A piercing buzz droned incessantly, faint blue light crackling across his body.
Every muscle felt like it was being torn apart, a visceral, searing pain from within, an attack the Sun Armor couldn't deflect.
"Aaaaaaa!!"
Enduring the excruciating torment of thunder ravaging his body, Karna clutched his pain-twisted face, gritting his teeth as he charged Arjuna to reclaim his god-slaying spear.
But Arjuna, having clawed back the advantage, wouldn't let him have his way.
Before Karna's eyes, Arjuna raised the stolen thunder spear, compressing his dwindling Saint Graph to pour all his remaining power into Indra's weapon. With a surge of lightning, he thrust it fiercely at Karna.
Swish!!
The strike tore through space, piercing the storm.
Karna's spear, gifted by Indra in exchange for the Sun Armor, was a weapon Arjuna, as Indra's son, knew intimately.
Though he couldn't unleash its full power like Karna, wielding it to channel lightning and strike was within his grasp.
Come on, Karna,
Taste your own god-slaying spear!!
Seeing Arjuna master the spear, Karna's crimson eyes froze. His comet-like speed faltered as he struggled to steady himself, dodging the lethal thrust.
But halting mid-charge was a costly mistake, handing Arjuna the opening.
As expected, Arjuna cackled, sprinting with the spear, aiming its golden tip at Karna's chest. Karna didn't stand idle; he raised his arm to parry, deflecting the spear's fatal course.
No matter, no matter at all…
Though the spear missed, Arjuna's face showed no frustration. Unfazed, he raised his hand, fingers clawing, seizing Karna's arm and locking his body in close quarters.
"Now your precious speed's useless, Karna!!"
Splat!!
A spray of blood, laced with lightning, splattered Karna's face, crimson blooming on the plain.
"Haha… hahaha…"
Though Karna had, in the moment the spear veered, landed a full-force punch through Arjuna's chest.
Arjuna's face held no pain or sorrow, only wild, exhilarated laughter.
"Hahahahaha!!!"
"You think you've won, Karna? Wrong, so wrong! This time, I win!!"
Despite vomiting blood, his body pierced by Karna's fist.
He laughed, a frenzied, unhinged laugh.
Graceless, like a triumphant villain, as if Karna were the one on the brink.
And to him, it was so.
Karna hadn't landed a killing blow, but Arjuna had set his final trap.
"Last time didn't count, but this time I win!! Go to your grave, Karna!!"
As Karna was pinned by his body, Arjuna formed a seal with one hand, preparing another Broken Phantasm.
This time, his weapon was,
A chilling threat gripped Karna's heart. His crimson gaze locked onto the spear plunged into the ground below, the god-slaying spear!!
Yes, Arjuna planned to destroy the spear he'd just taken from Karna.
Thanks to his Indra blood, the spear didn't reject his control, allowing quick mastery.
But it was Karna's Noble Phantasm; Arjuna couldn't unleash it, and Karna's familiarity far surpassed his. Alone, it couldn't defeat him. To kill Karna required a bolder, more decisive strike.
He'd infused the spear with his last shred of destructive power. With it at their feet and Karna's mobility locked, he'd have to face this attack head-on, inescapable!!
"Savor the mercy of the king of gods! Let my father Indra's power be this war's farewell gift! Embrace your fated death, Karna!!"
Arjuna laughed maniacally.
Both his true self and his dark side roared with unrestrained glee.
The spear, gifted by Indra, king of gods, combined with Shiva's destructive power, an attack no defense could withstand, not even Surya's Sun Armor!!
Karna couldn't escape.
He couldn't block this strike!!
This millennia-spanning war was his victory.
On this foreign battlefield, he'd proven he could defeat Karna without the gods' aid!!
Recalling that fated battle, the gods' meddling.
Their reason? Doubt in his ability to defeat Karna.
Fear he'd die, disrupting their plans.
That unfair victory, his fall in the final moment, was his deepest torment.
He'd suffered millennia in shame and self-torment.
Perhaps.
Perhaps…
He wasn't Karna's equal.
But he wouldn't lose!!
Even if this ended in a draw, to him, it was a triumph.
A grand victory proving he wouldn't fall to Karna!!
Crack!!
Thunder roared, followed by a cataclysmic explosion.
Boom!!!
Indra's and Shiva's powers fused, unleashed as the spear detonated, erupting in blinding light.
Black, yellow, and blue intertwined, a towering pillar of light shredding all within its reach under its shockwave.
Including Arjuna and Karna's bodies and Saint Graphs.
At such range, none could escape, all sacrificed to this apocalyptic light.
As it descended, the Sun Armor peeled away like paper. In seconds, Karna's Saint Graph crumbled, though Arjuna's had shattered long before in the frenzied battle.
The outcome was set. Arjuna's eyes regained their former calm, reverting to the heaven-blessed hero, sighing softly in his final moments.
"This ending, huh…"
"Not bad, though. At least I'm no less than you, Karna…"
"You're not lesser, Arjuna. You have much I could learn from."
"What… you!!"
Hearing that achingly familiar voice, Arjuna's eyes widened.
Etched into his soul, he'd never forget it, no matter the eons.
It was Karna!!
The Demon God Pillar's tampering undone by the light's destruction, Karna's consciousness briefly regained clarity.
He hadn't expected Arjuna to free him.
Though the battle felt unreal, its memories flooded his mind.
He'd witnessed Arjuna shed his facade, fighting with all his might to defeat his villainous self.
Karna expressed gratitude, graciously admitting defeat.
"Yes, you won this time, Arjuna. But next time, I won't lose…"
"I won? Hahaha… so that's how it is…"
"Boasting already? I'll win next time too, Karna!!"
