Chapter 252
Because Kavacha and Kundala had been fused with Karna’s body from birth, tearing the golden armor away was no different from tearing away portions of his own flesh.
As each section separated, another gruesome wound split open across his body, blood spilling freely from the exposed flesh beneath.
Karna, however, seemed completely unaware of the pain.
His posture never wavered, and his solemn chant continued without interruption as the power sleeping within the divine spear began to awaken.
"Know the mercy of the King of Gods."
"This single thrust shall bring annihilation."
"Burn everything away."
The flames surrounding him surged violently as Karna raised the spear, his voice carrying the final declaration of its True Name.
"Vasavi Shakti."
At that moment, heavenly flame and divine lightning scattered throughout the night sky converged upon the weapon in his hands.
The terrifying power bestowed by Indra condensed into a single point, and Karna finally unleashed the spear of light capable of slaying gods.
At almost the exact same instant, every trace of power rampaging through Kiriya’s body was drawn into his sword.
The strength released by the Gate of Death, the tremendous physical force of the Eight Gates Released Formation, his chakra, his swordsmanship, and the last reserves his battered body could still produce were all compressed into the blade.
There was no longer any distinction between flesh, weapon, and technique; everything Kiriya possessed had been refined toward a single purpose.
He swung.
"Night Guy: Incineration of All Creation!"
A colossal blood-red dragon erupted around him, formed from the murderous crimson aura pouring from his body.
Its enormous form tore upward into the heavens as though intending to break straight through the sky, while the dragon’s fangs represented the most concentrated and razor-sharp portion of Kiriya’s sword strike.
The crimson dragon met the god-slaying spear head-on.
For one impossible instant, everything stopped.
The roar of the battlefield vanished, the violent winds became silent, and even the colors of the world seemed to drain away as the two ultimate attacks remained suspended against one another.
The stillness lasted for only the briefest moment, yet within that instant an unimaginable amount of power accumulated at their point of collision.
Then it all erupted at once.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
A wave of pure destruction swept outward, annihilating everything it touched.
The golden radiance of the sun and Kiriya’s blood-red killing aura twisted around one another, expanding violently until they became a colossal storm that devoured the surrounding landscape.
Heaven and earth trembled beneath the collision.
Every direction seemed to answer with nothing but shuddering and anguished groans as the Hanging Gardens itself struggled to endure the force generated by the two fighters.
Had the Hanging Gardens of Babylon not already been an EX-rank fortress-type Noble Phantasm protected by an extraordinarily powerful bounded field, and had both Kiriya and Karna not consciously directed the majority of their destructive force away from the fortress’s core, the entire floating garden might have been reduced to particles on the spot.
Even with those protections, the enormous fortress still shook violently from end to end.
Floors tilted, walls cracked, debris flew through the corridors, and everyone inside—Servant and human alike—was thrown around by the relentless shaking.
"What the hell is happening?!"
Astolfo staggered from one side of the corridor to the other, feeling as though his brain were being shaken into paste as he screamed in complete despair.
"Kiriya!"
Jeanne immediately turned toward the source of the collision.
Her teeth sank so deeply into her lower lip that blood appeared, yet she did not notice.
Her heart felt as though an enormous hand had closed around it and squeezed with merciless force, making it difficult even to breathe.
Chiron steadied himself against the shaking beneath his feet and stared toward the distant battlefield with genuine wonder.
"To reach the realm of the gods with a human body alone... what an extraordinary young man."
Then his expression sharpened.
"Kiriya-dono has done what he needed to do. We cannot afford to fall behind."
"Yes."
Jeanne forced herself to tear her attention away from the distant explosion and nodded firmly.
She grabbed the still-dazed Astolfo and immediately continued forward.
They had barely made it any distance, however, when a rough male voice suddenly called out from ahead.
"You’re Ruler, right? How about we work together?"
...
"That bastard...!"
Inside the central hall of the Hanging Gardens, Semiramis remained seated upon her throne only because her control over the fortress allowed her to stabilize herself.
Even so, much of the color had drained from her beautiful face.
An attack of that magnitude was frightening even to her.
"It doesn’t matter."
Her fingers tightened slightly against the armrest.
"Karna’s god-slaying spear is invincible. There is no possibility that he will lose."
The words sounded confident, as though she were reassuring everyone around her, but the darkness in her eyes betrayed the truth.
Even Semiramis herself was no longer entirely convinced.
"Hah... haa... hah..."
Not far in front of her, Mordred was in even worse condition.
Blood covered her armor and body, while the poison circulating through her system had turned much of her beautiful face an ugly blue-black.
Her breathing was labored, and every movement clearly caused pain, yet the grin on her face remained as wild and delighted as ever.
"That bastard kid really knows how to make a scene."
Mordred glanced toward the source of the enormous impact before looking back at Semiramis.
"Hey, poisonous bitch. Looks like your trump card might not be much use anymore."
"Hmph. You understand nothing."
Semiramis gave her a contemptuous smile.
"Karna’s Noble Phantasm cannot be defeated."
Her gaze then swept over Mordred’s poisoned body.
"You would be better served worrying about yourself. Your life is already counting down, you pitiful creature."
