["Dying and being reborn, embracing life and death."]
King Hassan flashed through his mind, touching the depths of Alaric's heart at this moment.
Alaric had experienced death multiple times—he had even personally descended into the Underworld and successfully returned. He understood the significance of life better than anyone.
The blessing of the Lion King constantly echoed in Alaric's heart. That final farewell was a scene he could never forget in this lifetime.
He had to live on and move toward the future.
Thus, Alaric had to overcome every obstacle to reach the golden future he envisioned.
Recovering clarity from the impact of falling from the heavens, Alaric felt fractures in his bones, but his body was already healing and recovering.
Within just a few breaths, he would be completely restored.
What just happened?
How was he struck down from the heavens, and even the Heavenly Vessel shattered?
Drenched in divine blood, Alaric looked up at Tiamat, the Primordial God, whose massive form obscured all vision. Despite being thousands of meters apart, Alaric had landed precisely below Tiamat, plunging directly into the lake formed by her divine blood.
The ultimate Noble Phantasm of Quetzalcoatl, Piedra del Sol, could summon the true power of the supreme deity Quetzalcoatl.
This power was equivalent to or even surpassed, the Primordial God Tiamat's strength.
After all, Tiamat was still under the self-imposed restriction of her sealed power. In this state, even Tiamat could not resist the Noble Phantasm unleashed by the fully divine Quetzalcoatl.
The divine authority of Quetzalcoatl unleashed scorching solar winds that ravaged the surrounding land for thousands of meters, bringing destruction to all life.
This eradicated Tiamat's ability to once again manifest the Chaos Tide.
When the Sea of Life—the chaos tide—was completely evaporated, the consequences were not only that Tiamat lost her footing and was forced to collapse forward.
A more immediate effect was the depletion of magical energy for the Crimson Dragon, resulting in a significant drop in output.
Alaric, who was battling the knight, noticed this fact almost simultaneously.
As Roman had said, the Crimson Dragon without its magical energy supply was at its most vulnerable. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
How could Alaric possibly let it slip by?
But what happened next shocked and even stunned Alaric.
Familiar crimson arcs of lightning flared, compressing within the knight's body and unleashing an explosive surge of magical energy in a brief instant.
"Thunder Flash."
This was a simple magical technique that Lancelot had developed for Alaric, tailored to Alaric's unique short bursts of power.
It perfectly matched Alaric's explosive strength, allowing him to move at godlike speeds. Though reckless and straightforward, it had given Lier an edge in many battles.
To this day, Alaric has never abandoned refining this technique.
But Alaric had never imagined that one day he would become the target of Thunder Flash.
Indeed, in the moment when the Chaos Tide was severed, as Alaric prepared to deliver a fatal blow, the knight displayed a technique that was none other than Thunder Flash. In that instant, the knight's speed surpassed Alaric's, widening the gap between them.
Even Alaric was struck and sent flying.
Before Alaric could summon the Heavenly Vessel again, the knight's subsequent slashes destroyed the vessel's form, depriving Alaric of his ability to remain airborne, and forcing him to fall.
The final attack was what caused Alaric to plummet from thousands of meters in the sky, like a meteor crashing to the ground.
A seamless chain of strikes—at that moment, the knight demonstrated techniques rivaling human martial arts mastery. No longer was it a primal, instinctual talent, but rather a skill honed through accumulation.
"What incredible learning ability—almost as brilliant as me," Alaric thought, a brief sense of amazement flashing through his mind.
His gaze finally settled on Tiamat's face ahead.
Once again, his eyes met hers—those twin stars gazing back.
The scarlet divine blood poured down like a heavenly river, cascading endlessly as if descending from the heavens in torrents.
Tiamat, with her massive existence, possessed an almost inexhaustible reservoir of blood. Did her blood have an end? Alaric could not be certain if it would ever stop flowing.
Snapping out of his awe at Tiamat, Alaric realized that his current situation was far from ideal.
He was engulfed by Tiamat's divine blood, which had already submerged him up to his nose, covering his entire body as he lay on the ground.
The chaos tide unleashed by Tiamat's Sea of Life could create lifeforms like Lahmu, and even erode those who fell into it, forcing them into an Amino Geas contract.
