Countless points of light became countless detonation points.
The instant after Artoria shouted her warning, those lights began to rupture one after another. Each blast struck with the force of an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm, and the fixed outcome shook violently under the relentless tremors.
Far behind them, Skadi and Touko, who was supporting her to keep her Noble Phantasm sustained, nearly lost their footing as well.
Artoria grabbed them and, with her warhorse leading the way, pulled them up and out of the blast radius. Scáthach's heart clenched; the urge to call out to her beloved disciple surged up her throat—only for her to swallow it back a moment later.
Through the smoke and snowlike dust of the explosions, Shiomi appeared, leaping high backward with Morgan held around the waist. They looked completely unhurt. They must have thrown up defensive magecraft in time to withstand the indiscriminate attack, then immediately withdrawn to a safer distance.
"I was worried," Artoria said, sounding both relieved and a little envious, "but when I think about the fact that they've fought side by side for six thousand years, it feels like there was never any need to worry."
"Heh… that's true," Scáthach said with a soft laugh. "Still, even when I strike at that giant with the intent to kill my beloved disciple, it hardly makes a difference."
Artoria guided her warhorse through the sky. With temporary footholds formed from mana under its hooves, it was no longer bound by the ground.
"I recall you are a godslayer. Can't that power be put to use?" Artoria asked again.
"I'm already using it," Scáthach said with a frown. "Otherwise, I wouldn't even be able to break through its defenses. I can only say this much: he truly is my disciple. Once he becomes a problem, he's more troublesome than any disciple I've had before."
Just then, countless points of light rose from the earth again. This time they climbed even higher before bursting apart, turning into countless meteors that shot in every direction.
Even Scáthach and Artoria, who had already swung around to the upper rear sky, were singled out. The moment those meteors caught onto their mana, they became targets.
The instant she realized it, Scáthach—who had been pulled along by Artoria—sprang off the horse and veered away, splitting in a different direction to disperse the meteors' pursuit.
"It can do that too?!" Shiomi exclaimed in shock. "So it's not just erosion authority and raw physical power. It can even manage wide-area attacks?"
As he landed, Shiomi opened his defensive barrier again.
With Scáthach's Noble Phantasm still active, and with its power reinforcing them, the pressure on their defenses eased considerably.
"Truly worthy of my husband," Morgan said with rare humor. "Even if he took the wrong path in his youth and evolved incorrectly, we still can't afford to underestimate him."
"Is this really the time for that?" Shiomi shot back without thinking. "That core has you in it too, you know!"
"Which is exactly why, whether it's 'us in 1999' or us now, we're of the same breath and the same branch," Morgan said. She took Shiomi's hand where he was maintaining the barrier. "Just thinking about that fills me in body and soul with strength. Enough that I can even bring myself to strike at myself."
The barrier strengthened again, its range expanding as it met the torrent of mana the giant spewed forth.
"You don't have to take it that far…" Shiomi couldn't help letting out a wry smile.
"Once this wave of attacks ends, I'll try to draw its attention together with them," Morgan said. "First we restrict its movements. Then we can think about destroying the body and digging the core out from inside."
"Agreed."
As soon as Shiomi answered, Morgan released his hand and stepped forward.
Unlike the goddess Tiamat that manifested in Uruk, the giant god formed from 'Tenkei Shiomi of 1999' was far more aggressively proactive, with a much broader range of attacks.
In only a few minutes, this newborn deity had already displayed three different methods of assault, forcing Shiomi's group—who couldn't freely unleash fatal blows—to fight on the back foot.
"This is the strike that proclaims fate, granting all things in the world their destined death!"
Shiomi raised the Divine Spear without hesitation, aiming at the giant's head.
"Be buried here, 'Gungnir'!"
Mana swelled violently, and Gungnir shot forward faster than any of the meteors, slamming straight toward the giant's head.
Boom!
The 'Gungnir' in Shiomi's hands was not intercepted. It hit the head dead-on, but it didn't pierce through. Instead, the recoil of the explosion knocked it away.
"Then, once more!"
Scáthach, already airborne, snatched Gungnir as it flew up toward her. She twisted her body midair and hurled Gungnir again.
The divine spear streaked toward the head once more, striking the exact same spot.
This time, the body, hard as if protected by conceptual defense itself, was finally pierced, a clear breach torn open.
At that instant, Artoria released the True Name of the Holy Lance from behind again. It crashed down heavily onto the colossus's back, throwing it off balance and sending it pitching forward.
Morgan advanced toward the giant god step by step. The trembling earth and endless clouds of snow and dust could not slow her pace in the slightest.
She closed the distance while using Magecraft to guard against wide-area attacks that could erupt without warning.
Gungnir tore apart the body's defenses, and even though the Holy Lance's second strike only hit the back, the giant god finally showed clear signs of injury.
Countless cracks spread across its body. Within those fissures churned purer, denser mana.
The instant it was wounded, self-repair began.
Even after taking such a heavy blow, Morgan judged it would only take a few minutes to fully recover.
In that state, the "New God" managed to push itself upright, but it lacked the strength to stand, remaining kneeling on the ground.
Then, with a speed utterly impossible for such a massive body, it suddenly swung its arms to either side, catching Scáthach and Artoria off guard.
Both of them blocked with all their strength, yet were sent flying like cannonballs, smashing into the ground.
After that, the "New God" raised both arms again, locking onto Morgan now within its attack range, and brought them down with crushing force.
The earth roared.
Morgan stepped back slightly, evading the blow, then continued forward without hesitation.
"What is she trying to do?" Scáthach muttered, half-kneeling in a massive crater with her spear braced beside her.
Morgan's actions were far too hard to read. She looked as though she were about to attack, yet she only kept closing the distance, showing no sign of striking.
Even so, the mana radiating from her body had already made the "New God" sense danger.
"——!!!!"
The colossus roared.
The erosion of the Reality Marble intensified.
Having lost the environment it had reshaped at the moment of its birth, it could no longer bring its full power to bear.
The Reality Marble continued to suppress its strength at full force.
Morgan stopped.
The colossus's hands closed in from both sides. If she did not evade, then even with damage-compensation Magecraft protecting her, Morgan herself would not escape unscathed.
Yet she remained perfectly calm, simply staring straight at the immense target before her.