She was already prepared.
No matter how harshly he cursed or what cruel words he spoke, she would listen to them all obediently.
And then—
“…Thank you for your forgiveness…
Rebellious Knight Lancelot…
deserves his crimes…
finally…
received the punishment he deserved…”
Lancelot’s strength was completely gone.
He slid down the sharp holy sword, his body falling backward.
As he fell, his body began to turn into golden dust.
He took one last look at Artoria’s face, the smile on his lips growing even more pronounced.
“My King…
farewell.”
“Yes…
goodbye, Sir Lancelot.”
Solomon was absolutely not to be trifled with.
If Sebastian were in top condition right now, he would never choose to fight this guy one-on-one if he could escape.
He wasn’t a reckless brute like Artoria; if he could gang up on someone, he would definitely do so.
It would be best to have Karna hand him that God-Slaying Spear.
But now, the horizon was already beginning to turn white, and the bonus Demons received at night was slowly draining away from him.
Having just finished a fight with Saint George, he had used up more than half his magic power, and he didn’t have much stamina left.
The only thing to be thankful for was that the reward from checking in at Saint George had boosted his magic power a bit, recovering it to at least half of his peak state.
As for Solomon?
The guy was in his prime state and hadn’t consumed anything at all!
Sebastian let out a sigh.
“I just came to the Matou Family to see if the seventh Master was here.
Who knew that not only would Sakura Amagiri show up, but you’d also run over to join the fun.”
Sebastian no longer wanted to run—he couldn’t anyway.
The Summoned Swords he left at his old home could only take him away.
But Sakura was hiding in the woods, there were two knights fighting to the death behind him, and Karna and Arjuna had no idea where they had run off to.
He could only use this time to desperately recover his magic power.
Solomon had no intention of wasting words with him.
Seeing him dodge the first strike, Solomon began to condense magic power in his hand again.
Sebastian narrowed his eyes and spoke again.
“I know what you want, Solomon.
You want to use the Holy Grail to turn yourself into an ordinary person, right?”
Solomon’s hand paused for a moment.
He usually didn’t care about anything, but since he had a wish, it meant this was something he cared about a little.
It seemed this move was the right one.
“I’m not trying to criticize your wish, but Solomon, this wish of yours will harm this world.”
“…So what?” Solomon replied for the first time.
His tone was flat, and there was no expression on his face, as if he were just stating something completely obvious.
Just as his subjects had described him, he was different from others.
It wasn’t that he didn’t have time to prepare; it was that even if he knew there was danger, he wouldn’t prepare.
He would just watch, ignoring everything.
He had no emotions and didn’t seem like a person at all.
To buy time, Sebastian had to bring up a topic that would actually make him feel something.
“You want to become an ordinary person.
Once your power disappears, that ritual you prepared called Goetia will activate—even if you know this, you probably don’t think it’s a big deal.
You think that even if the Incineration of Humanity ritual starts, it’s no big deal for this world.”
Sebastian’s voice was very calm.
“But you forgot, Solomon—if God were still alive, you would be right.
Unfortunately, God died long ago in the ancient war, along with the original Demon Lords.”
Solomon’s gaze narrowed slightly.
Sebastian knew the other party could tell whether he was telling the truth or not, so he didn’t stop and continued speaking.
“What maintains the world now is the Heaven system, not God.
God is gone; the world is no longer the airtight fortress it used to be.
Once the Incineration of Humanity ritual starts, that already dilapidated system will collapse directly.
The first wave is the impact brought about by the system collapse.
The second wave is the destruction from the Incineration of Humanity ritual.
The third wave—with the system gone, the seals all over the world will loosen.
All those evil dragons will escape, and the world will fall into a third great chaos.”
Sebastian finished and paused for a moment.
He actually hadn’t wanted to deal with the Incineration of Humanity ritual at all.
In this world, that ritual would at most mess with the human side—it couldn’t touch Heaven or the Underworld at all.
If there were no Chaldea, he could just go and clean it up whenever he had time.
If God were still around, it would be even easier—just a simple reversal to fix it.
The problem was that God was dead.
Once the system maintaining the world was finished, things wouldn’t be so simple.
Why did Grayfia advocate for the Underworld to send troops before?
It was because she saw it clearly: after God died, this really wasn’t a joke.
It wouldn’t lead to the immediate end of the world, but it would definitely trigger a long war.
Those sealed beings would all escape, and even the Beast Emperor would have to show up.
First the system collapses, and the world falls into chaos.
Then humanity collapses, and the human world is basically finished.
Then he would have to clean up the evil dragons, deal with Rizevim, and finally start an Eternal War with the Beast Emperor in advance…
Sebastian got a headache just thinking about it.
He didn’t want to live in a world full of war for the next few hundred or even thousands of years.
“God…
is dead.” Solomon’s tone finally had a hint of emotion, but it lasted for only an instant before he returned to his usual state.
“…So what?”
Sebastian clicked his tongue in his heart.
Just from that flicker of hesitation, he knew he hadn’t moved the other party, and his magic power hadn’t recovered much.