Alaric could not determine whether Tiamat's divine blood had the same effect.
In this brief moment, his body had already fully recovered, but Alaric did not rise from the area covered by Tiamat's divine blood.
"This is—"
Alaric, submerged in the crimson blood, could feel the elation coursing through his body. The blood of the Red Dragon surged with heightened activity in this environment, with the roaring Dragon Heart ceaselessly pumping magical energy and blood, amplifying Alaric's vitality.
When Alaric regained his clarity, he seemed to understand the source of this pulsating energy.
It had existed from the very beginning—
The yearning for Tiamat.
The desire to devour the Mother of Origins, the craving to dominate Tiamat, and the longing to possess her.
These emotions, akin to original sins, had once entirely consumed Alaric's heart.
It was on the day Tiamat awakened, driven by pure beastly instincts, that Alaric had come face-to-face with her.
Yet, before he could act, he was nearly slain by Tiamat, a confrontation that even gave birth to the monstrous Crimson Dragon.
But these emotions, akin to original sin, never truly disappeared. They had merely been buried deep within, suppressed until the present moment when they were freed once again.
The divine blood, like an ocean, engulfed Alaric's entire being.
And Alaric could sense his body devouring Tiamat's blood, as though his entire form had transformed into a vortex, consuming the blood of the primordial goddess just as it absorbed magical energy.
This blood became sustenance for his growth, further enhancing the Crimson Dragon's blood within him.
The Crimson Dragon's blood, which he inherited from King Arthur—Artoria—and which had deep ties to the island of Britain, could no longer fully encapsulate Alaric's existence.
His soul's immensity made it impossible to manifest purely through the Crimson Dragon's essence.
Even after surviving the collapse of the Sixth Singularity, embarking on fantastical journeys within the realm of proper human history, experiencing growth in this Age of Gods, and enduring the long-term reverse erosion of his body by his soul's information—
Alaric, who had transformed all these experiences into sustenance, was still distant from the moment he could emerge from the [Embryo].
Instinctively, Alaric craved everything that could benefit him, anything that could help him emerge from the [Embryo], allowing him to truly integrate into this world.
But such a thing was impossible.
The sustenance provided by these experiences alone was insufficient to support his true emergence from the [Embryo].
It should have been so, yet there are always exceptions.
The Mother of Origins, the womb of all beasts—Tiamat, the Mother of Life—was not just the embodiment of her authority; her divine blood alone carried an immense influence.
Soaked in this vast ocean of divine blood, Alaric could distinctly feel the growth of his dragon blood, as well as—
The elation of his soul.
What exactly is the soul? Even Alaric could not say for certain.
He was not one of those ultimate lifeforms capable of materializing their soul and manifesting its light in a tangible form.
As a human, Alaric would, in all likelihood, never be able to grasp the true shape of his soul without relying on the power of magecraft.
Yet, due to his unique nature, Alaric's soul completely surpassed the body that housed the Crimson Dragon's blood.
From Merlin's perspective, Alaric, who possessed the Crimson Dragon's blood and had attained the qualifications of a [Beast], had always inherently possessed the potential to be a [Beast].
A pure soul's light, too, could undergo transformation.
But the secrets of the soul were secondary. What lay before Alaric now was the transformation occurring in his body.
This transformation was not like the day he devoured the divine Age of Gods Ether that surged from the leyline atop the summit of the Ebih Mountain, which greatly enhanced his physical form.
Instead, it was something even Alaric could not describe—[Completion].
A [Completion] that brought him closer to this world.
Life is about evolution—not just the growth of intellect and spirit over time, but also the [evolution] of the body itself.
The God of Origins, Tiamat, who created all life, undoubtedly left templates. Yet her creations were not limited by these templates; they possessed infinite potential.
In this present era—the Age of Humanity, the era of primates—
[Humans] are beings with infinite potential for evolution. They bring chaos and unpredictability to the world, breaking free from the stagnant "ifs" of futures without possibility and rising to dominate the mainstream of the world.
The world's resources are finite, not infinite. Thus, the operation of the world will not favor those futures that have lost potential and stagnated.
