On the other side, the Titled Douluo of the Holy Spirit Cult and the Shrek Elders had long since picked their opponents. Flashes of soul skills and booming impacts erupted one after another.
Instinctively, their battle circles drifted away from the area where Hoolay and the two Servants were clashing—at that level, even the shockwaves alone could grievously wound or even tear apart an ordinary Titled Douluo. No one dared step into that death zone.
"Bei Bei, I have neither the intent nor the right to judge your choice."
Jing Yuan walked over to Bei Bei with unhurried steps. His gilded eyes were calm as still water. His gaze fell on the blackhaired girl in Bei Bei's arms—unconscious, her aura weak. His tone was mild, yet carried a worldweary clarity.
"But now that you've set foot on this road of no return—seeing former teachers and friends turn into enemies with your own eyes… do you truly feel no regret at all?"
Bei Bei lowered his head further, staring at Tang Ya's bloodless face.
Those blue eyes, usually filled with resolve, now held only unfathomable gentleness and ironclad determination.
He did not hesitate. He shook his head lightly. Though soft, his voice was granitefirm.
"I don't regret it."
For her sake, even if he bore the brand of traitor, even if he stood against the whole world, he would accept it with no complaint.
"I see…"
Jing Yuan let out an almost inaudible sigh. Looking at the young couple clinging to one another amid the ruins, he shook his head helplessly, and an old verse surfaced of its own accord.
"What is love in this world, that it commands life and death?"
It wasn't that he couldn't understand such an obsessive choice.
Along life's long road, how many has he seen who, for kin, for dearest friends, for a beloved one, would turn into a demon with a single thought and cast aside everything?
His dear friend Dan Feng, who committed grave errors in pursuit of the dead; and Yingxing, who touched taboo to reclaim a friend's life, only to reap bitter fruit… were they not the same?
What the heart clings to is both one's greatest weakness and one's greatest strength.
Thus he would not, and had no standing to, censure Bei Bei.
It was simply the other's choice before a cruel fate. Whatever the outcome, he would have to bear it alone.
As Jing Yuan's thoughts flowed—
Zheng—!
A clear, ethereal zither note like running springwater cut through the battlefield's clamor.
An arcing blade of swordqi with a rippling, watery sheen ripped the air—not a killing blow, but a clear probe and invitation to duel—aiming precisely at Jing Yuan's face.
Jing Yuan lifted his gilded eyes a fraction. Without any visible motion, a dense ring of golden lightning crackled from his body.
That domineering thunder, like a living shield, instantly shredded the probing swordqi, grinding it to nothing.
"Esteemed Servant with an extraordinary bearing, allow me—the great Kaiser—and my most trusted minister to be your opponents. What say you?"
A female voice rang out ahead—somewhat theatrical, yet brimming with confidence.
At some point, Cerydra had stepped atop a jutting, shattered pillar, even placing a stone beneath her feet to make herself stand taller than Hysilens beside her.
She wore a bright, confident smile, as if what was about to begin wasn't a brutal battle but a delightful match of wits.
At her side, Hysilens slowly stowed sword and zither—clearly, the swordqi just now was her work. Rather than an ambush, it was a greeting in her own style.
"In a Holy Grail War, battles between Servants are an inescapable fate."
Jing Yuan's expression was tranquil as he slowly raised his right hand.
In an instant, dazzling golden lightning gathered and stretched in his palm, finally condensing into an austere, imposing longhaft formation blade wrapped in thunderbolts.
The blade gleamed with icy menace; arcs of electricity leapt, humming low and dangerous.
"Jing Yuan of the Xianzhou Luofu."
He held the blade across him. His tone was even, yet carried a sweeping dominance.
"I will accompany you to the end."
He accepted the duel readily. Yet at the very moment he moved to engage, his razorkeen gaze swept, almost idly, to the ruins of a highrise several kilometers away, halfcollapsed.
There, he sensed an extremely subtle yet real watching presence and threat—like a venomous snake lurking in the dark.
…
"Wah! What terrifying instincts! He noticed me from this far away?"
Several kilometers off, deep in the shadows of the collapsed building, Lemuen jerked her head back like a startled rabbit, hurriedly retracting the custom sniper rifle that had been shouldered and aimed for some time.
Patting her chest, still heaving slightly with surprise, she stuck out her tongue playfully and muttered to herself.
