"ROOOOOAAAAAARRRR!!!"

The black dragon unfurled its wings that blotted out the sky, the vast bone wings like black storm clouds that could crush a city.

The moment the storm barrier was undone, the majestic light of judgment fell from the heavens, like spears of light cast down from the highest throne of the gods, piercing everything on the earth below.

The black dragon's body was as vast as a mountain, yet its movements were beyond imagination. It drove the magic it had stolen from the great spirit of the wind, its massive body darting with impossible speed.

Deep within the dragon's single eye, the extraordinary intelligence that even surpassed ordinary humans had vanished. Yet, the instinct of a living creature remained.

So long as it was a being that lived upon the earth, one not ascended into the divine domain, it would never seek to meet the [End · Shining Spear] with its own body.

Because of the black dragon's explosive burst of speed in that instant, the spear of light that had been aimed at its core did not strike directly.

However, the black dragon's body was far too massive. Even tearing through the hurricane at full speed, it could not completely escape the range of the spear of light.

One of its wings was pierced through by the [End · Shining Spear], and with a shrill roar, the dragon inevitably began to plummet.

At the same time, another Lv.8 sorceress on the field had also completed her spell.

[Celestial Fox] Ichijou Mashiro, her sorcery was not invoked with chant, but with a ritual dance.

As Riveria's magic released, Mashiro's ritual dance came to completion as well.

The silver-haired fox-woman lifted her gaze, azure eyes flashing with thunderlight that reflected ancient myth.

[Kojiki · Volume One · Susanoo-no-Mikoto · Yamata-no-Orochi]

Mashiro spread her white lotus-like arms, one toe touching the ground as though in a gesture of farewell.

Behind her, eight raging azure thunder-dragons soared skyward, and with the long tail whipping in the storm, they seemed to form the nine tails of the celestial fox.

The thunder-dragons tore through the sky, winding and biting at the black dragon. Their tails coiled together, and if even one tore the monster's flesh, the others would rush in, thrusting destructive magic into the wound.

Two of the longest grand chants released, the strongest magics. Riveria and Ichijou Mashiro both found themselves panting.

A mage's power was tied directly to the scale of magic infused. When the seal was undone, this was their best chance of attack. Both had poured massive amounts of magic into this strike.

With the blessing of the Uchide no Kozuchi, as pseudo-Lv.9s, their full-power spells could already deal fatal damage to the black dragon.

The thunder-dragons wrapped around its body, their fangs unable to tear quickly through dragon scales, but the wound left by the [End · Shining Spear] was not so easily healed.

The dragon's jaws snapped fiercely, its claws ripping apart three thunder-dragons in an instant. Yet the remaining ones finally touched the damage beneath its wings.

Azure thunder exploded, scattering into countless serpents of lightning that tore deep into the dragon's wound.

"At least for a while, its wings won't recover!", Mashiro wiped away nosebleed, shouting.

She had not only completed a sorcery release, but also poured her spirit into manipulating the magic, forcing as much damage as possible upon the dragon.

Riveria, too, did not rest, she immediately began her second chant.

On the field were two adventurers from Hera's familia, whose presence provided crucial intelligence for the coalition.

In this situation, the dragon's next move would be, [Roar].

According to the plan, adventurers Lv.7 and above had already scattered in different directions, while the rest held formation.

The black dragon raised its head high, magic condensing in its savage jaws.

[Roar], this was one of the most common ranged attacks among monsters. From the black Goliath to the labyrinth's ice dragon, all had [Roar] skills. The only difference lay in attributes, the latter's was ice.

But for the black dragon, apex of the dragon kind and the peak of monsters, its [Roar] was so catastrophic in power it was known as [Darkness of Despair].

The black dragon's jaws gaped open, and a torrent of pitch-black magic spewed forth. Darkness that devoured all light, crashing down from above.

Its target, of course, was Riveria, who had inflicted it such great harm with a spear of light and was now chanting again.

But at the instant the dragon's [Darkness of Despair] unfolded, Riveria too raised her staff.

"[World Beyond the World]!"

Absolute defense magic, deployed.

The black radiance fell, covering the domain of [World Beyond the World] entirely, like a raging flood swallowing stones in a riverbed.

Wherever the dark light touched, earth was ravaged, becoming charred wasteland; forest vanished, trees turned to ash; rivers it touched boiled away instantly into black mist.

Yet within this catastrophic tide of magic, Riveria stood firm, staff raised high.

