"Mongrel, mongrel, mongrel! ...Just how many ways can that Caster's Noble Phantasm be used?!"
Two days ago, the King of Heroes had learned parts of Guinevere's true story from Tohsaka.
Based on these stories and his understanding of her Noble Phantasm, he had already deduced its true nature: the sublimation of her past deeds of falsifying history.
Yet even with this knowledge, the King of Heroes' strategy remained unchanged: maintain distance and hope to kill her with an anti-magic Noble Phantasm.
"Huuu..."
Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he once again activated the Noble Phantasm that concealed his true location, creating a realistic illusion.
Then, rain began to fall from the sky—Guinevere's method of searching for his real position.
Through this exchange, observing the King of Knights charge at his true body without hesitation, he realized that the Servant contract was in Guinevere's hands.
There were no barriers to their communication.
"Kirei, go now. The man you wish to kill is acting alone, and he holds no Servant contract."
Layers of shields formed a defense. Some were shattered instantly by Excalibur, while others were kicked far away. To pursue him, the King of Knights grew a tail, using it to maintain speed and balance in the sky.
To intercept him, dragon shadows began to coalesce within the downpour, lunging at him in the form of water dragons.
Being hunted down and forced to flee in disarray was an indignity the King of Heroes could not long tolerate. His treasury held no shortage of Noble Phantasms capable of slaying dragons.
"Mere fakes, falsified by Magecraft."
Balmung, Phantasm Greatsword, Felling of the Sky Demon—the cursed holy sword of the legendary dragon-slaying hero. Even if the King of Heroes couldn't unleash its true name, it still possessed an extremely potent anti-dragon attribute.
"Go, puppet!"
The King's Noble Phantasms contained countless treasures in innumerable forms. Since he himself was unskilled in close combat, he retrieved several autonomous puppets specialized in melee fighting.
Among them was a prototype from the creation of a certain Lotus Root Body, Nezha. Though this puppet had a lotus root body and lacked any intellect, its connection to the original Nezha earned it the title "Nezha Prototype."
It also inherited the dragon-slaying legend, making it a Divine Puppet. As long as it didn't face an opponent with an anti-Divinity attribute, its Divinity was a powerful buff, greatly enhancing its base stats and potentially granting effects like immunity to attacks from non-divine, non-good, or non-evil sources.
He would have it wield Balmung to engage the King of Knights...
"Great Britain's Mystery has faded! The gods have long since vanished!"
Standing atop the chariot, Guinevere activated her Second Noble Phantasm. Since this sequential effect aligned with historical precedent, the World itself lent its support, allowing her to use it with minimal Mana consumption.
But because of her declaration, the potent Divinity of both the Lotus Root Body and the King of Heroes was temporarily stripped away, weakening them both.
Taking advantage of this, the King of Knights effortlessly shattered the stuttering Lotus Root Body, forcing the immortal puppet into a brief regeneration period.
Meanwhile, the King of Heroes drew a Noble Phantasm capable of dispelling curses. Yet, a second later, he abandoned the idea of using it on himself to reclaim his stolen Divinity. He despised the gods, and he despised his own divine bloodline even more.
Though his stats dropped without his Divinity, his excitement soared. He gazed at Guinevere with an unprecedented possessiveness.
"Caster! You will become mine!"
Laughing maniacally, the King of Heroes unleashed his full power, heedless of Mana consumption. The ripples in the sky no longer numbered in the tens or hundreds; they now blanketed the entire heavens, raining down Noble Phantasms upon the King of Knights.
This downpour was so dense, with Noble Phantasms packed tightly together, that it left the King of Knights no room to display her martial skill.
"Excalibur!"
This was the second strike of the Noble Phantasm. The Light of Ever-Victory shot straight into the heavens as Guinevere channeled the Mana stored within the Replica Holy Sword to replenish the King of Knights.
Upon actually using it, Guinevere discovered the Replica Holy Sword held far more Mana than she had anticipated. After the loosely accumulated Mana on its outer layer was expended, the Mana deeper within grew increasingly dense and tightly packed. The total amount was at least three times her initial estimate.
