Chapter 111 - Second Round.
Chapter 111 - Second Round.
When Leo and Solomon were clashing with their unmeasurable EX Noble Phantasm. The area outside the reality marble was trembling, especially around Endou mountain. Like something heavy slamming on the ground, a couple of light earthquakes could be felt around this place.
The mana in the air was vibrating as its quality and quantity were increasing gradually. It's the signs of the Age of Gods manifesting again, which made everyone near the mountain feel the air heavy.
Merlin, Enkidu, Alex, and Zelretch who saw the seven-colored beam hit the reality temple, noticed that something big might have happened, so they resumed the battle immediately.
Despite feeling the change in the air and the textures spreading, they sensed that the process is slow and most likely can only be concentrated on the reality marble.
Merlin dodged Enkidu chains before Zelretch sealed the space further and blocked them from interfering. He even sealed the area around the ground, so Enkidu can't take more mana.
Although he doesn't want to admit it, the chains lose all the CounterForce's power when they move next to Alex. Zelretch sighed as he reinforced the space around him and launched a giant Ether cannon at Enkidu.
Enkidu wanted to shoot another chain at Merlin, but Zelretch's barrier and attacks didn't give him any chance. Waving his blade hands, He looked at the side helplessly.
Merlin didn't waste time as he trapped Alex in illusion and cracked his servant's contract, which made Enkidu widen his eyes.
Activating his powers, he tried to leave the space seal, but it was useless, especially when he lost the mana supplier from nature and Alex.
Even if he doesn't need a lot of mana from his Master to fight, Enkidu doesn't have any skill to manifest independently without a master.
Despite looking like humans or had been humans during their lives, Servants are just the purest souls of humanity turning into Heroics Spirits.
So, they need two conditions to exist. A mana supply to exist and an anchor to this world, so their souls don't get rejected by Alaya and Gaia or get sucked by the Holy Grail back to the place of all souls, the Roots.
Mana supplies can be either the Master's mana or, if their master had a problem in their mana capacity, the servant can consume the souls of other beings or things that have mana, like living beings' hearts and such.
An anchor can be a master's contract, linking the mana in a certain important place, even if that will limit the servant movements, or simply having a skill that allows existing without a master. Like Archer's Independent action.
Although Beasts are a completely different situation because they can manifest as long as the condition of their existence is allowed. They don't have to care about the CounterForce's effects on their manifestation at that point.
If a servant doesn't have both of these two conditions, it's just a matter of time to lose their foothold in this world and vanish in the form of light particles.
Enkidu is in the same situation. He's sealed in Zelretch's space, which made him unable to take mana from the ground in addition to losing his contract with his master.
Even Gilgamesh with his huge treasury needs his skill of Independent Action to exist and move without a master completely, but now he has an actual body, so in addition to his skill, he can move normally.
Looking at his Master in an illusion and without an arm, Enkidu sighed a little. His situation is very bad. He can't get mana from the ground nor from Alex, and his existence is losing its foothold because of the absence of the contract.
"O' Humans! Let's us bound the gods above..." Even after looking at the impossible situation, Enkidu, as a weapon, isn't allowed to stop until his body crumbles.
So, he'll be pushing all that he has from mana and most of his body that was made from clay of the Age of Gods to launch his Noble Phantasm.
Chanting the lines of the Noble Phantasm, Enkidu's body glowed with a golden light as he started to lose his humanoid form and become a chain.
However, there was someone unhappy about this. Zelretch looked at Enkidu's Noble Phantasm and his chant as he had some thoughts in his head {I'm not a human nor a god. Can't I be spared from these internal conflicts even if I became a Dead Apostle?!}
Sighing at his luck and this disaster of a timeline, Zelretch waved his hand as Alex, who was outside the barrier, appeared in his hand.
The sound of chains clanking in the air and wind howling filled the surrounding, but Zelretch glanced at the golden meteors casually before he waved his Jeweled sword.
Enkidu, who was rushing in the form of chains, widened his imaginary eyes while looking at his Master next to the magician. The tiny amount of CounterForce's power became even less when he tried to stop Zelretch from catching Alex.
This amount of power and mana can't even affect the magician's space and time magic now, however, Enkidu didn't stop as he turned into a golden meteors that reached in front of Zelretch in less than an instant.
However, when he almost hit him... A portal appeared and swallowed all of Enkidu before vanishing.
Meanwhile, at top of the air, a flash of light was rushing from the sky towards Endou mountain. Gilgamesh's eyes were burning with rage as he was rushing towards the reality marble he sensed.
Even if it was the last thing in his time in this world, he'll make sure to smash Leo's head with a full power EA until all his mana vanish.
