Takumi crashed into a tree, stopping his backward flight.
My back...
Takumi, like a slime smashed against a wall, slid down the tree to the ground. Having suffered another heavy blow, he couldn't help clutching his back.
"Cough, cough..."
Having been kicked hard in the stomach, Takumi's insides felt awful, his forehead covered in cold sweat.
He backhandedly drew a Rune to heal his body.
Knowing he couldn't delay, Takumi was just about to return to the battlefield when he saw a huge figure also flying backward into the woods.
"Asterios?"
In an instant, Takumi recognized this extremely recognizable figure.
Without time to think, Takumi accelerated and ran behind Asterios, using all his strength to brace against Asterios's body, which was still retreating under the impact.
Because he exerted full strength, the wound on Takumi's left shoulder, which had just been healed a bit by the Rune after being cut by Hector, tore open again, blood spurting from it.
Stimulated by the pain, Takumi couldn't help groaning, one eye tightly closing.
"Hah!"
But Takumi didn't weaken his strength. Instead, gritting his teeth, he used even more strength. At the same time, he urged the magical energy in his body to activate his Noble Phantasm again, covering himself and Asterios in golden light.
After retreating more than ten meters, he finally stabilized Asterios's body.
Large globs of sticky liquid dripped onto his head. Takumi was stunned for a moment. Before he could think about what was on his head, he saw the liquid had dripped down his hair onto the ground.
'Blood...'
Realizing what it was, Takumi hurriedly looked up. The Berserker who was originally sturdy as a small mountain and had fought alongside him since joining the team now had his limbs hanging down weakly. Blood dripped from his huge bull horns. The reason he was still standing was entirely due to Takumi's strength.
Seeing this, Takumi carefully placed Asterios on the ground, simultaneously drawing healing Rune symbols for him with hands already covered in Asterios's blood.
Only when the light of the Runes covered Asterios did Takumi finally have the mind to examine his injuries.
There were several wounds torn by the axe-blade on all four limbs... No, accurately speaking, except for the head and neck, there wasn't a piece of good flesh on Asterios. Especially the nine terrifying wounds on his chest and abdomen, which almost tore Asterios's body apart. Shattered bones were scattered casually like broken glass on the flesh that was still twitching unconsciously.
From Takumi's angle, he could even see Asterios's heart exposed to the air, still beating but slowed down by who knows how much.
Looking at Asterios, who had been dyed red by blood, Takumi's breath hitched. His heart felt like it was being squeezed, and his nose felt blocked by something.
"Ugh... ha..."
Asterios's painful cries reached Takumi's ears. As his consciousness recovered, the flow of blood also sped up slightly. Dots of blood could be seen rushing out from blood vessels, passing through the hollow wounds, and splashing onto Asterios's body.
"It's okay, Asterios. You'll be fine after lying down for a while..."
Takumi hurriedly squatted down, comforting him softly and subconsciously.
His voice carried a tremor he didn't even notice himself.
This was a lie.
In just this short time, the blood flowing from Asterios even soaked the soil under Takumi's feet. With injuries and blood loss of this magnitude, how could Takumi's Rune Magecraft heal him?
Takumi's eyes were red around the rims. He wanted to touch Asterios's body with his hand, trying to relieve Asterios's pain, but found there was no place to put his hand.
For some reason, Takumi could feel the severe pain coming from all over Asterios's body, pain worse than death, and—the sense of powerlessness of impending death.
"Mimi..."
Asterios's faint voice sounded. Takumi hurriedly looked at Asterios's face.
"Save... Eury..."
"Ah, I know."
Looking into Asterios's eyes, Takumi nodded without hesitation.
Hearing Takumi's words, Asterios forced a grin, just as simple and honest as before.
Asterios continued "speaking."
[You guys are different from those people. You all call me by my name. I like you guys! Like Eury who called my name first!]
[But... I am so weak... I can't protect anything, not amazing at all... And he is a hero, I am a monster; I can't beat him...]
[—But Mimi is very amazing, more amazing than me! And very smart too, can protect everything!]
Asterios slowly raised a thumbs up.
...Just something said casually back then, he actually remembered it until now?
