As the white light faded,
Naoki, who had been standing on solid ground, suddenly felt the earth beneath him vanish, and his entire body plummeted uncontrollably downward!
"This… a trap?"
After the Unique Barrier dissipated, what appeared before Naoki's eyes was a massive, bottomless pit, nearly as large as the White Dragon City itself!
How could there be such a pit in this Singularity?
(No, what's more important now is—)
Spotting Arthur closest to him, Naoki used Displacement Magecraft to teleport behind him, grabbed his hand, and pushed him through another spatial exchange gate, instantly sending him to the cliff's edge at the pit's rim!
Then, he used Displacement Magecraft again, one by one transferring Artoria, Jeanne Alter, Mordred, and the three other Round Table members falling into the pit to the cliff's edge.
"Phew…"
The last to land on the cliff's edge, Naoki counted the group: "Looks like no one's missing."
"Yes, thank you for your efforts, Naoki. Not a single person is missing."
"Good."
Turning to look at the pit behind him, Naoki frowned: "How could there be a pit here? And one this huge…"
Arthur explained: "Because Vortigern is down there."
"Down there?"
"To be precise, below is Vortigern's lair. When he was severely injured by us, Vortigern spewed a dragon's breath to create a massive pit like this, intending to retreat into it to recover through the Unique Barrier."
A pit, a dragon's breath…
"Was that the pillar of light from half a year ago?"
"More or less. Of course, part of it was also our attack."
A single dragon's breath could create a pit like this. Was Vortigern, empowered by the Holy Grail, really this powerful?
And at that moment—
*RUMBLE!*
The ground beneath their feet shook violently without warning! It was like an earthquake of extreme intensity! Accompanied by the tremor, Naoki suddenly sensed an incredibly powerful Mana reaction from within the pit!
And—
*BUZZ!*
As that Mana surged out of the pit, everyone present felt their bodies grow heavy, as if pressed down by something immensely weighty!
With a pale face, struggling against the pressure on her body, Jeanne Alter, leaning on her flag to stand, gritted her teeth: "What the hell… this Mana… This has to be a joke…"
"Even stronger than a Demon God Pillar…"
Artoria was in a similar state. Though she didn't need to lean on her weapon to stand like Jeanne Alter, she couldn't move under this pressure either.
Compared to them, Lancelot, Gawain, and Tristan were faring slightly better, but not by much. It was only a difference in their degree of mobility.
Only two people could move freely: Naoki and Arthur.
*CLICK!*
Naoki snapped his fingers. Instantly, the pressure on everyone's bodies vanished.
"I've applied protection to you, so you won't be affected by indirect external influences." Naoki explained. "If you can move, quickly leave this place and evacuate the ordinary people around here. I can sense that the people who were inside the Unique Barrier earlier are now scattered around. Go and get them away from here."
"I understand." Artoria nodded. "Then, Master, what about you?"
Pointing to the pit, Naoki smiled: "I'll stay here to face the creature inside—aren't I the only one who can handle it? Besides, if I don't hold it here, should I let it escape and cause massive destruction?"
As Naoki said, with such powerful Mana radiating, it meant Vortigern had fully awakened and was even at his peak. If left unchecked, this Singularity would be completely destroyed, just like in the beginning.
Someone had to stop it, and that someone could only be Naoki, wielding the true Holy Sword.
"Can you win?" Jeanne Alter asked, her brow furrowed.
"Who knows? I'll have to fight first." Naoki shrugged. "But I definitely won't die."
"Tch, then what am I worrying for!"
Pouting, Jeanne Alter was the first to turn and run.
Arthur also looked at the three remaining Round Table Knights by his side: "As Naoki said, can I entrust you with rescuing the ordinary people around here? Sir Gawain, Sir Lancelot, Sir Tristan."
"We obey."
The three Knights nodded slightly.
"Then, my Lord… you…"
"You don't need to worry about me." Arthur patted his chest. "Now, within my body lies the Holy Grail from you three, meaning you're always with me. So the current me won't repeat the same mistakes."
The Holy Grail from them was inside their King's body!
The faces of the three Round Table Knights flushed briefly, then they stood up.
"Then, may fortune favor you in battle, my Lord."
"Yes, go."
After watching the three Round Table Knights disappear from sight, Arthur turned to face the pit where Vortigern resided, alongside Naoki.
Sighing slightly, Naoki said: "Didn't you hear me tell you to leave too? I'm enough here alone."
Arthur smiled upon hearing this: "Is that so? I didn't hear it."
After a moment of silence, Naoki glanced to the side: "Then… Lia, you too?"
"No, I know Master wanted me to leave too." Artoria shook her head. "It's just that there's no rule saying a Servant must always obey their Master, right? Even a Command Spell, I can resist one or two strokes."
"Besides, my intuition tells me Master is planning something reckless again. Since Gray isn't here, I'm the only one who can take her place to keep an eye on you."
"Can't you trust me a little…"
Naoki felt a bit helpless.
*RUMBLE!*
Another earthquake-like tremor struck at that moment. From within the bottomless abyss, a massive black light suddenly rose from its depths!
The intense light was like a black sun, and in an instant, it ascended from the abyss's depths to a thousand meters in the sky! The overpowering, dark light nearly blinded Naoki!
And when the light faded, the three immediately saw the true form of the black light emerging from the abyss.
It was a black dragon.
A colossal black dragon, its entire body so dark it seemed cloaked in shadow, as if wearing black armor!
Its body length… at least five hundred meters? From head to tail, it surely spanned five hundred meters. Its two wings spread behind it appeared almost as large, perhaps even larger than its body. When its black wings fully extended, the sky seemed completely covered.
[A hole].
For some reason, Naoki had this impression in his mind.
At this moment, the giant black dragon flying in the sky was like a hole in the world itself, a bottomless void that would swallow everything into its maw.
This was the Demon Dragon Vortigern.
The doomsday device destined to destroy the island of Britain.
And it was the final and strongest enemy in this Sixth Singularity.
"AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"
The demon dragon's roar shook the heavens and earth.