The ruined country road stretched out like a scar across the desolate landscape, cracked asphalt overgrown with weeds and littered with the remnants of abandoned vehicles. Just 56 minutes away from Misaki Town—once a quiet coastal settlement now reduced to a battlefield of shattered dreams and lingering shadows—Omega Heinriel gripped the steering wheel of his reinforced vehicle with focused intensity. The air inside the car hummed with tension, thick with the scent of ozone from magical wards and the faint metallic tang of blood from earlier skirmishes. Beside him sat Ciel, the Burial Agent whose silver hair caught the faint dashboard glow, her expression a mask of barely restrained urgency.
"We are 56 minutes away from the town," Omega Heinriel announced, his voice steady but laced with the weight of their precarious mission. His eyes flicked between the road and the array of surveillance overlays projected holographically across the windshield.
Ciel glanced at the dashboard, where the digital display mercilessly flashed the distance: 56 minutes. Too long. Far too long. Every tick of the clock felt like a blade pressed against their throats. The Pope's knights could already be closing in, their holy blades thirsting for Raphael's blood before he could turn the tide. Her fingers tapped impatiently against her thigh, the rhythmic motion betraying the storm of anxiety and determination churning within her chest. "Can you go faster?" she asked, her voice clipped—not accusatory, but demanding the utmost efficiency. There was no room for hesitation in her tone; lives, and perhaps the fate of this fractured region, hung in the balance.
The road ahead lay empty for now, devoid of patrols or sinister checkpoints. If they pushed the speed limits just enough, they might shave off ten precious minutes. But the risk of a crash loomed like a specter—twisted metal and wasted time would doom them far worse than cautious haste.
Omega Heinriel's grip tightened slightly on the wheel. "I am driving while also watching where Raphael is at," he responded, his words calm yet carrying the subtle strain of multitasking that would overwhelm most mortals. He wasn't merely operating a vehicle; layers of magical scrying and technological feeds danced across his perception, feeding him real-time glimpses of distant conflicts.
Ciel glanced at him, a flicker of impressed acknowledgment crossing her features. Impressive multitasking, even for one as capable as Omega. She offered no further comment, her gaze snapping back to the blurring treeline as the car accelerated smoothly—not recklessly, but with purposeful gain. The GPS updated: 54 minutes remaining. Still agonizingly slow in the face of impending catastrophe.
With a decisive motion, Ciel pulled out her communicator once more, her fingers flying across the interface. "Any Burial Agents en route to Misaki—halt immediately." No explanations. No elaborations. Only pure, unyielding authority radiated through the official channels, a command that brooked no debate.
High above the unfolding drama, unseen forces watched, but on the ground, Omega Heinriel activated one of his prized skills. "Eagle Eye," he murmured under his breath. His vision expanded dramatically, piercing through miles of terrain with crystalline clarity, reaching out a full 100 miles. What he witnessed made his eyes widen in a mix of shock and reluctant admiration. There, in the heart of the chaos, Raphael Arzenon clashed violently with none other than Gilgamesh—the King of Heroes himself.
"Raphael Arzenon… what hell has he gotten himself into?" Omega Heinriel muttered to himself, the words slipping out in a low, astonished breath. The scene unfolded in vivid detail through his enhanced sight: explosive clashes of legendary power, weapons of myth flying through the air.
Ciel's head snapped toward him instantly, her body tensing like a coiled spring. "Fight?" The single word carried a chill that seeped into her veins. If Raphael was already locked in combat this close to Misaki Town, it meant enemies had descended upon him with lethal intent. Vampires? The Church's elite knights? Or something far worse? Her pulse quickened, a rare knot of dread twisting in her gut. Without a second's hesitation, she activated her communicator's advanced tracking function, scanning desperately for Raphael's signal. "Who is attacking him?" she demanded, her voice sharp with urgency, eyes locked on the twisting road ahead as Misaki's outskirts began to emerge.
Omega Heinriel let out a heavy sigh, processing the vision even as he maintained control of the speeding vehicle. "Raphael Arzenon is currently in a fight with a powerful Heroic Spirit—the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh. The one who holds an infinite amount of Noble Phantasms in his Treasury. And yet… Raphael Arzenon is matching him as an equal." Surprise colored his tone, though it was tempered by expectation. He had anticipated Raphael's monstrous strength, but witnessing it against such a legend still sent a thrill through him.
Ciel's breath caught sharply in her throat. Gilgamesh. The King of Heroes. A being of near-immortal legend, his Gate of Babylon an arsenal capable of leveling entire cities with endless barrages of divine weapons. And Raphael—standing toe-to-toe with him? For a fleeting moment, awe pierced through Ciel's usually stoic demeanor, warming her chest with a fragile spark of hope. She had only encountered references to Gilgamesh in the Church's most forbidden archives, entities so ancient and dangerous they defied simple classification as "vampires" or demons, predating even the Crimson Moon's influence. If Raphael could contend with that… then he wasn't merely a powerful mage. He was something far beyond—monstrously, overwhelmingly capable.
Omega's lack of deeper shock confirmed it; Raphael had demonstrated such feats before. The scales of their desperate struggle against the vampire overlords were finally tipping in their favor. Yet Ciel's mind raced with caution. Gilgamesh was no mere foe—he fought with towering pride, unbridled arrogance, and a treasury that could drown the world in destruction. If he escalated beyond this duel…
She tightened her grip on the door handle as Omega navigated a sharp turn onto Misaki's main road. The town loomed ahead, its silhouette a jagged ruin of smoke and fire. Minutes now. Mere minutes.