From the perspective of the mystical, the human body is a microcosm of the world.
The scale may differ, but there can exist a cosmos-sized human body, just as there can exist a human-sized cosmos.
Its essence determines everything.
Under the influence of Tiamat's divine blood, Alaric's body underwent a profound transformation.
The Crimson Dragon's blood, already subjected to reverse erosion by his soul's information, was now further expanded, opening up new possibilities for the future.
The magnitude of the change was comparable to the day when Alaric was transformed by the Dragon Blood of the Lion King!
Although it seemed that Alaric's strength had not significantly improved, it had truly opened the door to the future for him!
'What are you thinking?'
Sensing the changes in his body, Alaric gazed into Tiamat's cold, starlit eyes.
After their gazes met, Tiamat, deeply affected by Marduk's Axe, remained motionless, as if silently waiting for the divine axe to be completely eradicated.
But Alaric was certain that there had been an exchange of glances between them.
Yet, Alaric could never decipher what Tiamat was truly thinking.
Alaric never denied Tiamat's desire to return, even if it meant the destruction of humanity—it was an act he could understand.
But what he could never figure out was what Tiamat meant to him.
Caught in these tangled thoughts, time passed swiftly.
The battle in the heavens had also entered its climax. The knight displayed astonishing strength, and even though Fujimaru's mana was severely weakened, she was still able to summon three heroic spirits to fight fiercely.
Mash, Ishtar, and three dragon-slaying heroic spirits summoned specifically to counter the Crimson Dragon were battling the knight directly on the back of the Crimson Dragon!
The Saint Georgios —wielded the dragon-slaying holy sword Ascalon, fighting side by side with Siegfried, the invincible hero celebrated in the Nibelungenlied!
And then there was Beowulf—the protagonist of the ancient epic Beowulf!
These three dragon-slaying heroes from different eras and regions united at this moment, creating a miraculous scene!
This was also a manifestation of Fujimaru's unique power of connection.
If the golden king Gilgamesh could target enemies' traits and legends with precise Noble Phantasm projections, then Fujimaru could summon servants specifically targeting enemies' weaknesses.
Far surpassing the treasures stored in Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon, any heroic spirit who had once been connected to Fujimaru could be summoned to fight for her!
This power could even overshadow the golden king Gilgamesh!
After all, Noble Phantasms are lifeless tools, but heroic spirits summoned as servants are living, breathing existences.
Fujimaru could even summon super servants, on par with Gilgamesh in strength—dazzling stars worthy of being called the strongest in human history!
Faced with this luxurious lineup, the nameless knight showed no hint of fear, silently wielding her massive sword. With sheer strength, she fended off the attacks of five servants.
It must be noted that these were not just three dragon-slaying specialists capable of suppressing the knight—their anti-dragon abilities were massive. Even Mash, whose strength had grown dramatically after learning the knight's true name, had joined the battle to subdue the Crimson Dragon!
And the goddess Ishtar, a servant infinitely close to her divine form, had received Gilgamesh's jewel reserves and was unleashing them recklessly, bombarding the battlefield with her precious gemstones!
Yet, they were still unable to inflict significant damage on the Crimson Dragon!
"Senpai! She seems to be improving and learning!"
Mash, who had just been repelled again, managed to escape unscathed thanks to her shield but still felt her arm go numb. She finally noticed something unusual and shouted, "She's learning the fighting styles of heroic spirits!"
"She can even learn techniques?!"
Fujimaru, also standing on the back of the Crimson Dragon, stared intently at the knight's petite figure. Despite wielding a massive sword taller than herself, her movements were fluid and precise.
Following Mash's observation, Fujimaru also noticed the knight's rapid improvement in such a short time.
This was not good news for Fujimaru and Mash.
The Crimson Dragon Knight was already capable of holding her own against five opponents. If she continued to grow stronger, just how powerful would she become?
Moreover, Fujimaru discovered that the knight was using the Dragon's Heart to sustain her magical energy. Under this pressure, the knight would never run out of energy!
Realizing this, Fujimaru's expression turned serious. She wanted to communicate with Romani but realized that her communication device had already been handed over to Quetzalcoatl, leaving her unable to contact Romani freely.
