Chapter 102. Raku Sou: Those kinds of things, just glancing at them is enough to learn, isn't it
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(Note for readers: In this chapter and previous chapter, I removed a few bad sections; the author seemed to want to annihilate all of Japan.)
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"Blackened Saber must have already unleashed Excalibur, right?"
A conglomerate magnate's hands went cold, his eyes filled with fear, mumbling.
Such an apocalyptic scene brought people the most direct visual shock.
Previously, the other Servants were still within the realm of human comprehension; in everyone's hearts, they were just like mobile nuclear explosions. But now, it was completely beyond understanding — these were existences far above humans, true supreme deities.
No…
Saber and Berserker were never human to begin with.
King Arthur was the Red Dragon of Britannia, and Heracles was the son of the supreme god Zeus.
They were great existences outside the category of humanity!
A long while later.
Someone trembled and sucked in a cold breath: "Now I understand why they say Servants are something Magus can never reach, damn, it's no different than ants vs. gods!!"
"I think it's just because these two are too strong, if they join forces they could definitely take down even a god."
"Shit, millions are dead, and you're still sitting here talking about combat power?"
"Meh~~ what's it got to do with me, it's not like I killed them."
"True that, besides this is a parallel world anyway."
Someone else said: "That's not what matters, what matters is — with such a badass sword strike, how come only a few hundred thousand people died, where did things go wrong?"
"ONLY a few hundred thousand dead?! In the Middle Ages, a few hundred thousand would've counted as a great nation."
"The entire Fukushima prefecture only has over two million residents, and this one sword strike killed nearly half; if it weren't for the treacherous mountainous terrain, plus the fact that Black Saber's slash ultimately sank into the Pacific Ocean…"
"To put it plainly, her target was Berserker, these people died just as collateral damage."
Many people sharply sucked in a breath.
They didn't even dare imagine what would happen if this move were unleashed in the middle of the capitals.
Like Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo — all super cities with over ten million permanent residents, people packed together, bustling noisy metropolises; if Black Saber smashed one strike down there…
…That would definitely be a magnitude-9-plus earthquake, tens of millions dead would be perfectly normal!
Someone murmured: "If Holy Grail War happened in our reality------"
"Shut the fuck up!!"
Everyone turned their heads, eyes wide with horror, staring at the bastard who just jinxed it.
The fact that only two cities were destroyed was still far from the real limit of Black Saber and Berserker inside the Celestial Curtain.
Motherfucker, if Holy Grail War really descended into reality and they fought for just two days, then this entire world, the entire brilliant human civilization, would be burned to ashes!
Anyway — Blackened Saber was inherently cold-blooded, brutal, fundamentally not caring about the lives or deaths of civilians.
The person just now also realized that his words were a bit off, so he cleared his throat twice.
Silently changing the topic.
"Speaking of which, the Fukushima nuclear power plant… that must have sunk too, right?"
Everyone, as if by tacit understanding, simultaneously switched to this topic.
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Fukushima.
The people here could only silently shed tears.
Before, they were still gleefully watching the commotion, thinking to themselves — that Fuyuki is always leaking gas, what's it got to do with us.
And now…
For the first time in their lives, the people of Fukushima began to ponder — was this karma for discharging radioactive wastewater into the sea.
For the first time, they felt the thing called sympathy, the kind of "when the rabbit dies, the fox grieves."
Should they organize a protest to stop this?
After all — among the millions buried under that sword strike, there were also "them" from that parallel world.
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Celestial Curtain.
Destroying a city, for Black Saber, who had been corrupted, and Berserker, who was completely deranged, was no different from plucking a roadside weed.
Crossing over Koriyama, Shirakawa, Nogi, even Saitama…
Two fierce figures flashed repeatedly, interspersed with dazzling beams of light piercing the sky and a barrage of pursuit strikes, howling and stirring up storms.
City after city was destroyed, and most of the remaining ones had become dangerous zones on the verge of collapse.
With each thunderous explosion, the two descended Servants, the heavens and earth cowering, as if there was a trend toward ravaging the entire nation of Japan!
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[The person in charge at Clock Tower silently lit a cigarette, his eyes filled with daze.]
[It's over… completely over…]
[This time, the world of magecraft could be said to have been exposed to the entire world, who knows how many magi families with thousand-year legacies would be annihilated.]
