I, Kenneth, am going to get to the root of the problem today.

Page 58

Crimson light transformed into chains that firmly imprisoned Vlad III. With a twisted, maniacal laugh, Danic, nailed to the wall, completely cut off Vlad III's path to suicide.

"With a Command Spell, Vlad Zeppesh, activate the Noble Phantasm—Bloodline!"

"I...I'm not a vampire! Danick! I'm going to kill you!"

Bang! The command seal shattered under Vlad III's outburst. Sharp fingernails pierced the floor, writhing flesh stretched the fitted robes, and bulging eyes were engulfed in crimson. The beast that had broken free of its cage roared and broke free of the evil restraints of the command seal. Its withered white palm suddenly pierced through the magician who had trampled on the dignity of the heroic spirits.

"Pfft...cough cough! You are a vampire, you are a monster! In the name of the Command Seal, Dracula the Vampire, accept my soul without reservation! Engrave everything about me into your spirit origin!"

His head flew off, leaving behind a maniacal smile. The soul-devouring worms parasitized everything about him in the hero who descended from his seat. Red light shot through the broken roof and into the sky. On the eve of the light cannon falling from the sky, a monster that was neither Danic nor Dracula was born.

A beam of light tore through the night sky and fell. The ancient castle, which had stood for hundreds of years, collapsed under the massive amount of magic. The broken bricks and stones shattered in the blinding white light. The magic, compressed to a crimson red, crashed unstoppably onto the planet's surface. The earth began to tremble, and the deep rocks began to crumble. The artificial humans on the rear defense line fell in droves under this tremor originating from the planet.

"Buzz!"

The roar from a thousand meters in the sky grew sharper and sharper, and the crimson breath spread. Under this great force from the sky, the androids who were lying on the ground were blown into the sky like leaves. Even with their eyes closed, the scorching flames still penetrated their flesh and blood and shot into the eyes of everyone present. The scorching air waves ignited the hair covering their bodies, and the high-frequency shrieks stole all the colors from the world.

After an unknown amount of time, the apocalyptic scene collapsed. On the plains, wails echoed endlessly. The exposed rock layers were scorched red by the shockwave. The castle of the Thousand World Tree became history under the attack of the Sky Garden. Beneath the giant crater burning with flames, the magic of the Greater Grail leaked out without reservation through the soil, revealing the mystery it had accumulated for more than sixty years.

As the gunfire ceased, Semiramis, seated on her throne, pointed a finger, and an invisible force field enveloped the ruins of the Yggdrasil. The loose soil and rubble covering the ground rose from the force field overflowing from the sky, and the black coffin emerged. In the storm brought about by the spiraling purple light, the white light of the Greater Grail overwhelmed the wildfire and illuminated the plain.

"We won this war."

With the composure of a victor, under Semiramis's control, the Great Grail, radiating a shimmering white light, was separated from the earth's veins that nurtured it, surrounded by a black coffin. Its rocky outer shell shattered, like amber encased in resin. Time itself stood still under the spell of the law. Through the soft golden light, Justeza, clad in the Garment of Heaven, slept with her eyes closed in a cage built of miracles.

The void closed, and the nearly full Greater Grail was completely embedded inside the Hanging Gardens, outside the World Tree. Jeanne, who arrived late, trembled and collapsed to the ground after witnessing the full view of the Greater Grail. She saw it, saw a girl dancing in a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood, saw a beast that devoured human reason. It was an anomaly far beyond Amakusa Shirou's. This was the true dark secret of this Holy Grail War.

"How could this be... that kind of thing... how could it possibly exist! Father! Why can't you see these things, even though you have the same revelation as me!"

"Hey, hey, hey, Joan of Arc, what did you see? Is that the Holy Grail?"

Faced with Joan of Arc suddenly collapsing to the ground, Mordred, one of the Muggles, summoned her armor, looking like she wanted to go down and fight. She saw it, saw the man who had beaten her up badly being rubbed and rubbed by the Black Berserker. In order to get revenge, Mordred decided to go and touch that big black guy.

"No, that thing is definitely not the Holy Grail! It is a true anomaly, Red Saber, please join me in destroying that thing."