"Mash, open a communication line and ask the doctor about Sir Alaric's situation. Can he still fight?"
Without a moment's hesitation, Fujimaru shouted, "Can he rejoin the battle?"
This stalemate required external force to break it; otherwise, Fujimaru would have to adjust her strategy.
And the most suitable external force to break the stalemate was naturally Alaric, who had been originally designated to subdue the Crimson Dragon.
Alaric being struck down was an outcome beyond Fujimaru and Romani's expectations, but it was still within manageable bounds!
As long as Alaric could rejoin the battlefield, the situation could still be reversed!
With his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, Alaric was the natural enemy of the Crimson Dragon!
Having lost the divine mud and infinite magical energy support, the Crimson Dragon would not stand a chance against him!
"Doctor!"
The moment Fujimaru's voice fell, Mash, still on the battlefield, immediately shouted, "What's Sir Alaric's status right now?"
Not only Fujimaru, but Mash also realized the gravity of the situation. Despite being worried about Alaric's fall from the heavens, Mash knew that no mistakes could be made at this critical moment.
Both Fujimaru and Mash were fully aware of this, and far away at Chaldea, Roman and Da Vinci knew it even better.
"Looking at it now, Sir Alaric seems to be in good condition. His spiritual foundation's reaction is at a normal level, maybe even improving. His body is healthier than mine!"
Roman, who had been nervous about Alaric, breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to suggest that Alaric could rejoin the battle, Da Vinci stopped him, leaned over, and said, "Quetzalcoatl, can you hear me?"
Without hesitation, Da Vinci initiated contact with Quetzalcoatl, who was currently wielding her Noble Phantasm, Piedra del Sol, attempting to communicate with her.
This action left Roman slightly stunned.
"I can hear you~~"
A voice tinged with electronic distortion came through. Quetzalcoatl responded with a faint smile, "You're asking about Alaric? That boy was enveloped in Tiamat's blood and hadn't moved since then.
But he seems very healthy~~!"
Though she said this, the serious expression on Quetzalcoatl's face never wavered.
When Alaric fell, she had nearly rushed to catch him herself.
But such an act was impossible. Quetzalcoatl could only watch as Alaric plunged into the sea of Tiamat's divine blood, sinking little by little.
Although she could still sense Alaric's reaction, Quetzalcoatl couldn't shake the ominous feeling she had.
After all, that was Tiamat's divine blood—the blood of the primordial Mother Goddess. Direct contact with such a massive amount of divine blood could lead to unpredictable consequences, even for Quetzalcoatl.
Roman and Da Vinci, listening to Quetzalcoatl's words, were both caught off guard. Da Vinci, who had anticipated something like this, showed a knowing expression.
A fall from 10,000 meters was no trivial matter. Even Servants would meet their end in such a fall.
But Alaric was different. With the support of leyline magic, his vitality was as tenacious as an immortal cockroach. He could easily survive such a fall.
Even if he sustained critical injuries, judging by his previous performances, he could fully heal in a short period.
More than ten minutes had passed since Alaric's fall. That should have been enough time for him to heal his body. Observations of his spiritual foundation showed no sign of weakening.
But the fact that he hadn't moved all this time indicated a problem.
Da Vinci, pondering this as she asked her question, hadn't expected such an answer.
"Covered in Tiamat's divine blood—"
Da Vinci rubbed her chin, her eyes flickering with a sharp light. "This is not good news at all..."
They couldn't just leave Alaric to his fate, but there were no extra hands available to rescue him.
Fujimaru and Mash, who were locked in a battle to defeat the Crimson Dragon, couldn't leave their posts, let alone Ishtar.
The only other potential option, Jaguar Man, had vanished somewhere far away, with no updates on her whereabouts.
The only thing Chaldea could do was provide information, leaving the final decisions to the young woman in the field.
Thinking of this, Da Vinci looked helplessly at Roman and said, "We'll have to leave it to Fujimaru and the others."
Seeing Da Vinci's resolve, Roman didn't hesitate. He immediately relayed the information about Alaric to Mash and Fujimaru, who were in the middle of the battle.
