IBHJ 1310

"I understand you way too well, Shirou," the Ideal King said softly.

"You might understand Shirou Pendragon, but you don't understand me, Fujimaru Shirou!" He slammed his foot down and swung Caliburn at the Ideal King with everything he had.

At that exact moment, Shiki drew Kiku-ichimonji, cutting in from the right and going straight for the Ideal King's weak spots. But the Ideal King wasn't caught off guard for a second.

With a metallic clang, she blocked Shirou's sword with a quick sideways parry while simultaneously using her [Time] ability to flip Shiki's attack pattern in reverse.

But Shiki wasn't fooled. She could see right through the thin threads of [Time]'s origin line.

"Slice—"

One perfect cut was all it took!

The altered time didn't just break—it shattered like glass hit with a hammer.

Even after Shiki tore [Time] apart, the Ideal King's sword shot forward with the inevitability of fate itself. Shiki raised her blade horizontally to block, but the Ideal King lashed out with a kick so fast it was barely visible, catching Shiki in the side and sending her crashing backward.

She hit the stone wall with such force that it didn't just crack—it exploded in a shower of rubble and dust. The impact drove the air from her lungs in a painful gasp as she burst through the wall and kept rolling across the ground. Her body carved a trench in the dirt for a good twenty feet before finally coming to a stop, Kiku-ichimonji still somehow clutched in her trembling fingers.

Meanwhile, Arthur, Altera, and the others had pulled themselves back to their feet and charged in together, a coordinated assault from multiple angles.

The Ideal King didn't even flinch. She simply tapped into the force flowing through her core, drawing on strength that defied all natural laws. The energy built around her in visible waves, distorting the air itself before she released it in one burst. The shockwave caught all of them mid-charge, lifting their bodies off the ground as if they weighed nothing at all.

In that moment, Tiamat gathered every ounce of her might into Sword of Rupture and unleashed a devastating strike.

The Ideal King was tough, but Tiamat could still sense Chaos somewhere nearby. [Akasha Arrow] might be gone, but if she could just summon Chaos one more time, she might be able to drain the Ideal King's Holy Grail power faster.

If they could completely burn through that Holy Grail energy, the Ideal King wouldn't be invincible anymore—she might not even be able to maintain her existence!

But the Ideal King barely spared Tiamat a second glance before activating her [Space] ability. The air seemed to ripple and distort around Tiamat as the Ideal King compressed her entire space-time domain, flattening it into a second dimension. Tiamat's body wavered and stretched like an image on a crumpling piece of paper. She suddenly found herself contained in a prison between realities.

That's when Arcueid made her move, rushing forward at full speed. The Ideal King spun around and raised her sword, but hesitated when she couldn't detect any hostility from Arcueid.

That split-second pause was all Arcueid needed. She closed the distance and grabbed the Ideal King by both wrists.

"Stop," she pleaded, looking directly into the Ideal King's eyes. "This isn't how things should be—"

The words died in her throat as the Ideal King's knee came up and her foot shot forward in a thrust kick that connected with Arcueid's midsection. The impact lifted Arcueid clean off her feet as she was catapulted backward.

She hit the massive stone pillar with enough force to crater it, chunks of ancient marble exploding outward from the point of impact. The pillar itself cracked from top to bottom, trembling as her body embedded several inches into its surface.

The Ideal King whirled back around and thrust her sword at Shirou.

Meanwhile, Vivian brought her hands together to cast a fairy spell, but the Ideal King just turned her head, eyes glowing with holy light. Instantly, waves of [Soul] force rippled toward Vivian like a tsunami. Since Vivian's existence was pretty close to that of an information-based life form, the attack hit her hard. It felt like someone had wrapped the Monkey King's tight band around her head. She dropped to her knees, clutching her skull in agony.

As the Ideal King came at him, Shirou's instincts kicked in. He activated [Savior of Mortal], switching from [Shiki] to [Ideal King] mode. The transformation rippled through his body as he swung his sword downward with bone-jarring force.

CRACK!

Like shattering glass, the Ideal King struck by his sword broke into a million pieces like a broken mirror.

A faint sweet scent drifted to him from behind, triggering every alarm bell in his body. His eyes narrowed as he sensed a sword coming at him faster than thought itself. No doubt about it—this was one of the six basic forces: [Reality]. Just as the Ideal King's blade was about to connect, Shiki, who'd been knocked back earlier, managed to slide Kiku-ichimonji into position. In a flash, the Ideal King twisted her wrist, deflecting the blade with a sharp clang.

The Ideal King lowered her sword, a flicker of surprise crossing her usually calm golden eyes. "I had my origin hidden, yet you can still see my lines. It seems your degree of assimilation has increased considerably, Shiki."

The Ideal King seemed only mildly surprised, but everyone else was completely shocked. They'd all seen Shiki cut through the Ideal King's origin line!

Yet the Ideal King didn't have a scratch on her.

Had she somehow become immune to death line damage?

No—she had actually blocked destruction from the origin itself!

Nobody was supposed to be able to block that kind of attack, but the Ideal King, being a transcender, somehow could!

"What kind of monster are we up against?" Even Altera, a Vanguard of the Umbral Star, couldn't hide her shock.

The Ideal King took a step forward, and everyone instinctively backed away.

"What's the matter? Done fighting already? Is that all the resistance you've got?" she asked.

Everyone exchanged grim looks. Of course they couldn't give up now, but the Ideal King seemed absolutely flawless. Even Sixth Seat, who was literally the spirit of the Holy Grail, couldn't do anything against her and had to turn to the Demon King instead. One could even say that as long as the Ideal King existed, the Lord of Salvation couldn't interfere with the present—even without [Akasha Arrow].

Just then, a series of loud crashes came from the collapsed pillar as rubble shifted and fell. Arcueid finally regained consciousness. She clutched her stomach as she struggled to her feet, legs wobbling beneath her. Her normally confident stance was gone, replaced by obvious weakness. Clearly, even someone known as a physical tank couldn't shrug off the Ideal King's kick.