The Converging Black Rope Hell / The Third-Party Serpent Squad

Gudako whispered, "Actually, the Heroic Spirit Swordmaster... no, the corrupted Raikou and Shuten-doji kidnapped Afeng and Tsuke."

"What!" Shirou's expression changed, and he asked urgently.

"I'm so sorry, Shirou-senpai! It's all my fault for leaving them here alone." Gudako said, bowing deeply in apology.

"No! It's my fault for not protecting them. I will take responsibility and bring them back! Even if it costs me my life!" Musashi also lowered his head and swore.

"Raise your heads, Musashi! Gudako! Apologies won't solve anything; you've certainly done your best. Now tell me, what exactly happened?" Shirou said seriously.

"That..." Gudako took out the letter left by the Heroic Spirit Swordmaster and began to explain what had happened...

Several hours earlier, Musashi and Gudako had received information about the Heroic Spirit Swordmaster from Princess Kiyohime.

"The arsonist is a fair-skinned Himegishi with long silver hair. She will kill everyone she passes by and then burn everything to the ground," said a retainer from the city lord's mansion who had learned of the situation.

"Do you know where that Himegishi is now?" Musashi asked.

"Yes! According to intelligence, that Himegishi is in Small Town outside the city," the retainer replied respectfully.

Musashi and Gudako arrived at the Small Town outside the city and finally found the berserk Himegishi was slaughtering villages and setting Heroic Spirit Swordmaster on fire. However, she was completely different from the description given.

She was a beautiful young woman with silver hair and red eyes. She had a pure and charming appearance, like a girl next door, and was quiet and gentle.

Legend has it that she is ruthless when she strikes, like a demon from hell, possessing terrifying Monstrous Strength and the power to control fire.

She could easily lift a grown man wearing heavy armor weighing over 20 kilograms with one hand, then toss him high into the air and shoot him apart with a lit rocket. If she wanted, she could even unscrew a person's head with her bare hands, like screwing on a screw.

"Good afternoon, Miss Musashi. And the young Master of Chaldea? I am Tomoe Gozen," the woman said with a very polite bow.

"Eh? Tomoe Gozen?" Gudako's eyes widened as she looked at the woman. This was a character who frequently appeared in Japanese dramas in later generations. She was a legendary female general, similar to Consort Yu, the concubine of Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Chu in ancient China, and like Mu Guiying, who could fight even more than men.

"Huh? They can communicate, right? Shouldn't Heroic Spirit Swordmaster be an even more violent and unreasonable guy?" Musashi asked, puzzled.

"Ah, the commotion about the snakes earlier seems to have brought me back to my senses a bit. I was tricked by Caster all along," Tomoe Gozen said wistfully.

"Snake? What's that? But that's great! Now that you've recovered and know you were wrong, it's not too late to stop!" Gudako didn't quite understand, but seeing the woman's normal demeanor, she offered her advice.

But then Tomoe Gozen's expression changed, and she said in a strange and manic tone, "No, rather, after regaining my senses, I'm even angrier. Before, I hated the Genji, but now I hate all living things!"

"Eh!" Gudako exclaimed in surprise.

"This body is a demon fallen into the scorching hell, Burn to ashes. Miyamoto Musashi, no... if you want to stop me, then use your sword to stab me." When the woman opened her eyes again, her pupils had turned crimson, ferocious and terrifying, and she said coldly.

"Questions and answers are useless, so I have no choice but to go for it! Gudako! I'm counting on you for support!" Musashi said, drawing the Myojin-giri she had obtained from Shirou. With this sharp blade in hand, she wouldn't be without a chance of victory against the Heroic Spirit Swordmaster. As long as that was the case, she would have nothing to fear.

"Kill! Kill! Kill! Burn you all to death!" The berserk ghost woman raised her bow and arrow, and unleashed demonic flames from her other hand.

Musashi felt a sudden heat in front of her and quickly leaned back to dodge the attack of the flaming arrows, letting the ground explode with a deafening roar. Unmoved, she rolled forward, seized the opportunity, leaped forward, and slashed with her sword. She cut the bowstring and struck directly at Tomoe Gozen's body.

