Chapitre 292: Amakusa Shirō, Make Use of Every Resource!
Crackle! Crackle!
Purple-red light spread along the spot where the Primus Imperator's iron fist had struck the Golem Royal Crown.
Hiss!!!
The Primeval Giant, with its body composed of earth, wood, and stone, began to emit a deflating, shattering sound as cracks spiderwebbed across its seemingly indestructible gray-black surface. Sparks of purple-red electricity burst forth in blinding flashes, creating an ominous spectacle.
The massive cracks, several stories high, snaked across the Primeval Giant's enormous body.
Boom-kah—!!!
With a deafening sound, Selene twisted the Primeval Giant's left arm, leveraging immense strength to snap it off from where the cracks had first appeared. The severed arm, along with parts of the torso, hurtled away, spiraling through the air like a small mountain and creating a whooshing sound as it plummeted.
The 'mountain' crashed to the ground, flattening a vast stretch of forest.
Roar—!
A bone-chilling, tremulous roar rang out from the Primeval Giant, echoing for miles.
"A scream? Could it be the memory or personality of that Caster, Avicebron?"
Having won the contest of strength, Selene raised an eyebrow at the unexpected, human-like wail from the Primeval Giant. This was intriguing.
After absorbing everything that had constituted the Servant 'Black' Caster Avicebron, the Primeval Giant seemed to have evolved from a mere golem into something akin to the first human—Adam.
It now exhibited certain human emotions…
Whether it was simply pain from bodily damage or if Selene's destruction of the land, her 'trampling of paradise,' had provoked its sorrow and fury remained unclear.
Perhaps it was both.
"So, it's the core that maintains the Golem Royal Crown. The automated array drawing mana from the earth's ley lines is also based on that core. Once a part of its body leaves the main body, it loses its magical properties…"
In Selene's vision, the detached left arm quickly lost its magical properties and life, reverting to ordinary soil, wood, and stone, crumbling and disintegrating within moments.
The reason the Crown: Wisdom of Light continued operating after Avicebron's death lay in its self-sustaining, reality-altering barrier. As long as it existed, it would autonomously reshape the world.
"However, mana imbued with Honkai Energy isn't so easy to absorb."
As if in response to Selene's thought, the Primeval Giant's body, which should have immediately regenerated after taking damage, began to show signs of stalling. The furious surge and infiltration of purple-red mana particles caused what seemed to be a short-circuit.
The rate at which the Primeval Giant could draw mana from the ley lines slowed, and its self-repairing speed was also visibly reduced.
"Hm?" Suddenly, within the core of the Primus Imperator, Selene turned her gaze toward the spot where the Aerial Garden had fallen.
"Red Lancer Karna is still alive, and Archer Atalanta's presence, though faint, is still there… Semiramis, not bad at all."
At once, Selene pressed a single finger to her forehead. "Master, shortly, I will need you to use another Command Seal—a finishing blow that will extinguish all Red faction hopes…"
"...."
After receiving her Master Celenike's wordless affirmation, Selene shifted her focus back to the Primeval Giant before her. "Alright then, it's time to finish this!"
Adjusting the mech's balance, Selene launched herself at the Primeval Giant with great speed.
The novelty of the battle had worn off; it was time to end all fights this night.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Just as it finished restoring its torso, the Primeval Giant's left arm was still incomplete. Several enormous gashes and shattered craters instantly reappeared across its body.
A viscous, muddy, resin-like fluid spewed from the injuries, spraying in all directions.
Pummeled by Selene's relentless strikes, the stone sword in the Primeval Giant's right hand had barely formed before it was broken once again by the Primus Imperator.
With each impact, Selene infused more of her own mana particles into the Primeval Giant's body. The arcs of purple-red lightning entwined around it grew deeper and darker, edging toward black.
Roar—! Boom!
The Primeval Giant thrashed beneath the mech's iron grasp, but Selene silenced it with a powerful punch to its head.
