Attack Again

Li Ke fell silent as he watched the great flood connecting heaven and earth.

Is this the legendary, world-renowned Gilgamesh?

He's nothing more than a lunatic who only cares about his own gratification!

Is he even more unhinged than me?

I was only getting a bit carried away because of my sudden surge in power, but this Gilgamesh is a total madman! Does he just slaughter an entire city whenever he's displeased?

Is this truly the King of Heroes, the darling of the Mushroom?

Watching the massive flood descend from the sky—a deluge that would guarantee the deaths of hundreds of thousands the moment it touched the ground—Li Ke took a deep breath.

There was one thing he really wanted to know right now.

He wanted to know how the so-called cleanup crews of the Holy Grail War handled this, and how they planned to convince the citizens of Fuyuki City that all of this was "normal."

Especially the Gugalanna from moments ago and this massive flood.

"Come to think of it, for a bystander like me, the Holy Grail War is truly an incomprehensible mess."

Li Ke gripped his spear tightly. He could use the mana currently in his body to resist the flood falling from the sky, but if he did, he would lose his ability to fight and wouldn't be able to defeat his teacher, Scathach, in a fair and square duel.

"Honestly, it's infuriating. I only managed to stab Gilgamesh once; I really let him off too easily!"

Li Ke took a deep breath, raised his spear, and gathered every ounce of mana within his body.

Staring at the flood in the sky, Li Ke closed his eyes, recalling the sensation of obliterating Gugalanna just a moment ago.

Strictly speaking, he didn't even know if he had actually killed Gugalanna, but he had certainly plundered enough mana from it—the lightning he had just unleashed was proof of that.

If that was the case, then by pushing all his power toward that lightning and the divine authority of the heavens, he should naturally be able to stop this flood falling from the sky!

Lightning crackled continuously across Li Ke's body. At this very moment, he felt as though he could freely wield the power of electricity—no, to be precise, it was electromagnetic force.

Every metallic object around Li Ke began to float involuntarily, creating a weightless scene around him. He even drew in the fine iron sand from the earth, forming a black foundation beneath his feet.

Within the violent mana storm, the very essence of lightning began to manifest. Plasma flowed over Li Ke's body, as if dressing him in a suit of lightning armor!

"That is... the divine authority of lightning? To think the Master could reach such a level!"

Enkidu couldn't help but exclaim in astonishment. However, standing to the side, Scathach—her face flickering between light and shadow from the glow of the lightning—felt a sense of loss.

She had finally waited for Li Ke to possess the strength to fight her, yet she was forced to watch her disciple use that power to counter a natural disaster caused by a trivial person.

It truly left her deeply dissatisfied.

Yet, her disciple's growth was undeniable, leaving her with complex emotions.

However, Li Ke had no time to ponder such things, for if he didn't act now, the flood would hit the ground!

And so, he threw his spear.

The moment the spear left his hand, it began to expand rapidly. The lightning rising from the earth grew like a rapidly sprouting tree, spreading its branches of lethal thunder!

Not only that, but the storm that had been lingering until now began to produce countless lightning strikes under the combined influence of the flood and Li Ke's lightning!

Violent pillars of thunder instantly shattered the red magic circles hidden beneath the great flood, breaking the foundation of the sky-high deluge in a single instant.

But the flood that had already gathered was still enough to destroy this city—the city where Li Ke had lived for so long.

Therefore, Li Ke began to drive the gale!

Lightning continuously ravaged the crimson, circuit-board-like magic circles, triggering constant explosions. While preventing the disaster from growing, it also caused the flood in the sky to be blasted apart, allowing the storm to sweep the water away in all directions.

To the citizens below in Fuyuki City, it looked as if countless thick pillars of lightning were rampaging overhead, followed by a series of continuous explosions detonating above them. The resulting shockwaves left cars and wooden houses teetering on the brink of collapse, as if a true apocalyptic disaster had arrived!

