The azure tide of life clashed fiercely with Ea's earth-shaking red storm in mid-air.
For a moment, the world seemed to lose all sound.
Click.
The next instant, it was as if cracks had appeared in the night sky.
Immediately afterward, countless cracks spread violently along the collision's center like shattered glass, as if a portion of the sky had collapsed.
Light.
It was an incomparably intense and destructive light, as if it would drag everything back to its origin.
The sudden white light instantly illuminated the darkness of this snow-covered city as brightly as daytime!
Then—
BOOM!!!!!!!!
There was no time to feel the immense heat that distorted physical laws, nor time for any reaction to avoid it.
The intense white light, like a supernova explosion, seemed to evaporate everything in the world!
The entire desert was swallowed by a massive storm. It was a storm rivaling a Category 12 tsunami, yet what was whipped into the air was not seawater but billions of tons of yellow sand.
This was undoubtedly a legendary battle capable of completely reshaping the terrain.
If the previous encounter with Enkidu had been characterized by the tacit understanding of old friends reuniting and knowing when to stop, then when facing the Goddess of Creation Tiamat, the Hero King had poured every ounce of his mana and royal dignity into this decisive Ea strike from the very beginning, holding nothing back.
The collision of two powers transcending the world's laws turned the aftereffects into a destructive impact drill that forcefully pierced the earth's surface.
To most people, the desert was nothing more than an endless sea of sand.
But at this moment, the dozens-of-meters-thick layers of sand and gravel shattered into powder the instant they touched the aftershocks!
The impact continued mercilessly downward.
BOOM!
Accompanied by a muffled roar, it was as if something had exploded deep underground.
Immediately afterward, tens of thousands of tons of water gushed out like a fountain from the cracks in the desert floor.
It was an ancient underground reservoir sealed deep beneath the desert during a wetter climate tens of thousands of years ago.
But it was not over yet.
The storm continued downward, ruthlessly tearing through the dry limestone crust until it violently collided with the solid bedrock that supported the entire desert.
With the sound of bedrock fracturing, the incredibly thick floor of bedrock gradually collapsed, revealing a bottomless canyon. From within, the dark red lava of the mantle could faintly be seen emerging into the night sky.
Right now.
If someone asked who among those present was the most powerless…
It would undoubtedly not be the Hero King in the sky.
Rather, it was Matou Yuu, who had been both bystander and participant while hiding within Tiamat's defensive zone.
He was completely stunned.
No, wait… you call this a Holy Grail War?!
As a transmigrator, Matou Yuu had been familiar with the world of the Fate series in his previous life.
He had been confident in this magi-versus-magi conflict.
To him, the so-called Holy Grail War was nothing more than a few Servants racing cars on empty roads, fighting in abandoned factories, or—at worst—blowing up the Fuyuki Bridge and deceiving citizens under the pretext of a gas leak.
Overall, everything remained within controllable bounds.
That was why, upon learning of an unofficial Holy Grail War taking place in America, he had come to try his luck.
And yet… this was only the eve of the Holy Grail War!
The participants were literally tearing apart the earth's crust and nearly causing magma to erupt!
It was hard to imagine tonight's battle taking place in the center of Snowfield City… no, it didn't even need to be the center. Even in the suburbs, these two Noble Phantasms would be more than enough to wipe the entire city off the map!
"Haa…"
High in the sky.
Heavy, labored breathing echoed.
Gilgamesh stood firmly atop the heavenly ark Vimana, his chest heaving violently. Sweat ran down his face but evaporated from the intense heat before it could drip onto the deck.
Having already expended enormous mana in tonight's warm-up with Enkidu, and then forcibly unleashing Ea's maximum power to fight Tiamat head-on in this state… even the unparalleled Hero King found himself facing the desperate situation of mana overload.
In terms of pure mana, he could not compare to Tiamat, who carried the Sea of Life.
But—
He had caught it.
Ea's earth-shaking storm had successfully countered the blow that shook the Mother's world.
The golden king slowly stretched his body. On his pale yet somehow wild face, a weak yet arrogant smile appeared.
"Even the Sea of Life that nurtures all things cannot easily swallow the brilliance that symbolizes humanity's independence."
Leaning on the sword Ea, Gilgamesh said slowly, "Mother, do you understand! This is my Ea! It is the blade that tears apart the laws of the ancient gods and opens the path to new stars! Even with your doting love, you cannot return this world to the cradle—"
But.
The next instant, his voice stopped abruptly. He had suddenly sensed that something was wrong.
It was too quiet.
Yes… far too quiet, and ominous.
Tiamat on the ground had not made any particularly strange sounds since then.
The night wind fluttered her long blue hair. Her clear red star-like eyes, carrying a hint of innocent puzzlement, quietly gazed at the golden king panting far above.
In her eyes there was not the slightest trace of anger at being resisted or tension from battle.
Indeed.
Ea was the pinnacle anti-world Noble Phantasm… perhaps without exception.
Even if she was the Goddess of Creation, as long as she remained in Servant form, it would not be surprising if the ancient king could endure the life tsunami she had unleashed with full power.
But—
That had been the first wave of life.
So.
What about the second?
BOOM
The universe once again let out an unbearable cry of pain.
As if realizing something horrifying, Gilgamesh's expression suddenly froze. He jerked his head upward, his red snake-like eyes shrinking to the size of needle tips.
At some unknown point, the night sky had once again been dyed that suffocating blue-green color.
It was even larger and stickier blue mana than before.
There was no need to build up energy, no chant, not even preparatory movements.
Another overwhelming wave of life formed in the sky!
Like the Milky Way floating upside-down in the heavens, carrying all-encompassing maternal love that would return everything to nothingness, it surged toward Gilgamesh with overwhelming force!
…