Chapter 224: The Golden Slash That Splits the Stars
In the Type-Moon universe setting, the Star Holy Sword—Excalibur—has restrictions when unleashing its ultimate attack.
Because the power contained within this sword is extraordinarily terrifying, treating it as a personal weapon would make it far too overpowered.
If the wielder were to act recklessly, it would spell catastrophe for the world.
Therefore, the King of Knights and the twelve knights under his command established strict regulations for this holy sword and enforced them.
That is, they added a second sheath—the Thirteen Restraints—to the true blade of this holy sword.
Only by unlocking this sheath can the full power of this Star Holy Sword be unleashed.
When its use is required, the Round Table deliberation begins.
Arthur: This must be a battle to save the world.
Kay: It must be a battle for survival.
Bedivere: It must be a battle against a stronger opponent.
Palamedes: It must be a one-on-one fight.
Gareth: It must not conflict with humanity.
Agravain: It must be a battle in pursuit of truth...
There are thirteen restraint seals in total. If more than half—that is, seven—are met and seven agree, the sword can be fully unleashed.
However, the Star Holy Sword he obtained doesn't have such special restrictions, but it still cannot be unleashed casually.
Just like in arcade games, where characters in combat have a rage meter, right?
When the rage meter fills up, the ultimate move can be unleashed.
The Star Holy Sword he holds is somewhat similar, but only similar—it doesn't actually require accumulating rage.
The Star Holy Sword granted by the system has been transformed into these thirteen ritual shackle programs.
To fully activate it, all thirteen programs must be run.
Each time a ritual program is activated, magical energy must be input, and the consumption of magical energy increases exponentially.
Under conditions of sufficient magical energy and no prior consumption, it is just enough to fill all thirteen.
However, these thirteen cannot be filled all at once. It's like when a person loses blood and needs a transfusion—no matter how fast, the input can only flow at a certain rate. You can't force it all in at once.
Blood vessels would burst, and people would die.
Therefore, fully unleashing its power requires a certain cooldown period.
And now is the time to unleash it, otherwise, facing Zeus's strike, it truly cannot be blocked.
Of course, it's not the full power being released, as it hasn't been fully unlocked yet.
Speaking of unlocking, this is actually a program to protect the user.
Moreover, the reason for this difference is that this Star Holy Sword is not the same as the one from the Type-Moon world—the star-forged weapon created within the planet to defeat external enemies.
It was merely forged in this world using similar technology.
In a sense, this was a planetary weapon forged by the world itself to defeat external threats, as the released power was also drawn from the planet.
Apart from the color of the lightning, the area was shrouded in crimson mist—a result of the superheated energy vaporizing the earth and scattering it into the stratosphere.
Under such conditions, ordinary vision could hardly discern the changes within.
Thus, through the surveillance of the Akashic System and its god-like perspective, the ground beneath the thunderous onslaught was observed to behave like a sugar sphere under intense heat: part of it evaporated, while the rest melted into a syrupy liquid.
From this vantage point, it appeared as a sea of crimson magma.
"With this strike, it's over, right?"
"No way anyone could survive that!"
"Truly worthy of Zeus!"
Many among the divine spectators believed victory was assured.
However, given previous lessons, quite a few remained cautious, unwilling to declare Zeus the winner until the very end, wary of another reversal.
If possible, they hoped no further twists would occur.
The sensation of plummeting from heaven to hell was something they never wanted to experience again, so until Heimdall confirmed the opponent's death, it was best not to celebrate prematurely.
"No one could still be alive. Few chief gods could escape Father's strike!"
It had been so long since he had seen his father in such a ferocious battle stance, and it filled him with immense fervor.
Victory was certain, for this was his undefeatable father.
"You're celebrating too soon, Brother Ares!"
"What?"
Hermes always had a knack for saying things that ruined the mood, which infuriated Ares so much that he wanted to grab him by the collar. But a single glance at Hermes' terrifyingly sinister gaze left his hand awkwardly suspended in mid-air.
Huh?
Suddenly, Hermes' expression shifted as he stared at the arena.
Something abnormal?
Ares quickly turned to look as well.
Golden specks of light appeared within the sea of magma, seemingly about to burst through.
At the same time, the old man—Zeus—revealed an even more ferocious glare. The lightning sword in his hand instantly grew to an enormous size.
The colossal thunder sword descended upon the sea of magma, aiming to cleave it apart.
Just as it was about to strike, a torrent of golden light pierced through the magma sea first, clashing directly with Zeus' lightning sword.
The impact between the two forces violently shook the surrounding space.
"Magnificent!"
Zeus' face twisted into a terrifying expression of delight as he exerted immense pressure to suppress the massive golden beam.
The collision between the two forces blew away a portion of the magma sea, revealing the source of the golden beam—it was being emitted from King Arthur's holy sword.
At that moment, he appeared as if he were wielding an enormous beam of light as a sword.
In the next instant, the surging golden light pierced through the thunder, shattering it.
The beam, capable of tearing apart heaven and earth, struck Zeus directly.
"BOOM——!!!"
The sea wailed as it was split apart once more, and the earth screamed as it was torn asunder.
From space, a horrifying scar could be seen etched across the planet's surface.
If this torrent of light did not cease, it felt as though it would not only split the earth but even cleave through the stars, leaving all gods and humans who witnessed it in awe and terror.