"...?" Suddenly, Gilgamesh sensed something familiar before a portal appeared instantly in front of his ship.
From the portals, golden chains that carried a lot of mana and power were rushing like a meteor towards Gilgamesh's ship.
Enkidu and Gilgamesh glanced at each other with a blank face as the time slowed down before the impact arrived.
*BOOOOOOM!!!*
A giant firework exploded in the sky as Zelretch nodded with satisfaction. Finally, he doesn't have to deal with Alaya and Gaia's shenanigans anymore!
He always has to feel their buffer of power around the world 24h a day, and now, he has to face a catalyzation of that power(Enkidu)? No, he won't accept this!
Merlin looked at the cloud of smoke as he shook his head. He really doesn't want to imagine King Gilgamesh's anger now, but looking at the bright side, he has a story to tell to the other King Gilgamesh(Caster) if he wasn't watching now.
"Now, we can get to business" Zelretch waved with his hand as several gems floated around Alex.
They flew in an irregular pattern before they formed a magic-circle under Alex's feet, which glowed with all colors.
"My magic isn't something related to the soul, so this might be troublesome" Zelretch raised his empty left hand as a book appeared before it started flipping its pages.
"Is this your location or the stage?" Merlin said while looking at Zelretch, who was taking his sweet time while checking in his book.
"Both. Although I said that I'll help, Alaya is the mother of all rip-offs and bad deals, so I can't push myself to work seriously as long as the Human Order is involved" Zelretch said without caring about Merlin's gaze.
"Hm? Did he go inside?" Merlin felt the familiar mana from the barrier. It was Leo's mana going wild inside the reality marble.
"Of course, he'll go there. As long as he exists, it's bound for something that affects the world to happen. The damn walking disasters magnet" Zelretch said with an unhappy expression, even if it looked slightly helpless.
"I mean, he's a Beast. It's a matter of time before something that affects the world happens around him... Right?" Merlin said, but his last word was uncertain while looking at Zelretch.
"It doesn't make much difference" Zelretch waved with his hand as his Jeweled sword glowed with the magic-circle under Alex.
"Mmm..." Merlin hummed meaningfully, which made Zelretch glance at him with his glowing red eyes and he says " Apparently, you need something from me"
"Me? No, no, no, I'm just surprised you know my Master" Merlin shook his head with a smile. How could Zelretch doesn't see what this Magus wanted? But he didn't care that much.
"Know him? I personally don't know him, but on the other hand, I know him very well." Zelretch looked at the magic-circle, then he said in a small voice " After all, he 'killed' me a couple of times"
Merlin turned his head quickly to look at Zelretch as the colors of shock were on his face, however, he didn't have time to calm down or process his thoughts.
*Crack!!*
The ground around him started showing some small cracks as the earthquakes from the temple grew stronger, and then, they stopped completely.
The mana in the air, the cracks on the ground, the small earthquakes, and the textures. All of them stopped before returning to normal like nothing happened.
Looking at the temple, which has the reality marble, Merlin and Zelretch had a slightly puzzled expression on their faces. Their mind had one single question, are they looking at a reality marble or what?
It was so weird for them. Like it was a reality marble, however, it wasn't. It almost became a world in its strength, but it didn't. This looked like something stuck between two places at the same time, which confused Zelretch and Merlin.
Why do you need a reality marble this strong if you're not going to make it a world? They didn't understand the process behind wasting all these resources, then leaving the job half-done.
Zelretch glanced at the 'reality marble' structure. Like Merlin, he doesn't get the reason for making it this strong without turning it into a world, even if it looked like those Lostbelts.
The only change he saw except the strength was the weird Origin of Flow that'll probably sit to give mobility to the reality marble... A reality marble strong as a world and with mobility.
Zelretch's face was filled with shock as he couldn't believe in his ideas, but he couldn't think of another meaning for this strong reality marble, except for being a ship, a ship to something beyond this reality.
However, he didn't have a chance to confirm his thoughts because he sensed a large amount of mana moving.
Glancing at the sky, several rays of light appeared on the calm blue sky as they glowed like stars in the night.
In space, around the Earth, Beast I's light ring that can start the full extinction of the human race was moving around the Ozone layer.
Separating it light belts and regrouping again in a very quick amount of time as it became a whole light show for people on Earth.
Zelretch and Merlin stared at this as the light belts formed a lot of star constellations and formations on top of Earth before they became one big ritual. However, it looked like it lacked one last piece to start.
"Animusphere? That bland-looking idiot man" Zelretch covered his face when he looked at the Astromancy magecraft in the sky before he waved with his Jeweled sword.
