Chapter 518: Human Instrumentality Begins
Pfft!
Golden Qi pierced through the eye socket. The pitch-black giant stood in place, seemingly stopping his movements. But in the next moment, as a huge rock from above smashed down:
An incomparably violent roar erupted.
Roar!
Boom!
With a horizontal slash of the axe-sword, the huge rock of hundreds of meters and the already accumulated gravel were instantly cleared out as if exploded.
Between Kaito Shirogane and Berserker, there were no more obstacles.
This pitch-black giant had an unimaginably keen perception towards his enemies. Not only did he notice that Kaito Shirogane didn't suffer a fatal injury, but his resurrection speed was so fast that it somewhat exceeded Kaito Shirogane's imagination.
Hum!
Golden Qi condensed again and shot out with a bang, but sure enough, when it hit Heracles, it had absolutely no effect and was directly deflected.
Is this [God Hand]...
In Kaito Shirogane's eyes, countless pieces of information converged. The transparent Swirl of the Heart seemed to want to wrap around Berserker. This pitch-black giant violently accelerated and descended from the air.
Amidst the wild dance of the axe-sword, a fierce slash descended.
Kaito Shirogane stepped on thin air. In the next moment, his body flew upwards like a zigzag line.
[Bukujutsu]!
Kaito Shirogane displayed his flight ability. Even though the consumption of Qi would intensify, he crossed paths with Heracles in an instant.
Boom!
That slash landed on the leylines below. Terrifying vibrations began to violently shake the surroundings, as if an earthquake had started.
To prevent the leylines storing magical energy from being destroyed by the two of them, Kaito Shirogane consciously began to fly upwards. Heracles, like a rampaging destroyer, fiercely pursued from behind.
When Kaito Shirogane broke out of the ground and arrived at the surface of the ruined Ryuudou Temple, the others had long disappeared.
Bang!
The pitch-black giant similarly arrived at the surface.
Kaito Shirogane knew he might have missed a hidden mission of decent rank or a hidden plot: why the black mud-polluted Berserker was hiding there with Emiya Kiritsugu.
What exactly was the true identity of that blonde woman he saw appearing in Emiya Kiritsugu's mind? Was it that Brunestud?
There was a high probability that these matters would be temporarily difficult to excavate with the disappearance of the cave.
But he didn't care much anymore.
More intuitive power appeared before his eyes.
Creak, creak...
Kaito Shirogane's body size began to expand bit by bit. Utilizing [Life Return], he began to consciously alter his physical form.
It wasn't to enhance combat power, but to... better experience Heracles's state.
Even, to let himself experience that feeling of rationality being swallowed by madness, Kaito Shirogane actively took off the [Killing Intent Crest · Forbidden] on his earlobe.
Whoosh!
Scarlet killing intent fluctuation began to ignite behind Kaito Shirogane like a wildfire. In Kaito Shirogane's fluorescent white eyes, the killing intent fluctuation swayed incessantly like a red speck of light.
"Ha~"
"You have also always been longing for an opponent like me, right, Berserker..."
"No, Heracles!"
The pitch-black giant's figure crouched slightly. In the next moment, a terrifying roar rang out among the mountains. Conversely, it was that appalling mad laughter.
"Those two guys..."
Tohsaka Rin still had lingering fear. Even having left that area, she could still hear the sound of that violent force shaking the leylines.
There was no need to lower her head to listen to the ground; she could feel the continuous vibrations.
Those were two monsters completely detached from the category of humans.
Heroic Spirit Emiya also frowned. He had quite a few injuries on his body. This Berserker possessed combat abilities that made people feel terrified.
Not just in destructive power, strength, and defense, even in close-quarters combat skills, he was no match.
Yes, a Berserker who was supposed to have lost his reason in Mad Enhancement and be unable to use most skills, actually suppressed the dual-blade-wielding Archer · Heroic Spirit Emiya with that overly huge and clumsy axe-sword.
"That guy, is somewhat abnormal..."
Heroic Spirit Emiya wanted to say something, but didn't know how to describe it.