The woman did briefly regain her senses, thus gaining some additional memories. As a demon, and a descendant of the great god Yamata no Orochi, the birth of this Divine Beast caused some changes in her body. Her mind, which had been corrupted and lost under the control of the sorcerer, recovered some of her memories and thoughts during this transformation.

The madness of the demon and the resentment of hell merely allowed her to exist in different forms, but the danger remained the same, and the demonic flames behind her became even more violent.

This was her fate; in life, things always went against her wishes, and even in death, she could not change it.

She once prayed for a peaceful and tranquil life with her husband, far from strife, to stay together forever. But as a demon, as Himegishi, she was forced to fight on the battlefield.

Even dying alongside her beloved was forbidden. Her husband ordered her to commit suicide alone, for dying alongside a woman on the battlefield was a disgrace. She could only obey orders and watch her husband Kiso Yoshinaka, die at the hands of Minamoto no Yoritomo and Minamoto no Yoshitsune's armies. She fled into the mountains, spending her life filled with endless regret, unable to rest in peace until her death.

She mocked the world's strife over fame and fortune, hated violent and bloody wars, and loathed cruel and cold-blooded killings that led to widespread suffering and affected innocent people.

But now she is doing the very things she hates: Hikaru Genji's army, indiscriminately slaughtering everyone she encounters, and burning down villages she passes by.

Its long, silvery-white hair danced wildly, a pair of sharp, demonic horns sprouted from its head, blood tears streamed from its crimson eyes, and it let out a piercing roar.

"Ughhhhhh!!!"

Tomoe Gozen dropped her longbow, drew her katana, and charged towards Musashi in a final assault. Although she was slashed twice from the front, her powerful and ferocious life force as a demon allowed her to launch a last counterattack before her death. The katana she swung was fierce and powerful, emitting a whistling sound as if a gale was blowing through it.

"It's over!" Musashi said calmly. In life-or-death duels, she had never failed.

Tomoe Gozen's wound reopened, and a large amount of blood gushed from the open wound. More fundamentally, Musashi's previous strike not only severed the bowstring but also severed Tomoe Gozen's connection as Heroic Spirit Swordmaster.

The second match between the Heroic Spirit Swordmaster!

The outcome is decided!

The winner is Fujiwara Genshin, the Shinmen Musashi- no-kami!

She was burdened with the karma of endless killing by the Magecraft Ashiya Douman, and now she is also burdened with the resentment of the Yamata no Orochi's revenge. She is already beyond saving, and all she wants is to be freed as soon as possible.

"Thank you..." Tomoe Gozen whispered to Musashi and Gudako at the last moment, then disappeared in the glow.

Having defeated a Heroic Spirit Swordmaster, Musashi and Gudako both breathed a sigh of relief. However, their relief was short-lived. When they returned to the city, they discovered that Afeng and Tsuke were gone, leaving only a letter behind.

Inside was a marked map and a note.

[If you want to save the children, come to this mountain at midnight tonight! After that time, eat them!]

Chapter 376 The Black Rope Hell of the United States

On the mountain between Tsuchi-ki Castle and the village where Shirou and his friends lived, two figures, one tall and one short, stood high up gazing down at the ground.

The petite woman carrying the magic gourd said, "That child left so decisively. It's like a fire that burns too brightly; one moment she was indiscriminately berserk, the next she gave up on her own. I really don't know what to say about her. Well, I'm not in a position to say anything about her right now."

"Those who don't want to fight, leaving this hellish world isn't so bad," the tall woman said coldly. Although Tomoe Gozen's husband Kiso Yoshinaka, was also a member of the Minamoto clan, she had an innate, uncompromising prejudice against non-human races and therefore harbored no goodwill towards any alien race.

Kiso Yoshinaka, also known as Minamoto no Yoshinaka, whose childhood name was Komao-maru, was a cousin of Minamoto no Yoshitsune (Ushiwakamaru) and the first shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo (Onimusha). They shared the same grandfather.

However, Ushiwakamaru's father, Minamoto no Yoshitomo, and Yoshinaka's father, Minamoto no Yoshikata, fought for family power. As a result, Yoshinaka's father, Yoshikata, was attacked by Ushiwakamaru's elder brother, Minamoto no Yoshihira, and his entire family was killed. Only the two-year-old Yoshinaka was carried out by his retainers and escaped to the mountains.

