Transformed into Demon Buddha Māra, Satsuki was not without the means to prevent the miracle unfolding before her.
But to traverse the heavens, to challenge the strongest—that had always been her path, unchanging through eternity.
Thus, she allowed it to happen. No, one could even say that it was by her own will that this miraculous army had been born.
Descending in her form of the Demon Buddha, Satsuki gently touched down upon the earth. The moment her toes grazed the ground, the entire world trembled. An immense power radiated from her being, rippling through every corner of space.
The yellow sands roared, the land itself twisted into whirlwinds.
The gale born from her overwhelming Vipralopa energy carried enough destructive force to rival an Anti-Army attack.
Ordinarily, the Reality Marble formed from the will and faith of the King of Conquerors and his summoned warriors would never have withstood such a power.
However, now blessed by the Gate of Babylon of the King of Heroes, the newly born Creation of Heaven and Earth · The God-Slaying Army had ascended to a level rivaling even the Temple of Time.
Though cracks and fractures appeared in the world beneath the impact of the Demon Buddha's power, it did not collapse.
Had it been the original Army of the King, it would not have even possessed the right to withstand the mere aftershock of Satsuki's presence.
Even so, amidst the storm and swirling sand, tens of thousands of Heroic Spirits were forced back three full steps by the overwhelming pressure. Yet that rampaging tempest of magical energy was ultimately held at bay by the army's unified defense.
Then, just as the entire host braced themselves to endure the Demon Buddha's second strike, realization struck—
That world-shattering shockwave earlier had merely been a casual motion before Satsuki had even truly attacked!
What followed was the collapse of the world itself.
It was a force all of Chaldea's members knew too well—the same one that had once annihilated a Demon Pillar in an instant: Vipralopa Domain.
But now, before their eyes, the gray expanse that spread outward dwarfed that previous display—it was no longer a domain, but a world.
Having deciphered the mysteries of the Temple of Time, Satsuki's Vipralopa Domain had evolved once more—what she now unleashed was the Vipralopa Desire Realm.
From Satsuki's body spread a gray horizon, expanding in an instant, slicing the entire world into fragments.
Wherever it passed, reality itself was swallowed into an enormous cosmic grinder, shredded, decomposed, and erased from existence.
At this moment, only one could resist such annihilation—
"Mash!"
"Yes, Senpai!"
At Ritsuka Fujimaru's shout, the pink-haired girl stepped forward without hesitation, standing alongside the assembled heroes. A surge of boundless magical energy erupted from her body. With the Gate of Babylon's blessing and the affection of Uruk's ancient king, her Saint Graph now stood on an entirely new level.
Empowered by immense mana and the twin infusion of energy from Ritsuka's Command Seals, her armor transformed—not the cold iron of a mere weapon, but a Mystic Code imbued with the concept of a Noble Phantasm.
"This is the land that heals all wounds, that purifies all hatred—our eternal homeland! Manifest, Lord Camelot!"
The Holy City of Camelot once more appeared from dream into reality. Yet this time, it was no mere illusion, but solidified as a true existence within the world through the Gate of Babylon's power.
A colossal defensive array, vast enough to shield half the world, spread outward from Mash's shield. Her will to protect was no longer the fragile resolve it had been when she first faced Satsuki's Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion.
Even the Vipralopa Domain unleashed by Satsuki could not overwhelm it at once—the two colossal forces clashed head-on, neither yielding an inch.
"Oh~?"
The change drew a spark of surprise from Satsuki. In her understanding, Vipralopa was the bane of all illusions—an absolute force that unmade all things born of mana. Any defense built purely of magical energy should have been meaningless before it.
"Yet this barrier… is forged from the user's will. As long as that girl's heart does not falter, the wall shall not fall?"
For the first time, the god-demon's power had been stopped. The morale among the Heroic Spirits surged.
Blessings of protection bloomed across their bodies, shielding them from Vipralopa's erosion. One after another, they unleashed their Noble Phantasms, pouring forth waves of radiant magical power to resist the encroaching end.
In an instant, thousands—no, tens of thousands—of beams of light, each of different color and nature, surged toward the Vipralopa Desire Realm where Satsuki stood.
The sheer magnitude of energy unleashed in that single moment had already surpassed even the third Noble Phantasm of the Demon God King.
