"Damn it! Are those two seriously going to try and block Ivan the Terrible's all-out lightning strike with that half-baked Noble Phantasm?!"
"And Fujimaru Ritsuka, why are you running out there with her?! As the Master, you're supposed to stay safely in the backline and issue commands!"
Watching the two girls' suicidal charge, Goredolf broke out in a heavy sweat, instinctively shouting in panic.
Although he sounded like he was complaining, his words were driven by genuine concern for their safety.
After all, the current Mash was also practically a rookie. She had only barely managed to grasp how to activate her Noble Phantasm during the recent skirmishes. Her mental fortitude couldn't even begin to compare to the Mash who had fought through the Singularities. If Ivan the Terrible didn't hold back, there was a high probability she wouldn't be able to block it...
Therefore, Goredolf had zero confidence in their ability to survive the strike. In his mind, grabbing the two girls, retreating immediately, and formulating a new plan was the smartest choice.
Meanwhile, Da Vinci and Olga Marie, also inside the vehicle, had shifted their gazes onto Romani's tightly clenched fists.
Da Vinci's reasoning went without saying. Olga Marie, however, only knew his true identity because Romani had personally confessed it to her.
Both women could clearly see that the man had already made his resolve.
Da Vinci felt the weight of it much heavier than Olga Marie. Having known Romani's identity for a long time, she knew exactly how much he cherished his time as an ordinary human. Otherwise, he never would have wished for it in the first place.
Forcing him into a situation where he had to make this decision... was honestly quite cruel.
Everyone in the vehicle waited in tense silence.
...
"Idiots! Morons! I told you the Tsar is invincible! Why are you just throwing your lives away...?!"
Hiding in a dark corner of the street, Patxi bared his fangs. His blue eyes reflected the two slender silhouettes running toward the blast zone, and his fists clenched involuntarily.
His mouth and his brain were frantically condemning their suicidal actions. Yet... deep down, wasn't he longing to see it? To see someone like Ritsuka—a fragile human far weaker than a standard Yaga like him—possess the courage to stand up and defy an invincible monster like Ivan the Terrible?
Under the watchful eyes of everyone present, Mash and Ritsuka arrived directly in the projected impact zone of Ivan's attack.
Mash raised her shield, assuming a defensive stance. Ritsuka placed the hand bearing her Command Spells firmly onto Mash's armored shoulder.
Staring up at Ivan the Terrible's mountain-sized chassis, and the terrifying supercell of lightning accumulating above him, how could the two rookies not feel paralyzing fear?
However.
'We have to block this—!!' x2.
The two girls tensed their bodies, their eyes locked onto the lightning sphere about to crash down on them.
Both of them were the type to act before thinking. Despite being rookies, they rarely hesitated in actual combat. They preferred to survive the immediate threat first and worry about the consequences later.
Therefore, just as they always did, they pushed every other thought from their minds. The only thing that remained was the singular focus to block the incoming strike—
VMMMM~!
A red light flared. One of the Command Spells on Ritsuka's hand vanished.
"[Pseudo-Deployment / Foundation of the Human Order (Lord Chaldeas)]!"
Accompanied by a massive surge of magical energy, a flawless, snowflake-like barrier of pure magical light instantly materialized before the two girls. Faintly visible within the blinding light was the ethereal projection of a pristine white castle wall.
BOOOOOOOM——!!!
The next second, a deafening roar ripped across the frozen wasteland. The entire sky was instantly bleached a blinding white by the sheer output of the lightning strike.
"Visual feed restored! Vitals for Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash Kyrielight confirmed stable! They're safe!"
"Salieri is still playing!"
The blinding light and deafening thunder rapidly dissipated. Amidst the joyous shouts from the Chaldea staff over the comms, the two girls emerged from beneath the dissipating lightning, panting heavily and leaning on each other for support behind the shield.
"Hah... hah... hah..."
Having successfully blocked the all-out strike, Mash was drained, gasping for air. Ritsuka beside her didn't look much better.
"——Roooaaar! Rooooooaaarrr!!"
But before they could even catch their breath, Ivan the Terrible let out another earth-shattering mammoth cry. Under everyone's horrified gazes, a massive supercell of lightning began aggressively swirling around his colossal form once again.
While the previous strike was indeed his maximum output, launching another one in such a short amount of time was effortlessly easy for a monster like Ivan.
"It's over..."
Seeing this, a Chaldea staff member's eyes went blank, slumping helplessly into his chair.
Mash couldn't deploy her Noble Phantasm again so soon. Yet, Ivan clearly possessed a terrifying amount of surplus energy. If he launched that strike at them again, they wouldn't even have the energy to run away.
The Servants currently engaging Ivan realized this terrifying reality as well.
Atalante Alter drew her bow, unleashing a torrential downpour of black arrows directly onto Ivan's colossal form.
But how durable was the Tsar's Beast-like chassis? The rain of arrows barely left a scratch.
Beowulf swung his two massive weapons, brutally smashing them against the Tsar's mammoth-like leg. But after only two strikes, he was violently thrown back by the sheer force of the passive lightning discharging from the Tsar's body.
While Billy the Kid's Noble Phantasm had been heavily modified by Da Vinci, it was ultimately just a revolver—an Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm. The damage it could inflict on a target of this magnitude was less than a drop in the ocean.
The combined attacks of the Servants failed to interrupt Ivan's accumulation of lightning. They could only watch helplessly as a terrifying sphere of lightning—only slightly smaller than the previous one—materialized before him.
BOOOOOOOM——!!!
The lightning roared downward, instantly bleaching the sky a blinding white once again.
'I can't wait any longer—'
Sitting on edge, Romani's eyes narrowed dangerously. Just as he was about to forcefully eject from his seat, he witnessed something completely unbelievable.
"?"
A massive question mark slowly formed in his mind.
In the span of a single, unobservable instant, a chilling, flawless sword flash materialized from nowhere. It carved directly through the sky without leaving a single trace.
It looked incredibly mundane, completely lacking any flashy effects. Yet, the exact moment the sword flash appeared, the world-ending lightning strike instantly dissipated into nothingness, as if it had never existed in the first place.
Whoosh—Whoosh!
The sharp, distinct sound of a fabric flag snapping wildly in the freezing wind echoed through the air.
Hearing a sound they had never once heard in the Russian Lostbelt, the two girls—who had instinctively squeezed their eyes shut, waiting for the attack to hit—slowly, dazedly opened their eyes.
A flag bearing a crimson and gold color scheme, boldly displaying the blazing insignia of Chaldea. A specialized combat uniform, primarily black with sharp white accents. A distinct silver prosthetic arm. A perfectly clear longsword bearing a striking resemblance to Excalibur...
Every single one of these hyper-specific details pointed toward one exact person.
"Servant—Foreigner. Takumi Suzuki, I ask of you, are you my Master?"
Takumi casually sheathed his sword, turned his head, and looked back at them, a wide, joyful smile spreading across his face, his fiery pupils burning brilliantly.
"Well? Are you surprised?"
"You've got to be kidding me..."
Spotting Takumi's distinct silhouette from a distance, Kadoc's pupils violently constricted. He muttered the words in pure disbelief.
***********
[Translator's Note]
This will be the last chapter of this novel, although there are more chapters, but the Lostbelt arc isn't complete, and I don't see any more chapters. Besides, the Lostbelt arc is quite boring and not interesting; I'm afraid that it will ruin the good impression of this novel, so it's better to end now.
This work is one of the best that I read.
Thank you, everyone who has been reading until now, and I really hope to see you guys in the next novel I work on.