Facing Artoria's ultimate strike, which condensed the power of dreams and reality, light and dark, and the Root itself, Kanjuro showed no trace of fear. Instead, he had a nearly transcendent sense of relief. A complex smile played on his lips—a smile of self-deprecation, gratification, and even a bit of anticipation. He could feel that this sword had locked down all possible escape routes his Space-Time Authority could create; the pure level of power crushed the four Gospels and the eternal night treasury he relied on.
"In the end... did I still underestimate the power of the 'heart'?" he sighed inwardly. He thought everything was under his control, but he hadn't expected to be backlashed by the dream he personally wove, catalyzing an existence that exceeded his calculations. He clearly perceived that it wasn't just Artoria's own will, but also a massive will from the Reverse Side of the World, from the "Root" itself, that was supporting her in a nearly "corrective" posture, determined to completely erase him, this "anomaly." This feeling of being "targeted" by a higher existence caused a strong sense of displeasure and... humiliation to well up in his heart.
However, at the very moment that chaotic sword light was about to devour Kanjuro—
A pure white figure, carrying a resolute will, suddenly inserted herself between the two!
Jeanne spread her arms wide, like a shepherd protecting a lamb, facing that sword edge capable of tearing through cause and effect with her fragile divine body!
"Jeanne?!" Kanjuro's pupils shrank slightly, and the composure he had maintained for so long finally showed a crack. His low voice carried genuine confusion. "Why? At a time like this... you want to help me?" He had never truly trusted this Saint, only treating her as an interesting observation subject, a potential pawn that could be dyed black.
Jeanne did not look back. Her gaze firmly met the point of extreme light at the tip of Artoria's sword, her voice calm yet clearly reaching Kanjuro's ears: "Because you are my master; this is a contract. Also... in my long observation, I indeed saw the deepest ugliness and distortion of humanity in you. Your actions are undeniably evil. But..."
She paused, her tone carrying a trace of complex emotion that even she could not fully understand.
"It cannot be denied that you... more or less possess a fatal charm, don't you? That indifference that sees through everything, the arrogance that tramples on rules, and even the pure honesty regarding your own 'evil'... all of it makes this so-called'Saint' who has long since turned away from the light feel a... strange resonance."
Hearing this, Kanjuro first let out a laugh—a laugh that carried a bit of desolation and irony. Then, he freely spread his arms as if to embrace the coming end, but a deeper gloom flickered in the depths of his eyes. Jeanne's intervention added an unexpected variable to the defeat he had precisely calculated. He had been prepared to make a final, albeit futile, resistance, burning everything to at least make the will of the "Root" pay a price. But now... "Perhaps only a soul that has already fallen into darkness and wandered in despair can slightly understand the 'truth' brought by my pure 'evil', right?" he thought to himself.
"Get out of the way! Jeanne!" Artoria's voice carried a trace of undetectable trembling, the light at the sword's tip swaying slightly due to her emotional fluctuation. She could not understand why this former Holy Maiden would protect that demon at this moment.
"You clearly hesitated too, didn't you?" Jeanne keenly captured that trace of wavering. The corner of her mouth even hooked into a nearly "joyful" curve, her gaze seemingly seeing through the cracks in Artoria's solid shell. "Can you really bear to personally end him completely? It seems this Lord 'Merlin' you hate, whether true or false, is ultimately the existence with the deepest imprint and the longest companionship in your long life." Her gaze turned to Kanjuro behind her, her tone carrying a strange certainty, "Kanjuro, it seems you aren't... entirely without 'merits'."
"Hmph, nothing more than a carefully disguised illusion." Kanjuro snorted coldly, yet he did not deny it.
"Mongrel! What are you still hesitating for!" Gilgamesh, standing to the side, was already impatient. His crimson snake-like pupils were filled with deep wariness toward Kanjuro and a feverish excitement for Artoria's current power. "Do it! Artoria! Do you want to wait for him to pull out that blasphemous 'Lyleye Text' again and summon those unspeakable monsters?! This King does not wish to witness that scene of collapsing sanity again!" He had personally witnessed how Kanjuro used the power of that forbidden book to warp reality and summon horrors from the distant sea of stars—a sight that made even his spine go cold.