However—
When the storm of energy struck the Vipralopa Desire Realm, it was as if mud had been thrown into the sea, vanishing without a trace.
Not even such world-erasing power could shake a single corner of that gray realm.
This was not a difference in the amount of energy—it was an unbridgeable abyss of essence itself.
It was an absolute truth that could not be changed by will, belief, or sheer force.
"Magical power has no effect on her…"
Even the inexperienced Waver realized this and swallowed hard.
That brief exchange had once again shown everyone just what kind of being stood before them—what level this god-demon had reached.
And at last, they understood—why the proud King of Knights had chosen to rally allies immediately, why the aloof King of Heroes had chosen to join hands with the King of Conquerors.
The being before them was an insurmountable wall, a Demon Buddha who stood equal to the Enlightened One themselves.
Before such an existence, retreat was no longer an option. They had to give everything.
"To face a being like this… it seems I must finally make use of that."
In the King of Heroes' hand appeared a golden key. Gripping it firmly, he twisted it in midair, and countless translucent crimson lines surged skyward like streams of data, forming a vast red network across the heavens.
Then, from the heart of that lattice descended a sword of otherworldly design.
It was the Noble Phantasm known as Ea, the Sword of Rupture.
Bearing the name of a god from Mesopotamian myth, its power was that which cleaved apart the world itself.
It hailed from an era older than man or planet—a relic of the time when gods first wielded their might to carve the heavens from the earth, a crystallization of pure power itself.
It was the blade that split the planet's sky and land apart.
The Ea held by Gilgamesh was a sword that rotated three massive strata of energy fields, distorting the very flow of space-time.
Its true power was never meant to be used against life—but against the world itself.
Among all the Noble Phantasms possessed by Servants, it stood as one of the absolute pinnacles.
—The Sword that Cleaves the World.
"Excellent…"
Satsuki gazed upon the shifting enemy formation. Though the Creation of Heaven and Earth · The God-Slaying Army was isolated by her Vipralopa Desire Realm, the power it held—the power to rival the world itself—could not be dismissed.
Mash's Noble Phantasm, Lord Camelot: Now is a Castle of Distant Ideals, had successfully withstood the erosion of Vipralopa. But at its core, this was no longer merely a battle—it was the collision between two nascent worlds.
And before her, that fusion of Noble Phantasms—transcending even EX-rank—barely qualified to stand against her Vipralopa Desire Realm.
"But still—not enough!"
Suspended in the sky, Satsuki lowered her eyes slightly, raising her right hand.
Seven Vipralopa Orbs of Truth spun in her palm, merging together. That same power had only ever manifested once—within the Temple of Time of the Demon God King—and now, brought into reality, it made every Heroic Spirit founded upon fantasy and magical essence feel the primal terror of prey before a natural predator.
"Attention! The enemy is preparing another attack—entire army, shift formation!!"
Having fought beside their king across countless campaigns, the King of Conquerors' army moved with instinctive unity. In an instant, the vast host of Heroic Spirits reformed their ranks at impossible speed. Those bearing the strongest defensive Noble Phantasms—three thousand in total—took their places at the outermost line.
Before them lay the boundary between two worlds. Before them stood a strike that could shatter heaven and earth, unleashed by the Demon Buddha Satsuki. And yet—not one of them showed fear.
To protect the living strength of their army, to guard the shared dream they had forged with their king—they chose, without hesitation, to become heroes.
"Brave warriors… allow me to grant you a fitting end."
—Vipralopa: Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion.
The seven orbs fused into one, and a storm of repulsive force of unimaginable scale burst forth, striking the army's vanguard head-on.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh~~~!"
Three thousand Servants roared as one. Their magic burned fiercely, and with the support of Mash's Noble Phantasm, though they could not invoke the True Names of their weapons, the united will of their hearts strengthened Lord Camelot, making it even more unyielding.
Boom! —
The storm of repulsion collided with the barrier of the Holy City. Dazzling light flared from Lord Camelot's surface—the pure, radiant manifestation of Mash's unwavering heart. Her determination, bolstered by the will of thousands of Heroic Spirits, withstood even this blow that not even the Demon God King himself could have endured.
"King of Heroes!"
At that moment, the King of Conquerors turned sharply toward the golden figure behind him.
And now, the ancient King of Heroes, Archer, no longer bore the arrogance of their first encounter.
