章節 186: Become a God?

Unleashing Avalon to defend the planet. If it were supplemented by Excalibur and fully supported by Gaia, it would become the most potent defense on Earth.

With this kind of defense, perhaps he could withstand the Noble Phantasms of X and XX.

"I understand."

Artorius's conversation with Gaia may seem lengthy, but because it's a mental conversation, only a moment has passed in actual time.

He grasped the meaning of her words and began to calculate and think. But then, he quickly encountered a problem.

'But what should I do?!'

Avalon is a bounded field centered around the user, and the power of Excalibur requires the user's activation.

Both of them combined, and Artorius himself had to operate both of them.

All this talk with Gaia was actually pointless.

The only useful thing was that he had to stand between X and XX, physically blocking their attacks while withstanding the Noble Phantasms of Rhongomyniad LR and Secret-Calibur.

"..."

Thinking of this, Artorius naturally wanted to shout to Gaia—"I can't do it!"

But even if he did shout that, the easily deceived, clueless Gaia would only look helpless and whimper, then become flustered.

Gaia's life or death was of no concern to Artorius; he didn't really care. However, this planet couldn't be destroyed. His empire, his loved ones, and everything he cared about were here. If all of this were destroyed because of the foolish actions of these two Artorias, that would be the biggest joke of all time!

In that case, he had no choice but to give it his all!

"..."

Artorius had never thought that he would face a world-ending crisis for the first time in this ridiculous way, a crisis against his own 'mothers'.

'Since it's come to this, there's no other choice.'

With that thought in his heart, Artorius made a decision and communicated with Gaia.

"Use all your power, release all the power of Excalibur, and empower me, cooperate with me!"

"Y-Yes, I understand!" Gaia replied with a trembling and fearful voice.

Under the threat of destruction, Gaia couldn't remain calm either. After all, she was a fool who got scammed with just a few words from Crimson Moon.

The next moment, as X and XX raised their weapons high and shouted their Noble Phantasms together as if they were about to unleash a powerful light beam to cut down the enemy and the entire planet, Artorius appeared between them.

"For the last time, stop!"

As he yelled, Artorius drew his Excalibur and fully unleashed Avalon, creating an invincible defensive bounded field around himself.

Excalibur shone with a brilliant golden light, reaching its peak, and in the next moment, this radiant light dispersed, merging into the invincible bounded field of Avalon.

"I will give it my all to support you." Gaia's voice came.

Artorius quickly sensed a surge of power continuously entering his body. This was Gaia's power, channeling a large amount of True Ether through the Earth's ley lines into his body.

'The purity has increased...' Artorius thought.

With the Third Magic, he possessed limitless magical energy. However, he couldn't obliterate a planet with a single blow because his instantaneous output wasn't strong enough.

But now, with Gaia's assistance, his body and soul were transforming towards greater purity and stronger output.

In other words, he was becoming a godly entity.

Artorius Pendragon's body was transitioning from an ordinary human to the direction of a god. He felt as if in the next moment, he would transform into a pure white dragon.

Of course, he suppressed this feeling.

"X, XX, stop!"

While shouting, Artorius released his power to the fullest. Avalon and Excalibur combined to create the most powerful defensive bounded field on Earth.

It was strong enough to resist the meteor that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, to withstand the Velber from beyond the galaxy, and to withstand the full-force attacks of X and XX.

"Artorius?!"

"Artorius!"

Seeing Artorius appear in between their attack, both X and XX exclaimed in amazement. They wanted to stop, but it was too late. Two immensely powerful EX-rank Noble Phantasms, capable of shattering planets, with unparalleled brilliance, were about to hit him—and finally, they hit.

*BOOOOM—!!!*

In that instant, they created a terrifying explosion like the Tunguska Event.

The earth shattered, the air burned, and the world crumbled. This planet was heading towards destruction!

The power capable of shattering a planet was directly hitting the invincible bounded field of Avalon. Death was just a step away from Artorius.

Even the so-called 'absolute defense' was gradually shrinking under the pressure of the two EX-rank Noble Phantasms.

"N-No! Am I going to die?!"

Artorius heard Gaia's wail. It was a genuine cry.

In the original story, she was supposed to 'face death calmly' in the timeline of 'Land of Steel' when she was about to die. But now, in reality, she cried like a pesky little sprite that had been stepped on.

