Heracles extended his right hand.
Golden light gathered in his palm.
The light grew brighter and hotter, eventually coalescing into a long sword that was entirely golden.
The sword's blade seemed to be composed of pure energy; its surface lacked the texture of metal and instead flowed with a liquid gold-like luster.
[ The Warrior's Golden Sword ]
Noble Phantasm Rank: A++
Types, Anti-God Noble Phantasm.
The original text of this Noble Phantasm does not belong to Heracles.
It belongs to another god.
Verethragna.
The invincible military god of the East, the embodiment of victory in Persia mythology.
Around the fourth century BC, Alexander the Great's eastward conquests brought Greece culture and beliefs to Persia. On this foreign land, the two civilizations began to merge, and the images of the two heroes began to overlap.
Verethragna and Heracles.
The Persia equated them with a religion, and stone inscriptions referred to Heracles as " Heracles the Victor."
The confusion surrounding the legends has created a strange connection between the two beings.
Therefore, when Heracles was summoned this time, he brought with him this Noble Phantasm that did not originally belong to him.
Heracles began to speak uncontrollably.
His voice became solemn and dignified, as if it were a chant from a distant divine age.
"Your name is Michael, and your title means 'like a god.'"
"You are the great ruler of the Kingdom of Heaven, created by the Most High, leading the Legion of Light to punish the fallen evil, and executing judgment with holy light."
"With the power of my words, I will make justice manifest in the world!"
"These incantations are powerful and eloquent."
"It is the sword of wisdom that heralds victory!"
Heracles uttered the last word.
The golden light on the sword became even more dazzling.
The light pierced the night, illuminating the entire battlefield and stretching everyone's shadows long and thin.
Mukuro Hoshimiya's instinct was to scream.
That sword is dangerous.
This is not an ordinary danger.
It was the kind of danger that could have unpredictable consequences for her.
She didn't know what the sword would do to her, but something deep within her Spirit Origin trembled, cowering as if facing a natural enemy.
You must get out of the way.
Mukuro Hoshimiya's body jumped backward.
But Karna had already latched onto him.
The spear thrust out from the side, forcing her to parry.
Then came Achilles.
He pounced from another direction, his spear aimed straight for Mukuro Hoshimiya's face.
Mukuro Hoshimiya dodged to the side, then swept his battle halberd horizontally in a backhand motion.
But she discovered a problem.
Karna and Achilles ' attack methods have changed.
They stopped dodging and stopped defending.
They abandoned all defensive posture and pounced on her in the most direct and decisive way.
They were doing everything they could to create opportunities for Heracles to attack.
"You."
Mukuro Hoshimiya's halberd slid across Karna's spear shaft, breaking off a small section of it.
Karna did not retreat, but instead moved even closer, using the broken end of his spear shaft to jam the blade of his halberd.
Achilles charged in from the right, grabbing the shaft of his halberd with both hands.
The two men's four arms held the halberd firmly in place.
Mukuro Hoshimiya tried to break free, but the two of them pressed down on her with all their might.
"Open!"
With a sudden burst of strength, Mukuro Hoshimiya broke free of Karna's spear.
But Achilles did not let go.
He hung entirely on the halberd shaft, using his body weight to slow the halberd's trajectory.
Mukuro Hoshimiya's halberd thrust towards Achilles.
It wasn't her who thrust at him; Achilles went to meet her.
The halberd pierced Achilles ' chest.
It penetrated his Spirit Origin core.
Mukuro Hoshimiya's eyes widened slightly.
She didn't intend to kill him.
Achilles himself ran into it.
Achilles glanced down at the halberd tip that pierced his chest.
Golden light seeped from the wound, and his body began to turn into specks of light from the edges.
Spirit Origin collapse.
Exit.
Achilles raised his head and looked at Mukuro Hoshimiya.
His face showed no fear, resentment, or Wrath.
There was only one wicked smile.
That kind of wicked grin—the kind that comes from losing a match after giving it your all against an evenly matched opponent, but still feeling incredibly satisfied.
"Ha, you took it down..."
His voice began to become slurred.
"But it was worth it."
"This is the ending I wanted, the hero's ending."
Achilles ' body completely turned into points of light.
Golden particles rose from where he vanished, drifted in the night sky for a few seconds, and then disappeared.
Red Faction Rider, Achilles, leaves the field.
Mukuro Hoshimiya was stunned.
Heracles!
Jeanne d'Arc's voice came from afar.
Mukuro Hoshimiya suddenly looked up.
Heracles has arrived.
The golden sword was raised high above his head, its golden light reaching its peak, distorting the air around it.
He did not hesitate.
A single sword strike.
The golden light transformed into an arc that swept across the battlefield, engulfing Mukuro Hoshimiya's entire field of vision.
She didn't have time to dodge.
The light from the golden sword struck Mukuro Hoshimiya's body directly.
It also struck the last remaining glimmer of light on Achilles.
Both figures were simultaneously swallowed up by the golden torrent.
The battlefield fell silent.
Heracles, leaning on his golden sword, knelt on one knee.
The use of his Noble Phantasm had consumed a large amount of his magical energy, and the combined effects of the Command Spell Seals and his physical injuries had left his Servant body exhausted.
Karna stood a few steps away, the broken end of his spear still emitting faint sparks.
Mukuro Hoshimiya's figure froze in mid-air, as if she had completely lost her connection.
Karna frowned.
Jeanne d'Arc ran from afar, her flag propping up her swaying body.
Her left shoulder was still bleeding, but she couldn't care less at that moment.
"Did it succeed?"
The light of the golden sword faded.
But Heracles knew that the sword had not struck a physical entity.
The Warrior's Golden Sword, the sword of words, does not truly sever the flesh, but rather sever and seal the divine essence itself.
During the chanting, the name " Michael " was pronounced by name, locking onto the Divinity of the subject, and then the power of words was used to sever him with a single stroke.
Mukuro Hoshimiya hovered in mid-air, his body convulsing violently.
Something deep within the Spirit Origin has shattered.
No, it didn't shatter.
It's been locked.
The angelic part—the angelic side of Michael connected to "Michael" and forming the foundation of her Spirit Origin —was completely sealed away by the golden sword.
It's like a door that's been welded shut from the outside, and it can never be opened again.
The Michael vanished from her grasp.
The black and red halberd did not shatter or disintegrate, but instead melted away, losing its shape and transforming into a dark stream of light that entered her shadow before disappearing completely.
But at the very instant the angel 'Spirit Origin was sealed, from the other side of the Spirit Origin, a power completely opposite to that of the angel surged wildly out from the sealed crack.
The force was black, scorching hot, and corrosive, like a volcano that had been suppressed underground for thousands of years finally finding an outlet to erupt.
Mukuro Hoshimiya's body changed once again.
The hair ornament that had been pinned to her golden hair had disappeared, replaced by two long, thin, curved, jet-black horns on either side of her head.
Shaped like a goat's horn, with a smooth, obsidian-like surface and a sharp tip that seems capable of slicing through the air.
The black and red battle Astral Dress on his body also underwent a synchronous change, its color turning from black and red to purplish-black, and the texture of the fabric becoming heavier and colder.
Several jet-black chains grew out from the gaps in her Astral Dress, wrapping around her arms and waist, their ends hanging down, making a soft, metallic clanging sound.
And right in the center of her chest, a clock-shaped ornament appeared.
The hands of the clock were slowly turning counterclockwise.
Karna's pupils contracted sharply.
The being standing in mid-air was no longer an angel.