The earth twisted and warped, solidifying under the influence of terrestrial magical energy into a dense, overwhelming barrage of earthen spears, swords, and halberds. The weapons surged aggressively toward the space directly behind Kingu—straight at Takumi—in an attempt to obscure his vision and slow him down. Kingu himself, however, didn't harbor the slightest intention of looking back.
A blindingly fast, practically invisible slash cut through the air, instantly shredding the massive wave of enchanted earthen armaments surging toward him. Without losing a single fraction of momentum, the sword strike slammed squarely into Kingu's back.
Yet, Kingu acted as if this were completely normal. He didn't let out a single grunt of pain, nor did his posture falter. Instead, he actually used the kinetic force of the sword strike to propel himself forward even faster, darting like a torpedo through the "rock walls" flanking him.
Simultaneously, a golden light pulsed continuously from his chest. The magical energy of the earth surged relentlessly into his body, fueled by the earth's mana, and the deep gash that had just been cleaved into his back began to regenerate at a terrifying speed.
The vessel Kingu currently occupied was the body of Enkidu, a Divine Construct molded from clay. As long as he had access to the earth's magical energy, he possessed an unparalleled, nearly absolute capacity for regeneration and restoration.
Under these conditions, no matter how severely his body was mutilated, he could rapidly recover. He was, for all intents and purposes, functionally immortal.
Of course, while the physical vessel was virtually indestructible, the same couldn't necessarily be said for the soul—but here lay the glitch in the system: he wasn't actually Enkidu.
If Enkidu had manifested before Takumi as a proper Heroic Spirit, Takumi—possessing the power of [Death Perception]—could have likely severed his Life-Lines and killed him with a single strike the moment they met.
Because Enkidu had fundamentally experienced the concept of "Death" (having been cursed and killed by the Sumerian Gods), perceiving and cutting his Lines of Death with the [True Mystic Eyes of Death Perception] shouldn't be particularly difficult—though Takumi hadn't actually tested this theory yet.
And that was exactly where the problem lay: the soul currently occupying Enkidu's body belonged to Kingu!
Based on the actual mythology of the god Kingu, as a new deity birthed by Tiamat, his fundamental conceptual ranking was significantly higher than Enkidu's. Naturally, his soul was on a higher tier as well. Because of this, even though Kingu had also experienced death (having been slain by Marduk), he was still fundamentally harder to kill than Enkidu.
What made matters even more absurd was that he wasn't even the pure god Kingu. He was a newly synthesized soul resurrected by Goetia, utilizing Enkidu's corpse and the overwhelming power of a Holy Grail.
Stacked with all these overlapping buffs, he was nowhere near as easy to kill as Takumi had initially assumed.
And acting as the cherry on top of this infuriating cake—the very thing that made Takumi laugh out of sheer, boiling rage—was the Holy Grail!
Perhaps Goetia had simply handed the Grail to Kingu from the start, or perhaps Kingu's desperate struggle to survive had "moved" the Grail to actively intervene. Whatever the reason, the power of the Holy Grail was currently manifesting through Kingu.
And what exactly was the power the Grail was bestowing upon him?
In Takumi's field of vision, the Lines and Points of Death on Kingu's body, which had initially appeared relatively "close" to the surface, were instantly pushed unfathomably "deep" and rendered incredibly blurry the moment the Grail's golden light pulsed.
Immortality!And on top of that, even greater speed and enhanced regeneration!
Although Takumi had only ever witnessed this specific trait on the Lion King, he was absolutely certain: Kingu now possessed the concept of Immortality.
It just went to show exactly how terrified of dying Kingu truly was right now.
(Gorgon: "Huh? Where did my Immortality go?")
Swing. Swing. Swing—
A relentless barrage of imperceptible slashes erupted from the edge of the [Sword of the Heart], chasing after Kingu like a school of predatory fish. Time and time again, the slashes cleaved the earth apart, forcing Kingu out of the soil and carving gashes into his body deep enough to kill a normal person ten times over.
And time and time again, Kingu scrambled back into the dirt, rapidly regenerating his mangled flesh.