When Mash passed Roman's message along, she hesitated for a brief moment, which allowed a knight to strike her shield with a sword. The impact launched Mash onto the round table, and the resulting force sent her flying, almost falling off the Crimson Dragon's back!
Seeing this, Fujimaru's heart tightened, but she didn't panic. The flying dragon summoned by Quetzalcoatl continued to circle the Crimson Dragon, ready to catch Mash if she fell.
What truly concerned Fujimaru was Alaric's current situation—
"Covered in Tiamat's divine blood?"
Unable to observe the situation below from the back of the Crimson Dragon, Fujimaru furrowed her brows. Had Sir Alaric been restrained?
Regardless of the specifics, it was not something that could be ignored!
"Ishtar! I need you to go rescue Sir Alaric!"
Fujimaru shouted. Even though this decision would place immense pressure on Mash and herself, she did not regret it for a moment.
"Understood!"
Upon hearing this, Ishtar immediately broke away from the battle, prepared to leave the battlefield.
Crackle!
Scarlet arcs of electricity flared.
The nameless knight, who had been engaging in close combat since the start of the battle, seemingly to conserve magical energy, now had red lightning coursing along the blade of her sword.
The interwoven electrical light formed into a blade, sweeping across to intercept Ishtar, who was attempting to leave. Following that, with an overwhelmingly dominant stance, it repelled the oncoming Mash and a group of Servants!
"Mana Burst!"
The intense, surging lightning heated the surrounding atmosphere rapidly, even causing Mash's skin to tingle as if pierced by countless tiny needles.
This was no longer a simple clash of blades but a higher-level technique that consumed magical energy to amplify attacks.
Looking at the somewhat familiar figure and the electric light, Mash felt an illusion as though she were battling Alaric.
It wasn't just Mash. Ishtar, whose escape was interrupted, exchanged glances with Fujimaru and said, "She's stopping me from leaving!"
For such a sudden twist to occur just as Ishtar was about to leave, it was hard not to connect the two events.
Moreover, with the knight deploying Mana Burst, Ishtar realized that leaving now was no longer an option—doing so would leave Fujimaru under unbearable pressure.
Fujimaru, who understood this as well, had a heavy expression and slowly clenched her arm. The magic circuits in her body were already pushed to the limit. For a human body to contract even a single Servant was a remarkable feat.
Even though the summoned Servants were weakened versions of their true selves, the burden they placed on Fujimaru was immense. With magical energy constantly flowing through her body, every battle exacted a heavy toll on her.
'Summoning another one is impossible!'
Fujimaru knew this well and, with unwillingness in her eyes, glared at the knight fighting Mash and the others, rapidly devising a countermeasure.
If they couldn't bring Alaric back to the battlefield, then they'd have to resolve things on their own!
...
Two battlefields unfolded simultaneously. In the intensity of the fight, time flew by until—
Ten minutes later, the reborn figure slowly emerged from the sea of blood.
His armor, dissolved into magical energy by the divine blood sea, was reconstructed as familiar black armor spread over Alaric's body, cloaked in an ominous radiance.
Alaric felt his rejuvenated body. In just over twenty minutes, such a drastic transformation had occurred—something he hadn't anticipated.
While neither his mana output nor total mana had increased, and his physical and other stats showed no notable changes, Alaric still sensed a transformation.
A transformation akin to being reborn.
"Aaaaaaa...!"
As Alaric rose from the sea of blood, the crimson liquid was entirely absorbed into him—even its divine nature was not spared.
Tiamat opened a mouth filled with shark-like teeth and let out a faint call, but it failed to make Alaric look back.
Alaric merely glanced at Tiamat before decisively leaving, enduring the effects of the Piedra del Sol as he stepped into the molten world.
His gaze met Quetzalcoatl, who had activated her Noble Phantasm.
No words were needed. With a smile, Quetzalcoatl pointed toward the sky.
It was as if the two shared perfect understanding, needing no redundant communication to convey their intentions.
Following Quetzalcoatl's gesture, Alaric saw the greatly diminished shadow of the magical dragon. His Mystic Eyes of Death Perception had already locked onto the death of the dragon.
As long as Tiamat could no longer expand the Chaos Tide, Alaric could eliminate the Crimson Dragon.
