Achilles and Karna wore strained expressions, cold sweat streaming down their foreheads. Their hands, gripping their weapons, trembled slightly as they struggled to hold their ground. It seemed they had used every ounce of their strength just to block Hades's single sword strike.
"Eye Attack."
Hades's eyes emitted a purple glow, releasing a powerful shockwave that sent Achilles and Karna flying back.
The attack was too sudden for Karna to activate his armor Noble Phantasm. Both he and Achilles could only rely on their intense willpower, stabbing their weapons into the ground to keep themselves upright. As the shockwave subsided, Hades turned to look around and found that Semiramis had already escaped by spiritizing.
Karna and Achilles recovered, tightening their grips on their weapons and pointing them at Hades. Simultaneously, the Black Faction Servants, Mordred, and the five Duel Dragons all watched the two great heroes like tigers eyeing their prey.
"Where is that priest?" Hades asked, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Achilles and Karna.
Achilles looked at Hades, sensing the overwhelming aura radiating from him and the five formidable Duel Dragons behind him. With a forced smile, he said, "Five high-ranking Dragon Kind and Lord Hades, King of the Underworld himself... this lineup is truly terrifying."
"..." Karna did not look as relaxed as Achilles. He knew that with such a great enemy before them, he could not afford to let his guard down.
Just then, Charon and Vlad III stepped forward, their faces filled with fighting spirit. Charon said to Hades:
"Hades, leave Achilles and the other one to me and Lord Vlad. You go find the greater grail."
"Indeed! I have yet to settle the score with the Hero of Charity, Karna, on this soil!" Vlad III brandished his spear, speaking with a fierce grin.
Hearing this, Hades grabbed Vlad III's shoulder, stopping him. "You cannot go, Lancer. As you are now, you are no match for Karna."
"Why?" Vlad III turned to Hades in confusion. Normally, he would use force against anyone who tried to stop him, but since the one stopping him now was a god of great wisdom and power, he asked with great patience.
Hades let go and explained, "This is the territory of that Assyrian Empress. This region is the Middle East, not your Romania. You have no fame bonus here, so your skill 'Demonic Defender of the State' cannot be utilized."
"Therefore, leave Karna to me. You all should quickly enter these Hanging Gardens and find the greater grail."
After saying this, Hades stepped forward slowly with the Hades Sword in hand, radiating a powerful Cosmos of Death and darkness.
Seeing Hades approach, Karna spoke with an expression that suggested he had expected this. "As I thought, my final opponent in this Holy Grail War is indeed you, Hades, God of the Underworld."
"To face you, I must use an even stronger, even more burning power!!"
Karna leapt upward with great force, raising his right arm. His golden armor and earrings instantly dissolved into particles of light and vanished. Behind him, a pattern formed by the flames of a solar disc appeared. This was the noble power of charity; he was willing to offer up everything for this single strike.
"Know the mercy of the King of Gods."
"Indra, observe closely."
"Extinction, within this single thrust."
"Burn to ashes—[Vasavi Shakti: O Sun, Abide to Death]!!"
A double-edged javelin with a black blade and a golden shaft appeared in his hand. Karna gripped the shaft with both hands, chanting the release incantation for his Noble Phantasm like a devout saint. The decorations on his left side spread out like peacock feathers, and the solar disc pattern behind him grew even more brilliant and scorching. Then, he hurled it toward Hades with energy akin to a stellar explosion.
[Vasavi Shakti: O Sun, Abide to Death]
[Rank: EX]
[Type: Anti-Divine Noble Phantasm]
[Range: 2~5]
[Maximum Targets: 1 person]
[A spear of light capable of striking down even the gods. A spear of certain destruction composed of lightning. It was bestowed by Indra when he took away the golden armor, because Karna's attitude was so noble that Indra felt he had to repay him. It manifests in exchange for the golden armor; by trading immense defensive power, he gains a powerful 'Anti-Divine' spear. In the anecdote of surrendering his armor to Indra, Karna discarded and dismantled the golden armor to obtain this god-slaying spear. It is a spear of light that even the King of Gods would find difficult to control. A single strike, stained by the blood stripped from his body, sweeps away all impurities.]
[Its power is sufficient to completely destroy any'single' existence in the world—biological, non-biological, or any object, including demonic beasts, phantasmal beasts, divine beasts, humans, shields, armies, fortresses, boundaries, and gods. No existence can withstand it, but only the 'World' can oppose it. Even a 'God' cannot destroy the 'World'; even if everything including the gods were to perish, the world would still exist. In other words, a defense based on the concept of the 'World' cannot be pierced. Therefore, high-level Bounded Field Noble Phantasms like Achilles' shield, 'Akhilleus Kosmos: The Miniature World Enclosed by the Azure Sky,' are the natural enemies of this Noble Phantasm.]
Hades had naturally heard of the fame of this god-slaying spear. A slight smile touched his face as he said:
"I didn't expect you to sacrifice that god-slaying spear just to defeat me, Karna. In return, I shall show you a mere tip of my iceberg."
"Greatest Eclipse."
Hades raised the Hades Sword high and then twisted the blade. Infinite darkness surged forth, swallowing all the moonlight and starlight in the sky. Everyone present was returned to the primal fear of the ancients before the discovery of fire—a world without a single ray of light, with only a black eclipse hanging high in the sky like an evil god bringing Death.
In this darkness, only Karna remained as a true sun, bringing warmth and light to the others, but even Karna's light was growing increasingly dim.
"Plutos Homecoming Domain!!" A surging aura of darkness and Death shot out from Hades's eyes, which were as deep as a lake's bottom. It transformed into countless demons and black dragons that coiled around the Hades Sword. Countless vengeful souls of the dead appeared on the blade, souls that even sought to devour Karna, the sun that brought light to the world.
Hades delivered a horizontal slash. The strike transformed into a terrifying pillar of light, within which shrill howls could be faintly heard as countless black dragons, demons, and vengeful souls intertwined. When the black dragons, demons, and souls in the pillar collided with the god-slaying spear, the Cosmos of darkness and Death they carried directly swallowed the spear's aura whole, before lunging toward Karna with world-destroying intensity.
"What!! How is this possible?!" Seeing his final secret weapon destroyed, Karna cried out in panic.
Before Karna could even recover from his shock, he was swallowed by the pillar of darkness and Death. The black dragons, demons, and vengeful souls within the pillar continuously tore at his body, causing him to dissolve into countless drifting particles of light.
Just as Karna was about to return to the Throne of Heroes, Hades deactivated the Great Eclipse and the darkness of this starless night. He reached out with his free left hand and traced a circle; the particles of light that were Karna's remains condensed into his palm.
A Lancer-class heroic spirit card appeared in Hades's hand. On the back, against a golden background, stood a man in leather attire with light armor on his chest and left arm, holding a spear and wearing a domed hat, shown in profile. On the front was the figure of Karna wielding the god-slaying spear.
"Karna's heroic spirit card... this is basically an SSR among heroic spirit cards." Hades looked at the card in his hand, a glint appearing in his eyes.
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