si-mexico Chapter 67 The King's Trio
Chapter 67 The King's Trio
A deathly stillness, like that of an ancient abyss, filled the air.
Sasaki Kojiro's long sword was simply held horizontally in front of him, with the tip slightly upturned, yet it seemed to cut an invisible crack in the air.
Within the rift lies his sword domain; outside the rift, all noise is shut out.
Arthur's dragon eyes caught a highly illogical detail: at the end of the hilt of the Bizen Osafune Nagamitsu sword, there was an extremely thin thread of magic power.
The other end of the thread... is Medea!
Purple magic threads extended from the hilt of the knife, circled the broken stone pillar in the workshop, and ended up in the crystal core of the witch's staff.
"A Servant summoned another Servant?"
Arthur's face showed a hint of surprise. He had originally thought that Sasaki Kojiro was a hidden Master's trump card, the last trump card prepared by the head of the Reiryukan family.
But the thread told him unmistakably that Sasaki Kojiro's Master was Medea herself.
Caster exploited the workshop as a "loophole" in the Holy Grail War, bypassing the Greater Grail's conventional summoning mechanism and forcibly summoning Servants using his own magical power.
"Although this does go against the common sense of the Holy Grail War, for the 'Betrayal Witch,' rules have always been just toys to be crushed."
Medea stood behind Kojiro, her chilling laughter echoing through the collapsing hall.
Her blue eyes gleamed with a mad light amidst the interplay of morning light and magic.
The staff was raised high, and the crystal at its tip radiated a spiderweb of magical threads in all directions, each thread connected to a different spell trigger point.
"Arthur Pendragon, this is the funeral I've prepared for you: not just strength and speed, but also this ultimate technique capable of severing dimensions!"
"I am but an unknown ghost, and it is only through that lady's 'favor' that I have been able to appear in this world."
Sasaki Kojiro stood with his sword drawn, the hem of his dark blue kimono fluttering even without wind.
He doesn't seem like a subordinate servant who was summoned against his will; he seems more like a seeker of truth who voluntarily stepped into the battlefield.
He looked at Arthur, his eyes lacking the madness of Medea and the helplessness of Cú Chulainn, but only a pure and unadulterated warrior's fanaticism.
His blade slowly rose, aiming at Arthur's forehead.
"The hasty battle we fought last time was very beneficial to me."
This time, I have no need to worry about my Master, no need to worry about life or death. Please let me witness your sword light, which is powerful enough to pierce through the stars!
Arthur did not speak, but slowly assumed a stance, his feet shoulder-width apart, holding the Lake Sword in front of him with the tip pointing downwards.
His body was made of real flesh and blood, and the sound of the Dragon's Furnace beating at that moment even drowned out the low hum of the surrounding magic array.
"In that case, let's enjoy ourselves to the fullest as warriors."
The battle erupted instantly.
This is no ordinary battle, but a clash of magic between four people standing at the pinnacle of mythology.
Cú Chulainn's Crimson Spear, Medea's Divine Magic, and Sasaki Kojiro's Swordsmanship—three individuals standing at the pinnacle of their respective fields—made their moves simultaneously at this moment.
The entire Linglong Pavilion workshop seemed to have become a furnace of raging magic. The remaining fragments of the barrier were swept into the sky, where they were torn into even finer powder by the conflicting magic.
Cú Chulainn launched the first attack, letting out a howl as he lowered his body to almost touching the ground, his crimson spear transforming into thousands of crimson afterimages in his hand.
Each strike ignited the runes; wherever the spear tip passed, the crimson characters lingered briefly in the air before exploding.
The dense barrage of runes blocked all possible Arthur's dodge paths from all directions.
Medea hovered in mid-air, the magic array behind her unfolding like a peacock's tail, pouring down densely with "divine magic" powerful enough to raze a city to the ground.
Each shot is imbued with a causal correction bias to ensure a hit.
Amidst the relentless bombardment, Sasaki Kojiro's figure appeared as ghostly as a phantom.
A dark blue kimono flashed in the smoke and dust, and the five-foot-long sword "Monogane-choku" always appeared at the most tricky angle.
Cú Chulainn blocked the front, and his knife cut in from the side and rear.
Medea suppressed the high altitude, and his sword slashed upwards, skimming the ground.
The arc drawn by the long sword created countless "non-existent cracks" in physical space.
"It's too gorgeous, Arthur."
Sajō Aika stood at the edge of the battlefield. The aftershocks that were powerful enough to evaporate rocks were forcibly reversed and dissipated by some invisible force when they came within three feet of her and Ayaka.
