"This stance... you're ready to start a war, aren't you, Avenger boy?"
Seeing the look in Asuka's eyes as he stood up, the King of Conquerors smiled carelessly.
"This is war, after all."
He felt the somewhat depleted magical energy within his body, then, amidst Waver's exclamations, threw him out of the Gordius Wheel and onto the distant riverbank.
Ionioi Hetairoi had taken a massive toll on him, nearly dragging him into a temporary magical energy vacuum.
At this moment, his strength had drastically declined. Coupled with the magical energy reserves of a third-rate magus like Waver, he probably wouldn't even be able to activate the Gordius Wheel more than a few times.
In the upcoming battle, he might not be able to protect his Master.
Artoria panted, the afterglow of the Sword of the Planet in her hands not yet fully dissipated.
"King of Knights, I challenge you to a duel!" Asuka declared in a deep voice.
She looked firmly at Asuka, who had been fighting alongside her just minutes ago, and smiled confidently. "After defeating Lancer and those twins, do you still have the strength to fight me?"
"Yeah." Asuka didn't waste words, simply gripping his Zanpakuto tightly. "Let's bring this chaotic war to an early end."
"Although I've fought two battles in a row, the toll of using your Noble Phantasm wasn't low either. I'm not taking advantage of you."
"How bold of you to say." Hearing this, Artoria straightened up, her heroic brows twitching slightly. "Are you really not going to rest? I won't show any mercy."
Asuka remained silent, merely leveling his moonlit blade, letting his attitude speak for itself.
"Hahaha! What an interesting fellow! Are you trying to end the Holy Grail War in a single night? Truly remarkable!"
The King of Conquerors laughed aloud, though his laughter carried a hint of exhaustion.
At this moment, Zouken Matou slowly walked down from the bridge, a swarm of tiny, buzzing insects swirling around his body.
He glanced at the tense standoff between Asuka and Artoria, a cold sneer curling his lips. "Avenger, since you've chosen the Saber-class Servant, leave the Rider to me."
"Although I've regressed a bit in recent years, dealing with a Servant lacking magical energy is more than enough for me."
"Don't be too confident, old man." Iskandar turned around and drew the Sword of the Kupriotes from his waist. "Even without the might of my Noble Phantasm, I am still the grand Emperor!"
Asuka paid no attention to Zouken's situation; he had fully entered his combat state.
He didn't know what insidious methods Zouken would use against Iskandar, but out of sight, out of mind.
Right now, he had to focus on the duel before him.
As disgusting as Zouken was, the old man was right.
To return to that world, to see Shinobu Kocho and everyone in the Demon Slayer Corps, to go back and take his revenge...
"King of Knights, if the Holy Grail has already been corrupted, and all your dreams and wishes will be twisted, will you still fight for it?" he suddenly asked.
Black patterns crept up his arm, the power of the Avenger class acting up.
Seemingly influenced by this power, the Heaven's Feel, which had already absorbed two Heroic Spirits, grew restless, emitting strange fluctuations in the sky above.
Artoria didn't understand Asuka's intentions and raised the Sword of the Planet high. "Things like that... one must witness them with their own eyes to know for sure."
Asuka fell silent. Black and red Spiritual Pressure began to gather on his blade, the intense heat causing the steel to emit waves of white mist in the gloomy night.
"...I will try my best to let you exit the stage without pain."
"Come at me with everything you have!"
The battle erupted in an instant.
Asuka's figure charged straight ahead. Without using any flashy techniques, he closed the distance to Artoria at extreme speed with an explosive Shunpo.
His Zanpakuto slashed down from above, carrying a howl that tore through the air.
Black energy wrapped around the blade, the strike imbued with aggressive flames.
"Tearing Sky!"
Artoria dodged sideways and swept her holy sword outward.
Even without releasing the magical energy of the Sword of the Planet, a pure clash of stats carried a majestic force that ordinary Servants would find hard to parry.
Clang—!!
Their weapons collided, erupting with the ringing of metal and sparks of magical energy.
Both felt their arms go numb simultaneously.
The King of Knights' Strength parameter far exceeded her appearance; that sword strike seemed to carry a force capable of moving mountains and parting seas.
And it was Artoria's first time clashing head-on with Asuka. She couldn't help but marvel that it was no wonder Lancer couldn't parry his sword strikes.
The force of this strike, even with the aid of her EX-rank Noble Phantasm, nearly made her lose her stance and expose a flaw.
Coupled with that magic-devouring sensation, the Noble Phantasm in his hands was clearly no simple weapon either.
"Haa!!" she shouted clearly, slashing down with force.
Asuka took a step back, used the momentum to flip, and unleashed a continuous net of slashes once more.
Clang, clang, clang—!!
Crackling sparks from the clashing blades flew everywhere, almost illuminating the entire riverbank.
"Good sword!" both said at the same time.
Relying on their masterful swordsmanship, the two monsters of Strength fought in a tangled melee.
The shockwaves from their clashing blades kicked up sand and gravel, causing the river water to ripple.
For a time, they were evenly matched.
On the other side, Zouken Matou had also closed in on Iskandar.
Even though his opponent looked somewhat weak, the insidious old man didn't approach carelessly. Instead, he commanded his insect swarm to surge toward the King of Conquerors like a tide.
"King of Conquerors, although your Reality Marble is strong, it's a pity you cannot activate it consecutively in a short time."
"Haha! Old man, my path of conquest will not stop here!"
Despite his heavy body, Iskandar laughed heartily and swung the short sword in his hand.
The sword light flashed like thunder, chopping swaths of bugs into minced meat.
But his movements were noticeably sluggish, making Waver stomp his feet in anxiety on the riverbank. "King! Watch your back!"
"Damn it... my magical energy... why is it so useless!"
Waver gritted his teeth and forcefully squeezed magical energy from his body, but that meager supply was a drop in the bucket, completely unable to restore Iskandar to his peak.
After all, not everyone was like Asuka, able to sustain themselves in battle by plundering magical energy.
Zouken chuckled sinisterly. With a wave of his cane, more bugs drilled out from underground, forming a black vortex that lunged at Iskandar.
"Your Master is too weak. This bit of magical energy is inferior even to the little girl of the Kamado family nowadays. How can it support a king's glory?"
"Accept your fate and let your Saint Graph become nourishment for the Holy Grail. I'll let that child off the hook."
Iskandar barely blocked, but the swarm grew larger and larger. His armor and short sword were already covered in bug corpses.
With a loud crash, the Gordius Wheel was completely overturned by the sea of bugs, its lightning dimming as it fell to the ground.
He could only do a sideways roll to put distance between himself and the bug sea, summoning his beloved steed from an alternate space and remounting with his sword in hand.
"This can't go on. I have to close the distance to that old man in one breath and cut him down directly!"
The King of Conquerors made his decision.
Meanwhile, the battle in the sky underwent another drastic change.
Gilgamesh's golden figure hovered in the night sky, the light of his Noble Phantasms almost illuminating half the heavens.
"To think you'd make this King waste so much time. You mad dog should be at your limit by now!"
His eyes were full of annoyance as the Gate of Babylon forced the Berserker to retreat step by step.
Even so, he still hadn't used his full strength.
The heaven-and-earth-cleaving Ea remained in his hand, yet he refused to activate it again.
Perhaps in his view, bringing out Ea to shatter the Bankai domain was already the greatest honor of his opponent's three lifetimes. To ask him to chase down his enemy with such a Noble Phantasm completely contradicted the nature of the King of Heroes.
But the Berserker's body grew increasingly bizarre, black mist seeping out from beneath the bone mask.
Metastacia was reviving.