He Tore Through The Holy Grail War, And You Still Call Him A Dragon?

The ink-colored sky that had swallowed the moon was occasionally pierced by flashes of bright violet lightning, momentarily illuminating this eerily dark stretch of wilderness. Like the wrath of a god, the lightning ripped open the night only to be devoured once more by endless darkness.

Shirou led the way, the other two close behind him, swiftly leaving the small grove. A sudden gale whipped past, tossing the loose strands of hair at the girl's temples as if urging them to move faster.

Charlotte stayed tight on Shirou's heels, her mercury mystic code shifting forms as it scanned the surroundings in constant vigilance. Eri, however, remained calm-faced, as though this escape was merely another entry for her notebook.

The shadowed forest scenery sped away behind them, replaced by a cracked and mottled road, long abandoned. Like an ancient serpent, the road wound toward the distant horizon, ending at a dead, pitch-black city. Its silhouette, faintly illuminated by the lightning, resembled a slumbering giant beast.

Though neither Shirou nor Eri knew the road, the city's outline stirred an odd sense of familiarity—it looked like Tokyo. Yet from that direction, an endless flood of "Shadow Servants" poured forth, as if the city had become their nest.

If these things had filled the city, could it still be called Tokyo?

A chill ran through Shirou. This was no Tokyo of reality, but a mythical underworld or hell, brimming with the wails of spirits and the cries of the dead. The air was thick with suffocating oppression, as though even the wind carried the scent of death.

"So that's not Tokyo…" Shirou muttered, eyes narrowing. "At least… not the Tokyo we know."

If the leylines had been twisted to form a vast mirror world, what kind of towering, powerful being could have done it? Could it be… a "god"?

Eri still trailed silently behind, notebook now closed. Her gaze lingered on the black city; her once-relaxed adventurer's mood faded, replaced by a flicker of strange familiarity in her eyes.

Shing!

Steel split the rushing wind, the force spiraling into a mournful wail. Limbs of Shadow Servants spun through the air before dissipating into black mist.

"Forging complete! Projection loaded!"

With the Taia sword spent, Shirou conjured a new one—a bronze ancient blade, Duanlongtai (Dragon-Slaying Terrace), its edge gleaming coldly. The cutting gales it unleashed swept outward like a storm. This super-class Noble Phantasm, fit to oppose "Odin" himself, tore through the Shadow Servants with ease.

"Ketsudoku Tōin: Man Sen Kikyū (Cleansing Flood: Ten Thousand Rivers Return to the Abyss)!"

Boom!

Partial release flared from the sword's edge, sending a blazing azure torrent surging forth, illuminating the barren roadside. The Shadow Servants, already exposed by Charlotte's mercury scouting, were obliterated by the sweeping current, washed away like silt in a flood.

The world fell silent again, save for the faint whispers of the mercury layer flowing ahead of them.

The oppressive city loomed closer.

Yet Eri suddenly felt a powerful déjà vu—the same suffocating gaze she'd sensed from the crawling shadow before, now far stronger.

The boundless black city became an abyss, its wandering spirits baring hollow sockets lit by ghostly fire. Together they formed the colossal Eye of Hell, bearing down on her. The lightning's jagged streaks became its bloodshot veins.

Stronger. Deadlier.

We… can't go there…

Her fingers trembled. Fear swelled in her chest until she finally tugged Shirou's sleeve.

"Eri?"

He looked at her, concerned.

"…."

She shook her head, tearing a page from her notebook and handing it to him: "Black shadow… coming…"

Black shadow? Could it be… "All the World's Evils"?

Before he could ponder further, Charlotte gasped. Shirou turned—and froze.

Eri stepped forward, lifting a rusted, chipped tachi scavenged from a fallen Shadow Servant. In her hands, the worthless relic became an executioner's blade. She began to softly sing, a voice like a cold, ancient stream, delivering a divine verdict of death.

With a single graceful step and swing, she cleaved the leading Shadow Servant. Its armor shattered like glass into countless shards, which then became a deadly storm spreading through the horde.

A chain reaction of annihilation swept forward, Servants collapsing into dust.

Shirou and Charlotte stared in awe—was this the divine authority she held as a vessel?

But her true enemy wasn't the horde—it was the "black shadow" that commanded them.

From the ground, black mud-like matter surged upward, swallowing the defeated Servants instead of letting them disperse. Each second, it grew visibly larger.

Shirou's blood chilled. By killing the Servants, they'd only fed it. This… was it truly "All the World's Evils"?

"Aaaaah—!"

Satiated, the black mud rose, shaping itself into a skyscraper-sized giant. It screamed with the overlapping voices of countless souls—laughing, crying, raging all at once—fixing its hunger on them.

"Release! Gyokō Chisui Ōu Shin: Zan Natsu Shu Aku Duanlongtai (Flood-Conquering God Ōu of Yu: Severing Dragon Terrace)!"

Shirou struck. The sword's full power blazed forth, unleashing a torrent of searing fire and freezing ice. The giant writhed, countless souls within it screaming as it began to melt.

"Eri… it should be over—!"

But his "Eye of the Mind" screamed warning. He grabbed Eri and leapt away just as the black mud burst up from below again, ignoring all physical barriers.

"Waaah—help!"

Charlotte was trapped, retreating before the black mud's touch. Her mercury was too scattered to form a proper defense.

Damn, I missed her!

Shirou's heart pounded—if the mud tainted her pseudo-Servant core, she'd be lost. But Duanlongtai's sheer destructive power made using it here impossible without killing her too.

The mud's tendrils closed in on her ankle. She fought to pull them back with the mercury, but the black sludge seeped from every direction.

"Charlotte!"

Shirou started toward her, but rising walls of black mud cut him off. He began projecting another Noble Phantasm—yet knew, grimly, it would be too late…

(End of Chapter)

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