you, Saber. Your True Name...it wouldn't happen to be other than Mordred?"
She let out a disdainful snort. "I am Mordred, indeed!"
"If the Mordred of legends had your capabilities, she wouldn't have perished alongside King Arthur back then," Kotomine said with a smile.
"Hmph. What I didn't expect was for a Master like yourself to so casually stand undefended before me!" she stated coldly.
"We're allies now, as fellow members of the Red Faction," he replied kindly.
"I've never seen an alliance that forcibly controls its allies," she bit out scathingly. "I'll give you one chance. Tell me, where did you get that Grail?"
Kotomine swung the black chalice lightly with a sigh. "This is no Holy Grail. If it was, I would have no need to participate in this War."
He paused before meeting her gaze. "Saber, you were summoned by the Grail and must have a wish. Join us, and together we will see it granted."
Hearing this, she gave a cold chuckle. "You should worry more about how to survive under my attacks!"
But he was unperturbed by this. "If you kill me, can you face Eternal King and Black Faction alone?"
"Hmph. Of course!" she proudly straightened her back.
She then unsheathed her sword, cold light glinting from her eyes as she prepared to attack Kotomine.
Yet, before she could, the enthroned woman raised a palm. Horrific magical energy manifested, a terrifying beam blasting towards Mordred.
Space distorted. The earth quaked. Yet Mordred was contemptuous, charging Kotomine as destruction roared around her.
"Oh?" The woman couldn't help a soft exclaim of surprise. "This Noble Phantasm...how troublesome!"
Even Kotomine's expression changed as he retreated backward, black grail held in one hand.
Mordred laughed coldly, pressing her attack.
Yet now, bizarre ripples suddenly interfered with the contracts between Servants and Masters. The feeling was terribly familiar to Mordred - the activation of Oraclization!
She quickly clutched her head with an enraged glare at Kotomine. "You're trying to control me?!"
"It isn't me controlling you," he shook his head and said, "Rather, the Evil God is taking over you."
"Evil God...argh!" she cried out in agony, pain crossing her youthful face.
She was drenched in cold sweat now, like struggling against some enormous invasive force.
"Damn it...so even this can be done..." she cursed resentfully, a hint of madness glinting within her blue eyes.
He revealed a smile. "From now on, we'll be comrades, Saber."
She stared at him from her maddened gaze, yet gave no reply.
He acted as though this was only to be expected. Whether it was Karna or Atalanta, things had been similar.
It was truly a pity, he lamented.
"What is your True Name, Saber?" he then asked.
"My True Name is...Gareth..." she responded woodenly, still looking rather crazed.
"Gareth?" he blinked in surprise. "Gareth the Gentle of Arthurian legend? But Sir Gareth was said to be male right, so how could it be a woman?"
"That matters not...because even King Arthur was a woman...also, I do not like that nickname 'the Gentle'..." she stated mechanically.
"King Arthur was a woman?" Kotomine's brows knitted, yet instead of pondering the matter, he asked, "If you're truly that Sir Gareth, then how do you have Noble Phantasms for burrowing and intangibility? Those weren't in the legends..."
She raised a palm, showing off a silver ring on her middle finger. "This is the ring given to me by Morgan. After I defeated most of the Knight of Round Table - the fairies of Avalon blessed me, granting me this power to phase through all things."
Kotomine nodded.
The situation became clear. So Sisigou was indeed a very cautious man to specifically use the pseudonym 'Mordred' to mislead him. Fortunately, 'Gareth' was now his ally.
Realizing this situation, that Sisigou probably greatly regretted sending 'Gareth' to scout the Church now.
Shaking his head, he gazed at the black grail solemnly. "Victory and defeat will be decided now," he murmured.
Yet there was something he seemed to have overlooked.
That was, the arcane markings on Mordred's face had undergone slight alterations.
And the Grail she had carefully hidden had closed its first eye while the second had opened...
Comments
JeanMartin Freites
Oh that's very clever on Mordred's part.
