Artoria, clad in blue and white skirt armor, stood in front of Tsuchimiya Utata.
Tsuchimiya Utata desperately wanted to stay and continue fighting.
He wanted to personally kill the person who had caused his wife's death and destroyed his Family.
But he knew that he could no longer participate in the upcoming battle.
Even if he stayed, he would only be a burden.
"I understand. I wish you success in battle."
Tsuchimiya Utata turned, dragging his body with extensive burns, and left the Tsuchimiya Family home.
Rather than stubbornly fighting to the death and burdening Artoria, it was better to leave quickly and let Artoria fight without restraint.
He could also report the situation to other Families as soon as possible and find reinforcements.
Tsuchimiya Utata was unsure of Artoria's strength, but the two words "Special Grade" meant a lot.
"Don't think you can escape."
Several fireballs flew from Sanzu River's hands.
Half of these fireballs flew towards Artoria, and the other half flew towards Tsuchimiya Utata.
Artoria flashed, appearing in front of Tsuchimiya Utata, and with a series of slashes from her Holy Sword, intercepted all the fireballs.
Wind Barrier.
Propelled by the Wind Barrier, Artoria instantly charged in front of Sanzu River.
Sanzu River, who hadn't expected Artoria to burst out with such speed, awkwardly dodged Artoria's attack.
Sanzu River immediately urged the fire foxes that had just materialized beside him, ready to pursue Tsuchimiya Utata, to pounce on Artoria.
Mana Burst.
Artoria reinforced the defense of her armor and Physical Body, enduring the fire fox's attacks to injure Sanzu River.
The fire fox's claws struck Artoria's armor, but unfortunately, under the dual protection of her Magic Resistance and Mana Burst enhanced defense, it did not cause much damage to Artoria.
However, Sanzu River, who could only protect himself with Cursed Energy, was not so lucky.
The Holy Sword left a deep, bone-visible wound on his body.
"Damn it!"
Sanzu River fully unleashed his foxfire to attack Artoria, taking the opportunity to escape Artoria's attack range.
With the help of the sesshoseki, Sanzu River's injuries began to heal.
Sanzu River looked at Artoria, then at Tsuchimiya Utata, who was about to leave the Tsuchimiya Family home.
Gritting his teeth, Sanzu River still chose to seize the sesshoseki from Tsuchimiya Utata first.
A large number of butterflies flew in from outside the Tsuchimiya Family home, their wings emitting blue light, and countless scales drifted down towards Artoria.
Sanzu River again conjured a dozen fire foxes, encircling Artoria.
"Wind Barrier!"
A strong gust of wind, centered on Artoria, scattered the butterflies and their falling scales.
With her vision no longer obstructed by butterflies, Artoria once again locked onto Sanzu River.
The fire foxes moved to block her, but failed to stop the battle-hardened Artoria.
Swish.
Boom.
Artoria once again rushed to Sanzu River's side, and Sanzu River could only defend with flames again.
"Don't think you can escape, Evil Path."
Artoria's stern voice rang out in front of Sanzu River.
Escape?
A flicker of anger ignited in Sanzu River's heart.
"I originally planned to deal with you last, but since you're seeking death yourself, I won't hold back."
Sanzu River fully activated the sesshoseki, and the area around Artoria instantly turned into a sea of flames.
Artoria leaped out of the sea of flames, landing in a position that cleverly cut off Sanzu River's path to pursue Tsuchimiya Utata.
The two sides clashed again.
On the ground were fire foxes constantly formed by Sanzu River's flames, while fireballs rained down from the sky like rain.
Facing the dual assault from ground and air, Artoria handled it with ease.
Perhaps for others, such a situation would be difficult to deal with, but for Artoria, there was no pressure at all.
Artoria felt as if she had returned to the battlefield.
Arrows constantly rained down from the sky.
After the arrows, enemies charged forward.
While slaying enemies, one also had to guard against unexpected stray arrows and various sneak attacks.
"Hmm?"
Artoria's ahoge twitched, and a bad feeling arose in her heart.
Her forward momentum stopped abruptly. Artoria did not cut down the fire fox in front of her as before, but instead leaped sideways.
The next moment, the fire fox suddenly dispersed, completely covering the spot where Artoria had just stood, and Sanzu River's figure appeared behind the fire fox.
His sneak attack failed, and Sanzu River could only attempt a fierce assault while Artoria had just landed.
But Artoria had already created some distance from Sanzu River, giving her time to react.
Sanzu River's attack failed again.
"Damn it, does this woman have a radar on her head? Why can you always dodge!"
Sanzu River said resentfully.
"How rude. This is a King's intuition."
Artoria's sword grazed Sanzu River's neck.
This sent a cold sweat down Sanzu River's spine.
He didn't know if the sesshoseki could still heal him after being decapitated.
Knowing that he was no match in close combat, Sanzu River once again widened the distance, floating in the air by stepping on butterflies.
Although Artoria could also move quickly in the air using the wind.
Her movements were too straightforward, however, and Sanzu River could still dodge them.
At least it was better than on the ground.
As soon as he rose into the air, Sanzu River saw Tsuchimiya Utata leading the last of his Family members out of the tent.
"Damn it, why is it always like this?"
Sanzu River was extremely angry at this moment.
His recklessness three years ago was one thing.
For three years, he had continuously grown stronger, planning repeatedly to acquire the sesshoseki.
Why did unexpected obstacles always appear just when he was about to succeed?
That Special Grade who could summon Shikigami and control shadows was one thing, but where did this Special Grade girl who could suppress him in a fight come from?
On the ground, Artoria noticed Sanzu River's momentary distraction.
'A weakness!'
Sensing an opportunity, Artoria raised her Holy Sword and aimed it at Sanzu River in mid-air.
Mana Burst is generally used to reinforce one's weapons, Physical Body, and so on, with magical energy.
Artoria relied on the reinforcement of Mana Burst to engage in a head-on battle with Berserker Heracles, who surpassed her in both size and stats.
However, Mana Burst is not solely for reinforcement; after all, the word "Burst" isn't just for show.
Artoria injected a large amount of magical energy into the Holy Sword in her hand.
A golden, small-scale beam of light instantly shot towards Sanzu River in the air.
During the Holy Grail War, Heracles once caught Artoria's Holy Sword with his bare hands.
At that time, Artoria used this very Mana Burst beam to shatter half of Heracles's upper body.
'Quick, dodge!'
Tamamo-no-Mae's anxious voice rang out in Sanzu River's mind.
Sanzu River, who was looking in Tsuchimiya Utata's direction, caught a glimpse of golden radiance out of the corner of his eye.
The next moment, he felt his body being controlled by the sesshoseki, moving on its own.
The golden, small-scale beam of light grazed Sanzu River's body as it flew past.
Even though it was just a graze, the Holy Sword's immense and sacred magical energy caused tremendous damage to Sanzu River.
Under the scorching of the Holy Sword's magical energy, Sanzu River's body, which had already taken on the nature of a Cursed Spirit, was severely wounded.
Tamamo-no-Mae could no longer afford to hide and directly forced Sanzu River's body to flee in disarray.
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