A one-man army. Immortality.
That is the general image of the Dead Apostles who rank among the Twenty-Seven Ancestors.
Those who exert the power of a legion on their own, or those who truly move as a literal 'legion.'
While the difference in ability between individuals can be as vast as the heavens and the earth, Vlov and the Marshal of Magic generally belong to the former, while Nrvnqsr Chaos and the Black Wing Lord, Gransurg Blackmore, belong to the latter.
There were those who utilized mass-warfare through countless familiars, vampiric beasts, and related lifeforms, while others leaned heavily toward orthodox magecraft.
Nrvnqsr Chaos, naturally, fell into the latter category of legions. Even among the myriad Dead Apostles, he was an outlier—a creature who had remodeled his own body into a single Bounded Field and a colony of organisms. In terms of sheer singularity, he was comparable to Zepia Eltnam Oberon, who had once transformed himself into a 'phenomenon' or 'concept.'
...Naturally, since he had reconstructed himself into a collective, there was no hope of victory unless one could obliterate all 666 beasts of the 'Lair of the Beast King' simultaneously. Such a feat would be impossible for anyone who lacked the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception to perceive 'death' itself, or a level of power comparable to Arcueid Brunestud.
Well, to put it another way, even a monster like that is helpless before Arcueid Brunestud or an individual who can perceive death. In fact, that was how he met his end.
There exists another immortal that can be considered a 'legion' of its own.
Though, 'immortal plant' might be a more fitting description than 'immortal person.'
After the previous Einnashe—an entity so powerful it could repel even Arcueid Brunestud with a suggestion—perished, a tree sucked its blood and transformed into a blood-sucking species. That is the creature in question.
An existence that blankets an entire country with its flora, surviving by draining the blood of every living thing within its reach. It boasted a level of threat so high that even the Holy Church had half-abandoned the idea of subjugating it due to severe casualties and various political complications.
Even Executors, who are more specialized than anyone in hunting vampires, expressed reluctance. The consensus was that if it had to be dealt with, a card of the Burial Agency's caliber—the Holy Church's ultimate weapons—would have to be played... However, just like the case of Nrvnqsr Chaos, there existed a person who could be considered equivalent to the Burial Agency, and an individual who could act while saying 'to hell with political concerns.' And so, it was killed... or rather, expunged.
And now, those two existences once called immortal began to clash with one another.
"It is a grand sight."
"Grand indeed."
Though they couldn't show the same level of variety as before, it was a cycle of monsters rising endlessly from the mud, and vampiric plants and spores swelling in number by sucking the blood of those very beasts. Meanwhile, other blood-sucking creatures bit or trampled the plants to drain them in turn...
Watching this battle that resembled an infinite game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, Tristan chuckled hollowly.
"Even in the Age of Gods, it was rare to see such monsters. Phantasmal Beasts that resurrect infinitely and a sentient forest that drains blood... Master, it seems you have been fighting against things like this all along."
"Why get sentimental now? Compared to types like the Wild Hunt or Nikola Tesla, these things are nothing."
"A man who is simply strong and a monster that is strong in such a troublesome manner evoke different impressions. In the first place... can these things even be categorized as living creatures?"
"At least not Nrvnqsr's side. It has death, so it's 'alive' in a sense, but strictly speaking, he's an entity that has half-stepped out of the category of 'life.'"
Having said that, I took out a prana receiver and hurled it toward a wolf that had just formed from the mud.
No matter how endless a fight may seem, there is always an end, and we had to be the ones surviving it. The tipping of a balanced scale begins with a single small weight. Thus, the fight that was losing its equilibrium began to shift from a stalemate into Einnashe’s favor.
Pop, pop! With the sound of bursting air, dozens of spores erupted from the trees, covering the beasts. These parasitic spores burrowed into blood vessels, eyes, and bones, taking root and draining internal fluids. They demonstrated a terrifying rate of growth.
Before the fallen beasts could even revert to mud, their life-sustaining fluids were drained and repurposed for further reproduction... Watching the scene, which looked like a high-speed time-lapse of plant growth, Nrvnqsr's beasts began to hesitate and retreat.
"Where do you think you're going? Bansho Ten’in!"
The beasts attempting to flee were pulled back by an invisible gravitational force. They were either pierced by Einnashe’s vines, swallowed whole by plant-life shaped like Venus flytraps, or covered in spores to be converted into nourishment for the forest.
At that moment, a tiny sprout bloomed from the first Einnashe seed I had thrown.
"Master, something has grown over there."
"It's finally starting. So, this will be the heart of it... I wish I had secured higher ground... Well, I suppose it doesn't matter if I just lift it with Chibaku Tensei?"
"Pardon?"
"I told you, it’s impossible for even a Mage Corps to use magecraft inside the Vampiric Forest. Do you think the Crusaders would push their regular troops into here?"
"...Likely so. However, they will probably stop after a few attempts. They may be mad, but they are not stupid."
"Exactly. The Servants will come... and this is an attempt at something."
Tristan shook his head at those words and said,
"Even if we use the vampiric species to force them to withdraw, it seems the corruption phenomenon will still occur."
"We're not killing them. We're capturing them alive."
"...What?"
"If the Servant's 'death' is the trigger, then capturing them is the best solution, isn't it? And the territory of the Vampiric Forest... is the most suitable place to capture an opponent in various ways. How much of an advantage do you think an Archer has against other Servants in a forest like this, Tristan?"
"Excluding Assassins, no other Servant would have an advantage over an Archer here."
"Right? My only concern is a Caster's wide-area bombardment... but magecraft can't be used here either. Even if it's magecraft cast from the outside, its power will be diminished. And any Noble Phantasm strikes from a Saber or Rider can be blocked if I'm here."
Therefore, what matters is...
"Protecting this core safely."
A small fruit, the size of a cherry, had grown on the vine before we knew it.
That tiny stem, the small root below it, and the tens of thousands of roots connected to it were concentrating all the fluids of every living thing in the forest into this single point.
And then, it happened.
BWAAAAAH——!
BWAA-BA-BA BWAAAAAH——!!!!
"...What is that sound, Tristan?"
"The trumpets of war. It is one of the Crusader squads. Though it's called a squad, in reality... it's a formation just one step below a legion, consisting of about 5,000 men. We can consider ourselves surrounded."
"Phew, so it's 5,000 to start with."
"About 1/200th of their total scale."
The Crusade was quite literally an army of a million. Even if 5,000 were wiped out at once... to use Tristan’s phrasing, that was no different from the casualties suffered in the daily siege battles. If they succeeded in capturing a Servant and the Master of Chaldea with that much force, it would be a bargain for them.
"Deus vult! Deus vult! Deus vult!!!!"
"Don't they ever get tired of it... those fanatics."
"Regardless, they won't be able to move easily within Einnashe’s Bounded Field. Tristan, keep those centurion-level types in check with your arrows. I'll handle the regular troops."
"Understood, Master."
*
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
"Just give me an explanation! Why do you say Karma-san has to die!"
[Because he has sinned. For our order of assassins, and for the protection of the Human Order, he has committed a mortal sin that can never be forgiven.]
"So I'm asking, what is it...?!"
[I cannot say.]
"OH, SERIOUSLYYYYY!!!!"
"Se-Senpai! Please calm down!"
Ritsuka Fujimaru, having encountered a Hassan-i-Sabbah with an unusually large, grotesquely shaped arm.
She exploded.
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