After that, Minamoto no Yoshitomo personally killed his father, Yoshinobu's grandfather, and became the recognized leader of the Minamoto clan in Kawachi Province.

A few years later, Minamoto no Yoshitomo also failed in his attempt to seize power by launching a political war. He was branded a traitor by the Taira clan and was killed while fleeing. From then on, the Taira clan held immense power and wielded considerable influence, effectively controlling the emperor and commanding the feudal lords.

Ushiwakamaru escaped because he was young, and when he grew up, he was placed in a temple. At that time, 13-year-old Minamoto no Yoritomo was exiled and placed under house arrest by the Hojo clan.

Whether it was Yoshinaka's side, or Ushiwakamaru and Minamoto no Yoritomo, their experiences were all tragic, with their families destroyed and their lives lost. Later Minamoto no Yoritomo's daughter even married Kiso Yoshinaka's son, making the relationship between the two families a tangled mess, an inexplicable and unclear affair.

Later, during the Genpei War, the twenty-something-year-old Kiso Yoshinaka was the first to enter Kyoto and save the imperial family. As a result, he was highly rewarded and given important positions, and his prominence even surpassed that of Minamoto no Yoritomo.

However, Kiso Yoshinaka grew up in the mountains and was a pure warrior. Although he had studied military strategy, he did not understand the social etiquette of Kyoto nobles and was not good at political management. His relationship with the nobles gradually deteriorated, and he was eventually abandoned by the court nobles.

Yoshinaka kidnapped the retired emperor, attempting to use the emperor to command the feudal lords, but he failed to gain popular support and ended up like Dong Zhuo. Therefore, the Emperor on the other side reinstated Minamoto no Yoritomo to punish Yoshinaka.

Yoshinaka was no match for Yoritomo and was killed on the battlefield. This allowed the powerful Ushiwakamaru to rise to power, annihilate the remnants of the Taira clan Minamoto no Yoritomo, unify the warlord-controlled province of Wataru, and claim immense credit for his achievements. He then suppressed other meritorious officials, forced Ushiwakamaru to commit suicide, consolidated his power, and ushered in the first Kamakura Shogunate...

At this moment, the ruling power of this island nation is now the third generation of the Edo Shogunate, but there is still a saying that the Shogun who opens the door to rule the land must be the Minamoto clan.

Of course, none of this mattered to the tall woman. Even the Genji of later generations could be considered her descendants, at least nominally.

But these descendants, who have long lost their loyalty and compassion and only know how to fight and kill, are not worth destroying. In her heart, they are perhaps not as important as Afeng and Tian-Zhu, who are currently holding her in a coma.

"It'll be dawn in two Tokiomi. Miyamoto Musashi and the Chaldea Master should be here by now, right?" the petite girl with horns said softly.

"Yes, tonight is the night to take care of them and turn this world into hell."

The petite woman sized up the two children in the woman's arms, a wicked smile playing on her lips. "Oh dear," she said with a malicious grin, "Do you really think you can do that? Why don't I take care of them for you? They're so tiny, with such delicate, pink skin. Even though they're farmers' children, they have such good health; they seem to get very well cared for. Their brains look delicious."

"This body is already a deeply sinful and fallen being, and this world is a hell we swear to turn into. I have taken tens of thousands of lives on my hands, so how could I possibly have any mercy? But... you insect! If you want to lay a finger on my prey, I'll cut off your head first!" The Heroic Spirit Swordmaster Minamoto no Raikō glared at the horned Oni Tribe girl, emitting a chilling killing intent.

She was serious. Rather, it's the influence of her current state as Heroic Spirit Swordmaster that makes it unbelievable that she hasn't made a move yet.

Shuten-doji, the Heroic Spirit Swordmaster and old rival, would naturally not doubt this. As for hating each other, having been killed once, she was the one with the deeper resentment.

However, to fight to the fullest, drink to the fullest, sing to the fullest, talk about love to the fullest, indulge to the fullest, and enjoy life to the fullest, even being killed is something that can be enjoyed. This is the way of existence of 'ghosts', non-human monsters.

