Strategic Weakness

"Ritsuka, stop her—at any cost!"

Romani's voice rang out from the communicator.

"The values of this Spirit Origin and the magical response—there's no mistake. This isn't the divine authority of the Beast Goddess Gorgon or the Mother of Creation Tiamat. This is the unique divine authority belonging to the foreign god known as Selene!"

"All of Fuyuki—no, the entire parallel planet is fracturing amid space-time tremors from the Imaginary Numbers Space...?! She's cutting this singularity out of human history and altering it!!"

"And beyond the spatial rift... lies the temple of King Solomon!"

Through the communicator, the urgent beeping of instruments operated by technical staff in Chaldea's command center accompanied Romani's panicked explanation.

"Solomon is right on the other side of the rift?!"

Mash tightened her grip on her shield's handle, completely panicked.

Everyone knew Solomon was the mastermind behind the incineration of humanity. Though they had braved endless hardships and obstacles, now that they had to face him for real, Fujimaru Ritsuka couldn't help but feel a wave of fear rise from deep within.

Even Gilgamesh and Ruler Jeanne d'Arc wore expressions of grim seriousness.

"So that original prophecy... it was pointing to this all along."

The planet burns, life screams in agony, blood flows endlessly, flames flicker—the cities, systems, and civilizations mankind spent thousands of years building face one-sided, unrelenting annihilation.

That hellish vision, once glimpsed in a trance by Ruler Jeanne d'Arc, now unfolded once again in her mind, increasingly vivid, perfectly matching the wave of destruction Selene had unleashed.

Back in Trifas, Romania, after the sudden attack by Lancer Karna, Jeanne had been invited to the Yggdmillennia clan's castle.

That night, a "divine revelation" descended in her dream. The sheer destruction of that vision left a deep impression on her.

At the start of her investigation, Jeanne suspected both the Red and Black factions of the Romanian Holy Grail War. Because of Selene, her suspicions even leaned more toward the Yggdmillennia clan.

But as she investigated further, it was the Red side—specifically the former Ruler, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, who survived in violation of the rules—that drew her scrutiny. Inevitably, her judgment grew biased.

When Amakusa Shirou revealed his goal of materializing all human souls via the Third Magic to save the world, Jeanne became convinced he was the cause of the apocalyptic vision.

After Amakusa was defeated, the Red side fell, and Rider Selene self-destructed and exited the stage, Jeanne's focus turned to the activated Greater Grail.

This ultimately led her to use her Noble Phantasm—La Pucelle—to destroy the Greater Grail in Romania.

But no matter how carefully she calculated, Jeanne never imagined that the revelation had a time delay!

The vision given by the Lord was of the future!!

Even someone as gentle as Jeanne couldn't help but feel frustrated.

A revelation is a revelation—what's with all the riddles?! Revealing a little, hiding a little, expecting her to figure it out without a single hint. Might as well have said nothing!

To hell with cryptic visions! Get out of human history, you riddle-mongers!!

"Master, I'm going!"

Without wasting words, Lancer Karna, who had also heard Romani's words, wasn't particularly moved. But to fight Selene again, even if it meant rushing into death like a moth to a flame—he would not hesitate!

Karna's action was like the first domino falling.

Rider Achilles exchanged glances with the others nearby. "Let's go!" With a grin, his steps thundered like war drums, his body surged forward like a storm, howling into battle.

As if inspired by the epic and tragic resolve of the heroes around her, the girl with pink braided hair (?) suddenly leapt into the air with great excitement. "Wuha—!" she cheered, pulling out a war horn.

In an instant, a blaring sound echoing like a dragon's roar or a godly steed's cry resounded across the heavens and earth, as if drumming for this war of humans defying the gods.

...

Just as the Servants, charged with determination, began to storm across the river toward the massive god, a streak of light suddenly flashed across the sky, heading straight for the compound housing the composite spirit summoning magic circle.

"Enemy?"

Caster Avicebron looked up and raised his hand, adorned with golden finger armor. A pulse of cold magical energy radiated outward. Within a hundred-meter radius, the ground quaked, and churning mud began to form into earthen spikes ready to launch.

"Puppeteer, that idiot woman isn't an enemy."

At that moment, Gilgamesh's voice rang out, causing Avicebron's gathered magical energy to falter.

Almost simultaneously with Gilgamesh's warning—

"Aaaaah! Not fair! You're cheating! This is cheating, ahhhh—! Wait! Gah—stop stop stop, waaaait—!"