Astromancy is a type of magecraft that involves the aspect of planets, space, stars to perform different spells. Zelretch is familiar with this type of magecraft, but he never thought he'd see it here and even on Beast I's Noble Phantasm.
However, this type of linking and usage of Astromancy is like using a whole Magic Crest of a family and person that he knew very well, Marisbury Animusphere.
"So, you're Solomon's master... *Sigh* This is troublesome" Zelretch sighed again as he felt the problems had just increased.
The current formation is enough to start a whole ritual against the world if the missing piece was filled. It is most likely to be with Solomon because he should have modified the spell based on Marisbury's Magic Crest.
Merlin and Zelretch naturally saw Murisbury on top of the building, but before they moved they heard a cracking sound.
Suddenly, the area that calmed down started shaking more violently than the last time. The mana and wind raged like a storm before several light bands appeared.
From the top of the reality marble, few belts of light are trying to escape and rush towards the sky.
Zelretch glanced at his left before he waved his Jeweled sword. All the color flashed before one Beast, two servants and masters appeared.
Fou looked at the new environment before he glanced at the light belts in the sky. Without another single thought, his body glowed with mana before turning into a meteor towards them.
"Fou?!" Ritsuka was surprised by this, but then, she saw Fou's shape change in mid-air.
The small fluffy beast grew bigger and bigger. His head has two horns and his tail was glowing with purple-blue colors. The cute shape became a monstrosity that put fear into everyone's soul.
"ROOOARRR!!!!" Roars that don't belong to any creature known to humans sounded before Fou, in his Beast form, jumped at the light belt and bit them.
Using his body and teeth to block the light, Fou was getting burned before recovering. However, he didn't let go as he sealed the cracks and destroyed every beam of light coming from the reality marble.
Despite that, more and more light was escaping and pushing him away. It's just a matter of time before the light escapes him and rushes towards the sky.
"We don't have time!!" Zelretch clenched his fist. His ritual isn't ready at all and he can't locate the proper coordinate, but he doesn't have a choice.
"Jeweled sword, open the parallel world's source!" Stabbing the ritual around Alex with his sword, the whole place glowed before an unimaginable amount of Ether rushed towards the surrounding.
This made breathing difficult for everyone before Zelretch waved his book.
A wave of space, time, and Ether rushed to the surrounding before the whole world started changing.
What was looking like a 3D image became slightly 2D in the eyes of everyone around the mountain. It was like a picture that was based on the real world being drawn in front of their eyes.
It felt like entering a painting as they couldn't interfere with the real world anymore. This is a fast made Parallel world by Zelretch and the best he could do for the moment.
However, this parallel world can't stop the connection between Solomon's rituals. The formation was still glowing in the sky and light was trying to escape the reality marble.
"Wizard Marshall!!??" Rin exclaimed when she saw Zelretch, who had a gloomy look on his face.
"Leave the greetings later. The emperor of Rome, can you block the ritual with Beast IV?" Zelretch didn't waste any time now as he directly went for Nero.
Although she was slightly surprised by the change in places and events, Nero calmly nodded before she said " But I've to prepare something"
Archer couldn't help but look at her in surprise. Blocking something that a Beast is struggling with? Aren't you just a Saber?!
"Umu! It's natural for you to be surprised. After all, if my Praetor didn't manifest, I'd still be a candidate to be a Human Evil" Nero said calmly before walking forward as Archer covered his face.
"Don't stay like that! When she blocks the ritual, all of you enter this reality marble and do something useful!!" Zelretch, who was previously wasting time, started to work two times faster before he opened a portal in the reality marble.
"I don't think we can interfere in the battle inside..." Merlin tried to slip away. If this magician is going to send him in the middle of Leo and Solomon, then he prefers to leave this place.
Archer, Rin, and Ritsuka had roughly the same idea. Archer didn't want to die for no reason, at least not now. Rin wanted to find her sister, but she doesn't think she can interfere in the middle of that battle while Ritsuka knows her strength very well.
"Shut up and go!" Zelretch had enough as he waved with his hand and pushed everyone with space towards the portal. All of them looked helpless as they went inside the portal and disappeared.
"It's inside the core. This guy even made the interior of the ship in his reality marble" Zelretch shook his head before looking at Nero and said " Are you still waiting?"
However, Nero didn't glance at him because she was talking with Leo, who said { You want to burn in flames?}
{Hmmm... My Praetor still underestimates my capabilities it seems. I, Nero Claudius, won't lose to a mere Human Evil!} Nero shook her head with dissatisfaction.
