Holy Grail War

Buzz—BOOM!

A scarlet aura wrapped around Bai Cangshu like a cocoon, then erupted with a thunderous blast in an instant.

Rin Tohsaka’s eyes rolled white as the overwhelming aura crashed into her mind. She felt as though she had been swallowed by the sea in an instant, and her consciousness went black. Thud…

Shirou Emiya’s eyes also turned white, but his mind was far tougher. He barely held himself together as he bit hard enough to split the corner of his mouth, using the pain to keep himself from passing out.

"What is this… ah…"

The world seemed to twist before his eyes, while the panicked people in the distance fell in rows like stalks of straw.

As far as the eye could see, only a handful of people remained standing on the completely flattened ground.

Shirou Emiya felt as though he stood at the edge of a terrifying storm, the impact making it nearly impossible for him to breathe on his own.

The petite girl knight in a blue dress and silver armor radiated a powerful sense of calm. Saber shifted her footing and stepped in front of Shirou Emiya.

"Shirou, take a deep breath. This isn’t wind. It won’t suffocate you."

Saber’s emerald eyes fixed on the man standing in the distance. He was tall and straight, standing proudly in a posture that was almost distorted.

Terrifying aura spread and battered the surroundings in wave after wave, centered on him.

It almost swept across half the city.

Every ordinary person within sight had been knocked unconscious by this excessively powerful aura. Other than Heroic Spirit Servants, only a scattered few strong-willed individuals remained standing.

Souichirou Kuzuki instinctively stood in front of Medea. Sasaki Kojirō’s injuries had already been healed by Medea, and he now stepped out from behind them, drawing Monohoshizao and holding it upright before him.

The sharp intent of his sword seemed to slice through the waves, slightly easing the pressure on Medea and Souichirou Kuzuki.

"Who the hell is this monster?!"

Medea’s voice was somewhat strained.

Heroic Spirit Emiya stood just as straight, his fitted combat clothes snapping violently beneath the impact of Conqueror’s Haki.

He flashed forward first, moving with incredible speed as he carried Rin Tohsaka farther away, to Rider’s side.

The weakened purple-haired girl, Sakura Matou, had somehow still retained consciousness. That made Heroic Spirit Emiya seem to think of something.

But the situation was dire, leaving him no time to continue thinking. Medusa merely nodded at him.

At this moment, the girl whose entire body shone with the light of Command Spells, along with the unprecedentedly terrifying Assassin standing in the field, made one thing perfectly clear.

I will crush all of you here and end the Holy Grail War.

Though they could not understand his arrogance, combined with the earlier abnormalities, the Servants had no choice but to join forces and prioritize "expelling" this man.

Before this, these Masters and Heroic Spirits had all encountered Mercenary Tao. Some had been attacked, while others had been threatened.

Now that they were joining forces against a common enemy, there was little obstacle to doing so.

Saber advanced against the hurricane-like Conqueror’s Haki. This surging aura could not affect her in the slightest.

Among these Heroic Spirits, she was probably the most compatible with this kind of aura-based ability.

She had once been the king who ruled England. She lacked no aura herself.

"Nameless Assassin, state your true name."

"Such aura could never belong to an unknown Martial Artist lost to history."

Saber held her sword in both hands and advanced toward Bai Cangshu with the flawless gait of a knight.

Seeing that almost no ordinary people remained standing in his field of vision, Bai Cangshu felt thoroughly satisfied. A battle of this level did not need the irritating cries of insects interfering with it.

Hearing Saber’s question, he shook his head, his glowing white hair whipping wildly.

"Mercenary Tao, of course, is… Mercenary Tao!"

As though answering his own words, Bai Cangshu suddenly pushed off with both feet. His entire body vanished like a crane, and in the next instant, he was already in the sky hundreds of meters away.

With both arms spread like a crane unfurling its wings, he imitated the martial arts combat style of Mercenary Tao, his "teacher" from memory.

With the enhancement of Vortex of the Heart, he could almost experience the effects of the third-stage Limit Break Spiral in advance.

The people who appeared in his memories could also be simulated.

Whoosh!

The sound of his body cutting through the air became light and swift. In what seemed like an instant, Bai Cangshu appeared before Saber, his joined fingers forming a sword, black as ink.

Pfft!

His sword fingers thrust out, and black light flashed before vanishing.

Saber raised both hands to block!

Clang!

The sword light grazed Saber’s gauntlet and plunged into the ground with a dull thud.

Saber’s eyes trembled. The opponent was incredibly fast. In that one instant of blocking, the air before her had already been emptied.

Saber did not wait for his figure to settle within her sight. Relying on instinct, she took a step back and slashed fiercely with both hands gripping her sword.

BOOM!

As the sword light tore through the air, Saber suddenly felt the sword in her hands grow heavy.

The next moment, she saw Mercenary Tao make an eerie tap in midair, his body floating upward instead of falling. He had stepped directly onto her blade.

Following the momentum of her sword, he landed lightly on the ground, completely unaffected by the force of her slash.

So this was a Martial Artist…

Over her long career of battle, Saber had naturally encountered opponents skilled in such techniques. She immediately stepped forward, gripping her sword hilt with her gauntleted hands and smashing it toward his chest.

That blow had originally been aimed at his face, but the difference in their heights was too great, so she changed targets at the last moment.

Pfft!

A hand moved after her yet arrived first, blocking Saber’s sword hilt and immediately gripping it.

Terrifying force erupted in an instant.

Saber’s expression changed as magical energy burst forth.

Bai Cangshu felt a horrifying force erupt from his left palm in an instant. Golden-red light exploded, and he took several steps back with the force.

He "just happened" to evade Heroic Spirit Emiya’s twin blades sweeping at him from behind.

Bai Cangshu strolled as if through a leisurely courtyard, dodging Heroic Spirit Emiya’s swordsmanship one strike at a time, yet his gaze remained fixed on Saber.

Artoria gripped her sword in both hands, as if she had made some kind of decision. In the next instant, she raised it high, and terrifying power began to rise exponentially.

She was going to release her Noble Phantasm!

At that moment, Bai Cangshu once again felt that threat of life and death.

Excalibur was one of the few Noble Phantasms capable of killing a user of Twelve Labors in a single blow.

The reason was unknown, but once struck, one would lose multiple lives at once.

Without question, among the Heroic Spirits present, this was the ability he feared most.

ROAR!

Suddenly, a terrifying roar erupted.

The violently exploding shockwave caught Heroic Spirit Emiya off guard and blasted him away.

Heroic Spirit Emiya reacted quickly as well, bringing his twin blades before him to block part of the damage. As his body flew through the air, a shadow covered him.

It was Mercenary Tao. So fast!

Moving in a way that utterly defied the laws of physics, Mercenary Tao instantly closed in on the blasted Heroic Spirit Emiya from midair, seized his head with one hand, and violently hurled him toward Saber.