"It is finally complete! My Golem, Keter Malkuth!"
"So you have finally finished it, Caster. Was the core sufficient?"
"I required a core with at least a century's worth of Magic Crests and an adequate circuit to support its magical energy capacity. What you provided was most helpful."
"I feel for Roche... but to grasp victory, we must not be choosy about our methods..."
To complete Golem Keter Malkuth, the Caster of Black had gone as far as using his own Master, Roche Frain Yggdmillenia, as the magical core. It was the Noble Phantasm that the Caster of Black had failed to complete during his lifetime.
An imitation of the Primordial Man (Adam), it was an autonomous Reality Marble that could continuously overwrite the world as long as it existed.
It functioned independently of its creator, moving even if Caster himself was annihilated. Furthermore, it received the blessing of the earth; as long as its feet remained on the ground, it could never be destroyed. Every hour after its birth, its size would double, reaching a maximum height of approximately one thousand meters.
"Born from the Earth (Mother), swallowing the Wind (Intellect), filled with Water (Life). If one brandishes Fire (Weapon), the Plague (Demon) shall depart. Righteousness leads one's blood toward Purity. Your name, bearing the Holy Spirit (Ruach), shall be 『Adam (The Primordial Man)』!"
The strongest golem—the completed masterpiece of history’s greatest golemancer—rose and roared.
"Is that it? That so-called 'perfect' Primordial Man? How hideous."
"Who are you?"
"No need for you to know."
With those words, Zod.05 appeared before the Black Faction. Dismissing the Golem Keter Malkuth as a wretched, unsightly thing, he seized the massive construct and ascended toward the sky.
Higher, still higher! Higher yet!! He continued his ascent, dragging the slowly expanding Keter Malkuth toward the void of space.
Even as they breached the Earth's stratosphere and reached the vacuum of the cosmos, he remained perfectly unfazed. Normally, any living being would perish in space without specialized equipment or a pressure suit... yet Zod was more than fine; he was utterly unaffected. With raw strength, he gripped the ever-growing Golem Keter Malkuth and tore it in half. The golem let out a silent roar of agony—impossible to hear in the vacuum—before the ultimate golem dissipated into nothingness.
Leaving the bifurcated and ash-oxidizing Keter Malkuth behind, Zod accelerated his flight to return to Earth.
.
.
.
"Tremble! Despair in your shivering fear! Behold my Aerial Garden! Hanging Gardens of Babylon!! Hehe... Huhahaha! Hahahahaha!!"
The impregnable aerial fortress. A product of the Age of Gods. An unprecedented Great Noble Phantasm that surpassed even the highest-ranked 'Temple.' Its true identity was a floating fortress of unimaginable scale. It was the strongest and largest Noble Phantasm she boasted. The reason its category was Anti-World was due to it being a massive Bounded Field... and the strongest tool she wielded, designed with functionalities that defied common sense.
This Noble Phantasm was currently bombarding the Yggdmillenia fortress of the Black Faction. Now that Zod had dragged Keter Malkuth into space, there was no longer any means to keep the Hanging Gardens in check. Its scale was so absurd that it could remain pristine even after a direct hit from an Anti-Divine Noble Phantasm like Vasavi Shakti or an Anti-Country level Anti-Army Noble Phantasm like Stella.
Furthermore, the Hanging Gardens possessed an interception magecraft system called Tiamutum Umu. These were eleven massive jet-black metal plates, each over twenty meters long, surrounding and protecting the fortress. They were Semiramis's greatest masterpieces, modeled after the eleven beasts born from the legendary monster Tiamat.
Each plate fired 'Anti-Army class' magical light bullets with power equivalent to a 'Meteorite' (!!!). While it was a simple interception magecraft that overwhelmed through the sheer volume of non-elemental magical energy, the terrifying part was that it was an EX-rank mystery that could not be resisted even with A-rank Magic Resistance. If six plates concentrated fire, they could pour down like a waterfall. A simultaneous volley from all eleven was barely offset even by the True Name Release of Balmung.
Moreover, even if a black plate was destroyed, it could be restored over time. Countless magical bombardments began to rain down indiscriminately from those black plates upon the Yggdmillenia castle.
No matter how many Noble Phantasms the Servants of Black unleashed, there was no path to victory. This wasn't just breaking the rules; it was a cheat beyond all cheats.
Meanwhile, the Servants of Red relentlessly pressured their counterparts from the Black Faction.
Chiron, the Archer of Black, fell under the indiscriminate violence and savage hacking attacks of Cu Chulainn Alter. Compounded by the Hydra venom that the Mad King had previously coated his weapons with—the very source of the original poison that once forced Chiron to relinquish his immortality as a Divine Spirit to find release from eternal agony—he could not withstand the pain coursing through his core and eventually withdrew to the Throne.
Astolfo, the Rider of Black, soared through the skies on his Phantasmal Beast, Hippogriff, only to be turned into a pincushion by Atalante's Phoebus Catastrophe and the Tiamutum Umu interception from the Hanging Gardens. He was reduced to ash and dissipated by the Anti-Fortress level fire.
Jack the Ripper, the Assassin of Black, had her psyche shattered by Caster Shakespeare’s Noble Phantasm, First Folio. It reproduced the most mentally damaging scenes from the target's life, and through Shakespeare’s words, instilled a despair designed to break the hearts of Heroic Spirits. Unable to recover, she gave up on her manifestation and withdrew. As for Avicebron, the Caster of Black, he had already retreated long ago after his masterpiece was so pointlessly lost.
