(Note: I was going to upload the chapter yesterday, but I wanted to finish everything in one long chapter.)
*Moments earlier*
While Arcueid and the beast were fighting, Solomon could be seen arriving at the site of the former clock tower, now practically destroyed.
Ignoring everyone, he went straight to Marisbury's old office to find what he was looking for.
The moment he arrived, he cast a spell to lift all the rubble, only to find the pieces of the summoning circle that the two of them had spent months creating, broken and incomplete.
Solomon couldn't help but feel a sense of unease at this sight.
Radpatient, taking all the broken pieces, he began to piece them together one by one, and with the missing parts, he joined them with other pieces and immediately began to draw what was missing from the summoning circle.
What he had before him was a summoning circle to bring a Grand Servant to this plane of existence.
Before, they couldn't do it because there was no threat endangering humanity, but now, with an entity seeking to alter all of existence at a single point in the cosmos, the threat was more imminent than ever, so the invocation should now be possible.
After two minutes of trying to calmly draw the lines and symbols—easier said than done—he managed to complete the magic circle again.
"It's done," Solomon declared somewhat hurriedly, looking at the invocation circle, ready to begin the ritual.
Extending his hand, he began the chant.
"I declare before the world that the foundation of Alaya judges this petition. Let Gaia bear witness to the approaching end. If calamity has taken the name of Beast, if humanity stands on the brink of extinction, then I beseech the Throne to answer; let the destined vessel descend. Let the Crown of the Grand be bestowed. Let humanity's enemy find its executioner. Come, Supreme Guardian of Human Order!" At his chant, he looked at the invocation circle and...
Nothing.
Solomon stared at this in disbelief, unsure of what was happening.
"Come, Supreme Guardian of Human Order!" he exclaimed again, but nothing. The summoning circle didn't react to his incantation.
The Servant stared at this, confused. He knew how to perform the ritual to summon a Grand Servant, but despite following all the steps correctly, nothing had happened.
The truth was, Solomon hadn't made a mistake; the problem was that neither the planet nor Alaya could see him.
The two were focused on Arcueid, who was now obligated to defeat the threat. Since he was being controlled by the planet's brain, he didn't respond to Solomon's words.
"Did it work?" At that moment, Marisbury appeared, bleeding from his head and limping toward Solomon. But Solomon said nothing, only staring at the summoning circle, unsure of what to do.
The Master stared at his Servant, a pang of bitterness creeping in. They had spent so much time developing this magic circle to save the world, but it seemed to have been a complete fiasco.
"In the end," he began, but couldn't finish his sentence. A gravitational force began pulling the Beast toward him.
Solomon grabbed hold of something and, in doing so, grabbed his Master, just enough to stop the force abruptly.
"What was that?" Marisbury asked, watching the battle unfold.
"That thing about being the—" Solomon couldn't finish his sentence, as the ground shook once more, this time with a much more violent tremor.
The sudden jolt toppled everything that hadn't yet fallen, shattering the summoning circle once again.
Solomon could only move to one spot, staying close to his Master, hoping the chaos would end.
The white-haired man remained kneeling on the ground as Marisbury tried to rise, but when he leaned against a piece of wall, it crumbled, and with it, he fell to the ground.
The former king of Jerusalem, unwilling to surrender, rose again and, using what little sorcery he possessed, repaired the magic circle to raise his hand once more.
"Foundation of humanity. Throne of heroes. Counterforce that watches over the continuity of history. Listen." At these words, the magic circle lit up, reigniting Solomon's hope.
As Arcueid had been defeated and nearly consumed, both Gaia and Alaya now listened to her plea.
"The balance has been broken. The age of men is drawing to a close. If hope remains, if there is still a chance to preserve the future, grant a worthy vessel. Not by my name. Not by my blood. But for the survival of humanity. Answer the judgment of the world, Supreme Guardian of Human Order!"
At these last words, a great flash of gold, silver, and blue flooded the area, drawing the attention of everyone in the clock tower and temporarily blinding them.
When Solomon opened his eyes, he saw before him a woman dressed and bearing like a king, holding a sword that any heroic spirit would recognize.
"You answered," the white-haired man declared.
"Obviously I was going to respond; seeing the state of the world and that young woman who looks just like me that Dante sent me, I'm more than aware of the current situation," said Artoria, or rather, Lord Logres, standing before Solomon. "I have a family to protect, which is why I accepted Alaya's summons. Now tell me where Dante is so I can beat him up for everything he's been doing."
*Back to the present*
The two weights could be seen weighing each other, facing off.
The Beast, looking at the Artoria before him, immediately activated the Kamigami no Gigan, analyzing her composition in a split second.
