Shirou, who returned from the Fairy Kingdom

Shirou squinted one eye smugly, and everyone suddenly felt that Saber was a bit too much to handle today.

"Here's a hint: the answer is right here."

The red-haired boy pointed to the angel's head.

The thick chest and shoulders, below the huge angelic ring, do not have a head; instead, there is an oval-shaped recess resembling a Chinese wok.

"It clearly mimics the structure of a human, but it lacks a head, which means..."

Fiore's eyes widened: "Don't these angels have the ability to think?!"

Shirou chimed in, "That's right, these mechanical lifeforms don't possess the ability to think. Perhaps it's because the vessel of divine power doesn't need self-awareness—"

They are connected through a network of thought to carry out patrol and combat missions.

The oval-shaped groove on the shoulder is the signal receiver; doesn't it look a lot like a TV signal receiver?

Then the halo above this individual's head amplified the signal and relayed it to its companions.

Amidst the stunned expressions of everyone, Shirou revealed the truth about the Heavenly Army—

"The command center that transmits orders to a million angels is none other than Metatron's throne."

However, even the throne of an angel cannot completely control one million individuals; angels transmit signals through halos.

The nine ranks of angels are not a division of power, but rather represent the network hierarchy of angels.

What we need to do is hack their networks, thereby controlling the angelic armies to kill each other.

Leticia blinked: "So Lord Metatron gave us the final seven days? That's not mercy..."

Archangel Metatron has fully manifested, her power has reached its limit, and she could summon a million angels at once if she wanted to.

However, the angel summoned abruptly was merely a vessel for storing divine power. She needed to first establish an angel command network, which is why she allowed seven days.

"They say they want to infiltrate the enemy's network. Even if it's a machine, an angel is still a higher-dimensional being!"

Gold exclaimed excitedly, "Can we really do something like this...!?"

"Don't let my appearance fool you, I'm also a semi-mechanical expert."

After saying that, Shirou rubbed the area below his nose, and now everyone finally understood why he was so smug today.

Fiore: "This, this is the first time I've heard of this, Mr. Saber. Do you have experience modifying mechanical life forms?"

Shirou: "No, I can fix electric heaters and motorcycles."

Fiore: "???"

Now that things have come to this, we can only trust Shirou's judgment and confidence.

In a way, we've all been saved and helped by him to survive until now.

Although they appeared disdainful, everyone genuinely believed in this holy swordsman from Britain.

Seeing that no one objected, Shirou announced, "The final battle against Metatron's army... the operation's codename is 'Achilles' Heel.'"

“Huh?” Rider—Achilles frowned.

The reason it was named this is because of a Hollywood movie that Shirow watched.

For a time, Irisviel was very obsessed with science fiction movies, so she dragged Shirou and Sera to watch them with her.

The theme is the common one: humanity resists alien invasion, and modern armies suffer repeated defeats against an alien army whose civilization far surpasses that of Earth.

The gap in strength was so vast that it drove the audience to despair.

However, in this seemingly unsolvable situation, the human protagonist accidentally discovers the weakness, or rather, the loophole, of the seemingly invincible aliens.

In the end, humanity successfully exploited this fatal flaw to turn the tide and defeat an alien army that was a million times stronger than themselves.

Shirou views the weakness of aliens in this type of film as their "Achilles' heel," and what they need to do next is to exploit the loopholes in the Angel Network to achieve a reversal.

"Even the most invincible hero in the world must have some weakness... that's the idea."

"I have a feeling that this is being targeted."

The "Red" cavalryman muttered indignantly.

Astolfo chuckled and patted him on the shoulder: "Isn't it great? A battle named after yourself, how cool! If it were Charlemagne, he'd be so happy he couldn't sleep!"

Over the next three days, a magic team was formed, centered around mechanical expert Shirou Amamiya and the magician Semiramis from the Age of Gods.

With the help of the magicians and androids of the World Tree, they began to dismantle, study, and modify the angels.

Atalanta, Mordred, Astolfo, and Achilles were tasked with capturing more lone angels and bringing them back for further study.

After working overtime for several days, Shirou and Semiramis finally managed to complete the network analysis work before Metatron's deadline.

Now, the angels of the ninth to fourth steps who were captured by them are completely obedient to Shirou and his group.

The crucial part is what follows.

The total number of individuals captured and brainwashed is close to one hundred.

What Shirou and his companions had to do was use ten Boeing 747s to transport the hundred angels to the vicinity of the throne, so that they would continuously send out incorrect signals to their companions.

If all goes well, the angelic army will quickly descend into chaos.

False signals are amplified by more intermediaries, spreading like a plague through the network.

Of course, the angel legion couldn't just sit idly by and wait to be defeated.

Among them are entities similar to the inspection teams, not to mention the third to first tier angels who do not receive orders from lower-ranking angels.

These angels will quickly identify the source of infection and try to rule out incorrect individuals.