Even worse, a typhoon had descended once again!

Violent winds carrying even more intense moisture swept in all directions, and rain poured down madly onto Fuyuki City and the surrounding towns as if it were free.

Watching this scene, Li Ke raised his hand again, unleashing the final bit of mana he had obtained from Gugalanna. The next moment, even more violent winds began to blow, carrying the source-less flood in the sky toward the coast to prevent the rainfall here from becoming too excessive.

After all, Japan's infrastructure was only so-so; expecting this city to withstand this level of rainfall was like hoping to find a German engineer wrapped in oil paper after digging up a sewer!

After finishing all this, Li Ke crouched on the ground, bathed in rain and still flickering with arcs of electricity, panting heavily.

His massive mana consumption meant he could no longer maintain his towering physique, causing his body—which had been fueled entirely by mana—to revert to its original form.

His magic circuits burned with an uncomfortable heat, leaving him feeling as if he were suffering from a fever, with every part of his body aching.

But just as Li Ke was catching his breath, a subtle glimmer flashed through the curtain of rain. Li Ke immediately raised his head and instinctively swung his empty arm, trying to block the light attacking him!

However, Li Ke immediately realized the fact that he had no weapon in his hand!

He could have summoned his thrown spear back using mana earlier, but due to the massive mana drain, he hadn't had the chance!

"Oh no!"

Watching the flying blade closing in on his throat, Li Ke tried to shift his body as much as he could. But a sudden wave of dizziness left him unable to move.

Yet, just as he thought he wouldn't be able to block it, the sound of metal clashing rang out violently. His arm was struck by something, not only being knocked high into the air, but the object in his hand also went flying.

At this moment, both the attacker and Li Ke were stunned.

Li Ke stared in bewilderment at a golden longsword flying high into the air. If he remembered correctly, that should have been the very arrow-like Noble Phantasm Gilgamesh had just used to launch that "Napishtim's Great Flood"!

But why is this thing in my hand?

He did not understand, but immediately, he saw a golden ripple appear beside him!

"What..."

Enkidu also widened his eyes. He saw it most clearly: at the critical moment, as Li Ke swung his arm, a golden ripple from the Gate of Babylon appeared at his side, from which he drew a Noble Phantasm to use!

He immediately realized a possibility.

"Could it be that, just as Li Ke killed Gugalanna and obtained the divine authority of the sky... after he killed Gil and absorbed his magical energy, he gained the ability to open Gil's treasury? Doesn't that mean..."

At this moment, Scathach, who had appeared behind Li Ke at some point and maintained a posture ready to strike, also spoke.

"In other words, you only need to keep hunting to become stronger and stronger?"

Her heart grew increasingly joyful, but on the surface, she maintained her cold demeanor, looking toward the Assassin draped in a white shroud.

Or rather, the Caster of this Holy Grail War.

The reason she was focused on the opponent was simple: the Hassan who had previously attacked Li Ke had already been wiped out by the same attack Li Ke used to destroy Gugalanna. And this remaining Caster was no ordinary Heroic Spirit; he was an enforcer for the Counter Force.

An enforcer specifically tasked with eliminating those whom the Counter Force wished to kill.

"Your arrival proves that the Counter Force has set its sights on my disciple, doesn't it?"

Scathach gripped her spear, pointing her hand toward the Caster who was moonlighting as an Assassin.

"This is troublesome."

The targeted Assassin gave a wry smile. He had come under the orders of the Counter Force to clear out the unstable factors in the Holy Grail War, as the history of this world had deviated ever so slightly.

The so-called Counter Force was the Gaia consciousness of the Earth and the Alaya consciousness of humanity.

Thus, after being summoned via the Holy Grail War, he immediately killed the person he wanted to kill, then dispatched the contestant named Kayneth—whom the Counter Force had specifically named—before coming to kill Li Ke.

Because Li Ke was also someone who should not have appeared in history.