"I see, a normal human body being the vessel of a Grand Servant; I wonder how long it can last," he commented, looking at her as if she were nothing.
"I can say the same," Lord Logres replied, or rather, Artoria simply pointed her sword, which is a fusion of Excalibur, Proto-Excalibur, and Calibur into one.
Without wasting a moment, activating Mana Buster, she launched herself at the Beast, who instinctively leaped back, followed by his opponent, leaving Ruler alone, watching the whole thing in disbelief.
At that moment, a somewhat gaunt Solomon appeared, removing the staff from her hand and freeing her.
She stood up, her gaze fixed on a moment of sobriety and sacred light swirling around her, creating a landscape of almost post-apocalyptic energy.
"Do you think it's possible to defeat him?" Ruler asked.
"Absolutely," he replied, causing her to look at him in disbelief. "After all, however beastly he may have become, he still has the body of a Servant."
With that, she sent a message to Marisbury.
"Master," Solomon said.
"I'm absolutely certain," he said, cutting him off. "By this Command Seal, restore Caster to her full strength."
At that moment, a massive amount of mana reappeared in Solomon's body as all his wounds and restrictions vanished completely.
Returning to his best moment, he simply stared at the fight between those two
Back with both of them, Artoria could see how she was trying to slice the entity in two, but it simply dodged, knowing how dangerous a cut from that sword could be.
"What's wrong? aren't you going to face me?" she asked, frowning as she gathered mana in her holy sword.
The entity simply created distance, positioning itself to act.
"I'm not interested in fighting you," it said simply, before curling into a ball.
Artoria watched this, uncomprehending, only for the gravitational force to begin absorbing everything once more.
A ball of darkness surrounded Beast's body, and the entire ground beneath it began to be absorbed. Trees, buildings, rubble, cars, and appliances all started to be drawn toward it.
Seeing large chunks of earth already hurtling toward them, she wasted no time. With a massive burst of holy energy, she fired, intending to destroy it. But she opened her eyes and saw that the energy, instead of colliding, was directed to begin swirling around the sphere, ultimately being absorbed.
Faced with this situation, Artoria considered using her Noble Phantasm, but at that moment she heard a voice.
"Any energy source will simply be absorbed; we must attack them with powerful blows. Even if this gives them energy, it will at least slow this down," Solomon spoke from afar as he created a magic circle, and several lines of demonic power appeared around the sphere, piercing it five times.
At that moment, the sphere of darkness collapsed and exploded, creating a shockwave that forced Artoria to take a step back.
The gravitational pull stopped, leaving her standing as if nothing had happened. She looked at Artoria, then at Solomon, frowning, somehow.
"This is bad," Solomon heard his master say.
"What's happening?" he asked.
"The gravitational pull not only affected Earth's atmosphere but also space itself, briefly attracting the Moon. Fortunately, this force didn't attract other celestial bodies, but everything within that radius is now heading toward Earth, including space debris and several asteroids that could easily become meteorites," he declared urgently.
Solomon couldn't help but grimace.
"There's no other option but to defeat and end the Holy Grail War as soon as possible, and then fix all the chaos Dante created," he told himself, quickly creating several magic circles.
At that moment, Artoria felt several buffs appear within her, making her more resilient, faster, and stronger.
"You won't let me fulfill my purpose, so you've left me no choice but to destroy until nothing remains of you," the entity spoke, stomping its foot so that a wave of Conqueror's Haki would flood the area.
Solomon took a step back, but Artoria didn't move from where she stood.
"I see I'll have to bring you back to reality with blows," she said, already eager to destroy Dante.
In the Fifth Holy Grail War, the two had faced each other in a battle where Dante had gained a much greater advantage, which is why she wanted to face him again, but that opportunity never arose, especially after she had reverted to being human. But now she could do it without any problem.
With a great leap, she appeared before the entity, ready to attack, but it merely extended its hand. Instead of being drawn to it, she was repelled, sent flying several meters backward, crashing into rubble.
"If it can do one, it can do the opposite, huh?" Artoria said, getting up and preparing herself, but at that moment a black dot appeared, and a gravitational force pulled her to the ground. "This."
At the same time, the same thing happened to Solomon, pinning him to the ground as the beast held its fist closed, pointing it at both of them.
"You guys are really annoying," he remarked, grabbing hold without clenching his fists, causing a magic circle to appear and begin surrounding the area.
While this was happening, Artoria was able to destroy the singularity that bound her, watching as the entity simply stared at her and spoke.
"Antibarutiko Pedio," he announced, creating a field of delimitation approximately 2 kilometers around himself.