All Fiore and her companions could do was eliminate as many third- to first-tier angels as possible to buy time for more low- to mid-tier angels to be infected.

Meanwhile, in an airplane flying towards the throne, Mordred and Lion's Lair were attempting to activate the angel.

After pressing the start button, the angel did not go berserk, so it seems there are no problems.

Mordred lowered the raised magic sword and wiped the sweat from his brow.

"They really didn't resist... As expected of my father. I knew this plan would succeed!"

"That's not what you just said."

Lion Robber rolled his eyes at her and continued to input commands into the angel.

The angel who received the instruction stood up and walked heavily toward the plane door.

Our angel will transmit the following instructions to the other angels:

"Go and fight the enemy—the enemy is a roaming angel. But be careful, you must use our network to distinguish friend from foe."

Thus, these angels became "viruses that were desperately resisting antibodies while infecting people everywhere."

And so, the angels that flew out of the cabin began to communicate with the normal angels.

The effect was swift; the angels flying around the throne began to erupt in a massive commotion.

So far, Shirou's operational plans have been progressing very smoothly.

If the angelic legion is considered a hero of the Trojan War, then he has indeed been pierced through the heel by an arrow.

However, this alone is not enough to truly threaten Metatron.

To save the world, we must defeat the true form of the God-King himself.

Metatron deployed an even denser array of defensive spells near the throne than Mirami's Eleven Black Coffins.

Whether it's a civilian airliner or a spaceship from another world, once they get close, they will be subjected to indiscriminate attacks.

Shirou's plane repeatedly attempted to approach the throne, but each time it was met with a baptism of flames equivalent to the firepower of the Holy Lance.

"Master! What should we do next? At this rate, we won't be able to get close to Lord Metatron!"

Leticia was somewhat anxious, but Shirou remained calm.

"We'll have to rely on your strength from now on."

"Me?" Leticia blinked.

While observing the situation outside the cabin, Shirou asked, "Ladycia, do you know about Jacob's Ladder?"

The girl nodded: "Of course I know."

In the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament, Jacob dreamt of the scene while fleeing from his brother Esau.

He had a dream in which he saw a ladder standing on the ground, with its top leading to heaven, and messengers of God on the ladder, going up and down.

God appeared above the staircase leading to the heavens and reaffirmed to Jacob the covenant with Abraham: to give him land, children, and blessings.

Leticia looked bewildered: "...So what does this have to do with our situation?"

Shirou placed his hand on the girl's shoulder and said, "The 'ladder' to the throne is within you."

"……Why?"

“Jacob’s Ladder…or perhaps it should be called Joan of Arc’s Ladder, no, it should be called Laetitia’s Ladder.”

"Pray, Leticia! Use your power to summon the Heavenly Ladder! Open a path for us!"

"This is so sudden! Why didn't you tell me about this operation sooner!?"

"If I told you in advance, you would definitely get nervous and lose your composure."

"Alright, stop hesitating... Go for it, Leticia! The fate of humanity rests on your shoulders!"

"Oh dear...?"

He had only patted Leticia's bottom as a gesture of encouragement.

Shirou felt the soft, full flesh in his palm and was secretly surprised: This child is developing too well!

"Okay, fine, I'll give it a try... Don't blame me if it doesn't work, okay?"

Leticia grumbled in dissatisfaction, kneeling on the cabin floor while clasping her hands together.

The girl's slender figure, bathed in light, momentarily overlapped with Jeanne d'Arc in Shirou's eyes.

Soon after, it seemed as if boundless light emanated from that petite body—

The clouds beneath the throne parted, casting down their radiance.

It consisted of dozens, even hundreds, of rectangular glass panels, laid down layer upon layer from above, forming a ladder to the sky.

"It really...worked..."

Laetitia herself did not expect that she would actually succeed.

Shirou also prepared a Plan B, as he wasn't actually very confident about her.

Looking at the stairway of light descending from the sky, he happily ruffled the girl's hair: "Well done."

However, Leticia didn't seem happy and dodged Shirou's hand.

"?"

"Master, stop patting my head. I'm not a child anymore."

The girl's cheeks were flushed with a faint blush, and she adorably pouted her lips.

"..."

Just an hour ago she was happily accepting being touched, what happened?

Put the girl's troubles aside for now; saving the world is the priority.

The golem piloted the plane to the vicinity of the Heavenly Ladder.

Commercial aircraft cannot hover like aircraft or helicopters, so they have to jump over them.

Leticia clung tightly to Shirou's waist as they fell with him down one section of the ladder.

"Safe landing. Whew... I thought I was definitely going to crash..."

On the other side, Leticia's face was pale, and her arms were tightly wrapped around Shirou's waist.

"It's safe now."

Shirou said this, but the girl still held on tightly and wouldn't let go.

"I'm sorry, but..."

It's normal for Leticia to be so scared that she can't move.