{You do realize that I'm a Human Evil, right? Forget it, you'll really burn in flames, literally. if I make you a Sub-Beast of mine, then you'll have the danger of losing your mind} More dissatisfaction filled Nero's face because her Praetor really doesn't think she can handle anything!!
{Wow, I feel like I can see your face from here. Anyway, I'll ask VI to be nice, just launch the power immediately and don't keep anything in your body} Nero heard Leo was having a battle before she felt something was added inside of her Spiritual core.
{Oh, I forgot because this titan is annoying... TELL THAT PARALLEL WORLD VAMPIRE TO MAKE HIS DAMN PARALLEL WORLD ALREADY!!!} A loud scream that made Nero's head dizzy before she said to Zelretch " My Praetor want you to make the parallel world already"
"Why don't he make one himself?" Zelretch didn't care about this message, but his hands didn't slow down.
Nero took a deep breath before raising the sword in front of her face. Flames ignited on the sword before it spread to her whole body. More and more mana was gathering in her Spirit core before she jumped towards the sky.
Like turning into a red meteor, Nero rushed towards Fou, who was blocking the light with his body before she said " Behold, the seven necks smoldering in the roaring sea..."
With every word, the flames on Nero's body got stronger. They were at first just a mana release, but now, they started hurting her as she bit her lip.
Running on Fou's long tail, Nero's speed increased further before she said " Earth's amassers of fortune..."
More and more flames were on her body. Her ribbon was burned as it let the long blond hair flew behind Nero before she clenched her sword.
With those words, several shadows appeared behind Nero before she jumped towards the sky and pointed her sword down towards the cracks of the reality marble.
"Pour your desire into the golden goblet! Abbadon Pleonexia!!!" Nero screamed as she felt all her body was cracking before several dragon heads rushed from behind her.
VI directly appeared from behind Nero, but unlike Leo, his flames were much weaker, however, it was enough as he joined around Fou and blocked the light belts.
Nero was floating in the air while holding her sword. Clenching her teeth and making sure to keep her mind clear from all the greed of humanity that rushed immediately.
Nero has a title called the Whore of Babylon, which in history is called the woman who raided the seven-headed snake. This isn't just a nickname or an insult because this is real. Especially with Rome getting a clear relation with Beast VI in its nickname, the Beast of Babylon.
She is one of the holders of Beast VI's parts. Beast VI was separated across the world before it regrouped again by Root. His parts were in the hands of different people, but the most important were three parts, which represent his three Noble Phantasm, except the first one.
Although the part holders can't use Leo's power effectively, it isn't something to joke about.
Nero is the holder of the third part, which gave her the skill of the Seven Crowns and the chance to manifest as a Human Evil. However, after Leo got his parts again, all the chances for those holders to be a Human Evil is in his hands as Sub-Beasts.
Zelretch glanced at the Sub-Beast and Beast IV blocking Solomon's ritual before he put his book on the ground and said " The parallel source is available... Formation is perfect... Parallel world Creation!"
With his words, another waved of mana rushed towards the surrounding as it made the 2D painting world more real and stronger. This place officially became a parallel world attached to the real one.
When that happens, another wave of energy rushes towards the world. Although it wasn't huge and large like Zelretch's almost infinite amount of Ether, it was strong and very terrifying as the parallel world was shaking.
Meanwhile, inside the reality marble, Leo was swinging his wing against Altera before she attacked him with her sword.
After Leo finished his talk with Nero, he transferred VI to her and was tangled by this titan. Honestly, if he could, he would have finished this fight already, but everything is increasing in strength beyond the limits.
Do you think it's easy to win this battle?! Even if going at full force, Leo will still have problems against these guys. Nothing easy comes from playing with concepts and meanings.
In addition to having this solidification flow on his body, Leo was having problems with Solomon's launching his ritual. Just putting him near the ritual makes his power slow because that ritual can be counted as Anti-Original Sin Noble Phantasm.
Honestly, this is gathering and battle royal of overpowered guys that would probably end with world destruction.
Altera is pushing everything in this fight. She is sacrificing her Spirit Core just to match Leo's power in an attempt to fight equality and kill him.
*BOOOM!!*
Altera struck again with her sword before Leo blocked it with his lance, however, he didn't wait for long. Letting go of his lance and moving quickly, Leo gave Altera an uppercut directly.
*BAAMM!!*
Like two solid objects colliding, Leo's fist made Altera's head rise from the impact, but she quickly kicked with her leg towards his side. She couldn't attack with her sword because the lance was attacking her on its own.
Leo already let go of his lance, so he blocked the attack with the other hand while doing a half spin to avoid Altera's sword and kicking her to the side. Each attack was calculated to block all her escape routes, but she didn't care.
