"Damn it!" Hiding behind Achilles, Semiramis roared in fury, looking at the gradually expanding fireball devouring the structure. This sudden explosion had utterly destroyed her Hanging Gardens. To restore it to its original state would probably take at least two to three days. This made Semiramis's face extremely grim.
Then, she unhappily glared at Karna, one of the culprits, giving him an annoyed look. Karna, however, didn't care.
At this moment, a slight smile played on his lips; he was in an exceptionally good mood. His battle with Shirou had uplifted his spirits. Although the battle ended very suddenly, he knew very well that their confrontation would certainly not end so easily. When the general offensive began, the two of them would have their final duel. When that time came, only one of them would survive.
"Just you wait, Shirou, our duel will come sooner or later."
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Stepping on armaments, Shirou flew out of the Hanging Gardens with Chiron and Jeanne. Looking back at the Hanging Gardens, where the gigantic fireball was slowly rising, Jeanne couldn't help but sigh, "As expected of you, Shirou! Now the Red Faction probably won't have the energy to pursue us!"
"Not only that, because the explosion happened too close to the Greater Holy Grail, the Red Faction is probably desperately protecting the Greater Holy Grail right now!"
As the great sage, Chiron naturally inferred more than Jeanne. Facing Chiron's addition, Jeanne showed an "I see" expression. As for Shirou, he didn't reply. At this moment, he was still immersed in his duel with Karna. In their previous confrontation, Shirou and Karna were practically evenly matched. Perhaps there was some difference in their basic attributes, but Karna's god-tier martial arts were enough to compensate for these shortcomings. In other areas, the two were truly equal, leading to a long struggle.
But in the end, Shirou still ended the battle. The reason, naturally, was a shortage of magical energy. Since becoming a Devil in the Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry world, Shirou had never worried about magical energy again.
But in this duel, he experienced that feeling for the first time in a long while. Not to mention the magical energy consumed by activating Unlimited Blade Works. The real magical energy guzzlers were actually those armaments flying in the sky.
To simultaneously control so many armaments for continuous offense, the magical energy consumption could be calculated by the second. If Shirou's magical energy reserves weren't sufficient, he would have run out of magical energy long ago. After all, his method of controlling armaments wasn't like how Emiya Grand Hero dealt with Angelica in the original work, merely shooting them out. To entangle Achilles, he had put a lot of effort into it. Otherwise, they would have been defeated long ago!
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Mid-air, Shirou, flying towards Millennia Castle on armaments, suddenly heard Jeanne's sigh.
"Now, what should we do next!"
"Jeanne, your current mission should have changed to eliminating Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, right!"
"That's right!" Jeanne answered affirmatively. Jeanne knew very well that with Amakusa Shirou Tokisada now the Red Faction's Master, she had been drawn into the vortex of this Holy Grail War. At this point, she could no longer remain aloof. She was now bound to the Black Faction. Otherwise, by herself, she would simply be unable to break through the Red Faction's encirclement and kill Amakusa Shirou Tokisada.
"In that case, welcome to our Yggdmillennia side, Miss Jeanne!" Chiron said with a smile. Jeanne nodded slightly.
"We can do the welcome ceremony later. Right now, the most important thing is to first control Roche."
"That's right!" Hearing Shirou's reminder, Chiron's face changed, and he immediately contacted his Master, Fiore.
Meanwhile, Jeanne, who didn't understand the situation, asked curiously.
"Is this Roche you're talking about Avicebron's Master?"
"But I remember Avicebron's condition for defecting was to spare his Master's life, wasn't it? Why do you need to control Roche?"
"The fact that you can ask such a question shows that you still don't understand the true nature of magi, Jeanne!"
"Most magi in the magical world, for their goals, view life as nothing and are indifferent to emotions."
"Avicebron's desire to spare Roche's life isn't for his safety!" Shirou turned back and explained seriously to Jeanne.
"Avicebron's wish is to complete the Noble Phantasm he couldn't finish in his lifetime, which is the creation of the First Human."
"Avicebron's Noble Phantasm requires the heart of a magus as its core. The strength of the core itself, and the improvement of its compatibility, will increase the Noble Phantasm's power."
"Could it be?!" After hearing Shirou's explanation, Jeanne couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
"That's right!"
"Avicebron's goal is to use his Master."
"That is, Roche's heart, to create the core!" Hearing Shirou's words, even Chiron, who had already guessed the truth of the matter, couldn't help but frown. Avicebron's heart was simply too cold. After all, ever since he was summoned, Roche had always regarded him as a father-like teacher. How could he lay hands on a disciple who had offered him all his emotions! As a teacher, Chiron could not tolerate such a thing.
"I have already informed Fiore to control Roche! To prevent him from being deceived by Avicebron!"
"That's good!" Seeing that Roche was already under control, Shirou slowly let out a sigh of relief. The reason he was so nervous was not because he valued Roche, but because this would delay the release of Avicebron's Noble Phantasm. At the same time, his death would also be delayed. After all, he didn't want to take Avicebron's life yet. Otherwise, he would have died in the Hanging Gardens.
Now, a total of four Servants from both the Red and
Black sides have died. Any further Servant deaths will cause the Greater Holy Grail's power to manifest further.
Therefore, before the decisive battle, Shirou must ensure that the number of Servant deaths does not continue to increase. Otherwise, the situation would become unfavorable for him.
"Hey!" Just as Shirou was pondering the upcoming issues, a shout suddenly came from Millennia Castle below his feet. It turned out that below, Astolfo, Frankenstein, and the Masters were already waiting for them!
"Welcome back, how are things on your side?"
"I'm sorry, the Greater Holy Grail has been taken, and both the King and Darnic are dead."
"Avicebron has also betrayed us!"
"We have entered the most dangerous moment!" Facing the expectant gazes of the crowd, Chiron explained helplessly.
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