"We did it!"
On the Argos, Medea exclaimed with delight as she witnessed the twenty-eight Demon God Pillars being drawn into the Land of Shadows, disappearing completely from the battlefield.
Not only Medea, but the other Servants were also filled with both surprise and joy.
"An Noble Phantasm that can instantly kill even the Demon God Pillars?"
"It's truly an incredible Noble Phantasm."
Atalanta and Sita expressed their admiration.
"So, she was hiding such a Noble Phantasm. I was quite fortunate to not face it during our first encounter."
Rama shared his thoughts.
"The Queen of the Land of Shadows is indeed remarkable."
Karna nodded in agreement.
"Ugh... each and every one of them is a monster!"
Jason was left astounded, unable to find words.
The Noble Phantasm capable of killing all twenty-eight Demon God Pillars in one go impressed even the legendary heroes from various myths.
Of course, the many Servants were well aware that Scáthach's Noble Phantasm possessed such might thanks to Rozen's explosive power.
"Whoo... whoo..."
Rozen, at the moment Scáthach's Noble Phantasm concluded, immediately ceased the use of the Crimson Wing Formation. The red glow in his eyes vanished, the red wings on his back dissipated, and due to the substantial loss of blood, his face turned pale as he gasped for breath.
"Senpai, are you okay?"
Mash, who had been guarding Rozen, couldn't help but express deep concern as she supported him.
Not only Rozen but even Scáthach appeared fatigued.
Fully unleashing her Noble Phantasm was a significant drain on Scáthach's reserves. If it were the usual intensity, it might not be an issue, but after receiving Rozen's astonishing magical support, Scáthach spent all that magical power in one go. The burden was undoubtedly substantial.
Rather, Scáthach herself was surprised at the power her Noble Phantasm exhibited after receiving such an immense infusion of magical power from Rozen.
"This little guy never ceases to surprise me."
Scáthach couldn't help but smile, showing that she was genuinely pleased with the outcome.
"Roar!"
Hercules returned, letting out an exhilarating roar.
However...
"Hmph..."
A voice that was neither angry nor resentful but sounded extremely displeased echoed, reaching the ears of everyone.
"Humans and Servants, I never expected you to reach this point."
Upon hearing this voice, the many Servants, who were immersed in excitement, suddenly turned their heads to look forward.
Rozen, with the support of Mash, also gazed in that direction, looking at the now-empty but still extremely ominous mist of magical energy formed after losing the Demon God Pillars.
Solomon was suspended there alone.
Compared to when he was surrounded by the twenty-eight Demon God Pillars just a moment ago, Solomon seemed to have become even more solitary.
However, the oppressive and terrifying aura emanating from him had not diminished; on the contrary, it seemed to have increased.
Naturally.
"It seems I had played a bit too much."
Solomon said expressionlessly.
Yes.
Played.
Earlier, Solomon was merely playing.
He had mentioned it himself; the previous level was just a slightly excessive game.
Otherwise, Solomon wouldn't have just summoned twenty-eight pillars; he would have summoned all seventy-two, and he wouldn't have watched the Demon God Pillars being sent into the Land of Shadows by Scáthach's Noble Phantasm with indifference.
Moreover, Solomon had been using only the most basic magic for attacks and had not been particularly aggressive.
It was evident that Solomon hadn't taken things seriously before. This was clear from the unending and oppressive magical energy still emanating from him.
Although Rozen had just used the Crimson Wing Formation to unleash a tremendous amount of magical power, which was indeed astonishing, for Solomon, who could create something like the Holy Grail with infinite magical power—seven of them, to be precise—combined with his naturally formidable magical energy, the increase of Rozen's magical power by ten times was negligible.
This mage was similar to Rozen in many aspects but managed to surpass him in every way.
Now...
"Let me take it a bit more seriously."
Solomon raised his hands, and the ten rings on them emitted a more dazzling and radiant light than before.
This scene instantly stimulated the vigilant Servants.
"Hmph!"
Karna spewed flames all over his body and charged towards Solomon.
"Roar!"
Following closely, Heracles roared, raising his axe-sword high and leaped into the air like a bullet.
"Sita! Let's go too!"
"Yes! Lord Rama!"
Rama, wielding the Immortal Blade, rushed forward, while Sita on the Argo once again prepared her bow and arrows.
Sensing the tremendous threat that Solomon was about to unleash, whether it was Medea, Atalante, or even Mash, they all shouted and launched attacks against Solomon.