She chuckled and waved her hand, saying, "Okay, okay, I was just joking, but would you really, really do it? Your love for children isn't some kind of kindness; it's more like obsession, madness, or even a kind of pathology."

"But now you're saying you want to kill children and all that. Are you perhaps also shedding tears of blood, killing people while simultaneously regretting and suffering, and hating and cursing yourself? Just imagining that ridiculous scene makes me laugh out loud. It's really interesting," the petite woman said with a gloating giggle.

"Ah, I'll deal with them! But they're important hostages right now. (Monthly fee group 694936135) You stay here and wait for Musashi and the Chaldea Master. I'll take the children to the mountaintop." The tall female Warlord said with a gloomy face.

"I know, you really can't take a joke," the petite woman replied nonchalantly.

Minamoto no Raikō carried the children up the mountain, where there was a dilapidated temple. She gently placed the children on a pile of straw, her hands resting on the hilt of the sword at her waist.

They are not Servant, vengeful spirits, or ghosts; they are merely monsters that use endless slaughter to carve out the gates of hell, weapons that drag the remains of Servant left behind in this world and carry out acts of killing.

She was a sorcerer whose Spirit Origin had been altered before she was even summoned. Caster, one of the seven Heroic Spirit Swordmaster, was the most powerful Onmyoji in the history of the entire country. He possessed a very strange technique, so much so that she was unable to resist, and everything was already set in stone.

Her Spirit Origin was altered into a hideous form, burdened with the karma of slaughtering everything in sight. She is ordered to kill any human she encounters, a command given by the sorcerer who summoned her to earth. She has no right to make her own decisions; this is the pathetic existence of a so-called heroic Servant.

The hostages have already been used. Now, regardless, Miyamoto Musashi and the Chaldea Master will arrive, and what follows will be a death match. Therefore, these two children are useless. Keeping them around would only be a burden; killing them is probably the best course of action.

In fact, once you're on the front lines, it's best to let the enemy speculate about the hostages' fate and be unsettled. Tens of thousands have already been killed, so one or two now are really not worth worrying about.

At that moment, the little girl woke up.

"Mountain... mountain bandits? Grandpa... is Afeng going to die here? To be killed like Dad and Mom..." Afeng looked at the cold-blooded female samurai in front of her, who was holding a samurai sword, which terrified her, and tears streamed down her face. But she held back her sobs and instead hugged her younger brother, Tadasuke, behind her.

"..." Minamoto no Raikō was summoned to this world as a Rider. The first thing she did when she was able to act on her own was to kill her beloved horse. She simply didn't want it to suffer alongside her in this karmic burden. This world is hell, and it is becoming even more cruel through their hands. For the children, perhaps death is the only true liberation.

"Please don't kill Tasuke! Tasuke is still so young, he doesn't know anything yet, he's never tasted the crunchy sound of biting into a candied apple, so... so..." Although the girl was very scared, she still tried her best to use her small body to protect her baby brother behind her back.

The expressionless female Warlord walked up to the girl and silently raised her sword...

Starting from the city, Shirou, Gudako, and Musashi headed to the mountain mentioned in the letter left by the Heroic Spirit Swordmaster, while Illya stayed Tamamo-no-Mae to search for a way to deal with Yamata no Orochi.

"Gudako, can you keep up? Or I'll carry you and run." Shirou asked the girl.

"No! I can do it! Shirou-senpai, save your energy for the battle!" Gudako shook her head and said firmly. Although she was sweating a lot, she tried her best to keep up with Shirou and Musashi's pace.

"Hmm, but Shuten and Raikou... I just can't understand why they turned out like this," Gudako said dejectedly. Although they were supposed to be the same soul in this world, the most similar versions of herself, it still made her very sad.

"The Heroic Spirit Swordmaster, turned proud heroic Servant into demonic monsters that slaughter civilians..." Musashi said after a moment of contemplation. She had a premonition, more or less, that this world might be her last chance to find her own way of the sword.

She wanted to surpass her father's swordsmanship, which was known as "unparalleled," the ultimate "one," from which nothing tangible could escape being severed in a single strike.

To overcome this "one," she must comprehend the swordsmanship of "emptiness," the "emptiness" that can sever even the intangible.