"Gilgamesh! Catch me!!"

Gilgamesh, looking clearly annoyed, not only stepped aside reflexively but also pulled Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash with him.

Even Shirou Emiya, who reached out with the intention to catch her, was just a bit too slow—his fusion with the Archer Spirit Origin was still in its adjustment phase.

And then...

"Aaaahhhhhh—Gilgamesh! You lousy, disloyal old bastard!!!"

BANG—CRASH!

Barely missing Shirou's outstretched fingers, Ishtar slammed head-first into the ground, embedding her head into the earth. Her high-speed crash left a deep gouge in the ground as she rocketed toward the summoning circle.

It looked painful. Fujimaru and the others all thought silently.

CLANG!

Judging by the sound, she had one tough head.

"This idiot..." Gilgamesh muttered, facepalming as he looked at the goddess face-down on the ground, twitching, her face plastered against the shield-shaped Noble Phantasm.

Regardless of their relationship, Ishtar was a goddess deeply tied to him—daughter of the Mesopotamian divine king, protector of Uruk. As the king of Uruk himself, seeing his own nation's guardian goddess like this was... shameful.

"Ugh...! Damn it! How dare you humiliate me like this?! If I weren't worried about property damage... ah! I swear I'll kill you! Even if I, Rin Tohsaka, go bankrupt, I'll kill you!!"

Clutching her head, still slightly dizzy with swirls in her eyes, Ishtar stood up and roared in outrage.

"Ishtar, now you can fully indulge your destructive impulses... because you already are bankrupt," Gilgamesh said flatly.

"Eh?"

Fully regaining her senses, Ishtar looked around, and her expression changed drastically. "AAAAHHH! My real estate investments! My house!!"

This luxury villa district was completely destroyed—even the foundation was gone. Across the river, where the massive Beast Goddess's tail had crushed everything, Ishtar clearly saw it: her ancestral Tohsaka residence was no more!

Earlier, she'd been too caught up in the fight—dragged across the sky in fierce combat to the outskirts, ambushed and beaten by multiple opponents. She had barely escaped with her life, only to realize her old home was gone!

But the comedic display of the goddess would end here.

"Hm?"

At that moment, the golden ripple beside Gilgamesh abruptly shifted direction.

"Fu Hua, you and Durandal still couldn't kill her? You even used Kaitian on top of the Edge of Taixuan... even if it's just a weak pseudo-body made of spiritual particles... how is that flat woman this durable?"

With that infuriating voice came a streak of light across the sky, followed by a thunderous crash.

BOOM!

"That armor... Rider?!"

Not far away, standing atop one of the few remaining semi-intact high-rises providing ranged support to Atalanta, Chiron slowly eased the drawn bowstring, his eyes wide with astonishment at the blue streak that had plummeted from the sky like a meteor.

Durandal's entrance was nothing short of spectacular. Unlike Rita and the others who landed with graceful control, her armor seemed to have inherited a bad habit from its previous owner: a preference for hard landings. She slammed into the ground like a shell, kicking up dust that soared over a hundred meters high.

"No, it's not the same person. But one thing is clear—she's connected to Rider. Deeply."

Making her judgment, Atalanta promptly adjusted her aim.

Meanwhile, Fu Hua, who had landed gently without a sound, flexed her palm. A flicker of realization flashed through her jade-colored eyes.

"Simple martial arts don't seem to deal real damage to her. In this world's system, the distinction between mortals, demigods, and gods lies in one thing—immortality."

"We're classified as demigods, with partial immortality. That out-of-control woman may not act like a god, but she definitely has full immortality. Killing her requires either divine force or weapons capable of breaching immortality."

It was obvious: this wasn't her original body. Fu Hua's current Spirit Origin was manifested with a focus on endless martial training, close-combat prowess, and Taixu sword energy.

Against mortals or demigods with divine blood, Fu Hua could overpower and pummel them to death. But against gods, Servants with divine cores and immortality, she could injure or knock them out—killing them was another matter entirely.

(PS: In the Type-Moon world, Divinity—or immortality—is an incredibly broken trait. Powerful Servants may not have Divinity, but Servants with Divinity are never weak.)

"Durandal, your Black Abyss White Flower should be able to kill her."