"Hm... Haha... Hahahaha!"
Watching the Servants rushing towards him, launching fierce attacks, Solomon stood in place and laughed eerily.
It was a mocking and taunting laughter.
Then...
"Boom!"
The malicious magical energy on Solomon's body burst open completely, turning into a raging torrent, a storm, unleashing an astonishing shockwave that expanded in all directions.
"What...!?"
"This...!?"
"Ah...!?"
The charging Servants changed colors on the spot but had no time to dodge and were directly engulfed by the surging impact.
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"
The charging Servants were thrown away as if struck by lightning.
Blood rained down from the bodies of the Servants.
"Ugh...!"
Only Mash, barely supporting herself with the shield she raised, bathed in the violent wind of the impact, seemed to withstand an entire tsunami, constantly emitting muffled cries.
Looking at Mash in this state, for some reason, Solomon showed a hint of pity.
"Indeed, you are also a special existence."
Solomon muttered quietly, then raised one hand towards Mash.
"Boom!"
Pure and powerful magical energy exploded on Mash's shield, causing her to kneel down.
"Mash!"
Rozen almost reflexively moved forward.
However, a hand grabbed him.
"You can't go up there!"
While catching her breath, Scáthach said with an unquestionable tone to Rozen.
"But...!"
Just as Rozen was about to say something, Scáthach interrupted him.
"If even you go up there, then we really have no chance of winning."
Scáthach said with certainty.
"Do we... still have a chance of winning...?"
Rozen involuntarily answered this way.
Obviously, in Rozen's view, there was almost no chance of winning this battle.
Solomon was just too powerful, able to summon twenty-eight Demon God Pillars at will. Now, he personally intervened, sending all the Servants flying with a single blow. Such an existence, how could they possibly win?
Now, Rozen was just relying on his outstanding combat skills to hold on. His mind was spinning frantically, trying to find opportunities and advantages.
However, no matter how Rozen analyzed and considered, he couldn't find a way to win.
He had really given his all.
So, after dealing with the Demon God Pillars, Rozen's thoughts had turned to retreat, not battle.
But Scáthach asserted that they still had a chance to win.
Because...
"Aren't you a Master? Weren't you trying to summon 'Heroic Spirits' before?"
Scáthach said so.
"Now is the time for you to summon your own Heroic Spirit."
At this moment, the group of Servants had truly engaged in battle with Solomon.
While Solomon was attacking the shield-bearing Mash with what seemed like pity, the bloodied Servants who were previously thrown away came charging from all directions once again.
Karna continued to wield his divine spear, summoning flames rivaling the center of the sun to burn towards Solomon.
Rama's Immortal Blade was completely unleashed, emitting bursts of lightning as it danced back and forth, cutting towards Solomon.
Heracles completely abandoned defense, roaring loudly while wielding his axe-sword. Storms surged as he launched fierce attacks towards Solomon.
Naturally, on the Argonavis manipulated by Jason, Medea, Atalante, and Sito, among others, were also taking action.
Some provided support and enhancement to the charging Servants, while others released endless arrows, shrouding Solomon's direction.
With nearly ten charging Servants, including some top-tier ones, and the reinforcement from Rozen and Medea's enhancement, their combat strength was unimaginable, causing fear in anyone who thought about it.
However, faced with all this, Solomon only continued to raise his hands, sneering, without even moving. The magical energy on his body undulated between creating invisible impacts to throw away the Servants or causing pure and powerful magical energy to burst on each charging Servant, making it impossible for them to inflict any damage.
In this situation, Rozen was completely astonished due to Scáthach's statement.
"Summon Heroic Spirits now?"
Rozen almost doubted his ears.
However, Scáthach was not joking, of course.
"He is the world's ultimate weapon against major disasters. Ordinary Heroic Spirits summoned through the usual 'Heroic Spirit Summoning' can never be his match."
Scáthach stared directly at Rozen.
"The only thing that can deal with 'Heroic Spirit Summoning' is true 'Heroic Spirit Summoning.' I believe you understand this."
Modern Heroic Spirits summoning rituals were all derived from the original 'Heroic Spirit Summoning.' It was a system based on the decisive battle magic designed to confront major disasters, and the so-called Grand Servants were summoned through this system.
Modern summoning rituals, whether in the Holy Grail War or Chaldea's Fate System, were impossible to summon Grand Servants.