"King of Knights, she possesses Protection from Arrows!"
This was Guinevere's Second Noble Phantasm. While she focused all her energy on shattering the Skyfall Noble Phantasms, she was left vulnerable to the scattered attacks emerging from all directions.
The King of Heroes' ability to open the Gates of Babylon also seemed to have its limits.
"Enkidu!"
The King of Knights lacked Divinity, and her base stats were already exceptionally high thanks to Guinevere's Noble Phantasm. The Chains of Heaven—a conceptual Noble Phantasm that bound its target tighter the greater their Divinity, once used to restrain the Bull of Heaven—were swatted away before they could even wrap around her.
Then, recovering from the post-Noble Phantasm Release paralysis, she slashed a rift in the sky itself.
But the King of Heroes' Noble Phantasms remained endless, and Kirei still had many Command Spells to replenish his Mana.
"Lia, don't wait for the King of Heroes to draw his sword! Charge forward with your shield and force a kill! I'll restrict his movements!"
The rain of Noble Phantasms had fallen long enough. Though the King of Heroes repelled every projectile with his Mana, the Vimana beneath his feet was now thoroughly soaked—enough for Guinevere to launch a surprise attack.
"Water, bind him!"
The moisture on the Vimana coalesced into chains, striking at the King of Heroes like serpents. But having already seen the rain turn into ice cones, he was long wary of what had seemed like mere reconnaissance.
Guinevere's true purpose, however, was only to distract him. In that brief moment, the King of Knights decisively released Avalon, advancing under the protection of the Type-Moon World's ultimate defensive Noble Phantasm.
With Avalon unleashed, what did the endless rain of Noble Phantasms matter? They were no more threatening than ordinary raindrops.
By the time the King of Heroes reacted, he instinctively reached for EA, only to realize that even EA could not breach Avalon's defense.
He could see it clearly: the scabbard ignored all physical interference. Even the Five True Magics of the Type-Moon World could not touch it.
It was the world's strongest absolute defense.
From the moment the King of Knights reclaimed her scabbard, it became impossible for him to shoot her down. The only remaining challenge for her was closing the distance.
And that was a problem Guinevere's Noble Phantasm was more than capable of solving.
"Second Noble Phantasm, Third Stage Release: All who stand upon the soil of Great Britain shall bow before the King of Knights."
He had already given up, already accepted defeat. But when Guinevere used her Noble Phantasm to falsify the world's rules for a third time, his rage finally boiled over.
The flicker of fascination, the trace of possessiveness he felt for her—all of it twisted into a pure, destructive impulse.
The rain of Noble Phantasms ceased, instead forming a shield to block the King of Knights' advance. He drew EA, aiming it directly at Guinevere, the woman who had shattered his reason.
At this moment, the King of Heroes intended to unleash his full power to kill Guinevere before his inevitable defeat arrived.
Seeing his choice, both the King of Knights and Guinevere breathed a sigh of relief. While Avalon offered invincible defense, maintaining it was incredibly Mana-intensive.
If the battle devolved into a war of attrition, Guinevere wasn't sure they could win. More importantly, she didn't want to waste too much Mana on the King of Heroes.
After eliminating him, she needed enough Mana left to await the Holy Grail's descent. And besides dealing with "All the World's Evil," she also anticipated a potential clash with an Altered King of Knights.
Both of them sought Incarnation from the "Black Mud."
"Lia! Full power! Let's end this now!
Artoria Pendragon, cover your eyes and see him as a threat to the Planet itself!"
Guinevere's actions were all to enable the King of Knights to fully unleash her Holy Sword.
At that very moment, an AI-like voice echoed in her mind, asking if she would permit the King of Knights to unleash the Holy Sword of the Planet.
In this world, Guinevere was the First Knight of the Round Table!
"I declare by my True Name: This is a battle for the world's survival!"
Was it?Well, probably.Guinevere certainly thought so!