Death God’s Abnormality

On the vast stone plaza, a massive temple weathered by time stood atop Enzō Mountain. The stone steps stretched on in winding succession, while the mountain mist and dew soaked the cloaks of every visitor.

The Heroic Spirit in a purple samurai robe stood with his arms folded, his dark-blue hair tied into a ponytail that hung behind his head. Beside him, leaning against the mountain gate, was an oversized longsword over five shaku in length. Its purple sheath seemed stained with rain and dew, gathering mist around it.

"So many guests have come to this remote mountain gate today. How truly…"

Sasaki Kojirō stopped halfway through his sentence. The people below seemed not to have noticed his presence at all, arriving one after another at the open ground beneath the mountain gate.

That was a dangerous sign. And among the visitors, there were clearly some exceptionally dangerous individuals.

Though Sasaki Kojirō considered himself nothing more than a wandering ghost, unworthy of the title of Heroic Spirit, that vixen had summoned him, so he could only stand guard before this mountain gate.

Hummm—

The famed blade Monohoshizao, over five shaku long, had somehow fallen into his hand. It slowly slid from its sheath, and the inscription Bizen Osafune Nagamitsu was faintly visible along its blade.

Its intense sharpness tore through the hazy rain and mist, and Sasaki Kojirō’s presence swiftly grew more pronounced.

The visitors stood roughly two meters below the mountain gate. This group, dressed in gray-white or yellow-black rain capes, seemed to exchange glances before a petite figure in a yellow raincoat finally stepped forward.

She undid her cloak, revealing carefully arranged golden hair. Her silver-white armor gleamed brightly beneath a blue battle skirt, silver gauntlets covering both hands. Her stance was meticulous, like that of a rigid old-fashioned knight. Yet between her clasped hands was only empty air—nothing could be seen.

Sasaki Kojirō held his longsword low and behind him as he slowly descended from the mountain gate. Only then did he notice the little lock of hair atop the blonde woman’s head standing up on its own, ruining that meticulous rigidity.

"Saber…"

The red-haired youth in a bright yellow raincoat looked worriedly at Artoria. Shirou Emiya, who aspired wholeheartedly to become an Ally of Justice, still could not get used to hiding in the rear while Saber faced all manner of dangerous battles.

It went against his values.

Yet the others beside him seemed unmoved. No one showed any intention of stepping in to replace Saber.

He turned and saw that the muscular white-haired Heroic Spirit had just shifted his gaze away from him. With his arms folded, he merely watched the Ryūdō Temple mountain gate through the rain and mist.

Shirou Emiya then looked toward the handsome man at the back of the group, who was larger than everyone else by a full size. Though there was still much he did not understand, he vaguely sensed that this man was the one truly directing everything within their group.

Whether it was the mage calling himself Qiu Luo from Rin’s side, Rin herself, or this white-haired Heroic Spirit, they had all watched for his reaction before acting.

Moreover, Shirou Emiya remembered clearly that this man had appeared near his house the previous night and fought someone…

"What are you worried about?"

Rin Tohsaka frowned at Shirou Emiya’s distracted appearance, inexplicably irritated.

"Saber is the finest Servant. She isn’t some little girl who needs to hide behind you!"

As though to underscore her words, Excalibur, concealed by Invisible Air, gave a low roar before Saber swung it fiercely. The rain and mist exploded apart as the tremendous force let out a thunderous howl.

Sasaki Kojirō moved lightly, retreating several steps in an instant. He sharply realized that she held a weapon in both hands—one he could not see.

Qiu Luo lowered his head to look at the communicator in his hand, reading the updates White Face had instructed his team members to keep sending. His heart was tangled with indecision.

His team had already confirmed that White Face had somehow gained Gilgamesh’s trust.

Compared to Saber, who could not receive any replenishment of mana, Gilgamesh was undoubtedly overwhelmingly powerful in terms of stats and parameters—not only in this Holy Grail War, but in this entire deployment mission.

Did he truly have to make an enemy of a Heroic Spirit like Golden Flash…?

