IBHJ 1232

Whatever was happening in the bigger picture, he knew one thing for certain—he needed to destroy this piece of the abomination as quickly as possible. Mordred was nearby, and he couldn't let anything happen to her.

That was a promise he'd made as a father.

Besides, the creature had clearly recognized him, and it was too late to run now anyway.

Under normal circumstances, he could have easily destroyed this thing using his Eternal Emperor power. Unfortunately, for some reason, he couldn't connect to the Eternal King's record, which meant the Eternal Emperor ability was unavailable. Even worse, the power of "Evil" that had always been his strongest backup had vanished without a trace.

The man standing here now wasn't the Eternal King. He wasn't the hero who had made a contract with "Evil." He wasn't even the Inheritor of the Vortex. He was just Fujimaru Shirou.

Facing the monstrous abomination, Shirou summoned six Rhongomyniads, instantly releasing them toward his enemy. The starlight weapons shot toward the creature like six raging storms.

But something unexpected happened. The moment the storms were about to make contact, they suddenly materialized into solid form—and then shattered on impact.

This thing's specialty was [Energy Materialization]. Any energy attack that came near it was instantly converted to physical form—losing all its explosive power, impact, and heat—making it easy for the creature to simply tear apart.

"Grrrooooaaarrrr!" —Vessel. My Vessel.

The abomination's voice echoed inside Shirou's mind as the massive dragon head lunged toward him.

He summoned another six holy lances while simultaneously wielding Caliburn. But deep down, he knew it was pointless.

This wasn't an enemy that ordinary people could hope to defeat. Not even a Grand Servant could match it. Hell, even a Beast would struggle against this monstrosity. This was Zeus's ultimate weapon—the culmination of countless divine powers that he had painstakingly gathered specifically to combat the Beast of Revelation and the Lord of Salvation.

And just as expected, the Rhongomyniad energy storm was torn to shreds by the abomination. As he prepared to retreat and switch to guerrilla tactics, something impossible happened—Caliburn's blast completely engulfed the monster, swallowing it whole like a lizard catching a fly. With a deafening boom, the giant head and its spore-like mud cluster were utterly annihilated by Caliburn's light.

Shirou stood frozen in astonishment. This shouldn't have been possible.

He looked down at Caliburn in his hand and noticed the strange patterns on the blade flashing with an eerie crimson glow—like the malevolent smile of Satan himself grinning up from the depths of Hell.

"The Holy Grail..." he whispered as understanding dawned on him.

Caliburn itself didn't possess the power to defeat such a powerful enemy. What had destroyed the abomination was the contaminated Grail that had infused itself into Caliburn—the same corrupted power that had led to Mordred's tragic life!

Mordred had explained it before. The Grail originally belonged to the Beast of Revelation and there were two in total. More than 1,500 years ago, one of these Grails had been deliberately planted on the island of Ireland by the Beast of Revelation to prevent Eternal King from ever being born.

The religious authorities, who were being heavily oppressed by the royal powers at the time, discovered it. Mistaking it for the true Holy Grail, they brought it into their midst. But this corrupted artifact eventually contaminated and destroyed the entire kingdom.

Facing a terrible choice, Mordred had bound her fate to the Grail. She did this to prevent it from spreading its corruption throughout all of Pan-Human History and destroying the very foundation of human order. This desperate action came at the cost of killing the Eternal Kingdom.

The two Grails were a matched set—generating and restraining each other, with powers that were both complementary and opposing. They were the Beast of Revelation’s artifacts, who had incarnated as Sixth Seat.

There was no doubt about it now—this abomination was the Beast of Revelation's handiwork!

The Beast of Revelation was still out there!

Shirou tightened his grip on the sword. The situation in Pan-Human History had just gotten even more complicated, but he had no choice but to continue down this path.

With a sigh, he shook his head and headed back to the shelter—only to stop dead in his tracks at the sight that greeted him.

"What on earth are you two doing?" He stared in complete bewilderment at the scene before him. The witch and Mordred were locked in what could only be described as a childish wrestling match, each pulling at the other's face.

Shirou rubbed his temples as he watched the two of them squabbling. Seriously? He hadn't even been gone that long, and they were already at each other's throats.

"I'd like to officially report that your daughter started it," the witch announced, raising her hand like a student in class.

He just stared at her blankly.

What was she, a kindergartner tattling to the teacher? How old was she supposed to be again?

"Childish," Mordred scoffed, crossing her arms with a look of disdain.

That was all it took for the witch to lunge at her again, and they were back to wrestling.

Shirou stepped in and physically separated them, fighting off a growing headache as he looked from one to the other.

It was strange. The witch was definitely high-strung, but he'd never seen Mordred have this kind of problem with Saber. Maybe these two just naturally brought out the worst in each other?

"Anyway," he said, trying to change the subject, "are you feeling any better, Mordred?"

"My head's still a bit dizzy," Mordred admitted, shooting a sideways glance at the pouting witch. "But I'm well enough to handle someone despicable who picks on sick people."

"Who are you calling despicable?" the witch snapped.

"Whoever admits to it." Mordred shrugged.

"You—you—"

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?"

"Damn it, time out!"

The witch frantically flipped through her notebook searching for a good comeback, only to discover with dismay that her notes contained nothing but travel stories—not a single insult she could use.

"Both of you, stop making trouble," Shirou sighed, massaging his temples. He held out Caliburn to Mordred. "Since you're feeling better now, you should take this back."

Mordred shook her head. "This is your sword. You used it to unite and create the Eternal Kingdom. I'm returning it to its rightful owner." She gently pushed it back toward him. "You should keep it."

Shirou smiled gently as he offered the sword. "Eternal King has passed away, this sword carries your karma now. It's already yours."

"Eternal King will never pass away," she insisted, crossing her arms firmly. "Eternal King will always exist, and so will the kingdom." She made no move to accept the offered weapon.

He looked at her with surprise. Despite their recent reconciliation, Mordred was surprisingly adamant about the Eternal King's existence. Then again, considering Mordred's deep-seated obsession with the Eternal King, perhaps this reaction wasn't so unusual after all.

Since she clearly didn't want the sword and wasn't really in any condition to move around much anyway, he decided he'd hold onto the sword for now. He could always return it to her later when the time was right.

What a strange turn of events, though. Caliburn had already been returned to the Pendragon family, and yet after changing hands so many times, it had somehow found its way back to him.

"As long as Caliburn exists, as long as Eternal King still exists, then the Eternal Kingdom hasn't perished!" she stated with absolute conviction.

He couldn't help but look at her with surprise. It was remarkable how she could now face her past so openly after embracing the Grail and completely resolving her inner conflicts.

While he was genuinely happy for her progress, a nagging worry lingered in the back of his mind. The Grail's influence on Mordred probably extended beyond what was immediately apparent, right?

But from what he could tell so far, the changes seemed positive. Apart from her personality becoming more assertive, all the effects appeared constructive—she even had a body that was practically indistinguishable from a living person's.

There was still the problem of the Beast of Revelation, though. Since it continued to exist, it would inevitably target Mordred because of the Grail she now possessed.

Shirou wouldn't allow the Beast to harm Mordred. Besides, he harbored his own deep hatred for the Beast of Revelation. A final confrontation was inevitable—a life-or-death battle right here in the Pan-Human History!