It wasn't a barrier, nor a spell; it was simply that "she didn't want the aftershocks to touch her and Ayaka," so the aftershocks deliberately avoided them.
After all, she had promised Arthur to protect Ayaka, and she couldn't go back on her word.
Aige stared intently at Arthur, her cheeks slightly flushed, her sapphire-like eyes filled with infatuation.
"You are the only color in these ruins."
Ayaka was beside her, her fingers still clutching the hem of her sister's clothes. She didn't have the same composure as Aika, but she still forced herself to stay awake despite her fear.
She was watching Arthur's swordplay, recording her opponent's movements, doing the only thing she could do.
In contrast, the father and daughter at Linglong Pavilion were already ashen-faced.
Misaya watched as her prized servant, Cú Chulainn, was overwhelmed and struggling to breathe under Arthur's sword.
Watching the silver knight effortlessly maneuver amidst the encirclement of three heroic spirits.
The head of the Linglong Pavilion watched as his workshop, which he had run for twenty years, crumbled like paper in the clash between the Holy Sword and the Red Spear.
Beyond the heartache, there was an even greater fear of Arthur's near-limitless physical abilities.
He had seen Heroic Spirits before, but this was the first time he had seen a "living" Heroic Spirit.
Heartbeat, breathing, magical circulation—all are alive, all operate under one's own will.
Faced with the combined attack of three top-tier heroic spirits, Arthur displayed a terrifying power.
The Dragon's Furnace was running at full speed; he had no clones, no illusions, only pure speed and power.
He swung his sword with one hand, and the golden light from the sword in the lake not only cut through Medea's lightning and fire, but also shattered the surrounding distorted gravity field.
"It's no use, Medea."
Arthur made an incredible U-turn in mid-air, and the magic power released by the Dragon's Heart instantly generated a devastating shockwave.
"drink--!"
He forcefully rammed his shoulder through Cú Chulainn's red-gun parry, which was powerful enough to penetrate tank armor.
Dragon power surged into his right shoulder, and a dull metallic clang resounded as the shoulder armor collided with the gun barrel.
Then the holy sword swept across, and that seemingly ordinary horizontal slash, empowered by the "God-Slaying" technique, created a vacuum zone capable of severing the connections between all things.
"Ugh!" Cú Chulainn groaned, his entire body thrown back by the terrifying force, crashing through three load-bearing walls before finally coming to a stop.
Immediately afterward, Sasaki Kojiro's long sword was already at his neck.
The moment the attack began, the tip of the blade had already blocked all escape routes.
Sasaki Kojiro spent his entire life trying to understand the relationship between the blade and space; his sword could occupy three different dimensional coordinates at the same time.
"Secret Sword - Swallow Return!"
The three blades that pierced out at the same instant blocked Arthur's escape route from different dimensions, a fatal blow that bypassed all paths and led directly to the result.
However, Arthur merely tilted his head slightly, his dark golden dragon eyes instantly discerning the singularity of overlapping spaces.
"—Sever."
At this moment, Arthur's sword speed surpassed the limits of his nerve reaction. Sword tip against blade tip, the golden holy sword and the silver longsword clashed in the morning light.
The holy sword not only blocked the first strike, but also found the only truth among the three overlapping sword lights.
The sound of metal clashing echoed through the sky as Kojiro's divine sword, powerful enough to cut a swallow in two, was bent by Arthur's spine.
"Impossible... this magical power, this spiritual foundation strength..."
Medea discovered in despair that no matter how much she strengthened the spell, the dragon power within Arthur was expanding and devouring at an incomprehensible speed.
He was not just powerful; he was practically a god walking among humans, possessing his own will.
"The three of you, if this is your limit..." Arthur gripped his sword with both hands, and the dragon's power flowed into the blade from the depths of the furnace.
The sword in the lake emitted a clear, ringing sound, and the scalding magic power supplied by the Dragon's Furnace was already causing the space around the sword to begin to distort.
"Then please leave the stage. This sword strike will end the war of chaos."
Arthur raised his holy sword high, its golden light not only shining on the ruins but also completely stealing away the morning sun.
"Arthur, that's great..." Aika clapped her hands lightly, turned her head to look at Ayaka beside her, her tone filled with a morbid pride.
"Look, Ayaka, this is the strongest light we must protect."
Meanwhile, Misaya from the Linglong Pavilion across the way watched the silver knight slowly raise his sword amidst the golden light, and finally, her scepter fell limply to the ground.
Faced with that oppressive feeling that could even rewrite the laws of the world, any conspiracy or trickery seemed so pale and laughable.