"what?"

Just as Mordred was in a state of UC due to Jeanne's outburst, the ruins of the World Tree, with the Sky Garden carrying the embryo of the beast rising into the sky, finally saw Kenneth appear before Avisbronn's former workshop, the magical factory composed of homunculus.

"Go, Karna, don't worry about my safety, go and sever your obsession."

Unmoved by Kenneth's words, even with Arjuna's presence so close, Karna decided to suppress the surging blood within him in the face of the immortal vampire.

"It's the same as before, it's okay. I'm not the magician you need to give your all to now. Assassin and Chris are still here, trust them. Besides, you've always been here, haven't you? I'll summon you when necessary."

Kenneth showed Karna the Command Seals on the back of his hand; the sun-shaped earrings stood out brightly in the green-lit basement. He patted Karna on the shoulder and whispered to him:

"Go, this is your destiny. You must come back, Karna."

Upon meeting Kenneth's gaze and noticing something, Karna nodded solemnly to Kenneth.

"I'd like to ask for your help before I return."

With Kyoko and Chris responding, Karna made a promise to Kenneth and left, withdrawing what little sincerity he had left. Kenneth then walked towards the location of the innocent monster. Beneath the shattered petri dish, the android, still breathing, stared with empty eyes at the bloodshot-eyed monster. As a creation born for the purpose of being a battery, the illogical android could not comprehend why the man before him could laugh while simultaneously emitting chilling cries.

"I am not a monster! I am not a vampire! Get out! Get out of my mind!"

You are a monster, you are a vampire, you are Dracula. What are you enduring? This is your dining hall. Drink their blood, make them your servants, and you will become the king of the night.

"Shut up! I am Vlad III! I am the King of Romania! Get out!"

[If we can control these chunks of flesh, the Holy Grail will be ours! The Holy Grail!]

...

Torn consciousnesses clashed repeatedly. The thirst for the Holy Grail dragged the monster known as Dracula into the abyss, while the maggots parasitizing his soul gained the upper hand, and the consciousness of Vlad III teetered on the brink of collapse.

“Take that bite, and there’s no turning back. Are you ready to become a monster, Vlad Tsepesh?”

Just as the fangs were about to close, a sudden sound brought Vlad III back to his senses from his daze. Under the influence of that familiar voice, Danic's resentment erupted completely at that moment.

You bastard! You ruined everything I had, you deserve to die!

With a 'thud,' as Kenneth withdrew his finger, Vlad III's body crashed to the ground, his flesh twisting and turning amidst the black mist. His blood-red eyes blazed with jealousy, and Danic's remaining consciousness drove the body to struggle, trying to tear Kenneth apart.

I'll kill you! I'll kill you! Why are you still alive? I'll...

“Mr. Danic, please be quiet until my conversation with this Grand Duke is over.”

The decree from the soul imprisoned Danic's soul with unimaginable force. Silence returned to his ears, and Kenneth leaned down to look at the terrified monster.

“Vlad Tsepesch, you loathe, you suffer, you want to break free from this curse imposed upon you by the world, you want to be etched in history as a hero, don’t you?”

"I am not a monster! I am not Dracula, I am the Grand Duke of Wallachia, I am the son of the dragon!!"

Amidst the hysterical roar, Kenneth saw through the trembling heart of the Servant before him, disregarding the other's twisted malice, and released Vlad III from his restraints.

“The devil is no longer the devil when he persists in doing good. Vlad Tsepesh, the world fears your cruelty to your enemies and speaks ill of you, but when you restrain the desires that rumors bring upon you, you are no longer Dracula.”

"I...am not Dracula?"

Watching Vlad III's fear turn into trembling, and seeing the Grand Duke's expectant eyes, Kenneth sat down in the chair Chris had brought him, and then began to manipulate the man who had been maliciously attacked and was now in a state of unease.

"Yes, you are not Dracula, you are Vlad III. Your cruelty is for the sake of your beloved homeland. The world fears your cruelty, the world only remembers your evil deeds, and distorted rumors have labeled you a monster. Prove to them that you are not a vampire named Dracula, but the son of the dragon named Dracula, the hero who protects this land!"