He just hadn't expected that even with Hassan's help, he still failed to kill his target, and now his mission was becoming impossible to complete.

Although failing to kill Li Ke would only change the fate of a small number of people and would not significantly alter history, that was no reason for a hired hand like him to stop the assault.

Therefore, despite the difficulty, he still wanted to kill Li Ke here.

After all, there was no doubt that this was Li Ke's most vulnerable moment; his awakening body required magical energy, and the recent fight had consumed a massive amount. Once Li Ke recovered, it would be absolutely impossible to eliminate him.

At least, he would be unable to eliminate him.

To kill him later would require waiting for him to cause massive destruction to the human world and trigger huge fluctuations in magical energy, only then would the Counter Force have the capacity to launch another attack on Li Ke.

But if he had to wait until then to kill him, what use was he?

Although Li Ke might not necessarily cause massive destruction to the human world, but—

The Counter Force did not care about that; they were results-oriented. As long as there was even the slightest possibility, they would dispatch their enforcers without hesitation.

"The problem is, how am I supposed to break through Scathach's defense?"

Clenching the twin blades in his hands, although his class was Caster, his specialty was projection magecraft, allowing him to continuously project various legendary Noble Phantasms for attack.

He could even read the experience and techniques of the owners of the projected Noble Phantasms to assist himself in using them.

This was his ability, the only magecraft he knew.

"Hmph..."

But Scathach had no intention of using her own body to strike. She looked at Li Ke before her, crouched slightly, and embraced his body, which was still trembling from the excessive consumption of magical energy.

She had never treated her disciple as a child; Li Ke's vision and cognitive abilities were simply not those of a child.

That was why she held expectations for Li Ke's desires.

"This time, I will lend you my power. Go and defeat the one who wishes to kill you."

She could feel the anger in her disciple's heart. The opponent's two attacks had crossed the bottom line she shared with her disciple, so she chose to lend her power to him.

The next moment, Scathach's body merged into Li Ke's. Li Ke's trembling ceased, his magical energy was replenished, and although his body did not grow larger, it was once again filled with strength.

"Thank you, Teacher."

Li Ke stood up. Instead of a long spear appearing in his hand, he picked up the two weapons he had unconsciously summoned earlier, known as the Sword of Termination, and looked toward the white-haired youth who was rapidly shifting positions.

Abundant magical energy erupted, and Li Ke's figure charged toward the white-haired youth like a phantom.

The white-haired youth fired his bow and arrow again, but this time, the arrows transformed into hundreds of red-glowing projectiles in mid-air, rushing toward Li Ke.

Li Ke charged forward rapidly, paying little attention to the incoming red arrows. Lightning erupted from his body, instantly shredding the incoming arrows and detonating them in the air.

With sufficient magical energy, Li Ke quickly broke through the smoke generated by the explosions, but as expected, an arrow was aimed right at him. He dodged it with a nimble flip.

However, the moment he dodged, the arrow began to crack. Li Ke immediately realized it was going to explode, so he instantly wrapped his body in his magical energy and forced an acceleration!

The explosion occurred instantly, but Li Ke, enveloped in magical energy, was not only unharmed but used the shockwave of the explosion to sprint even faster, causing the opponent's next move to miss completely!

However, it was too late for the white-haired youth to launch another attack, for in these short dozen seconds, Li Ke had crossed several kilometers and arrived right before him!

For a Heroic Spirit, a mere few thousand meters was far too short.

If not for the fact that the previous commotion was too great and he couldn't attack from a distance, the white-haired youth would never have taken such a risk, but unfortunately, there were no "ifs."

"Don't even think about escaping!"

Li Ke's figure descended violently, and a sharp sword manifested in the young man's hand through magical projection, attempting to block Li Ke's attack.

But—

Li Ke wanted exactly this: for their blades to clash!

Thunder!

Hmm, didn't even finish writing 5k ==

But I'll be back to the Hokage world tomorrow.