As Black Saber retreated from the seaside battlefield, Alice, with the help of the others to replenish her mana, began to control the thousands-of-meters-tall Bridge Giant toward the sea, preparing to open a gap in the barrier over the ocean first.
Except for Alice, the others took the opportunity to rest. Just then, Touko's expression changed, and she stood up tensely, looking at the resting crowd.
"Rin has discovered Sajyou Manaka's trail and notified us to rush to Mount Ryudo as quickly as possible. Although I know everyone is exhausted, we must head to Mount Ryudo immediately. The defense line there is now in a precarious state!"
Then Touko turned to Alice and continued,
"Alice, you stay here and control the Bridge Giant to break the barrier!"
Alice calmly nodded to Touko and agreed.
"Everyone, let's set out!"
While the group was hurriedly making their way to Mount Ryudo, Archer suddenly whispered to Sakura.
"Master, next time can you please not make me tie down that kind of monster alone!"
Clearly, Archer still felt lingering fear from Sakura's recent order to use his Reality Marble to entangle Fafnir.
Having left the battlefield, Black Saber was currently following the guidance in her heart, also heading toward Mount Ryudo at full speed, as if something there was calling out to her.
Arriving at the foot of Mount Ryudo, Black Saber quickly discovered the 'person' guiding her, Sajyou Manaka.
Manaka also noticed Black Saber's arrival. She turned around with a giggle and skipped over to Black Saber's side. Under Black Saber's wary gaze, she took her hand.
"Artoria, do you want to become even stronger?"
As Manaka spoke, Black Saber felt an unprecedentedly powerful mana continuously strengthening her from the small hand Manaka was holding. For a Black Saber who only pursued power and 'junk food,' Manaka seemed to be her ideal partner.
"Would you like to come with me? Artoria!"
Black Saber clenched her now-stronger fists in disbelief and nodded to Manaka, following the feeling in her heart.
Manaka gave Black Saber a giggling hug, conducting even stronger magical energy into Black Saber's body. At the same time, Black Saber felt another contract connect to her, its level far exceeding the one brought by the Holy Grail. Simultaneously, a continuous stream of Primal Energy from the Age of Gods kept entering her body, constantly increasing her strength.
After completing the new contract, Manaka extended her jade-like finger and pointed toward Mount Ryudo.
"Please, clear out all the enemies on this mountain!"
Having obtained unprecedented power, Black Saber nodded readily; at this moment, she also wanted to know just how much stronger she had become!
Deep within the ruins of the Hanging Gardens on Mount Ryudo, Waver listened anxiously to the report from the King of Conquerors' subordinate, then turned to ask the gramophone-like communicator beside him.
"Rin! How much longer? We're about to reach our limit!"
"I'll be there soon!"
In Rin's estimation, the enemy would surely target the Holy Grail itself within the Great Cavern beneath Mount Ryudo. Thus, she had arranged for the King of Conquerors and Waver to arrive at Mount Ryudo early with brand-new equipment. Through Da Vinci's devices, the King of Conquerors' Army of the King no longer needed to rely on an Reality Marble; instead, it could directly draw magical energy from the Leylines, appearing in the physical world as Earthbound Spirits, much like Kojiro in the original story.
Originally, the Army of the King, equipped with Noble Phantasms provided by Gilgamesh, should have been theoretically sufficient to handle most enemies. However, with the arrival of Manaka and a large group of strange 'Age of Gods' Magi, even the Army of the King, despite being equipped with Noble Phantasms, was in a precarious position under the assault of these Magi.
"For Lady Manaka!"
On the Mount Ryudo defensive line, dozens of strange Magi were fanatically shouting slogans, launching round after round of attacks against the Army of the King.
The commander of these Magi, Dr. Heartless, wore an unprecedented smile as he watched his subordinates unleash one Age of Gods spell after another.
But suddenly, Dr. Heartless frowned and muttered to himself.
"No, no, this isn't perfect. These guys aren't complete yet; they're just failures!"
The reason Dr. Heartless said this was that these individuals were only able to use Age of Gods Magecraft because Manaka had used some sort of magecraft to forcibly connect them to the Reverse Side of the World. The price for this connection was assimilation. Now, with their continuous spellcasting, one could vaguely see that these Magi were gradually distorting. Perhaps before long, they would be dragged into the Reverse Side of the World and become some kind of illusory conceptual existence.
But how could these guys, who were originally third-rate Magi, know about the changes in their bodies? Ever since they betrayed Barthomeloi and the Mages Association to follow Manaka, they had been suddenly granted immense power. Now, their heads were clouded by this strength, and they had long since regarded Manaka's orders as absolute. Consequently, they were completely oblivious to the changes occurring within themselves.
Beside them, Solomon snapped his fingers with a hollow expression. A massive pillar of fire mixed with lava then swallowed a large group of the King of Conquerors' soldiers. Seeing this opportunity, the Magi began to use their various abilities to break through the defensive line via this gap.
The defensive line soon collapsed. Looking at the ruins of the Hanging Gardens within reach, the Magi couldn't help but cheer, looking forward to receiving even greater power from Manaka after completing her instructions.
"EX—calibur!"
Suddenly, a soaring beam of black light, accompanied by Black Saber's roar, swallowed the expectant Magi.
After Dr. Heartless confirmed that Black Saber was Manaka's Servant through the magical energy she carried, he lowered his guard and questioned Black Saber.
"Why are you attacking your own people?!"
"A bunch of trash!"
Proud as she was, Black Saber naturally disdained explaining anything to a weakling like Dr. Heartless. In truth, her reason for attacking was simple: those guys didn't have Manaka's mark. Having been ordered by Manaka to eliminate all enemies on the mountain, Black Saber naturally defined the Magi without marks as enemies. If Dr. Heartless hadn't possessed a mark placed by Manaka, he too would have met his end just now.
At that moment, Manaka walked over slowly with Angra Mainyu, greeted them happily, and said:
"Alright! Artoria is right, they were just a bunch of trash. Since they were failures anyway, it doesn't matter if they're dead. Let's go!"
Dr. Heartless glanced at Manaka in fear, hurriedly bowing and saluting her with deep respect before following slowly behind. Looking at this girl directly connected to the Root, not a single trace of resentment remained in his heart.
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