[Perhaps it would lead to war between the 'light side' and the 'dark side' of the world, and human civilization itself might be destroyed.]
[…]
[He glanced at the satellite surveillance screen, the scene of two Servants ravaging the land.]
[Forget it, no need for war, just those two alone are enough to crush human civilization.]
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"They're here! It's our turn now..."
In reality, seeing the two Servants vaguely preparing to head toward Tokyo, tens of millions of Tokyo residents simultaneously felt their spines go cold, trembling as they knelt to the ground, wanting to cry but no tears came.
It was as if they could see countless versions of themselves in parallel worlds being crushed, vaporized, dying miserably on the spot under Excalibur.
…
The perspective shifted again, returning to Einzbern Castle, now reduced to ruins.
[Purge King fell into brief silence, not expecting that even the son of Zeus the God-King — the one considered the trump card, even after being enhanced, still couldn't defeat the opponent.]
["Rider, prepare to set out for reinforcement!"]
[Raku Sou wrapped his arms around Medusa's waist, speaking in a deep voice, using Far-sight magecraft to stare intently at the two figures savagely clashing hundreds of miles away.]
[Yet… at the very moment Medusa raised her golden reins, the air resounded with a booming sound!]
[Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh!!]
[Countless Noble Phantasms shining brilliantly rained down like a storm covering the earth.]
[These were anti-humanity Noble Phantasms, instantly lethal just like Primate Murder!]
[Pegasus turned into a sharp streak of light darting across the low sky, crossing thousands of meters in a flash, dodging danger.]
[Raku Sou sat on the horse's back, his gaze icy cold, turning his head to look back.]
[Rustle rustle rustle~]
[Golden ripples spread across the sky, and a floating city slowly emerged.]
[A king clad in golden armor stood atop the fortress, arms crossed, looking down with a cold smirk.]
["Mongrels, amuse this king with your ridiculous comedy, and perhaps this king will grant you a chance… to save that filthy demigod?"]
["Hero King… Gilgamesh?"]
[On the ground below, the twin maids Ram and Rem's pupils shrank sharply, cold sweat pouring down like rain.]
[An incomparable pressure spread, suffocating.]
[The ninth Servant of the Holy Grail War, and it's a Servant of the Archer class?]
[Raku Sou's calm expression faintly wavered.]
[And the Archer's Master of the Fourth Holy Grail War was none other than Raku Sou's foster mother — Shinomiya Nayotake, the former head of the Shinomiya family.]
[The Master is dead, yet the Servant still lives…]
[His voice, cold as ice, echoed through the air: "My foster mother… was it you who killed her?"]
[That arrogant king standing tall atop the fortress slightly furrowed his brows: "If not for the face you wear, for this insolence alone, this king would have executed you immediately."]
["Not denying it?"]
["Then even if not directly, you're still involved. Senpai's nature was chaotic, she was neither good nor evil; if it weren't for your guidance, she absolutely wouldn't have walked this path… Archer!"]
[Raku Sou's voice gradually turned icy, invisible energy coiling around his body, "Step off the stage here and now!"]
[Brr!]
[Raku Sou's hand opened, and amid the coiling sparks of electricity, a long sword with a tangible, solid presence was Projectioned.]
[——『Durandal: The Unrivaled Sword of Renown』]
[Prototype Rank: A+]
[Type: Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm]
[The Holy Sword Durandal, one of the three Holy Swords of Europe, symbolizes divinity and righteousness. It was the sword of the Paladin Roland — the protagonist of the famous epic The Song of Roland. Before Roland, the wielder of this sword was Hector, the Trojan prince.]
[Gilgamesh showed a hint of surprise: "You know the Projection?"]
["Those kinds of things, just glancing at them is enough to learn, isn't it."]
[Raku Sou's figure burst forth, cold and fierce, the space over hundreds of meters seeming to be sliced in half by a sharp blade.]
[When he reappeared, he was already right above the Golden King's head.]
[Looking down from on high at the entire majestic fortress.]
[He slashed down!]
[Rumble rumble rumble…!!]
[The sheer pressure of the strike alone forced all the air within a radius of hundreds of meters to compress and vanish!]
