The girl infused the angel's authority.
In the next moment, the dazzling flash released from the sword swallowed the entire field of vision.
"----"
When the light completely faded moments later, Laeticia saw Metatron wearing an astonished expression for the first time.
"How... could this be..."
Bewilderment and shock—such violently shaken emotions should never have appeared on the face of an archangel.
"That is Methuselah and Noah's... Not a counterfeit based on magecraft, but the genuine article?!"
She stared in disbelief at the Noble Phantasms in Shirou and Laeticia's hands.
Shirou nodded. "Yes. This is the sword of protection placed by your God near Paradise—the 'Flame Sword of the Cherubim'—
It isn't a projection. I happened to obtain the genuine article while searching for the Holy Grail."
If it was the genuine article, then it was no wonder it could achieve that level of power just now.
The so-called "cherub" had not originally been the name of a particular angel, but a type of creature widely circulated in Catholic legends.
The Old Testament described them as winged heavenly beings who obeyed God.
In later theology, they were defined as an angelic order of the highest rank, alongside the seraphim—in Chinese characters, the "cherubim."
For the archangel Metatron, who had not appeared in orthodox scripture and existed only in the Jewish Apocrypha, the Cherubim Angel could be said to be one of her prototypes.
To use the words of the ancient Golden King: "It is the way of the world that the child cannot surpass the parent. How could a Noble Phantasm that has continuously deteriorated through transmission possibly rival its original form?"
Thus, even the far more powerful "Pillar of Flame" was blocked by the "Flame Sword," which possessed a similar nature and the properties of an original source.
The