Rising from the deep crater, Durandal nodded and cast a glance at Ishtar. What shocked her more, though, was the red-haired boy at Ishtar's side. Just one night, and he had changed so much.

Gilgamesh's heart sank. He had been ignored. He felt provoked—and disrespected. These women were seriously irritating.

"Miss Ataegina...."

Without wasting words, Shirou Emiya nocked an arrow and aimed a spiral-shaped blade directly at Durandal, clearly stating his stance.

After learning the truth from Fujimaru Ritsuka, he no longer held onto the hope of persuading Durandal.

She wasn't even from Earth (in Shirou's eyes), and all she did was serve her god. There was no fault in that. Just as there was no fault in Shirou fighting to protect the innocent from the Holy Grail War.

It was just a matter of differing positions.

"Good eyes."

Durandal suddenly leapt in front of Shirou Emiya. The Hler's Serenity in her hand faded away, replaced by a massive, pure white knight's lance. The dark-purple matte of its tip radiated an aura so sharp it made even Gilgamesh's skin prickle.

A divine weapon?!!

Curling her fingers, Durandal slowly raised Black Abyss White Flower.

...

"Rakshasa-Piercing Immortal (Brahmastra)!!"

Karna wasn't using his golden anti-god spear.

He was using his eyes.

True heroes kill with a glance!

He chanted silently, and Selene's Mystic Eyes erupted with brilliance.

Buzz—!

RUMBLE!!

In that instant, the sky split in two.

On one side, blazing solar rays cascaded downward. Searing heat waves rolled through the air, violently distorting the atmosphere. The colossal shockwave roared like a tsunami in every direction.

On the other side—crack crack...

Those struck by the dark red petrification beam—Kubaba—whether mountains, rivers, plants, or buildings, all solidified rapidly, turning ashen gray before being crushed to powder beneath the moving body of the colossal demon god.

"Petrification Mystic Eyes! Don't look directly at her eyes!!"

The torrent of clashing Noble Phantasms, after a brief deadlock, suddenly erupted, blowing away all dust in the surrounding skies for several kilometers. Even oxygen was blasted away.

The ground nearby was peeled open to a depth of three meters, debris flattened into bedrock, and even the riverbed of the Mion River was exposed as massive waves surged.

The crackling dark-red arcs of energy surged outward. Lancer Karna felt as if the very flames surrounding him had come to a standstill.

"Karna, you've slowed."

Selene's eyes shifted slightly as she continued to channel magical energy through both hands, eroding and reshaping the world. Her hair split into countless serpentine tendrils, each moving like a living creature, snarling like dragons and lunging at the airborne, sluggish Karna.

"Spear-tip of the Star Traversing the Skies (Diatrekhon Aster Lonkhe)!"

Just then, an undying flower of valor soared like a wind-forged meteor, piercing the heavens and slicing the oncoming serpents in half.

Feeling the faint stepping pressure across her massive form, Selene gave a low growl of irritation.

Hmph. So now they're chopping me down like a giant.

Swish swish swish!

"Hey, big s—er, Your Majesty, long time no see. A massive body doesn't just mean greater strength and magic reserves, you know."

Achilles had nearly whistled flirtatiously, but his reason kicked in just in time to stop his suicidal instinct.

"It's you... the insignificant insect."

More of Selene's hair came alive, forming a net of serpents that swept toward Achilles as he dashed across her giant snake-form hair and divine beast goddess body.

"Sluggishness isn't a problem, as long as your mana output is greater."

Countless hair-strands transformed into ferocious snake heads, weaving through the air and unleashing beam after beam of condensed energy.

Then—boom! boom! boom!

Before she could finish off Achilles, more fireballs exploded across Selene's face, chest, and abdomen.

"Again."

Feeling a few more "fleas" latch onto her, Selene raised an eyebrow. Her kilometer-long tail slammed into the ground again, sending tremors across the land.

But with such a massive body, being treated as a target was something Selene had mentally prepared for. Being battered and unsightly didn't matter—it wasn't even her real body. Even the Mother of Creation, Tiamat, had been made into a practice dummy. It couldn't be helped.

Thinking this, Selene couldn't help but reflect: showing strategic weakness with finesse was truly an art.

All the while, her hands never stopped. She continued altering the underground leyline to extract and release magical energy, increasing her mana output even further.

Goetia, hurry up and get down here already. I'm running out of ways to sell this act.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

40 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon: 

Patreon.com/DaoOfHeaven