[This was an unprecedented encirclement.]
[The remaining four Servants had all joined in the subjugation of Caster.]
[In terms of combatants, you held an absolute advantage.]
[This was a perfectly normal thought.]
[After all, this was a Holy Grail War—every Servant possessed considerable power.]
[One-on-one combat was already difficult, let alone facing multiple opponents.]
[You seemed to have found a way to increase your chances of victory.]
[However—]
[There was one thing you had completely failed to consider.]
[That the Caster of this Holy Grail War could not be measured by the concept of a "Servant."]
Under normal circumstances, the seven Servants participating in the Holy Grail War arrived in Fuyuki City by being summoned. But for Caster Solomon, this rule did not apply. This King of Magic was not summoned by the Holy Grail—because such a method could not affect him. Solomon arrived at the Holy Grail War for only one reason: the future told him he should choose to do so.
Years ago, Solomon, on his deathbed on the throne, threw one of his rings into the distant future. This ring, after various twists and turns, eventually fell into Marisbury's hands. Upholding this relationship spanning a thousand years, Marisbury "summoned" Solomon using methods completely outside the Holy Grail War. Of course, this was merely a "materialization" similar to a summon. In reality, Marisbury could not command Solomon at all, nor did he need to supply him with magical energy. This unique King of Magic in human history could not even be restricted by Command Spells. Similarly, Marisbury's commands had no coercive effect on Solomon.
However—out of acknowledgment of this encounter, and in praise of Marisbury's extremely polite hospitality throughout the journey, Solomon still "followed" his commands as a "friend." Whether it was killing Assassin or annihilating Lancer, everything was done out of recognition for their cross-time encounter.
Inside Mount Enzou.
"A wish-granting machine that can grant wishes, you say?" Solomon softly repeated the words the man beside him had just spoken. "Marisbury, do you have a wish that you absolutely must fulfill?"
"..." Marisbury was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, King of Magic. I... indeed have a wish that I must fulfill—it is quite important to me, no, I should say to this world."
"You have such a grand ambition?" Solomon looked at the respectfully humble man beside him. "Then—would you tell it to..." Solomon's words trailed off, his eyes becoming serious. He looked towards a certain spot as if predicting something, as if something was about to appear there. And the next moment, this premonition became reality.
A cry came from the forest. "Phoebus Catastrophe—!"
Atalante aimed the black-gold Tauropolos at the sky. Under the moonlight, hundreds of arrows rained down like meteors, striking towards Solomon and Marisbury. This was an absolutely unavoidable distance by physical means—Atalante had been holding her breath, waiting for this moment for a long time. This was the patience honed by a hunter over many years!
"Fall, Caster!"
However—faced with the multitude of arrows under the starry sky, Solomon and Marisbury showed no sign of moving. The King of Magic simply reached out his hand, as if grasping this wave of attack. He narrowed his eyes and clenched his fist slightly.
Boom—! All the arrows in the air exploded into dust in an instant, then transformed into raindrops like stardust, falling onto the ground. Faced with this scene, Solomon said softly, "Relies on the power of Apollo and Artemis, does it? What a pity... I thought there really might be a human capable of shooting arrows of this caliber."
"King of Magic," Marisbury chuckled lightly, "Your expectations for humanity seem a little high."
"Are they?" Solomon waved his hand, and all the stardust on the ground disappeared. "Then perhaps I need to lower my standards a bit."
Atalante couldn't hear what Caster was discussing with his "Master." But she knew that her Noble Phantasm, Phoebus Catastrophe, was useless against him. Damn it. She could have made the first meritorious strike in front of Master! Now, she could only retreat. Atalante symbolically shot an arrow towards Caster's direction, then fled.
"King of Magic, should we pursue?" Marisbury asked.
"Yes," Solomon nodded without hesitation. "Otherwise—wouldn't the trap they painstakingly prepared for me be meaningless?"
"I see, I understand." Pursuing the deliberately slowed Atalante, Solomon and Marisbury soon reached the depths of Mount Enzou. The moonlight was cool, and the forest grew darker with the night. In this tranquil environment, a faint, almost imperceptible voice echoed.
"Illya—! Now!"
As Irisviel's will descended, another tender voice emerged. "Berserker, go!"
Boom! Several trees fell as Ibaraki Doji, manifesting four additional arms (making a total of six arms including her original ones), charged at Caster like a beast. Her movements were so fierce that she looked entirely like a raging inferno. And accompanying this assault were arrows hidden by Atalante—she was very skilled at using such moments to deliver a fatal blow to her prey.
However, neither Ibaraki Doji nor Atalante expected that Solomon almost immediately recognized the essence of this "combo."
"Burning ghostly flames, and arrows from the forest. Truly an unexpected partnership. Too bad—this is still not power unleashed by humanity itself." Solomon reached out his hand. A blue light shimmered between his fingers, and all ten rings, including the one Marisbury had returned to him, gleamed.
