"…Run?"
Merlin's words left the assembled champions momentarily stunned.
Taigong Wang narrowed his eyes at him, suspicion rising first.
"What is this white-haired magus doing?"
A Heroic Spirit's true body is recorded in the outer world—The Throne of Heroes. Every summoned Servant, Grand-ranked included, is merely a split projection of that body.
To put it bluntly, every Heroic Spirit summoned into this world is a copy pulled from a vast informational database called ontology.
Under normal circumstances, a Servant is like a black-and-white print copied from the Throne—low resolution, incomplete.
A Grand-ranked one, however, is a world-class resource allocation: a supreme-authority, ultra-high-definition projection.
And even if they truly died here, it would not harm the main body in Throne of Heroes.
So what—did Merlin actually think Izaya could fight several Grands alone?
Blood ran down from Merlin's eyes. As Taigong Wang stared at those blood-tears, his gaze sharpened.
No…
Why had Merlin's present-seeing prophecy recoiled the instant it touched Izaya?
With that thought, Taigong Wang involuntarily looked up and fixed his eyes on the black-haired man.
He didn't know when it started, but the shattered wall of condensed resentment had already re-formed around them.
Faintly, an unspeakable magecraft locked the space down completely.
Staring into that scorched, blackened earth like an eternal night, Taigong Wang clicked his tongue.
"This kid…
His flow of mana isn't the same as before…"
"This magecraft is no different from a Beast's…
Does he also have the qualification to become a Beast?
Hassan. Orion. Be careful.
He's… strange."
"Was he not even trying to hide his backhand?" Orion sighed. "The Counter Force wants to kill the Beast, but he's human—and still wants to protect her…
You could even call it a form of affection."
"If he insists on stopping us, it's a pity… the Beast of Cherishment's ending is already decided…"
The next instant, the steel-like muscles of Orion's arm suddenly bulged.
"Then we can only deal with him first!"
This time he didn't draw a bow. He didn't loose an arrow.
The Grand Archer stepped forward and drove down that legendary right fist.
All the power that could shoot down a moon condensed into the wind of his punch—pure, unreasonable, absolute force—like a falling star smashing toward the man.
Not far away, the Old Man of the Mountain remained silent as ever.
Even in the rain, that deep-navy flame never went out, trembling in wind and storm.
In the next moment, he vanished without a sound.
At the same time, the meteor of Orion's fist became a burning pillar of golden light. The swelling, scorching air blasted forward, ripping through the wall of resentment in an instant and turning the night sky into a constellation of dazzling streaks.
Yet in heat that could incinerate a person, Izaya raised a single index finger—and placed it before that pillar of light, as if he were setting it on a tabletop.
As though time had frozen.
There was no earth-shaking explosion.
No clash of magecraft and magecraft.
All energy—every concept of destruction—was forcibly defined as nothing.
The golden torrent peeled away layer by layer like weathered sculpture, until it dissolved into drifting grains of gold that scattered into the air.
Then, in the rain, a dusk bell rang.
Without killing intent. Without a ripple of mana. Without the slightest omen—
The Old Man of the Mountain appeared behind Izaya.
Death never announces its arrival.
A pitch-black giant blade that bestowed the concept of death upon others cleaved down along a trajectory that could not be evaded, aiming to sever the fragile human neck.
This strike was the ultimate embodiment of assassination as a Grand-ranked Assassin: a declaration—and a verdict.
But—
Just before the blade could touch the skin at the back of Izaya's neck—
Bzzt!
An indescribable revulsion erupted outward.
For the first time, the Old Man of the Mountain was violently repelled by an irresistible force. His feet gouged two bottomless trenches across the ground as he was thrown back dozens of meters before stabilizing himself.
Slowly, he lifted his head. Those eyes, burning with blue ghostfire, stared ahead in silence.
His sense—one that surpassed life and death—focused instantly on the man's body, as if peering through that shell to see the nature of soul and magecraft within.
After a long silence, the ghostfire beneath the skull mask throbbed hard.
Then a hoarse voice spread across the dead-quiet battlefield.
"I see…"
"It isn't 'you' that is hindering me. There is another existence inside this shell…"
The Old Man's words struck like thunder, shattering across everyone's awareness.
Merlin, already wounded, had no room left to think.
Even Orion's rugged face showed confusion.
But the strongest reaction came from Taigong Wang.
He had always looked half-asleep, indifferent to everything.
Yet the moment he heard the Old Man speak the truth, the laziness that hadn't changed in ten thousand years vanished completely.
His perpetually narrowed eyes widened, slowly.
In that instant, he no longer looked like a slacker fishing by a creek.
Fragments of intelligence from the earlier exchange lit up in his mind like stars, assembling into a complete picture at terrifying speed.
A magus who could resonate with and manipulate Tunguska's grievances, intimately linked to the Beast of this land.
Someone who could fight Grand-ranked Heroic Spirits with a human body and protect Beast IV's ascension…
And just now, even the Old Man of the Mountain judged there was another existence inside him.
That special existence could use gravity, wield celestial energy, and dissolve the extreme heat released by Orion…
Meaning it could also control ultra-high output itself.
A spirit that could use heavenly bodies?
How could such a thing exist?
Unless…
What if the one inside his body wasn't a Heroic Spirit at all?
To face four Grands alone, and fight without falling behind…
Taigong Wang's pupils contracted slightly.
"I see…"
"So that's how it is…"
At last he seemed to realize something. He snapped his head up.
"I understand. He isn't some sand-striped kid. He is—"
Before the words could land, the Izaya standing motionless suddenly raised his right hand.
Boom!
Invisible gravity slammed down on Taigong Wang and Merlin.
In the next instant, Taigong Wang was swallowed completely by darkness. Before his memories could be transmitted back to Throne of Heroes, the memories of this projection were quietly erased.
…