Neither these two eyes nor a hundred arms or a thousand hands can defend against it

On the Plain Ravaged by Gales and Yellow Sand, a war is unfolding.

At one end of the battlefield was an army of several thousand or even tens of thousands, well-equipped and in high spirits, advancing in orderly steps behind their generals towards the enemy.

But blocking the path of this army was only one person.

The golden king, feeling the overwhelming killing Army of the King," revealed pure joy in his eyes—yes, the King of Heroes Gilgamesh was at the peak of pleasure. In this era of superficial prosperity and utter decay, in this farce of the so-called "war of heroes," he, who had gradually grown weary, had finally found someone worthy of recognition—an opponent he could take seriously.

"Ambitious and dream-filled, haha, this domineering spirit is commendable... But, my Lord of the Conquering Army and his soldiers, dreams must eventually end!"

A treasure trove hidden in the Unknown dimension opened a door in the air beside the King of Heroes, and he summoned a strangely shaped Noble Phantasm —a weapon that resembled a sword but was not quite a sword, composed of three linked cylindrical sections.

That is the most precious treasure in the hands of the king who possesses all the treasures in the world. It was made by the gods and given to the king in the distant past—an era before the concept of a "sword" had even been formed. It contains the great power of creation.

"The Ea?"

Riding his chariot and leading his army, Rider kept a close eye on the Noble Phantasm in Archer's hand. Using the information provided by Caster, he quickly deduced the sword's true name.

"What do we do, Rider?" Waver, who didn't have the extraordinary eyesight of a Servant and couldn't see clearly, but knew what had happened from his Servant 'Weber mutterings, asked frantically, "According to Caster, if we were outside, it would be fine, the Counter Force would suppress the power of the 'Anti-World Noble Phantasm,' but we're inside your Reality Marble now, so that sword is—"

"Don't worry, my master." Rider chuckled and patted Weber on the shoulder, unusually omitting the "little" before "master." "Since I knew beforehand, I'm sure I had a plan—don't forget, I'm one of the most outstanding military strategists in human history."

"Hmm." Still troubled, but with confidence in his servant prevailing, Weber turned his gaze back to the battlefield and joined the other soldiers in their battle cry.

"King of Heroes, let me conquer your treasure trove!"

---------------- Excalibur ----------------------------

"Damn it, Tokiomi, is all you can do is cower like a turtle?!"

Using his superior techniques, Tokiomi caught Tokiomi off guard. However, the difference in experience and skill was obvious. So when his opponent focused all his energy on manipulating the Defensive Barrier, Yanye found himself seemingly helpless.

The Mystic Code I obtained from Caster is indeed quite powerful. If I weren't like this, and if I were useless, I could definitely knock Tokiomi Tohsaka to the ground and stomp on him a few times.

While his aptitude wasn't exceptional, it met the basic standards of Magecraft. However, he ran away from home at a young age and never received systematic training. Although he later underwent modifications by that old man Zouken, the Crest Worms were all erased by Caster. It's already a miracle that Yanye can perform even a few simple Magecraft now. Even with the help of Caster's Mystic Code, he still has a huge problem with his meager magical power.

Even his strongest attack could only break through two or three layers of defense attached to Tokiomi Tohsaka at most, while Tokiomi could set up no less than ten layers of barriers of the same level in the same amount of time.

Of course, maintaining these barriers indefinitely would be a huge burden for Tokiomi, but as an experienced grand Magecraft, Tokiomi could clearly sense Yanye's attacks from his magical energy fluctuations and then prepare corresponding measures in advance in the direction of the attack, so there was no need to maintain them indefinitely. In comparison, Tokiomi's magical energy consumption was probably less than half of Yanye's, not to mention that his own magical energy was stronger than Yanye's, and there was also the energy that had been converted and stored in the Gems beforehand.

As Yanye gradually calmed down, he also realized his disadvantage. In order to conserve magic power, he stopped using the corrosive shadow to fight against Tokiomi's Defensive Barrier and instead turned his attention to the barrier in the Tohsaka Residence's courtyard.

As is well known, the Tohsaka Residence is located in one of the Leyline of Fuyuki City. As the administrators of this place, the Tohsaka Clan would naturally not fail to take advantage of such a great advantage. Therefore, the Tohsaka family, who are skilled in barriers, have long ago prepared facilities that can absorb and gather the magical power in the ley lines. This allows the Tohsaka Family Magecraft, who fight on their home turf, to obtain magical power far exceeding that of others (①).

If we can break that barrier, it will definitely deal a huge blow to Tokiomi, and it will be easier than attacking Tokiomi directly.

Using all her might to sense the flow of magic within the entire courtyard, Yanye regretted not asking Caster for that "Mystic Eyes of Fairy" that could see through magic. It was really difficult to distinguish which of the various mottled and complex magics were connected to the ley lines.

However, the most outstanding quality of Kariya Matou is his persistence. He concentrates intently on sensing and analyzing every stream of magical energy—a task that would be incredibly tedious for others, but is precisely Yanye's forte—and then destroys those belonging to the Tohsaka Leyline Barrier.

Tokiomi Tohsaka didn't notice Yanye's actions at first. He was actually pleased to see Yanye stop attacking and start to sense things instead—this was the kind of duel between Magecraft he respected, a contest of technique and intellect composed of analysis and calculation. Yanye's initial approach of using Brute Force to attack was not elegant at all and did not conform to his aesthetics.

Therefore, he also took the time to sense and analyze the type of magic emitted by Yanye. By the time he realized that there was a problem with his connection with the Leyline, Yanye's destruction had already caused great damage.