Dawn broke, and white light appeared on the horizon.
Solomon’s second wave of attacks was already pressing in.
A blinding white beam of light slammed directly into the ground at Sebastian’s feet, sending gravel flying.
But this time, Sebastian didn’t retreat.
He raised his hand and threw a Summoned Sword while gripping Yamato tightly.
He rushed forward, passing right along the edge of the beam.
His body suddenly expanded and transformed in mid-air—Devil Trigger, activated!
The reward he had previously obtained from checking in at Saint George had boosted his magic power again, making breaking through that bottleneck a matter of course.
This time, when he activated Devil Trigger, his appearance changed significantly.
A pitch-black steel mask clamped onto his face, covering most of it and leaving only a T-shaped opening for his eyes, mouth, and nose—the ventilation design unique to knight helmets.
After entering Devil Trigger, Sebastian’s combat power was pushed directly to the threshold of a Satan-class Devil.
His speed was at least several times faster than before.
In less than a breath, he rushed in front of Solomon, and Yamato was unsheathed in an instant.
Blue blade light exploded around him, and his figure flickered and disappeared from in front of Solomon.
The blade edge and afterimage spread simultaneously, and Solomon’s torso was cut into three sections, then twisted, blurred, and dissipated like a reflection on the water.
It was an illusion.
Sebastian immediately looked up.
On the distant skyline, the grey-white light of dawn had already brightened, and a black shadow was floating quietly there.
Solomon.
Red patterns extended from the void, firmly connecting to him.
Massive pillars of pitch-black flesh appeared along with the rising sunlight, piercing through heaven and earth.
Those eyes looked down at Sebastian from above—a pair of eyes that could see through everything.
Once targeted by them, no matter if you fled to the past or the future, you couldn’t escape this gaze.
But Sebastian had no intention of running.
Dawn had arrived, and the buffs Demons gained at night were all gone.
He had already activated the magic formula to contact Grayfia.
The remaining magic power in his body was only enough to swing one more Dimension Slash.
What about next?
Fight.
Fight to the death.
It was that simple.
The 72 Pillars stood on the ground, extending all the way to the horizon.
That immense power belonging to the 72 Pillars family pushed the concentration of magic power in the vicinity to a suffocating level.
The Solomon manifested in this Holy Grail War was definitely not a Grand Saint Graph.
As a Caster-class Heroic Spirit, abilities like Territory Creation and Item Construction were very important.
Sebastian had been wondering how Solomon would lure him into his territory, and now he understood.
He had thought the other party wanted to lure him into a trap, but the result was completely beyond his expectations.
Solomon had no intention of beating around the bush; he simply used the battlefield between them as a base and slammed down a territory with a wave of his hand!
The sky was the natural dome of this territory.
The rising sun was slowly dispelling all the power that Demons had accumulated in the night, and the earth was the perfect foundation.
The 72 Pillars were all locked within this territory, magic power flowed according to Solomon’s will, and the entire space was under his control.
Sebastian could feel countless gazes from all directions fixed on him.
The magic aura was completely disrupted by the 72 Pillars, and he couldn’t lock onto Solomon’s position through magic perception at all.
He let out a long breath.
His body sank slightly, and his right hand rested on the hilt of Yamato.
He closed his eyes.
Observation Haki spread outward like a spider web, gradually forming a perfect circle.
72 targets…
no, 73!
The 72 Pillars had already begun to gather magic power.
In the next second, that magic power would be poured into Solomon’s body through those blood-vessel-like tendrils behind him.
If he really let that power rush in, what awaited him would definitely be some kind of Noble Phantasm from Solomon.
Sebastian didn’t know what those Noble Phantasms used by Goetia would turn into in Solomon’s hands.
But if it was similar to Goetia’s light rings—even if it didn’t reach the temperature to incinerate the Earth, just that torrent of energy slamming into him would give him a hard time.
So…
he couldn’t wait any longer.
“You will end here.”
Sebastian opened his eyes.
Observation Haki had locked onto the positions of the 72 Pillars and the height where Solomon was located.
This was his final slash.
Unsheathe.
Draw the sword.
73 sword marks—not one more, not one less.
At the instant Yamato was unsheathed, the entire area covered by Observation Haki was filled with these sword marks.
Within the range, the most blinding light of sunrise seemed to be split apart by a single slash.
Outside the range, it was pitch black.
Countless sword marks crisscrossed, tore, and strangled the space.
The 72 Pillars were instantly shredded to pieces.
Solomon clasped his hands in front of his chest, intending to block the slash that was about to land on him.
Just at this moment, a young woman’s voice, which only Solomon could hear, suddenly sounded in his ear:
“In the name of the Command Spell, Solomon, return.”
Solomon’s entire body was enveloped by a force and instantly disappeared from Sebastian’s attack range.
He remembered very clearly that his Master was a man.
Yet, a woman’s voice had actually been able to use a Command Spell to forcibly pull him back.
When Solomon rushed back to where he had been hiding, his former Master was already lying in a pool of blood, breathless.