[World Beyond the World] was absolute defense magic.

Regardless of level or stats, so long as the power was beneath the divine realm, all would be "ignored."

Neither physical impact nor magical erosion could dent it. Once deployed, it was an absolute domain.

Even if the black dragon still bore "Tiamat's" authority, it lacked the strength to break divine territory or touch the conceptual defense of [World Beyond the World], let alone after Emiya's blade had already severed its divine power.

[Darkness of Despair] was completely blocked by Riveria's absolute defense magic. Just like Riveria and Mashiro, who could not cast again immediately, the dragon too could not unleash a second [Roar] right away.

Both sides had played their strongest mage cards. Riveria and Mashiro had destroyed one of its wings, while the dragon's [Darkness of Despair] had been nullified by the elf princess's absolute defense.

The first round belonged to the adventurers.

And as the dragon's [Roar] was spent, the warriors closed in.

Fastest of all, wielding flight magic [Sacred White Wings], was the [Sword Saint] Melvette.

Magic [Radiant Holy Sword], activated. Magic [Dark Moon Demon Sword], activated.

The [Sword Saint] was the world's only swordswoman who possessed two different weapon enchantments, her attributes were light and dark.

Before Lv.8, Melvette had fought as a dual-sword fighter, though rarely did she need to draw the second blade.

After ascending to Lv.8, Emiya reforged her twin blades into one.

Now, light and dark both blessed the same sword.

Compound magic, [Blade of Light and Darkness].

Skills: [Sacred Blade Shadow], [Apostle of the Sword], [Body as Blade]...

Most believed that the "Sacred" in [Sword Saint] meant saint as in holy one, for she was the master of the sword, loved by the blade itself.

Only Melvette knew the truth. Since that day, she had been nothing but a devout saint beneath the throne of the Grand Saber.

Noble Phantasm: [Saint's Prayer].

Behind the [Sword Saint] appeared a phantom.

The figure resembled her, half-golden, half-red hair, molten gold eyes shining.

As though Melvette and Emiya's essences had combined.

The phantom overlapped with the Sword Saint.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!", She swung at the dragon's lone eye.

With that strike, the wings behind her vanished, and Melvette plummeted from the sky, caught in the arms of [Stellar Bow] Luna.

"Big sister Melvette!", Luna cried, heart aching. Her hair was withered, streaked with white.

"I'm fine… just magic overdraw. A little rest, and I'll return," Melvette whispered softly from within the formation.

But as her blade struck, the black dragon howled in madness.

As if born of a miracle wrought by saintly prayer, Melvette's sword twisted causality, outstripping reaction, breaking logic, destroying the dragon's lone eye that its claw had instinctively tried to shield.

The [Sword Saint]'s prayer had wrought a result equal to Mercenary King Albert's own.

Fifteen years ago, Melvette had lost her eye to this very dragon.

Now, an eye for an eye.

Her overdrawn magic burned away both artificial mystic eyes in her sockets. Calmly, she leaned against Mashiro, unhurriedly retrieving and replacing them with spares.

Though she made it seem simple, her body's magic flow was in chaos. Her life was not endangered, but she could not soon return to battle.

The price for reversing causality was never small.

Still, even if she could not rejoin the fight, trading for the dragon's eye was more than enough for pride.

Without sight, though the dragon retained magic-sense, its efficiency plummeted.

"Mercy of silver moon, golden plain of blessing, grant me your mandate as the boar of battle. Bearing the goddess's will, charge forth, [Hildis Vini]!"

"Resonant afterglow, blaze of heroes, [Blaze of Round]!"

"In the goddess's name, tracing starlit steps upon earth as across heaven, justice unceasing, [Astrea Summon]!"

Ottar, Leon, Ryuu, three warriors just behind the Sword Saint in strength, unleashed magic.

Hogni, Finn, Allen followed.

The most grueling stage began, the close-quarters slaughter.

———

When the dragon was unsealed, the myriad draconic beasts born of the Valley of Dragons over a millennium were freed as well.

And the first to execute them was the legion named "Stars and Justice."

On one side, Ryuu with [Agaris Alvesynth] slashed at the dragon; on the other, Alise Lovell, wielding the same magic, cut through swarms of monsters.

Alise, Kaguya, and Neze were one level below Ryuu. With the Uchide no Kozuchi, Ryuu was pseudo-Lv.8, and the three reached Lv.7 strength.