She had drifted through world after world, honing her swordsmanship, but she had made no progress on this path. The Heroic Spirit Swordmaster was an unprecedented and terrifying opponent she had never encountered before.

'If I can fight these monsters and survive, I'll probably be able to achieve transcendence, right? No... even if I don't get the ideal 'emptiness,' I can probably be at peace.' The pink-haired female swordsman thought to herself.

Through sharing memories with the white god, Shirou possesses knowledge about Human Evil and forcibly modifies the Servant's Spirit Origin, a power possessed by beasts. This is a high-level Magecraft belonging to the Imaginary Element, even touching upon the realm of the Third Magic, the Soul Materialization, and is an act of tampering with the soul.

For example, Tiamat's Black Mud, or Sakura in a certain timeline who possessed the Holy Grail but was corrupted by the All the World's Evil, all possessed similar power.

Perhaps there are other powerful and mysterious beings who have mastered similar technologies. Satan, the mastermind behind the claim that the Heroic Spirit Swordmaster wants to conquer Hell, and the countless Demon Pillar lurking in the shadows... as well as the incomparably powerful gods in various pantheons.

Human Evil is an evil inherent in human nature, an evil that cannot be avoided as long as humanity exists, and one that humanity must overcome. Otherwise, humanity will have no future.

"No matter what! We have to rescue Afeng and Tsuke!" Shirou said firmly.

"Yes! Of course!" Gudako replied firmly. She gritted her teeth and tried her best to keep up with Shirou's fast pace. Fortunately, her legs had been trained many times.

And behind the scenes, unknown to anyone.

On the battlefield where Musashi and Gudako were fighting the silver-haired Himegishi, a woman with long black hair and golden vertical pupils silently arrived at the scorched battlefield, followed by a red-haired youth dressed as a ninja.

"Don't go, my child. Come back, I have important things for you to do."

The black smoke from the flames, which had already dissolved into granular crystals, and the Servant who had left this world, were once again summoned back here.

The ability to change the nature of a completely destroyed Servant and revive them is undoubtedly a power at the level of a god.

At this moment, the resurrected Servant's Spirit Origin has changed, no longer affected by the karmic consequences of all the slaughter, but the Spirit Origin has undergone a new transformation, making it different from Servant in its normal state.

The silver-haired Oni Tribe Himegishi squatted down, kneeling on one knee. Her long, black eyes, which had previously been bloodshot with both whites and pupils turning completely red, had become sheen-gold vertical pupils.

"Get up, I have an important matter to ask of you. First, we must reclaim my physical body!" the black-haired girl said in a deep voice.

"Yes, Ancestor..." Tomoe Gozen replied and stood behind the black-haired woman.

"I will do everything in my power to assist you!" the red-haired boy replied respectfully.

"Very good! As expected of my descendant! Let's go!" The black-haired girl said, walking forward.

When the three of them stand in a row, you can see that all three of them have the same pupils.

Chapter 377 The Third-Party Snake Team

The woman with long black hair is the Servant of Mochizuki Chiyome, but now the one in charge of her actions is the great god Yamata no Orochi.

Because the white god initiated a world devoid of mystery, no longer needing Counter Force, no longer needing the Throne of Heroes, erasing all True Magic, Magecraft, and mystery, humanity relied entirely on its own great transformation, causing many hidden entities in various fields to stir with restlessness.

Yamata no Orochi was no exception. She had originally used the resentment of this world to strengthen her soul, intending to perfectly reunite with her original body. However, Shirou and Illya broke the seal first, ruining her plan. Thus, her soul was unable to return to her body smoothly. Even so, because of the Heroic Spirit Swordmaster, this place contained many beings connected to her.

This allows the physical body to be reshaped, but the inside is already tattered and the soul's defenses are practically nonexistent. As Miko serving the Great God, Mochizuki Chiyome is arguably the best material to possess.

Without any resistance, the Yamata no Orochi easily possessed the female ninja's body.

Then she began to seek out her descendants in this world who were related to her by blood—that is, the demons. Of course, not all demons were her descendants. For example, a certain blonde girl who claimed to be the leader of Mount Ooe with 6 million followers, as well as the hundred demons under her command, had no direct blood relation to Orochi.