Chapter 246
"BOOM!"
"BOOM!"
"BOOM!"
Inside the isolated arena created by Diatrekhon Aster Lonkhe, the deafening crashes of impact echoed without pause.
Two figures moved through the enclosed world at speeds beyond sound, their trajectories twisting around one another like two spiraling threads as they exchanged an impossibly dense barrage of attacks and counters.
One was Achilles, a world-famous hero who had survived countless battles in life.
His extraordinary Endurance and Agility gave him a body built for prolonged combat, and every attack he unleashed came in an unbroken torrent, relentless as a raging storm.
The other was Kiriya.
With his sage body supporting the Seventh Gate, the Gate of Wonder, and the Sharingan tracking every minute change in Achilles’s movements, Kiriya was able to intercept each attack with frightening precision.
More than that, even while defending against Achilles’s furious assault, he still had enough room to launch counterattacks of his own.
BOOM!
Another heavy punch came crashing down.
Achilles crossed both arms in front of himself, barely managing to block the blow, but the sheer force still sent him hurtling backward.
His feet scraped violently across the ground, throwing up long streams of sparks before he finally managed to stop several dozen meters away.
"That’s some ridiculous strength you’ve got!"
Achilles gritted his teeth and laughed despite the sharp pain of fractured bones running through both arms.
"Never thought I’d be the Servant who loses to a human in raw power."
"I didn’t expect you to be this damn hard to put down either."
Kiriya shook out his hand and looked genuinely impressed.
"I guess that legendary invulnerability of yours really isn’t just for show."
Throughout their exchange, Kiriya, with the Seventh Gate open, had surpassed Achilles in both speed and physical strength.
He had lost count of how many punches and kicks had landed cleanly.
Yet at most, those attacks shattered Achilles’s bones, displaced or damaged his internal organs, and left him bleeding heavily.
Then, almost immediately afterward, the injuries would begin recovering under the effect of his Noble Phantasm.
That was precisely why Achilles could still stand there laughing.
"Hahaha! It’s almost embarrassing, really."
Achilles rolled his shoulders, feeling the bones beginning to knit back together.
"I’m basically surviving by leaning on my Noble Phantasm. Doesn’t exactly sound honorable when you put it that way."
His grin remained completely unapologetic.
"But there’s nothing to be done about it. This is a battlefield. This is combat! A warrior uses every weapon and every advantage he possesses."
"Exactly."
Kiriya stood within the roaring blue aura surrounding his body, his eyes burning with a brilliant light as he stared at Achilles.
"You use everything you’ve got."
Then his expression became more serious.
"The next punch won’t be like the ones before."
Kiriya slowly drew in a deep breath and raised his right fist.
"This one is meant to kill you in a single blow."
His gaze shifted briefly toward Achilles’s equipment.
"You should probably bring out that shield of yours. If you take this head-on, I don’t think you’ll enjoy the result."
Of course, Kiriya did not actually want Achilles to use Akhilleus Kosmos.
That absurd defensive Noble Phantasm was practically cheating!
Even if Kiriya poured everything he had into one attack, he had no confidence that he could break through a defense that effectively forced him to strike against an entire miniature world.
Which was precisely why he had mentioned it.
He was provoking Achilles.
Appealing to the pride of a hero and Heroic Spirit, hoping the man would choose to meet his ultimate attack head-on rather than hide behind his shield.
"Oh?"
Achilles raised an eyebrow.
"The pressure around you really has changed."
Then he laughed openly at Kiriya’s suggestion.
"Master of Black, are you looking down on me?"
His smile widened into something wild and proud.
"We’re fighting one-on-one, barehanded."
"You’ve put your weapon aside, so why the hell would I suddenly hide behind a defensive Noble Phantasm?"
Achilles’s eyes sharpened.
"Don’t underestimate a Heroic Spirit, brat!"
The entire reason Achilles had activated Diatrekhon Aster Lonkhe was to obtain a fair duel with Kiriya.
Even though the spear’s arena did not technically prohibit him from using his other weapons or Noble Phantasms, Achilles had no intention of doing so.
He had his own pride.
And if Kiriya intended to stake victory on his own body—
Then Achilles would answer in kind.
Still, refusing his shield did not mean he intended to hold back.
Two of Achilles’s innate Skills activated almost simultaneously.
[Blessing of the Goddess: B.]
Through the protection granted by his mother, the goddess Thetis, every one of Achilles’s Parameters except Magical Energy and Luck rose in rank.
Then came—[Bravery: A+.]
His offensive power and the force behind his techniques increased dramatically.
With both Skills active, Achilles’s aura surged upward in an instant.
Then he exploded forward like an arrow released from a bow.
He might have refused to use Akhilleus Kosmos, but that did not mean he was stupid enough to stand still and politely allow Kiriya to gather power for some enormous finishing move.
Close the distance.
Maintain pressure.
Break the opponent’s rhythm.
Create an opening, then kill him with one decisive strike.
That was one of the most fundamental truths of the battlefield.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Achilles’s fists became a blur.
His attacks came as fast as lightning, one strike flowing directly into the next without leaving even the smallest opening.
Kiriya was forced to raise both arms and defend continuously, temporarily losing any opportunity to gather the power he had intended for his finishing blow.
"Hahahaha!"
Achilles laughed wildly as the barrage continued.
"Well, Master of Black?"
"How does this feel?!"
He suddenly drove an uppercut into Kiriya’s crossed forearms.
The tremendous impact knocked both of Kiriya’s arms outward, exposing the center of his body.
Achilles’s eyes flashed.
