Upon hearing the words, the dragon-slaying hero named Siegfried swiftly turned his blade toward Alaric. On the holy sword known as Balmung, Alaric could even sense suppression and threat. The sword, elevated by the legend of dragon-slaying, carried an anti-dragon trait, not just because of Siegfried himself, but also as an innate characteristic of the holy sword.
It could be said that this made Siegfried the natural enemy of Alaric, the Red Dragon.
However, for Alaric, this was merely a disadvantage in compatibility. Beyond that, there was no other difference.
As long as the opponent was not among the living, they could not defeat Alaric.
With the movements of Gordes and Siegfried, both Jeanne d'Arc and Karna displayed astonished expressions.
"You're not the Black Archer?"
Originally believing the figure before him to belong to the opposing faction, Karna looked at Alaric and the figure beside him—Tiamat—with surprise. As the son of the Sun God, Karna could naturally sense the immense divinity hidden within Tiamat's body.
This was not an existence that could appear in a typical Holy Grail War.
Aside from Tiamat, Alaric's existence left Karna even more in awe.
Alaric was alive—this was beyond doubt.
Karna was certain that Alaric was not a Heroic Spirit or anything similar. Even if there were Noble Phantasms capable of altering one's aura to confuse judgment, it wouldn't work against him.
As one of the strongest in human history, Karna possessed an extraordinary ability known as Discernment of the Poor.
This ability allowed him to see through a person's character and nature, immune to lies and deceit through words or appearances.
Having endured a life of solitude as a heroic figure, Karna wielded the power to question the essence and value of life itself, which granted him the ability to grasp the truth of another's being.
Thus, Karna could perceive—
The immense power dormant within Alaric's body, a strength that far surpassed the foundation granted by conventional Holy Grail War standards.
After Karna spoke, Jeanne d'Arc's face also changed slightly.
If even Karna of the Red Faction declared that Alaric was not on their side, and the Black Faction's Saber, Siegfried, and Gordes had both identified Alaric as a target for attack, then—
Who exactly was Alaric?
"Don't worry about that," Alaric said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Either way, we're going to fight."
As soon as the words left his mouth, an overwhelming battle intent erupted from Alaric's body. Purely by willpower alone, it seemed as if the very laws of the world were being distorted.
What kind of battle intent was this?
Both Siegfried and Karna, who had experienced mythical battles and were themselves legends, understood this keenly: this was the battle intent that could only be forged through personal participation in mythic wars and honed through life-and-death struggles.
"Who are you?!"
Unlike Siegfried and Karna, who were prepared to fight at any moment, Jeanne d'Arc, who positioned herself as the neutral referee, shouted decisively: "You're neither a Master nor a Servant of this Holy Grail War!"
Ignoring Jeanne, Alaric, who hadn't fought in a long time, gazed at Karna and Siegfried with a piercing focus. "Are you ready? Because we're about to begin!"
Treating the situation with utmost seriousness, Karna's gaze swept over Alaric and Siegfried, easily discerning that there were now three factions present on the battlefield.
"If you fear not my spear, then come forth."
Karna spoke coldly, "My name is Karna, Son of the Sun God. And yours?"
"The wandering knight of Nibelungen."
Siegfried responded solemnly, "Siegfried stands before you."
"If you wish to call me something," Alaric said as his smile faded, his tone turning icy, "then call me this: the Last Knight of the Round Table, the one who will end your second life!"
Letting go of Tiamat's small hand, Alaric conjured a golden holy sword. Magical inscriptions adorned the blade, and under the flow of god-like magical energy, the sword reached an extraordinary level of sharpness and durability.
"Well then, it's time to begin!"
Understanding Alaric's intent, Tiamat, without objection, chose to fully support him, igniting the fireworks for the prelude to battle.
Her dazzling crimson eyes could only be described as the Eyes of the Star.
They were the manifestation of the Earth's will, a light from a being that could be called a repository of the planet's wisdom—or even the power of the Star itself.
In human terms, they were a planetary version of Mystic Eyes.
The radiance that burst forth was so overwhelming that even Alaric, with his instincts, couldn't detect or evade it!
"Ahhhhh!!"
A roar from the ocean, a cry of life, erupted from the earth.
The curse from the Mystic Eyes, accompanied by a surge of azure magical energy, instantly enveloped the surroundings.
The hellish land of molten lava surged like a tidal wave, roaring toward the distant plains.
Faced with the blow of a god, neither Karna nor Siegfried, who had reached the pinnacle of strength, dared to take it lightly!
But even faster than the godly attack was Alaric's charge!