"You are really amazing; I didn't lie to you..."
Takumi sniffled and said with a smile.
He still believed Asterios was very strong, never changed.
[But we can't beat them. I don't know where I am amazing... Then if I give my power to Mimi to use, can Mimi beat them?]
[...Although my power is very weak...]
"Of course. With Asterios's power, victory is inevitable."
Takumi's tone was filled with unquestionable determination.
[Mmh! Please, Mimi!]
Asterios's eyes narrowed into crescents, his smile incredibly bright.
Golden light spots scattered, and Asterios's Spirit Origin appeared in Takumi's body.
Unwillingness.
Takumi could feel the unwillingness hidden under Asterios's smile.
Why must monsters be killed by heroes?
Why can heroes kill monsters without any scruples?
Why can I never defeat him no matter what?
Why...
I, Asterios also want to become a hero who can protect others!
---
"I accept your wish."
"So watch, Asterios..."
Takumi rolled up his bloodstained and tattered sleeves. Sparks seemed to flash in his cold pupils. Behind him stood the phantom of Asterios, whose eyes lacked spiritual energy.
"—I will use your power to end everything here!"
At this moment, Takumi finally understood the key to breaking the situation.
It was Asterios!
Indeed, he didn't have powerful Personal Skills, nor praiseworthy martial arts, only his stats were usable... No matter how you looked at it, he didn't seem like the key to deciding the outcome of a battle.
But this was enough. His power was enough to turn defeat into victory in this battle!
So...
"Command Spell! Give me your power!"
The last Command Spell disappeared from the back of Takumi's hand, filling the meager magical energy remaining in his body again.
Takumi placed his left hand on his right forearm. Light blue magical light bloomed on it, accompanied by electric arcs of the same color.
"Noble Phantasm—[Chaos Labyrinthos: Eternally Unchanging Labyrinth]!"
The next second, Takumi, having activated the acceleration ability of [Escapist], rushed towards the battlefield just now!
---
'Dodge.'
The Master-Servant connection, which was almost never used, suddenly sent a message to Euryale.
Euryale was stunned for a moment, then keenly heard the rumbling sound coming from the woods behind. Immediately, she shouted loudly without hesitation:
"Everyone! Dodge to the sides quickly!"
Although puzzled, everyone listened to Euryale's words. Except for Drake who was far away dragging Hector, and David who was dragging Heracles at the very front, everyone else ran to the sides without hesitation.
Artemis even hugged Euryale, who moved slower, and jumped aside on the trees a few times.
Almost a second after they left, the woods behind seemed to have some behemoth walking through it. Large swathes of trees were pushed down and crushed. In the blink of an eye, the commotion arrived in front of everyone.
Blue light was caught by everyone's eyes first. Before they could figure out what happened, a wall crushed the trees in front of it and entered this battlefield.
The "wall" rushed out of the woods in a flash. The part touching the ground pushed the uneven soil to both sides, like a real bulldozer.
Only when they saw the full view of the "wall" did everyone realize. This wasn't a wall; this was clearly a huge, square building!
Then how did it appear in front of everyone so grandly?
"Hah——" ×2.
Takumi had a fierce look on his face. Behind him, the movements and expressions of Asterios's phantom were synchronized with Takumi. Together behind the labyrinth, shoulders against the wall, pushing with both hands with all their might.
The entire labyrinth was actually pushed over by Takumi relying on brute strength!
Euryale stared at all this blankly, her fair little hands involuntarily clenching into fists.
'Go! Master! Asterios!'
Euryale cheered silently but passionately.
Takumi and the phantom behind him moved their feet extremely fast. Under the enhancement of terrifying Strength, the speed of the entire labyrinth's advance was surprisingly fast. Wind pressure was even generated, barely reaching the speed of a conventional Servant with A-rank Agility!
"Hiss!"
Seeing this, David sucked in a breath of cold air.
"Goodbye! I'm running first!"
Without another word, David dragged his exhausted body and ran away desperately before the labyrinth hit him.
Only Heracles remained standing in the path of the labyrinth's impact.
Heracles roared, charging forward fearlessly, his steel-like body crashing straight into the labyrinth.