[As a swordsman, he had never wielded a sword of Noble Phantasm level like this before.]
[That's right, his Projection Magecraft had already surpassed even Yukino from before.]
[Even if he only Projectioned a Rank D Noble Phantasm, far inferior to the original, it was still enough — because what he needed was the hardness and impact resistance of this Noble Phantasm.]
[The Jewel Sword he created himself with Magical Energy was, after all, something fragile.]
[But why he don't do it before?]
[Was there anything stronger than his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception?]
[Beside him, Yukino was also dumbfounded.]
[For the first time, she truly understood what the concept of "the greatest genius of the Shinomiya family in four hundred years" actually meant.]
[Raku Sou had, in reality, completed the entire four-hundred-year inheritance training of the Shinomiya family within just the second year after being adopted, and had even innovated and developed beyond it — most of the techniques currently patented by the Shinomiya family were things he casually devised when he was only eight years old.]
[He simply had no particular interest in Magecraft; mostly, he just enjoyed indulging in life.]
[Drinking tea, flipping through books, greedily savoring each peaceful day.]
["Hmph!"]
[Atop the floating fortress, the Golden King snorted coldly.]
[A patch of space beside him rippled with golden waves.]
[A hand glowing with magical energy extended from within those ripples.]
[Blue light spread from the palm, instantly enveloping the entire fortress.]
[BOOM!!]
[A violent air current tore through hundreds of meters of space!]
[A towering figure stood in front of Gilgamesh.]
[It was a six-armed Ashura, towering into the sky, exuding a fierce, overwhelming aura, each of its six arms wielding massive swords as tall as a person.]
[The dark, blackened joints across its body clearly bore the marks of assembly and fusion.]
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"Puppet?"
"This sensation… it's no weaker than an ordinary Servant."
"Truly a human-shaped treasure — Gilgamesh's treasury really has everything."
"Be grateful, at least it's not a living being; otherwise, the Golden King could've just dragged out a whole pile of Servants."
"I wonder if Raku Sou can handle this…"
As everyone was still chatting animatedly, they all suddenly gasped, sucking in cold air, as they saw in the sky — Raku Sou took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and the invisible aura around him pulsed with each breath.
In the very next instant—
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[As the six-armed Shura slashed out six massive sword beams, each a hundred meters long, tearing through space, Raku Sou's eyes suddenly snapped open.]
[He drew his sword in a flash!]
[Nine domineering sword beams smashed through everything, filling the sky, instantly cutting apart the six-armed puppet, and continued roaring toward the Golden King!]
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The entire audience sucked in a cold breath.
"Amazing!"
"If I'm not mistaken, isn't this Berserker's technique?"
"Believe your eyes — you're not mistaken!"
"Seriously, this is exactly a reproduction of Heracles' combat skills!"
"Tsss~~."
"What the hell do you mean by 'just glancing at it is enough to learn'?!"
"Should we say 'Like husband, like wife'? — one copies Noble Phantasms, the other copies martial arts."
"..."
In Chiba City, Yukino, who was training in the Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures Bureau, flushed bright red.
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["Reinforcement from the Age of the Gods."]
[Without even turning his head, Gilgamesh let out a cold snort: "Relying on that for enhancement, combined with your extraordinary talent, it's indeed enough for a living human body to contend with ancient heroes — or more precisely, you are the hero of the present age. But…"]
[The most ancient King, his gaze icy cold, suddenly turned around, his presence overwhelmingly domineering.]
[Golden ripples exploded out instantly.]
["Do you even know who it is you're standing before, mongrel!"]
[One figure, two figures, three figures… eighteen massive silhouettes emerged from the golden ripples.]
[Each and every silhouette was no weaker than the six-armed Ashura from before!]
[Different classes: there were Archers, Riders, Sabers, Assassins, Casters — and even another Ashura — six in each group, forming an encirclement formation.]
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"Hiss—!!"
"I hereby proclaim Gilgamesh the number one bug among Servants!"
Everyone stared wide-eyed, crying out in shock.
At that moment, countless historians and professors trembled as they frantically scrambled to research the original myths these puppets came from…
Indian mythology?
Norse mythology?
Japanese mythology?
American mythology?
Oh, wait, almost forgot — America doesn't even have mythology.