Clang!
As the golden holy sword clashed with the God-Slaying Spear, the battle finally began.
What sort of hell was this?
As a magus of the Yggdmillennia family, Gordes prided himself on his knowledge and insight. As someone who delved into the realm of magecraft, he naturally had a certain tolerance for the inhuman.
But he could not comprehend the scene before him. He could not fathom the birth of such a hell.
Sword clashed against sword, divine spear collided with the holy sword.
This was a battle of legendary heroes from distant eras—those who had reached the pinnacle of strength. The dragon-slaying hero, Siegfried; the godly warrior, Karna; and the nameless knight—all caused unfathomable destruction with their clashes.
Siegfried's superhuman skill surpassed the realm of humanity. Even Karna, whose Uncrowned Arms Mastery had lost its concealment due to his true name being revealed, still stood at the apex.
And then there was Alaric, who unleashed the full extent of the martial skill he had honed over years of training!
Even without utilizing magic, the clashes between the three tore the earth apart. A canyon hundreds of meters long and tens of meters wide began to take shape.
The ground rose, and the cuts were as smooth as a mirror, reflecting Gordes' stunned visage.
The superhuman speed of the three fighters left Gordes unable to see their movements. All he could perceive were flashes of sword light and the air being torn apart.
The clash of steel stirred the air within dozens, even hundreds of meters, creating a frigid tempest.
It was a storm as sharp and terrifying as a sword strike. Within it, there was no condition for life to survive—a true, bona fide hell.
What kind of life could persist in such a hell?
Gordes couldn't imagine. Even Avicebron's golems, summoned early by the Yggdmillennia family, would not survive in this environment.
Even as his mind struggled to comprehend the scene, his fear of death spurred his body into action. The magecraft he had practiced since childhood was instinctively activated.
The green magical energy rose, accompanied by crimson flames.
As great heroes, all three combatants possessed the advanced technique of Mana Burst, allowing them to greatly enhance their parameters for battle.
Yet one among them stood apart. While both Karna and Siegfried utilized magic, Alaric continued to fight them in pure close combat!
It was as if he was using this battle to temper his skills, striving to reach even greater heights!
Compared to martial skills, Alaric was inferior to Siegfried and far below Karna. But his strength was overwhelming, and his reflexes were unparalleled.
There was no victory through skill—only the raw beauty of physical prowess.
Alaric's laughter echoed through the storm, rising and falling with the crumbling earth.
Standing as the Origin Mother upon the earth, her arms draped at her sides, the radiant starlit eyes ignored the obstruction of the storm, gazing intently at the figure of the lone individual.
It was neither a longing for power nor a yearning for solace—merely a quiet observation.
Ever since her defeat in Mesopotamia, Tiamat, who had been driven back into the Imaginary Space, had always remembered the humiliation and pain of that event. But compared to those memories, she now prioritized the idea of protecting humanity far more.
And Alaric—he was the one she had always been watching.
He was unlike the brilliant star that was Ritsuka Fujimaru; he was a dim, flickering star, unsteady and uncertain, unable to even fully prove his own existence.
It was not the rejection of others, but self-negation.
"Tiamat, the Origin Mother, have you violated the rules of this Holy Grail War?"
Braving the wild winds and relying on her top-tier magic resistance to shield herself from the storm's aftermath, Jeanne d'Arc finally made her way to Tiamat's side.
Since the beginning of the chaotic three-way battle between Alaric, Karna, and Siegfried; Tiamat, who had only used her Mystic Eyes momentarily at the start, had not participated in the fight.
She observed everything with the gentle gaze of a mother watching her children play in a park.
Facing Jeanne's question, Tiamat shook her head. To the saint who sought salvation for the nation, she also looked upon her as a child and softly said:
"Saint—"
Her words were not spoken aloud—or rather, the current environment no longer allowed for the transmission of sound.
The pitch-black aurora finally bloomed.
The atmosphere was being stirred up, racing along the walls of the storm at high speed, transforming the eye of the storm into a vacuum-like space.
What filled this place was only the grim clash of steel upon steel, an environment devoid of any intelligent exchange of words.
As Alaric finally unleashed his mana, the scale of the battle among the three rose to another level. It was no longer confined to this area, moving toward Trifas like a mobile natural disaster.
It was an apocalyptic scene visible even from ten kilometers away: crimson flames below and the aurora suspended above the heavens.
No one could provide an answer as to how long this battle lasted.
When the first rays of dawn broke over the horizon, the storm ceased. The canyon stretching for several kilometers became an eternal scar on the planet's surface.
Step. Step.