Gilgamesh's urging was like an alarm bell, waking Artoria. Her gaze turned sharp as she recalled Kanjuro's numerous heinous acts, including that blasphemous Cthulhu ritual. All hesitation was forcibly suppressed, and the light at the sword's tip stabilized once more, becoming even more blazing!
"Move, Jeanne! This is the final warning!"
Jeanne sighed, knowing that words could no longer change anything. She gripped the holy flag in her hand, and her pure white magic began to burn, as she prepared to use herself as a shield for the final resistance.
And Kanjuro, behind Jeanne, looked at Artoria's resolute gaze and knew the end had arrived.
The relieved smile on his face finally transformed completely into a crazed, destructive sneer.
His hands slowly rose; in his left palm, the patterns of the dark bible writhed like living creatures as the power of the four Gospels began to boil and overload recklessly. His right hand gripped the air, and the ripples of the eternal night treasury expanded behind him on an unprecedented scale. Countless blackened Noble Phantasm prototypes, radiating an ominous aura, poked their heads out, emitting a hum that thirsted for blood!
Deeper within, some older, more profane whisper began to echo in this space... even if he was destined for defeat, he would use his most frantic posture to return the favor to this world that tried to 'correct' him, to return the favor to this... most perfect 'masterpiece' he had personally nurtured!
The ultimate collision was imminent! Jeanne's interference did not stop Artoria's steps. That sword, which condensed the power of the Root and shattered dreams, carried the determination to cut through everything and continued forward! However, the target shifted from Kanjuro to the Saint standing in his way.
"Clang——!!!"
A deafening roar resounded through the night sky! It was no longer the explosion of colliding energies, but a clash of the laws of holiness and chaos, of protection and destruction!
The holy sword in Jeanne's hand, Luminosité Éternelle, erupted with an unprecedented pure white radiance. That light was not merely defensive; it carried an unyielding, almost paranoid will to protect! Upon the blade, a phantom of her being burned by flames in Rouen vaguely appeared, but those flames now transformed into the source of her power—a quality originating from martyrdom, yet transcending life and death through obsession!
Artoria's sword of chaos slashed heavily against the wall of light constructed by the holy sword. An impact powerful enough to annihilate all things struck Jeanne's defense. The light wall trembled violently, countless cracks appearing. The bones in Jeanne's arms let out a groan of being overburdened, her palms split open, and holy blood splattered. But she did not retreat a single step! In those violet eyes, what burned was no longer the divine light of faith, but a deep, dark obsession identical to Kanjuro's!
"As long as this sword remains, as long as my master's magical energy is not exhausted, my protection will not end!" Jeanne's voice came through the energy storm, carrying a heart-palpitating calmness. "This body has long since passed away in the flames; what exists now is merely a phantom relying on this obsession! Artoria, your sword cannot cut through my 'hatred' and... 'choice'!"
"Absurd!" Artoria's green eyes flashed with killing intent as she pushed her sword stance further! The gold-and-black chaotic torrent was like a raging tide, hitting Jeanne's defensive line wave after wave. She could not understand why the former Holy Maiden would go to such lengths for a demon!
Jeanne's figure became illusory again and again under the violent attacks, and the light of the holy sword dimmed repeatedly. But every time Artoria thought she could no longer hold on, a burst of pure dark magical energy from Kanjuro's direction would instantly be injected into Jeanne's body! That magic combined with her own 'undying' trait, allowing her broken body to reorganize at a speed visible to the naked eye. The dimmed holy sword bloomed with light once more, and even within that light, ominous dark patterns began to intermingle!
She seemed to have become an undying bulwark, a monster constantly reborn amidst the intertwining of light and shadow, all just to protect the man behind her who had given her this twisted 'life'.
The battle between the two was no longer a simple contest of martial skills or magical power; it was more like an ultimate judgment of will and the essence of existence! Jeanne represented the extremely twisted obsession of 'protection' after falling into darkness, while Artoria represented the 'annihilation' determination to sever all karma, including this twisted obsession!
