Illya's Multiverse Odyssey

"Can you see what's happening in their fight?" Rin Tohsaka watched for a moment, then turned to Su Ning beside her with some curiosity.

In her eyes, Su Ning was watching so intently that he must have seen something, but in truth, what he saw was about the same as her—just two blobs of light, one red and one gold, constantly colliding.

Their base attributes were already high, and with both activating Mana Burst, even Servants with Agility below Rank B couldn't track their movements, let alone two pure-blooded magi like them.

"I can't see clearly," Su Ning shook his head, "but I know that if they don't use their Noble Phantasms soon, King Arthur is going to lose!"

Rin Tohsaka froze, a look of surprise spreading across her face.

"What did you say? King Arthur will lose? That's impossible, right? How could she lose to Mordred?"

"What's so impossible about that?" Su Ning shrugged. "They're not full-fledged Heroic Spirits right now, but Servants. Their physical attributes are heavily influenced by their Masters' abilities. Emiya... Shirou may have 27 Magic Circuits, which isn't too bad, but he's only been learning magecraft for a short time. He's far behind even you, let alone Little Black~"

"...What do you mean 'far behind even me'? Am I that bad?"

"Little Black has over a thousand Magic Circuits."

"..."

Rin Tohsaka was left speechless. She only had 70 Magic Circuits herself. While that was considered top-tier among human magi, compared to over a thousand... there was no comparison at all.

"The Einzbern homunculi really are monsters..." Rin muttered under her breath.

As far as she knew, even the most elite magi at the Clock Tower only had around one to two hundred Magic Circuits. Over a thousand was truly on a non-human level.

"What's wrong, King Arthur! After all these years, have you grown this weak?"

As the words fell, the two tangled blurs of light finally separated.

King Arthur knelt on one knee, her Holy Sword planted on the ground, a wound nearly twenty centimeters long torn across her abdomen. Mordred stood opposite her, breathing heavily but bearing no injuries at all.

"Mordred..."

Artoria looked at Mordred, her emerald eyes unable to hide a flicker of complex emotion.

Though it was due to the gap in attributes, she had indeed fallen into a disadvantage. If she didn't use her Noble Phantasm, Mordred would likely be the one to win.

Behind her visor, Mordred's feelings were even more tangled than Artoria's.

Having always aimed to surpass Artoria, she had finally 'defeated' her this time. It should have been a moment of immense joy, but seeing Artoria battered and wounded, her heart suddenly felt hollow, even filled with unbearable pain and... regret.

"No... I... why am I regretting this!"

"King Arthur! Do you see now! Do you still think I'm unworthy to inherit the throne?"

At the words 'the throne,' Artoria took a deep breath, her wavering gaze sharpening once more into focus and resolve.

"For a king, strength is not the most important thing. So I still believe you are not qualified to inherit the throne!"

Mordred was deeply stung, her pretty face twisting into a vicious snarl.

"Strength isn't the most important thing? What a joke! Look at yourself now—without strength, you can't even beat me!"

Artoria bore the pain and rose to her feet, her posture as straight as the sword in her hand.

"Strength without virtue only makes a tyrant."

"So a king has to be like you, an emotionless machine?!"