IBHJ Chapter 842

Everyone looked over and was surprised to see a golden-haired girl with a strange keyhole on her forehead, wearing a black dress, looking at him with an odd expression. "How do you know my name? Are you also a resident of Salem?"

What a perfect opportunity! A glint flashed through Altera's eyes, then she quickly raised the Sword of Mars in her hand, and a rainbow beam shot straight towards Abigail.

Altera's attack was both swift and ruthless, not giving the opponent any chance to react.

However, when this rainbow beam reached Abigail, it was absorbed into the keyhole on her forehead like flowing water, not causing even a single ripple.

The next moment...

Abigail's eyes suddenly darkened, emitting a thick malice. Then, a gray bubble suddenly surged out from under Altera's feet, trapping her inside. No matter how much she struggled, she couldn't break free from this bubble.

Then...

Zap zap zap!!

Black lightning crackled to life within the bubble. Jagged bolts of dark energy danced across Altera's body, electrocuting her mercilessly. Her body convulsed as the lightning tore through her, leaving her in a miserable, pain-wracked state.

Abigail's eyes regained their clarity, and she released Altera from the bubble. "Attacking GM violates the rules. Yellow card warning. If you break the rules again, I'll eat you on the spot. I'm super hungry right now."

Ayaka quickly picked up Altera and asked if she was alright.

Shirou frowned as he looked at Abigail. After that gray bubble appeared, he sensed an incomparable malice. That kind of malice was exactly the same as the aura of Cthulhu he had felt not long ago at the Romania connection point.

Although the power vested in Abigail was still relatively small, there was no doubt that it was the authority of Yog-Sothoth, one of the Outer Gods. Moreover... The Abigail standing before them had probably completely become the incarnation of Yog-Sothoth. Otherwise, this level of authority would not be possible.

"We understand. We won't break the rules, and you, as the host of this game, shouldn't violate the game rules either, right?" he asked.

"Of course. Then, let the game begin! Roll the dice!" Abigail floated in the air and spread out her hands.

"Why?" Shirou asked.

"Because you're already under attack!" she pointed at the sky and tilted her head. Her clear eyes looked at the group.

Everyone raised their heads to look, and their eyes suddenly widened. They saw that the dark sky above was filled with crimson light.

Ayaka muttered, "That's... Sword of Rupture, Ea!"

"Sword of Rupture...?"

Shirou glanced at Ayaka's stunned expression before turning his head to gaze at the crimson light filling the sky.

Sword of Rupture – Gilgamesh's Noble Phantasm. Shirou hadn't expected to encounter Abigail, the Seventh Seat of the Council, at this connection point in Shinjuku, let alone be attacked by Sword of Rupture right at the start of the game.

As he stared at the endless crimson light converging to a single point, standing tall like a satellite in the sky, Shirou reached out his hand. His plan was to strike down the Sword of Rupture using Rhongomyniad.

But then...

"Player Eternal King attempts to summon his Noble Phantasm. Time to roll the dice for judgment." Abigail snapped her fingers, and the dice in front of him began to roll, shaking for a moment before coming to a stop.

Abigail took a look and said, "The number is 29. Summoning the Noble Phantasm failed."

Shirou: "..."

Regular weapons are considered Noble Phantasms too?

At that moment, all the crimson light in the sky gathered within the Sword of Rupture. With a cracking sound, the sky shattered, and the calamity that had annihilated civilization in a distant era descended along with that blade of heavenly destruction.

"It's coming!" Ayaka shouted.

Faced with the world-destroying calamity descending from the sky, none of them, including Shirou, were about to sit and wait for death. One by one, they sprang into action, rolling the dice in front of them.

"Eternal King summons [Avalon], rolls an 11, cast failed; uses [Skadi's Blessing], rolls a 22, cast failed; uses [Hollow Tree], rolls a 34, cast failed; uses [Imperial Privilege], rolls a 1, critical failure..."

