To become a king and a magician

Although Arcueid's secret assistance reduced her stress considerably, the battles taking place throughout the illusion barrier still left her breathless.

"Really... those idiots... don't treat magic like magic..."

Not only are Natsukawa Torato and King Solomon, who consume a lot of mana and cause great destruction when they fight, but Artoria and the others also do not think about being stingy with their mana in order to deal with the large number of demons. In particular, Atalanta and Mordred, relying on the fact that their Noble Phantasms do not consume much mana and that they have a high-level mana source, use their Noble Phantasms once every once in a while.

Add to that a large number of demonic spirits—to be honest, Mary feels like she's been completely drained, and her head is throbbing with pain.

(I'll have to discuss the matter of comforting His Majesty the King afterwards!)

Looking at Mary, who was lying on the bed and looked pained, Grey wiped the sweat from her forehead with a towel and couldn't help but ask, "Sister Mary, can you still hold on?"

"Hmm... barely... That idiot Tiger, he really doesn't care about anything once he starts fighting..."

"I'll give my brother a good talking to when he gets back." Gray looked out the window. "But... the battle is really intense. Sister Lydel, can you see what's going on with my brother?"

Lydia, leaning against the window, shook her head: "No, I can only see the general outline. Before, it was barely possible, but ever since some demon god appeared, I can't see clearly anymore. Moreover, the opponent is that Magic King. If I rashly use magic, there is a high possibility that I will be countered."

Are you worried about your brother?

Grey nodded without denying it; it had nothing to do with trust, it was simply out of concern.

"Well, if it's the young man, he'll definitely be fine. He also said that this battle might not escalate to the point where both sides have to fight to the death. Besides, that's the young man, someone even Sajō Ayaka, who's linked to the Root, couldn't defeat. It would be impossible for him to die."

“I know that too… Yad!”

After muttering a few words, Gray quickly got up and went to the window to look down—a few demons were heading this way, few in number, and they seemed to be wandering over from the group.

"Sister Lydia, you stay here and continue to take care of Sister Meryl. I'll go downstairs to take care of things."

"Are you sure you're okay on your own? I'll go with you—"

Before Lydia could finish speaking, Gray had already jumped out of the window and leaped down from the second floor. Her empty hand now held the scythe that had been transformed from Yad, and she slashed downwards with the huge blade!

"Sizzle—!"

Golden magical light instantly spread out along the trajectory of the slash, and along the path the light passed, the demon spirit and the ground were instantly torn apart by the erupting light, leaving a huge chasm on the ground.

Seeing this, Lydia gasped in astonishment: "Grey... when did she become so amazing?"

“She went through a lot in those four years in that world… Plus, with Lia being summoned… Gray’s combat power is now comparable to a Servant, right?” Merry explained.

"That's Tiger's sister... You'll have to be really capable to succeed."

————————————————————————————————————

"Pfft!"

The holy sword once again cleaved through the demon spirit before her. Artoria paused to catch her breath, then looked around: "This must be the last one, right?"

"Yes, you've worked hard, Leah. You can lean on my shoulder and rest for a while," Morgan joked with a smile.

"The battle isn't over yet, Morgan. Jokes can wait until it's over. Now we need to go support our Master."

Almost fifteen minutes have passed since the battle began, much later than Artoria had anticipated. She wondered how things were going on with Natsukawa Tora's side. Hopefully, Zero, who remained with him, could provide assistance to her Master.

Just as Artoria was thinking this, a figure suddenly flew over at high speed in the sky not far away!

"Thump—!"

With a powerful tremor and a deafening roar, the figure that had fallen from the sky crashed heavily into the ground! Immediately afterward, a bolt of lightning struck down!

"boom!"

The billowing smoke and dust were instantly dispersed by the lightning, and in the crater, Artoria and Morgan looked at Natsukawa Tora, who was holding off the lightning with his holy sword and looked somewhat disheveled, and both showed surprised expressions.

"Boom—!"

The second bolt of lightning struck! Xia Chuanhu, who was already struggling to hold on, was blasted away by the impact of the lightning. He used his holy sword to plunge into the ground and retreated nearly a hundred meters before he could barely stabilize himself.