Crunch!
Dust billowed upward as even the emerald-green halo embedded behind the Primeval Giant's head, marking its extraordinary nature, shattered under Selene's blow.
Large cracks spread across its gray-black body, and the purple-red mana particles pierced through its outer shell, flooding into the core powering the giant.
Destruction and repair continued to vie for control, but as Selene poured in more mana, the Primeval Giant's recovery lagged.
Ultimately, Selene's rate of destruction outpaced the Primeval Giant's ability to heal. Every corner of its form was infiltrated by purple-red patches, sizzling and crackling like a leaking boiler.
Boom crash—!
With a thunderous crash, the Primeval Giant collapsed like a crumbling statue. Even with the "paradise" effect attempting to revitalize the ground, the impact still flattened the forest beneath it, leaving the earth scarred by the Giant's own weight.
Roar—!
In a fierce, high-pitched howl that seemed almost regretful over the damage to the earth, the Primeval Giant sprung back up. Bracing itself against the mech's attacks, it bent forward and lunged toward Selene with feral determination.
Selene, however, maneuvered the Primus Imperator, carefully positioning it to widen the distance from Fortress of Millennia.
Gradually, the battlefield of the two giants shifted toward the vicinity of the town of Trifas.
Along the way, houses, shops, and even the ancient city walls were reduced to dust in an instant.
No human structure could withstand the clash of these colossal beings. Everything crumbled at the slightest touch, like sandcastles swept away by waves.
"It's time."
Once the distance was sufficient, ensuring no disruption to her mana supply, Selene's attacks grew even more brutal and fierce.
Crackle—!
In an instant, the mech's body became shrouded in scarlet streaks of electricity, crackling like a god of destruction descended upon the mortal realm.
After pulling back, the mech's shoulder plates opened, revealing cannons that instantly fired crimson beams across the ground, aimed squarely at the Primeval Giant's legs.
Boom!
Splat!
The beams sliced through the earth, causing violent explosions. The ground fractured, caving in as air currents howled, and smoke billowed alongside fiery explosions.
Caught in the beams' brilliant light, the Primeval Giant's lower half disintegrated into dust.
In that instant, its link to the ley lines was severed, cutting off its mana supply. The faint emerald glow behind it extinguished entirely.
The next moment—
Splurch—!
A massive metal hand pierced the Primeval Giant's chest, sliding in as effortlessly as a hot knife through butter.
"Game over, Avicebron… One arm, all cannons engaged!"
At Selene's command, a violent burst of purple-red light flared from the Primus Imperator's hand, which had penetrated the Primeval Giant's body.
Then, with a swift, downward thrust, the mech drove it further in.
Boom!
In an instant, a pillar of light erupted from the ground, linking the earth to the sky. A roar of sound followed a moment after the light flashed.
BOOM BOOM BOOM—!!
The atmosphere split apart under the mana's intense detonation, creating a physical shockwave that spread outward with a piercing shriek. It was as if the world itself trembled under the blinding light of devastation.
The beam cut through the clouds, casting purple-red light across the sky as the air boiled and filled with the stench of ozone. The continuous crackling of mana collisions rang out like an endless chorus of thunder.
Almost simultaneously, the light vanished, leaving a darkened glow that lingered like a scar against the dawn.
Yet the rumbling didn't stop, intensifying into a tidal wave of sound.
A fierce gale swept across…
Finally, the explosion ceased, leaving the entire sky scorched and fragmented, while onlookers from afar dared only to watch from a distance.
As the glow and smoke cleared, only one figure remained on the battlefield—a colossus exuding pure, destructive energy.
The other, that once-vibrant, life-giving form as tranquil as nature itself, had vanished completely.
The people knew then that the battle was over, and destruction had triumphed over life.
...
Meanwhile, near the crash site of the Aerial Garden.
The ground shook as if carrying a monstrous power beneath it, making humanity's fragility unmistakably clear in that moment.