But he indeed felt immense weirdness and maladaptation from Mercenary Tao.
He had never heard of the Assassin Class being able to fight Berserker head-on, not to mention that on the scene, he even seemed to suppress the others.
Moreover, Mercenary Tao's previous actions were also quite bizarre.
Looking at it now, rather than saying that mysterious Master was arranging Mercenary Tao's actions, it was more like this Heroic Spirit was actively taking charge of everything.
Like gathering him and the others, saying they should jointly resist some powerful White Mask, yet he had never seen White Mask appear.
He only heard from Saber and the others that Gilgamesh indeed appeared.
According to current intelligence, Gilgamesh wasn't a Heroic Spirit appearing in this Holy Grail War, but rather the Servant who survived to the end in the previous Holy Grail War.
"There's a problem with this Holy Grail War..."
Tohsaka Rin naturally also noticed this. So far, it seemed not a single Servant had died yet.
Under that Mercenary Tao's arrangement, they didn't slaughter each other, but were gathered together, as if... waiting for something.
Tohsaka Rin and Heroic Spirit Emiya ran rapidly down the mountain, soon seeing Emiya Shirou and Saber waiting at the foot of the mountain.
And that... Emiya Kiritsugu.
At this time, this man with dull eyes leaned in the misty rain, not getting too close to the others.
Suddenly, Emiya Kiritsugu seemed to sense something. The few people also simultaneously turned their heads to look at the urban area.
There, a huge explosion suddenly occurred.
A huge mushroom cloud, like an apocalyptic scene, erupted from the center and swept towards the surroundings.
That kind of high temperature could be felt even dozens of kilometers away.
"Is that... a nuclear explosion?!"
Tohsaka Rin completely didn't know how to speak, her tone trembling.
Emiya Shirou subconsciously looked at his adoptive father.
Emiya Kiritsugu looked at that piece of sky. In the next moment, a huge magic circle appeared. The explosion slowly shrank inward, and even the rushing airwaves shrank back.
Some kind of extremely brilliant magecraft was being cast...
"Perhaps, it's not magecraft..."
Emiya Kiritsugu clutched his heart, inexplicably feeling that some special person or existence existed there.
"Shirou, you and Saber wait here for a while. I'll go take a look first..."
"I want to go together!"
Before Emiya Kiritsugu could finish speaking, Emiya Shirou interrupted his adoptive father with a firm tone. He didn't want to lose his adoptive father again, didn't want to be unable to find the other party again.
Moreover... right now, he wasn't completely powerless.
Having said that, he looked at the blonde Miss Heroic Spirit. He trusted Saber wholeheartedly. He accepted his own powerlessness, but still wanted to carry out his justice in his own way.
He absolutely wouldn't accept waiting here and letting others face danger.
The red-haired boy raised his hand, the scarlet Command Spells on the back of his hand incomparably piercing. He smiled and said to his adoptive father:
"Right now, I am Saber's Master!"
"The Master of the most excellent Servant!"
Saber looked at the boy who was completely different from Emiya Kiritsugu, her eyes softening quite a bit.
Clang.
She thrust her sword into the ground and stood in front of Emiya Shirou.
Heroic Spirit Emiya looked at the boy's behavior, his eyelids lowered. Perhaps it's exactly because of this that I want to... kill myself...
The group returned to the urban area, going against the large crowd fleeing for their lives, arriving at the location where the explosion occurred. Watching the intense magical energy scattering:
The wreckage of a huge gold and red battle armor lay in a shopping street, a huge hole in its chest, with only bloodstains inside.
And ahead, outside a huge bounded field, a woman with short hair merely swung a single knife, and that bounded field covering several blocks shattered with a crack.
Revealing the King of Heroes inside, who was covered in black mud and constantly twisting.
And above, concentric rings of translucent force fields, like the most regular hexagons, completely isolated a white-robed girl in the air.
She was covered in blood, her neck having been sliced open, but at this time she was still smiling.
Beneath the King of Heroes' feet, a large amount of ripple-like things began to spread outwards. Some kind of text was flowing within those ripples.
(End of Chapter)
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