"Damn it!! Curse it all!! These useless things! What on earth is that flying fortress in the enemy camp?! That's a foul! What is Ruler even doing?!"
Darnic was enraged and beyond fury as he looked at the crumbling ruins of the Yggdmillenia castle and the corpses of the Black Faction Masters strewn about. His scenario had been perfect. He had summoned Vlad III, the Lord of Impalement, who received the ultimate fame and land modifiers in Romania. Victory should have been assured. However, two variables had ruined his grand design: the existence of Zod and the summoning of Semiramis.
Furious that these two elements were sabotaging his lifelong plan, Darnic looked at his Lancer. Sensing something ominous, the Lancer of Black attempted to withdraw his physical form immediately, but—
"By the first Command Spell, I order you. 'Heroic Spirit Vlad Tepes, activate your Noble Phantasm, 『Legend of Dracula (The Fresh Blood Succession)』!'"
"By the second Command Spell, I order you. 'Survive until you seize the Greater Grail!'"
"By the third Command Spell, I order you. 'Etch my existence into your very soul. Lancer!'"
"You bastard!!!!!! DARNIC!!!!!!!!"
Vlad III screamed and hurled his spear at his Master, but it never reached its target. Using the third Command Spell and his own magecraft, Darnic fused his soul with the Servant's. As a result, a nameless vampire was born—neither Vlad III nor Darnic—obsessed only with the Grail due to Darnic’s tenacity and the weight of the Command Spells.
"How absolutely revolting..."
Zod, having returned from dealing with Keter Malkuth, clicked his tongue at the monster that was once Darnic. He fired his Heat Vision, but the creature scattered into a swarm of bats and reformed, mocking him. Zod tried to freeze him with Cold Breath, but the vampire shattered the ice and lunged back at him.
Right then—
"As the Ruler of this Holy Grail War! In the name of Jeanne d'Arc, I shall exercise my Command Spells! All Servants, strike down that nameless vampire that was once Vlad III!"
She activated God's Resolution—the ultimate authority of a Ruler—which allowed her two Command Spells over every Servant participating in the war. She targeted all the Servants of the enemy faction.
"Hear this, all Servants! When I give the signal, everyone except Caster and Assassin, unleash your Noble Phantasms!"
At Zod's command, the Servants nodded. Normally, the nameless vampire would have begun feeding on surrounding life forms to create a legion of blood-starved ghouls, but thanks to the surprise attack on the fortress, the homunculi and Masters were already dead. There was no one left to infect, so the damage was contained for now. However, a village was only a few kilometers away. If he reached it, a catastrophe would begin. He had to be terminated quickly.
Zod, however, did not do it himself. While the combined strike of the Servants could easily annihilate a vampire of Dracula’s caliber, such an explosion would likely destroy the Greater Grail hidden in the castle's basement.
'That simply won't do...'
Zod didn't care about the consequences for the outside world. Whether Romania became a land of vampires or not meant nothing to him, as long as he claimed the Grail. Entrusting the aftermath to the Servants, Zod descended into the depths where the Greater Grail lay. There, he discovered the Subcategory Greater Grail.
"Hoh... So this is the Subcategory Greater Grail that Darnic spent decades replicating? I can feel that it is far superior to a mere minor Grail..."
Zod smiled thinly as he reached out. As he began to absorb its essence, the Grail emitted a violent radiance, which eventually turned into a murky, dark, and ominous aura that surged into his body.
THOOM...! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
A brilliant light erupted from Zod, soon replaced by a sinister pulsation as the power integrated into him.
"Hehe... Hahaha! My power has grown even greater... Hahaha!! Kuhahaha!! I've never felt this refreshed and peak-condition in my life! It's truly the greatest High—!!"
Like a vampire from some bizarre adventure, he performed the grotesque act of piercing and scratching his own skull with his fingers. Having acquired super-regeneration from absorbing the Greater Grail, he committed such bizarre antics without hesitation.
"I order you with the Command Spells... Use your Noble Phantasms!!"
Using the Command Spells he had seized from Shirou, Zod ordered a total assault. Every Servant except Semiramis and Shakespeare prepared their final strikes.
"Know the mercy of the King of Gods. Annihilation is but a single stroke. O Indra, behold. Burn them away, 『Vasavi Shakti (O Sun, Abide to Death)』! ...It is inevitable."
"Xanthos, Balios, Pedasos! Let's go! Run with your lives! My life is like a shooting star! 『Troias Tragoidia (Troy's Tragic Comedia)』! Hah!"
"This is the demonic sword that destroyed my father! 『Clarent Blood Arthur (Rebellion Against My Beautiful Father)』!"
"I offer this to the two great gods. 『Phoebus Catastrophe (The Arrow-Letter of Entreaty)』!"
"Wrath—the demonic spear of the polar extreme! 『Gáe Bolg (Spear of Death that Pierces and Gouges)』!!"
The strikes of all the Servants converged into one, wiping out the nameless vampire, the Yggdmillenia castle, and the surrounding area in an explosion that produced a massive mushroom cloud.
"Hehe, now that is quite the scenery."
Emerging leisurely from the heart of that nuclear-scale explosion, Zod stepped out with a refreshed smile, savoring the power of the (Subcategory) Greater Grail now flowing within him.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register