Altera twisted her body before letting go of her sword. The lance tried to attack her, but she was already out of its range as she punched Leo to the face.
Leo didn't bother to block her attack because it was faint from the start as he gathered the mana on his fist and blocked the true attack, a fist coming to his neck. However, Altera also kicked him to the side directly.
*BAAAM!!* *BAAAAM!!!*
The two of them were entangled in close combat as punches and kicks were creating shock waves all around. Suddenly, Leo flapped his wings, which pushed Altera away a little before he raised his right arm. Altera did the same as their weapons appeared.
"A clear image... available… Data… Sufficiency ...Conditions are clear… Applying the flaw" Leo clenched his lance before several values and data were revolving in his mind.
An image from his last fight with an archer back at the city was completely clear in his eyes before he released a breath.
Altera didn't wait as her tricolor sword did an arc in the air while going directly towards Leo's eyes.
At this moment, like he was possessed, Leo's lance holding form changed completely. He seemed like something that held weapons for a long time before he said " Rhongomyniad: Nine Lives!"
The lance turned into nine flashes that became meteors towards Altera. The first two deflected her sword, which made her retreat and block two more with it. However, the other five stabs reached her immediately.
Twisting her body, Altera dodged the first three, but she wasn't lucky with the other two. One scratched her face and one pierced her shoulder directly, almost blowing her arm off.
Blood flew in the air as Leo frowned because his speed was very slow. Applying a flaw on his mind and body based on the previous battle with Alcides, he was able to replicate his technique, Nine Lives. However, compared to Alcides, his technique was very slow as it allowed Altera to escape most of the hits.
Without glancing at her shoulder, the energy was recovering Altera's body before she clenched her sword and rushed forward. Her sword grew larger as the energy was beyond it limits before Altera swung her sword
Several phantoms flashed in the air before they turned into several swords slashed of energy covered Leo's vision.
The sword's slashes became waves of energy that drowned his body immediately before Altera rushed to complete her attack.
However, at this moment, a wave of space and time's power rushed, which made the reality marble contained in a whole new world.
Solomon frowned as he looked at his beam getting blocked by something from the outside while Shinji was rushing towards him.
Gugalanna suddenly stopped attacking him as it looked at the sky. Shinji didn't care because Solomon is more important, but then, a wave of energy appeared in his reality marble.
Altera, who was the closest, sensed the danger as she wanted to retreat, but she was late. A hand broke out from the waves of energy and grabbed her face.
Her eyes showed a slight panic for the first time during this battle or even her life as she gathered her energy and made it explode in front of her. This pushed her away, but before she reacted, her position changed as Leo stabbed her core with his Lance.
*CRACK!!*
With a loud cracking sound, Altera's body lost its strength like a puppet that lost its strings. Her body started to become light particles as she didn't have the strength to hold her sword.
"It seems there are still things that I can't destroy... Even if it's you Entity 19" Altera said with her cold voice, which was weaker now.
"I really want to forget about that code name...Forget it, I hope you'll have more beautiful dreams in the future..." With those light words, Leo looked at Altera vanishing into light particles.
Altera's attack of tricolor beams vanished as Leo appeared. He grabbed his neck while opening his wings widely and stretching them. It looked like something that didn't move for a long time was relaxing his body.
"I missed this feeling of lightness" Leo cracked his neck while looking at Shinji and Solomon in the sky.
His body felt much lighter now, like he was liberated, but strangely, the effect of solidification was still on his body.{His flow or this world is more stronger than I thought}
Leo shook his head before his wings glowed with an intense light. His AIM field is spreading with his Divinity towards the sky.
"Well, if it seems we're playing a game of outsmarting each other, huh?" Leo said as he raised his hand in the air before the mana glowed on his body.
"Then you may have outsmarted me, but I outsmarted your outsmarting with my outsmarting!" With his words, a wave of energy that made Gugalanna glowing rushed from Leo.
"What was it?... Ah, yes. Gate open!" Leo twisted his palm before the sky was... Split in two.
The clear blue sky was separated by a golden light from two the farthest ends, like the whole world was cut in two.
After a moment, the sky opened up. Like a dome opening it covers, the blue separated itself into two sides before showing a whole different sky.
A universe and cosmos greeted the world as the stars were shining. Several galaxies and different planets were flying there before it landed.
With a golden glow that increased the surrounding heat, Venus descended on this world as the whole reality was forcibly changing by a strong authority.
"Now, let's start the second round" Under the light of Venus, Leo said as his expression finally became serious.
The Flow, World's authority, Human Order Correction Ritual, and Venus's authority were clashing just by existing here. This will be a tough battle for everyone.