Standing on the beach, looking out at the boundless ocean, Takumi fell into a profound silence.
This was the Persian Gulf, a part of the Indian Ocean. And it was exactly here that his mental lock-on to Kingu's "Heart" had abruptly vanished.
Takumi was completely baffled. Theoretically, absolutely nothing that possessed a "Heart" should be able to escape his tracking. How the hell did Kingu pull it off?
What now? Use Runes to track him? Whether it was because the distance was too great or something was actively interfering, he couldn't get a precise lock. It only gave him a vague, general direction.
Use [Revelation]? Same result—just a vague direction.
So, should he just follow that direction and keep chasing?
"Hehe... the Persian Gulf. This is exactly where Tiamat is sleeping..."
If he accidentally woke Tiamat up early, the difficulty of this Singularity would instantly skyrocket from 'Hardcore' to 'Absolute Hell Mode'.
Sheathing the [Sword of the Heart], Takumi rubbed his pounding temples in sheer exhaustion. Finally giving up, he just plopped his butt down right onto the sand.
He was just too damn tired...
With the momentum of his pursuit broken, Takumi didn't even have the willpower to stand back up. He just wanted to lie here and rest.
Did you think his gauntlet ended after taking out the seven Demon God Pillars and Lancer Artoria Alter?
The truth was, it didn't. After that encounter, Takumi had run into nine more Demon God Pillars trying to intercept him, along with a massive host of Altered or Mad Enhancement-controlled Servants.
This included, but was not limited to: Berserker Lancelot, Berserker Tomoe Gozen, Berserker Ibaraki-Douji, Berserker Musashibou Benkei, and Berserker Fergus...
Aside from these "old friends," several Servants that Gilgamesh had summoned in this Singularity had somehow been mind-controlled by the Demon God Pillars as well. It was like a twisted, never-ending relay race, with one obstacle after another throwing themselves in Takumi's path to stop him from butchering Kingu.
"I mean, even though Kingu got away, taking out all these Servants and Demon God Pillars along the way probably means it wasn't a total loss, right?"
Takumi muttered to himself as he lay spread-eagle on the beach.
After all, these Demon God Pillars and mind-controlled Servants weren't supposed to be in the original Seventh Singularity. Eliminating them early guaranteed they wouldn't pop up later to cause any unexpected disasters...
Letting out a heavy sigh, Takumi closed his exhaustion-heavy eyes. He just lay there on the beach, soaking in the sun and resting.
This lasted for about ten minutes.
"F*ck! Since the Demon God Pillars are already involved, the original plot is probably completely derailed anyway! I might as well just go all the way—!"
The more he thought about it while lying there, the angrier he got. A surge of nameless, boiling rage flared up. He violently flipped himself up, redrew the [Sword of the Heart], and vanished from the beach in the blink of an eye.
***
Sometime later, in the waters of the Persian Gulf.
The First Pillar of the Seventy-Two Demon Gods, and the commander of this collective Pillar operation—Baal—manifested an unknown distance from the shore.
"Has he finally left?"
Sensing Takumi's distant departure, Baal muttered to himself.
Even he hadn't expected Takumi to arrive in this Singularity so quickly, nor to have become this absurdly powerful. On his relentless crusade to chase down Kingu, Takumi had casually slaughtered every single other Demon God Pillar in his path, leaving Baal as a literal general without an army.
Manifesting one or two Pillars wasn't particularly difficult. But manifesting seventeen at once in this Singularity, without extensive, long-term preparation, was no longer possible. Even possessing the [Independent Manifestation] skill, he couldn't pull off a massive deployment like that again.
Thinking of this, Baal looked at the green silhouette swimming sluggishly in the ocean.
Finding more reinforcements was highly unlikely, but the Holy Grail held by this brat—who had managed to deeply infuriate both sides—was still absolutely crucial.
Assuming a humanoid form, Baal reached out to grab Kingu, who was drifting aimlessly in the water.
But the moment his hand approached, Kingu reacted like a startled fish. With a violent burst of speed, he slipped out of Baal's grasp, frantically sprinting through the water toward the distant open sea before slowly coming to a halt at a "safe" distance.
Seeing this, Baal furrowed his brow, his hand still suspended in mid-air.
Has this brat lost his mind? I am not that human...
After a few more failed attempts to grab him, and getting zero response to his verbal calls—Kingu only intermittently fleeing whenever Baal got close—Baal finally realized something was horribly wrong.
Flying a short distance away to Kingu's flank, Baal didn't try to grab him again. Instead, he stared intently into Kingu's eyes.
There were no highlights...
After a brief moment of thought, sudden realization dawned on Baal.
Did anyone really think taking a direct hit from Takumi's [Sword of the Heart] came without a price?