Artoria was about to launch himself forward, only to lose his grip on the ground, realizing he was floating in midair.
"Gravity now responds to my call," he declared as he created several singularities near Artoria.
The moment he teleported, he had to move to the side, losing an arm in the process, taking a step back and creating distance.
Artoria, in his attempt at combat, managed to sense the beast's presence, twisting his body and slashing at its position, but unfortunately for him, using Observation Haki, the entity dodged.
At that very moment, several beams of light appeared, destroying all the singularities surrounding Artoria.
The beast stared for a moment at the now-freed white-haired woman, no longer affected by gravity.
"That's not all," Solomon declared, creating a magic circle that appeared on Artoria's chest. She was no longer in zero gravity, and she fell gracefully to the ground.
Solomon might not be able to use elemental attacks or explosions against the beast, as it could absorb them and send them back to Artoria. However, he could support her by creating openings for her to attack.
There were now two ways to defeat the beast: the first was to kill it directly, which was possible with Artoria's final Noble Phantasm. This was tricky to execute, as they had to give it the perfect moment without the beast interfering, and it couldn't absorb or dodge the attack. Alternatively, they could release it from its current state with the Holy Light, but that was more complicated.
The other way was to push him beyond his absorption limit. As a mere Servant, possessing only a normal Saint Graph, there's a point he can withstand, and exceeding that limit could cause him to explode or directly damage his core, making it simply vanish.
"There's no other way," the entity commented, summoning his cobra skull staff, which began to transmute into a spear tipped with pure titanium. "This is what I was looking for, isn't it?" he said, looking at Artoria, who was already in a fighting stance.
Artoria simply smiled, doing the same.
In the next second, both weapons collided, creating an explosive shockwave that sent everything flying backward.
The entity's advanced Armament Haki was able to withstand the planet's most powerful weapon, but it was noticing how it was slowly turning away. So, it abandoned its strength and, spinning, kicked Artoria, who blocked with her sword, sending him flying back a meter.
Spinning her new spear, the entity launched several thrusts, taking advantage of the distances where she could attack, but Artoria simply parried each attack. For every attack the beast made, she blocked it and took a step forward.
Now at an attacking distance, she shifted from defense to offense, spinning her sword and attempting to cleave it in two, but her opponent, using her spear, managed to block it, sending her flying against a half-destroyed building floating in the arena.
In the distance, Solomon could be seen watching this confrontation. The creature could be seen fluidly moving its spear to attack and deflect Artoria's slashes, while she defended and unleashed bursts of light whenever possible, all amidst shadows that floated in the air.
She, positioning herself well, managed to execute a downward slash, which was stopped by her opponent, sending him crashing to the ground.
Once on the ground, the entity felt something entwine around its feet and climb its body; vines were pulling it up.
It quickly used darkness to bury and absorb it, but because the roots were so long and spread everywhere, it didn't have time to fully absorb it.
Arttoria was already increasing her mana production to unleash a more powerful holy attack, but out of nowhere, her opponent vanished, teleporting several meters away.
"You will not escape," the swordswoman declared; they unleashed a blast of pure holy light.
The beast didn't think twice and teleported again, but to its surprise, the light deflected and went directly to where it was forced to move in a somewhat awkward position, saving itself by the skin of its teeth.
In midair, she saw the sacred light collide with a mirror, which appeared with a magic circle before being reflected back to where it was.
"Solomon," the entity simply declared, generating a large blast of magical energy and hurling it at the light, intercepting it and creating a massive explosion.
Leaping to the ground, she quickly turned to block Artoria's slashing attack with her spear, but it could no longer withstand the force. With an upward slash, the beast's weapon snapped in two.
"I'm not finished yet," Artoria said, and from above, she slashed the beast. The wound opened, blood spurting onto its body, but the darkness quickly concealed it.
Still not satisfied, she was about to strike again, but her sword stopped abruptly as the entity had stomped down on it, enveloping it in darkness.
"Enough, let's finish this," the Beast said, the titanium-tipped half of the spear pointed directly at her neck.
But Artoria remained unfazed. With a flick of her wrist, the sword shattered the surrounding darkness with holy power, burying itself in the ground.
The creature stopped dead in its tracks, watching as beams of light erupted from the ground, only to explode into a pillar of holy power.
Managing to escape in time, the being watched the whole scene with annoyance, just as several hydra heads of soxruity formed and attacked the moment the pillar of light vanished.
But Artoria swiftly closed the distance, obliterating the darkness to stand before the creature.
Spinning her holy sword, she attempted to slice her opponent in half, but Artoria, using Observation Haki, dodged by millimeters, avoiding further damage.