"Master!"

Artoria rushed to Natsukawa Tora's side, raised her sword, and pointed it at King Solomon, who had come into view. She asked with some concern, "Are you alright, Master? Leave the rest to me for now."

"Cough cough cough... Thank goodness, I was just tricked. If I had died, those two bolts of lightning would have killed half of me."

If Arthur's power were still intact, Natsukawa Torato could have used his high-level magic resistance to cause some trouble, but now he has no magic resistance at all. If he were struck by two bolts of lightning, even with the Holy Sword to defend him, he would be in serious trouble.

"They really got beaten pretty badly," Morgan said with a laugh as he walked over. "But it seems like they're not doing too well either?"

"The King of Britain and the Lord of the Island?"

Having fallen from the sky, King Solomon, looking much more disheveled than Natsukawa Tora, glanced at the two standing before him: "Intending to seek help, Spirit Master?"

"Didn't you beat me up here? But to make me and your demon self-destruct, you really know what you're doing. No wonder Floros will become a bomb man later, it turns out his superior taught him well."

The reason why Natsukawa Tiger was blasted here was because King Solomon directly ordered Baal to self-destruct, which also blew Phoenix to pieces. The impact caused by the self-destruction of the two demon gods was something that even Natsukawa Tiger could not withstand.

"But could you please stop using that self-destruct move in the future? It reminds me of some unpleasant memories."

King Solomon's self-destruction - almost every FGO player has some PTSD, you only need to see it once.

After glancing at the ring on his hand, King Solomon probably understood why Natsukawa Tiger had said that: "I will be careful, but as you know, this is a last resort. I will also try my best not to include this method in the list of actions that can be taken."

"If you try to self-destruct again, I don't mind smashing all ten rings on your hand."

"No."

Watching the two chatting so amiably, like old rivals, Artoria and Morgan couldn't help but feel a little bewildered—when did these two become so friendly? Aren't they still fighting?

87. With Avalon around, one's words carry weight.

Morgan's gaze lingered on King Solomon for a moment, then on Natsukawa Tora. As if he had understood something, he smiled with a look of sudden realization.

"So, Tiger, this is the most likely scenario you mentioned at the beginning?"

Before the battle began, Natsukawa Tora had told everyone that this battle with King Solomon would not escalate to the point where both sides had to kill each other. In order to meet the conditions that King Solomon said would allow the Counter Force to accept the outcome, the most likely scenario was that both sides would reach a certain degree of consensus and achieve a win-win result.

That seems to be the case now.

"So, there's no need to continue fighting?" Artoria asked, frowning.

The answer she received was not from Morgan, nor from Natsukawa Tora, but from King Solomon.

King Solomon's gaze fell on Natsukawa Tora, and he said, "Whether the battle continues depends on the Spirit Master's will. We have indeed reached a consensus on important matters, and the reason we are still fighting is only because he still has a reason to defeat me."

"A reason why victory is imperative?"

“Is that it?” Morgan smiled. “If we win the Holy Grail War, we can marry Merry—to achieve this, it is indeed necessary to eliminate everyone except Lia.”

Is it for marriage?

King Solomon's gaze towards Xia Chuanhu shifted slightly, and this change in gaze made Xia Chuanhu's expression turn somewhat awkward: "What's wrong? Is it not allowed?"

"No... I originally thought you were after some bigger goal, but it turns out it's for the woman you admire? In many legends, ancient heroes would fight dragons or seize treasures to marry princesses—you're one of those people too."

"That's a fair way to put it."

Pulling Artoria behind him, Natsukawa Torama took a deep breath: "Well then, let's continue. Summon your demons. It will take some effort, but to truly defeat you, we must eliminate all your demons. Only then can we achieve a complete victory."

"No, no need."

King Solomon shook his head: "I'm afraid if we continue fighting, the outcome won't change. I think the battle between you and me will probably end in your victory."

It's not that King Solomon couldn't defeat Natsukawa Torato, but rather that from the battle just now, King Solomon could already deduce the outcome of their fight.