Thus, the situation devolved into a bizarre, high-speed game of cat and mouse: Takumi swung his sword and chased; Kingu regenerated and fled; Kingu fled, Takumi chased.
The destructive power of the [Sword of the Heart] scaled with the amount of magical energy channeled into it, up to a certain limit. For Takumi to cleave the earth open and expose the burrowing Kingu, he had to constantly pump massive amounts of mana into the blade to amplify the force of his slashes.
Naturally, channeling mana and physically swinging the sword to split the earth took a fraction of a second. Kingu's speed, however, hadn't dropped in the slightest. Like an unkillable cockroach, he was even exploiting the kinetic impact of Takumi's slashes to boost his own momentum. Under this shifting dynamic, Takumi actually found himself unable to completely close the distance and finish him off.
—If they had been fighting in the sky, Takumi would have hacked him to pieces ages ago!
Sure-Hit?
Every single one of Takumi's strikes was hitting. But if he couldn't break through Kingu's Immortality and regeneration, what did it matter if every strike landed?
Increase the attack power?
Takumi had tried taking a slightly longer moment to channel a full-power strike, cleaving open an even more massive canyon that scored a direct hit on Kingu, who had sensed the danger and dived deeper underground.
But a full-power slash—weakened first by the dense earth of the Age of Gods, and then further mitigated by a vessel that wasn't a Heroic Spirit, but a genuine Divine Construct—still failed to shatter Kingu's Immortality. Takumi could only watch helplessly as Kingu dragged his nearly bisected body even deeper into the earth and kept running.
Takumi was genuinely starting to suspect that Kingu, possessing the [Transfiguration (A)] Skill, had literally dumped all his stat points purely into Agility and Endurance.
[If I don't shatter Kingu's Immortality, I can't actually kill him!]
Deeply understanding the reality of the situation, Takumi decisively placed all his hopes on [Death Perception].
I can see it, but it's still lacking... just a little bit more...
Takumi's gaze remained locked onto Kingu's position without wavering for a microsecond. A faint, profound blue light began to pulse within his glass-like fiery pupils.
Currently, in his vision, the Lines and Points of Death on Kingu's body were slowly but steadily "floating" up toward the surface of his physical form at a constant rate.
This was partly due to Takumi growing more proficient with [Death Perception] through practical application, but primarily because the relentless bombardment from the [Sword of the Heart] was physically dragging Kingu's "Death" closer and closer.
And this seemed to be a unique property of Takumi's specific version of the [Mystic Eyes of Death Perception]: against entities possessing Immortality, while he couldn't simply "kill" them outright, he could continuously "beat the absolute hell out of them" until their concept of "Death" was forcefully dragged to the surface.
—He just didn't know if this method would actually work against Tiamat.
Aside from that.
While relentlessly pursuing his target, Takumi's gaze shifted slightly, noticing a "channel" resembling a swirling blue vortex connecting Kingu to the earth itself.
This channel represents Kingu's connection to the earth! The moment Takumi laid eyes on the "channel," its conceptual meaning automatically surfaced in his mind.
Aiming precisely at that "channel," Takumi swung the [Sword of the Heart].
Unlike his Origin of [Connection], the [Sword of the Heart] possessed absolutely zero affinity for linking things together. In fact, it was the exact conceptual opposite. What the sword represented was—[Severance].
Ever since the [Heart of Fire] fully awakened, Takumi's understanding of the "Connection" it represented had naturally deepened. But bizarrely, his comprehension of "Severance" was progressing at the exact same rate.
The two concepts acted like two sides of the same coin, constantly grinding against each other and simultaneously sharpening one another.
In this regard, Takumi was perhaps remarkably similar to Emiya Kiritsugu. However, unlike Kiritsugu, whose Origin was explicitly [Severing and Binding], Takumi's personal Origin was purely [Connection]; the aspect of [Severance] existed entirely within the [Sword of the Heart].
And under these unique circumstances, just what was this ultimate offensive weapon capable of?
An invisible slash descended.
