Mercenary Tao vs. Heracles

The Twelve Labors, condensed from the myth of the great hero Heracles completing twelve nearly impossible challenges.

It was the Noble Phantasm Heracles possessed after descending as a Berserker, and its effects could be broadly divided into three parts.

First, this Noble Phantasm resembled a Conceptual Armament. Though it had no physical armor, the Twelve Labors protected Berserker like an invisible layer of armor. Any attack below B-rank could not affect him in any way.

Moreover, this defense functioned as an immunity. You could not break through it by repeatedly attacking the same spot and accumulating damage or fatigue.

Second, the Twelve Labors possessed a stackable passive resurrection ability. This was resurrection in the truest sense: once he was genuinely killed, it triggered automatically and revived him without needing to be activated. After accumulating eleven resurrections, one would have to kill Heracles twelve times to truly defeat this powerful hero.

Third, against damage he had already suffered, the Twelve Labors would specifically develop resistance and immunity. In other words, Heracles could not be harmed multiple times in the same way. Originally, Heracles himself also possessed the ability to see through every attack he had witnessed, but the madness of the Berserker class had sealed that ability.

Without question, this B-rank Noble Phantasm possessed extraordinarily powerful performance because it represented the heroic deeds of the demigod Heracles, a hero of the Age of Gods.

Bai Cangshu kicked aside the chunks of Ice Demon Qiu Luo’s corpse on the ground. Rin Tohsaka and Heroic Spirit Emiya exchanged a glance, then both pulled back.

They were wary of Mercenary Tao, that killing-intent-filled madman, but the pitch-black, violent giant who resembled a demon god also made their hearts tremble. It could not have been better for the two of them to become entangled now.

Bai Cangshu’s black hair fluttered in the wind as white light shone from within his body. In an instant, that white radiance enveloped his entire body, while the long hair behind him gradually turned a fluorescent white. Crystalline gleams, like scattered motes of light, drifted down from the tips of his hair.

"Phew…"

Bai Cangshu breathed out slowly, as though expelling every last trace of breath from his chest. There were no longer any impurities from the outside world within his body. His inner cavities completely closed, and even his cells seemed to seal shut.

This state lasted less than an instant. The next moment, every cell in his body opened, and his fluorescent-white hair spread in all directions like octopus tentacles.

Semi-transparent, fluorescent-white vortex-like tendrils began extending outward, touching the massive magic circle carved into the cave. It was as though dark blood specks that had settled for centuries rose into the air.

Mana took shape in the air, and a towering presence suddenly emerged from the earth veins.

That was the trace of the Greater Grail, but Bai Cangshu’s attention was not on it at the moment.

His eyes opened, filled entirely with fluorescent white. The pitch-black Berserker was reflected within them like an insect preserved in amber.

You have activated Noble Phantasm: Vortex of the Heart

As though sensing an intense threat, Berserker turned and let out a violent roar.

Roar!

A Blazing White shockwave took tangible form and crashed toward Bai Cangshu.

Bai Cangshu lowered his eyelids, his lips parting slightly. He held two fingers together on his right hand like a crane’s beak and thrust them forward with a soft puff.

The movement was incredibly slight, as though he had only moved a few centimeters.

Yet a clear crane cry rang through the air. Transparent force pierced the air, taking the distinct, sharp shape of a crane’s beak.

Puff!

The Blazing White shockwave was directly pierced through by the force. The entire wall of air was punched through at its center and vanished in an instant.

The maddened Heracles could not notice such exquisite control of martial force. Even if he could, the sliver of rationality he retained would have been incapable of reacting.

With almost impossible rationality, this Berserker had preserved a tiny fragment of his sanity. Yet that sanity and gentleness had all been left for that petite silver-haired girl.

Boom, boom, boom…

Heracles charged through the cave, the surging power he stirred up warping the surrounding air. The cave that Qiu Luo had frozen began collapsing once more.

He reached Bai Cangshu in a few strides, and the enormous Nameless Axe-Sword in his hand smashed down like a wall.

Bai Cangshu twisted aside. Heracles’s movements were completely laid bare before him, and he stepped past the axe-sword by a hair.

As the axe-sword cleaved into the ground and its immense force triggered another wave of tremors, Bai Cangshu had already pulled away. His right hand formed a blade, covered in pitch-black Armament Haki as Satsui no Hado suddenly circulated.

Keen—

Satsui: Great Demonic Spear!

Bang!

Bai Cangshu drove a piercing hand directly into Heracles’s unguarded ribs. The impact scattered in all directions, yet no blood appeared.

Heracles’s body only shifted slightly before he immediately turned his head. Red light glowed in his eyes as he fixed them firmly on Bai Cangshu.

Roar!

As he spun violently, his fist and axe-sword swept out together.

Boom!

This strike was no longer a slash. It was a crushing blow that treated the entire space as its target!

There was no room to evade at close range. Bai Cangshu did not use Wind Demon either. He overlapped his hands before himself, and at the instant the violent force struck, he drifted backward through the air.

Force Dissipation!

With Bai Cangshu’s current level of Martial Arts Mastery, coupled with physical qualities comparable to a dragon beast, the Force Dissipation he could achieve far exceeded anything that Sea Emperor could have imagined.

Bai Cangshu lightly stepped through the air, and dozens of white ripples spread outward as he drifted down from above.

Heracles grew even more violent.

Roar!

Boom!

Black light exploded. The glacier atop the cave shattered in an instant, and countless rocks crashed down once again.

Yet in this environment, Bai Cangshu remained standing where he was.

Even after being layered with Satsui no Hado and Armament Haki, a C-rank ability like Magic Spear still could not affect his body in the slightest.

So this was a Conceptual Armament?

What level of ability did a B-rank attack in the Fate World correspond to in the Space?

And…

Whoosh!

Bai Cangshu’s figure vanished in an instant, moving as fast as a beam of light.

Heracles reacted with astonishing speed. With reflexes utterly mismatched to his enormous body, he suddenly threw a downward punch. The moment Bai Cangshu appeared, it happened to smash down directly above him.

Bai Cangshu’s expression remained calm. Was this the so-called Mind’s Eye ability? It was practically superhuman combat intuition.

Bai Cangshu wanted to see through all of his opponent’s abilities, so he did not dodge. In an instant, he raised his hand. Golden qi whistled from his fingertips, then shot into Heracles’s eye socket from point-blank range in the next moment.

Puff!

At the same time, Bai Cangshu was pierced through by an incomparably violent force and smashed straight into the ground.

Rumble!

The ground shattered completely, and the mountain collapsed. Flame Dragon Scales and Armament Haki both broke apart around Bai Cangshu’s waist and abdomen, leaving behind a massive wound through which his twisted intestines could vaguely be seen.