"When we get there," Ciel declared firmly, steel infusing every syllable, "we don't interfere unless absolutely necessary." Her words carried the weight of hard-earned experience—jumping into a clash between titans could shatter their fragile alliance.
The vehicle finally abandoned, Omega Heinriel and Ciel proceeded on foot through the outskirts of Misaki Town, the air heavy with the acrid stench of smoke and charred debris. Shattered glass crunched underfoot, and distant rumbles echoed like the dying breaths of a wounded beast. Suddenly, a figure materialized to block their path—Saber Alter. Her presence was an oppressive shadow, black armor gleaming with corrupted menace under the ashen sky.
Omega Heinriel halted, confusion etching his features. "Who are you?" he asked, his stance shifting instinctively into readiness.
Saber Alter offered no reply. Her yellow eyes narrowed slightly, cold and unreadable, dissecting the two intruders with mechanical detachment. The wind howled through the broken streets, carrying echoes of past battles. Debris littered every surface, and plumes of smoke rose lazily from collapsed structures—remnants of a war that had consumed this once-peaceful town. Without a word, she raised her gauntleted hand. Dark energy crackled ominously around it, a pulse of corrupted mana that made the air itself feel viscous and hostile.
Omega Heinriel stepped protectively in front of Ciel, his muscles coiling like steel springs. The aura pressing down upon them was like an oncoming storm, heavy with pure malice. Saber Alter's expression remained utterly blank—no fury, no personal vendetta, only an empty void. A weapon forged for annihilation, now activated.
A single directive burned in her corrupted core: Intrusion detected. Eliminate.
Omega Heinriel's voice rose with authority and frustration. "I will ask you again. Who are you and why attack us?" he demanded, his tone brooking no games.
Saber Alter tilted her head ever so slightly, as if processing an irrelevant query. Her yellow eyes flickered—not with emotion, but cold calculation. Words held no value for her; identity was meaningless. Only purpose remained: violence.
In one fluid, terrifying motion, she raised both hands. The ground beneath Omega Heinriel and Ciel shattered violently as black energy surged forward in jagged tendrils, spears of pure annihilation hungry for their lives.
Omega Heinriel reacted with lightning speed. He scooped Ciel into his arms and leaped from the bridge with powerful force, the two of them barely clearing the path as Saber Alter's energy beam lanced forward. The attack struck true behind them, nuking an entire building in an instant—vaporizing concrete, steel, and glass into nothingness. A deafening roar followed, and a mushroom cloud of fire and dust bloomed skyward, silent in its initial devastation before the shockwave hit.
Omega landed hard on a lower street, rolling to absorb the bone-jarring impact while shielding Ciel. The heat singed their clothes and exposed skin, a painful reminder of how close they had come to oblivion.
Above, perched atop a collapsed overpass like a predator atop its kill, Saber Alter stood unmoved. Her glowing cracks pulsed with residual power. She did not pursue immediately. She waited, calculating.
Ciel hit the ground with a grunt, her breath stolen for a critical second, but her combat-honed instincts forced rapid recovery. Her eyes locked onto Saber Alter's silhouette against the smoke-choked heavens. That attack… its raw, inhuman destructive power defied easy categorization—not vampire, not standard magecraft, but something ancient and twisted. Omega had saved her just in time. Crouched behind rubble and flickering flames, Ciel assessed their dire position: pinned between this relentless guardian and the ruins ahead, with Raphael and Gilgamesh's battle still raging somewhere deeper in the town. And Saber waited, patient as death itself.
Ciel grabbed Omega's arm urgently, not in fear but cold pragmatism, and mouthed silently: "Run."
From above, Saber Alter descended with eerie grace, her black armor making no sound, each step a death knell upon the fractured pavement. No words. No warnings. A second sphere of concentrated dark energy formed in her palm, humming with apocalyptic intent. This time, it aimed directly at them.
Omega Heinriel shoved Ciel safely behind him. In a surge of resolve, he drew his weapon. "I will ask you again. Who are you and why attack us?" had already been asked—now action was the only answer. He pulled out Caliburn, the legendary blade gleaming with holy light amid the corruption. "CALIBURN!" he shouted, swinging the sword with all his might. A massive energy blast erupted forth, a brilliant azure beam roaring toward Saber Alter.
The collision was cataclysmic. Blue light from Caliburn met Saber Alter's crimson-tinged Excalibur blast in a blinding explosion of opposing forces. For a heartbeat, they held in equilibrium—then Saber Alter's overwhelming power surged forward, shattering Omega's defense. The residual energy slammed into him like a meteor, launching both him and Ciel backward. They crashed through layers of brick and concrete, slamming hard into the side of a ruined apartment building. Dust and debris exploded around them, the wall cracking under the force.
Ciel saw stars. The world spun in violent disarray as pain flared across her back and ribs. Her lungs burned, desperate for air. Omega had taken the brunt of it, his body battered by the superior onslaught. Yet even as agony threatened to overwhelm her, Ciel rolled onto an elbow, coughing through the dust. Her eyes widened in alarm—Saber Alter was already advancing, inexorable as fate, another attack charging in her gauntleted palm. Cold efficiency radiated from those yellow eyes. No pause. No mercy.
Only destruction.