Though it was the first time the five Servants fought together, they still unleashed an attack that exceeded all limits.
They surpassed Heroic Spirits, gods, monsters, and even Scathach herself.
The heroes, arranged in a pentagon around the throne, could sense the Divine Iron Shield shattering, the runes disintegrating, and various weapons dissolving.
In the end, even Scathach's body broke apart under the attack, twisting and disintegrating until nothing remained—no bones, no ashes.
"Is… it over?"
Achilles stared blankly at the lingering aftermath of the Noble Phantasm's release. Though the battle hadn't been long, it was the most intense and high-stakes fight he had ever experienced, in life or death.
"I think… so," Siegfried replied, though he still hadn't lowered his sword.
"It is over," Gilgamesh said, gripping his right wrist with his left hand to stop his trembling arm from dropping.
"Over for us."
As he spoke, shadows began to surge.
They filled the shattered sky and ground, mended the torn space, and finally gathered before the group—not just reappearing, but rematerializing Scathach's body.
From bones to muscles, from blood vessels to skin, even the clothes that had been burned away.
"A beautiful strike. You truly made me feel the pain of destruction. If only you had come two thousand years earlier," the fully restored Scathach whispered, her tone filled with lament.
"I am now one with this land of the dead. As long as the Land of Shadows exists, I will never truly meet my end. It's unfortunate, but even you cannot destroy this realm or kill me for good. Therefore, I must kill you all now, using all of my power."
In an instant, the five great heroes simultaneously felt a chilling sense of dread.
The woman before them seemed to have completely transformed—not the same warrior who had been battling them evenly before, but something far more terrifying, existing on an entirely different level.
She was not a god, nor a spirit, nor a demon, nor a fantastical creature.
Because gods, demons, spirits, and fantastical beings did not carry so much hatred and curse from their kind.
Even the legendary demon gods weren't as dangerous as she was. The mythical demon lords weren't as fearsome.
If possible, Achilles wanted to ask one question: "Just how many beings have you killed?"
But he couldn't voice it. Scathach's current state put him under so much pressure that he had to use all his strength and focus just to avoid breaking down.
And it wasn't just him—Gilgamesh and Heracles were in the same state. It was an oppressive feeling that came from their very bloodlines, a primal fear from deep within.
Scathach was a god-slayer, having killed gods more than once. Unbeknownst to her, she had developed a natural suppression against divine beings. Unfortunately for the heroes facing her, most of them were children of gods or possessed high levels of divinity.
Among the five, only Siegfried had no divinity, so he wasn't as affected. Karna, with his Golden Armor, had a reduced level of suppression, but they still couldn't afford to be careless.
Compared to the beginning of the battle, the queen before them—now fully unleashing the curses she bore—had undergone a qualitative transformation.
Her very scale of existence and rank had changed. If she was at a human level before, she was now at the level of a chief god or demon lord. In terms of Servant terminology, her spirit origin had evolved from a normal Servant to a supreme Grand level.
This power gap had already transcended skills, experience, and techniques. The sheer disparity in rank alone could overwhelm 99.99% of regular Servants.
While Gilgamesh and the others belonged to the remaining 0.01%, they could only barely hold on for a little longer.
The moment Scathach's body moved, even that small amount of time had run out.
The first to suffer was Achilles, who had been the most arrogant and the closest to her. If she didn't attack him first, who would she?
With a single step across the battlefield and a thrust of her spear, a massive hole opened in the chest of this son of the sea god.
Neither the Invincible Armor nor the Word Shield could withstand the god-slayer's power, and even Comet Form couldn't evade a spear that interfered with causality—every action Scathach took in this state was imbued with causal interference.
The moment the spear was thrust, Achilles' fate was sealed. His Spirit Core shattered, leaving him dead without a doubt.
The second victim was Siegfried, whose legend bore similarities to Achilles. Once again, Scathach used the step technique and thrust her spear.
With one move, she knocked away Siegfried's Fantasie Sword and then broke through his Armor of Fafnir, precisely destroying his dragon heart.
By this point, the remaining three finally had time to react.
Heracles drew his bow, unleashing his Nine Lives: Hundred-Headed Shooting at full power.
Karna readied his spear, combining Uncrowned Martial Arts with Vasavi Shakti for maximum output.
But it was all in vain.
The gap in scale and rank was simply too vast. The standard parameters for a normal Servant were 1, whereas Scathach's were 2, 3, or even 4 or 5.
How could they possibly fight against that?
Though Nine Lives was meant to be nine devastatingly fast consecutive strikes, to Scathach in her god-slayer state, it was nothing more than a series of ordinary blows.
The Golden Armor's effect was equally meaningless. Sure, reducing damage by 90% was impressive, but that was based on the standard of regular Servants. What if the base attack power had increased five or ten times?
The result was obvious.
Karna's spear hadn't even completed its first strike, and Heracles had only loosed his second arrow when Scathach's spear had already pierced their bodies.
One strike was pure brute force, delivering fatal damage even through the 90% reduction.
The other strike was delivered with blinding speed, twelve continuous thrusts in a single instant, stripping Heracles of all his Twelve Labors at once.
Finally, it was Gilgamesh's turn.
The sacrifice of his four comrades had bought him enough time.
Burning his spirit origin, burning his divine blood, the sword he held—Ea—let out its final roar.
"Enuma Elish: The Star of Creation That Split Heaven and Earth!"
Facing the King of Heroes' ultimate attack, Scathach did not passively endure as she had earlier. This time, she chose to attack head-on.
"Absolute Annihilation Thrust!"
The bow and spear battle from the Fifth Holy Grail War replayed itself once more. But this time, the power of Ea, the sword of rupture, was not enough to negate the god-slayer's decisive thrust.
The Alliance of Heroes, the united front of five Servants, had fallen. The last one standing, Gilgamesh, was defeated.
The fractured space spread outward, sweeping away the heroes' gradually fading bodies.
At the highest point of the Land of Shadows, on the massive battlefield, only two figures remained.
The god-slayer, who had transcended life and death, the eternal queen, Scathach.
And the Master of the Heroic Alliance, the wielder of the Third Magic, Shinji Matou.
The former stood proud, exuding overwhelming power, while the latter remained calm, seemingly indifferent to the death of his Servants.
"You're ready now, aren't you?"
"Yes. Now, we're finally equal."
PS: Back in the day, Cu Chulainn and twenty others attempted to besiege Scathach, only to be blown away by her second form. Gilgamesh, Heracles, and the others are Servants, so they're not as strong as they were in life. And with Scathach's god-slaying attribute, it's fair to say this battle is akin to Cu Chulainn leading over twenty of his brothers against her, not to mention Scathach has grown even stronger.