[Inside the Church]
Knowing the location of the hostages in advance, Medea reached the basement with almost no effort.
However, not only did she not relax, she became even more alert.
Manaka had not yet appeared, and there wasn't a single barrier set up on the path to the basement.
She didn't believe that crazy woman would be so kind.
The basement was very dim.
Medea cast an illumination spell.
During this, she paid attention to whether casting the spell would trigger some kind of barrier.
In fact, nothing happened.
The hostages were also unharmed, even thoughtfully placed one by one in very comfortable positions.
Medea swept her gaze around and paused on Fujimura Taiga.
The latter was sleeping soundly, drooling onto the pillow. She looked like she could sleep for a week without issue.
Her features leaned slightly masculine. Most importantly, Medea thought, her personality shouldn't be the type Berserker would like.
But her intuition told her, this woman was the one who mattered most to Berserker.
After thinking carefully, she laughed at herself.
'What's the point of thinking so much? That man will never set his gaze on we.'
'Since when did I understand this fact?'
Medea withdrew her thoughts, activated High-Speed Divine Words.
She quickly scanned their bodies to confirm there were no curses and that their life signs were good, then began activating a teleportation spell.
The purple magic circle was like a teacher using a large compass to draw a beautifully curved circle on the blackboard.
When all of them were within the circle, magical energy surged.
She frowned slightly.
"Teleportation magic consumes quite a bit of mana. Without the Greater Grail's support, Master's mana might…"
Suddenly Medea showed top-level reaction speed.
Gravity magic, binding magic, teleportation, transfer, heavy attack magic circles reflected, each circle fired four consecutive light bullets.
BOOM!
The building rapidly collapsed, walls crumbled, dust filled the air, light bullets flew wildly.
While smoothly transferring the hostages, Medea had already flown into the air to maintain a safe distance.
And sneered at the girl on the ground, "Did you think I wouldn't take precautions with the hostages?"
She laughed coldly, "Looks like I was underestimated. Even a modern magus connected to the Root dares to step on me twice."
Medea had never been afraid of Manaka.
Omniscience and omnipotence were indeed impressive, but so what?
Ultimately, what she feared was, on one hand, Saber, and on the other, the Assassin that Berserker mentioned.
Now Assassin was out of the game, and Saber was being held back.
Faced with a modern magus, she had nothing to fear.
"How could this be?", Manaka's beautiful face smiled.
Her body was crushed under gravity and binding magic, nearly unable to breathe.
Dealing with the light bullets depleted her already scarce magical energy in an instant.
Not to mention, Saber outside was also fighting and needed mana.
"Can't break free, right?", Medea mocked, "This isn't something you can break just by using magic. Without enough mana, even moving is difficult."
"True," Manaka tried a bit, gave up resisting, and instead smiled, "Say, Caster, why don't you come to my side?"
"Hmm?", Medea narrowed her eyes slightly, scrutinizing.
Manaka smiled, "At this time, I should've gone to Mount Enzou to absorb Servants' souls. The reason I'm waiting here, is for you, Caster."
"What did you say?", Medea faintly sensed something. Her blue pupils contracted.
Her heart was seized by an inexplicable unease.
That unease made her choose to act immediately.
Mana was drawn without restraint, even tending toward draining Illya dry.
Dozens of magic circles crowded inside the church.
Even Shirou and Artoria, fighting outside, were drawn in.
"What is that?"
The two stopped at the same time, looked at each other, and both felt a sense of foreboding.
BOOM!
A nuclear bomb-level explosion rocked the church.
A blinding purple-blue light burst into the sky.
Tremendous mana surged like an upside-down bowl, expanding ceaselessly on the ground.
"Get out of the way, Saber!", Hosting was now canceled. It had to be said that Shirou's skill in toggling hosting was already at a masterful level.
"You're the Berserker!"
Artoria had high magic resistance and wasn't afraid of such an explosion. Instead, she found Shirou's reaction strange.
'As a fellow warrior, why is his first instinct to come protect me?'
Seeing Shirou rushing in front of her, Artoria was just about to say: I'm fine.
But then Shirou flashed past her, "Don't get in the way, Saber!"
Artoria: "???"
She silently lowered her sword.
'This world might as well just be destroyed.'
You couldn't blame Shirou for being so anxious, Medea was at the center of the explosion.
It wasn't that he didn't worry about Taiga and the others, but Shirou believed that Medea definitely transferred the hostages first.
Otherwise, she would never have launched such an attack.
Seeing Shirou still trying to rush into the explosion center, Artoria's expression changed, and she blocked him.
"What are you trying to do, Berserker? With this kind of impact, even you can't come out unharmed."
"Let me go, Saber. I have my own plans."
Shirou struggled.
'Why is this woman so strong?'
"No!", Artoria pressed him down with all her strength.
"Until the explosion ends, I won't let you pass!", After speaking, she raised her head to look at the terrible explosion, her delicate brows furrowed.
'Manaka, what have you done again?'
———
Under the sky of fire, Manaka, pierced by countless light bullets, lay on the ground.
"Cough! Cough! Cough…"
Medea, severely injured by the blast, struggled to get up.
"Is she dead?"
Splurt!
Blood dripped onto the muddy ground.
BOOM!
Medea supported her nearly collapsing body with magic.
She saw her lower body torn in two by some force.
A searing pain swept through her body in an instant.
Creak! Creak!
The continuous grinding of bones echoed with grating sharpness.
Manaka rose in a horribly twisted posture.
Her eyes slowly opened.
"Hahahaha~ HAHAHAHA~", She laughed almost pathologically. Stepping lightly, she approached Medea.
"Caster, you look really tasty," She licked her blood-red lips.
Blood dripped from Manaka's golden hair, her eyes, nose, and chin.
At some point, under the firelight, her shadow behind her began to distort and writhe.
Like a flower corrupted by mud, what remained was the purest, MALICE.
Seeing this, cold sweat beaded on Medea's forehead, "What on earth is this…"
"Caster!"
Shirou rushed into the sea of fire and saw Manaka's form.
His pupils slowly dilated, then sharply contracted.
No time to think further, projection already activated.
At that moment, Shirou clearly understood: if this wasn't where she was stopped, if she wasn't killed right here and now, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"This body is made of swords!"
Magic circuits fully activated.
Hundreds of weapons flew at once.
Their quality was the best Shirou could currently produce.
With that kind of power, even Manaka couldn't possibly withstand it.
However, the Noble Phantasms in midair were corroded by shadows.
No, those couldn't even be called shadows.
They were endless evil.
That's right, it was humanity's evil of this world.
"How can this be?"
For the first time since being transferred over, Shirou's hardened face showed disbelief.
'Why is that here?'
That thing, even in Sakura's route, it only manifested because of Sakura's imaginary number attribute.
And now, it had appeared in this world in the form of Manaka.
A being just like Gilgamesh that should not exist, the Eighth Class, Avenger, ANGRA MAINYU.
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