He wanted to crush this oncoming labyrinth head-on!
But was it possible?
Heracles broke through one wall, then crashed face-first into another wall. Caught off guard, his whole body was plastered onto it, pushed backward together by Takumi.
And directly behind Heracles was the [Ark of the Covenant]!
The Ark that had been sitting there since Medea's control of the Dragon Tooth Warriors to carry it was interrupted by Artemis and Euryale!
"Hey, hey, hey... Heracles, get out of that broken building quickly! The Ark is behind you; with your ability, you can easily run away from it, right!"
Jason, seeing what Takumi intended, felt something was wrong and hurriedly shouted loudly at Heracles.
Heracles moved, shook his head, and continued to attack the wall in front, seemingly wanting to punch through the entire labyrinth head-on, turning a deaf ear to Jason's words.
"Heracles?! What are you doing!?"
Looking at Heracles who didn't listen to orders, and the Ark gradually approaching him, Jason turned pale with fright.
"Don't waste your effort. That's not an ordinary building. Heracles didn't fail to hear your order, but was suppressed by that building, unable to distinguish directions."
Medea stared solemnly at the building Takumi was pushing. Finally realizing its purpose, she sighed helplessly.
Heracles couldn't escape anymore.
Medea sentenced Heracles to death.
[Chaos Labyrinthos] was essentially a Noble Phantasm that trapped enemies entering it, making them unable to distinguish directions.
For some reason, this labyrinth in front of them actually conceptualized this effect and attached it to the walls, suppressing Heracles' ability to jump upwards and away, making Heracles unable to distinguish which direction to leave, only able to circle in place.
"Hah——!!!"
Takumi's face flushed red, veins bulging on his forehead. His roar overlapped with Asterios's roar, resounding through the entire battlefield.
Directly in front of the labyrinth, Heracles was still waving his axe-blade, destroying the walls of the labyrinth with all his might.
But compared to the speed at which he approached the Ark, it was a drop in the bucket.
Finally, in Jason's desperate gaze, Heracles, pushed by the labyrinth, crashed into the golden Ark.
Heracles' movements stiffened abruptly. The magical energy in his whole body was instantly drained by the Ark, even the magical energy constituting his Spirit Origin.
Just like that, the god-like existence that brought the greatest—trouble to Takumi and the others disappeared, not even leaving behind golden spirit particles.
The labyrinth turned into blue light spots and slowly disappeared. Takumi didn't even pant too much, turning to find David and Atalanta.
"Mr. David! Atalanta! Form contracts!"
Knowing the two didn't have much magical energy left, Takumi extended his hand to them.
"Finally!"
Atalanta, who had been slacking off for a long time, grinned and extended her hand just like Takumi.
Beside her, although David was extremely exhausted, facing this incredibly critical moment, he didn't think much and also extended his hand.
Under the cover of the labyrinth and a cloud of dust, two contracts were signed.
"You two, leave those two to you first; we'll be back right away—"
"The rest, all follow me to fight Hector!"
After quickly assigning everything, Takumi picked up the Labrys of the Abyss thrown on the ground by Asterios, then took the lead, dragging the axe and charging towards the location of Hector and Drake.
"Ah, just what I wanted. Finally got magical energy again. Having slacked off for so long, I felt so uncomfortable I wanted to die!"
Atalanta looked at Jason and Medea's location with burning eyes.
"So why am I, who wants to slack off the most, always fighting?"
David couldn't help wailing.
On the other side.
Hector looked at Takumi and Euryale with a cold face behind him, as well as the smiling Artemis.
And Drake in front of him, who although slightly injured, was already grinning.
"Uh, can we reconcile?"
Hector asked carefully.
The situation changed too fast. Being furthest from the main battlefield, he hadn't even realized what happened before Heracles had disappeared.
"Do you think I will give you a chance to use your Noble Phantasm?"
Takumi held the axe in one hand and the flag in the other, ignoring what Hector said, asking back instead.
"P-Probably?"
"No! I will absolutely not give you a chance!"
"Everyone attack together! Fucking kill this 'Great Hero'!"
Before finishing his sentence, Takumi rushed up directly to engage Hector in close combat.