She'd wanted to see if she could give him a surprise with a single shot when his attention was drawn away—but she'd never imagined his intuition would be this inhuman. Across such distance and chaos, he still instantly caught that tiniest wisp of killing intent.
"With a monster of this level, the chance of a successful sniping ambush is basically zero…"
Lemuen tilted her head, quick eyes darting as she soon gave up on any idea of pinning or harassing.
"As for helping to distract him? Doesn't seem necessary~"
She hummed lightly, relaxing.
After all, if she wanted to stay in this interesting world, there was no need to fight to the death for that Holy Grail—she just had to find Lu Jingming, act cutesy and beg a little. Given how his overthetop fondness for her might as well be written on his face, he'd probably agree to help her stay without hesitation.
After all, those who are favored have nothing to fear.
…
Above the ruins of the Mingdu Imperial Palace, jagged walls and shattered beams jutted like the bones of a giant, clawing at the dim sky.
He Caitou stood amid the desolation, his face so dark it seemed ink might drip from it.
His gaze, like a poisonquenched dagger, was nailed to a figure seated in a wheelchair in the distance—Xu Tianran.
Yet before Xu Tianran, two figures stood like insurmountable barriers.
An elder and a beautiful woman—both exuding an aura beyond reason. Their nearly tangible oppressive pressure spread like an unseen tide, compressing the air until it grew heavy and nearly stagnant.
It was a pressure far beyond Elder Xuan—like two invisible mountains pinning heaven and earth, weighing on his heart, making every breath a struggle, his lungs aching as if squeezed.
If Karna were not standing quietly before him, the warm, tenacious golden radiance around him guarding Caitou like the most loyal bulwark, he would likely already be creaking in his bones and collapsed under the combined presence of the two Limit Douluo.
A fierce mix of remorse and helplessness gnawed at He Caitou's heart like a viper—he'd been too reckless! The fire of revenge had burned away his reason.
Karna's strength was unfathomable—earthshaking. But he himself… was too weak.
So weak he could not help at all, and instead had become the greatest burden and shackle to this powerful Servant.
"Karna!"
He Caitou drew a sharp breath; the air tasted of blood and dust, stinging his throat.
His voice trembled with pentup fury and grim resolve, yet was crystal clear:
"Kill Xu Tianran. Don't worry about me."
He was ready to die.
Family blood debt, ten years of forbearance, the sufferings of exile… everything should end today.
Before he closed his eyes, he had to see Xu Tianran—and that Emperor who lay ill in the deep palace after seizing power—reach hell before he did.
He did not know that the current Emperor of the Sun Moon Empire, barely clinging to life, had already died of fright amid the cataclysmic blast and quake from Karna's earlier Noble Phantasm.
Now, only Xu Tianran remained on his sea of blood revenge list.
"Master, you…"
Karna's golden brows knit slightly. In those eyes that held the core brilliance and compassion of the sun, a faint flicker of puzzlement passed.
Even with two newcomers of terrifying aura at Xu Tianran's side, he was absolutely confident he could get his Master out of this deadly place safely.
If he did not have to constantly split his focus and spend great power to shield his fragile Master, then with one man and one spear, he could have carved a path through the ironwalled Mingdu palace.
Those soul tool emplacements that seemed so intimidating, the socalled elite Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion—even mighty Rank9 soul engineers—were as nothing before him, incapable of truly halting the Sun God's son.
Only the two who had arrived later—Dragon Emperor Douluo Long Xiaoyao and Death Douluo Ye Xishui, peak human Limit Douluo—could barely contend with him and temporarily stabilize the battle.
If not for their timely arrival and combined resistance, Karna, alone with his spear, might already have shattered that ace Royal Soul Engineer Legion and slaughtered it to the last.
"I have… endured for ten full years."
He Caitou's voice was hoarse, yet it bore a breakthecauldrons resolve that cut off all retreat.
He lifted his head and met Karna's sunbright gaze unflinchingly. In those eyes, he saw his own twisted, pained face reflected.
"This may be my only, and my last, chance to take revenge. So, great Son of the Sun, I beg you… help me avenge them!"
He believed that without himself as a fatal liability, Karna, unbound, would crush Xu Tianran like the sun melting snow and cleave off his head, ending a decadelong blood feud.