"Hateful..."

Tokiomi had no choice but to abandon his defensive counter-attack tactics and launch an attack instead. Even if Yanye destroyed all the ley line barriers, it wouldn't change the difference in magical power between him and Tokiomi. However, Tokiomi couldn't stand by and watch the barriers that his family had painstakingly built and perfected over generations be destroyed. Otherwise, the cost of rebuilding after the war would be something he couldn't underestimate.

This is also the effect Yanye wanted to achieve—if the battle is quick and decisive, the advantage lies with him.

Shadows and flames rose again...

-------------The Spear Piercing the Dead Thorn--------------------

"Alalalalalala!"

A chariot riding on lightning suddenly attacked from the sky, followed by several weapons gleaming with magical light, like homing missiles.

"Hahahaha, Archer, your prized collection is nothing special!"

The tank, under the driver's skillful control, displayed unparalleled maneuverability. The pursuers not only failed to catch up, but were also thrown into their own laps by inertia due to the tank's sudden acceleration and turn, leaving them no time to react.

"Hmph!" Just as the weapons were about to strike the golden armor, ripples quickly spread through the air, and a spatial gate opened, retrieving the weapons.

"Keep spouting nonsense. Your disrespect will be punished, and your subordinates will be held accountable!"

Although the Golden King uttered threatening words, his tone did not reveal any anger or murderous intent; it was as if he was simply stating a fact.

Countless divine weapons shot out from the void once again, but this time the target was not the chariots, but the thousands of troops charging towards the archer.

Ea terms of destructive power, Ea is arguably the strongest at this time, but its great power also has its drawbacks, namely, the huge amount of magic power it consumes to activate and the very long preparation time.

As Archer drew his sword, Rider activated Gordius Wheel and charged towards his opponent through the air—although not as instantaneous as Zeus's Divine Thunder, the full power of Gordius Wheel, which moved on the ground, shortened the distance between them by nearly half in an instant.

Archer was also startled. He roughly estimated that if he continued to unleash his Noble Phantasm, Rider would be right in front of him by the time it was finished. Even if Ea tore the Reality Marble and the entire army apart by then, he would be struck by Rider's sword first. With his Master not by his side and having just used his strongest Noble Phantasm, Archer didn't want to find out whether he could withstand Rider's full-force attack in his weakened state.

Archer quickly used the Chains of Heaven to try and stop Rider, but the omnidirectionally moving oxcart was too agile, and Archer's randomly fired Chains of Heaven could not capture it. By the time Archer's net of Chains of Heaven was enough to trap Rider, the King of Conquerors's army had already moved to a distance where ranged units could launch an attack. Archer was then forced to divert his attention to defend against the overwhelming barrage of arrows and javelins, and Rider took this opportunity to escape again.

Rider divided his army into several formations, allowing ranged units to continue harassing the archers, while the other soldiers formed a shield formation. The first few ranks of soldiers carried no weapons but instead held huge shields, with only the last rank carrying light weapons.

Such a force is naturally very weak in combat. The soldiers in the front row were killed by the Noble Phantasm in the Gate of Babylon when they were far away from Gilgamesh. But even so, the soldiers' formation did not change. The soldiers in the front row still sacrificed their lives to buy time for their comrades in the back row to get closer.

Even if the final casualty ratio is 100 to 1, a considerable number of soldiers will still be able to engage the Archer in close combat. At that point, the Archer's advantage in long-range attacks will be lost, and even soldiers with only E-rank abilities, who are still considered Servants, will teach the Archer the lesson that A swarm of ants can devour an elephant.

Moreover, there's a rider in the sky, lurking and waiting for an opportunity to slip through.

"So, Archer, which is stronger, my unparalleled army or your divine weapons?"

"Hmph," Archer, whose situation was somewhat unfavorable, remained unmoved. "If you think you can subdue me like this, then your understanding is nothing more than that!"

"Hahahaha, that's more like it!" Rider laughed heartily when he saw that Archer seemed to still have energy left. "That's how it should be! This is what makes a war a true battle for the strongest kings!"

Kings versus kings, armies versus divine soldiers, the domineering ambition to conquer the world and the magnanimity to shoulder its burdens—this battle continues on the stage built by the Holy Grail.

----------------------Notes-------------

① The author made it up, but I think it's quite convincing, isn't it?

--------------------------ps--------------------------

P. S. 1. The battle between Yanye and Tokiomi is hard to describe, but I managed to come up with something from my imagination. I slightly buffed Uncle Kariya, purely out of personal preference—I actually quite like this character... (Although, in reality, I like most characters in Fate, except for Zouken...)

P. S. 2. In the anime, when Archer's massage stick was fully spinning, half of Rider's army had already charged forward. So, if the Gordius Wheel hadn't been destroyed by Saber, wouldn't it have been possible for Rider to close the distance to Archer first...?

PS3. The Army of the King seems incredibly powerful in the setting, but actually, apart from its imposing presence, its actual power isn't that great—I'm referring to the original work. So, the role of the soldiers has been strengthened here.

P. S. 4. To celebrate the book's first anniversary, this week's update is early. In one year and 365 days, I've written 300,000 words, 10,000 clicks, and 400 recommendations. As for the collections, I won't go into detail because it's too embarrassing... Well, the main reason is my fault, so I have no face to complain. I just hope that you will continue to be tolerant of me as always. I will continue to improve, and I hope that one day I can achieve results that I can be proud to announce.

P. S. Thank you to Gu Ming for the review vote and the tip.