Absorbing Saber

Between heaven and earth, pure white light flooded everything, and sound vanished completely, only slowly returning after a long while.

Huff~

Huff~

Shirou Emiya panted as he looked at the scene before him. Half a corpse was still standing where it had been.

Its upper body looked as though a gigantic sword had slashed diagonally through its waist.

Mercenary Tao’s handsome yet sinister face had long since vanished.

The thunderclouds in the sky had completely dispersed. Above the ruins of Fuyuki City, an enormous ravine stretching tens of thousands of meters had split the ground apart.

Because the city’s foundations had already been shattered, the destruction caused by that strike far exceeded imagination.

But Shirou Emiya had no mind to think about anything else. He clutched his heart, and only then did he feel fresh air rush into his lungs. The world seemed to regain its color.

From the moment Mercenary Tao unleashed that terrifying aura, knocking everyone unconscious before beginning his brutal hunt, Shirou had felt as though the world he knew was about to be completely destroyed by that monster.

This was not the Holy Grail War he had imagined.

Whether it was Rin Tohsaka or Saber, both had told him that the Holy Grail War was merely a war between magi, a special battle hidden behind the ordinary world.

But Mercenary Tao had turned the Holy Grail War into a cruel slaughterhouse.

Remembering Rin Tohsaka and Sakura Matou being struck by lightning, he grew tense again.

"Saber, we need to hurry and check on Tohsaka and…"

Shirou Emiya suddenly froze. In an instant, his heart plunged into the abyss, as if he had seen the most terrifying sight imaginable. He even forgot how to breathe.

He looked at Saber, who stood motionless before him and had not made a single sound since unleashing that strike.

A stabbing pain suddenly pierced his heart.

A powerful panic seized him. Though they had not known each other long, Saber’s integrity and strength had left a deep impression on him.

She had also saved him from danger time and again.

Shirou Emiya almost did not dare approach her.

"Saber?"

"Hey, Saber, are you all right?!"

Shirou Emiya trembled as he came before the young knight. The next moment, his eyes reddened, and tears blurred his vision.

The golden-haired female knight’s hair had come undone and draped over her face. That dazzling golden hair now seemed to have lost its living luster, turning somewhat dim.

Her blue battle dress was soaked in blood. Her silver armor was intact, but it seemed that everything beneath it had long since been destroyed.

"Sa…ber…"

The girl’s jade-green eyes trembled twice. Her eyelids were so heavy that she could barely lift them, but she still forced them open.

Her eyes no longer had the strength to move, and her head was too heavy to raise.

"Shirou…"

Her voice was faint, like the chirping of a cicada.

Shirou Emiya immediately crouched beside Saber, only to hear her whisper.

"Run…"

Shirou Emiya froze, unable to understand what she meant. But in the next instant—

Riiip!

The sound of lightning tearing through the sky rang out once more.

A violent wind, carrying a bone-chilling presence, spread out from before him.

That terrifying aura, that spine-chilling sense of presence…

Shirou Emiya raised his head in disbelief, only to see disgusting buds of flesh rapidly twitching across the mutilated corpse that had only half a body left, tangling together like writhing maggots.

Soon, more and more flesh buds appeared, and the damaged corpse that had been cut in half became whole once again.

Muscles began to reform, blood vessels began to regenerate, and then came the skin, pale flesh gradually appearing over the raw tissue.

"What… what is going on?!"

Shirou Emiya felt despair. Saber’s powerful, resolute strike—the strike that had nearly cost her life—had failed to kill that bastard?!

The world suddenly darkened as thunderclouds completely covered Fuyuki City’s sky.

Thud.

An utterly ordinary footstep rang in Shirou Emiya’s ears like a thunderclap.

The next moment, a pale hand seized his head.

"Heh. You let a powerful king escape, yet why did a weak little thing like you stay behind?"

"Was it because of that dream of becoming an ally of justice, or were you simply… stupid?!"

That unmistakably mocking tone made Shirou Emiya feel as though he had fallen into an icy abyss.

Mercenary Tao… had truly revived!