There.
An opening.
Dromeus Cometes activated.
His speed surged yet again.
Achilles stepped directly into Kiriya’s exposed guard and drove a fist toward his abdomen.
If that punch landed cleanly, it would not simply break bones.
With Achilles’s current strength and acceleration, it could punch straight through Kiriya’s torso.
And once that happened—The duel would be over!
Buzz—
But at the decisive instant, Achilles’s gaze accidentally met Kiriya’s eyes.
His body froze.
Those eyes had changed.
The crimson Three-Tomoe Sharingan had disappeared, replaced at some unknown moment by the distinctive windmill pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Powerful ocular energy surged through Achilles’s mind.
A genjutsu caught him completely off guard and forcibly locked his consciousness and body in place.
Only for one second.
But in a battle between opponents of this level—
One second was more than enough to decide everything.
"Daytime Tiger!"
Kiriya roared.
His right arm drew back.
Then he punched.
The motion was so fast that the air itself screamed.
An enormous quantity of compressed air gathered around the path of his fist, condensing into the shape of a gigantic white tiger.
ROAAAAAR!
The tiger seemed to come alive.
Its enormous jaws opened and swallowed Achilles whole before carrying him forward with terrifying momentum.
Then—BOOOOOOOOOOM!
A world-shaking explosion erupted.
A vast sphere of white light bloomed outward like an inverted jade bowl placed over the earth.
It expanded.
Then expanded again.
And again.
The entire enclosed world was drowned in pale radiance.
Sky and earth disappeared beneath white light, and for several moments, it seemed as though every other color in existence had been erased.
...
No one knew exactly how long it took before the apocalyptic hurricane finally began to subside.
The violent winds weakened.
Dust slowly settled.
Kiriya walked toward the edge of the enormous crater left behind by the attack and looked down.
At its bottom lay Achilles.
Kiriya raised an eyebrow.
"You’re still alive?"
He sounded genuinely impressed.
"You really are stubborn as hell."
Achilles’s current appearance could only be described as miserable.
The armor covering his body had been almost completely destroyed, with barely a single intact section remaining.
Every exposed portion of skin was covered in blood and horrific injuries.
The worst damage was concentrated around his chest.
A fist-sized depression had been driven deep into it.
The bones there had been completely pulverized.
More importantly—so had the Saint graph beneath them.
The only reason Achilles had not already disappeared was his Battle Continuation: A, allowing him to cling to existence even after suffering injuries that should have immediately ended the battle.
"Hahaha..."
Achilles’s chest rose and fell faintly.
His voice had become weak, but there was unmistakable satisfaction in it.
"That... was one hell of a fight."
"Yeah."
Kiriya clenched his fist and gave him a firm nod of acknowledgment.
"You’re strong."
"In terms of close combat, I was almost completely serious by the end."
He touched the corner of one eye.
"I even had to use these."
Top-tier Servants really were troublesome beyond belief.
If Kiriya had not possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan, Achilles’s last punch might genuinely have put him in serious danger.
"Cut the crap."
Achilles gave a faint laugh.
"You still weren’t using everything."
His tone was completely certain.
He stared straight upward at the empty sky of the isolated world.
"A mere human.."
His smile became slightly wider.
"You really are ridiculously strong."
Then his expression softened.
"Sorry, Big Sis."
"Looks like I couldn’t avenge you after all."
Achilles slowly closed his eyes.
His body began dissolving into countless motes of light.
"Interesting human Master..."
His voice became increasingly faint.
"If fate allows it, I’d like to meet you again someday."
As Achilles finally disappeared, the barrier created by Diatrekhon Aster Lonkhe lost the power sustaining it.
The isolated world collapsed.
Kiriya returned to reality.
And the first thing he saw was the Hanging Gardens looming high above Yggdmillennia’s estate.
The estate beneath it had been devastated.
The ground was a complete wreck.
At the center of the manor, an enormous bottomless crater had appeared where the Greater Grail had once been buried.
Buildings had collapsed or been torn apart.
Huge sections of soil and vegetation had been ripped clean from the earth.
Homunculus corpses lay scattered everywhere, some half-buried beneath debris, others sprawled across the ruined grounds.
Kiriya slowly swept his gaze across the battlefield.
"Damn."
"They really made a mess while I was gone."
Then he noticed something else.
There was not a single Servant anywhere nearby.
That made the situation easy enough to guess.
They had probably all made their way into the Hanging Gardens by now.
And judging by the state of the battlefield below—things up there were probably very lively indeed.
"Heh."
Kiriya grinned.
"How could a party this big possibly go on without me?"
He closed his eyes and reached out with his senses, searching for the Flying Thunder God marks he had left behind.
Then he paused.
His expression became strange.
His bargain-bin Servant...
Did not seem to be doing particularly well.
Kiriya immediately created two Shadow Clones.
The clones split off in different directions and concealed themselves, beginning to gather natural energy for him.
Meanwhile, the original Kiriya locked onto one of the Flying Thunder God marks.
His figure vanished.
When he reappeared, the first thing he saw was Astolfo lying flat on the floor of the Hanging Gardens.
His entire body had been blackened by the bombardment.
Wisps of smoke still curled from his clothes and hair, and the air around him carried the unmistakable smell of scorched flesh.
Kiriya stared for a moment.
Then he sniffed.
"Wow."
He clicked his tongue.
"You’re practically cooked."
"Is... is that you, Master?"
Astolfo weakly opened his eyes at the sound of Kiriya’s voice.
The moment he recognized him, he somehow managed to pull his battered face into a smile.
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