Fate: How About a New Savior?

This was the second time Tenkei Shiomi and Artoria had truly crossed blades.

But whether it was back in the great chasm of Singularity F or here at the summit of the Tower at the End of the Sixth Singularity, both encounters had been anything but normal.

Shiomi admitted he had once wanted to fight Artoria—but not like this.

Whether it was her Alter state or her divine transformation, it made him deeply uncomfortable.

"You're hesitating," the Lion King said coolly.

She held the Holy Lance with just one hand, yet Shiomi had to brace with both arms to block her strength.

"You're the one who's hesitating..." Shiomi frowned. "Why aren't you using your True Name? Why fight me in close quarters like this?"

"Because there's no need." The Lion King pressed forward slightly—cracks spread beneath Shiomi's feet.

The immense Mana she radiated amplified her strength beyond reason.

"That's arrogance, Lion King!" Shiomi reinforced his body with Magecraft and shoved back.

The Lion King raised her eyebrows slightly, caught off guard by his resistance.

But the real strike came just after.

Two crimson spears, infused with Runes, flew in from behind Shiomi—one from the front, one from the rear.

Clang! Clang!

The Lion King shoved Shiomi back and swung her lance hard, knocking the spears aside and widening the distance between them.

Against someone like her, dual-wielding would only put Shiomi at a disadvantage. That was why he had imbued the red spears with Rune Magecraft—allowing them to move by his will.

They lacked the power and precision of his direct control, but they were enough to create an opening.

More importantly, Shiomi had never intended to wield a third spear, and he hadn't had enough time to develop a formula that would let the weapons attack independently.

Once he focused on his own assault, the spears' efficiency would drop.

Just like now.

All the Lion King had to do was release her power, and she could easily bat them aside and rush in.

"If anyone here is arrogant, it's you," the Lion King said, striking with merciless speed.

"Me? Arrogant?"

Shiomi dodged a thrust aimed at his heart, clamped the Holy Lance between his arm and side, and lunged in return—but the Lion King caught his spear.

They struggled, both pushing with all their strength, neither able to wrest the weapon away.

"If you're not arrogant, then why do you wear that look of pity toward me?" the Lion King asked.

"…It's not pity," Shiomi said with a bitter smile. "It's sorrow. I feel sorry for you."

"I don't understand what you mean. And there's nothing you need to feel sorry for," the Lion King replied bluntly.

Shiomi drew a deep breath.

"Of course you'd say that… You can't even feel your own loneliness."

Frosty Magecraft spread from his hands along the spears, creeping toward the Lion King.

"Loneliness?" she repeated, as if she hadn't noticed the magic at all. "I am fulfilling a great work that belongs only to me. That alone is no reason to claim I feel this 'loneliness' you speak of."

"If you weren't lonely, then why are you so insistent I follow you to the end? That I become like you, a guardian over the souls? Didn't you abandon even the Knights of the Round Table?"

The frost had reached the Lion King's hands.

"You and I are kin. Naturally, I treat kin accordingly," she said, unmoved. "But let me ask you—why do you refuse the path laid out before you? Ascend to the throne of the gods. Fulfill your duty. That's what you were meant to do."

"If being a god means becoming someone like you—unable even to feel loneliness—then I'll reject it forever!"

With a roar, Shiomi poured his strength into the spell, freezing the Holy Lance and the Lion King in a sheath of ice.

Beyond the irregular, transparent crystal, her expression was colder than the ice itself.

No matter what he said—no matter how he tried to reason—it meant nothing.

The deified Artoria. The goddess Rhongomyniad. She had long since become a tool—a mechanism to govern a "completed nation."

Unless… her human heart could be awakened once more.

"Pointless stubbornness," came the Lion King's voice from beneath the ice. "This is your end. Now is the moment everything shall be taken into my hands. Know the limits of life."

A surge of Mana, far greater than before, erupted from her and wrapped around her body, shattering the ice in an instant.

Shiomi had no choice but to release Gungnir—or the force radiating from the Holy Lance would pierce through him, robbing him of the ability to fight any longer.

The Lion King would never let such a small opening slip by to completely overwhelm him.

Radiant light coiled around the Holy Lance, so intense that even the two crimson spears couldn't get near her.

"You expanded territory, built cities, crossed seas, split the skies... for what purpose?"

Her voice carried a fleeting hint of ancient confusion—so brief it almost seemed imagined.

"Light, may you be released from the ends of the world. Split the heavens and tether the earth, anchor of the storm! Rhongomyniad!'"

This was Shiomi's second time facing the Lion King's Noble Phantasm. He had already concluded after their previous clash in the desert:

With his current power, he couldn't fully withstand an attack of this scale.

At the very least, he needed a force of equal magnitude.

But that didn't mean he should just give up and wait for death.

Once again, Shiomi used Runes to craft a similar, yet subtly different formula—layering the same Magecraft over and over, creating Runes from Runes, instantly forming a complex, multilayered defensive structure.

He had anticipated the Lion King might unleash her Noble Phantasm right at the start, and had been preparing for it during the entire journey here.

Even so—

The moment the Rune-formed barrier came into contact, it cracked. Being breached was just a matter of time.

Should he take a critical injury to find another opening? Or hold on until the others—likely already near the summit—arrived?

Shiomi gritted his teeth, expression twisted in pain, as he overloaded his Magic Circuits to patch the spreading fractures in the barrier.

Then, a calm voice rang out behind him.

"Gray, Rave, Crave, Deprave. Grave me. Grave for you."

"Simulated personality disengaged. Mana accumulation has surpassed set threshold. Initiating second-stage limiter release."

It was Gray's chant—and Add's activation.

Holy Lance against Holy Lance. Looks like Morgan had taught her well.

Even if their ranks were worlds apart, with Shiomi absorbing most of the force, it was entirely possible now.

"This is a battle for survival! Holy Lance—anchor released! 'Rhongomyniad!'"

"That is..."

A flicker of surprise crossed the Lion King's eyes.