As long as Natsukawa Tiger still possesses those demonic eyes, then—sooner or later—King Solomon will be defeated, and the summoned demon will be corrupted in a short time. In order to deal with the corrupted demon, King Solomon will have to summon a new demon, but the new demon will also be corrupted, and in the end, the number of people on Natsukawa Tiger's side will only increase.

Of course, there is a solution: use the demon as a one-time bomb and perish together with the corrupted demon—King Solomon has already done this, but this would only deplete King Solomon's own magic power and would not have a significant impact on the battle.

Moreover, Marisbury's magic will eventually give out.

King Solomon possessed great magical power, but it was not limitless. He needed to draw a certain amount of magical power from Marisbury to maintain the mortal realm, while Marisbury's magical power was finite.

In comparison, as a half-elf, Natsukawa Torama, who can use the Great Source Magic Power almost infinitely, undoubtedly has greater endurance, coupled with his ability to materialize his imagination...

Therefore, even if the current situation is still 50/50, the outcome is already quite obvious.

"The magic I used to block your Mystic Eyes is almost worn out, and continuing the fight won't change anything—this time it's your victory, Spirit Master."

"Haa."

As if unable to accept it, Natsukawa Tora sighed heavily: "Your immediate surrender makes me feel no sense of victory at all. Although I know you didn't do it on purpose, but..."

“If this has upset you, I apologize, but there is indeed no need to continue the fight, as you know, right?” King Solomon said. “Moreover, there is another opponent for whom you should fight with all your might, rather than wasting your strength on an unnecessary battle with me.”

"To become the final victor of the Holy Grail War, it's not enough to just defeat me, Spirit Master."

Even without King Solomon saying it, Natsukawa Tiger knew, or rather, from the moment King Solomon said he was admitting defeat, he had already felt a chilling killing intent. Someone who was determined to die had been waiting for a long time.

After taking a few deep breaths to recover some of his strength and magic, Natsukawa Torara looked into the distance and said, "It's ready, Lancer, come out—"

"Clang!"

Before he could finish speaking, a demonic spear suddenly shot out from afar, its crimson flash striking Xia Chuanhu's chest with incredible speed!

However, just before the demonic spear was about to strike Natsukawa Tiger, a blue figure suddenly appeared, and a sword blade wrapped in fierce wind struck, sending the demonic spear flying into the air.

Catching the falling magic spear, Scáthach, standing not far away, looked at Artoria blocking Natsukawa Torato's path and smirked slightly: "Looks like it's you who's going to fight me, Saber."

“No, leave this to me, Master.” Artoria said with her back to Natsukawa Torato, “You just finished fighting King Solomon and haven’t fully recovered yet. You shouldn’t push yourself.”

"No, I'm actually fine..."

“Leave this to Lia, Torakawa.” Morgan didn’t let Torakawa finish speaking, covering his mouth and pulling him to her side. “That child has also accumulated some resentment. As a Servant, she has repeatedly failed to be by her Master’s side when he was in danger. Although she didn’t say it, she felt very guilty.”

"This time, just give the stage to her."

Morgan's words startled Natsukawa Tora, because so many things had happened recently, and he was used to fighting Servants. In the past, he had always fought Servants himself, so he hadn't really noticed that Artoria had hardly ever made a move.

After all, his Master is just too strong.

"Phew~~~~~ Okay then."

Sheathing his holy sword, Natsukawa Tora sat down on the ground without hesitation: "Then I'll rest here for a while. Can you win, Lia?"

"I swear to you, Master, by the sword in my hand and in the name of the knight, no matter who the opponent is, I will not lose now, and I will bring you victory."

88. Official cheat for Avalon

King Solomon did not stay to watch Scáthach and Artoria's battle.

Even though it was a predictable and exciting battle, he preferred to do his own thing rather than watch other Servants fight.

On the bank of the Mien River, quite a distance from the Fuyuki Bridge, Marisbury smiled slightly as he watched King Solomon approach. "It was truly a battle like something out of a myth, Your Majesty. There are many fools in the world of magic who regard their followers as mere familiars and deeply disdain their existence. If they were to witness this battle, they would surely realize their own foolishness."