Kirei Kotomine's Father really wanted to punch his son for cracking jokes even at a time like this, but it was obvious that this incident was beyond their ability to handle.
And—
The old priest looked up at the sky.
A typhoon was steadily taking shape overhead.
It was as if something was about to descend.
If even Kirei Kotomine's Father, an "ordinary person," could sense it, then the Heroic Spirits could sense it all the more clearly.
"Master, something troublesome and unpleasant is coming."
After seeing Gilgamesh off, Enkidu had hurried back to Li Ke's side. He wore a look of disgust as he gazed up at the storm taking shape in the sky. He already knew what was coming.
Gugalanna.
The embodiment of calamity in Mesopotamia.
Its arrival brought violent storms that destroyed everything on the land. Even at the height of their power, he and Gilgamesh had needed to give it their all to contend with such overwhelming strength.
What appeared now wouldn't be Gugalanna in its entirety. But the moment it appeared, it meant one thing.
Its mistress, Ishtar, had come too!
That spoiled, selfish, useless goddess! The goddess who had torn him and Gilgamesh apart had descended into this world to keep ruining their reunion.
Should he call her vindictive? Or persistent? Even now, long after the end of Mesopotamian civilization, she still resented them.
"Ah, I can see that. It really does look like trouble. But is it all right if that thing over there gets destroyed? You Heroic Spirits won't disappear because of it, will you?"
Li Ke nodded. He could feel that something was up in the sky, but at that moment, he was more concerned about something else.
Namely, whether the thing over there called the Greater Grail was going to be all right.
The Greater Grail was the core of a normal Holy Grail War. The entire ritual depended on its existence.
But if they destroyed the Greater Grail's core, which had been exposed by Gilgamesh and Enkidu's battle, then the Holy Grail War would end right there.
It would be over for good.
"It's fine. Even if the Greater Grail disappears, I can remain here for a while by relying on your magical energy and the power of the land, Master. Besides, if I'm not mistaken, that thing has already been corrupted. It would be best to destroy it now."
Enkidu looked at his battle-ready Master with some exasperation. Li Ke's face practically had "I want to fight those people" written all over it.
It really was hard for Enkidu to go against his Master's wishes.
"Besides, once you summoned Gil and me, there was no way the Holy Grail War could continue."
Enkidu grinned and flexed his arm, but his slender limbs did little to convey a sense of strength.
"Right now, I'm superior to Gil in every way. And as a Master, you're far better than his!"
Enkidu's praise was sincere. Li Ke provided him with ample magical energy and gave him the freedom to act as he saw fit, things most Masters wouldn't do. It made him truly happy.
Li Ke paused, then nodded helplessly.
"That's true."
Now that Enkidu had appeared, Gilgamesh would take this Holy Grail War seriously. He would give it his all to eliminate the others and prevent anyone from interfering with his reunion with his friend.
Unless the last unfilled class summoned some major figure, tomorrow would be the decisive battle of this Holy Grail War.
Li Ke instinctively looked up. He felt something watching him—and attacking him!
The next moment, Enkidu jerked his head up too and swung his arm. Flowers sprang from the ground, firing beams of golden light at the sky. But Li Ke sensed that something was wrong.
"It's behind us!"
The moment he realized this, Li Ke swiftly summoned Scathach's spear and swept it behind him, aiming for the space over his heart and spine!
A moment later, metal rang against metal. A tremendous force slammed Li Ke's body away, but his attacker didn't stop. A power that heralded death appeared, taking the form of a greatsword that lunged for Li Ke's neck!
"Hearken! The Evening Bell tolls your name!"
The black figure seemed to embody death itself. Enkidu's face filled with shock, but "death" was a domain he could never resist. All his powers meant nothing before it.
And if he did nothing, the attack dropping from the sky would kill his Master!
Enkidu glanced toward Scathach, but she watched coldly without making a move.
Li Ke felt time stop. He could only watch as a towering, skeleton-like figure slowly approached him. All he could see in its eyes were white feathers, and the toll of a bell announcing death rang out.
It seemed there was nothing he could do!
His thoughts began to slow. He was already dying before the blade reached him, as if he were meant to die and the blade would only cut off his head afterward.
But Li Ke knew very well that the moment the blade touched him, he would die!
What should he do?
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant.
Noble ones, heroic ones, cowardly ones, and craven ones.
But just as the blade was about to touch his throat, he remembered the question Scathach had asked him back then.
"Why do you think you aren't a hero?"
At the time, he'd been slumped on the ground, looking at Scathach beneath the moonlight, her two spears in hand. He'd felt nothing but fear and longing. So what had he answered when she asked him that?
"Maybe because I'm neither handsome nor brave, and I'm not particularly outstanding?"
"Are you afraid of death?"
"Of course I am."
"Is that so?"
Then Scathach had asked him three questions.
He wasn't going to die for nothing!
As that thought rose in his mind, a violent surge of heat welled up in Li Ke's heart. A power that had never awakened in other worlds began to reveal itself.
The Demon and Angel Hybrid, the reawakening of Creation Power, and the other unknown powers all began to take effect.
Yet, astonishingly, despite possessing all these powers, he was still a human—locked into the form of "humanity"!
And humanity had countless definitions in this world, but none of them included the form he now had!
That was the greatest anomaly of all!
But without the Worldstone suppressing him, with Naruto Li Ke's power to delve deeper into his own bloodline, and with him now truly standing on the brink of "imminent death," the violent power within him finally erupted!
