Fate: How About a New Savior?

Power clashed with power. Noble Phantasms collided head-on. Towers of Light met Chains of Heaven. The impact between these extremes twisted the very fabric of space, leveling everything in its wake.

Overwhelmed by the sheer force, Shiomi could no longer maintain the pseudo–Reality Marble that separated the battlefield.

All he could do was pray that in those brief minutes, his master had evacuated the innocent observers—and rely on the protection of the Primordial Runes to keep himself from being turned to ash.

Light poured through the cracks in the storm, engulfing everything in sight. Shiomi shielded his eyes with an arm, bracing against the lingering shockwaves of the Noble Phantasms.

It was impossible to tell how long the clash lasted—perhaps only seconds. As the light faded and the barrier vanished, the Persian Gulf coastline reemerged under the twilight sky.

A metallic clang rang out.

Artoria crashed to the ground, landing heavily on one knee. Her cloak was torn, and the armor woven from magical energy was fractured, with blood flowing freely from her wounds.

Shiomi, still battered from the blast and covered in cuts from the wind pressure, reached out to steady her.

"That power... it's no ordinary force..."

Supported by Shiomi, Artoria rose with difficulty, her gaze fixed on the direction of the fake Enkidu.

Thick smoke mingled with residual mana from the clash, obscuring their view and making it impossible to assess the enemy's condition—or plan their next move.

Whoosh—

A dense sound of chains cut through the sand and smoke, rushing straight toward them. Shiomi and Artoria pushed away from each other, dodging in opposite directions.

The chains missed and vanished as they hit the ground. As the dust began to settle, the fake Enkidu leapt from the crater and landed on its edge.

He wasn't looking good either. His once-pristine white robes were soaked in blood, and his right arm was completely gone from the shoulder down.

"Hiding and dodging... what a pain," the fake Enkidu said, panting heavily as he raised his hand.

Golden gates opened again—this time in both sky and earth.

But instead of weapons, they released only chains.

"You've burned through so much mana—are you seriously going to keep fighting?" Shiomi asked, taken aback.

"No need to be surprised. As long as I have the Holy Grail, this level of mana consumption is expected," the fake Enkidu replied, clutching the stump at his shoulder.

"The Holy Grail?" Shiomi muttered in surprise.

Could it be that the Holy Grail sent by the King of Magecraft to this Singularity was in his possession? Or did he have the backing of someone who held the King's Grail?

Either way, he wasn't regenerating his arm like before. Clearly, the clash of Noble Phantasms had drained him heavily. The Holy Grail's power was prioritizing the restoration of his inner reserves rather than his external wounds.

It was just a matter of time.

Shiomi needed to strike back now—while the fake Enkidu was still missing an arm and hadn't regained his footing.

He lunged forward, but was met only by the enemy's cold smile.

Then he saw it—the severed stump wasn't flesh or bone. It was a deep, shadowy void.

A Demon Pillar burst from the fake Enkidu's shoulder, its twisted tendrils lashing toward Shiomi on their own.

The coastline rumbled. Shiomi backed off quickly—only to see more Demon Pillars erupting from the ground.

They were exactly the same as the ones destroyed yesterday at the northern city wall.

Romani had said it before—the Demon Pillars exist as the "Seventy-Two." No matter how many are destroyed, there will always be seventy-two.

Even if they were wiped out now, they would be reborn under the King of Magecraft.

"I didn't think there'd be any need to use the little gift left behind by the King of Magecraft."

The fake Enkidu stepped to the side as the Demon Pillar that had emerged from his arm detached itself, standing alone on the beach.

"Seems like bringing these Demon Pillars was necessary after all. Fools who dare defy the gods... need opponents like this to deal with them."

The Demon Pillars themselves weren't too difficult to handle. But the moment the fake Enkidu released them, Artoria had just unleashed her Noble Phantasm, and Shiomi hadn't had time to retreat to safety—leaving one drained and the other injured.

Worse still, the relentless attacks of the Demon Pillars gave Artoria no chance to gather power and unleash her second Noble Phantasm to wipe them out.

Those massive, gem-like eyes, glowing with ominous light, lit up one after another. Explosions burst out with no discernible pattern, narrowly missing the two as they weaved through the blasts.

Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, the fake Enkidu arrogantly raised his remaining arm. More chains snaked through the gaps between the Demon Pillars, encircling the pair from every direction.

There was nowhere left to run.

To avoid the Demon Pillars, they had to brave the chains. To dodge the Chains of Heaven, they had to endure the Demon Pillars' strikes.

Then, a gate opened beneath their feet.

Chains shot upward and coiled tightly around Shiomi—who was the focus of the attack—binding his neck and arms.

"No—!"

That suffocating sensation returned—the overwhelming suppression of his power. Just before he completely lost control of his magical resistance, Shiomi raised his crimson spear.

But bound by chains, he could barely move. And Artoria, seeing him caught, became distracted—just as more chains wrapped around her as she tried to reach him.

The Chains of Heaven, the Noble Phantasm capable of binding even Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven—became harder to escape the greater one's divinity.

Unable to move the hand gripping her Holy Lance, Artoria faltered in that crucial moment. Several chains pierced through her abdomen, shoulder, and thigh.

"Artoria—!" Shiomi cried out in panic.

At that moment, he invoked the True Name of his crimson spear. It shot forth—and just as the fake Enkidu tried to block it, it drove straight through his heart. Blood gushed from his mouth.

"...A spear that never misses the heart..."

The fake Enkidu's legs buckled; he seemed ready to collapse. He pulled the spear from his chest and tossed it aside.

"If it can't destroy the Holy Grail, it's just a spear through the heart—"

But before he could finish, his body told him otherwise.

In life, Enkidu had died from a divine curse. This body retained an absolute vulnerability to the curse of death. The curse of the crimson spear might not match that of the gods—but it was no trifling thing.

Even with the Holy Grail as his core, the fake Enkidu understood—he could no longer continue fighting.

And then, the third person arrived on the battlefield.

Scáthach's crimson spear shot down like a missile, piercing through several Demon Pillars, slicing them in half, and exploding near the fake Enkidu's position.

Seeing no chance for further gains, the fake Enkidu launched a final barrage of weapons, scattering them across the battlefield.

Amid the chaos of explosions, his heavily wounded body rose into the air and vanished into the distant sky.

...

"You're too slow, Master..."

Freed at last, Shiomi held the injured Artoria in his arms as the chaos settled, and muttered a teasing complaint.

"I thought we were fast enough evacuating the observers... but it looks like we were still a step behind their retreat."

Scáthach picked up the crimson spear Shiomi had dropped and spoke with a helpless sigh.