Alaric raised a hand as if awaiting something to arrive.
But when he didn't see the heavenly vessel in the sky, his expression turned momentarily bewildered, as if he had just remembered that the vessel had already been destroyed by the knight.
Without the heavenly vessel, Alaric seemed unable to reach the domain of the skies.
However, no sign of panic or helplessness appeared on his face, as though it was merely a minor inconvenience.
'It's not a big deal—'
The beginning of everything is difficult, but for Alaric, mere flight was hardly an obstacle.
After acquiring the heavenly vessel, Alaric's understanding of flight had deepened significantly. Thanks to that experience, even without the heavenly vessel, he could still achieve flight.
However, unlike the effects brought by the Heavenly Vessel's Noble Phantasm, what Alaric prepared was a manipulation of physical laws.
[Projection, begin.]
As Alaric uttered the incantation for magecraft, the glowing mana behind him constructed a pair of pitch-black dragon wings. Unlike the soaring majesty of the Crimson Dragon, these wings exuded a cold and metallic aura.
The sleek, knife-like lines of the black iron wings conveyed a beauty and killing intent that seemed out of place for the era.
Small jet-like exhausts were distributed along the tips of the wings, faint traces of magical energy beginning to gather within them.
Since the wings were purely constructed from Alaric's mana, they perfectly synchronized with him, eliminating any risk of separation.
In mere seconds, the complex structure of the wings was fully completed.
This current situation was referred to by Alaric as the Dragon Mode.
Having once lost the heavenly vessel to Kingu before, Alaric spent several days consulting Chaldea's Roman and the genius Da Vinci about various knowledge regarding flight.
With a bit of assistance from Da Vinci and Alaric's unparalleled genius, he completed this artificial dragon wing.
Thus, Alaric finally reached the realm of the skies!
"Cool, huh?"
Raising his thumb toward Quetzalcoatl in the distance, Alaric, showing off the Dragon Wings for the first time, proudly raised an eyebrow.
Boom!
Dozens of streams of magical light erupted from the tail ends of the dragon wings, with intense heat and thrust spewing from the small nozzles, forming what is known as a Mach ring.
In an instant, the human body broke free from the shackles of gravity, and a liberated soul raced toward the boundless blue skies.
Ignoring all the effects of acceleration pressure, the speed was unrestricted—pure, unbridled power.
Following Da Vinci's suggestion, all safety guarantees for life were stripped away, constructing a propulsion system with full power and maneuverability.
The energy was supplied directly by Alaric, with the propulsion system's output determined solely by the pure release of her magical energy!
Sheer power—like a flying brick!
A jet-black light shot upwards, piercing through the sky to reach 90,000 miles. Within seconds, he soared beyond 10,000 meters high, once again—
Charging toward the Crimson Dragon!
"Sir Alaric!"
Almost simultaneously, Fujimaru exclaimed with delight upon seeing Alaric appear.
This caught the attention of Mash, who was locked in a fierce battle with a knight. She instinctively turned to look outside, and the familiar figure appeared before her—
Screech!
Scarlet lightning flickered, and the knight, who had silently closed in, swung a fatal blow at the distracted Mash with an expressionless face!
But Alaric was even faster!
Boom!
A straight, jet-black beam of light shot in between Mash and the knight, blocking the giant sword with a golden holy sword!
"Hello there!"
Meeting the knight once again, Alaric raised an eyebrow at the knight's emotionless face.
Then, with a backhand motion, he grabbed the Dragon Wing behind him. With a sharp clank, a massive black blade several meters long was formed and grasped in his hand!
Dozens of magical nozzles lined the back of the blade, and as Alaric swung it, they erupted violently, generating a terrifying thrust that slammed directly into the knight's body!
It's worth noting that the thrust from these propulsion systems was enough to send Alaric flying into the sky at an altitude of 10,000 meters!
Crack!
The magical sword, equivalent to the Crimson Dragon's defense, shattered on impact. The knight, unable to evade, had her sword arm completely obliterated along with the weapon!
Scarlet blood splattered across the sky, but before it could touch Alaric, he raised her hand to block it.