"Crimson Moon! Crimson Moon! Save me!" Gaia started calling out in a very disgraceful manner.

"Shut up!" Artorius yelled in anger.

"Hiks... I don't want to die!"

"Goddammit! I told you to shut the fuck up!" Through their soul connection, Artorius yelled again in frustration. "That worthless woman isn't worth relying on at all! You're useless! If you want to survive, give me all your power!"

"B-But..."

"No time to hesitate! Give me all your power if you want to stay alive for fuck's sake!"

"A-Alright..."

It seemed that due to a combination of fear of death and Artorius's commanding presence, she became obedient. In any case, a more potent and pure power flowed through the ley lines, directly merging with his body and soul, strengthening and infusing into Avalon through Artorius as a conduit.

*Rumble—!*

It felt like going with a 30-centimeter wide train into a 12-centimeter narrow tunnel, with a strong sense of swelling and pain that made Artorius's temples throb, feeling like he was about to burst.

"J-Just now, it was the level of an ordinary god, but now, it's at the level of a chief god."

Gaia still stuttered, and though he couldn't see her face, Artorius could easily imagine her looking quite pitiful.

"C-Can you really handle it?"

"Shut up! Just keep outputting your power!" Artorius said, gritting his teeth against the pain. He didn't have the energy to talk right now.

Avalon's bounded field was still damaged, still crumbling and retracting inward, but it was much slower now. Artorius could only hope that X and XX would stop soon, or else he'd have to ask Gaia for more support.

By then, the outcome might not be so wonderful.

'X, XX, don't disappoint me now.' As he watched the bounded field slowly shrinking inward, Artorius thought grimly to himself.

At the same time, a violent explosion and a blinding light, like a newborn sun, drew the attention of everyone in Orleans.

Even though most of the energy from X and XX's attacks had been blocked by Avalon, the residual energy still caused tremendous damage.

The ground cracked, earth layers collapsed, and lava began to emerge, engulfing everything on the surface like wounds on the Earth.

If this continued, the planet might actually break apart.

Everyone who sensed this power shouted—"What the heck?!"

The apocalypse suddenly descended out of nowhere without a sound.

Whether they were people of the empire or the Artoria Species, they were all stunned and at a loss when they realized their impending fate.

"What's going on?!"

"Who did this?!"

"This power... it's Saber! Artoria Species's power!"

"XX still alive?!"

Although many expressed anger and astonishment, it was all in vain. The real solution to the problem still depended on Artorius himself.

"Arggghhh!!!"

Under the searing and terrifying energy bombardment, Artorius's frost silver armor had completely shattered, revealing his sturdy and upright body. His handsome short platinum hair floated, and his entire body was taut as he watched the bounded field inch closer.

"Ahh! I'm done for!" Gaia shouted frantically.

"Shut up!"

Although he said that to Gaia, deep down, Artorius himself couldn't help but feel despair.

'Is it really over?'

'Am I really going to be killed by my 'mothers'?'

'Is this some kind of parody of the Battle of Camlann?'

'After I die, will I resurrect in the Servant Universe or something?'

'...No, that's not my fate. It can't be! I will surpass all of this! Even if my opponent is Artoria Species, I will definitely win!'

With unparalleled determination, the bounded field finally stopped when it was just centimeters away from his body.

Afterward, the light beams changed their course and shot up into the sky.

Sensing Artorius's dangerous situation, XX and X both ceased their attacks. They struggled to control their powers, adjusting the angle to redirect the blasts toward the sky, neutralizing the excess energy harmlessly.

The originally explosive two light beams turned into two towering pillars of light.

An attack capable of tearing apart the planet had finally been completely neutralized. The inexplicable crisis that could have destroyed the world had passed quietly.

Seeing this, Artorius finally breathed a sigh of relief.

'This must be what it feels like to be a character in the world of comedy, huh... facing death is just a casual, daily occurrence. If cartoons like 'Tom and Jerry' or 'Spongebob' weren't a comedy world, the characters in it would have died a thousand times over.'

Thinking like that, he stopped the Avalon and sheathed Excalibur.

"U-Umm... could you give the power back..."

Gaia muttered timidly, but Artorius paid no attention to what she said. He had more important things to do than deal with her complaints right now.