The Final Battle in the Hanging Gardens

In Romania, a land where many legends have unfolded, a new legend is being written.

Ten thousand meters in the sky, the Hanging Gardens, revered by humanity as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, has appeared in the modern age in its legendary form, becoming a true aerial fortress.

However, this fortress is now in ruins, its surface looking like a city that has just been bombarded by countless shells, with not a single intact building visible.

Yet, in a grand hall at its very center, a black-haired man is locked in a final decisive battle with the Servant Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, fighting for the Holy Grail that was just extracted from Château de Nrvänsky.

The black-haired man is currently bare-chested, wielding the holy sword Balmung. Green lightning crackles around him, and a sapphire Star Emblem flashes on his chest and abdomen. He moves at high speed along the circular hall's walls, unleashing lightning strikes upon his opponent.

However, his complexion is unnaturally flushed, his lips are purplish, and the signs of poisoning are obvious.

Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, on the other hand, holds a katana in his right hand and a Black Key in his left. His long, priest-like robe is heavily adorned with crosses and chains, clearly indicating he has unleashed his full abilities.

He is currently using his dual-wielding Noble Phantasms, Clairvoyance (True) and Clairvoyance (False), to continuously reposition himself and slash with his weapons, cutting magical blades to deflect the lightning strikes coming from all directions, and slowly says:

"Mr. Dan Lei, I thought as Aozaki Touko's apprentice, you would be more skilled in Puppetry and Rune Magic. I didn't expect your physical combat to be this good."

Amakusa Shirou Tokisada is using conversation to stall for time. This man, who killed the Master of the Assassin of Black in the Eastern Land and stole their Command Spells to participate in this Holy Grail War, had recently teamed up with the famous ancient Roman poison master who descended as an Assassin named Rochomsta. Together, they poisoned Semiramis into unconsciousness, rendering her unresponsive even to Command Spells.

But this man has clearly also been poisoned by Semiramis. Although it's unclear how he's managed to hold on this long after being poisoned, time is on his side.

His Servant's direct combat ability is very low. While her poison mastery is unparalleled, as long as she isn't allowed to get close, there's no danger.

However, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada didn't realize that while he was trying to stall, Dan Lei was also stalling.

As a Transmigrator, Dan Lei felt he had done everything he could in this Holy Grail War.

At this point, Dan Lei has used all his Command Spells.

The first Command Spell was used to activate Replacement Magic, exceeding his own abilities. He used his own heart to replace Siegfried's heart within Cyborg Sieg's body, allowing him to break through the weakness of his own magic circuits and directly possess a magical capacity close to that of Divine Heroes.

Simultaneously, Dan Lei, proficient in Replacement Magic, could use this heart as a medium to temporarily transfer Siegfried's power to himself. The holy sword Balmung and the Star Emblem on his body were acquired this way.

The second Command Spell was used by Dan Lei to replace the core of the deceased Berserker of Black, Frankenstein. In this Type-Moon World, which he had interfered with, Frankenstein was killed by him. Before killing her, Dan Lei used Replacement Magic at the cost of a Command Spell to extract Frankenstein's core, which could only be used once and would dissipate once its energy was depleted.

The green lightning crackling around Dan Lei at this moment is the power from this core.

The final Command Spell forced Dan Lei's Servant, Rochomsta, to unleash her EX Noble Phantasm, [Farewell, My Beloved Emperor], which she could originally only use against Nero.

Using a super-poison concocted with Rochomsta's life's work and stored in a small golden box, she forcibly poisoned Semiramis, who possessed the King Trait.

It can only be said that an EX Noble Phantasm that can only target a specific individual managed to complete its objective, rejecting all external interference.

If Nero were truly here now, even in her Beast Nero form, she would have died once.

Therefore, Semiramis was completely unable to resist. She was forcefully controlled by the Noble Phantasm's power before Rochomsta and was given the poison, leading to a peaceful death.

She would quietly extinguish the flame of life in her sleep, not only buying time for the subsequent battle and preventing the Hanging Gardens from collapsing immediately but also removing the final obstacle before confronting the ultimate boss.

As a side note, the Catalyst Dan Lei used to summon Rochomsta was that small golden box containing the poison, which is why this Noble Phantasm could be activated.

In fact, Dan Lei forcing Rochomsta to administer a poison that wasn't hers to Semiramis greatly displeased his Servant.

However, their cooperation began when Dan Lei signed a Self-Binding Contract targeting himself, so Rochomsta did not rebel against Dan Lei because of this.

But in the short time it took to pass through Semiramis's room and use the Command Spell, Dan Lei was poisoned. The reason he can still move and is even quite energetic is that Rochomsta, with her A+ ranked poison manipulation ability, created a counteracting poison that could temporarily prevent Dan Lei from dying immediately from the poison.

But once the effect wears off, Dan Lei would be lucky to be left as a puddle of blood.

Therefore, Dan Lei could only fight quickly. The so-called stalling was actually meant to distract Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, preventing him from noticing that Dan Lei was using lightning to draw a Rune Array on the hall floor as a base.

After striking several more lightning bolts, Dan Lei directly closed the distance for a close-quarters assault. Using the True Ether within the holy sword Balmung, he unleashed Ether Sword Qi, adding another slash to the ground and forcing Amakusa Shirou Tokisada back as he said:

"As you said, I'm just an apprentice. According to Touko, my magic circuits are terrible, and my talent for magic is only passable in Replacement Magic. My only other advantages are patience and shamelessness.

In short, Touko explicitly refused to be my master and doesn't allow me to claim to be her disciple.

She was willing to keep me as an apprentice and teach me some self-preservation magic knowledge because I have good Chinese Cuisine skills.

As for physical combat, haven't you heard the saying that all Chinese people know Martial Arts?"

However, after being forced back, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada could only inwardly complain, stating that he was just being polite. Dan Lei's physical combat skills were mediocre at best, purely relying on Siegfried's and Frankenstein's power to give him Strength and Speed of at least B+.

But in combat, speed is paramount. Amakusa Shirou Tokisada knew that his current strength was forcibly unleashed by Command Spells, and his Strength and Speed were far inferior to his opponent's. Furthermore, his opponent's attacks were imbued with lightning, making close combat disadvantageous for him.

So, he raised his Black Key, preparing to use ranged throws to harass Dan Lei.

However, the moment Amakusa Shirou Tokisada raised his Black Key, Dan Lei chuckled:

"Is that really a good idea? That slash just now, the Ether I swung contained my magic."

Upon hearing this, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada felt a chill run down his spine. He immediately let go of the Black Key he had just raised, covered his nose, and retreated explosively.

Almost the instant Amakusa Shirou Tokisada let go, the Black Key was replaced by a bottle of poison, which fell to the ground and splashed, creating a cloud of toxic mist.

Seeing this, Dan Lei plunged the holy sword Balmung into the ground and grinned sinisterly:

"What a shame. This was carefully prepared by Rochomsta, it's quite precious.

But, the last part is drawn. The battle should end now."

With that, Dan Lei began to fully extract the magic from his heart, merging it with the True Ether emanating from the holy sword Balmung and injecting it into the hall's stone slabs beneath his feet.

Semiramis was already asleep, awaiting death. No one could stop the activation of this Rune Array.