"Not good!"
A sudden chill of danger surged through Leviathan's heart—he finally realized what he'd overlooked.
He had been so focused and alarmed by this unreasonable human's overwhelming strength that he'd forgotten about Melusine, whose own power level was terrifying.
The undead guards he'd stationed across the city, even the few large dragon-type ones among them, barely counted as "one-hit opponents." To someone like Melusine, they were little more than toys she could casually crush.
They simply couldn't buy enough time to slow Melusine's advance.
Zzzzt—!
A massive longsword launched at high speed, trailing a stream of high-density magical energy. Melusine's supersonic strike happened in an instant. Leviathan's minor but fatal mistake now caused his situation to spiral rapidly.
Having encased himself in fortress-thick ice, Leviathan had lost his ability to dodge with agility. He could only hope the layers of reinforced ice would buy him time.
But it wasn't enough. Not nearly enough.
The high-temperature, laser-like slash from Melusine's blade cut through the icy fortress like a hot knife through cheese.
A sharp, rising screech pierced the air—the blade's speed created a Doppler effect as the pitch shifted rapidly. The ice was carved apart with frightening ease. Leviathan's dragon eyes widened in alarm as the deadly beam closed in.
Slash!
Caught off guard, Leviathan finally suffered a devastating blow. Melusine's refined outer-layer sword pierced through the scales on his enormous belly and neatly sliced a massive chunk of flesh.
Pure dragon blood gushed out from the wound, only to instantly vaporize under the searing heat into a misty, acrid cloud. The long, wide gash on his abdomen was charred black around the edges.
Leviathan stared at the wound—nearly cleaving his torso in two. The blade had pierced through his side and out the back, stealing away a chunk of flesh with it.
Even with the first-generation dragon species' regenerative powers, this wound wasn't healing during battle.
Crackling frost sealed the still-bleeding gash as a makeshift bandage. He had no time for anything else—he had to defend against the next wave of assault!
Sword light shimmered behind him, slicing through water. The resulting force stirred massive underwater turbulence.
Leviathan dived down violently, suppressing his pain, then twisted hard to evade sideways.
BOOM—!
The next moment, the towering bronze building behind him was sliced in half by a falling deathly sword wind, crumbling into ruins. On the other side, Melusine had already conjured a new blade and casually sliced through more buildings, cutting off that escape route.
In an instant, the hunter had become the hunted. Leviathan was being pushed into retreat with no time to counterattack.
This was bad!
After several intense exchanges, the exhaustion and wounds made Leviathan slip again. In that brief moment of delay, Emiya seized the chance and chopped off half of Leviathan's dragon arm and membrane wing.
Dragon blood scattered into the deep sea. Leviathan, overwhelmed by pain, fell further into desperation. His panic and rage swelled.
Ignoring his injuries, he cast a high-risk Kotodama. The deathly ice stream froze everything around, rapidly creating a whiteout of snow and ice within his domain.
But Emiya moved fast—desperately fast.
Danryūtai (Dragon-Slaying Platform) lunged forward, and the blue flame dragon eagerly swung its blazing body, unleashing torrents of high heat that overwhelmed even in a water environment.
Emiya had to act quickly.
He could feel the black scale armor he wore crumbling. Even with reinforcement magic, the armor was dissolving.
Good news: Melusine never lies. Bad news: Melusine never lies.
This armor really was one-time use. Seeing how casually she discarded her refined swords proved it lacked any real durability.
Even worse, despite forcing his circuits to their limit, his mana still couldn't keep up with the drain from "Projection Reload."
Just standard projection was already mana-intensive—but with reload stacked on top, it burned through his reserves ten times faster!
He bitterly regretted not tying Nono to his back before coming!
Still... even if he had, fighting like this would've been difficult. And besides, Nono was supplying mana to Melusine…
Slash!
Finally, Melusine used Emiya's fiery assault to suppress the cold and conjured another sword. With pinpoint accuracy, she broke through the last layer of ice and pierced Leviathan's thick back.
Melusine's refined ultra-long blade, a peerless dragon-slaying weapon, showed no mercy even to her kin.
Then another sword launched—a bright white arc as it cleaved into Leviathan's wounded flesh and drove straight down into the seafloor, pinning him in place!
"Now, Melusine!"
Emiya knew his "Divine Descent" state was nearing its end. He poured his remaining mana into Danryūtai.
Azure flames danced within icy waters. Fire and ice merged into a mesmerizing, violent spectacle.
The fully released Danryūtai unleashed the might of a true dragon-slayer. The dual elemental force erupted into a tidal wave of destruction, overwhelming everything like a collapsing sky.
"Die!"
———
Meanwhile, Norton had been calculating coordinates for Niflheim's exit when he noticed an anomaly.
"Huh? The spatial rift just stopped expanding."
He looked up. Jagged black lines now scarred the sky. Distant oceans and landmasses were twisted together like a child had smashed puzzle pieces—blocks of sea water became floods, and islands drifted into chaos.
Though no new rifts formed, Niflheim was beyond saving. Its destruction was just slower now.
"Coordinates... found."
Leviathan really knew how to screw things up. Half-baked alchemy fueled by desperation—it was like a rookie throwing punches at a master. Thankfully, Norton was seasoned enough to fix this.
Now, it was just a matter of establishing a "gate" to the outside world.
Thanks to Nono's unique "mark," leading the others out wouldn't be too hard. But—
"Where's Jormungandr? What's she doing so far off?"
If she dared slack on collecting Heroic Spirits, Norton was ready to kick her over to Emiya and replace her with his actual little brother Constantine.
…Now that would be satisfying.
Before Norton lost patience, Jormungandr finally returned. Her expression was complex, and in her hand… something that shouldn't exist.
Odin's iconic spear, Gungnir (replica).
"Huh? Where'd you dig that up?"
Xia Mi pursed her lips. "Not me. 'That one' passed it along. Said it can serve as a key to Odin's other Niflheims."
"He suggested we hurry up and gather the remaining Heroic Spirits. Once we're done, he'll come back to retrieve the spear."
"'That one'?"
Norton paused. There was only one person Jormungandr wouldn't dare name—Lu Mingze, the "Saint Child."
"He also left a message for you."
"What message?"
"He suggested adding 'Spiritual Recasting' to the development path for Noble Phantasms."
Xia Mi folded her arms with an air of mystique, trying to appear wise.
Truthfully, she didn't understand a thing about Spiritual Recasting or the Seven Kingdoms of Alchemy.
Besides, Lu Mingze was the ultimate enigma. After dropping his cryptic clue, he offered no explanation—no details, no blueprints, nothing.
She didn't expect this hint to help much. Honestly, she just wanted to watch Norton struggle and scratch his head...
"I see it! I get it now!"
Norton suddenly lit up, excitement creeping into his voice.
"Material construction using 'Conceptual Armament' alone isn't enough. We must add 'Spiritual Recasting'—embed the legend-based fantasy core into the construct! Combining two cutting-edge fields in an unprecedented way..."
He began muttering to himself in deep thought. Within seconds, he drafted a viable blueprint for forging a Noble Phantasm, leaving Xia Mi stunned.
What the hell are alchemists made of!?
"Norton... what if, just maybe, Emiya Shirou already figured this out too?"
"...Are you seriously telling me he's your blood brother?"
(End of Chapter)
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