It was a long time coming.
A far too long and twisted fate.
"Is that his army? There's quite a lot of them. Must be in the thousands. Did he kill that many, or were there already so many corpses here?"
"This is horrible. To think he'd use the bodies of the dead, no matter the reason."
The time had come to settle this ill-fated connection. Ryuji's army of the living dead appeared in the distance.
[The children are in the rear. I suppose it's because they're slow. But to make them walk all this way... he's really not in his right mind.]
"All the way here... on foot."
From Bordeaux to here. That was an insane distance to walk. Was he sane?
Many of the children must have fallen behind or collapsed and died along the way.
"He's truly a creature that has no right to exist."
My stomach churned. Why did a monster like him even exist?
"The rear, huh. Then that means we can fight freely at the front. Ritsuka and Mash, stick close to Kiyohime."
Kiyohime was likely the strongest one here. Asterios had another job to do.
"Got it."
"Atalante. Do you think you can snipe him from here?"
Sniping. The distance was several kilometers. I was asking if she could hit Da Vinci or another Servant, not Ryuji, and she smiled brightly.
"Master, did you know?"
"Know what?"
"My Noble Phantasm is fundamentally Anti-Army. However, depending on how I use it, it can also function as an Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm."
With a faint smile, she nocked two arrows to her bowstring and raised the bow towards the sky.
It was a prayer to Artemis and Apollo. The sibling gods.
"-Phoebus Catastrophe- (Complaint Arrow-Letter)"
The arrows were shot high into the sky. Soon, a myriad of starry lights appeared. But something was strange. Normally, countless arrows of light would rain down.
But after the cluster of stars, what appeared was a single point of light.
It was just like...
"Chiron. Did you think I couldn't do it, even though we were both disciples of Lady Artemis? Master, I am your Servant, and the hunter who will hunt down all your enemies. Once I've taken aim, I never miss."
Right, I'd forgotten. No, it was a story that was easy to forget. After all, Atalante had never once shown this method of fighting.
Her Noble Phantasm was fundamentally an Anti-Army type that rained down arrows of light. But she could also condense that light into a single point—a single arrow. Just like Chiron.
Its power might be lower than Chiron's, but according to lore, that single strike had enough power to instantly kill a Servant.
The arrow of light shot down from the heavens. The arrow, blessed by Apollo and Artemis, fell toward the enemy's camp.
THUMP!
"Huh?"
And that arrow of light pierced straight through Da Vinci's chest.
"That man is your prey, Master. So leave the others to us."
"Please leave the children to us."
Kiyohime smiled, unfolding her fan towards the army of the living dead before us. Her fan ignited, and with a great swing, a wave of holy flames engulfed them.
The flames of a dragon that incinerated everything. Soon, Yu Miaoyi was standing in Asterios's large hand.
"Now."
"UOOOOOOOH!!!"
Asterios let out a roar and threw Yu Miaoyi high into the air.
"Honestly, it's a pain, but you should be grateful that I, your senior, am fighting for you, my junior."
Her red eyes, reflecting the moonlight, were stained the color of blood. Her body then exploded, scattering her blood across the world.
-Eternal Lament- (Cursed Blood, Corpse-Severing, Mourning Song). She destroys her own elemental body, causing her magical energy to run rampant. Assimilating with nature, she invokes a curse, creating abnormal weather—a natural disaster.
Because of her interference, it was no simple natural disaster. It was a cataclysm imbued with the curse of an elemental.
From the blood-stained sky, blades of blood rained down, and crimson lightning struck from the clear heavens.
"My dear Husband. You desire a one-on-one duel with that man, don't you?"
"Yeah, I do."
"As you can see, the path is open. Of course, the enemy will try to block it again. But?"
"Right, leave it to us and go."
Atalante took out the Pelt of the Calydonian Boar and put it on. By wearing the hide of the demonic beast, she transformed into a demonic being. Previously, she had been constantly steeped in pleasure, so there was no penalty of pain, but now she suppressed the agony of her rampaging form with sheer willpower.
"We shall open a path for you."
Wreathed in black demonic energy, Atalante dashed forward, while Kiyohime, having drawn her naginata, was now wreathed in flames.
Atalante's claws and Kiyohime's naginata tore through the corpses.
"Sho, be careful."
"Don't worry."
I patted Ritsuka's shoulder, and Asterios lifted me up.
"Let's go, Master!"
"Full speed ahead!"
"MMMOOOOOOO!!!"
With me on his shoulder, Asterios charged forward. Kiyohime's flames and the arrows of the black-clad Atalante pulverized the corpses aiming for us, and we quickly reached Ryuji, who was at the center of the army.
"Kch! Protect me!!!"
At his shout, Servants rushed out from his side.
It was Carmilla and d'Eon. When had he gotten them? Well, it didn't matter. It wasn't important.
"UOOOOOOOH!!!"
As he set me down, Asterios swung his twin axes, cutting them both down. Carmilla's body was helplessly bisected, and she died in an instant. D'Eon, like a true knight, somehow managed to block, but was overwhelmed by the sheer force and sent flying.
"BB."
[Yes, yes~ Barrier deployed!]
Corpses swarmed to protect Ryuji. A blue dome-shaped barrier materialized around Ryuji and me.
It was a barrier strong enough that mere corpses couldn't penetrate it.
"You bastard."
"You have no more Servants to protect you. It's just you and me now."
He got off his motorcycle. Was that something Da Vinci made? To think he could build something like that in the Middle Ages. Was he exiled with a few parts?
Who cares.
"It's one-on-one now, isn't it? How about it? A man-to-man fight."
I cracked my neck and walked toward him. He glared at me, and then smoke billowed from his right prosthetic arm. Was it steam?
Instead of answering, he stared at me as if to kill and threw his right fist. Well, dodging it was impossible. His right fist was fast. Was it thanks to that prosthetic?
WHAM!!!
"You little shit, who do you think you are? Just because it's one-on-one, you think you can beat me? You look like you'd break if I tapped you— Hmm?"
His prosthetic arm, hissing steam, had shot out to smash my head, and it had connected.
But I was perfectly fine. I genuinely wanted to finish this with my bare fists, but if he was going to play like this, then so would I.
"Dust of Osiris. Didn't even tickle. You know?"
"You, what did you do! You coward—!"
Cutting off his filthy nonsense, my right fist smashed into his face. He staggered from the impact.
"Coward? What, did you think you were fighting some kind of saint? If you want a mud fight, I'll give you one. This is a Chaldea Mystic Code, modified by BB. It can use the functions of every Mystic Code, you see?"
"You son of a bitch!!!"
This time, Ryuji swung his left fist. I could see his right fist twitching. He was planning to hit me with his right as soon as the left one landed.
"Reactive Reinforcement."
I used the function of the Royal Brand. A Quick enhancement. Faster than his punch, which now seemed to move in slow motion, my own fist shattered his nose.
"Urgh! You, you bastard!"
"Come on. Let's fight until one of us is dead."
I had no intention of killing you one-sidedly. This would be meaningless unless I fought you with my own hands and won. I want to fight you, to properly defeat you, to break you myself.
This long and twisted fate ends here.
What I couldn't do back then, I will do today.