"All things, separate." The King of Magic quietly uttered a phrase. In that instant, Ibaraki Doji's berserk flames and Atalante's arrows, which had been intertwined, seemed to separate into different worlds. When they regained their senses, Ibaraki Doji had been entirely knocked away, rolling several times on the ground like a fireball before crashing into a rock face and stopping. Atalante, on the other hand, knelt on the ground, tightly clutching her chest. She realized that Caster had reflected all the attacks back at them with equal force, striking her heart. She couldn't move anymore. If she moved again, she would surely die. The little cat-girl now completely understood how terrifying Caster's power was—he could probably handle all six Servants of the Holy Grail War by himself!
On the other side, Marisbury noticed that Solomon hadn't used his full power. "King of Magic, you seem to have left them a way out."
"Mm," Solomon didn't hide it. "I didn't use my full strength—after all, I could sense that they originally didn't intend to cooperate. You mean... there's a reason nearby that compelled them to do so?"
"Mm." Solomon's gaze swept over the crimson glow that enveloped Mount Enzou—the result of Ibaraki Doji's flames spreading after her fall. And in that instant, the air suddenly turned cold. A dark-red long spear flew out from the undetectable darkness with a chilling wind, heading straight for Solomon.
"..." Solomon's expression remained unchanged. The moment the dark-red spear was about to hit him, his pupils turned a deeper red.
Buzz. The spear seemed to sense an overwhelmingly powerful pressure, and eventually, it came to a dead stop in mid-air before falling to the ground.
"Scathach, the same method won't defeat me."
"Then try this move!" Scathach retorted. "Haa—!" Saying this, Scathach raised Gáe Bolg Alternative and charged, following almost the exact same trajectory as the first spear. Her attack was swift and fierce, as if nothing in this world could withstand its pierce.
However—the premise for piercing something is hitting its core. Scathach's spear technique was already at its peak, capable of fighting even gods. But at this moment, she simply could not hit Caster. He would always evade at the very last moment, as if he had already predicted everything.
"Scathach," Solomon said expressionlessly, evading her attacks. "If you refuse to change yourself—you will never be able to reach a higher peak."
"Heh," Scathach sneered. "How do you know I haven't changed?" The wisdom of the Land of Shadows infused Gáe Bolg Alternative with a layer of black. But this was not for launching another attack, but to create an opportunity for others! Scathach plunged Gáe Bolg Alternative into the ground, simultaneously restricting her own and Solomon's movements!
Crack! The sound of several shattering jewels echoed in the darkness. Millions of Qp seemed to vanish into thin air at that moment.
Boom! Trees fell rapidly to either side under some external pressure, clearing a path. A powerful magical flame bullet shot from the opening, flying straight towards Caster. This was Rin Tohsaka's Jewel Magecraft! By shattering ten jewels infused with seventeen years of magical energy, she completely harnessed this immense power in her hands, ultimately unleashing such a potent attack! And to maximize the time Scathach had bought her, Rin Tohsaka didn't use a spell that required extensive chanting, opting instead for the most direct explosion bullet. This was the only complete magecraft her father had taught her before his death, and it now found its perfect use.
However—what Rin Tohsaka didn't know was that this incredibly shocking strike was still just a "fireball" in Solomon's eyes.
"Still an external object... in that case, it's hard to be impressed."
Bang! Scathach's restraint shattered completely in an instant. Solomon directly faced the explosion bullet containing Rin Tohsaka's ten seventeen-year jewel's worth of magical energy.
Boom! A red light shot into the sky. Scathach felt an extremely powerful magical energy impact—being at the center, she bore double the pressure. As the afterglow dissipated, the Queen of the Land of Shadows also fell to the ground in the distance. Although she hadn't died, she couldn't get up again—it was a very clear defeat. But Scathach felt no regret. She knew she had finally made up for that initial spear thrust.
But what was truly frightening was that even though the explosion bullet had caused severe injuries to Scathach, Solomon and Marisbury were completely unharmed. The King of Magic's expression remained perfectly calm, as if nothing had happened. The only difference was that he seemed to have developed immense interest.
"Just who... united them all?"
Before the question could be answered, a white horse charged from a distance. It was Dún Stallion. The swift white horse launched a powerful assault, and the rider on its back brandished a blade, striking at Caster again and again. The entire process was fluid, the rider's mastery of the white horse awe-inspiring. Even Solomon regarded this as Rider.
However—this was not Artoria, who was Rider, but Ian, disguised using the "Shadow of the King of Knights"! He knew that the previous attacks would likely not harm Caster. So, they would all become bait! The true killing blow was still brewing in the shadows!
The highest point of Mount Enzou—this was where the leyline was most abundant. Morgan had set up a Divine Era formation here. It could make Artoria's attacks several times more powerful. But the cost was the caster's lifespan—yes, this was originally intended to harm Artoria, but it was now proving unexpectedly useful. And Morgan and Sakura Tohsaka intended to bear this cost together.
"Sakura, are you ready?" Morgan asked.
"Ready," Sakura replied.
The Clock Tower Master and student temporarily put aside all their grievances and began to activate the formation. Feeling the magical energy surge within her, Artoria summoned The Blade of Mortals. She held it high, like the sharpest of Noble Phantasms.
"Excalibur E-en—!" A dark-black beam of light shot from the tip of the Blade of Mortals, reaching an unprecedented power under the enhancement of the formation. This was—a combined strike from ancient Britain!