This time, it didn't strike Kingu. Instead, it carved cleanly through the earth right next to him.
And just like that—the connection between Kingu and the earth was completely severed by a single sword strike.
In that exact instant, Takumi "saw" the Lines and Points of Death on Kingu's body violently jerk much "closer" to the surface.
But before Takumi could even celebrate, he noticed that the "channel" which had just been severed from the earth immediately reattached itself, linking directly to the Holy Grail inside Kingu's body instead.
Oh, fantastic! So that's how we're playing this?
Takumi was, once again, forced to laugh out of sheer, blinding rage.
(Kingu: "Teehee, I'm going to survive no matter what!")
Well, this was just perfect. The Holy Grail was essentially fused with Kingu's body at this point. If Takumi wanted to target his connection to the Grail, he might as well just hack Kingu to death directly!
Seeing this, Takumi completely abandoned any thoughts of finding a clever shortcut. He tossed all strategy out the window and focused entirely on violently hacking away at Kingu. The second his concept of "Death" surfaced, he was going to die on the edge of this blade!
In an instant, a relentless storm of rapid-fire slashes rained down upon Kingu's position once more.
If they encountered a mountain, he cleaved the mountain in two. If they encountered a river, he severed the river itself. The two of them darted through the earth like subterranean phantoms. But unlike phantoms, wherever they passed, mountains shattered and rivers ran dry, as if the land were being ravaged by an apocalyptic natural disaster. A massive, jagged grand canyon—with their initial meeting point acting as ground zero—was rapidly extending toward the northeast.
And yet, all of this devastation had occurred within a mere twenty seconds since their initial encounter.
However, at the end of the day, Takumi's speed was fundamentally superior to Kingu's. Even with Kingu utilizing every dirty trick in the book, the distance between them was steadily shrinking.
Realizing this, Kingu abruptly changed tactics. Instead of continuing to drill deeper, he violently swerved upward.
Takumi didn't hesitate for a second, violently hacking away as he followed Kingu's trajectory.
The distance between them continued to close, and Kingu's "Death" continued to "float" higher.
Roughly one second later.
Kingu completely breached the earth, launching himself into the open air above ground.
Finally decided to stop playing in the dirt?!
Feeling a surge of pleasant surprise, Takumi followed closely behind, bursting out of the fissure he had just carved and landing on the surface.
But what greeted his eyes was not Kingu's green silhouette.
Instead, he found himself standing inside a colossal, pitch-black structure pulsating with an eerie crimson light. The air was suffocatingly thick with the stench of blood and gore, and numerous severed human limbs and torsos were casually strewn across the floor.
[The Blood Fort]!
This was the temple established by Gorgon in the Seventh Singularity!
Kingu actually lured me here. Is he planning to team up with Gorgon to jump me?
Takumi's mind raced as he rapidly analyzed the situation. Simultaneously, the temple's inherent debuff against intruders washed over him, causing his movements to grow slightly sluggish.
Just as he was processing this, Takumi saw Kingu, who had manifested behind Gorgon, dive headfirst straight back into the dirt without so much as a backward glance.
Takumi: "..."
He froze for a fraction of a second. Realizing that Kingu had only led him here to use Gorgon as a meat shield and buy himself more time to run, Takumi's gaze turned colder than absolute zero. Without a word, he prepared to chase after the fleeing mud-doll.
However, right at that moment, a pair of crimson Mystic Eyes overflowing with tyrannical magical energy locked onto Takumi.
[Mystic Eyes of Petrification]!
As an entity whose fundamental core was still Medusa, Gorgon naturally possessed these Mystic Eyes, and hers were of an even higher rank than Medusa's.
Under the glare of those eyes, Takumi felt his blood beginning to turn to stone and his body growing increasingly rigid...
Being interrupted at such a critical moment, Takumi turned a gaze so saturated with murderous intent it felt almost physical toward Gorgon, who was currently staring him down.
Clearly, Gorgon hadn't grasped the severity of the situation. As a member of the Three Goddess Alliance, she had already made up her mind to teach this arrogant pest—who was rampaging through her territory and had just destroyed a section of her temple—a harsh lesson.
