I, Wang Ha, the Three Red Unparalleled Assassin

"As a king, you suppress your own personal desires. You don't even understand your own heart, so how can you expect to understand the hearts of others?"

Looking at Artoria, who was somewhat dazed from her knocking, Melly exuded an extremely sharp and fierce aura, like an unparalleled swordsman who had immersed himself in the way of the sword for many years.

"It seems he still needs to be properly educated."

As she spoke, she drew her longsword from her waist and assumed the same starting stance as Artoria.

“Arthur, let me teach you this final sword technique.”

Chapter Fifty-Six: The Holy Sword and the Holy Sword

Despite being known as the "Flower Magician," Merry, a candidate for Grand Caster, is not actually very skilled in magic.

Besides being a skilled illusionist, Mary only has a smattering of other magic tricks; setting up a simple barrier or magic circle is no problem for her.

However, if one wants to perform high-level magic, one might need to look up the incantation in a book on the spot, demonstrating what is even more impressive than a breakthrough in battle – a kind of pre-battle learning.

So, whenever someone asked Mary how good her magic was, the girl would always scratch the back of her head and answer with a grin:

"Me? I only know a little about magic, nothing to brag about, nothing to brag about."

At the same time, Merry would secretly complain about the bizarre state of Caster-class Servants in the current Heroic Spirit world.

Although Solomon, as a Grand Master, appears to be unmatched in the world of magic, he is actually someone who doesn't know much about magic.

However, the Ten Commandments were too overpowered. All the magic used by King Solomon was generated instantly according to his own ideas, and whether he understood the underlying principles was completely irrelevant to him.

More often than not, Solomon preferred to use the Ten Commandments he wore on his hand as a kind of brass, because direct beating seemed more effective than chanting spells.

After removing the Grand Casters and their successors, none of the remaining Casters look like Casters at all.

For example, a lively and adorable fox who dreams of getting married and becoming a good wife.

Although she might chant incantations or sprinkle talismans during battle, she prefers to fight like a martial monk, throwing punches directly at the enemy. Her superb martial arts skills are in no way inferior to those of the three major knight classes.

Therefore, in this era where melee mages are rampant, Melly naturally has some skills that are enough to hold her own.

Back then, Arthur's swordsmanship was taught by her personally, relying on his intuition, and he slashed at Xia Ji eight times in a row.

(Merry: I'm just keeping up with the times. It's not that I'm afraid of biting my tongue if I chant too fast. That's all slander!!)

Inside the Tower of the End, the British Sword Saint drew his longsword and returned to the world once more.

Artoria stared at Merlin, who stood with his sword in hand, and in a daze, she recalled the various hardships she had endured before becoming a queen, as well as the fear of being controlled by Merlin 24 hours a day.

During the day, the despicable Merlin would often beat Artoria so badly with a tree branch that she couldn't fight back, and then make her drag her exhausted body to do housework.

At night, the hateful Merlin would also teach Artoria the ways of governing through her dreams, squeezing out her pitiful two or three hours of sleep a day.

Even though Artoria understood that Merlin was thinking of her after she became king, she still harbored a lot of resentment.

This is why, when she first saw Meryl, she followed her intuition and swung her sword without hesitation.

"Arthur, I'll let you go first. Attack as much as you want."

At this moment, Mary had completely lost her usual carefree and cheerful demeanor, replaced by an oppressive aura that made one feel as if a storm was brewing.

After gradually suppressing her excitement, Artoria regained the composure and calmness befitting a warrior.

She did not attack immediately after hearing Merlin's greeting. Although the girl did not know how skilled Merlin's swordsmanship was, she guessed it was no worse than Merlin's.

Abundant magical power surged from the knight girl's body, causing the holy sword in her hand to tremble and emit soft rings. Her holy blue eyes flashed with an unprecedented seriousness.

"Excuse me, Merlin!"

Artoria shouted and charged at Meryl again at more than twice the speed of before, gripping the holy sword with both hands and slashing down with the force of splitting a mountain.

