“So then…
what should I do now?”
There was a mysterious being of no small power whose technique seemed tied to flames, a sorcerer of unknown strength and unknown technique, and his target for the evening—one deadweight human.
Mahito used his technique to regrow his arm from the severed joint while observing his opponents, mulling over his next move.
He had expended a fair amount of cursed energy and human souls during his afternoon battle with that Grade 1 sorcerer.
He still hadn’t fully recovered.
If he fought these opponents head-on in his current state, he would likely be at a disadvantage.
But his objective here wasn’t to eliminate them.
It was to kill that ordinary human—Yoshino Junpei’s mother.
At the same time, his opponents would be forced to divert extra attention, or specifically assign someone, to protect her.
With this give-and-take, the outcome was still far from decided.
Yeah.
Worth a try.
The moment his decision was made, his technique—Idle Transfiguration—activated.
He reshaped his humanoid legs into those of a springbok and, with explosive force, launched himself like a bullet straight toward Yoshino Nagi!
However, Jalter’s A-rank Agility was hardly just for show.
She reacted almost the very instant Mahito moved.
The three-meter-long banner-spear in her hands seemed weightless as she swung it at high speed, the air shrieking in its wake, placing the spearhead directly in the path of Mahito’s charge.
If he couldn’t stop in time, the only future awaiting him was being impaled.
Clang!
But just as the two were about to meet, Mahito’s hands abruptly transformed into a pair of blades that gleamed with chilling, razor-sharp light.
One blade swung upward, deflecting the spearhead amid a shower of violent sparks.
The other blade thrust straight for Jalter’s heart!
Jalter’s expression didn’t change in the slightest.
Riding the force of the deflected spear, she spun the banner-spear in her grip, knocking away the incoming blade—and then—
Boom!
Crimson flames of vengeance engulfed Mahito entirely.
The air crackled and popped from the intense heat.
Within the inferno, Mahito’s form gradually twisted and warped, consumed until nothing remained…
“Just kidding.”
That flippant voice rang out again.
Like a snake shedding its skin, Mahito slipped free of his outer shell and slithered unscathed from the flames.
“It can actually burn cursed energy.
Way too unfriendly to cursed spirits like us.
What a troublesome flame.
And your physical specs are incredible too.
So impressive!”
Having regained his footing, Mahito didn’t press the attack.
Instead, he spoke up in a teasing, perfectly relaxed tone.
“But…
you seem to know about my technique?
Did that blond sorcerer share intel on me?”
Though his words were casual and free-flowing, his mind was busy recalculating.
A single brief exchange had been enough to completely refresh his understanding of Jalter’s capabilities.
Very strong.
Her physical specs were absurd.
Even the top speed he could produce after modifying his legs—she could still react to it, swiftly intercepting and countering.
He couldn’t easily bypass her, nor land a clean hit.
On top of that, there were those infernal flames of hers.
The fact that they could burn cursed energy itself made them a nightmare for beings like them, who were fundamentally masses of cursed energy.
She was practically their natural counter.
It was only thanks to his ability to reshape his body and slip away in time that he had escaped.
If it had been Hanami in his place…
things would have been dire.
As for the human sorcerer behind her—
Mahito flicked his gaze briefly toward Ritsuka, only to suddenly register that two pitch-black, mist-shrouded figures had materialized beside her at some unknown point.
A summoning-technique user?
Off…
something’s off.
Staring at Ritsuka and the shikigami she had summoned, Mahito felt a nagging sense of dissonance.
And just then, Jalter, standing before him, aimed a mocking grin in his direction.
Instinctively, he asked, “What are you smiling about?”
To his surprise, Jalter actually answered.
“I’m smiling because…
you had a chance to run for your life.
But unfortunately—”
“You were too slow.”
The moment those words registered, alarm bells shrieked in his mind.
His vision rapidly swept across his surroundings, past Jalter, and finally settled on Ritsuka, who was slowly extending her right hand.
His pupils constricted.
Could it be…
her?!
Correct.
A pity.
It was already far too late.
Magical energy surged through Ritsuka’s body, flowing into one of the Shadow Servants she had summoned.
She gave the command with decisive finality:
“Noble Phantasm, deploy—!”
“Unlimited Blade Works!”
In an instant, the world itself transformed!
“Where…
where is this?!”
Yoshino Nagi pressed herself fearfully close behind Ritsuka, her eyes wide with shock as she stared at the changes around her.
The quiet night, the cold, clear moonlight, the empty streets—every trace of the ordinary world had vanished, replaced by a landscape she had never seen before.
A dim, dusky yellow sky.
Sand dunes stretching endlessly to the horizon.
Gusts of wind kicking up clouds of dust.
And everywhere, as far as the eye could see, countless swords thrust into the earth—swords of every kind.
It was a world of swords. This story is hosted at g.com.
Or perhaps, a graveyard of swords.
More importantly, within this bizarre world, she could finally see the enemy battling the girl who protected her—a strange young man with long pale blue-gray hair.
Nagi stared at him, fearful yet curious, unable to comprehend why this person was targeting her.
On the other side, witnessing the world itself shift and change, as if he had been transported to an entirely different realm, the smile on Mahito’s face only grew brighter.
And more twisted.
“A domain…?
This is…
I might really die here.”
“But…
why can’t I understand it?
Why is it called ‘Noble Phantasm, deploy’?
Why can’t I sense any cursed energy?
Why?
Why?”
His heart was brimming over with questions.
His face contorted with ever more grotesque bewilderment.
He wasn’t afraid of death.
But compared to death, the sheer alien unfamiliarity of this “domain” terrified him far more.
This space felt as though it came from another world entirely.
He couldn’t perceive its power at all—to him, it was complete and utter darkness.
But as a prudent Master, Ritsuka had absolutely no intention of explaining to him what a Reality Marble was, or the magecraft that materialized the landscape of one’s own soul.
In any case, once trapped inside a Reality Marble, unless her magical energy ran dry or the Shadow Servant sustaining it was destroyed, Mahito would never escape in this lifetime.
Of course, if he happened to possess an Anti-World Noble Phantasm, that would also do the trick.
Too bad he didn’t.
One of the Shadow Servants she had summoned was EMIYA.
As an Ally of Justice who cut down evil, it was only fitting that Unlimited Blade Works serve as Mahito’s burial ground.
Furthermore, to ensure his absolute annihilation, she had prepared one more trump card.
With that thought, the magical energy within her surged once again, flowing toward the other Shadow Servant she had summoned.
Since Mahito could no longer flee, this time, she even had the leisure to chant the Noble Phantasm’s incantation on behalf of the shadow.
“Noble Phantasm, deploy—!”
“Hearken.
The evening bell tolls thy name.”
Dong—
“Wings of death, will thou sever their head?”
A resonant, lingering bell-toll rang out from nowhere, yet seemed to echo in the very hearts of all present.
And what the evening bell proclaimed…
was the echo of death.
“Azrael!”
The pitch-black Shadow Servant materialized behind Mahito and slowly planted its greatsword into the ground.
Death had arrived.
Thud.
A head tumbled to the ground.