The Saint of Winter, Justeaze, hovered within the pale pillar of light cast by the Holy Grail. Her pure white dress moved without wind, the black lines flowing upon it like living things. She looked down at Kanjuro, and in those hollow, cold eyes, a clear emotion was reflected for the first time—a high-and-mighty scrutiny and cold resolve.
"Your Excellency, you are truly remarkable." Her voice was no longer merely cold; it now carried a grand resonance that seemed to emanate from the world itself. "By your own strength alone, you have played the Holy Grail War in the palm of your hand, and even those arrogant fools who attempted to forcibly reach Root have fallen to you one by one."
Facing this sudden evaluation that seemed to come from a higher dimension, Kanjuro showed no pride. He merely raised an eyebrow slightly, as if he had grasped a key clue. He sighed and asked with a hint of realization, "So, from the very beginning, in that Cave of Silence, the one who gave Saber that power beyond the shackles of the counter force... was also you?"
"Yes, and no." The Saint of Winter nodded slightly, her voice like the clashing of ice and snow. "When Heroic Spirits participate in the Holy Grail War, they are inherently constrained by the counter force, their strength not even a tenth of what it should be. I—or rather, the 'Root'—merely used the convenience of the Holy Grail to temporarily unlock the shackles placed upon her, allowing her to display power close to her true essence." Her gaze suddenly became as sharp as a blade, locking onto Kanjuro with the weight and hostility of the entire world. "And you, Kanjuro. Every single thing you have done—killing without mercy, twisting human ethics, toying with fate... I have seen all of this ugliness and sin."
A trace of genuine confusion appeared on Kanjuro's face, a rare sight for him: "You? Didn't you perish hundreds of years ago as the cornerstone for constructing the Holy Grail system?"
"The flesh perishes, but the soul is connected to the Holy Grail and Root." The Saint of Winter's voice carried a non-human indifference. "I am the passage and vessel for the Holy Grail to reach Root. In other words, the one speaking to you now is not simply Justeaze, but Root itself, using this shell to converse with you. Your existence and your actions have constituted an intolerable threat to 'Order' itself."
Hearing this, Kanjuro did not fear. Instead, he seemed to finally understand something. He nodded, his lips curling into an arc that mixed self-deprecation with madness: "I see. It seems you haven't come to grant a wish, but to... destroy me?"
"Naturally."
Two words, decisive and without a hint of hesitation. The moment the words fell, an invisible yet incredibly majestic 'pressure' crashed down with the Saint of Winter as the center! It wasn't an impact of magical energy, but the rejection and squeeze of the world's rules! The black mud in the sky surged even more violently, and streaks of pale light, like spears of judgment, locked onto all the space around Kanjuro.
Simultaneously, dark magical energy soared from Kanjuro's body. The ripples of the eternal night treasury expanded wildly behind him on an unprecedented scale. Countless blackened divine weapons and demonic artifacts let out bloodthirsty hums, and the light of the authorities of the Four Gospels flowed in his eyes, resisting the malice from the world itself!
The gazes of the two locked tightly in the air.
On one side was the cold and ruthless 'Cleaner' representing the order of the world's Root.
On the other was the 'Incarnation of Chaos' who trampled all rules with pure individual will.
No declaration of war, no warning.
Killing intent permeated the air!
The ultimate duel on a conceptual level was about to break out!
The ruins of Fuyuki City groaned under the weight of these two beyond-normal auras clashing. Space, like fragile glass, began to show spiderweb-like cracks! The confrontation between Kanjuro and the Saint of Winter could no longer be described in words. It was a collision of rules and chaos, a contest between the will of Root and the extreme madness of an individual.
Justeaze, the Saint of Winter, struck first. She didn't even need to chant or move; with just a slight thought, the Holy Grail's light across the sky became an extension of her limbs! Countless pale beams of light, condensed from pure will and curses, acted like spears of judgment hurled by a god, instantly tearing through space and shooting toward Kanjuro from all directions! Each beam contained the power of the law to 'negate existence.' Wherever they passed, even the rubble of the ruins was decomposed into basic particles, as if they had never existed.