Yet on the other hand, he had accepted Mercenary Tao’s "invitation to cooperate." If he entertained any other thoughts now, Mercenary Tao would surely hunt him down.

Qiu Luo looked at Mercenary Tao, who stood at the rear of the group amid the rain and mist as though his mind had drifted far away. His expression flickered uncertainly.

Meanwhile, Bai Cangshu sat within the enormous Consciousness Space. Perched high upon the Throne of the Heart, he carefully examined the fragment of a spirit body before him.

This was probably the first spirit-body fragment to appear in this space, where even spirit bodies could revive infinitely.

It came from the reincarnator capable of releasing a Zanpakutō.

Satoru Gojo leaned back in midair with his hands behind his head. He floated slightly below the Throne of the Heart, clicking his tongue repeatedly as he claimed that this bizarre Consciousness Space was using such an arrangement to imply Bai Cangshu’s primary status.

"I went through quite a bit of trouble to snatch that chunk of corpse from that guy’s mouth, you know. And now you’re looking down on it from up there. Tsk~"

Satoru Gojo was never serious, so Bai Cangshu automatically filtered out his various emotions. At those words, he looked toward the corner farthest below him.

A once-enormous spirit creature had nearly condensed into a physical body. The Death God from the Naruto World should have been a special divine spirit entity, something akin to a deity born from primitive faith and worship or naturally formed.

Yet at this moment, its body had shrunk to just over two meters tall. Its Hannya mask exuded a sense of reality utterly incompatible with this Consciousness Space, as though… it were a real mask, a tangible physical object that had entered this Consciousness Space.

Moreover, its short ceremonial blade had grown to over a meter in length, transforming into a white-sheathed tachi.

"That thing devoured an ice-blue-haired woman who suddenly fell in not long ago, and it became like this."

Millennium Worm, dressed in a black trench coat, spoke up to explain as well.

There were now hundreds of thousands of spirit bodies within Bai Cangshu’s Consciousness Space. Yet after prolonged warfare, these spirits had gradually begun to form different factions.

As the spirit body that had cooperated with Bai Cangshu the longest and gained independent consciousness first, Satoru Gojo was the most compatible with him. Furthermore, because he had previously fought Bai Cangshu for control of the body and had even once sat upon the Throne of the Heart, he was vaguely the faction closest to Bai Cangshu.

Millennium Worm, having learned of Mercenary Tao’s terrifying nature, had also been persuaded by Satoru Gojo’s theory. He wanted to rely on Mercenary Tao growing stronger so that he could be granted a physical body and have his soul return to the world, achieving a different kind of rebirth.

Thus, Millennium Worm also belonged to the Pro-Bai Faction.

A little farther away stood Uchiha Madara in red armor. Though he had cooperated with Bai Cangshu several times, he had always been arrogant, believing that Bai Cangshu had only absorbed him into this space through a clever trick.

He believed Bai Cangshu had yet to witness his prime and was unworthy of dancing beside him. However, he essentially acquiesced to the matter of resurrection.

Thus, he was the type who would cooperate with Bai Cangshu but would not actively aid him. At present, he occupied a considerable expanse of space by himself. Quite a few spirit bodies gathered around him, yet none attacked him.

In the opposite corner from Uchiha Madara, Namikaze Minato curiously studied the figure that had finally appeared on the throne hanging high in the sky.

He could not defeat Uchiha Madara, but spirit bodies in this space were clearly immortal. Even if they were killed, they would revive in the River of Yellow Springs.

Namikaze Minato was still among those seeking to understand the situation.

Near him stood Guardian Spirit Lu Bu, who had only recently been absorbed into the space. This formidable military general had lost his mount while being absorbed by the reincarnator, weakening his strength, and had then been directly suppressed by Bai Cangshu. Thus, he merely stood coldly in a corner.

With a casual wave, he cut down swathes of yin spirits. Yet stronger, more evolved yin spirits would immediately launch attacks against him in return.

Bai Cangshu had a clear grasp of the hierarchy here. He raised his hand, and an intense ripple began spreading from it.

"Come here!"