The petite girl unleashed her magic, displaying terrifying power comparable to a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The blade sliced ​​through the air with a loud bang, and the wind pressure generated by the high-speed sword swing enveloped Meryl, who had not dodged.

"Heh, whether you're male or female, Arthur, you're still as fierce as ever."

Seeing that Artoria intended to confront her head-on, Melly activated her unique skills 'Hero Shaping' and 'Dreamy Charm', and swung her sword to meet the incoming blade.

Within the ten-meter square platform, Meli and Artoria moved and fought in this confined space, the sounds of swords clashing never ceasing.

The beautiful young women were like two butterflies dancing gracefully, but beneath that dazzling dance lay a deadly danger.

Thanks to her honed intuition, Artoria was able to make Merry's sword graz her body by the narrowest of margins every time.

Meanwhile, Meli would interrupt Artoria's attacks by striking her sword halfway through, using her rich combat experience to completely control the rhythm of the battle.

The evenly matched swordsmanship contest lasted for nearly ten minutes. Realizing that continuing like this would not yield any results, the two tacitly retreated to opposite sides of the platform.

"Merlin, I don't have time to waste here with you any longer."

Artoria, preoccupied with the battle at Ryudouji Temple, seemed somewhat impatient, and she planned to unleash her Noble Phantasm again while she still had plenty of magical energy.

"Let's settle this once and for all with the next strike!"

Seeing the holy sword radiating golden light in Artoria's hand, Melie raised her own magnificent longsword without the slightest fear.

"As you wish. Although my sword is only temporarily borrowed from someone else, it should be fine if you want to use it a little."

A massive amount of boiling magic gathered in the Tower of the End, and both Merry and Artoria were surrounded by shimmering golden light, like a dream.

"The gathered breath of stars, the shimmering torrent of life!"

Just as Artoria began chanting the incantation to unleash the true name of her Noble Phantasm, Merry also began performing her own necessary ritual.

"admit!"

"Gareth, Lancelot, Palmyre, Agravin, Galahad..."

As Meili uttered one familiar name after another, the ordinary longsword in her hand underwent a dramatic transformation, radiating a blazing light.

Having completed their Noble Phantasm unleashing preparations, Merry and Artoria unleashed their strongest attacks at each other so far.

“Ex—calibur!” X2

Chapter Fifty-Seven: All the Evil of This World

The two torrents of light collided, but the expected stalemate and tug-of-war did not occur.

Although only five of the seals on the holy sword in Meli's hand have been broken, and the remaining eight seals have not been broken due to the unfavorable conditions of the battle, the power she displays is still unmatched by Artoria.

Although both Arthur and Artoria wield the same sword called Excalibur, there are still some differences between the two swords.

If the Excalibur wielded by Artoria was forged by the fairies living in Avalon...

The Excalibur in Arthur's hand was born from the sea within the stars, using people's thoughts as its raw material, and is one of the ultimate divine weapons created from the 'strongest fantasy'.

The two were never on the same level from the very beginning.

The former is regarded as a symbol of King Arthur, but its significance lies more in protecting the people of Britain and bringing them peace and hope.

The latter, however, is the radiant sword that saves the stars. It was forged to defeat external enemies who sought to destroy the stars, and is a golden blade capable of repelling almost all evil.

(Baidu says that both holy swords come from the Starry Sea, but one is EX-rank and the other is A++-rank, so it's better to make the distinction clearer in the settings.)

(The origin of Artoria's Holy Sword is based on the original "Legend of King Arthur," while the origin of Arthur's Holy Sword follows the Type-Moon setting.)

"King of another world! Feel the weight of saving the world, and then realize how insignificant you are!!"

With a furious roar from Melie, the radiance of the Savior Sword instantly shattered and devoured the Holy Sword's light that was colliding with it, and struck right in front of Artoria.

Unexpectedly, Artoria suffered such a crushing defeat that she was unable to dodge effectively, and didn't even have time to cry out in surprise.

