IBHJ 1274

Since Kiara was the Beast's target, Ayaka wanted to get her away first. Kiara's mind was in such disarray that she didn't resist and simply allowed herself to be pulled backward.

But the moment they turned around, they stopped in their tracks, their faces frozen in horror. "This can't be happening..."

Behind them was the village bonfire celebration.

But now the once-festive gathering had become something terrifying.

The villagers who possessed [eternity] were convulsing one by one, suspended in midair. Black light erupted from their mouths, eyes, ears, and noses, shooting upward like ropes into the sky. Meanwhile, their bodies withered, as if all their blood and flesh had been drained away like victims of vampires.

They had been reduced to nothing but mummies.

"What's happening to them?" Ayaka asked, her voice trembling with fear.

The scene was terrifying on its own, but something didn't make sense. Weren't the people of the Eternal Empire supposed to be completely indestructible? Wasn't it impossible for anything to harm them?

So why did they now look like their flesh and souls had been completely drained away?

"That's—that's—"

Ayaka heard Kiara's voice and turned to see her staring at the sky in shock.

When Ayaka looked up, she froze. The once starry night sky was now covered by a massive dark nebula that had blotted out all the stars.

The black light pulled from the villagers' bodies rose like writhing ropes, all merging into this dark mass above them.

As the black light pulsed, Ayaka could make out a figure moving within the nebula.

It was—

"Another me?" Kiara whispered, her eyes fixed on the figure in the darkness.

She recognized it as Demonic Bodhisattva.

But something was very wrong with it. There was no aura, no signature, no echo. Like a phantom, it simply continued to consume and absorb [eternity] within the darkness.

"Oh? You figured it out?" The Beast casually deflected Jeanne's attack, looking at Kiara with curious interest.

Kiara turned away from the sky and glared at him with hatred. "What did you do to her?" she demanded.

"She's about to become a saint—a genuine Bodhisattva like the Enlightened One," he said. "And I'm going to send you back to become one with her, so you too can become a saint as part of the Bodhisattva!" He sighed. "I've put in quite a lot of effort for this."

"Sanctity cannot be created!" Jeanne shouted. "Disappear, Beast!"

She channeled all her magical energy into the rifle, sending a terrifying surge of black light toward him.

"If you were Michael, I might have enjoyed playing a bit longer. But you? A mere mortal? I've lost interest."

As soon as he finished speaking, two dragon heads emerged from beneath his sleeves. They clamped down on both ends of the black light with a sharp tearing sound, ripping it apart before devouring it completely.

"That's impossible..." Jeanne's mind reeled in shock.

"What was once standard equipment for controlling the stars is now treated as an ultimate weapon by this generation," he said with a dismissive shake of his head. "I don't know whether to call it laughable or pathetic." Then his voice hardened. "All of you will perish here!"

As he spoke, countless dragon heads burst from his sleeves like a writhing nest, charging straight toward Kiara and the others.

It's over, Ayaka thought to herself.

He was simply too powerful. Even their strongest attacks did nothing against him!

And that wasn't all—Demonic Bodhisattva was still out there in some strange state, floating within that dark nebula. How could they possibly survive?

But just then—

"Shines to the ends of the world, Rhongomyniad!"

A powerful voice rang out as a brilliant white light flashed in the distance, shooting directly at the Beast.

The Beast sensed the attack, and the dragon heads that had been rushing toward Kiara and the others instantly changed direction. They latched onto the white blast, tearing it apart and devouring it piece by piece.

But the moment those dragon heads consumed the blast, the sky suddenly darkened. A massive castle plummeted from above like a meteorite, hurtling toward the Beast.

"BOOM!"

The ground shook violently!

Two figures emerged from a gate, positioning themselves in front of Kiara and the others.

"Fujimaru?" Ayaka said.

"Eternal King?" Jeanne added.

Indeed, standing before the three of them were Shirou and Skadi.

"This aura... it really is him," Skadi said, staring at where the castle had crashed.

Skadi would never show such intense hostility or killing intent, not even toward the former Surtr.

But for this Beast, she couldn't contain her rage.

In fact, the moment she detected his aura, she immediately set out to hunt him down.

Because this was the Beast that had destroyed everything when she was still Scathach!

"I see, you sensed my presence. So you came directly from Tír na nÓg?" The Beast emerged from the castle ruins completely unharmed, studying Shirou and Skadi.

"So you really are still alive, causing trouble from the shadows again," Shirou said coldly. "And that energy manipulation just now... you've absorbed that thing sleeping at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean! Die!"

He pulled out the Spear of Endless Light and immediately applied [Record-Scathach] to himself, gaining Scathach's EX-level spearmanship. He charged straight at the Beast!

The [Energy Materialization] made any beam or energy-based attack useless against the Beast. Only physical attacks had any chance of harming it!

"You think you can kill me in close combat?" the Beast taunted. "You've forgotten, Fujimaru Shirou. You cannot reach my dimension—"

Before he could finish, there was a sharp piercing sound as Shirou's glowing white-hot Spear drove straight through his head.

With a thunderous boom, his head exploded!

The scene was incredibly bloody, but neither Skadi nor Shirou showed any mercy in their expressions.

Only Jeanne covered her eyes to shield Laeticia from the gruesome sight.

The reason Shirou could kill with a single strike was that he had used Eternal King's ability to access other people's records. In this moment, he had applied not just [Record-Scathach], but [Record-Mordred] as well!

No one could reach the Beast's dimension—not even Grand Servants—and neither could Shirou on his own.

But Mordred could!

After Shirou had blown the Beast into pieces, Skadi immediately took action, freezing the muddy remains before incinerating them.

"I underestimated you—"

The space around them twisted as the Beast reappeared.

Shirou and Skadi frowned. They still couldn't completely destroy him?

"To think that once worthless mortal have grown to this level. It's truly unbelievable..." he said, looking at Shirou with a complicated expression. But his form was growing increasingly faint.

Skadi quickly shouted, "Shirou, he's trying to escape!"

He saw the Beast trying to escape and immediately moved to pursue.

At that moment, the dark nebula in the sky released countless streaks of black rain, falling like shooting stars and bombarding Shirou. The power behind this attack was even greater than Jeanne's rifle blast that had targeted the Beast earlier.

With no choice, he had to temporarily focus on defending against the nebula's terrifying black light assault.