"Good timing!" Kanjuro laughed wildly, his eyes flashing with extreme excitement. The eternal night treasury behind him burst open to its limit! He no longer shot out single Noble Phantasms; instead, he deployed the entire concept of the 'Treasury' as a shield and bulwark! Layer upon layer of blackened ancient divine weapons, lost grimoires, and forbidden creations formed a dark Great Wall that constantly flowed and annihilated around him!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The pale beams slammed hard against the dark Great Wall, erupting in silent annihilation! Where light and darkness intertwined, large sections of space collapsed, revealing the bizarrely colored void behind them! Just the aftershocks of energy sweeping across the ground caused vast areas of the city to turn into powder without a sound!
"gospel of luke: Backflow · Time Arrow Reflection!" While defending, Kanjuro launched a fierce counterattack! He pressed his left hand toward several particularly thick beams of light. The flow of time there instantly underwent a bizarre reversal and acceleration. The beams that were supposed to hit him were reflected back along their original paths at an even faster speed!
The Saint of Winter remained expressionless. A diamond-shaped light shield constructed from the Holy Grail's magical energy automatically appeared in front of her, easily neutralizing the reflected attacks. However, the light around her body flickered slightly.
"Gospel of John: Decree · Total Despair!" Kanjuro seized this minute fluctuation. A powerful mental shock, like an invisible tsunami, directly attacked the Saint of Winter's core consciousness, attempting to disintegrate her focus on the connection with Root!
However, the Saint of Winter's eyes remained hollow. The mental shock was like a stone dropped into the ocean, only causing a slight ripple in the white light around her. "How can the will of Root be shaken by a mere individual spirit?" Her cold voice rang out. At the same time, the black mud of the Holy Grail acted as if it had a life of its own, transforming into countless twisted, wailing wraith arms that reached out from the void in all directions, trying to drag Kanjuro into that endless abyss of curses!
Just then—
"Luminosité Eternelle!"
Jeanne d'Arc's figure suddenly lunged to Kanjuro's side. Her holy flag was thrust into the ground, and a pure white protective wall of light expanded once more! But this time, burning upon that wall were black flames formed from Kanjuro's dark magical energy, which was completely different from her own aura! Light and darkness combined in a paradoxical form, forcefully blocking the tearing of those countless wraith arms! The black flames and wraiths eroded each other, making an ear-piercing sizzling sound.
"Jeanne..." Kanjuro glanced at her.
"Your darkness is where my flag points." Jeanne did not look back, her voice firm. In her purple eyes, there was only the determination to fall into the abyss with him.
With Jeanne's assistance, the pressure on Kanjuro lightened. His eyes sharpened, and he slammed his hands together!
"Four Gospels Authority Overlap—Eternal Night's End · Ragnarok!"
The power of the dark bible within him boiled and fused in an unprecedented way! All the shadows of dark creations in the eternal night treasury flooded into his body, merging with his own magical energy! His black robes danced wildly without wind, and his body emitted a silent aura of annihilation that brought an end to all things! He seemed to have become darkness itself, a walking, miniature concept of the 'End of the World'!
He threw a punch toward the Saint of Winter from afar!
There was no light, no sound, only an extreme patch of 'nothingness' that swallowed everything as it spread forward! Wherever it passed, space, light, magical energy, and even parts of the black mud pouring from the Holy Grail were forcibly erased! This was the negation of 'existence' itself!
A tiny fluctuation finally appeared on the Saint of Winter's consistently cold face. She crossed her hands in front of her chest, and the giant shadow of the Holy Grail behind her completely overlapped with her!
"Root · Adjudication—Purge."
A light that could not be described by color, seemingly containing the first and final truths of the world, bloomed from her hands and met that 'nothingness' that swallowed everything!
Dong!!!!!!
This collision transcended the realm of sound, acting directly on the soul level of all perceived existences!
With the collision point as the center, a destructive circular shockwave violently expanded!
Crack... Rumble—!!!
