IBHJ 1266

Grand Servants were beings who had reached the absolute pinnacle in their respective domains. Each one represented the very best among Heroic Spirits! Only Beasts were meant to stand against Grand Servants!

In theory, it took all seven Grand Servants to defeat a single Beast. But in reality, what Beast could possibly face multiple Grand Servants alone?

None whatsoever!

Yet here was Shirou, fighting three Grand Servants by himself!

And he was doing it without access to his Eternal King records!

"Has he truly... reached this level?" Arthur watched Shirou with mixed emotions. He remembered how weak Shirou had been as a mortal in the beginning. Now this once-vulnerable human stood at a height that even he looked up to.

However—

"It's still not enough," Gaia said, shaking her head firmly.

Indeed, anyone could see that at his current level, Shirou might defeat any single Grand Servant in combat.

But three at once...

This was truly overestimating his his capabilities!

Shirou also knew he was overestimating himself. This was a life-or-death battle with the Grand Saint Graph at stake, and there was no room to hold back. King Hassan and the other two were using their deadliest attacks without restraint, and Shirou had already used all his best abilities.

Despite using everything in his arsenal, Shirou found himself mostly defending rather than attacking. He realized defeat was just a matter of time.

In desperation, he formulated a new strategy. He divided his [Evil] and created countless mud figures that surged toward the three Grand Servants like a massive wave.

"Oh? Eternal King has finally decided to use the contaminating power of that mud," Karna remarked.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"Eternal King's mud possesses extraordinary corrosive and contaminating properties," Karna continued, "but he has never been willing to use it against people. It represents his personal boundary, his principle, his fundamental kindness. But now, confronted by these three Grand Servants, he has been forced to abandon his principles and resort to this forbidden power, which is essentially no different from Beast contamination."

"I see," Arjuna said with a frown. "So by splitting the mud into countless figures, if they manage to touch the three Grand Servants and contaminate their Saint Graphs—similar to how Demonic Bodhisattva contaminated us before—he could win through sheer force of will, correct?"

Karna nodded. "We ourselves might not be contaminated by the mud, but our Saint Graphs are now our core. Once a Saint Graph becomes contaminated, breaking free is nearly impossible. Especially considering the potent contaminating power of Eternal King's mud..."

"Hmph. Targeting the fundamental nature of Heroic Spirits—what a disgraceful tactic," Ramesses II scoffed. "But at this rate, Eternal King will likely prevail..."

"That won't happen," Achilles cut in before Ramesses II could finish.

"What do you mean?" asked Ramesses.

Achilles shook his head. "Numbers mean nothing against Orion in this form. Especially not when he's been summoned with a Grand Saint Graph. And those contaminating mud creatures won't make a difference either." His eyes widened suddenly. "Look there! It's happening! He's about to unleash his Noble Phantasm!"

Everyone followed Achilles' gaze and froze in surprise.

Orion was drawing his bow from his waist, activating his Noble Phantasm—[Orion Hórkos: No Beast is Beyond My Arrow's Reach]!

In an instant, countless glowing arrows rained down on Shirou's mud creatures.

At the same moment, King Hassan's eyes flashed with an eerie blue light as he infused Orion's Noble Phantasm with the concept of death.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

A series of explosive storms erupted as the glowing arrows pierced and obliterated all of Shirou's mud figures. Each impact unleashed a shockwave that scattered the black mud in all directions.

But it wasn't over.

With a single thought, Shirou commanded the scattered mud to reform. But instead of simply returning to their original shapes, the mud split and divided into dozens of new creatures. Where once stood hundreds of mud figures, now a thousand swarmed across the battlefield.

Yet the moment these new mud creatures appeared, the arrows immediately split and completely destroyed them. Each arrow blurred into multiple projectiles, matching the mud's division with their own, homing in to pierce through every last fragment of the reforming mud.

Watching this, Shirou's eye twitched in frustration.

"That's Orion's Noble Phantasm," Achilles explained. "When it targets anything with demonic or contaminating properties, it completely bypasses all defensive abilities and Noble Phantasms. And if the target has unlimited regeneration, the arrows will automatically continue attacking until the target is completely destroyed. This is why he's the ultimate hunter and why he deserves his title as Grand Archer!"

Everyone stared gravely at the battlefield. This was the true power of a Grand Servant. Even without their Grand Saint Graph, they would still rank among the most formidable Heroic Spirits. With a Grand Saint Graph, they could strike down stars, machine gods, and cosmic vessels!

And Shirou was facing not just one, but three such enemies!

Realizing his mud creature strategy had failed, he seized the moment while Orion was unleashing his Noble Phantasm. He immediately gathered an extraordinary amount of magical energy—so much that his magic circuits began to overheat and the surrounding space started to distort.

The observers watched in astonishment. To witness someone distort space through sheer magical power was something most had never seen in their lifetimes. Not even the crystallized power of the Holy Grail or the energy from leylines could accomplish this.

"A magic user," someone whispered in awe.

Indeed, such tremendous magical energy had previously only been witnessed from users of the Second Magic.

"He should not exist in the modern era," Zeus murmured. "Even in the Age of Gods... there would have been no place for someone like him."

Shirou's magical energy was simply overwhelming.

So overwhelming that with magical energy alone, he could challenge Zeus!

Even Zeus himself was stunned by what he was witnessing.

What Zeus couldn't possibly know was that this represented the culmination of Shirou's long journey. Though Eternal King had once struggled with limited magical reserves, "Fujimaru Shirou" had been steadily absorbing malice through the [Evil Flower], building his power over time.

The malice collected by the Evil Flower contained various forms of malice, including the absolute malice from the Lord of Salvation. After that, the UOs had granted Shirou their blessings as well.

The amount of magical energy he now possessed exceeded all expectations!

If anyone were to try describing it, they would compare it to a second planetary Great Source!

Despite possessing such incredible magical energy, he was still limited by his mortal body. He couldn't fully utilize all this power without consequences—pushing beyond his physical limits would cause his body to instantly collapse and break down into basic spiritrons. Facing these three Grand Servants, he decided to reach his absolute limit all at once!

With this resolve, Shirou's magical circuits began to overload, causing his entire body to emit a burning smell.

"Come forth, Rhongomyniad!" he roared.

In response, twenty-four unprecedented Rhongomyniads materialized around him.

Twenty-four Star Anchors!

The astonishing sight left everyone speechless.

All conversation and murmuring instantly ceased.

What remained was only absolute silence.