Upon realizing that all the powerful enemies were closing in, Tamamo-no-Mae immediately took action.
First, three Nine-tailed Foxes merged together.
Then, the last few dozen Advanced Cursed Spirits under her control also began to merge.
After the fusion was complete, Tamamo-no-Mae charged straight toward Satoru's battlefield, heading for the location of her remaining four Sesshoseki.
"Huh?"
Feeling a massive aura rapidly approaching from behind, Satoru turned his head in confusion.
He wanted to see which foolish Cursed Spirit had the nerve to approach him.
The moment he turned, Tamamo-no-Mae accelerated and rushed to a spot just ahead of him.
Without hesitation, Satoru swung his broom at her.
To his surprise, the broom was immediately absorbed into Tamamo-no-Mae's body upon impact.
Satoru grabbed onto the fox's head, intending to play tug-of-war over the broom.
Snap.
The fox head was yanked off by Satoru.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red."
Looking at Tamamo-no-Mae, who was rapidly merging, and the three remaining Nine-tailed Foxes still approaching, Satoru prepared to unleash Red to interrupt the fusion.
Suddenly, a twisted face appeared on Tamamo-no-Mae's body.
A slender Cursed Spirit's figure emerged across her surface, its hands clasped together as if holding a sphere.
The next moment, Satoru found himself trapped inside a strange barrier.
"This is..."
Satoru threw a punch at the barrier.
Normally, an isolation barrier from a Cursed Spirit wouldn't even register to Satoru.
But this Cursed Spirit had fused with Tamamo-no-Mae, and with her power, the barrier's strength was massively amplified.
Tamamo-no-Mae hadn't fully converted these Advanced Cursed Spirits into raw Cursed Energy.
Instead, she preserved parts of their bodies to create an incomplete fusion.
And since these spirits were under her control through Spirit Butterfly Manipulation, they offered no resistance.
In essence, Tamamo-no-Mae now possessed dozens of techniques from the merged Cursed Spirits.
Of course, the fusion wasn't perfect.
Just like a body experiencing rejection after a transplant, her body was rejecting the fused spirits.
She was simply suppressing it through overwhelming force.
Which meant—she had to act fast.
Crack.
The barrier around Satoru began to crack.
Tamamo-no-Mae instantly layered several more barriers over it and flung the entire structure away with a sweep of her tail.
The seven Nine-tailed Foxes had fully merged.
A giant Cursed Spirit—Nine-tailed Fox—over a hundred meters tall appeared on the battlefield.
Boom, boom, boom... Yamata no Orochi's long-range bombardment and Emiya's Broken Phantasm struck first.
But Tamamo-no-Mae, who had devoured hundreds of thousands of Cursed Spirits, didn't flinch.
Those attacks no longer held any decisive weight against the sheer scale of her current Cursed Energy.
At this point, only two individuals could pose a true threat.
Tamamo-no-Mae looked toward Mahoraga and Artoria.
One wielded the Sword of Exorcism, bane of all Cursed Spirits.
The other had previously unleashed an attack that exorcised over a hundred thousand Cursed Spirits in one strike.
That was even when the spirits were scattered.
Tamamo-no-Mae's eyes locked onto them.
Then she pushed off the ground, charging straight toward Artoria, who had just landed.
Rumble.
Her enormous body shook the battlefield as she ran.
Several distorted Cursed Spirits emerged across her form.
Her nine tails swung.
One giant tail swept at Artoria, carrying with it a roaring gust of wind.
Artoria swung her Holy Sword with full strength to parry.
The immense force sent her sliding backward.
'Terrible resistance.'
It felt like trying to cut a rubber tire with a dull kitchen knife.
Tamamo-no-Mae's body was absurdly difficult to cut.
Mahoraga rushed in, aiming the Sword of Exorcism directly at her.
Three Cursed Spirits embedded in Tamamo-no-Mae's body activated.
One pressed its hands together, and the ground beneath Mahoraga immediately collapsed.
Losing footing, Mahoraga fell.
The second clapped its hands.
A clamp full of sharp spikes snapped shut around Mahoraga's body.
The third slammed its palm into the ground.
A massive rock came down, crushing the restrained Mahoraga into the pit.
Then, the sunken earth closed up again.
Mahoraga was buried.
Eichi frowned, immediately commanding Rabbit Escape to dig down, trying to retrieve Mahoraga.
In the air, Tiger Funeral fired Sky-Piercing Bullets at Tamamo-no-Mae.
She swept them away with her tiger tail.
Then she swung her claws at Artoria, who had just recovered from the tail's blow.
Suddenly, a sphere shot forward and struck her right claw.
"Roar!"
Tamamo-no-Mae let out an enraged howl.
More and more attacks rained down on her.
She endured the onslaught and lunged at Artoria with her fangs.
Tamamo-no-Mae could feel her scale diminishing under this barrage.
She had to defeat Artoria and Mahoraga quickly.
Only by eliminating these two fatal threats could she hope for victory.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red."
Satoru suddenly teleported in front of her open jaws.
An immense repulsive force erupted.
Tamamo-no-Mae's mouth was forced open, her jaw nearly dislocating.
The Rainbow Dragon collided with her body.
Taotie devoured her Cursed Energy in gulps until it was swatted half-dead by a fox tail.
More distorted Cursed Spirits emerged from her body.
Boom!
Mahoraga burst from underground, the spinning Dharmachakra above its head glowing.
Its body began expanding, quickly growing to rival Tamamo-no-Mae in size.
She immediately redirected her attack from Artoria to Mahoraga.
She couldn't afford to be hit by the Sword of Exorcism.
At the same time, Yamata no Orochi arrived and also expanded in size.
Its eight serpent heads tightly coiled around Tamamo-no-Mae.
Tamamo-no-Mae began burning her own Cursed Energy.
Terrifying flames erupted around her, bursting outward.
She manipulated the fused Advanced Cursed Spirits, launching a barrage of techniques at Satoru and Mahoraga.
The crowd was momentarily pushed back.
Then, Tamamo-no-Mae saw a radiant light forming ahead.
"Thirteen Restraints release. Round Table Resolution, commence!"
Twelve golden phantoms surrounded Artoria.
"Bedivere!"
"Approved!"
"Kay!"
"Approved!"
"Lancelot!"
"Approved!!"
"Mordred!"
"Approved!"
"Galahad!"
"Approved!"
..."Arthur."
Seal after seal on the Holy Sword was undone.
The brilliantly shining broadsword was raised high by Artoria.
"This is a battle to save the world."
"Ex—!"
"Damn it! Stop her!"
Tamamo-no-Mae screamed, trying to Breakthrough the crowd.
But no matter how she fought, she couldn't get through.
"—calibur!"
A golden radiance descended upon her.
Eichi immediately retreated into the shadows.
Satoru teleported away.
The last to retreat were Suguru's Cursed Spirits.
Suguru only released Yamata no Orochi from its summoning when its body was nearly swallowed by the golden light.
Though heavily damaged, Suguru felt it was worth it.
Because Tamamo-no-Mae had completely lost her chance to escape.
A golden pillar of light pierced the sky, shattering the top of the Sendai Barrier.
Tamamo-no-Mae's massive form gradually disintegrated within the light.
The radiance of the Ever-Victorious King illuminated the battlefield,
Bringing victory to all.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)