In an instant, he saw an opportunity to attack and, turning his body, extended his hand to touch the swordswoman, but the ground beneath them split in two, and the piece where Artoria stood rose up, while the one where the beast was was sent flying.
In the next second, a magic circle descended, attempting to crush him, but he slowly managed to rise through sheer brute force.
"Saber, now!" Solomon exclaimed as he used his mana to keep the beast pinned down.
The swordswoman simply nodded and raised her sword, a concentrated burst of pure mana in her hand, ready to obey.
Seeing this, the beast simply gathered all the advanced Haki it possessed, and the moment Artoria fired, it struck the magic circle, shattering it and spinning its body, expelling all the darkness. It managed to contain all the pure power coming toward it.
Using everything it had, it absorbed the energy beam and prevented its destruction. As this happened, several roots erupted from the ground and pierced its body repeatedly, including its chest, heart, neck, and head.
The beast could only remain still, as it needed to finish the swordswoman's attack before it could do anything.
As soon as the attack ceased, Artoria saw the bull beast, completely drenched by both of them, begin to move, shattering rocks and tearing its body apart as if it were nothing.
"Why?" the beast exclaimed, staring at its opponent. Why don't they let me unite the entire universe into a single entity? "Within me, good and evil will no longer exist; there will be no war or chaos, only tranquility."
He simply stared at the being, aiming his sword at it.
"Because that purpose you had is nothing but madness, period," he said, launching her attack again.
The ante took a large step back, creating distance.
"There's no other way," he commented, forcefully pulling his hands away. The moment he opened them, a small point appeared.
Quickly, he raised it to the sky, and a great gravitational force surged again, but this time not toward Beast's body but toward the point.
"That," Artoria said, only for a moment of rubble, pieces of house, and earth to start crashing down on her, searching for her, and being expelled by the ante.
While the fight between the two continued, Solomon was attentive, helping Artoria in any way he could, but at the same time, his attention was focused on something else.
Not far away, Avenger could be seen with his bow already drawn, ready to attack. But To his surprise, it wasn't aimed at him but at the Beast, yet it didn't attack.
Solomon couldn't understand why it wasn't attacking him. What was it waiting for?
As he pondered all this, a moment of clarity dawned in his mind.
"Saber, stop!" Solomon exclaimed to the Grand Saber. It stopped dead in its tracks, staring at him as everything around them was being turned into trash.
In fact, debris and pieces of the clock tower were already being drawn into the area to be absorbed.
"Let me stop it. I only ask that you don't intervene until one of us has been defeated; I have a plan," he almost pleaded with the swordswoman.
The entity stared, pondering the many possibilities of what he was proposing.
Artoria, seeing the determination in his eyes, simply nodded, taking a step back.
Solomon, with great faith and hoping for luck, began to walk slowly toward the entity.
It simply looked at him and began to do the same, watching every move the white-haired man made.
Meanwhile, he glanced sideways at Avenger, who was still waiting with his bow drawn, making him think, quite literally, that maybe, just maybe, this would work.
The former king of Jerusalem began removing his rings one by one, causing the entity to stop dead in its tracks.
"There's only one left—" I couldn't continue my story, as the beast practically teleported to where he grabbed my neck, halting any spell or magic I was about to cast.
"Do you think I'm going to let you use your Noble Phantasm?" the entity asked.
"To be honest, no," I said as his breathing caught in my throat. "Before anything else, I want to ask you: as a Servant, how do you plan to carry out your plan, since when the planet disappears, the Grail will too, forcing you to vanish?"
At this question, the beast didn't hesitate to answer.
"I will win this Holy Grail War so I can ask to live without needing the Grail or a Master, thus fulfilling my goal," he declared forcefully.
"I see, then I have nothing to say," Solomon said, trying to pull something from his pocket, but his arm flew off at that moment.
And with a swift movement, the entity pierced Solomon's heart.
Artoria witnessed this and gripped her sacred sword, ready to act, but with his other hand, Solomon stopped her.
"I hope all this ends; my prediction has come true, the moon is already coming to crash into the earth; I only hope that fate isn't a scoundrel," the white-haired man said, blood trickling from his mouth.
"I don't know what you're talking about," the entity replied, throwing Solomon to the ground.
It began to fade, but the darkness absorbed it, its power and energy now stored within the beast's body.
A large ball of pure power appeared in its hand, displaying the immense magical energy it now possessed.
"One down," the entity remarked, glancing at Artoria, who was ready to attack. But in the next second, the being looked away, extending its hand to intercept a stray projectile.