Behind them, within range of "area annihilation," stood [White Fairy's Magic Wand] Hedin, pinnacle of the world.

Even Mashiro, a higher level, had only similar range; Riveria's attack power was supreme, but her scope slightly narrower than Hedin's.

"Eternal struggle, undying thunder host, [Caelus Hildr]!"

At Lv.6, Hedin could conjure hundreds of lightning spheres in seconds, each strong enough to disable a second-class adventurer.

Now, he summoned over a thousand at once, shaping them into countless forms.

The white fairy swept his staff-sword, azure sea of lightning crushing forward.

The nine precious Uchide no Kozuchi uses naturally went to Lv.7 and Lv.8 elites. Thus, a gulf formed between Lv.6 and Lv.7.

Save for long-ranged fighters like Alicia, summoning the ice war-god and loosing arrow after arrow at the dragon, most Lv.6 adventurers could not directly join the dragon battle.

Their targets were the swarming dragon beasts.

"Hold the lines! Protect the mages and healers!", commanding from the center was Loki Familia's acting captain, [Noble Cat] Anakitty Autumn.

In the valley, adventurers and draconic beasts clashed in bloodshed. And elsewhere, where the black dragon fought, the battle was even more brutal.

Even stripped of divinity by Emiya's sword, the black dragon was still the ultimate monster. Even with pseudo-Lv.9 Ottar and Leon, it was barely manageable.

After fifteen minutes of recovery, the Sword Saint rejoined, and the battle smoothed somewhat.

But the dragon's vitality was terrifying. Save for the Sword Saint's first unhealable strike, all subsequent wounds were contests against its regeneration.

Its attacks, tail swipes, claw strikes, were devastating. Pseudo-Lv.9s and Ryuu with her defense magic could endure, but others fell from one hit, forced to retreat for healing.

The fight was a dance upon death's edge. The one consolation, all its eyes were gone.

"ROOOOOAAAAHHHHH!"

The dragon unleashed [Roar] again. Riveria deployed [World Beyond the World], but this time, the [Darkness of Despair] took a new form.

Centered on the dragon, dark waves spread like shockwaves, blasting nearby adventurers away.

Not even Hera Familia had seen this.

Its corrosive magic forced Finn and others to spit blood. The Uchide no Kozuchi's radiance nearly driven off.

Riveria: "Not good, it's trying to flee!"

Even with one wing, the dragon could still take flight.

Riveria had just cast [World Beyond the World] and couldn't ready another spell. Mashiro had only just finished blessing everyone with auxiliary sorcery [Kojiki · Volume Two · Emperor of Benevolence · Sovereign Saint], her new ritual incomplete.

At this critical instant, instinct drove the dragon to the right choice, escape, at the fastest speed.

But then—

"You're not escaping."

The storm surged anew, forming a heaven-toppling cage.

Ais lifted her head. Absorbing the magic of the storm barrier, her golden eyes turned wholly azure, twin hurricanes whirling within.

The last Uchide no Kozuchi fell precisely upon her.

"Elia, Albert, Riveria, Shirou Emiya…", the girl whispered the names dearest to her.

"My sword exists for you."

"[True Wish of Wind · Fall of the Evil Dragon]!"

———

"Behemoth, Leviathan… and the black dragon, hm?", Emiya looked upon the three titanic forms born of the black mud.

The world's three greatest monsters, Tiamat, following instinct, had birthed them.

But the expected "Dragon of Calamity, Tiamat" did not emerge.

Emiya gazed into the depths of the great hollow, and with a snap of his fingers, sword after sword, countless blades appeared from nothing.

Blades, holy swords, demon blades, flame, thunder, divine swords…

From the most ordinary, the first simple blade he had forged in this world, to the god-wrought [Sword of Promised Victory (Excalibur)].

Unending blades rose to the heavens, forming a single holy wheel.

[Unlimited Blade Works · Chakravartin]

Three blades fell from the wheel above, descending upon the Behemoth, Leviathan, and Black Dragon born of the mud.

[Ig-Alima · Green Field Cutting Through the Thousand Mountains]

[Sul-Sagana · The Horizon of Dawnthat Purifies the Seas]

[Enuma Elish · O' Humans, Let Us Restrain the Gods]

Cutting mountains, burning seas, rending the sky—

Above the great hollow, Emiya's golden eyes stared into the black sea's center, sparing not a glance for the corpses of the "Three Calamities."

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