Her smile became colder.
"And do not entertain thoughts of fleeing. My Master studied the mechanism by which Command Spells recall Servants long ago. Within my Hanging Gardens, your Master will be unable to summon you back."
"Hah. Who said anything about running?"
Mordred chuckled and wiped blood from the corner of her mouth.
"It’s just death. What’s so scary about that?"
Her grip on Clarent tightened.
"Don’t worry. Before I go, I’ll make damn sure I take your life with me."
Magical energy surged through Mordred’s body, forcibly reinforcing her strength and speed despite the poison devouring her from within.
Crimson lightning exploded around her armor as she kicked off the ground and charged Semiramis once again.
...
On the outer region of the Hanging Gardens, the aftermath of Kiriya and Karna’s final collision had carved an enormous chasm through the fortress, nearly splitting that entire section of the floating garden in two.
Vast stretches of architecture had simply vanished, while everything near the path of the attack had either been shattered or melted into crystalline masses by the tremendous heat.
At the far end of that colossal scar, a figure slowly and painfully forced himself upright.
Karna.
The son of Surya was in a horrifying condition.
Nearly half of his body had been cut away.
One arm was completely gone, along with a substantial portion of his torso, and the Spiritual Core located near his heart had been utterly destroyed.
For a Servant, that meant only one thing.
Karna’s remaining existence had entered its final countdown.
"That was... a beautiful strike."
A large amount of blood spilled from Karna’s mouth as he spoke, yet his face held nothing but sincere admiration.
"I never imagined that, in an age where Mystery has declined so far, a human could raise his martial arts and swordsmanship to such a realm."
He looked toward the destruction stretching between them.
"No... even in an age when gods walked openly among men, that single strike alone would have been enough to carve your name into history and place you among the legends."
For Karna, there was no exaggeration in those words.
His gaze then lowered toward Kiriya, who had fallen onto a lower level of the shattered fortress.
The admiration in Karna’s expression gradually gave way to regret.
"Unfortunately... the price of that sword was your life."
Kiriya looked even worse than Karna.
His entire body had been scorched black, resembling a piece of charcoal on the verge of crumbling into ash.
The opening of the Gate of Death had consumed almost every trace of vitality contained within his body, leaving him like a candle whose final flame was already flickering in the wind.
Under normal circumstances, death was inevitable.
Then the abnormality began.
A violet radiance suddenly blossomed within Kiriya’s left eye.
The light spread from his eye through his entire body, enveloping the scorched flesh in a soft purple glow.
Karna watched in stunned silence as the body that had already been almost completely destroyed began reversing its condition before his eyes.
Charred skin regained its color.
Collapsed muscles filled out again.
Destroyed flesh returned to youthful vitality, and the strength that had been burned away by the Gate of Death flowed back into Kiriya’s body as though the fatal damage had never occurred.
"What...?"
For perhaps the third or fourth time during this battle, Karna found himself genuinely unable to conceal his shock.
"Resurrection?"
He stared more carefully, then shook his head.
"No. Calling it resurrection would be inaccurate."
His eyes narrowed as comprehension dawned.
"This is... temporal reversal?"
A bitter but impressed smile appeared on Karna’s face.
"I see. So this was your final trump card."
"Yeah."
Kiriya opened his eyes fully and slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, releasing a long breath as he confirmed that his body had returned to normal.
He pointed toward his left eye.
The pattern within it had already transformed into the Mangekyō Sharingan.
"This eye can rewind the state of anything within its effective range to what it was ten seconds earlier."
Kiriya flexed one hand, feeling the restored strength in his fingers.
"I sealed the technique inside my eye ahead of time and set it to activate automatically at the most critical moment. If my body reaches the point where I’m about to die, it rewinds me to the condition I was in ten seconds before."
That was exactly why Kiriya had dared to open the Gate of Death in the first place.
Without Time Rewind prepared as insurance, why would he be insane enough to throw away his life fighting a Servant when he had other options?
Karna stared at him for several seconds before suddenly laughing.
"Hahaha... then I truly have no grievance over this defeat."
For once, the normally restrained Hero of Charity displayed open, uncomplicated joy.
During his first life, Karna had yearned for a fair and decisive battle against his greatest rival, yet outside interference and cruel twists of fate had repeatedly denied him the conclusion he desired.
He had never imagined that answering this summons would eventually grant him a battle like this—one in which both sides pushed themselves to their utmost limits and answered one another with everything they possessed.
"I... have no regrets."
Karna whispered the words almost to himself.
His damaged body finally began breaking apart into particles of light.
The golden fragments scattered gently into the night air.
"If fate permits, let us meet again... young hero."
Kiriya watched him disappear and could not help smiling.
"Heh. Being called a great hero by someone like you is actually kind of nice."
He shook his head and began to rise, preparing to leave, when a faint glimmer near the ruined ground caught the corner of his eye.
Kiriya bent down and picked it up.
After examining it for a moment, he recognized the object as a broken fragment of Karna’s golden spear.
"Not a bad souvenir."
He smiled and slipped the fragment into his pocket.
"Until next time, Karna."
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