In an instant, over a dozen serpentine hair-strands lashed out like whips, striking directly at Takumi's position.
However, Takumi simply looked away, refusing to spare her even a second glance.
My primary objective is still killing Kingu!
Keeping his priority firmly in mind, Takumi willed it, and the transparent Heart of Fire clinging to his body flared violently. In a flash, the petrification debuff inflicted by the Mystic Eyes was completely incinerated, wiped clean from his system.
Immediately following that, Takumi swung his sword. A single slash cleaved through the incoming serpent hair and sliced the entire [Blood Fort] perfectly in half. Without breaking stride, he dove straight into the newly formed fissure, continuing his pursuit of Kingu.
"You little..."
Having barely squeezed out two words, Gorgon abruptly fell completely silent.
"...Huh?"
Staring at her perfectly bisected Blood Fort, the massive, bottomless chasm carved into her floor, and the spot where Takumi had vanished in the blink of an eye, a massive, invisible question mark slowly floated up above Gorgon's head.
Could someone please come out and explain to her what the hell just happened?
Naturally, Takumi didn't have the time or the leisure to care about Gorgon's existential confusion.
Furthermore, because of Gorgon's brief interruption, the distance between Takumi and Kingu had widened once again. Gorgon should count herself lucky that Takumi hadn't spun around in a fit of rage to hack her to pieces first.
The relentless barrage of slashes continued to sweep toward Kingu's body. However, unlike before, Kingu didn't try to swerve upward again. Instead, he sharply changed direction, drilling frantically toward the absolute deepest layers of the earth.
And so...
"Lalala... Eh—?! Why is there suddenly a massive fissure being carved through my Underworld!!!"
Ereshkigal, who had been happily humming a tune in the Underworld, suddenly sensed a catastrophic disturbance. Her singing came to a screeching halt as she whipped her head toward a specific direction, letting out a tragic shriek of absolute disbelief.
The Underworld of the Age of Gods was situated incredibly close to the surface layer. As long as the Underworld existed beneath a specific location, if you just kept violently digging straight down for a few thousand meters, theoretically, you could completely breach the Underworld of the Age of Gods.
So it was pretty obvious what had just happened, right?
—While frantically chasing Kingu, Takumi had slashed entirely too deep and literally fallen straight into the Underworld.
"Fuck!"
Feeling a sudden, violent sense of weightlessness and a bone-chilling cold wash over him, Takumi—who was once again in a state of freefall—let out another furious string of curses.
Within the Underworld, aside from the Goddess of the Underworld, Ereshkigal, absolutely no other entity was permitted to fly. Flight for the living was the strictest taboo among taboos.
Because of this absolute law, Takumi, who had been sprinting through the air just moments ago, was forcefully grounded and forced to plummet downward.
As for Kingu?
That slippery bastard had dived right back into the dirt and kept running.
Having witnessed this exact sequence of events play out time and time again, Takumi genuinely couldn't tell anymore if he was chasing a Divine Construct of clay, or a literal, mythological Ginseng Fruit that magically sank into the earth upon touching it!
Seeing the desolate ground of the Underworld rapidly approaching, Takumi didn't panic. Instead, he calmly continued to pour magical energy into the [Sword of the Heart].
Once a sufficient amount of mana had been gathered, Takumi swung the blade downward.
However, instead of a destructive slash, a pitch-black fissure—looking as if countless faint stars were hidden within its depths—was abruptly carved into the empty air directly in front of him.
This time, he didn't carve a massive chasm into the floor of the Underworld; he had ripped open a "Spatial Gate"!
This was an ability Takumi had only truly mastered while relentlessly hacking away at Kingu over the past few minutes.
While Takumi had always known the [Sword of the Heart] possessed this capability, he could never find a safe place within Chaldea to actually test it out. Because he had never used it, he naturally couldn't claim to have mastered it.
Adjusting his posture mid-air, Takumi executed a perfect swan dive, plunging straight into the "Spatial Gate."