He Tore Through The Holy Grail War, And You Still Call Him A Dragon?

The eight heads of Yamata-no-Orochi reared up, reeking of rot. Its massive body tore through the blood sea, jaws yawning wide. In its throats, death gathered—eight torrents of ghostly breath roared downward!

"Hah!"

Heracles loosed in a blur, arrows like thunderbolts. Each shaft cut through the breath like knives through soft cheese, his archery reaching the level of myth.

Indeed, with his technique "Slaying a Hundred Heads" combined with the War God's Girdle, his arrows no longer required aim. In an instant, eight shafts pierced straight into the monster's open mouths.

Boom! Blood erupted, the serpent's heads blasted apart. The deafening roars ceased; the fallen heads bled freely as the colossal body slumped into the blood sea.

It wouldn't die, not while its divinity strengthened, but for the moment, it was forced to halt. A perfect chance for the others.

"Perfect! Nice! Truly a Greek hero!"

Inside his mech, Fingel cheered, even as his display flashed red—"Alchemic Array Overload Warning" and a sinking power gauge. His heart clenched.

Damn it, this eats through energy too fast! Please, energy bar, just hang on until the end of this fight!

While he prayed frantically, Shirou and Chiyo seized the opening, sprinting closer to the throne.

There was no ordinary ground here anymore. Space twisted and stretched; the stench of Yomi filled the air. Souls wailed from the crimson sea, their cries piercing.

They forced themselves to ignore it. Grief now would only waste the chance Heracles bought them. Using Orochi's massive body as stepping stones, they advanced.

The mist thickened, turning from black to blood-red.

The streams of blood all flowed into the pillar beneath the throne, like a world tree fed by countless sacrifices.

Chiyo drew her blade, aiming for the pillar.

"…You're too late."

The god stood high, white robes trailing filth. Worms fell from her sleeves, her crimson hair gleaming like blood. Her face rotted further, an expressionless mask of decay.

"Izanami" danced like a Noh performer—yet she needed no mask. Her very face transformed, becoming the visage of Yomi.

"All happiness is but a fleeting flower beneath the moon. Only loneliness and pain abide in Yomi."

"Life and struggle are but grains of sand, scattered with a breath. Death alone is eternal!"

"Open—the Yashiro Hall!"

With her chant, the white robes spread, divine energy bursting forth.

Chiyo struck instantly, lightning cleaving down—but the black tide swelled, swallowing the thunder whole, then surged outward from the pillar!

"Yashiro Hall?" Shirou muttered.

Chiyo's face darkened. "Could it be… the shrine from myth?"

In legend, Izanagi and Izanami stirred the sea with the jeweled spear, birthing islands. Upon them they raised the Heavenly Pillars, and built the Yashiro Hall—the primal temple of creation.

The bronze pillars around them trembled, glowing white, remaking themselves into myth's Heavenly Pillars.

Shirou quickly realized—they weren't decorations, but parts of a ritual. The pillars linked like circuits, forming a barrier. The world vanished—no sky, no land. Only endless black.

They were trapped inside Izanami's temple.

"Master, she's nearly succeeded!" Chiyo's voice trembled.

"Not yet," Shirou replied, projecting a black bow. "If she had a true divine core, she wouldn't need this. She's still incomplete."

"I am the bone of my sword—"

In a flash, he projected Dōjigiri Yasutsuna, drew it upon the bow, and loosed.

The pseudo-Noble Phantasm exploded in a blazing detonation, vaporizing swathes of the black tide. Chiyo followed with a net of raging lightning, wrapping the throne.

"…Useless!"

The flames and lightning dispersed. Her voice rasped, throat decayed, yet her divinity only grew.

"In myth, Izanami in Yomi was rotting flesh and worms. The closer I become to her, the greater my godhood."

"Yashiro Hall is my body! The temple is my image! I am the shrine, and the shrine is me!"

She explained her ritual, every step of her ascension: mass slaughter and mental control to prepare humanity, using the Greater Grail to spread Nibelungen, seizing Tokyo's leylines, gathering souls, offering them to the World Tree as data of godhood, and now—the creation of the shrine.

Sacrifice and the temple. Together, they were the essence of myth. The shrine itself would be her divine vessel.

Shirou frowned. He thought of something—

The Grand Temple of Time.

Like Goetia in FGO, who fused with the Temple of Time, becoming inseparable from it. If Izanami succeeded, destroying her or the temple would be meaningless—they would revive each other.

To kill her, they'd need three things: destroy the temple, destroy the god, and sever the bond.

But—she wasn't finished yet. The link was incomplete. There was still a chance.

"…Avenger. Can you summon him?" Shirou asked quickly.

"…Yes."

"By the Command Seal—unleash your Noble Phantasm, full power!"

He leapt onto Chiyo's shoulder. Lightning rings formed beneath his feet like accelerators.

Boom!

He shot forward like a thunderbolt.

Chiyo laughed beneath her helm. "As you command, Master! This Yomi, full of crawling vermin—Bull King Reversal: Lawless Evil, vanish!"

The god sneered, arms outstretched. "Futile! Your lives end here!"

Darkness erupted toward Shirou—yet nine arrows of Heracles pierced through, blazing like meteors. The black flood shattered.

"Well done, Greek hero." Shirou muttered, flame boosters igniting underfoot. He closed in, the god's rotting face filling his vision.

Perfect range.

"I am the bone of my sword—"

Come, false creator god. Into my world, where only fakes belong.

——

Boom!

Far away, Nono clutched her ears as thunder rocked the ground.

She had followed Charlotte and Sami to a nearby leyline node. Charlotte had insisted they needed to seize local control for the reinforcement ritual.

Sami had casually dug a cavern hundreds of meters deep in seconds, leaving Nono gaping.

Charlotte paled with suspicion—such mastery of earth could only belong to a King of the Earth and Mountains. But she wisely kept silent.

Together, the two worked frantically, rerouting the leylines. Nono, lost, could only watch.

"Not bad, huh?" Sami teased, patting Charlotte's head.

Charlotte fumed silently—if Sami truly was the Dragon King, one wrong word could mean her head crushed like glass.

Then Nono asked innocently, "Charlotte, you said she was 'no wonder what' earlier?"

"…No wonder she's… no wonder she's—"

"Of course! No wonder she's Shirou's direct junior disciple!" Sami cut in, smiling like a blooming flower.

Charlotte blinked in disbelief. Shirou? A dragon's master? What the hell was he doing!?

"Begin. Strengthen Archer and Avenger first," Sami instructed, working with Charlotte.

Charlotte obeyed, awestruck by Sami's supposed talent. Unbeknownst to her, Sami was being guided remotely by Norton through their blood pact.

Nono soon grew bored, turning her gaze to the battlefield.

Then, whispers filled her ears, like endless chanting: prayers to Izanami, cries of ascension, thunderous hymns of death.

Her body shook, her spirit screaming.

"Too noisy—!"

She clutched her head, horrified. Was this another hallucination? Another nightmare made real?

(End of Chapter)

[Check Out My P@treon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/euridome]

[Thank You For Your Support!]