Every single swing of that blade was a direct, conceptual attack on the mind and soul. As a newly synthesized soul, Kingu had been utterly terrified out of his wits by Takumi's very first strike. From that moment on, he hadn't launched a single coherent counterattack; his entire being had been consumed by absolute terror and the primal urge to survive.
And under those extreme psychological conditions, having endured an untold number of slashes from Takumi during their high-speed pursuit, Kingu's inner self had long since been hacked to absolute, irreparable pieces by the [Sword of the Heart]. He had been reduced to an empty husk, driven by nothing but the mechanical instinct to flee.
In this sense, Kingu was already dead. The entity floating before Baal was nothing more than a living corpse programmed only to run away.
And the reason Takumi had lost his mental lock-on was precisely because Kingu was now, quite literally, a man without a "Heart."
Having analyzed the situation, Baal generally understood that Kingu was functionally braindead. But this presented an entirely new problem...
"How in the world am I supposed to catch him?"
Watching Kingu, who would instantly bolt at absolute top speed the second he got even slightly close, Baal fell into deep thought.
The only silver lining was that this idiot was currently in the ocean and not buried in the dirt. Otherwise, in this entire Singularity, only a fully rested Takumi would possess the capability to actually catch him.
***
Meanwhile.
Gorgon was staring at her perfectly bisected Blood Fort, pondering how she was supposed to repair it.
"...Cleaved in half like this, I can probably stitch it back together a little, but it will never recover its original efficiency..."
"Looks like I'll just have to spawn more magical beasts to help out, and have them find an opportunity to snatch some more humans while they're at it."
Thinking of this, Gorgon prepared to move her massive serpentine body to start spawning beasts.
But after taking barely two "steps," Gorgon suddenly realized she was walking in place. At the exact same moment, a terrifying, overwhelming force clamped down on the tip of her tail.
Before she could even react.
"Heh. You look like you're having a pretty relaxing time!"
Takumi's chilling, sinister voice drifted right into Gorgon's ears.
"—What?!"
Gorgon turned pale with fright. She violently whipped her head around, only to see Takumi gripping her tail with a colossal, silver prosthetic arm. Though she could tell at a glance that he was deeply exhausted, the sheer, boiling rage and killing intent radiating from his heart transmitted flawlessly into hers, causing her pupils to violently constrict in fear.
Recalling how this brat had cleaved her Blood Fort in two with a single strike, the enraged and terrified Gorgon immediately prepared to activate her [Mystic Eyes of Petrification] once more.
But before she could fully open her eyes and lock onto Takumi, her entire field of vision violently spun, and a crushing sensation of weightlessness engulfed her body.
Eh?
Hearing the howling wind screaming past her ears and feeling the agonizing pulling sensation on her tail, Gorgon was completely dumbfounded.
Her unimaginably massive body was actually being swung through the air by a human the size of a bug!
The [Silver Arm] could alter its size and mass at will. After expanding it to a size capable of firmly gripping Gorgon's massive tail, Takumi initiated a full-body swing.
"Blood Fort, huh?!"
"Mystic Eyes of Petrification, huh?!"
"You like getting in my way when I'm trying to hack someone to pieces, huh?!"
With every single one of Gorgon's "crimes" he listed off, Takumi used her entire body like a fleshy wrecking ball, slamming her brutally into the bisected ruins of her own temple. Relying on his peerless control over physical force and leverage, the dizzy, concussed Gorgon couldn't find a single opening to fight back. She was tossed around like a giant, helpless ragdoll.
"And you still want to kidnap people to fix this piece of trash?!"
With one final, devastating slam, Takumi drove Gorgon directly into the shattered temple, reducing the entire structure into a pile of absolute rubble. Only then, panting heavily, did Takumi finally stop and revert the [Silver Arm] to its normal size.
He then walked over and yanked the [Sword of the Heart] out of the ground (he had relied on it to open a "Spatial Gate" to get back here). Looking at the dizzy, unresponsive Gorgon, he casually gestured with the blade, as if debating which angle would be best to chop her from.
Hack her to death? That was obviously off the table. If he killed her, Tiamat would likely awaken immediately. Therefore...
"Then I'll just take one of your wings!"
Takumi's silhouette blurred. A flash of sword light carved through the base of Gorgon's massive wing.
Schlick!
Accompanied by a crisp, severing sound, the severed wing plummeted to the ground. Blood erupted like a geyser, soaking a massive patch of the earth in mere moments.
Without the Holy Grail's buffs, Gorgon—an entity far closer to a magical beast or monster than a true Goddess—was completely exposed in her true, pathetic form.
"AHH—!"
Stung by the agonizing pain, the previously dazed Gorgon snapped fully awake. She instinctively let out a piercing, high-pitched shriek of agony, the soundwaves blasting outward in all directions.
"Shut up!"
The already irritable Takumi leaped into the air and delivered a brutal, resounding punch straight to her head.
BAM!
