IBHJ 1182

Mordred knew it too. After a few more failed attempts, she watched Morgan growing stronger by the second. Gritting her teeth, she shifted her focus to a new target - the retreating Guinevere.

She had seen firsthand that this Empire's Guinevere seemed ordinary. But as the student of another Guinevere, she couldn't shake her suspicions. After all, if this world's Morgan was an Apostle, how could their Guinevere be powerless? The Empire must not have discovered her true potential yet.

Knowing her teacher's capabilities all too well, Mordred was pretty sure that the Empire's Guinevere would one day become their deadliest enemy. So with Morgan proving to be too difficult to assassinate, Guinevere became her new target.

'Father might hesitate to strike down family... but not me. My blade was forged for this.' Mordred's eyes hardened as she feinted at Morgan, then pivoted sharply toward Guinevere for the kill.

"No!" Morgan's cry came too late. All she could do was shout, "Princess!"

Mordred cut through the Camlann guards like they were nothing, her blade aimed at Guinevere's heart. As she caught her target's terrified reflection in her eyes, she whispered in her heart, 'Forgive me, teacher.'

"... Grail..." The words fell from Guinevere's lips as her eyes grew distant.

The words made Mordred freeze. In the next moment, terrifying waves of True Ether erupted from Guinevere's body like a raging inferno. The air itself seemed to shatter as the shockwave slammed into Mordred, sending her flying.

Mordred skidded backwards, rolling hard before driving her sword into the ground to stop herself.

"Teacher...?" She stared at Guinevere's empty eyes, her voice shaking.

It wasn't the sudden burst of power that shocked her, it was that unmistakable aura. That feeling... it was exactly like her teacher, the Eternal Kingdom's Fairy Queen Vivian!

Impossible. How could this be?

"True Ether?" Even Morgan watched Guinevere with growing unease.

Above them, the Empire's barrier shimmered into view, its white walls pulsing with magical formations. Eleven fate stars revolved around a giant star in the sky, their light growing stronger by the second.

"Holy... Grail." Guinevere's head dropped mechanically as she turned her lifeless eyes to Mordred. "Must... destroy...!"

"What... what are you?" Mordred's grip tightened on her sword.

The only answer Mordred got was Guinevere's blank stare, burning with flames of hatred and sorrow. Suddenly, steel tubes burst from thin air with a sharp hiss, piercing through Guinevere's delicate back. Blood trickled down as the tubes began to pulse, drinking in the flames surrounding her like a hungry vampire.

Space itself began to crack. With each sound of shattering glass, reality broke apart, revealing a monstrous butterfly phantom that towered fifty meters high.

"What... is that thing?" Mordred could barely get the words out.

She wasn't alone in her shock. Every Heroic Spirit and Apostle stood frozen, staring at the grotesque creature. Neither those from Pan-Human History nor the Eternal Empire had ever seen anything like this horrifying phantom.

The massive butterfly had a human face twisted in agony and grief.

"Holy... Grail..." Guinevere's voice was hollow as she stared at Mordred through lifeless eyes, steel tubes still piercing her back.

"AAAAAH—" The human face screamed to the sky. Runes materialized around it, pulsing with True Ether that formed countless glowing orbs as thick as a swarm of cocoons.

Then everything exploded.

"BOOM!"

Light erupted in all directions, swallowing everything in its path. Heroic Spirits, Apostles, Imperial soldiers - none were spared from its wrath.

"BOOM—BOOM—!!"

The explosions rolled like thunder across storm clouds.

The earth split open. Mountains crumbled to dust.

A massive orb caught Adam head-on, sending him flying into a distant mountain range. The impact shattered the peaks, bringing down an avalanche of rock.

The butterfly unfurled its wings as six massive black tentacles swept across the earth. Everything they touched withered and died and only the eternal Imperial soldiers survived its deadly touch.

"What in the..." Shirou stared in disbelief at the monstrous apparition that had appeared from nowhere.

The butterfly turned its attention to him, its tentacles whipping toward his position.