Facing the pillar of starlight, the girl had no choice but to grit her teeth and unleash a Noble Phantasm she had never used before.

"Avalon!!"

The scabbard of the holy sword responded to the girl's desperate cry, and a transparent hexagonal barrier instantly unfolded, protecting her within it. The Noble Phantasm, whose very existence was equivalent to 'magic', revealed its unique power.

The starlight struck the thin protective barrier, but it could not shake it in the slightest, or rather, it could not cause any effective interference.

Unlike the scabbard that Arthur possessed, which could only seal the Holy Sword, the Holy Sword scabbard that returned to Artoria's hands was undoubtedly an ultimate Noble Phantasm of EX rank.

Once its true name is unleashed, 'Avalon' can sever all physical interference and parallel world interference, as well as multidimensional communication, and even nullify magic-based interference.

While it's uncertain whether the 'Excalibur,' having fully unleashed all thirteen seals,' can be called the 'strongest spear,' Avalon is undoubtedly the 'strongest shield.'

King Arthur, residing in different worlds and each possessing two EX-rank Noble Phantasms, was destined to be unable to determine the final victor between them.

The dazzling light gradually faded, the swirling wind slowly subsided, and the tower returned to calm.

"Tsk! How can there be something so unfair?"

As sheathed her sword, Meli stared intently at the transparent barrier surrounding Artoria, which was as thin as a sheet of paper, and for the first time felt utterly helpless.

Artoria stood there in the barrier, seemingly still in a daze. The girl, who had just witnessed the brilliance of the stars, had gained some insights from the dazzling light of that miracle.

Just as the four remaining Servants in this Holy Grail War were fighting each other in pairs, the Holy Grail arrived at the New Metropolitan Hall ahead of schedule.

After the death of the Hundred-Faced Old Man, Irisviel, who was already on the verge of collapse, faced her inescapable final fate.

"Is this the end of the Einzbern family? It's a tragic end that's hard to comprehend."

Kirei Kotomine stood aside and silently watched the whole process. Having systematically learned about the Holy Grail War from Risei Kotomine and Tokiomi Tohsaka, he made a guess about the situation before him.

It's simply that the massive amount of magical energy accumulated from the three previous failed Holy Grail Wars resulted in only four Servants dying in this war, yet the conditions for the Holy Grail to descend were met.

But this only means the Holy Grail has arrived; the omnipotent wish-granting machine will not grant any wishes until the final victor is determined.

After Irisviel stopped breathing in agony, the magic circle beneath her suddenly flashed with an eerie, blood-black light, giving off a very ominous and terrible feeling.

Irisviel's body vanished into the magic circle, replaced by a golden Holy Grail covered with exquisite and beautiful patterns.

Inside the Holy Grail, an invisible, shapeless black shadow wandered aimlessly, like an unnamed ghost.

He is Ahriman (Angola Mainyu), a Servant who was illegally summoned by the Einzbern family during the Third Holy Grail War and descended as the eighth class 'Avenger'.

Although he was a notorious evil god in Zoroastrianism, the young man named Angra Mainyu was just an ordinary person who had never even been exposed to magic in his lifetime.

This resulted in the exceptionally weak Angolan Maneuver being eliminated early in the Holy Grail War, offering no assistance to the Einzbern side.

Normally, defeated Servants would lose their personalities and be absorbed into the Holy Grail as magical energy, but Angra Mainyu's unique nature allowed him to remain within the Holy Grail and begin to wander unconsciously.

Whenever Angola Mainyu passes by, the colorless magic in the area he treads on is slowly stained with ominous, filthy black, filled with boundless, malevolent curses.

After sixty long years, the Holy Grail, which symbolized light, was ultimately corrupted by evil and transformed into a vortex of malevolent forces.

When the Holy Grail descended upon the world, the dazed Angra Mainyu also awoke, and having no physical form, he temporarily gained an appearance identical to Irisviel.

As someone who bears all the sins and malice of this world, the result of assimilating the magical power accumulated by the Fuyuki Greater Grail is undoubtedly catastrophic.