Magical energy across a radius of several thousand meters was drained until the area became a vacuum. The tremendous force born of that energy twisted the declaration of death at point-blank range, making the Heroic Spirit who was practically the embodiment of death itself stare in shock.
It wasn't that the concept of death had ceased to exist. He had temporarily twisted the world's rules, making "death" cease to exist!
"What... what is this..."
Before he could finish speaking, the boy, who looked no older than ten, swept the spear in his hand through the air. There was no fear of death in his eyes now, only a desire to fight!
Li Ke didn't care about any of that. He gripped his spear and steadily pressed the towering figure, relentlessly swinging his weapon and unleashing his violent magical energy.
At last, Enkidu had a chance to help Li Ke. He stared in shock at the figure fighting Li Ke with a greatsword, yet at the same time, he felt it was only natural.
To defeat his Master, it would take a Heroic Spirit of the Grand rank, no less.
A Crowned Heroic Spirit was a being powerful enough to confront a world-ending crisis, the strongest in a particular field.
And if Enkidu wasn't mistaken, the Heroic Spirit before them was unquestionably Hassan—the first Hassan! The fabled Angel of Death!
"Please be extremely careful, Master! This fellow and I are a terrible match! Because of my legend, if his sword even touches me, I'll die immediately! So all I can do is support you like this!"
Enkidu was helpless. He had been a clay doll forged by the gods, and the only reason he had died was that the gods had given him the concept of death.
So even as a Heroic Spirit, anything connected to death could still counter him and erase both his power and his life!
Li Ke only grew more excited.
"A Crowned Heroic Spirit came all the way to kill me? How interesting!"
His spear swept through the air, unleashing a vast torrent of magical energy. The attacking Heroic Spirit dodged, but the blast carved a magical scar thousands of meters long across the earth, reducing everything above it to ash!
Even the Greater Grail standing in the path of the spear was smashed apart by the magical slash Li Ke had unleashed!
The shattered Greater Grail burst with the magical energy it had accumulated over decades, along with countless things that looked like black mud.
This black mud was called All the World's Evils. It contained countless curses and humanity's malice. Even a powerful Heroic Spirit with an iron will would have their convictions and desires corrupted if tainted by this evil black mud, becoming an evil being in a sense.
But—
The black magical energy shrieked as an invisible force drew it in, and, along with the immense magical energy, it surged toward Li Ke!
The Servant possessing the Crown rank leaped away almost instantly, escaping the path of the black mud and leaving it to engulf Li Ke.
"Master!"
Enkidu tried to pull Li Ke out, but Scathach stepped in front of him!
"Have you mistaken my Master for your prey, Queen of the Land of Shadows?"
Scathach had powers that could counter him too. And right now, Scathach was in her complete state, unlike him, who had descended as a Servant. Li Ke's presence let her wield the power of a Heroic Spirit, but she was still fundamentally different.
If Scathach tried to stop him, he could do nothing about it!
"He's only just begun to awaken his powers... I can't let you interfere. Given his talent and identity, he has to overcome this danger himself and master his power, don't you think?"
Scathach spun her two spears, her eyes filled with battle intent. Now that Li Ke's true nature had awakened, this planet couldn't contain him. Either he would be destroyed, or the world would have to adapt to his existence.
Li Ke had no third option. Otherwise, even if he survived in this world, the planet's will would contrive to drain all his power and leave him to die miserably, becoming a part of the planet's history.
That would be terribly dull.
If he couldn't withstand the trials of the planet and the Human Order, it would be better for him to die here sooner rather than later, become a spirit, and return with her to the Land of Shadows to go on living. That way, he wouldn't be able to keep growing, but at least he would suffer far less.
That was the greatest mercy she could offer him as his teacher.
"Besides, I want to test myself against you too."
But just as Enkidu could no longer stand by and was about to fight, the typhoon above them finally took shape. Part of the storm, over five hundred kilometers in diameter, began to writhe, sprouting spikes like the tips of scythes. Through the swirling clouds, a gigantic bull appeared. It raised a hoof and brought it crashing down on them!
Yes, the so-called Holy Grail War—
Had ceased to exist the moment Li Ke entered it!
And several dozen seconds before all this happened—
"Tokiomi!!"
An angry voice rang through Tokiomi Tohsaka's mansion. But the instant golden motes of light appeared in the room, Gilgamesh saw the countless gemstones gleaming with magical light on the floor, and Tokiomi Tohsaka lying crumpled nearby, the Command Spell gone from his hand.
The potion he had given Tokiomi to restore his youth was in the hands of Tokiomi's little daughter—or rather, in the hands of the goddess Ishtar!
The little girl, somewhat younger than Li Ke, smiled at the astonished Gilgamesh.
"It's been a long time, Gilgamesh. When did you turn off the Star of Omniscience and Omnipotence? I'm curious."
Gilgamesh's eyes widened as he realized what had happened. The goddess had descended while he had turned off the Star of Omniscience and Omnipotence to focus entirely on fighting Enkidu, using the magical energy generated by their clash!
The lingering storm of magical energy had probably become nourishment for her Gugalanna!
Damn it! He shouldn't have turned off the Star of Omniscience and Omnipotence!
"Ishtar!"
Countless golden ripples appeared behind Gilgamesh, and Noble Phantasms poised to pierce the person before him. But in the next moment, the little girl whose body bore the name Rin Tohsaka grinned maliciously as the goddess took control of her.
"I command you with a Command Spell, Gilgamesh: seal your treasures!"
I'm not going to write that so-called feast of the three kings. It's too boring.
Heroic Spirits are only fun when they fight!
Before you continue