Taking that punch square to the dome, the look in Gorgon's eyes instantly cleared up. Clutching the bleeding stump of her wing, she curled into a ball, furious but entirely too terrified to speak. She looked exactly like a bullied victim, completely devoid of the terrifying, imposing aura of the Demonic Goddess she had previously flaunted.
"Remember this: don't let me catch sight of you again. Otherwise, I'll beat the living daylight out of you every single time I see you!"
Takumi glared coldly at Gorgon, pointing the [Sword of the Heart] at her. She was so terrified she flinched backward like a startled rabbit.
Why do I feel like the villain here...?
Speechless at his own actions, Takumi didn't say anything else. He sheathed his sword, turned around, and walked out of the ruined Blood Fort without a single backward glance.
Once he was a safe distance away and completely out of Gorgon's line of sight, Takumi—who had just been strutting around with imposing arrogance—suddenly felt his legs turn to jelly. Extreme dizziness, chest palpitations, and severe shortness of breath crashed over him all at once. He nearly face-planted straight into the dirt.
"Hah... Hah..."
Taking deep breaths, he sat on the ground for a while until he felt slightly better, though he still looked incredibly weak and pale.
"No... I need to rest more..."
Seeing this, Takumi just said 'screw it' and sprawled out spread-eagle on the ground.
The tiny bit of stamina he had recovered from his ten-minute nap had all been completely expended on using Gorgon as a wrecking ball. If he didn't get some actual rest right now, he genuinely suspected he might just drop dead from sudden cardiac arrest on the road.
Letting Kingu escape had left Takumi feeling incredibly uneasy, but at the very least, he had dealt with Gorgon, which offered him a tiny sliver of comfort.
After being defeated by his [Sword of the Heart], Gorgon's confidence and pride had been utterly shattered and pulverized by the blade. It would be exceedingly difficult for her to ever muster the will to oppose him again—unless she somehow came to agree with his ideals and became "one of his own."
As for Kingu, Takumi could only say that after taking that many hits from his sword, the mud-doll's mental state would be infinitely worse than Gorgon's. His metaphorical spine had been completely and utterly snapped.
"Sigh. The road ahead is completely dark..."
Regardless of how you looked at it, the entire situation in this Singularity had completely deviated from the norm. Aside from Tiamat remaining as the final boss, his foreknowledge of the plot was basically completely useless now.
Thinking of this, Takumi closed his eyes and began another brief rest.
Those massive canyons I carved across the Mesopotamian plains are still sitting there. Once I'm rested, I'm going to have to spend time filling them back in...
***
Over an hour later.
Takumi stood at the edge of the massive fissure he had carved, wielding his flag imbued with Runes with one hand.
Under the influence of the Runes, the earth churned and the ground sealed itself shut. In a short amount of time, the fissure was completely closed. Aside from the soil looking noticeably damp and fresh, there was almost no trace of the massive chasm that had been there moments ago.
"Sigh~..."
Having finished this specific section, Takumi looked down the seemingly endless, winding canyon extending into the horizon and let out a profound, soul-weary sigh.
"...Should I just pick and choose which parts to fix?"
I could just leave the unimportant areas as scenic tourist attractions for the locals, and only focus on repairing the critical spots—especially the parts where I literally chopped into the Underworld.
"Forget it. I should just take the time to fix it all..."
After a moment of thought, Takumi abandoned that incredibly tempting idea. He had to clean up the messes he made himself—at most, I'll just leave a few completely irrelevant spots untouched!
"Yo! What are you up to, Mr. Savior of Ours?"
A slightly frivolous, utterly recognizable voice suddenly drifted from behind Takumi.
"As you can see, I'm cleaning up the mess I made. Also, don't call me Savior. I don't deserve that title yet..."
Takumi replied without the slightest hint of surprise, his voice completely devoid of energy.
"Ehhh—? I went out of my way to approach you while cloaked in an illusion! Did you seriously see right through it?!"
Seeing that Takumi didn't give him the startled reaction he was hoping for, the white-robed, white-haired Magus of Flowers instantly looked incredibly disappointed.
"Clinging to such meaningless pranks and then getting disappointed all on your own... Merlin, you are probably the only person in the world who acts like this."
Following right behind Merlin, Ana—who was completely huddled inside her cloak—spoke up, looking utterly speechless.
"It's just my special ability. Anyone with a... well, the vast majority of people with a 'Heart' cannot escape my perception."
Turning around while explaining, Takumi suddenly remembered that Kingu had just managed to escape his lock-on, prompting him to slightly correct his statement.
"I see, I see... Does that mean I actually count as someone with a 'Heart' too?!"
Stroking his chin, Merlin suddenly raised a finger, looking pleasantly surprised.
As the child of a human and an Incubus, he was constantly told he wasn't human!
"Actually, as long as you possess emotions and the capacity for thought, you essentially count as an existence with a 'Heart'."
Takumi explained helplessly.
At least, that was how his specific ability defined it.