Bai Cangshu looked at the panel before him.

Trait · Twelve Labors, revival attempts expended (0/11). Please replenish in the space, or wait for magical energy to naturally recover.

A single strike had cut away nine of his revival attempts.

No, it should be said that this strike had completely severed all of Twelve Labors’ revival attempts. The only reason he had not died was his own immortality…

In this world, his immortality was exceptionally remarkable!

Even after being cut down to half a body, he could still revive.

Moreover, because he was currently Assassin, even if his physical body were completely blasted apart, he would not truly count as dead.

Of course, in that situation, whether he could revive would no longer be up to him.

Perhaps he would become something like God Hand: Roland from the One Piece World.

Shirou Emiya instinctively struggled, but the large hand gripping his head did not budge in the slightest. Bai Cangshu looked at the golden-haired knight who still remained standing, admiration visible on his face.

Bai Cangshu casually tossed Shirou Emiya aside, then began gently clapping his hands. Ghost Disc: Shared Fate was a mutually destructive skill capable of locking onto a target within one’s field of vision and fully transmitting all damage suffered onto that target as well.

He had acquired it long ago but had never found a suitable chance to use it. In this world, using his powerful immortality against Saber, who had lost Avalon, meant that Saber’s devastating strike had not only killed Bai Cangshu, but also herself.

He continued applauding—for Saber, for Artoria. This Knight King had truly given him an enormous surprise.

Power on this level could not be explained merely by the Holy Sword of the Stars being strong enough, nor could it be explained by Saber’s sufficiently high Mana Burst rank.

From the perspective of Bai Cangshu’s Vortex of the Heart, there was only one explanation for such an abnormal increase in power.

Or rather, Excalibur itself contained the hearts of this Knight King and the countless people who had died following her.

When that sword descended, it was like the radiant might of Heaven.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Bai Cangshu approached while applauding, then placed one hand on Artoria’s head.

Black power erupted from it.

Yin Spirit Possession!

Bai Cangshu emitted a powerful force of absorption. That strongest of forces against spiritual beings instantly caused Saber, whose consciousness had already fallen into chaos, to begin dissipating.

Shirou Emiya tried to step forward again, but a black hand blade stabbed straight toward his neck.

Shirou Emiya instinctively dodged, yet he found that no matter how he moved, he could not escape that hand blade.

"Stop, Assassin!"

Bai Cangshu’s hand blade stopped just before the boy’s neck. Its sharp force sliced a thin wound across his skin.

Illya had stopped Bai Cangshu.

At that moment, the Knight King’s Servant body finally shattered, turning into a blue-white spirit form that entered Bai Cangshu’s body.

At that instant, Bai Cangshu felt immense satisfaction.

It was not merely that he had gained another bit of soul energy. More than that, he was exhilarated that his goal had been achieved.

You have housed a new spirit entity: Heroic Spirit · Artoria

Soul Energy +6, current: ?

Special Trait · Lesser Grail has begun activating...

Activating...

Before Illya or Shirou Emiya could speak, Bai Cangshu suddenly felt a powerful force emerge within his body.

The vastness of that force far surpassed any individual Heroic Spirit.

Almost instantly, it tore through the already somewhat fractured boundary of Bai Cangshu’s Consciousness Sea.

Pfft!

Blood sprayed from Bai Cangshu’s mouth and nose, yet he felt no pain at all. A fanatical expression appeared on his face as he looked toward the ruins of Ryūdō Temple—or more precisely, toward the Greater Grail there.

It was faster than he had expected. Perhaps because White Face had already fused with Gilgamesh, housing White Face had also housed Gilgamesh’s existence. Or perhaps the shattered ley lines had affected the Greater Grail’s ritual to some extent.

But in any case, Bai Cangshu could see that an ending in which he completely won the Holy Grail War had already appeared…

He spread his arms, allowing the Heroic Spirits to begin piercing holes through the outer wall of his Consciousness Sea.

"It’s here, it’s here. As the Lesser Grail, I summon the Greater Grail to appear… Ha~"