Landing back on the ground, Alaric's upper body armor was destroyed, but the injuries he had sustained were healing at an astonishing speed, disappearing entirely within a few breaths.
Compared to Karna's golden armor, the mana-constructed armor of Alaric was almost useless. Even the skin-level defense, comparable to Siegfried's Armor of Fafnir, could only provide minimal protection in the face of these two opponents.
It could be said that both Karna and Siegfried had the ability to injure Alaric, but whether they could kill him was another matter entirely.
As for Karna, his injuries were also minimal. With the high damage reduction and regeneration provided by his golden armor, Karna's defense and recovery capabilities far exceeded Alaric's.
Siegfried, the famed dragon-slaying hero, bore numerous bloody wounds on his body. Although the attacks Alaric used were only of B+ or A rank, when they landed on Siegfried, they were reduced by the Armor of Fafnir to E rank or even lower.
Though not as powerful as Karna, who stood at the pinnacle of strength, nor as formidable as Alaric in his prime, Siegfried remained a hero worthy of respect.
With his innate anti-dragon trait, Siegfried inflicted considerable damage and pressure on Alaric during this battle.
"Your Masters seem to be running out of mana."
Alaric twisted his neck and smiled at Karna.
Compared to Siegfried, who had an entire homunculus cluster supplying him with mana, Karna's Master was somewhat lacking, unable to provide sufficient mana for him to fight to his fullest.
This shortcoming had become evident during the latter half of the night's battle. Karna's output and mana reserves had both diminished, even dropping to a level comparable to Siegfried's.
Of course, this did not hinder Alaric's combat.
What Alaric sought was precisely this kind of exhilarating display of martial prowess—only through such experiences could he improve his skills.
Both Siegfried and Karna were heroes whose martial arts transcended human limits. Siegfried's reputation needed no elaboration, and Karna, as one of the strongest figures in human history, stood on par with the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh.
It could be said that Karna represented the pinnacle of Servants summoned in a standard Holy Grail War.
Being able to face off against these two left Alaric feeling immense joy and satisfaction.
In the Fourth Holy Grail War, there were far too few who could endure the bombardment of Gate of Babylon and engage Alaric in close combat.
This time, Alaric resolved to fully enjoy the fight. After savoring the appetizer, he intended to proceed to the main course with determination, switching tactics to dominate the battle differently.
The victory of a strong warrior should never be achieved through just one method.
Alaric firmly adhered to this standard, honing his swordsmanship, spear techniques, archery, and other martial arts. He had learned swordsmanship and spear techniques from Lancelot and had even trained in archery under the great hero Arash during the Sixth Singularity.
But even so, it was not enough to place Alaric at the summit or make him one of the strongest in human history—let alone surpass those who already stood there.
What he needed was not only personal growth but also the refinement of his craft.
The martial arts of a warrior, the magecraft studied by a magus—he sought it all.
As Lie finished speaking, Siegfried glanced into the distance where Gordes, hiding behind Jeanne, and Tiamat, who stood beside Jeanne, were located.
Faced with the inescapable storm, Gordes quickly adjusted his position, choosing to rely on Jeanne to shield himself from the storm's effects.
As the Ruler, Jeanne did not refuse Gordes but instead protected him up to this point.
With the cessation of the battle between Alaric and the others, Jeanne finally had an opportunity to approach.
But before Jeanne could speak, Gordes, unable to endure the situation any longer, snapped, "We're leaving, Saber!"
The scale of the battle had exceeded everyone's expectations. Even without the release of Noble Phantasms, the mana consumption had reached terrifying levels—and that was to say nothing of how close it had come to affecting him!
"It seems your Master has grown impatient."
Karna, his expression calm, said, "It was my first time fighting against you all, and I am sincerely grateful for this opportunity."
It seemed that, like Gordes, Karna had also received instructions from another entity. Without hesitation, he transformed into spirit particles and retreated.
"I hope that next time, I can fight you to my heart's content."
Siegfried, his expression steady as ever, looked at Alaric and asked, "Do you intend to continue this battle?"
Unlike Karna, Siegfried could not predict Alaric's actions.
Of course, if Alaric still wished to fight, Siegfried would not back down.
"That was an incredible battle, but now that it's daylight, I ask you all to stop."
Jeanne, who had finally arrived, intervened, saying, "Besides, I have some questions for this gentleman."
"Hmm? What excuse are you going to use to stop a Holy Grail War combat during the day?"
Alaric gestured to the canyon stretching for several kilometers behind him and said, "With this kind of destruction, does it matter whether it's day or night?"