The arrow, somehow, distorted as if ignoring the darkness and its absorption, bending in midair and striking the beast in the back, where it had a target.
At the moment of impact, several runes and seals appeared around the beast, binding it with spectral chains.
"AAAAARGH!!" the entity screamed, the darkness slowly dissipating from its body, revealing a badly wounded Dante.
Once all the darkness vanished, the chains disappeared, leaving only Dante trapped in that place. At that same instant, the bounding field and the sphere of attraction disappeared.
"I curse you, Solomon, why didn't you realize this sooner?" Dante said, blood trickling from his mouth.
"Dante?" Artoria called, rushing to his side.
"Toria, it's been so long," Dante replied, revealing his true identity.
"What's happening?" she asked incredulously.
"When I was alive, or if you can even call it that, I had several seals and runes on my body that restricted me," he answered, pointing to the arrow. "This arrow does the same thing: when it strikes someone, it forcibly transforms them into someone 'normal,' thus freeing them from my transformation."
At that moment, Artoria stared at him for a few seconds, her gaze unsettling.
"You're an idiot," the swordswoman declared.
Dante didn't deny it; he simply surveyed the entire area and, in passing, the sky, noticing that the moon was much larger than it should be.
"I need your help," he said, showing complete sincerity, removing the thin garment as the runes and seals disappeared. "I can't fix everything alone."
At that moment, Dante extended his hand, making his intentions clear.
Artoria shook her head, taking his hand and surrendering all the power she had left.
Dante smiled and, extending his hand, enveloped it in darkness.
At that moment, the planet began to move again, not violently, but slowly, very subtly.
Everything on the planet began to move once more, but this time there were no major earthquakes or the sea surging outwards.
At the same time, the moon could be seen slowly receding back to its original position.
Artoria watched this with astonishment, but a firm squeeze of her hand made her look at the person beside her.
He saw Dante with a lot of blood coming out of his mouth, ears, nose, and eyes.
Suddenly, he knelt, but he didn't let go of her hand or stop pointing at the sky.
Using all the energy and mana the Mazcenao possessed, along with that of the Grand Servant beside him, he was able to return the planet and moon to their original positions.
After 10 minutes, Artoria's armor and sword began to disappear, but her body remained intact.
Dante released her hand and knelt on the ground, panting and covered in blood. His veins were practically bursting, and he was facing inevitable blindness.
"In Beast form, I could do this, like walk, but in my normal form, I practically have to destroy myself completely to do it," Dante mocked himself.
"And now what?" Artoria asked, now back in her original form; she was no longer a Grand Servant nor a Servant.
"Now, you have to go to Marisbury. Tell him to meet with Touko and Kaori; she needs to be somewhere safe. Before all this, I already spoke to him about the human incineration and the possibility of stopping it," Dante explained to Artoria.
He knew why both Marisbury and Solomon were so reluctant to die, but if he had to remove them from this Holy Grail War, there was a possibility of disaster befalling this world. That's why, before making this plan to kill the white-haired man, he met with Touko and her daughter and explained everything.
"And what will happen to you?" the blond man couldn't help but ask.
"I," Dante said, sensing someone approaching, "will simply face my destiny."
The moment he said that, he raised his head so the person in front of him could see him clearly.
Artoria also looked ahead, watching a woman with red eyes and short blonde hair slowly walk toward him.
She was about to do something, but Dante grabbed her wrist.
"Leave her alone. After all, I've already accomplished what I wanted to do here," he told her, at which point Artoria stopped and took several steps back, seeing that Dante had already accepted whatever was going to happen.
"I see you know who I am," Arcueid said, her claws already at the ready.
"I remember everything that happened while I was transformed; I only regret not showing my more charming side," Dante said with a smile.
The Servant felt Arcueid sink her claws into Dante's chest.
"Do you regret it?" the vampire asked.
Dante remained lost in thought for a moment.
"Just a little, but I'd do it again, since I can't think of any other way to do things," he said honestly.
"I see," Arcueid replied simply, and in the next second, Dante's body was destroyed.
Dante's body, completely destroyed and in thousands of pieces, fell to the ground, while Artoria watched this before closing her eyes in frustration and shaking her head.
"Ah, that really hurt," I couldn't help but think as I fell to the ground with a large part of my body disintegrated and split in two.
The Servant on the ground, as he faded away, felt Avenger's gaze not far away, who was watching everything from afar.
With everything already in place for her to win, Dante simply smiled and relaxed.
His body began to fade little by little until he disappeared.
That night, in addition to the world almost being destroyed, Archer Arjuna and the two Casters, Solomon and Dante, fell in this Holy Grail War.