IBHJ 1177

"You think Scathach will win?" Richard asked, blinking.

Skadi shook her head. "If Aife has truly been training for millions of years, she might have reached the same level as Scathach. It's hard to say who'll come out on top."

"Scathach will win," Shirou said with a confident smile.

"Morgan shouldn't be too much trouble for Iskandar," Merlin said, trying to lighten the mood. "Her magecraft may be strong, but Iskandar has some good warrior Heroic Spirits under his command. As for Gilgamesh's opponent..." His voice trailed off as his eyes widened. Even Mordred's expression turned grim.

"It's her again—“ Shirou rubbed his temples as he recognized who Proto Gilgamesh was facing. “Demonic Bodhisattva."

He shook his head as he thought about this enemy, one even more relentless than Crimson Moon. He'd seen Demonic Bodhisattva appear at every crucial moment, and though he hadn't noticed it before, he now understood who was pulling her strings.

As he pondered what role she might play this time, Mordred's voice cut through his thoughts.

"This is bad!" she exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" he turned to her.

"Kiara is at Gilgamesh's location!" her voice was tense with worry.

His eyes darted to the Southern battlefield on Gaia's map. There they were - Gilgamesh and Enkidu, along with Kiara, already squaring off against Demonic Bodhisattva.

"Another me, so you're still alive!" Kiara said.

"I am." Demonic Bodhisattva smiled as she watched Kiara's troubled expression. "You must be very disappointed."

"No, that's not-" Kiara waved her hands frantically. She couldn't find the right words to express herself. Even though Demonic Bodhisattva was her enemy, she couldn't help the flicker of joy in her heart.

"I must say, I'm surprised," Demonic Bodhisattva continued with a sigh. "To think you survived after I threw you into that monster's egg. Your cockroach-like tenacity is truly remarkable." Her eyes grew cold. "It seems I'll have to personally remove you from this world."

The air rippled as countless pale hands materialized around them, lunging toward Kiara.

Kiara raised her own hands, summoning countless arms that rose to meet the attack. She held her ground, calmly deflecting Demonic Bodhisattva's assault.

"You can block my attack?" Demonic Bodhisattva's surprise showed in her voice.

"Don't underestimate me!" Kiara met her gaze with determination.

Demonic Bodhisattva's eyes turned cold and slashed her hand through the air, tearing open the space. A golden wheel appeared above them, pulsing with raw desire as it plummeted toward Kiara. "Disappear!"

Kiara sent her manifested hands toward the wheel, trying to destroy it. But as they neared the golden wheel, they twisted and vanished into nothing. "How—" she gasped.

A chain whipped through the air, wrapping around her body and yanking her to Enkidu's side.

"Are you alright?" Enkidu asked softly.

Kiara shook her head, staring at where the golden wheel had struck. The ground had warped and twisted, its very concepts and phenomena erased like pencil marks wiped away by an eraser.

"What is this?" she whispered. "You shouldn't be capable of this..."

Demonic Bodhisattva silently formed Buddhist mudras with her hands, summoning a dark, evil halo that rose behind her head. With a sickening crack, a massive fissure split open in her abdomen, revealing a hole of pure desire. Like a black hole, it began to devour everything in its path with overwhelming force.

Gilgamesh and Enkidu tensed as they felt the pull. Around them, both Heroic Spirits and the Empire's Specialized Combat Forces stopped their battles to brace against the massive suction force.

But its power was overwhelming. The weaker fighters and those who couldn't react in time were helplessly pulled in, vanishing into the void as it consumed them whole.

The skies above Tír na nÓg grew dark. In the temple, Xuanzang Sanzang paused her scripture recitation and looked up in confusion. "Huh? Is this... a Bodhisattva?"

As more warriors were pulled into the hole, Kiara anchored herself to the ground with massive hands. "Please, stop this!" she pleaded with her other self. "You have to stop before it's too late!"

But Demonic Bodhisattva paid no attention, continuing her Buddhist chant. The dark halo behind her condensed into an orb of pure darkness, pulsing like a beating heart.

Kiara gritted her teeth as she summoned countless hands behind her. Remembering how Shirou had defeated Demonic Bodhisattva, she twisted the hands together, weaving them into a massive spear of concentrated energy. With a sharp thrust of her arm, she hurled it forward, pouring all her power into the strike.

The spear cut through the air with a sharp whistle, distorting space around it as it flew. Demonic Bodhisattva's eyes snapped open, blazing with golden light as she sensed the danger. She jerked her head aside with supernatural speed and the spear grazed her cheek, leaving a burning trail before striking the dark halo forming behind her head with devastating force.

The halo shattered with a crack, fragments scattering like a broken spider web. They dissolved into motes of dark light as they fell, each piece crackling with disrupted energy. A thin line of blood appeared on Demonic Bodhisattva's perfect face, trickling down her cheek like a crimson tear.

"You dare—!" Demonic Bodhisattva's eyes blazed with murderous rage. Her Dharma body swelled to 60 meters tall as she summoned an army of black hands, each one pulsing with dark desire, trailing shadows like ink in water, and sent them surging toward Kiara.

Kiara weaved through Demonic Bodhisattva's attack and struck back. Though she seemed at a disadvantage, Demonic Bodhisattva couldn't land a decisive blow. But there was something else happening...

"Gil, are you seeing this?"

"That woman is actually absorbing her power," Gilgamesh watched in amazement. "I've never seen anything like this before."

With each clash he could see it clearly, Kiara's power grew slightly stronger while Demonic Bodhisattva's weakened slightly. She was literally absorbing her other self.

"You—!" Demonic Bodhisattva's face contorted in fury.

She must have noticed what Gilgamesh had seen. Kiara was absorbing her power. She abandoned her previous attack, the black hands dissolving into smoke as she shifted tactics. Above her materialized a massive three-headed, six-armed Bodhisattva, each face twisted with demonic fury. With a roar that shook the air, she brought one massive palm down, slamming it into the ground with earth-shattering force.

The earth shook beneath the impact, fracturing the land for hundreds of meters. Broken stones rose into the air as if gravity had reversed, transforming mid-flight into an arsenal of weapons such as swords, spears, whips, curved blades spinning like murderous windmills, stone pestles big as pillars, and hammers that could crush mountains.

Kiara darted between the weapons, but she was quickly being overwhelmed.

Gilgamesh caught Enkidu's eye. A silent understanding passed between them, and they sprang into action. Nearby, Karna and Arjuna shared the same wordless exchange before charging toward Demonic Bodhisattva.

The remaining Heroic Spirits caught on quickly, breaking off to join the assault against Demonic Bodhisattva, who now towered sixty meters high.

"I'll bury you with this world!" Demonic Bodhisattva's roar shook the air as her six arms whirled, meeting the heroes' attacks.

The clash lit up the sky with lightning as the ground trembled beneath them.