Xia Mi had already switched into Attila Mode, holding her rainbow-colored sword as she infiltrated the grand ancient city of the Night Banquet. Her exploration progress inside the Night Banquet was far ahead of the other groups.
Outside the towering walls, ancient dragons roared so loudly that the earth shook. Their blazing breath rose toward the sky, bursting into a rain of fire. Yet inside the walls, there was only silence, as though time itself had stopped.
Her feet lightly touched the cyan stone-paved divine path as she sped along the vast avenues of the colossal city. The buildings she passed were all as majestic as mountain ranges, their rooftops adorned with iron spikes stabbing into the heavens like blades cutting open the sky. These structures had clearly been built with alchemical techniques, standing proud for thousands of years without losing their grandeur.
"So this spacious city was built by the White King's bloodline? Guess her place used to be pretty luxurious."
Xia Mi muttered inwardly. But that couldn't be helped—her position was higher than even monarchs who commanded the four elements. Put bluntly, she was a "Zero Generation" existence, a higher rank than the First Generation. If one wanted to find an even greater palace, only the Black King's domain could compare.
"This doesn't count as her palace. It's just her memory."
Norton's voice came from the void beside her, carried through an alchemy communicator.
"The White King commands the element of spirit. Although this Nibelungen is sustained by an alchemical matrix, its essence is still something she built around herself. Her memory heavily influences the structure and layout, even creating labyrinthine dimensions that are impossible in reality. You'd better be careful."
"I recall human geometry has structures like the 'Penrose Staircase,' the 'Möbius Strip,' and the 'Klein Bottle.' All impossible in lower dimensions, yet easily realizable in higher ones—they work on the same principle."
Norton kept rambling, drifting into a lecture.
"Humans are good at using simplified units like dimensions and formulas to make complex systems easier to grasp. If your alchemy studies aren't progressing well, you should borrow more from human science."
Xia Mi ignored his nagging, even when he mocked her turtle-paced progress. She had worked so hard all this time, and instead of getting to rest, she had to run around searching for traces of the White King. Did they think she had it easy?
"Norton, all the black shadow creatures we passed, and that last dragon—did you figure anything out?"
"It's actually quite obvious. The White King is using this Nibelungen as her home turf to conduct a mimicry experiment."
Norton explained calmly.
"From the outer 'Shadow Servants,' to the city's roaming 'Hundred Demons,' and finally that peculiar dragon—she's deliberately pulling Heroic Spirits into this Nibelungen to collect data. It's a deep-learning mimicry experiment to reverse-engineer and steal our technology."
"Huh? Explain that."
"You're the one on-site—how can I see more clearly from afar?" Norton sighed.
"The Shadow Servants are simple, just basic Servant structures without skills or Noble Phantasms. Clearly an early-stage product. All she had to do was observe the Servants and, using her Authority, remodel dead materials in the Nibelungen."
"But at the Hundred Demons stage, she started applying spirit-recasting techniques. Attaching Japanese demon legends to Servant forms, turning them into monsters."
"As for the dragon, she tried imitating deeper 'Divinity'—probably from Heracles' divine traits. Our choice of Heracles must have made her feel threatened."
"Divinity is refined from myths sung by humanity, especially about gods, using higher-order spiritual recasting. But even my greatest work, Heracles, only gave a Heroic Spirit divine traits, not a complete god."
"The White King's dragon is the same. She probably remodeled a dragon corpse guardian inside this Nibelungen, stripping its draconic nature and weaponizing it as a conceptual being mixed with 'Calamity.' In Japanese myth, it corresponds to a 'Magatsu-kami' (Calamity God). But it's just an empty divine shell."
Thus, modern Divinity was like water without a source—powerful offensive and defensive buffs, but not a true god. Norton, always cautious, thought this level of strength was still just fodder for the Black King.
Xia Mi halted in a vast circular plaza, driving her blade into the ground to probe the hidden alchemy array. As she investigated, she asked,
"…So why can't you create one? That Heracles' Divinity seemed pretty high-level. Aren't you just one step away?"
"That very step is unattainable! Did you forget our argument about the 'Seat of the Gods'? Granting Divinity and summoning a true god are two entirely different things. Unless this world's framework undergoes another fundamental change like last time, thanks to Lu Mingze, gods cannot descend!"
"Forget that, let's return to the White King. If she's stealing our tech, isn't everything compromised?"
"Of course it's leaked! She's the White King, ruler of the soul domain! Our own Servant tech even borrowed her Authority in places. Keeping secrets from her is impossible. That's why I told you to guard against her—yet here you are dropping the ball…"
But Xia Mi dodged responsibility. "Then there's nothing to worry about!"
"Huh?"
"If we kill the White King, then it'll be as if the leak never happened!"
———
Scarlet flames scorched a five-kilometer radius into ash. The dragon, imbued with the Divinity of the 'Eighty Magatsuhi Gods,' roared like a living volcanic eruption, spewing superheated breath.
The surrounding districts were incinerated to white ground, black cinders blown away by blistering winds. The air reeked of burning, making it hard even to breathe.
Shirou leapt into the sky, crossing paths with Erii. While she swung "Judgment," severing a claw and wing, Shirou shifted to dual blades and invoked his Noble Phantasm:
"Namu, Tenman Daisonten-shin—Niō Kūrkarō, Shōtenchū (Hail, Great Celestial Deity—Niō Kurikara, Heaven-Piercing Sword)!"
A massive avatar of Fudō Myōō swelled behind him, the Kurikara Sword large enough to cleave mountains. When it slashed at the dragon's head, it dodged at the last moment, but the follow-up pierced its chest straight toward the heart!
Scales split apart, blood erupted like a fountain. The dragon roared, forming a blazing magic sphere larger than a house and hurled it down—but Shirou's second strike detonated it midair, nullifying the counterattack.
Sweat trickled down his cheek, his breath uneven. Though it seemed they held the advantage, Shirou knew this couldn't last.
The dragon never weakened no matter the damage. Severed claws, wings, even its pierced heart and cleaved skull—none of it killed it. Within moments, it regenerated fully.
Its immortality was absurd.
To avoid endangering the others, Chiyo had already taken Masao far away. Now only Shirou and Erii traded blows, pressing the beast.
Perhaps because of its thick Divinity, normal attacks—even dragon-slaying weapons—barely worked. Only Erii's Authority and Shirou's unleashed Noble Phantasms inflicted real harm.
But even that wasn't enough. It always regenerated, making their efforts meaningless while draining their stamina.
Just then, a small black-red snake slithered out of the soil, speaking in Chiyo's voice:
"Shirou-dono, that dragon is strange. I sense the presence of the Great Serpent within it—specifically in its abdomen. Normal attacks won't kill it. You must strike there."
Shirou's eyes lit up. The "Great Serpent" could only mean Yamata no Orochi. That would explain its abnormality.
"Got it… In short, we cut the midline! Erii!"
The deathly wind of Judgment blew, tearing the dragon's wings apart again. Shirou adjusted his stance, his Fudō Myōō avatar raising its colossal sword to strike its abdomen.
The dragon, unwilling to die, bolted. Its massive body plowed through scorched streets, pulverizing rubble like cookies. Crawling at a speed rivaling flight, it was almost gone.
At that moment, from ten kilometers away, an arrow rode the heated wind and struck with immense force, exploding the dragon's skull. Bone shattered like fragile foam!
(End of Chapter)
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