Chapter 230
"What... was that just now?"
Gordes swallowed hard, his voice dry.
"I... I don’t know."
Celenike shook her head blankly.
"That was AMAZING!"
Astolfo suddenly screamed, grabbing Caules by the shoulders and bouncing up and down with him.
"Did you see that?! Did you?! That’s my Master! Isn’t he amazing? Isn’t he cool?!"
"So cool! Seriously, that was insanely cool!"
Under normal circumstances, having Astolfo shrieking directly beside his ear would have driven Caules mad.
Right now, however, all of his attention was fixed on something else.
"That... was spatial teleportation, wasn’t it?"
He looked toward his uncle.
Darnic was one of the most accomplished magi of the modern era and a recognized authority within the field.
"...Yes."
Darnic frowned deeply.
"It was some form of spatial displacement."
His eyes narrowed.
"Could it have been a Noble Phantasm?"
"I’m afraid not."
Chiron immediately rejected the possibility.
"It appeared to be another ability analogous to magecraft, rather than a Noble Phantasm."
"Difficult as it may be to believe, Archer is correct."
Vlad III nodded as well.
"As a Servant, I can distinguish whether a phenomenon originates from a Noble Phantasm."
"And that blue sphere of energy is equally concerning."
Fiore’s fingers tightened around the armrest of her chair until her knuckles turned white.
"With that kind of destructive power... wouldn’t it already rival some high-ranking Noble Phantasms?"
No one answered.
In only a handful of exchanges, Kiriya had already demonstrated an absurd variety of abilities.
First came the plant-based technique that could be activated instantly, restrain enemies, and drain their stamina.
Then spatial teleportation.
Then the enormous sphere of blue energy.
Every one of them was already impressive enough to qualify as a high-level trump card on its own.
And that was before accounting for his strange crimson eyes capable of dragging people into illusions, or the bizarre enhancement technique that dramatically increased his martial arts and swordsmanship.
Even for a Servant, possessing such a wide array of abilities would have been extraordinary.
Yet Kiriya was human.
"Master really is mysterious."
Astolfo folded his hands behind his head.
"How did he even learn all this stuff?"
That question was shared by everyone present.
Of course, their feelings differed greatly.
Some were thrilled that such a powerful fighter had joined their side.
Others were frustrated because his strength made revenge increasingly unrealistic.
And people like Darnic—
Felt nothing but growing greed.
’I have to obtain him.’
The desire burned stronger than ever within Darnic.
If he could uncover the principles behind Kiriya’s countless abilities, both his personal strength and his standing in the world of magecraft would soar.
When that happened...
The Clock Tower?
Heh.
Nothing more than a gathering of relics waiting to be swept aside.
Yggdmillennia would rise above them all and become the undisputed leader of the entire magical world.
The mere thought sent excitement surging through Darnic’s blood.
His gaze remained fixed on Kiriya as one plan after another began forming in his mind.
...
Compared to the complicated thoughts running through the Black faction, Achilles’s emotions were considerably simpler.
Rage.
Pure, overwhelming rage.
The woman he respected.
His comrade.
His beloved Big Sis.
Had been eliminated right before his eyes by a human he had looked down upon!
Atalanta’s Endurance was only Rank E.
There was simply no way she could endure a direct hit from Kiriya’s Massive Rasengan.
The attack had destroyed her Saint graph on impact and sent her straight back to the Throne of Heroes.
"You..."
Achilles trembled violently.
"You actually... killed her..."
His head snapped upward.
The gaze he fixed on Kiriya was savage and murderous, like that of a beast driven completely berserk.
"I’LL KILL YOU!"
Achilles pushed off the ground.
BOOM!
He shot toward Kiriya like a meteor, his spear thrusting forward like a venomous serpent baring its fangs.
Whoosh!
The spearhead screamed through the air and carved a deep trench through the spot where Kiriya had been standing.
But Kiriya had already vanished.
He appeared several dozen meters away.
"Spatial movement?"
Achilles’s eyes were bloodshot, but his reason had not completely disappeared.
His gaze dropped toward the kunai beneath Kiriya’s feet.
"So that little knife is your anchor."
He pointed his spear toward it.
"That’s how your teleportation works, isn’t it?"
"A fascinating ability."
His expression hardened.
"But against my speed, it won’t matter."
As expected of one of mythology’s greatest heroes, Achilles was exceptionally sharp in battle.
After only a few exchanges, he had already inferred part of the Flying Thunder God Technique’s operating principle.
And naturally, he immediately devised a countermeasure.
His Agility was A+.
Within a battlefield only a hundred meters across, his raw movement speed could already approach the effect of teleportation.
If he timed his attack correctly and struck the instant Kiriya appeared at one of his marked locations, there was no reason he could not kill him.
It was a genuinely excellent strategy.
Somewhere, a certain Fourth Raikage would probably have given him an approving thumbs-up.
Kiriya smiled.
Then he reached into the bag on his back and pulled out an entire handful of kunai.
Achilles’s expression froze.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Kiriya scattered dozens of them in every direction like falling petals.
They embedded themselves throughout the entire battlefield, spreading across more than a hundred meters and instantly multiplying the number of positions available to him.
Achilles’s face twitched.
"You bastard..."
His teeth ground together.
"You’re screwing with me!"
Whatever remained of his composure finally snapped.
He exploded forward.
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
Brilliant spear flashes tore through the confined battlefield.
Trees were sliced apart wherever the weapon passed, branches and trunks scattering in every direction.
Yet Achilles could not touch so much as the edge of Kiriya’s clothing.
The Mangekyō Sharingan and Kiriya’s increasingly developed sage body granted him extraordinary neural reflexes and computational ability.
He could process Achilles’s movements in an instant and repeatedly activate the Flying Thunder God Technique at extremely high frequency.
He even had enough concentration left to counterattack between evasions.
"Massive Rasengan."
Kiriya appeared behind Achilles.
A gigantic sphere of spinning chakra immediately crashed toward his back.
CLANG!
A silver shield appeared in Achilles’s hand.
The Massive Rasengan slammed into it.
Violent spiraling energy erupted like a tsunami, wave after wave crashing against the shield with enough force to tear apart the surrounding terrain.
Yet the shield did not move.
No matter how fiercely the Rasengan churned, all of its power was stopped.
[Akhilleus Kosmos—The Miniature World Enclosed by the Azure Sky.]
The shield was a divine construct forged by Hephaestus himself, a defensive bounded-field Noble Phantasm capable of rivaling Rho Aias.
To confront that shield was, in essence, to confront an entire world.
Once deployed, it could defend against Anti-Unit, Anti-Army, Anti-Fortress, Anti-Country, and even Anti-Divine Noble Phantasms.
Naturally, Kiriya’s Massive Rasengan was no exception.
"That shield is ridiculously tough."
Kiriya could not help admiring it.
Internally, however, he felt rather helpless.
Heroic Spirits were already powerful enough on their own.
The truly annoying part was the absurd collection of Noble Phantasms they carried, each with some bizarre ability or special rule capable of turning a battle upside down without warning.
Achilles lowered the shield slightly.
A vicious grin spread across his face.
"Human."
"To force me to bring out this Noble Phantasm..."
"You’re better than I thought."