So, Scáthach wanted Rozen to use a genuine 'Heroic Spirit Summoning' now, summoning his own Servant.
If it was a real 'Heroic Spirit Summoning,' the Servant summoned might be able to confront Solomon.
This should be what Scáthach wanted to convey, right?
However...
"Even if it's a real 'Heroic Spirit Summoning,' it's impossible to casually summon a Grand Servant!"
Rozen rejected Scáthach's idea.
Just like ordinary summoning, it was possible to summon an incredibly weak Servant or even a top-tier Servant.
Similarly, even with true 'Heroic Spirit Summoning,' summoning a Grand Servant, especially a Grand Caster like Solomon, was undoubtedly very difficult.
In fact, Grand Servants could not be summoned by human efforts.
They were weapons of the world.
They were messengers of the root.
Unless a major disaster threatening the human world occurred, Grand Servants would never be summoned.
In other words, they could only be summoned by the world itself, and ordinary humans, even if they mastered the mysteries of 'Heroic Spirit Summoning,' could never summon a Grand Servant.
Moreover, whether a Servant with a Grand Saint Graph can form a contract with a human is an unknown variable.
Therefore, for Rozen to summon a Grand Servant seemed like a delusion.
Not to mention...
"I've never succeeded in any of my previous summonings. How can I summon one now?"
Rozen couldn't guarantee that this effort wouldn't be in vain.
Rozen believed that Scáthach understood this reasoning.
And did Scáthach understand?
Of course, she did.
This queen from another realm was an incredible sage. Anything Rozen could think of, she undoubtedly could too.
However...
"I've decided to place a bet on you."
Scáthach unexpectedly uttered these words.
"A bet?"
Rozen once again was bewildered.
But Rozen didn't mishear.
Scáthach indeed intended to take a bold gamble.
"In this Singularity, you have surprised me time and time again, shattered my understanding of you repeatedly, even mastering my Runes, the wisdom crystallization that even the gods desire, in just three days. Such astonishing talent, though it may be inferior to your abilities as a Master, is still remarkable."
Scáthach didn't take her eyes off Rozen's face even amidst the intense conflict on the battlefield.
"I can assure you that your innate talent in summoning is no less than that of King Solomon. If he can command seventy-two Demon God Pillars, you should be able to successfully summon a hero with extraordinary abilities."
This was Scáthach's most direct, pure, and candid thought.
"Previously, your summoning failures were indeed due to the high compatibility standards with the summoned Heroic Spirits. However, the so-called 'Heroic Spirit Summoning' can summon not just one Servant. The number of Heroic Spirits in the Throne is countless, and among them, there must be hundreds that are well-suited to you. Some of them are likely within your current capacity to summon, but despite numerous attempts, you failed. This proves that your innate talent in summoning is already unimaginably high. Under full effort in the summoning process, you yourself might not even be aware that you have been summoning Heroic Spirits with extremely high standards, causing the repeated failures."
Scáthach's explanation left Rozen dumbfounded.
In other words...
"The summoning you conducted, trying to summon a Heroic Spirit with excessive power, possibly even surpassing the limits, and attempting to summon the essence of the Heroic Spirit itself—that's also a possibility."
Scáthach asserted this.
"If you restrain your power, slow down the intensity of the ritual, simplify the process of the spell, you would have successfully summoned a new Servant a long time ago."
In other words, Rozen failed because he exerted too much force. Under the condition of going all out, he ended up summoning a Heroic Spirit with overwhelming power. As a result, that Heroic Spirit seemed to be an extraordinary figure, making it difficult to summon, which led to Rozen's continuous failures.
And turning the perspective around...
"The Heroic Spirit you are currently summoning possesses power strong enough to overwhelm your current abilities."
Scáthach spoke word by word.
"If you can successfully summon them, this hero should be able to threaten Solomon."
At least, Scáthach believed that, with her and Karna's level of Servants, even if Rozen couldn't succeed in summoning on the first attempt, with a few more tries, there should be a possibility of success.
However, Rozen had been continuously failing, indicating that the target of his summoning might be an incredibly significant figure.
Summoning such a figure might be the only chance for victory now.
"But my summoning has been failing."
Rozen felt somewhat troubled.
Regarding this...
"Your skills are already sufficient; what you lack is only power."
Scáthach enlightened Rozen.
"Now, the most suitable power is right in your hands."
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GOT IT