"King of Conquerors—you have shown me your kingship…"
"Now it is time for this king to show mine!"
The golden King of Heroes reclaimed his pride. This time, he rode upon the divine flying treasure from the lands of India, and behind him stood the Chaldean Master—Ritsuka Fujimaru.
"A king is proud! A king is arrogant! A king is supreme!"
Raising the Sword of Rupture, Ea, the three-bladed weapon began to rotate on its own, humming with power, as Gilgamesh's voice thundered through the heavens.
"But—a king is also wise! A king is selfless! A king is just!"
"If good and evil must be judged—if all the sins of this world must be borne by someone—"
"Then that person must be the king! It is the king who judges, the king who bears, the king who shoulders the weight of the entire world!"
Crimson energy surged around him, coiling with overwhelming might. The rotating Ea reached its peak, the power within screaming for release.
"From the dawn of creation, when heaven and earth were yet unformed—even the void itself bore witness—"
"With my Sword of Rupture, I shall rend the world apart—"
"Grind the stars, for the land before me is the chaos before creation's dawn—"
"With your death, let all things find peace!"
"Enuma Elish — The Star of Creation That Split Heaven and Earth!"
Vast, magnificent, transcendent—
No words could capture the majesty of the King of Heroes' strike.
The roaring red torrent that erupted was not mere energy—it was the concept of world-splitting made manifest, a divine authority in physical form.
He defined Satsuki's Vipralopa Desire Realm as the primordial chaos that must be cleaved apart at creation's birth. Under the blessing of the One God, the Sword of Rupture, Ea unleashed power surpassing all weapons in existence.
—A weapon designed to oppose the very fabric of existence.
It was a world-slaying armament, crafted to annihilate entire realities. Its power adapted to the nature of its opponent, and before this foe, Gilgamesh had chosen to unleash it at full capacity without hesitation.
Vipralopa: Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion and Enuma Elish: The Star of Creation That Split Heaven and Earth—
The collision of the two unleashed light so blinding that both worlds fell momentarily into darkness. At the center of the detonation, a faint golden cross-shaped gleam flickered—
Then came indescribable destruction.
Sound—ceased to exist.
Sight—was torn apart.
Space churned. Heaven and earth twisted. Reality itself began to disintegrate.
Cracks spread across the surface of Lord Camelot, vast fissures webbing outward to every corner of the sacred city—reaching even the three thousand Heroic Spirits who shared its link.
Soon, the same rifts appeared across their bodies, revealing the wounds of a world being severed apart—and one by one, in silence, they dissolved into particles of light.
Yet those particles did not fade. Instead, they drifted toward Lord Camelot, merging into its foundations, filling its cracks and fractures with their essence.
At the heart of it all stood Mash Kyrielight, surrounded by the blessing of the King of Knights' supreme Noble Phantasm—
—Avalon: The Everdistant Utopia.
It was this blessing that allowed her to endure even as the forces of two worlds collided, even as the ultimate strikes of the King of Heroes and Satsuki clashed directly before her.
Crack… crack… crack…
As the blinding white light faded, what emerged before everyone's eyes was a gray realm covered in fractures.
Around that space, countless red fissures spread and multiplied. The entire dimension wailed under the strain of collapse.
With a thunderous roar, the Vipralopa Desire Realm—which had engulfed half the world—shattered before their eyes, breaking apart into fragments that scattered across the void.
"Did… did we succeed?"
Even Irisviel, usually detached and serene, looked on with a mixture of anticipation and fear.
The King of Conquerors and his vast Creation of Heaven and Earth · God-Slaying Army stood silent, their eyes fixed upon the front.
The once-turbulent battlefield had fallen into absolute stillness.
—And in that stillness.
From beyond this world—from the unreachable depths of the void—came once again that overlapping voice.
"King of Heroes… that strike was not without merit."
The calm, cold tone—and the faint note of praise for an attack on the scale of a weapon against worlds—instantly plunged every heart into despair.
"How… how could this be…? Even that wasn't enough to defeat her?"
Anyone, faced with such an enemy, would feel the creeping weight of hopelessness.
Only one person stood firm—the King of Knights, Artoria.
Though shaken before by doubts about her own kingship, she now gazed upon the Sword of Promised Victory in her hand with renewed, unwavering eyes.
Upon that blade, a power unlike any she had ever felt before began to stir—
Calling to her.