Chapter 38: O Brahma, Curse My Body!
As Karna leaped into the air, the inherent skill 'Mana Burst (Flame)' allowed him to control vast amounts of prana to fly.
He was now entirely covered in scarlet flames. Whatever technique he used, even a simple close-quarters engagement, would be imbued with the scorching effect of fire.
This was the inherent skill he obtained as the son of the Sun God, Surya.
"My spear is my body!"
As Karna proclaimed this loudly, the golden spear 'Undying Blade' in his hand also burst into scarlet flames.
The prana in the atmosphere surged madly toward Karna, transforming into endless, fiercely burning crimson lotuses of fire.
As his grip on the Noble Phantasm 'Undying Blade' suddenly tightened, the flames clinging to the golden spear grew even fiercer.
"O Brahma, Curse My Body!"
With Karna's forceful throw of the 'Undying Blade', the spear cut through the sky, trailing a golden wake like a falling meteor, shooting toward the body of the sea monster.
Deep within the body of the sea monster, Caster, who was observing the surroundings, was dumbfounded when he saw the fiery golden spear descending from the heavens.
"Such terrifying power... Is this fellow actually this strong...!?"
Caster had boundless confidence in the sea monster he had summoned, but upon witnessing the power displayed by Karna, he involuntarily felt a sense of overwhelming panic that was hard to resist.
Just as Caster was struck with horror, a terrifying surge of prana violently spread outwards in an explosive fashion!
Boom—!!!
Under the sweep of the blazing flames, vast amounts of seawater were evaporated. The body of the sea monster summoned by Caster was completely destroyed before it could even regenerate within these flames!
Caster, at the center of the explosion, could not escape. He finally gave up struggling and silently gazed forward.
In the moment before his annihilation, he seemed to see a blond figure within that light.
"Jeanne..."
Before he could finish his word, Caster was engulfed by the light, and a scarlet hot current consumed him.
This attack possessed the power of an A-rank Noble Phantasm, and with the addition of Karna's inherent skill 'Mana Burst (Flame)', its destructive power reached A+ level.
Rider, Archer, and Saber, who were gathered at the Einzbern Castle, all saw the suddenly rising mushroom cloud. The city, deep in the night, briefly returned to day because of the bright firelight.
The crimson lotus fire that pierced through the dense fog left a profound impression on everyone.
Tohsaka Tokiomi, in the basement workshop of the Tohsaka residence, also learned of this through Kotomine Kirei and couldn't help but frown deeply.
The power unleashed at the Mion River definitely held the might of an A-rank Noble Phantasm!
"Such power, even for a Magus, would require a considerable amount of setup and a sufficient number of people to achieve, yet someone unleashed it in such a short time... It can only be the work of a Heroic Spirit."
Murmuring this, Tokiomi Tohsaka couldn't resist standing up.
"Who exactly...?"
.
.
.
With Caster and the sea monster he summoned both taken care of by Karna, scattered flames drifted across the night sky.
"Caster is resolved. Now there are only six Servants left. Excluding my side, that makes five."
Shirou sped up toward the Einzbern Castle.
"I wonder if Assassin has been taken care of yet..."
He was now heading to confirm the status of the Saber faction.
"If I don't go, I'll keep worrying about it."
Murmuring this, Shirou soon saw the forest.
About thirty kilometers west of the bustling streets of Fuyuki City.
There was an east-west national highway cutting through a desolate mountain area far from any villages.
Both sides of this highway were dense forest, a forest region seemingly forgotten by the widespread land development boom.
This land might be state-owned, but according to the land registry, it belonged to a private foreign corporation, and whether this foreign corporation genuinely exists is uncertain.
If one were to investigate this land, the first baffling aspect would be the strange urban legend surrounding it.
The legend says that deep within this dense forest lies a "mythical castle."
A group of children, half-playing and half-exploring, entered this forest, along with a lost hiker. They saw an ancient castle suddenly appear in the mist, a magnificent fortress built of stone.
The castle was uninhabited, seemingly abandoned, but its facilities were complete, and everything was orderly, giving the illusion that someone must be living there.
It was said to be an extraordinarily peculiar ancient castle.
Of course, no one believed this legend. At most, it was a story told in a one-page spread in a summer ghost story special by a third-rate magazine struggling for news material.
Only a handful of Magi knew that this castle truly existed.
This castle only welcomed its master, who came to participate in the war, once every sixty years. It was, in short, a castle of the Magic Arts.
The castle was shrouded by multiple layers of illusion and magical boundaries (Bonds), and except in extremely rare circumstances, it would never reveal itself to the outside world.
It was an uncanny space, and those who knew of the castle's existence called this dense forest the "Einzbern Forest."
At the time the Holy Grail War was held in Fuyuki City, Jubstacheit von Einzbern, the head of the Einzbern family, deemed it inappropriate to establish a base of operations on the direct territory of their arch-rival, the Tohsaka family.
Thus, he fully utilized the family's financial resources to purchase the ley line land closest to Fuyuki City, establishing it as the Einzbern family's base.
This was on the eve of the Third Holy Grail War, which also happened to be the tense period just before the outbreak of World War II.
This vast primeval forest was enveloped by a barrier, completely isolated from the outside world, and the Einzbern family transferred their original castle entirely into this forest.
This demonstrates the extraordinary financial power and unique obsession of the Einzbern family with pursuing the Holy Grail.
The Tohsaka family was considered quite wealthy in Fuyuki, but they were not even worth mentioning compared to the Einzbern family.
"This must be it..." The air was slightly heavy. Shirou stepped closer to the castle, which looked ancient even from the outside.
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