Just as Romani said, although Goetia's Spirit Origin output had been weakened to the level of a Servant, he still possessed the Spirit Origin of a Beast. In his own temple, Goetia had already recovered from his injuries. Therefore, the battle did not go smoothly enough to end quickly.
The Demon Pillars always maintained the concept of "72 Pillars," constantly being destroyed and constantly being regenerated, hindering the three from killing Goetia. Strength, Endurance, and Mana—Goetia's abilities were all above A-rank, with Agility being his only weakness.
Seeing this, Scáthach took turns with Artoria, using her superior agility to restrain Goetia's movements and create opportunities for Artoria to strike.
"Collapse!"
Goetia blocked Scáthach's red spear and raised his hand to launch a Magecraft spell at Artoria's landing point. Artoria's foot missed the ground, disrupting her rhythm and preventing her from reaching the next location. The Demon Pillars' eyes caught this moment, and the offensive spell instantly surrounded Artoria like a sphere, before exploding outward.
When the smoke cleared, Artoria was nowhere to be seen. Goetia sensed the killing intent and looked up to see Artoria roaring down toward him, slashing at him.
"Command Spell? No, it's Magecraft!"
Goetia looked up at Morgan, who was floating in the sky, and saw her laughing contemptuously.
"My Water Mirror can transfer space," Morgan said, her light blue eyes shining. "These fairy eyes have long since taken in the entire Temple of Time, and your Magecraft is no exception."
Her hands fluttered like a beautiful black butterfly. The ground beneath Goetia's feet was swallowed by a black-blue tidal wave, which then turned into a vortex and slowly rose, seemingly about to engulf Goetia.
However, the whirlpool was disrupted in an instant. The Demon Pillars shot up from below, lifting Goetia up. The sky above the Temple of Time, where weather changes should not exist, suddenly darkened, and the Ars Nova became even more dazzling.
"Speaking of Magus, there is one more here." Scáthach flattened her palm, and the Runes were complete. "I will let you taste the essence of the Runes, along with my beloved disciple."
In the blink of an eye, the floating lightning bolts became like tangible gods, drawn by Scáthach's power and transformed into ancient Great Dragons.
Gungnir had appeared in Scáthach's hand at some point. The spear pointed at Goetia, and the ancient dragon with a body of lightning roared and pounced on the Demon Pillars protecting Goetia. It tore apart the pillars that were more than ten meters thick and continued to chase after Goetia.
"Lightning? Then I'll respond accordingly!" Goetia slapped the Demon Pillars.
The Demon Pillars were instantly covered with lightning-resistant Magecraft, no longer fearing the ancient dragon's bites. They even wrapped around the dragon's body, preventing it from moving any further.
High-speed divine speech. After taking possession of Solomon's remains, Goetia gained this ability, but unlike Solomon himself, his personality reduced his chanting speed. Goetia's chants were always fast and accurate. He did not think or worry about the possibility of failure. After all, he was the embodiment of the concept of Magecraft itself.
"Since you want to fight with Magecraft, then let me show you what Magecraft is!" Goetia raised his arms high. "Feel honored, then die!"
Morgan scanned the space around her with her eyes. As far as she could see, hundreds of Magecraft spells were being constructed and completed. This was Goetia's Reality Marble, so it wasn't surprising that he could do such a thing.
"Magecraft isn't about winning with quantity..." Scáthach said softly.
Morgan raised her hand and continued naturally, "First, you have to overwhelm your opponent in quality."
This was Goetia's home turf, and Morgan would not blindly pursue quantity in a foreign field. Even if she could do it, there was a gap in their reserves of Mana. More importantly, she didn't want to burden Shiomi with anything new.
"I didn't expect to agree with you on something," said Scáthach.
"At this point..." Morgan said playfully. If they had disagreed, there would not have been this battle.
"You take care of the Magecraft, and I'll destroy the excess spells." Scáthach spread her hands toward the void, and the Runes turned into a magic array and sent out a signal. "Artoria!"
"I've been waiting for this," replied the King of Knights calmly.
She was the only one who wasn't good at Magecraft. This was the aspect of Artoria that was most unlike her teacher, Merlin. Therefore, when the Magecraft battle began, Artoria kept her distance to avoid interfering with Morgan and Scáthach's actions, allowing them to carry out their magic freely. She waited for the next opportunity.
If they let the Demon King continue to construct his spell, even the three of them together would have a very difficult time. Not to mention, it was unwise to let the enemy grow stronger.
When—! A loud crash rang out as Artoria's Holy Lance collided with Goetia's body defense. With his physical strength enhanced, Goetia engaged Artoria in hand-to-hand combat with his bare hands.
The wind pressure from the clash between the Holy Lance and his fists made it impossible for the air to approach, creating a small vacuum. Goetia used his body to withstand the blow of the Holy Lance piercing his body, raised his hand to grab the back of the spear, and with his other hand, threw a punch straight at Artoria's temple. Despite the threatening blow, Artoria remained as calm as ever.
Morgan's Holy Sword pierced Goetia's wrist, and the impact caused his hand to fall. Artoria then extended her other hand with the Holy Sword and released her inner mana. The explosion knocked Goetia back, causing him to crash into the Demon Pillars supporting him. If this continued, defeat was certain.
Goetia, clearly aware of the unfavorable situation, looked at the spell that was gradually being destroyed in the sky and his injured body. Artoria had already raised her sword, ready to pierce his heart. When the spell she had just completed was destroyed, Scáthach and Morgan launched their next attack.
"I am the King of the Demon Gods, the embodiment of the will of the 72 Demon Pillars. I never thought I would be forced to this point. Now, let me show you our final power!" Goetia roared angrily.
Artoria had no intention of listening to him. The Holy Lance was already close to Goetia's heart. It would only take 0.1 seconds to pierce the Demon King's body.
However, even 0.1 seconds was not enough. The Demon King instantly merged with the Demon Pillars, which were active throughout the Temple of Time, gathering and approaching this place. The atmosphere around them suddenly changed, and Artoria, who was too close and almost got caught up in it, was transferred out by Morgan's Water Mirror.
"It looks like they've brought out their last resort."