Sword light crossed, and magical energy exploded! Every collision caused cracks in the surrounding space, as if the world itself was trembling for this beyond-specification duel.
Jeanne completely abandoned offense, pouring all her power, along with the dark magical energy supplied by Kanjuro, into defense. Using herself as a shield, she appeared precisely and repeatedly on the trajectory of Artoria's attacks. Using the holy sword, her body, and even her constantly regenerating saint graph, she forcibly blocked all lethal strikes for Kanjuro!
"Puff—!"
Another heavy blow; half of Jeanne's body was shredded by the chaotic sword qi, but her remaining hand still tightly gripped the holy sword, thrust into the ground to support herself from falling. Dark magical energy surged, and flesh and spiritual particles converged once more.
Looking at this scene, a flash of anxiety and... an imperceptible fatigue finally crossed Artoria's eyes. Continuously outputting such massive power to combat an almost undying 'barrier', even she, who had gathered the power of the Root, began to feel the pressure.
"Jeanne! What you are protecting is merely a phantom! A demon who plays with people's hearts!" Artoria shouted sternly, trying to shake her will.
Jeanne raised her face, which was currently reshaping itself, and a strange yet mournful smile actually appeared on it: "I know... but this is my choice. My... path to redemption has long since deviated from the direction of light. Sinking into this darkness might be where I truly belong."
...Just as Jeanne condensed into form again, Artoria's eyes sharpened as she seized that fleeting flaw! The chaotic sword light was like a venomous snake, bypassing the holy sword's parry and piercing directly toward Jeanne's core saint graph!
This sword was fast! Accurate! Ruthless! The power it contained was enough to completely shatter the very foundation of a Heroic Spirit's existence!
Jeanne's pupils contracted; she was already too late to fully defend!
However, just a split second before the sword tip was about to touch Jeanne—
Kanjuro's low and urgent chanting finally completed the last syllable.
"—In the name of Eternal Night, by the script of Rlyeh, I hereby construct: the Demon Domain of the End!"
Rumble——!!!
With Kanjuro as the center, an incredibly complex, profane dark magic circle radiating madness and an ominous aura suddenly expanded! The patterns of the magic circle twisted and writhed like living things, with countless indescribable tentacle phantoms faintly dancing within! Simultaneously, the ripples of the eternal night treasury behind him expanded to the limit. It no longer shot out Noble Phantasms but instead opened like a giant mouth, gushing out thick darkness that seemed to come from the cosmic abyss!
This darkness instantly swallowed the surrounding light, and even sound and the sense of space became blurred and distorted! Gilgamesh's expression changed drastically, and he suddenly flew backward. He had once witnessed a mere tip of the iceberg of this power and knew its terror deeply!
Jeanne's figure was enveloped by this sudden dark demon domain. Artoria's certain-kill sword strike, upon piercing into this thick darkness, was like a clay ox entering the sea; its speed plummeted, and its power was frantically eroded and decomposed!
"Ugh!" Artoria let out a muffled groan, feeling as if she had slashed into a boundless chaotic quagmire, with the power on her sword being rapidly consumed.
Jeanne gained a moment to breathe. Under the buff of the dark demon domain, her body was completely reshaped instantly, and her aura became even deeper and more eerie, the dark patterns on the holy sword becoming increasingly clear. She stood before Kanjuro like a guardian returned from the abyss, merging as one with this Demon Domain of the End.
Kanjuro's face turned a few shades paler; clearly, constructing a spell of this level was a huge drain on him, but the madness and excitement in his eyes burned to the extreme. He looked at Artoria, who was struggling to steady herself in the demon domain, and laughed hoarsely:
"Do you see it? Lia! This is... the true taste of 'despair'! Jeanne's immortality was merely a prelude to buy me this moment! Now, Lord Inquisitor, can you still judge this... 'truth' of mine that originates from the dark side of the universe?"
Artoria gripped the holy sword tightly, feeling the profane darkness around her trying to erode her soul and power, yet the determination in her eyes never wavered.
"No matter what kind of darkness you summon, Merlin... this sword shall surely sever it!"
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