"I am the son of the dragon! I am Vlad III, the hero who protects this land!"

...

Chapter 154 Nemesis

Just as the monster was about to fall into the abyss, Kenneth tossed it a beam of light—a beam so powerful that the monster would desperately try to grasp it. The lingering soul vanished in an instant. Back on the surface, the floating black coffin was clearing away the remaining followers, and behind Kenneth, a crimson gaze unleashed its unreserved malice towards the invaders.

After closing his eyes and sensing the impending doom within the Greater Grail, Kenneth realized that time was running out. With nothing left to do, he sat at a tea table that Chris had somehow produced, awaiting the beast's arrival amidst the flames of war. Before he could even swallow his tea, a towering pillar of fire erupted from the plain behind him, and raindrops of pebbles fell. Chris, again seemingly pulling out a parasol from nowhere, silently stood behind Kenneth.

"A fateful showdown?"

Rewind a few minutes, Arjuna, who was leaning against his bow, opened his eyes, while not far from him, Karna, holding a gun in one hand, gazed with some worry in the direction they had come from.

"You came."

“Yes, I have come, Arjuna.”

With the divine bow in hand, Arjuna calmly looked at the somewhat absent-minded Karna, adjusted his breathing, and began to strum the bowstring.

“Karna, do you know? After I shot that arrow, I could never draw this bow again for the rest of my life.”

Karna was somewhat bewildered by Arjuna's sudden recollection of the past. Although they were brothers, their interactions before him had been limited to battlefield clashes. This calm and collected opening left Karna at a loss for words.

"To be honest, I hate you, I always have, and I still do. But I have to admit that you are the one who understands me best. Your eyes always seem to see things I don't want others to see."

Zheng——! !

The taut bowstring was pulled back to a height far greater than ever before. Taking a deep breath, Arjuna aimed at the thoughtful Karna.

“But Karna, even if I go back in time, I will not change what I did back then, because you are Karna, and you are worth it. What does it matter if I abandon the principles of a hero for you?”

At this moment, Karna, who had already seen through Arjuna's change, showed an incredulous expression. Although Karna had always felt a strange sense of pride in Arjuna's decision to kill him even if it meant violating the rules of the battlefield, Karna's feelings were inevitably somewhat complicated upon hearing the other party's acknowledgment.

"I see, I see. You feel regret too? Can an ordinary person like me make you feel regret? Arjuna."

Karna, guided by his wisdom and understanding of the cause and effect, revealed a proud expression. He raised his divine spear, and the flames of war he ignited illuminated half the sky in crimson.

"Tch, I knew I couldn't hide it from you! I knew we wouldn't get along, Karna!"

With a whoosh, Arjuna's arrow, delivered in the manner of a third brother's greeting, tore through the earth and hurtled towards Karna. The bolt exploded, and the writhing lightning serpents shattered the already cratered ground. With his divine bow held horizontally before him, Arjuna knew that such an attack was merely a prelude to battle for the man. As Arjuna predicted, the lightning dissipated, and Karna's raised right hand firmly grasped the arrow in his palm. The leaked lightning only managed to create sparks on Karna's golden armor.

"Is this your resolve, Arjuna? I sense your conviction, and so, in response, I will fight you without holding back!"

The divine spear trembled with the fervor of its master, and its fiery wings melted through the ground, lifting Karna's body into the sky. At this moment, the two, whose fates were intertwined, reached a consensus on their beliefs for the first time. Regardless of their positions or countries, they fought for the sake of fighting, putting everything on the weapons in their hands, and putting an end to the regrets of their lives tonight.

Raising his hand and closing his eyes, Karna's aura surged with the flames of his spear, yearning for a response. Arjuna's face was filled with fervor; he saw it—he saw a man who, like him, craved battle. This time, the other man carried no one else's expectations; this time, this man fought for him!

"Karna!"

Arjuna!

The simultaneous battle cries ignited the already tense atmosphere, and the crimson flames that filled the sky, dragged by the divine spear, pierced the earth with the power to crush the heavens; the spiraling blue flames, guided by the lightning arrows, pierced the sky with the conviction to shoot down the sun.