"My King, watch out!" Merlin shouted.

But just as the tentacles were about to strike Shirou's mountaintop, they froze mid-attack.

"Vivian... is that you?" Shirou asked in shock. Through his eyes, he saw past the monstrous butterfly to its true form—a massive, writhing mass of magical energy. And there, curled up alone at its heart, was a fairy girl who looked just like Guinevere.

"What in the world is this?"

…

Agravain frantically scanned the incomprehensible scene before him with the Emperor's Eye. None of it made any sense.

How could this be possible?

"The barrier is being absorbed... but how? Where did the Princess of Camlann obtain such power? And why now, of all times? Unless..."

Agravain whirled around to face the Imperial Palace, his eyes wide with disbelief. "Was this His Majesty's plan all along? Our defeat, Heroic Spirits' counterattacks... everything was meant to—"

His expression suddenly changed drastically and his face turning pale as he shouted. "Wait, Your Majesty—please reconsider!"

…

The clouds began to swirl like water in the sky, gradually forming a massive cloud vortex that loomed above them. As the air grew thick and heavy, Skadi's eyes narrowed at the threatening cloud overhead.

"Something is coming!" she warned.

A thunderous boom shattered the tension as blue lightning illuminated the battlefield, casting harsh light on the grim faces of the Heroic Spirits and the Apostles below.

Suddenly, a giant white arm burst from the cloud vortex and plunged toward the Isle of Wales. From where Adam stood, he could only stare in shock at the massive limb descending from the sky, it was like watching a planet crash down toward them.

But what truly shook him to his core was the nature of its power. It felt just like his own, yet far greater, and he realized with growing certainty that his power and the being controlling this giant arm shared the same source, the same existence.

It was the Emperor!

"Has His Majesty come to deliver divine punishment?" Even Aife, the battle-crazed junkie, stared in awe at the giant arm descending from the sky.

Everything had led to this moment—Bedivere's betrayal, Ector's death, the deteriorating battlefield, the crumbling Empire's barrier, and now this butterfly that could absorb and transform the barrier itself. It seemed even the usually tolerant Emperor had finally been pushed to the limit.

Now He had descended to unleash divine punishment, ready to annihilate all who dared oppose the Empire!

'His Majesty never showed this much anger, not even against the enemies across the ocean,' Lucius thought to himself.

"Shirou, you need to get out of there!" Gaia's voice was urgent. "The Holy Spirit's power is gathering from across the solar system, all focused on Earth. He's targeting you!"

Despite the dire situation, Shirou remained calm. "It's too late to retreat now. We have to stop that thing first! Gaia, open the Inner Sea of the Planet. Everyone else, use everything you have to hold back the Emperor's arm—even if just for a moment!"

"Altera!" Shirou called out as he turned to her.

She met his gaze with a nod, her eyes blazing with rainbow light. In an instant, her body grew into the three-thousand-meter Titan, the Teardrop Photon Ray appeared in her hands. A brilliant rainbow beam blasted toward the Emperor's descending arm.

"BOOM!"

The collision lit up the sky, unleashing a thunderous explosion. The shockwave tore through the gathered clouds, scattering them to the winds.

But even the Titan's power wasn't enough. The Emperor's massive arm, like the weight of heaven itself, barely slowed as it continued its descent, crushing everything beneath it.

"This Mongrel!"

"Excalibur!"

The twin cries rang out as Gilgamesh and Arthur raised their blades, unleashing their full power against the falling arm.

The world erupted in brilliant light as Jeanne and countless Heroic Spirits abandoned their Empire foes, turning their Noble Phantasms to the sky. Beams of light shot up from the earth one after another toward the falling arm.

The countless rays merged and intertwined, each one a testament to humanity's long history, as they pushed back against that overwhelming arm.

"Crack... crack... crack..."

As the sound of splintering stone filled the air, Lucius could only stare in shock. There, under the convergence of countless beams, cracks began to appear across the Emperor's white arm. Though tiny, these fractures were enough to overturn Lucius's worldview.