The entire Fuyuki City let out its final groan under the impact of this over-the-top power! The earth tore open, buildings collapsed in swathes, and the waters of the Mion River flowed backward... Even more terrifyingly, the black mud of the Holy Grail, containing 'All the World's Evil,' lost control due to this violent impact. Like a burst dam, it surged wildly toward the remaining areas of the city along with the destructive energy aftershocks!
"No—!" In the distance, some citizens who were lucky enough to escape the previous battles didn't even have time to feel relieved before being instantly swallowed by the sweeping black mud and energy. They turned into twisted charcoal or were eroded by the curses in the mud, letting out non-human howls. A massive number of people died in an instant, and Fuyuki City was completely transformed into a dead city, like a living hell.
At the edge of the battlefield, Matou Zouken's remnant body, wrapped in black mud, was blown away like a rag under this horrific impact. His last shred of consciousness, before being completely annihilated, still gazed foolishly at the pure white figure in the sky. A silent scream left his mouth as he finally dissipated completely along with his dream of eternal life.
On a further hill, Illya lay flat on the ground, her small hands tightly covering her slightly bulging belly. She was enveloped in a faint layer of protective magic set up by Kanjuro in advance. She looked at the horrific scene in the distance, like a battle between gods and demons, and at Kanjuro, who was dominating the darkness. Her crimson eyes were full of fear, but even more so, a blind trust and reliance. She called out in a small, tearful voice:
"Papa... Keep going... You must win..."
At the center of the battlefield, the extreme light and the 'nothingness' annihilated each other, finally both returning to silence.
Kanjuro panted slightly. His black robes were damaged in many places, and a trail of dark red blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, clearly showing the massive consumption.
The white light around the Saint of Winter had also dimmed considerably. Several charred marks eroded by 'nothingness' appeared on her pure white dress.
The second time their eyes met, the killing intent was even stronger.
Root's cleaning and Chaos's resistance were far from over. The battle between Kanjuro and the Saint of Winter had reached a white-hot stage; every collision seemed to tear apart the basic laws of the world. The ruins of Fuyuki City wailed beneath their feet, and the Holy Grail in the sky was like a constantly festering wound, pouring out filth and destruction. Relying on the eternal night treasury and the authorities of the Four Gospels, Kanjuro clashed head-on with the purification power from Root. Jeanne, like the toughest shield, used holy light tainted by darkness to resist the pervasive erosion of the Holy Grail's black mud.
"Your tenacity exceeds estimates, Incarnation of Chaos." The Saint of Winter's voice was still icy, but it seemed to contain a hint of an imperceptible... programmed response. After another head-on clash with Kanjuro, she used the force to retreat, hovering at the core of the Holy Grail's light pillar. Her hollow eyes swept over the devastated land below and at Kanjuro, who still stood tall in that hell.
"However, what the Holy Grail carries is not just magical energy and wishes, but also the souls of the Heroic Spirits who fell here. Their obsessions and strength can all be used by me."
She slowly raised her hands, like a symphony conductor, and began to mobilize the vast and chaotic energy pool deep within the Holy Grail. The black mud surging inside the Holy Grail suddenly boiled even more intensely. Countless soul fragments of pain, anger, and resentment surfaced and shrieked within it!
"In the name of Root, I summon your remnant souls to manifest here and execute the order of 'Purification'!"
Buzz—!!!
The Holy Grail's light flashed violently. Several pillars of dark light, so thick they wouldn't dissipate, projected down from inside the Heavens Feel, landing on the ruins around Kanjuro. As the light pillars faded, figures appeared, emitting an ominous aura and wrapped in the Holy Grail's black mud and their own frantic obsessions!
The first to step out was the Conqueror King Iskandar (Rider)! He remained as hulking and majestic as ever, but his bold eyes now burned with the flames of humiliation and fury. The gordius wheel he rode was covered in black mud, and the eyes of the bulls pulling it were a crimson red. He roared, his voice like thunder: "Kanjuro!!! You demon who toys with people's hearts! How dare you twist my will of conquest and entice the iron cavalry under my command to slaughter the innocent! Such disgrace can only be washed away with your blood!" He brandished the Sword of Cypriotes and pointed it at Kanjuro, his surging magical energy mixing with the curse of the black mud, causing the earth to tremble.
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