The instant the battle began, Odysseus surged forward, cutting in to hold off both Shiomi and Scáthach at once, buying Chiron room to fall back and fire from a safer distance.
The armor Odysseus wore was no ordinary gear. It was a defensive armament forged by the Olympian gods themselves: the Bounded Field Noble Phantasm, Aegis.
Originally, it was a conceptual defense created by the gods, an extraordinarily powerful barrier in its own right. But because Odysseus enjoyed the favor of the goddess Athena, he was granted a rare exception, allowed to wear that very concept as armor.
In other words, it was an invincible suit of divine steel, backed by conceptual protection: an A-rank, constantly active Noble Phantasm.
That was why Odysseus had the confidence to stop Shiomi and Scáthach on his own. Even barehanded, the armored limbs of his body were weapons in their own right, equally suited to attack and defense.
He grabbed the pair's crimson spears without the slightest hesitation. The blades screeched against his gauntlets as he threw all his strength into keeping them from pulling away.
At the stern, Chiron caught the moment the struggle locked into a stalemate and loosed a rapid volley, timing it down to the heartbeat.
Thud!
But Odysseus's plan broke on a simple fact the two of them shared: each still had a second spear.
The strike didn't pierce the strategist's body, but the sheer impact was enough to shake him loose. His grip gave way, and he was hurled backward.
Chiron's dense arrowstorm followed, only to be swept aside by the master-and-disciple spearwork, every shot knocked from the air as if water couldn't even seep through.
"Beautiful," Chiron breathed, genuinely impressed. "To coordinate spearwork that perfectly…"
Shiomi and the others didn't have the leisure to listen.
As Odysseus flew back, six autonomous flying units peeled away from his armor and unleashed golden rays of magical energy at them.
Offense and defense in one.
They could harry and strike from multiple directions, attacking from blind angles most opponents would never anticipate. Under that barrage, most targets would die on the spot.
But it had one clear weakness.
The output simply wasn't enough. Against enemies of this caliber, it was little more than an annoyance.
By the time Odysseus hit the deck again, Shiomi was already on him. He closed in, flipped into a descending cleave, and slammed his crimson spear down hard, forcing Odysseus back into defense.
At the same moment, Scáthach sprang upward, planting a foot on Shiomi's shoulder and vaulting cleanly over the line of fire, slipping past Chiron's arrowheads with ease.
Chiron might have looked like nothing but an archer, but Scáthach didn't underestimate him for a second.
Like her, he was a teacher in his own legend, a mentor who had trained heroes whose names were carved into human history.
And a teacher of heroes was never someone who only knew how to pluck a bowstring. He would have mastered every weapon and every art of war.
Chiron brought his bow up like a shield, knocking Scáthach's spear aside, then seized the opening to counter with his fists and feet.
"Thinking you can face me with nothing but your hands and feet is a bit too arrogant, Chiron."
Scáthach spun her crimson spear, scarlet spear-flowers blooming around her and sealing off any easy approach.
"True enough. Standing against the famed Queen of the Land of Shadows without a proper weapon does seem reckless," Chiron replied calmly. "Perhaps that's what comes of focusing too much on archery."
Even as he spoke, he drew the bowstring again. Another stream of arrows flew forth, and just as before, they were cleanly knocked aside by Scáthach's crimson spear.
"As for being famous," Scáthach said lightly, "my dear disciple once told me that in Proper Human History, you're actually the more well-known one."
Magecraft began to cling to every sweep of her spear. Each strike was no longer limited to the reach of the weapon itself. The beautiful yet terrifying Queen of the Realm of the Dead became a raging storm, tearing into Odysseus's flagship.
The divine bows mounted along the ship's rails shattered under her unrestrained assault. As the bow bodies broke apart, their Mana-formed strings dissipated into nothing.
Her range continued to expand, and Odysseus, driven closer by Shiomi's pressure, found himself at risk of being caught in the fallout.
He chose decisiveness.
Odysseus released all his Mana at once, every strike turning into a magical projectile as he unleashed a wide-area bombardment.
Under such an exchange, the deck of the Olympus fleet's most elite flagship was reduced to ruins, stripped of the dignity and splendor it had possessed just moments earlier. There was no trace left of its former glory.
Odysseus didn't care.
For a commander, dignity existed only at the edge of the blade, and glory only in victory.
Through repeated probing strikes with the crimson spear, Shiomi gradually grasped the true nature of Odysseus's armored Noble Phantasm. In the middle of their clash, he abruptly switched weapons.
Seeing the silver spear thrust toward him, Odysseus raised an arm. Three layers of Mana-formed shields snapped into place in an instant.
"A defense that needs no setup and completes itself instantly. That really is a convenient Noble Phantasm,"
Shiomi remarked as Longinus pierced slightly into the first layer before losing all momentum.
He couldn't help but wonder how this armor compared to Karna's golden cuirass.
Seizing the brief pause, Odysseus released the floating units from his armor. They gathered Mana behind Shiomi and fired in a single burst.
Shiomi pulled Longinus back and twisted aside, each attack grazing past him without ever landing.
In that same flow of motion, Gungnir struck.
Within a single second, six spears thrust out from six directions, punching straight through the floating units.
Odysseus didn't react in the slightest. That distraction was all he needed.
The stringless bow completed its charge in that opening, its aim locked firmly onto Shiomi.
Before Chaldea had arrived, this Lostbelt's Odysseus, blessed by Zeus, had slain the Proper Human History Odysseus summoned by the Counter Force. By absorbing all of his knowledge, he had also gained the qualifications to wield this Noble Phantasm.
"Love's Radiant Stringless Bow - Penelope!"
The Lostbelt Odysseus didn't understand the meaning behind the True Name. To him, it was simply a powerful weapon.
The result, however, fell short of expectations.
Even with the True Name released, the bowless, stringless arrow of light erupted from his arm in a torrent of Mana. Shiomi didn't even bother with a True Name release in response. He simply stepped forward and brought Gungnir down in a single cleaving strike, splitting the attack apart and sending it dispersing to either side, further tearing into the flagship's hull.
"If that's all you've got, you'd be better off staying in the rear and commanding next time, strategist," Shiomi said coolly. "Assuming there is a next time."
His grip shifted as Mana surged through Gungnir.
"Longinus!"
Just as he invoked the True Name and moved to finish Odysseus, the flagship suddenly roared to life and began to shake violently. The sudden upheaval threw off Shiomi's footing, disrupting the strike and preventing it from being unleashed at full power.
A massive white machine rose rapidly from within the ship's hold, its colossal frame interposing itself and blocking Shiomi's Noble Phantasm.