The images on the Light Screen suddenly changed style.
The camera shifted to a Strange Insect crouched on a high ledge. Its compound eyes reflected what was happening to the King of Heroes.
Then the scene changed again. A man appeared in the shadows, wearing a hood that obscured most of his face. Only the lower half was visible.
The exposed part of his face was very pale. From his left cheek down to his neck, raised veins stood out, making him look grotesque and terrifying. They even seemed to writhe slowly, sending a chill through anyone who saw them.
Then the man gave a villainous grin. "Kill him, Berserker!"
His words brimmed with malice and hatred, as though the King of Heroes had stolen his wife.
The next moment, while Li Shuwen and the King of Heroes were discussing cultural matters, a shadow emerged from the other side of the warehouse.
It was a knight clad in black armor, as if stained by filth. The full suit was predominantly black, and even her head was hidden beneath a helmet with bull horns.
The armor was decorated with patches of fabric and ornamental patterns, all dark red. On closer inspection, they had probably not been that color originally; something had tainted them and turned them dark red.
As for her height...
Surprisingly, without counting the horns on her helmet, the knight stood barely five foot five—a standard pint-sized knight.
Yet a violent, frenzied aura surrounded her. Just standing there, she gave off the impression of a savage beast gone mad.
The next moment, a black knight's greatsword appeared in her hands, as though its former glory had been corrupted. She immediately entered the state of True Name Release.
The section of the sword hilt where it joined the blade suddenly opened, and a torrent of dark-red magical energy surged out, boiling over in an instant. At the same time, the knight's helmet retracted as if mechanically disassembled, then sank into her armor.
The camera's angle revealed only that she seemed to be a young girl with golden hair, which hung loose and unkempt like a madwoman's.
In truth, this Maiden Knight really was insane. When she unleashed her Noble Phantasm, she didn't call out its True Name. Instead, she uttered an indistinct name in a beastlike growl.
"Ah~~~ Sa~~~~"
Boom~~~
The dark-red torrent swept toward Gilgamesh like a beam of light, bearing irresistible force.
Everything in its path was destroyed. Red lightning crackled through the torrent, and the sheer visual impact was terrifying. It looked as though anything that came close would be utterly annihilated. Countless people in the real world watched, chilled to the bone and with their scalps tingling.
In an instant, everyone at the scene retreated—including Old Master Li Shuwen. Though advanced in years, he was still vigorous; he flashed away at incredible speed. Only Gil-chan faced the attack head-on.
But when Artoria saw the attack from afar, she froze for a moment. The Light Screen even deliberately focused on her face, framing it like a textbook foreshadowing shot.
Then the camera swung back. Gilgamesh was swallowed by the red energy, and the terrifying force tore beyond the harbor, cutting diagonally through the night sky and creating a dark-red bridge that seemed to reach heaven.
The harbor took another devastating hit. Flammable materials caught fire, setting off a chain of explosions. The blasts rumbled without end.
The horrifying force left countless people in the real world pale with shock.
The Servants had fought many times before. Saber and Lancer had clashed fiercely, and Li Shuwen and the King of Heroes had settled their fight with a single move. Their strength had far surpassed anything a human could achieve.
Yet no matter how fierce the battles had been—even when Gilgamesh unleashed his outrageously overpowered rain of Noble Phantasms—the actual destruction had remained limited. This attack was entirely different.
The dark-red torrent that seemed to reach the heavens displayed power beyond that of any conventional weapon made by humanity.
No one doubted that if this attack had struck a city, it would either have caused a terrible explosion or cut through everything in its path, slicing through skyscrapers like a hot knife through butter.
Terrifying power. Terrifying impact.
There had been no narration to explain it, but everyone now understood: this was the power of a Servant releasing the True Name of a Noble Phantasm.
The might of Heroic Spirits was truly terrifying!
As the dark-red torrent and its red lightning gradually faded, a huge trench leading to the sea had been carved through the harbor. Seawater flowed in to fill it.
It was easy to imagine that Fuyuki Port had just gotten a big "Game Over." Given the extent of the destruction, there was no point trying to repair it. Building a new one would make more sense.
The insurance companies would be weeping in the bathroom, and Fuyuki's officials would have to commit mass seppuku.
Then, amid the smoke and dust, Gilgamesh stood beside the trench, his face twisted with rage. The broken remains of numerous Noble Phantasms lay around him, including several shields.
Clearly, at the critical moment, the King of Heroes had summoned a pile of Noble Phantasms in front of himself to defend against the attack. That was the only reason he hadn't been taken out in one blow.
"Damn you! Mongrel!!!"
Gil-chan ground his teeth and glared murderously at the ambusher—the Servant who was most likely a Berserker.
Everyone's eyes turned toward her as well. The attacker had put her helmet back on, concealing her face once more.
But the camera shifted to Saber. The green eyes of this King Arthur trembled slightly, and her expression grew complicated. "So it really is you... How did you end up like this...? Mordred, what kind of hatred are you carrying in your heart...?"
Those were Artoria's innermost thoughts. The people in the Light Screen couldn't hear them, but everyone in the real world could.
In an instant, the crowd erupted.
Mordred?
Wasn't she the Knight of Rebellion who had launched a revolt, bringing about the decline of the Kingdom of Camelot and nearly killing King Arthur during the rebellion?
At once, many people from Holy Britannia looked at the Berserker with contempt, disgust, and even hatred.
After all, Camelot had not fallen in this world. Over time, it had developed into what was now Holy Britannia, and the Pendragon Family's legacy had ensured that King Arthur's glory was never forgotten.
As a result, historical and cultural accounts had condemned Mordred as a traitor for over a thousand years, smearing her through countless stories and versions of events.
Her place in Holy Britannia's history was roughly equivalent to that of Qin Hui in Flame Kingdom.
Now that they had seen Mordred appear as a Berserker, the people of Britannia were overcome with collective loathing.
They might have been surprised to learn that Mordred was a girl, but King Arthur was a beautiful young woman herself. What was so strange about a Knight of Rebellion being a girl?
The important thing was that she was a traitor, so she deserved to be reviled.
At least, that was how people in Holy Britannia saw it. And when they saw Mordred in that corrupted, frenzied state, many of them felt pleased. They thought that was exactly what a traitorous knight deserved, and that this wretch had no claim to glory.
Poor Little Mo. The different worldline had left her without a single kind word. No one approved of her or felt sorry for her; they believed that her current fate was entirely her own fault.
For the same reason, in this worldline, Lancelot had returned to King Arthur's side during the Battle of Camlann, then spent the rest of his life protecting Camelot and atoning for his disgrace and sins. That made it unsuitable for him to appear as a Berserker as he had in the original story. Instead, Mordred now had every reason to take Lancelot's place as the Berserker.
So, the new twist in this adaptation was what they were seeing now: Berserker Mordred had made her entrance.
Of the seven Servant classes in the Holy Grail War—Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Assassin, Berserker, and Caster—only the last, Caster, had yet to appear.
So who would this final Caster be? Would it be a character from the original story?
Su Yun was grinning with delight.
La la la la la~ As long as I'm silly enough, no one can roast me! La la la la la~
Before you continue