"King of Knights used [Excalibur], rolls a 97, critical success; Gray used [Holy Lance Rhongomyniad], rolls a 96, critical success."

Glancing at his string of failed rolls, then looking at Artoria and Gray who had already unleashed Excalibur and the Holy Lance, Shirou's mouth twitched. With a growing sense of annoyance, he looked at Abigail floating high in the air. "Hey! I feel like you're picking on me!"

"There's no such thing. I am fair and just. Besides, you rolled the dice yourself, so how can you blame me?" Abigail stopped smiling, dissatisfied.

At that moment, Artoria's Excalibur and Gray's Holy Lance merged into one, a pillar of light shooting straight towards the Sword of Rupture.

Abigail took a glance and said, "The rolls for [Excalibur] and [Rhongomyniad] to shoot down the [Sword of Rupture] need to be above 97. Rolling the dice now."

Artoria and Gray's dice began to shake, finally coming to a stop.

Shirou looked over and saw Gray's dice landed on 91, while Artoria's dice landed on 100.

The corner of his mouth couldn't help but twitch. Isn't the difference between them a bit too much?

Artoria didn't answer, focusing instead on confronting the [Sword of Rupture] descending from the sky. It couldn't be helped, though. Since contracting with Gray, her Luck had reached A+ rank. Converting that... forget it, no need to convert. She's a luck emperor.

It's just...

Shirou looked up and saw that even with her perfect roll, Artoria's Excalibur failed to destroy the Sword of Rupture. Instead, its light was gradually devoured by the descending blade.

He turned to Abigail. "Didn't you say above 97 points would shoot down the Sword of Rupture? Why does it look like that's not the case now? Are you cheating?"

"What's the rush? I wouldn't cheat," Abigail pouted, making a face at him. She raised her hand, and a huge bubble burst from her palm, passing through Artoria's mana cannon and enveloping the Sword of Rupture, finally encircling Ea within it.

As the Sword of Rupture was trapped by Abigail's bubble, it vanished like a mirage, as if someone had yanked the power cord on a device.

"See? Wasn't that a great success?"

Shirou: "..."

Despite Ea's disappearance, Artoria and Gray remained frozen in shock, their eyes glued to the sky. If anything, their expressions grew even more terrified.

"W-what is that?" Gray stammered.

"My king... isn't that..." Artoria's voice trailed off.

She instinctively reached out, grabbing his shoulder with one hand while pointing at the sky with the other.

Shirou raised an eyebrow and glanced upward, his eyes suddenly contracting into pinpoints.

Ea might have disappeared, but what replaced it made his heart jump.

A massive, counterclockwise-spinning black vortex loomed high in the sky, emanating an unrivaled dark energy and malice.

"The vortex from the dream...!"

Shirou's gaze remained locked on the swirling black abyss as he absentmindedly touched the Command Spell on the back of his right hand.

After regaining some of his memories from his past life in Scandinavia, the Command Spell had appeared on his right hand, accompanied by the bizarre nightmare that had driven his past self to madness.

And the most significant and distinctive symbol in that strange nightmare was this!

This black, counterclockwise-spinning vortex!

—"I'm sorry, I killed your sister."

—"Even if you killed my sister, you can't win! The Sword of Promised Victory and the Sword of Rupture have both failed, and your Servant is gone. There won't be a victor in this war. You, a mere Master, can't defeat that thing!" The desperate girl shouted, her voice filled with despair.

—"Can't win? I don't believe that."

Fragments of the dream flashed through his mind, and Shirou's hand clenched into a tight fist.

Could it be...

Did this Shinjuku Connection Point have something to do with the nightmare that had driven the past him mad?

Wait a minute! He abruptly turned his head, looking at Abigail floating in the sky. Could the nightmare be related to her?

However, just as he was suspecting Abigail, she too raised her head, staring at the black vortex spinning counterclockwise in the sky. She looked completely bewildered. "What is that thing? This isn't part of the intended gameplay!"