Shinji Matou at Your Service

"Master!!!"

Artoria's heart tightened.

Even though the master-servant contract no longer existed, and the battlefield in the sky had long surpassed her sensory range, she knew that the blue star was her former master, Shinji Matou.

She was anxious, wanting to help but lacking the means to fly. All she could do was look at Merlin in distress.

"Think of something quickly."

"The solution has always been within you."

"Me?"

"Recall the connection between you."

"Connection? But the contract has already—"

"It's not the superficial contract I'm talking about. A magical contract can be severed, but the connection between hearts cannot. Mordred thinks of you, so her sword won't harm you. You just need to think of him, and your power will reach his side."

"Thinking of him? I'll give it a try."

Artoria closed her eyes thoughtfully, calling out in her heart the name of the person with whom she had formed a deep bond.

"Master, Shinji... let me lend you my strength..."

Mana flowed out from Artoria, not in a burst like in battle, but smoothly and steadily.

Her thoughts, accompanied by mana, flowed through the flower sea beneath her feet, through the upheaved palace, into the silent night, and finally into the abyss under the garden, bringing a sliver of light to the pitch-black darkness. It also gave direction to the fallen star.

Seeing this, Mordred gritted her teeth, muttering phrases like "Taking my father?" "No way." "Just you wait."

Merlin, with a smile that seemed both gratified and regretful, said to Semiramis, "Faith can become power, faith can create miracles, faith can reach the realm of magic. That's why I love humans. What do you think?"

Semiramis didn't reply, merely looked up silently at the night sky, watching the red star that had lost its brilliance. Her eyes showed a mix of tranquility and enchantment.

Due to the grand battle tonight, the sea area surrounding the Hanging Gardens had been cleared. No ship would pass within fifty nautical miles, bringing an unusual calm to the famous tourist destination along the Black Sea

However, this peace didn't last long before it was shattered by a "meteorite" falling from the sky.

The star, trailing a blue glow, crashed into the sea with a deafening roar, creating waves that could be described as a small-scale tsunami.

If one could see through the water, one would discover that the "meteorite" was not a rock but a person, a wild man draped in black-and-white fur.

Having fallen from nearly seven thousand meters, the man plunged directly into the seabed, smashing countless corals before finally coming to a stop against a reef.

Surprisingly, the immense impact, which could have killed an ordinary person a thousand times over, did not take the man's life. He struggled to rise from the seabed, brushing off debris and muttering to himself—his body was enveloped in a blue light barrier, which had absorbed the impact of the fall, preventing him from becoming a pulp and allowing him to speak unaffected by the water.

"That was close. Good thing it was the sea below, otherwise it would have been real trouble."

Two pats, the man's movements halted, and his relieved expression turned into a grimace.

"Damn it, that guy was sneaky, hiding his ultimate move all along. Took so many punches from me and waited until the end to strike!"

It turned out that the man's chest, the area he had been patting, bore a deep, blackened wound extending from his right shoulder to his left abdomen. The wound wasn't bleeding, as the surrounding blood vessels had been cauterized by high heat, preventing any blood flow.

This man was none other than Shinji Matou, and the one who had knocked him from the sky was his opponent, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada.

In their aerial battle, Shirou initially had the upper hand, but as time passed, the power of Command Spells dwindled. In contrast, Shinji's familiarity with Third Magic and Origin caused his combat ability to surge.

He had planned to finish this battle in one go, to give that bastard who had tormented him multiple times a thorough beating, one so severe that even his mother wouldn't recognize him. Unexpectedly, his opponent still had a terrifying trump card hidden.

That seemingly unimpressive slash—at first glance, one might think it was just the katana unable to withstand the flames from Shakespeare's enchantment and got charred. Shinji had thought the blade would soon break, considering it was merely an armament comparable to a C-rank Noble Phantasm, and its strength was understandably insufficient.

Who could have guessed that this charred little blade contained such a terrifying amount of heat? Just one slash broke through his body forged from his Third Magic and Origin.

It wasn't a sword technique, just an ordinary slash.

No special concept was felt, just pure heat.

It demonstrated in the most domineering and straightforward way what is meant by "quantitative change leads to qualitative change." If Shinji hadn't reacted quickly, detonating the Vajra's arms to blow the two apart, that slash might have split him in two.

"What did he say when he slashed me? 'Blade of Ember, East: Rising Sun Blade'? Why does that name sound so familiar? I remember now, isn't that the ultimate move of the strongest Shinigami, Old Man Yamamoto? That guy must be an anime fanatic. I'm starting to suspect he hasn't reached the ultimate realm but has some sort of cosplay system cheat. First Sephiroth, now Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni. What's next, Kamusari?"

Shinji touched the charred flesh with his fingers, inspecting the wound's condition, and frowned.

"No further spread, the heat is all concentrated around the wound. No doubt about it, though I don't know how he did it, he indeed replicated Old Man Yamamoto's killer move! I just hope the blade tip isn't at fifteen million degrees... Ugh, whether it is or not, I can't afford to test it again. How on earth do I counter the Rising Sun? With my skills, avoiding his slashes is nearly impossible. Do I have to drag this out until his Command Spell ends?"

At that moment, two streams of light, one gold and one silver, pierced through the water's surface, landing beside Shinji.

"These are—Siegfried's Great Sword and Karna's Immortal Blade!!!"

Shinji couldn't help but reach out, grasping the spear and sword, hearing the final messages from both warriors.

"Thank you for all your help. This is my sword; I hope it can assist you."

"Siegfried's armor was destroyed by me, so use my spear instead. I hope you don't mind."

"These guys... seriously... But they came at the perfect time. With these, I can—"

Planting his feet on the seabed, mana continuously radiated, propelling Shinji's body upward.

The moment he burst through the water's surface, tiny particles of light drifted down from the sky, illuminating the dark sea and calming Shinji's restless heart due to the destroyed Vajra's Body.

("Master, Shinji... let me lend you my strength...")

"Artoria, you, all of you... If that's the case, then I absolutely cannot lose. Bearing your hopes, how could I possibly lose?"

"With my Third Magic, I restore the true form of the 'Brahmastra!'—Watch the Arrow!!!"