A towering pillar of fire pierced the deep night sky, sending flying rocks streaking across the heavens like meteors under the scorching heat of the divine flames. Blue and red flames intertwined and swirled upwards, and men of similar blue and red broke through the barriers, clashing together in the endless flames. No words were needed, no communication required; their weapons were enough to make each other feel their intense heat.

Noisy!

The lightning blade sliced ​​through the flowing heat along the spear shaft, and Karna's arm armor pressed forward, shattering the illusory blade light. In the exploding lightning, black and red eyes briefly met. At that moment, Arjuna smiled—a genuine smile from the heart. The divine bow, wreathed in lightning, fell heavily, and the spear tip, radiating blazing fire, stopped just short of Arjuna's throat.

With a slight tilt of his body, he stepped forward, and amidst a piercing scraping sound, the bowstring binding the divine spear stripped away all the viscous fire. The spear flew from his hand, the string like a streak of light. Facing this strike aimed straight for his throat, Karna slightly bent his body and pulled his right arm back. Amidst his flowing white hair, a fist dripping with flames slammed down onto Arjuna's breastplate.

"Weapons are merely external objects; a knight does not die unarmed. This is something I have just learned."

Click!

The golden breastplate shattered, and Arjuna's body, with its fiery tail, flew backward like a meteor from Karna's attack. Karna, his fingers outstretched, returned his spear to its place and, having regained his composure, raised it to look at Arjuna, who was buried under the rubble.

"Knights don't die unarmed? It seems you've been through a lot of battles without my knowledge."

Arjuna rose from the collapsed cliff, casually tossing aside his shattered breastplate. Feeling the burning sensation on his chest, Arjuna looked at Karna with a flicker in his eyes.

"Yes, although I have no memory of it, I saw a magnificent battle through Master's eyes. So I can also shine like that? I'm really a little embarrassed."

...

They gazed at each other, echoing each other from afar. Freed from the shackles they carried, the two, from opposing sides, finally began to communicate peacefully across a thousand years. But even so, both knew that this exchange was merely an interlude in the battle, and that the other's blood was boiling just as fiercely as their own.

"It was indeed a crisis-ridden experience; your story is fascinating."

"Yes, that's what I think too."

As Karna finished speaking, with a clang, the two men, nearly a hundred meters apart, clashed simultaneously. Spear tips pierced the heart, while thunder blades aimed for the throat. The decisiveness of their attacks made the peace of seconds before seem like an illusion. The golden spear, trailing flames, fell, and Arjuna lightly touched the ground to avoid the blow. Amidst the flying debris, he nocked his bow, drew the string, and a thunderbird-like arrow tore through the fire curtain, hurtling towards the gleaming gold in the darkness.

Swish swish!

With all his might, the arrow, like a streak of light, pierced the darkness and sealed Karna behind the curtain of fire. The golden spear, flowing with blazing heat, pierced the bluebird, and the released flames tore apart the cage forged by lightning. Amidst the crackling lightning, Arjuna, stepping through the flames, raised his longbow and appeared before Karna.

Zheng! !

The bowstring, as thin as a hair, vibrated with a continuous tremor as it was disturbed by the spear tip, which was wreathed in flames. Lightning and sparks mingled in mid-air, and in that instant, the lightning blade, which had been thrust backward, was about to cut the man in front of it in two with unstoppable momentum.

With a series of cracking sounds, the armor formed from the sun solidified into a round shield, blocking the slash in front of him. The raised spear tip flipped and reached Arjuna's heart. Lightning burst forth, and the lightning blade at the end of the longbow suddenly expanded, tightly locking the thrusting arms in place.

Flames swirled in Karna's eyes, and scorching breath shot forth from them. As far as the eye could see, earth and rocks flew, and even the flowing lava could not conceal the scars on the ground. Knowing Karna's attacks by heart, Arjuna, possessing him, simultaneously unleashed the lightning blade from the other side of his longbow. Raging lightning flashed across Karna's face, turning his streaks of white hair to ashes.

