On the ground.
Enduring intense pain, Naoki slowly rose and brushed the dust off his massive body.
"You're really stronger than expected. Swallowing the Holy Sword's light, plus the Imaginary Manifestation brought by the Holy Grail—Arthur, you should've told us Vortigern had this ability."
["I'm sorry, Naoki. That was my oversight. I should've informed you of this situation earlier. By the way, how are you? Falling from that height must've caused significant damage, right?"]
Moving his massive body to stand, Naoki stretched his arms and legs. "Yeah, I'm fine. Though it hurts like hell, it's still within my recovery limits. We can't hurt him, and he can't hurt us either."
"—Until now."
Naoki's words briefly stunned Artoria and Arthur, but they quickly understood.
"Have you figured out how to deal with him, Master?" Artoria asked.
"Why else would I take that hit? I had to gain something. Besides, that tail didn't actually hit my body. I managed to block it well."
The most troublesome thing about facing Vortigern wasn't the Holy Grail. If it were just unlimited Mana and the diverse abilities of the Holy Grail, Naoki had plenty of ways to handle it.
The real problem was the layer of darkness on Vortigern's body.
When he was struck by the tail earlier, at close range, Naoki clearly saw that layer of darkness and understood its essence.
"In simple terms, it's a conceptual entity, [the end of Britain]—perhaps a manifestation of that concept. Once extracted and manifested, it becomes that layer of darkness."
"That's why it can swallow the Holy Sword's light."
Light and darkness, since ancient times, have been two sides of the same coin. The stronger the light, the deeper the darkness. The brighter the Holy Sword's light, the denser the darkness on Vortigern's body.
After all, the wielder of the Holy Sword was King Arthur, the hero born to save Britain, while Vortigern, born to destroy Britain, was the light and darkness of Britain.
"Originally, the darkness wasn't that strong, as it was a conceptual protection limited by Arthur's power. But after being enhanced by the Holy Grail, that layer of darkness has far surpassed the Holy Sword's light."
In other words, the Holy Sword couldn't touch Vortigern. Given this, in their previous battle, the fact that Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table could injure Vortigern with the Holy Sword might have been due to sheer will, or perhaps the light gathered by the Knights temporarily held back the darkness, giving the Holy Sword a chance to severely wound Vortigern.
Regardless, what was certain now was that with their current abilities, defeating Vortigern with the Holy Sword was impossible. Even if they tried to release its seals, Vortigern would never give them the chance.
So…
"We don't need to bother with the darkness."
Naoki's statement left Artoria and Arthur momentarily silent.
Ignore the darkness?
But it's right there. If they ignored it…
"I see, we just don't need to use the Holy Sword?" Arthur realized after a moment.
Vortigern's darkness was one that devoured the Holy Sword, a darkness capable of countering Arthur's power to save Britain. But that also meant it might not specifically target other powers.
[Only Naoki can defeat Vortigern.]
Merlin's words back then weren't because Naoki held the true Holy Sword, but because he was a fairy.
Vortigern was immensely powerful. After obtaining the Holy Grail, he was even stronger, wielding the Mana of the entire island of Britain. Since the Holy Sword couldn't counter him, to defeat him and resolve the sixth Singularity, they could only rely on a power equal to the Holy Sword.
And Naoki had that power.
"Imaginary Manifestation…" Artoria stated the fact.
Imaginary Manifestation was the power to modify the world, capable even of pulling the moon from the sky. If there was a power strong enough to face Vortigern, it was indeed this one.
"Exactly. So, next—get down from that high perch!"
The giant dragon's eyes suddenly lit up, and Vortigern, soaring high in the sky, instantly felt a terrifying pressure, as if a mountain was pressing down on him!
And it was true.
*BAM!*
A massive boulder suddenly appeared out of thin air and slammed into Vortigern's body, forcing his dragon form to plummet to the ground!
["This… a surprise attack. Is there an enemy above?"]
Vortigern looked up at the sky, but there was no creature above him.
So where did this attack come from?
*BAMMM!*
As Vortigern was confused, another massive meteor boulder fell from the sky, striking his dragon head directly! The tremendous impact sent Vortigern crashing dozens of meters uncontrollably!
And at that moment—
*CRACK!*
The ground beneath suddenly split open, and countless thick chains emerged from the earth, like silver anacondas hunting prey, scrambling to entangle Vortigern!
Though these chains couldn't harm him, Vortigern had no intention of being bound like that, and he still hadn't figured out the meteor attacks falling from the sky…
["Retreat and observe first."]
The spatial displacement ability granted by the Holy Grail activated again, and just as he was about to be ensnared by the chains, Vortigern's body vanished into the air—
"No way you're escaping!"
Using Displacement Magecraft to appear beside Vortigern in an instant, before his body fully teleported, Naoki grabbed his neck with all his might and slammed him to the ground!
*BANG!*
The spatial displacement was forcibly interrupted!
Vortigern, who had been soaring in the sky, was now, for the first time, dragged down in the most brutal way!
The next moment, Naoki flipped over and mounted Vortigern, grabbing the dragon wings on his back—
*PU-CHI!*
The giant dragon wings used by the demon dragon to fly were, at that moment, torn off by Naoki with both hands!
["Uooohhhhhh!"]
"Now you can't fly—kneel properly on the ground, you four-legged lizard!"