The massive blade in his hand, transformed from the Dragon Wing, was also destroyed. After two instances of full-power operation, it reached its intended lifespan.
At present, the quality of the projections Alaric could construct could only sustain two full-power uses.
But to Alaric, this was more than enough. By reducing the output, he could even greatly extend the weapon's lifespan.
Aside from this, with Alaric's return to the battlefield, the scales of battle began to tilt.
The knight, who could burn her magical energy to maintain her combat power and fight against five opponents at once, now faced her natural nemesis in Alaric. And surprisingly—
She smiled.
That perpetually expressionless face now bore a faint smile, as refreshing as a spring breeze, like a high mountain flower in full bloom.
Witnessing that smile firsthand, Alaric instinctively widened his eyes:
"You—"
This was the first time Alaric had ever seen an expression on the knight's face, and that smile was shockingly similar to—
Artoria.
That fleeting smile left a deep impression on Alaric's heart.
However, the knight quickly withdrew her smile, and a terrifying magical reaction erupted from her body. Its power was comparable to her peak, and the Crimson Dragon beneath her let out an earth-shaking roar!
["Careful! She's burning her Spirit Origin to generate magical energy!"]
Roman's tense warning echoed, causing everyone present to grow serious.
Alaric furrowed her brows, unable to understand the knight's thoughts, but his actions didn't waver.
Alaric knew all too well how critical this moment was. Whatever the knight was thinking didn't matter anymore. The outcome would only end with her death!
Screech!
The pitch-black aurora streaked across the sky, colliding head-on with the knight of the crimson dragon. In an instant, the battle reached a fever pitch!
Every slash from both sides was powerful enough to rend the atmosphere, carving dazzling sword arcs into the air.
The surging magical energy was nothing more than a backdrop to the combat skills of the two fighters.
Seeing Alaric, Fujimary decisively join the fray against the knight, despite her fatigue, she promptly released the summoning maintenance for one of her Servants, allowing the remaining two alongside Mash and Ishtar to continue their assault on the knight.
At that very moment, as Alaric re-entered the battle, the primordial god on the molten earth below finally stirred.
The divine axe, which Quetzalcoatl had estimated would take hours to subdue, began to tremble, no longer bleeding the godly blood.
Quetzalcoatl's expression grew serious as she noticed this.
She hadn't expected Tiamat to break free of Marduk's Axe's influence in such a short amount of time. At this rate, Tiamat would completely escape in mere minutes!
When that happened, Tiamat would have enough strength to unleash the Chaos Tide and engage Quetzalcoatl in a direct showdown.
To Quetzalcoatl, a few minutes passed in the blink of an eye.
And in that fleeting moment, as Tiamat finally freed herself from the divine axe's restraint, a golden holy sword pierced through the knight's body, severing the lines of death completely!
The crimson dragon beneath the knight met the same fate.
The sword's radiance stretched like a rainbow, spanning dozens of meters, slicing the crimson dragon in half, annihilating all traces of life.
Thus, this life—born between Alaric and Tiamat, a forewarning of Alaric's potential future mistakes—met its end in death.
Boom!
With the crimson dragon's demise, its massive body, made of divine mud, began to fall and disintegrate, scattering into a rain of dirt.
This result left Fujimaru and Mash without a foothold, but fortunately, the flying dragon arrived in time to rescue them.
Looking at the fallen crimson dragon, Alaric felt no excitement—only an empty hollowness in his heart.
But soon after, Alaric raised his eyebrows sharply, staring intently at the giant figure on the ground.
"Now, we need to keep stalling Tiamat!"
"Sir Alaric?"
Unlike Alaric, the two girls beside him, still excited by the crimson dragon's defeat, followed Alaric's gaze downward.
Tiamat, now free from the divine axe's restraint, began to act.
Amidst the sun-like winds that proclaimed her divine might, the enormous horns behind the primordial god Tiamat began to glow faint blue. The closed giant horns unfolded, and a series of nozzle-like devices emitted glowing torrents of magical energy with a heavy rumble.
As her magical energy surged, Tiamat, under Quetzalcoatl's watchful eyes, broke free from the Piedra del Sol and slowly stood upright.