Almost instinctively, a primal fear of disaster surged, compelling any small creature to flee. Swarms of animals, terrified, fled from the source of this overwhelming dread.
"The Black Caster Avicebron's Noble Phantasm, Royal Crown - the Light of Wisdom… and Rider's Noble Phantasm, the Primus Imperator… this is truly what they call anti-nation-level Noble Phantasms…"
Gripping her battle flag in one hand and shielding herself with the other, Jeanne squinted against the strong winds, her eyes wide with awe at the overwhelming spectacle.
Ever since her separation from Selene in Sighişoara, Jeanne had pursued the Aerial Garden toward Trifas.
Along the way, she had watched as Selene's figure streaked across the sky, outpacing her on the ground. Each ensuing disturbance from Trifas grew louder and more intense.
Now, a purple-red pillar of light rose against the darkness.
The rhythmic rumbling sent a chilling foreboding through Jeanne's heart.
With such apocalyptic levels of destruction, it would be impossible to conceal the truth from the outside world. The worst part, however, was the toll this Holy Grail War was taking on ordinary people.
Jeanne could only pity the cleanup crew responsible for dealing with the aftermath, sympathizing with the misery awaiting them.
"At this rate, the Romanian Holy Grail War will conclude soon… It's happening so fast. Unfortunately, I haven't even found the root of this war's anomaly."
Sighing, Jeanne turned her gaze toward the site where the Aerial Garden had fallen. "Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, I hope you're here."
...
Cough cough, "Is everyone alright?"
Stepping out from the wreckage of the fallen garden, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada was bare-chested, supporting the severely weakened Semiramis, his face pale.
"We're fine," Semiramis wheezed, wiping blood from her mouth. "But, priest, it appears we've lost this Holy Grail War. There's no way we can match that kind of opponent."
Red Archer Atalanta held her bow with one hand, gazing blankly at the sky. "Yes… it seems hopeless. Still, if I could deliver my divine strike, if I could trade my life to take down Black Rider, we might still have a chance."
Karna, his pale skin blistered and covered in burns, fought to keep his composure as red spots spread across his exposed muscles. "True, the odds aren't good, but with my god-slaying blow, I might still…"
Though ironic and seemingly laughable, it had indeed happened—Karna, the Son of the Sun God, had been burned by "the sun."
Selene, marked by the Counter Force as possessing the divine authority of a solar deity, could burn even a demigod with ties to the sun. It seemed fitting in an ironic way.
Even with his golden armor to mitigate the damage and his Master's Command Seal pulling him from the epicenter of "Heavenly Wrath," Karna was still gravely wounded.
"No, it's unnecessary. We don't need to defeat Black Rider. All we need to do is acquire the Greater Grail and make our wish."
"Right now, Black Assassin Jack the Ripper, Black Caster Avicebron, Red Berserker Spartacus, and Red Rider Achilles have all been eliminated."
Propping Semiramis against a stone slab, Amakusa turned back to the others.
"The Greater Grail has now absorbed the mana of four Servants. We only need to eliminate three more, and the Grail will activate. While infiltrating the castle, I set up a spatial transfer array on the Greater Grail."
"So that means…" Amakusa clapped his hands, his innocent smile flashing, "We don't need to defeat every enemy. As long as a total of seven Servants die between both factions, the Grail will activate."
"You mean… us?" Atalanta asked, her face conflicted, seemingly already suspecting the answer.
"Yes, precisely."
With that, Amakusa extended his hand, emblazoned with Command Seals, and declared resolutely, "For the sake of this grand wish, I will give everything! Now that Caster has been captured by the enemy, let's make use of every resource! Starting with him!"
A red glow flickered—Buzz~
"Triple command: Sever Red Caster Shakespeare's mana supply, terminate the Master-Servant bond (targeting his unique skill of Self-Preservation), and… self-destruct!"
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone