Chapter 249: Dragon Scales, Reciprocal Repulsion, Paired Meteors—
Ea (The Sword of Rupture)—this weapon, named after the god Ea and wielded by the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh, initiates its attack by rotating three massive cylinders to generate a space-time flux, causing the space itself to fluctuate.
Its true power is not targeted at a single life form, but rather at the World itself. Even among the myriad Noble Phantasms held by Heroic Spirits and Servants, it is regarded as one of the pinnacles—the most authentic sword that "cuts the world apart."
In an age older than man or the planet, it was a masterpiece among masterpieces wielded by gods to open the world, the materialization of pure power itself; the object of Heaven and Earth that split open the beginning of everything on this planet.
Cleaving the void to achieve the heavens, piercing the heavens to return to the void... power symbolizing the beginning and the end. In the conceptual framework of legend, only Gilgamesh, who inherits the factor of the gods, is permitted to use it.
Therefore, when Gilgamesh swings this sword with full force, the Noble Phantasm itself changes according to the master's will. Whether used as an Anti-World Noble Phantasm, or in situations like Anti-Unit, Anti-Army, or Anti-Fortress, the characteristics of Ea undergo subtle shifts.
To describe it in the simplest terms: just as the exorcism effect of Kanshou and Bakuya creates a "Special Attack" against all monsters and ghosts, Ea itself possesses a "Special Attack" utility. However, this "Special Attack" is not targeted at anyone specific—or rather, it is targeted equally at everyone. Humans, ghosts, evils, gods—all life in the world, and indeed all things. Whether they truly existed or were birthed from fantasy and faith, Ea generates a Special Attack effect equally, taking its already exaggerated destructive power to an even higher level.
In one-on-one battles between Heroic Spirits, there are many cases where an Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm is more effective than an Anti-Army or Anti-Fortress one. But regarding an Anti-World Noble Phantasm like Ea, the power contained within is already beyond the dimension of being measured by factors like compatibility or combat situation. It is an absolute military force sufficient to destroy the world itself, giving Ea the strength to face any scenario. Whether the opponent is an individual or a group, it will collapse the world to which they belong along with them.
Even at this moment, when the one unleashing this Noble Phantasm is Emiya himself—the possessor of this Reality Marble—Ea's destructiveness toward the "World" is not restrained in the slightest. Forget Emiya the projector; even Gilgamesh himself, the owner of the Noble Phantasm, likely could not completely restrain the blade's majesty to destroy an enemy without also destroying the "World."
Though both are termed "Worlds," the world formed by a Reality Marble is ultimately different from the outside world that birthed countless lives and miracles. The "World" itself possesses an adaptability similar to a real living being; thus, even if a Servant-level Anti-World Noble Phantasm inflicts some damage upon it, that adaptability can erase the resulting harm.
But Emiya's Reality Marble clearly cannot do such a thing. Even if it could, Emiya simply cannot provide such a massive and terrifying amount of magical energy—besides, there would be no point in doing so.
This meant that after this strike, Emiya's Unlimited Blade Works would become impossible to maintain. And once the support of Unlimited Blade Works was lost, successfully suppressing a fellow like Ryomen Sukuna would become even more difficult. Therefore, Emiya had to decide the final victory with this single blow; simultaneously, there was no need to struggle to maintain this Unlimited Blade Works...
Upon realizing this, Emiya did not hesitate to divert all the magical energy originally used to sustain the Reality Marble into the operation of Ea. He even simultaneously turned all the blades stored within into fuel for this single blade, truly achieving the "concentration of all power into one point."
Even under this level of full-power drive, the three sections of the Sword of Rupture rotated quite slowly, giving the illusion that they could only operate at this specific rate. However, just because the various parts of the blade showed little movement did not mean the storm emitted by Ea was similarly weak.
Around Emiya, a storm so fierce it erupted with crimson lightning had completely swept through the vast, indeterminate snowy plain. Mingling with the white wind and snow, the resulting spectacle was one that many would believe to be the end of the world. Even Emiya himself had slowly floated into mid-air, driven by Ea, completely transcending all things.
Before this storm that resembled a natural disaster—no, something infinitely more terrifying than a natural disaster—Sukuna's normally frightening face and body became exceptionally pitiful and small, as if they would be swallowed whole in the next instant, leaving not even a scrap behind.
"A divine tool and power that opens the world... it certainly looks intimidating enough. Then it's time I show my own trump card and strength."
Strictly speaking, Sukuna was far from the center of the storm, yet the lightning and gale interlacing in space nearly tore all the clothes off his body through mere aftershocks. Even the simple task of stabilizing his stance became exceptionally difficult. No matter how terrifying a person's strength is, gravity and the earth are always the foundation upon which they can exert their power. The reason one can lift an object several times their body weight is that the earth bears all that weight as well.
The Earth. In other words, without a solid point of resistance, even the most terrifying strength becomes a hollow concept. This is why people become panicked and helpless in water, unable to exert even a fraction of their strength; it is because they have lost the earth they rely on for survival.
Now, the horrific storm was attempting to use its violent power to lift Sukuna directly off the ground, plunging him into a state of defenselessness. After all, he was not like Satoru Gojo, who could apply power directly to intangible things to achieve flight.
Thump—thump—!
To stabilize himself, Sukuna—maintaining the hand seals on his arms—slammed his feet downward, forcing his legs dozens of centimeters into the ground to prevent himself from being carried away by the storm.
"If you claim to be a god who opens the world and life, then I am the [King of Meteors] who rebels against the gods.
Since a thousand years ago, and even in eras more ancient, ignorant humans began to worship ethereal gods and Buddhas. But that foolish behavior had no meaning other than providing them with a bit of spiritual comfort.
To prove their gods did not exist, I tore down their temples and trampled their so-called divine statues under my feet... Regrettably, after that, no one claiming to be a god ever came out to punish or stop me."
Sukuna was certain that even in this noisy storm, Emiya high above could still hear his voice; the only difference was whether the other was willing to listen and respond. To be honest, Sukuna didn't really care. Just as when he trampled the divine statues, those monks and attendants turned around and enshrined him as a ghost-god instead.
This was merely a means for weak, ordinary people to deceive and comfort themselves. By likening him to a god of their faith, it was as if their original imaginary world had not yet collapsed, allowing these fellows to continue living in their comfort zone, refusing to face the unknown. Predictably, no matter how much time those people were given, they would never achieve true growth or breakthrough; thus, Sukuna didn't bother to settle scores with such maggots.
As he spoke, Sukuna lowered his stance slightly and changed the hand seals in his grip to a different form.
"But I must admit, so-called religion has also had a massive impact on the development of techniques, and there are indeed figures among them that interest me.
In their faith, the star that steals the light of the sun and moon to cause eclipses is called Rahu. The star that suddenly appears in the night sky, threatening every individual, is called Ketu. Both are omens of ill fortune, pointing to calamities of heaven and earth, enemy invasions, and the fall of kings...
The true body of these twin stars is actually a ghost-god, severed into two parts for swallowing the sun and moon... My strongest technique is related to it, but the ghost-god that swallows and severs all things shall be none other than myself!"
The King of Meteors who rebels against the gods—Rahu. He was an Asura, born with four arms and a dragon's tail on his lower body. He was reported by the Sun and Moon gods for stealing a sip of the nectar of immortality and was decapitated by the primary god Vishnu with a divine disc, yet he did not die. To avenge himself, his head became the dark celestial body that swallows the sun and moon, Rahu, while the rest of his body fled as a dragon's tail, becoming the comet Ketu.
This originally belonged to ancient Indian mythology, where the entire story emphasized the power of the "Cut." And a thousand years ago, during Sukuna's era of activity, it happened to be the beginning of the most intense fusion of Shinto and Buddhism. To allow different myths to merge, Susanoo, Amaterasu of the Sun, and Tsukuyomi of the Moon were simultaneously used to represent Rahu and the twin gods of the Sun and Moon... otherwise, why would it be said that the same Heroic Spirits and gods always produce various images based on different levels of fame?
It was only natural that Sukuna's technique would be related to such a powerful yet negative ghost-god. But revealing his bottom line at this moment was not just a whim of Sukuna's; it was because he also understood that his current self held no advantage. Only by successfully seizing every possible opportunity could he have a chance of winning this duel.
How strong would Ea's power eventually be? He didn't know, but looking at its majesty, he knew it was not an attack that could be handled casually. How far could his own "Slash that severs the world" erupt? He didn't know that either, as this was his first time attempting to release this move since comprehending it.
But it could never be wrong to maximize the power of this move through the strength of a Binding Vow. Even if Sukuna had always looked down on most faiths and myths, he had to admit they were not useless in the field of jujutsu. The spirit of faith is itself a kind of power, and reverence for ghost-gods can similarly become a source of Curses and Cursed Energy.
"Dragon scales, reciprocal repulsion, paired meteors...
Eclipsing the sun and moon, ever moving against the heavens—
This is the final blow! Take this, Shirou Emiya!!!!"
Continuously discarding hand seals and incantations to eventually reach a point where a technique can be operated and released instantly without a startup is almost a required course for every sorcerer; there would be no accidents. For Sukuna, who could even freely change the shape of his Domain, this was a fact he had easily mastered a thousand years ago. Even if the seals and chants are discarded, the power of the technique is not affected; instead, it becomes more lethal in battle.
It is not that providing a complete incantation allows a technique to exert more power, but rather that the process of chanting is itself a type of Binding Vow—a restriction placed upon oneself regarding the use and release of the technique. Sukuna had reached the peak not only in mastering the techniques themselves but also in the application of Binding Vows to a level many could not reach; the only thing he lacked was Fushiguro Megumi's unique way of commanding Binding Vows.
Even without those intricate matters, he could use this most simple and crude method to boost the power of his technique to its absolute peak—
The moment the chant finished, Sukuna's Domain, which had been completely suppressed by the Reality Marble, finally revealed a glimpse of its true form. The shrine appearing behind him was simultaneously mirrored by the mirror-like water ripples below, as if it naturally possessed these two parts, one inverted over the other. Interestingly, this inverted image precisely corresponded to the opposing hand seals formed by Sukuna's four arms—clearly not a coincidence.
As Sukuna pressed his separated palms and seals together vertically, the shrine behind him—no, the entire Domain—changed along with those seals. The solid object above and the phantom below simultaneously stacked toward the center, finally forming a clear black line in front of Sukuna.
It was called black, yet normal black should be a color that includes everything. The current line was more like a heartless devourer, swallowing and erasing everything it touched, leaving behind only a void where nothing could be seen. It was as if Sukuna had truly cut a slit in the surface of the "World," waiting for just a bit more push to successfully divide the entire world into upper and lower parts.
The seemingly long process actually occurred in the instant after Sukuna finished his chant. Immediately after, without any hesitation, he drove this "Slash," which existed on a completely different level from the "World," horizontally toward Emiya's position.
In fact, Emiya's Noble Phantasm release was completed at the exact same moment as Sukuna's technique. When that jet-black slash made its move, the Ea in Emiya's hand also successfully reached its required position after several rotations, and Emiya swung it down toward Sukuna from afar.
In this instant, the storm originally scattered in all directions was entirely reined in directly in front of where the blade pointed. Rotating in three distinct directions, it formed a slash that crushed everything, rushing straight toward Sukuna's location.
When two "slashes" existing on the same spatial level but with completely different natures collided in mid-air, a flash of white light was followed by an endless darkness that began to spread frantically from the center of the impact, as if space had collapsed into an all-consuming black hole under extreme compression.
And within this seemingly boundless Reality Marble, the collapse of the "World" occurred simultaneously. As a still-immature world, it simply could not bear such a violent spatial collision. Not just the snowy plain, but the entire earth shattered into countless fragments as if released from the bond of gravity, floating slowly toward the sky. Even the space itself shattered at this moment, peeling away like falling wallpaper.
The horrific impact in the center of the world did not last long. After a moment of maintenance, the "Slash" that lacked follow-up force was swallowed and covered by the continuously crushing red storm, eventually allowing the attack to strike the ground—and Sukuna's location.
Perhaps Sukuna himself was still struggling under the storm, but it was all meaningless—because at this moment, as the world continued to collapse, all sound had lost the foundation to exist. All that remained was the continuous howling of the gale.
To prevent truly obliterating Sukuna along with Yuji Itadori until not even a scrap remained, and simultaneously to prevent the aftershocks of the attack from affecting the surroundings the moment the Reality Marble was released, Emiya gently let go of the Ea in his hand after maintaining the sweep for a moment.
The sight of the world collapsing did not come to a sudden halt with the end of the attack, but the Ea projected by Emiya truly stopped its rotation at this time, and in the next instant, it dispersed into countless points of light.
"In the end, a projected fake simply cannot withstand true power...
It doesn't matter anyway.
The battle is already over."
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