The breath shot from the ground to the sky, shattering the thick clouds in the night sky. The retreating hand grasped the spear handle that was about to slip from his grasp, and the long spear, which stretched across half a circle, drew out a crescent-shaped flame and slammed down heavily.

With a deafening roar, Arjuna's legs sank deep into the ground as it crumbled. Amidst the trembling of the divine bow, a burst of lightning tore apart the soil that had submerged his legs. Under the outward release of this violent magical power, Karna was forced back several steps. In those few short steps, several arrows pierced through the flames and struck Karna's golden armor.

A tingling sensation surged through his brain. In that brief moment of distraction, Arjuna, wielding his divine bow, once again charged towards Karna. He released the drawn bowstring, and a torrent of violent lightning enveloped Karna at point-blank range. The lightning serpent pierced through the flames and struck the golden armor; the blue lightning shattered the rocks, unleashing the mythical damage upon Karna's body without reservation.

Azure flames spread out, and the divine bow, crackling with lightning, crashed down heavily towards Karna, who was bathed in a sea of ​​lightning. The erupting flames dispersed the sea of ​​lightning, and a hand, teeming with lightning, clamped the divine bow to Karna's forehead by the slightest margin. Pain appeared on his calm face, and the continuously released flames engulfed the two locked in a stalemate.

The spreading fireballs tore through the earth, covering an area of ​​hundreds of meters like an expanding sun. The rock beneath their feet changed from pitch black to crimson, then flowed, and lakes of lava melted everything they touched. Behind the distorted curtain of fire, blue and red light cleaved the river of stone and fire in two. Stepping on the intense heat that could incinerate flesh, Karna and Arjuna clashed again and again, sending up sprays of lava. Karna's spear swept across, knocking Arjuna's longbow away.

With the heat of melting gold and severing iron, the gilded spear pierced through Arjuna's upper body. Facing this potentially fatal blow, Arjuna's body advanced instead of retreating. As the spear tip pierced through his inner armor, Arjuna's right fist, which was bound by Indra's raging thunder, broke through the blockade and landed on Karna.

Puff-!

Click——!

The sounds of flesh tearing and armor shattering rang out simultaneously. Fine cracks appeared on the armor forged from the sun disc, and a hideous scorch wound, gradually deepening in depth, appeared on Arjuna's body, which had also retreated several steps.

"A knight does not die unarmed, Karna."

"Ahem! Oh, I see. It seems you've learned something too."

Wiping away the traces of blood from the corner of his mouth, Karna looked at Arjuna, who had retrieved his divine bow, with a joyful expression. He was improving, and so was his opponent; this was the kind of battle he had been waiting for. Pulling his divine spear from the ground, Karna, with wings of fire, clashed with Arjuna once more, riding the flowing flames.

The midday update is a little delayed because I'm not entirely satisfied with the writing; I'm a newbie and need to revise it.

I'm not entirely satisfied with what I wrote, so please bear with me a little while, everyone.

.................................................. ........................

Chapter 155 The Clash Between Two

Having witnessed true horror, Jeanne no longer had the intention of pursuing Amakusa. Faced with evil that could sever all human reason, Amakusa's Human Orange Juice Project was a good thing. The Aerial Garden was still sweeping through, and Servants unaware of the truth were still fighting. Opening her eyes, Jeanne felt that she had to do something.

"Heroic spirits gathered in this country, charging ahead and unstoppable! Even if you are irreconcilable enemies, here, at this moment, please entrust your backs to each other!"

The fluttering fluttering fluttering flags, Jeanne's voice, though soft, reached the ears of every Servant present. Karna and Arjuna continued their heartfelt conversation, while Achilles followed in Berserker's footsteps and stepped into the Sky Garden. Of the Servants present, only Mordred looked at Jeanne with a subtle gaze.

"Did you notice? But I can't let you continue like this."

Through the repetition of the madman, Kenneth also understood Joan of Arc's plan. The Holy Grail offerings were not yet complete, and Kenneth could not allow Joan of Arc to disrupt his plans.

"Human reason faces a crisis of destruction today. In the name of the Lord, let Him become your strong shield. Together with me, let us... perish!"