With a hearty laugh, Arjuna's Saint Graph shattered, his body dissolving into Spiritrons, his magical signature fading.
"And I…"
Feeling Arjuna's presence vanish behind him.
Karna sighed.
The Sun Armor let him linger seconds longer, but his destroyed Saint Graph meant his exit was near.
Reflecting on the seventh singularity's strange journey.
His eyes held complex emotions.
Saved by Arjuna, spared from irredeemable acts, from unforgivable sins.
He owed a great debt.
Arjuna…
My blood brother, my fated rival.
If one day we could sit together differently, how wonderful that would be…
A soft chuckle, then Karna's body faded with the light, vanishing.
Thus,
[Allied Unit: Archer · Arjuna · Exited]
[Enemy Unit: Lancer · Karna · Confirmed Dead]
Mesopotamia's song of creation played on.
…
"Aaaaaaa!!!"
Meanwhile, in a realm sealed from the world.
A black sun hung above a silver-gray desert, its surface pulsing with dim light, like a living heart beating.
Below spread silver-gray, above loomed pitch-black.
The vast, undulating white land stretched endlessly.
In this isolated domain, a colossal battle, dwarfing the outside world, raged.
Boom!!
On the silver-gray desert, an inky tide surged, shifting with Roy's will but showing signs of losing control. A terrifying consciousness seemed to awaken, seething with rage.
"Aaaaaaa!!!"
The creation song from Tiamat's lips, once melodious, turned shrill and furious, laced with emotions and questions…
"Why stop me?!"
"Why hinder my return?!"
"I truly love every child on this earth, why do you oppose me?!"
Roy's breach of Tiamat's soul rift and the influence of Tezcatlipoca's sun of impermanence had sharpened her consciousness.
Initially, Tiamat awoke from slumber, driven by instinct to purge humanity. Fueled by betrayal, hatred, sorrow, and the joy of returning as the mother of all, she was [Beast II].
Through their efforts, she'd begun to diverge from that instinct-driven state.
Though hatred and sorrow from abandonment lingered, another side grew clearer.
The maiden of fate's voice grew distinct in Roy's ears.
"Is… even my love for my children… for this world… wrong?"
Tiamat questioned the world.
Her wavering will and echoing voice shook the small world.
Roy, atop the ivory tower, formed seals to stabilize the Reality Marble, commanding a white angel, riddled by Tiamat's laser, to rise from the desert.
"A-a-A!!!"
With a strange magical surge, the massive white figure rose, seizing Tiamat's neck with one hand, pinning her to the desert. Dropping its greatsword, it plunged its hand into the ground, drawing a colossal golden axe.
The axe gleamed razor-sharp, its edge radiating a chilling aura capable of cleaving the world.
"Aaaaaaa!!!"
At the axe's appearance, Tiamat's starry eyes flickered with rare shock and fear?
Yes, fear, an emotion shared by humans and all sentient beings.
Tiamat recognized the axe and could never mistake it.
It was Marduk's weapon.
In the creation war, Marduk used this golden axe to slay Tiamat's eleven children and sever her head.
Seeing the axe stained with her and her children's blood, even Tiamat felt instinctive dread.
"Recognize it, Tiamat?"
Seeing her flinch, Roy smiled. This was the effect he wanted, worth the effort to retrieve it.
"Too late. I may lack Marduk's power to behead a creation mother, but I can swing this relic."
The axe, left by Marduk in Mesopotamia to aid humanity, was stored in Eridu for a future purpose. Its forty-meter length was mountain-like; most Servants couldn't lift it, let alone wield it.
As a divine weapon, it was immune to magic, even repelling Merlin's spells, usable only by physical strength. In the seventh singularity, only main gods like Quetzalcoatl or Tezcatlipoca could wield it.
Roy initially suggested one of them use it.
Tezcatlipoca declined, saying he wasn't a brute and the axe felt unwieldy. Quetzalcoatl, content with her Sun Calendar Stone, said it'd disrupt her rhythm and refused.
With both main gods opting out, Roy, barely able to wield it, took it.
Before the war, he had Taiga transport it via pterosaur to the battlefield's edge, storing it in his Reality Marble as a trump card against Tiamat.
Though magic couldn't affect the axe, his angels, born of the Third Magic's soul-magic fusion, were immune to its dispel. Their hundred-meter frames, taller than Tiamat, could grip and swing it.
Roy was ideal to wield it against her.
Were it not for Tiamat's tenacious immortality and her hidden second draconic form threatening to escalate.
He'd emulate Marduk's feat, cleaving creation anew.
Without hesitation, Roy's gaze hardened. Seizing Tiamat's distraction, he commanded the giant angel to raise the axe, slashing mercilessly at her neck.
At the battlefield's edge, Tezcatlipoca watched the titanic clash without rushing in.
Tiamat, with her creation mother authority, was unkillable in Mesopotamia while any life remained. Even Marduk's axe couldn't slay her.
He and Roy knew this, so their goal wasn't to kill her but to stall and weaken her.
Roy had planted a seed in Tiamat's soul, tainting her purity. Under the impermanent sun, she regained emotions.
He struck her physically with Marduk's axe, worsening her state, widening her flaws.
Why did Tezcatlipoca hold back?
He awaited the moment Tiamat reached her limit, just before her second form, when her calamity and madness were weakest against the maiden of fate's consciousness.
Then, by divine mandate, he'd sacrifice his Grand Saint Graph, using his authority to sever the maiden's consciousness from the endless calamity, dealing Tiamat an irreversible conceptual blow.
So…
Patience, and wait…
Like a leopard, a skilled hunter never struck rashly. They lurked in shadows, poised for the prey's weakest moment… to snap its neck with a fatal blow.
___
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