As Oberon had said, they had fallen into the Noble Phantasm called the "Insect of the Abyss" from the very start.
The fact that this space itself was a terminal trap was Oberon's true Noble Phantasm.
Swallowed by this endless abyss, they continued to fall without end, assaulted constantly by the hostile environment. Even the dust drifting through the air was harmful.
Not even Heroic Spirits could adapt instantly, and all those on the bridge had already collapsed into unconsciousness.
Only these three—each anomalous in their own way—remained capable of fighting and moving.
Facing the swarm rushing toward them, Shiomi and Scáthach simultaneously inscribed identical runes. Their Magecraft overlapped in that instant, forming a barrier that burned everything to ash. The moment Oberon's insects crossed the twin wards, they were reduced to dust.
"I really don't get it. Why struggle so hard? After six thousand years of effort, just when I could finally get some sleep, my companions wake me up in a panic again."
To counter Shiomi's spear, Oberon summoned weapon after weapon, each shaped like a long halberd. Guided by his will, they shot outward, blocking and intercepting the group trying to flank him.
He remained cautious of the holy sword, its radiance practically a natural bane to him.
He still possessed ample mana and stamina. All he had to do was wear down these spent fighters, and he could finish them here.
As he considered his next move, Oberon summoned another swarm—black, mucus-like insects that dropped from the void. Touching them alone felt like a curse.
It was Cernunnos's curse. While being suppressed and sealed by the Beast God's remains, he had adapted to that curse in turn, gaining the ability to use it in a similar fashion.
"You still don't understand anything I've done…"
Shiomi's spear clashed against a strange scythe Oberon had produced from who knows where.
With no combat training at all, Oberon relied purely on the raw power of his body, making wide, forceful swings that let the weapon gain some advantage.
"Understand? I don't need to understand. I only find it strange," Oberon said. "I didn't even want to take on this whole 'destroy Britannia' mission. But since I was created for it, I figured I may as well try."
So Oberon simply couldn't comprehend the strange sense of purpose driving Shiomi.
As the island's terminal device, Oberon knew Shiomi was, in some ways, similar to himself—another being "manufactured" for a role, burdened with the mission of a "savior."
Not a savior limited to Britannia like Aesc during the Age of Fairies, but something far greater, encompassing humanity and the entire world.
And the more Oberon grasped this essence within Shiomi, the more disgusted he felt.
Because they were opposites by nature.
"It's got nothing to do with missions. I simply act based on what I see and what I feel. Even if some of my choices aren't always right."
Shiomi suddenly swept his spear upward, knocking Oberon's scythe aside. He retreated quickly, crossing paths with Scáthach and Artoria as they advanced.
Oberon's fighting methods were actually quite limited. He wasn't a trained or battle-seasoned warrior.
Whether in close combat or magecraft, nearly all his trump cards had already been revealed.
Even the boosts granted by his Personal Skills had their limits.
Veil of Night. Morning's Lark. End of a Dream.
These enhancements made Oberon comparable to top-tier Heroic Spirits.
"How are you still fighting…?" Oberon was honestly baffled.
He could plainly see both Artoria and Scáthach weakening—an inevitable result of being trapped within the Noble Phantasm.
Yet even while enduring its negative effects, their attacks were far fiercer than Shiomi's—brutal as demons, as though the corrosion and damage of the "Insect of the Abyss" had no effect on them at all.
"A life that has already overcome death has only one end left: to disappear."
Scáthach released the True Name of the Gáe Bolg Noble Phantasm, but it failed to pierce Oberon's strange defenses, landing only a heavy strike.
Even she couldn't tell whether it was because they were fighting on enemy territory, or because of Oberon's nature as the 'Insect of the Abyss' itself.
"I just need him to survive and get out of here," Artoria said.
She quietly calculated the remaining time, then asked Scáthach, "Can you restrain his movements? I intend to release the Noble Phantasm's True Name."
The battle had lasted less than ten minutes so far, but aboard a warship in freefall, every second mattered. No one knew how deep they'd already fallen, or whether they could still break free.
"You think I'd give you that kind of time?" Oberon crossed his arms, his mana surging sharply.
The inner walls of the 'Insect of the Abyss' that had swallowed the group and the warship began to shift.
Its body, suspended between reality and illusion, trembled.
Oberon realized he had misjudged this group's will to fight. Even though they were far from the condition they'd fought in earlier, he still couldn't kill them easily.
He should never have come here to waste time, so—
"Let your remaining mana be drained from within. Just wait quietly for death, all of you."
Oberon suddenly leapt from the deck.
Gáe Bolg and the holy sword lashed out together, but neither struck the target as planned.
His body turned into a dust-like shadow, letting every attack pass through him.
"My Class is Pretender—an existence woven from falsehoods and coexistence. Allow me to show you a lie you cannot unravel," Oberon declared.
"Is that really so?" Shiomi dropped to one knee, breathing hard as he closed his eyes.
"If your presence here was a lie from the start, why did the battle go so poorly for you?"
"…What?" Oberon's face darkened at once.
Shiomi ignored him. Rising slowly to his feet, he opened his eyes again. Oberon expected the Mystic Eyes to activate, but quickly realized they weren't the same.
Shiomi dashed forward at an impossible angle, moving with astonishing speed. From a position that should have been completely wrong, he still caught Oberon's true location and clamped a hand around his throat.
It was like the refraction of light—Oberon was offset from his true position by only a small margin, just enough for attacks to miss.
But this wasn't illusion; it was an unbreakable lie, a false concept imposed on everyone's perception.
"Eye of…Blue Star?" Oberon remembered what Shiomi had mentioned before.
Shiomi's eyes were glowing with a blue light.
"No. These are fairy eyes," Shiomi said with an easy smile. "Right now, the eyes you're seeing are my wife's paradise fairy's eyes. They see through every lie. Even I don't dare lie in front of her."
Shared vision.
Morgan inside the ship—she was awake!
Oberon couldn't break free from Shiomi's grip, but Shiomi clearly wasn't trying to snap his neck. He was preparing something else.
"Let me show you my seal again. But this time… you'll be paying the price."
...
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