Chapter 234 – Support from the Inari God
"It seems Caster wasn't destroyed by that strike just now…" Hachiman Hikigaya sighed in his heart as he watched the black tide, entirely made up of octopus-like monsters, surging toward him.
He glanced back at Artoria, who had planted the golden sword into the ground and was resting after releasing her Noble Phantasm. In her current state, it was obvious she couldn't unleash a second Noble Phantasm in such a short time. What's more, they didn't even know where Caster was hiding—so even if she could, it would be meaningless!
"We have to find Caster's location quickly!" Meeting Karna's gaze, Hikigaya's thoughts were instantly understood. Karna nodded, leapt forward into the black tide, and like a flame diving into the sea, was swallowed whole in an instant.
"They're coming—everyone, prepare yourselves!" Seeing the black tide closing in, Iskandar tossed Waver into the center of their circle, then drove his ox chariot to hold the front line. Diarmuid and the mana-drained Artoria guarded the left and right, while Hikigaya, after entrusting Sakura to Irisviel, stood on the second line of defense beside Kenneth.
Waver, whose legs had been trembling with fear, saw his teacher and Hikigaya stand firm. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to take position at their side.
Moments later, the vanguard of the "black tide" crashed into Iskandar. Amidst an explosion of severed limbs, the beasts swarmed in from every direction.
Even though the three Servants wiped out more than ninety percent of the attackers, their sheer numbers were overwhelming.
"Damn it, where on earth did Caster summon so many monsters from?" Waver shouted in frustration as he desperately blasted with the magecraft he had learned.
"Isn't it obvious?" Hearing his incompetent student's foolish question, Kenneth sneered.
"?" Waver looked at his teacher, puzzled.
"Where do you think all the people who lived here went?" Hikigaya "kindly" reminded him.
"You mean—!" In an instant, Waver understood.
His eyes widened in disbelief at the monsters before him. His hesitation disrupted the magecraft he was about to cast.
Without Waver's magical support, a hole opened in the second defensive line. If Hikigaya hadn't stepped in quickly to patch the breach, the beasts would have slipped through to reach Irisviel and Sakura at the center.
"Focus when you fight! I must have emphasized this countless times in class!" Kenneth harshly rebuked, seeing how close Waver's lapse had come to breaking their line.
"Sorry…" Waver realized he had made a fatal mistake. With guilt and newfound resolve in his eyes, he threw his magecraft against the once-human monsters before him.
"This can't go on…" Though everyone was fighting with all their strength, the monsters' numbers were just too great.
After cutting down another wave, Hikigaya looked at the collapsing second line and the three Servants barely holding the first. Taking a deep breath, he began to draw once more on the Inari god's power within him.
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At the same moment, the Inari god of Hikigaya's original world seemed to sense it, raising her head inside her shrine.
"Not in this world?" Because Hikigaya carried her divine power, the Inari god had always been able to sense him clearly. But this time, his presence was faint, unstable…
"Looks like he's in trouble…" Judging from how much power Hikigaya was using, she deduced the danger he faced. After a moment's thought, she summoned all the foxes gathered outside her shrine.
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As the divine power surged, the golden radiance enveloping Hikigaya grew brighter, until his whole figure shone like gold. He almost resembled the one watching loftily from the sky.
But unlike Gilgamesh's golden aura of majesty and intimidation, Hikigaya's glow was soft, reassuring, comforting.
Yet before he could unleash this divine might, a golden gate appeared in the void before him. With a chorus of wailing cries, a small snow-white fox was thrown out of it.
"Little Five?" Though all the foxes at Inari Shrine looked the same, Hikigaya instantly recognized the one he caught in his arms as the fox known as Little Five.
"Lord Hikigaya…" Smelling the familiar divine aura of Inari on him, Little Five looked up at him with tearful eyes.
"How did you get here?" Slashing down more monsters, Hikigaya asked the fox perched on his shoulder. After all, he was in another world right now!
"Lady Inari said you might be in trouble, so she sent us to help…"
"Us?" Hikigaya glanced at Little Five, then at the still-open gate, puzzled.
"I was thrown here first to scout the way. The others are behind me." Little Five puffed up indignantly as she explained.
"You have a problem with that?" No sooner had she spoken than ripples spread across the golden gate, and a shrine maiden about 1.6 meters tall, wearing a fox mask, stepped out. Her tone was cold as she questioned him.
"N-no…" Little Five, caught tattling, immediately drooped her tail. She jumped from Hikigaya's shoulder onto the shrine maiden's, her voice now full of flattery.
"Lord Hikigaya." Catching her youngest sister, the leader shrine maiden blasted apart a charging beast with one bare hand, while greeting Hikigaya respectfully without even turning.
As she moved away from the gate, three more masked shrine maidens and dozens of white foxes poured out. After quickly assessing the situation, the foxes gave Hikigaya a brief greeting, then rushed into the defense line.
In just seconds, what had been a crumbling formation on the verge of collapse instantly became solid as bedrock.
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