Here it comes, here it comes—one of the few instances where Elysia and Saber fight side by side.
This was the first time since they defeated the giant tentacle monster formed by Bluebeard.
However, last time, it was Elysia blocking the attack for Saber, giving Saber enough time to release the seal on the Holy Sword.
This time, it was Saber, having regained her scabbard, standing in front of Elysia. With Avalon, Saber possessed what was undoubtedly the strongest defense in this world known as Type-Moon.
At this moment, the war that had lasted all night was entering its true final battle.
The audience in the [Light Curtain Barrage] also realized that this might be the last stand...
[Light Curtain Barrage]
[King of Heroes]: "Hahahaha—That's right! This is what makes it interesting! Thoroughly erase that foolish god who dared to trample on my garden!"
Gilgamesh was extremely excited at this moment. Both Elysia and Saber had completely surpassed his counterpart in a standard Holy Grail War in terms of strength, reaching a level beyond "Flashy."
Unless he appeared in a more powerful and perfect form, he wouldn't have any chance of winning against either of these two!
[L]: "Child of Destiny... Does that refer to someone acknowledged by the world? Are both Saber and Elysia such existences? Similar to protagonists in anime?"
[Overseer of Schicksal]: "No... perhaps it isn't that simple. If she were truly like a protagonist, Elysia wouldn't have passed away before the previous civilization era even ended."
The stars and moon sent the daughter of God. Elysia was a special existence, but she was definitely not a protagonist like those in movies or anime. If one really had to find a protagonist in the Previous Era, that person would likely be Kevin, not Elysia.
Compared to Elysia, Kevin had the true protagonist template. Even after the destruction of civilization, he lived on to the present, carrying Dr. Mei's dying wish.
Rather than the term "protagonist," Otto preferred to believe that Elysia was a gift from God to humanity. She was the most perfect, most un-human "human," embodying all things!
Although she was not the protagonist, the significance of her existence was far more important than that of an ephemeral protagonist. Her existence provided the conditions for humanity to pioneer new possibilities!
---o---
[Light Curtain Image]
Saber's body stood in front of Elysia. Relying on the power of Avalon, she completely resisted every single attack released by the Outer God.
Seeing this scene, even Elysia behind her was exceptionally shocked. Although Saber's previous strength was good, it was limited to the realm of a Servant. As long as one was a Servant, there was bound to be a limit.
Servants like the King of Heroes, who could enhance their Spiritual Core with their own treasures and exist without relying on a magus, were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.
But she never expected that Saber was also this type of Servant. And while the King of Heroes needed to use countless treasures to achieve this, Saber only needed one Avalon.
Infinite mana supply, maintaining existence without Command Spells—from the moment Saber obtained Avalon, her Spiritual Core had transcended the category of ordinary Servants. There would no longer be any issue of her Spiritual Core dissipating because it couldn't withstand unleashing ultimate moves too many times.
Although she was surprised by the sudden appearance of Saber and curious about the massive spike in her strength, Elysia put away her curiosity and turned her gaze to the Holy Grail.
It was that cup... As long as she possessed the Holy Grail, she was confident she could transform herself into the Herrscher of Finality of the Type-Moon world!
"Saber! It seems matters on your end have been handled. The Holy Grail has appeared; is Irisviel alright?"
Taking the Holy Grail from Saber's hand, Elysia prioritized Irisviel's physical condition. After all, she couldn't fully confirm if the Crystal Flower would affect Irisviel's body...
Saber nodded and said, "Rest assured, the Madam is fine. According to Kiritsugu, even the defects of her homunculus body have been completely cured."
Immediately after, she turned her head to look at the Outer God's massive, hundred-meter-tall body. That colossal form blocking out the sky and sun, along with the black-red magical energy radiating around it, gave the Outer God an immense sense of oppression.
Through the perception of Avalon within her, she knew that if she hadn't blocked those strikes aimed at Elysia just now, even if Elysia could have withstood them with her body, everything within a radius of several miles would have been turned to ash.
It would have even affected Irisviel and the others on the edge of Fuyuki City. They weren't strong, and it was highly likely they would have been killed by the shockwave!
Thus, Saber added, "Elysia, I assume you know that the Holy Grail contains All the World's Evil. Although I don't know what you intend to do with the Holy Grail, you must be extremely careful."
"The so-called All the World's Evil is fundamentally filled with humanity's countless malicious thoughts. From the last Holy Grail War to now, over several decades, it is unknown what level the malice contained within has reached."
Here, Saber paused for a moment before continuing: "I believe you are a noble person fighting for humanity. Your pure demeanor has deeply impressed me. I don't know what you have experienced in the past."
"But... I hope you will not be disturbed by the malice contained in the Holy Grail... I hope that after witnessing the indifference and cruelty of human nature, and witnessing all the 'evil' of humanity, you can still maintain that purity and beauty..."
Speaking to this point, Saber lowered her head, suddenly feeling emotional. She remembered that she, too, had once been lost. The destiny of her country doomed to destruction... and that sentence, "King Arthur does not understand the human heart," had all pierced her lost heart.
Although she now bore everything and would no longer be the naive King who felt lost over a few words, able to stand her ground even against the questioning of the King of Heroes and the King of Conquerors...
However... that past confusion and pain were things she could not forget even now. Because of this, she didn't want Elysia to fall into the same predicament she once faced.
But... when she raised her head again, what entered her vision... was Elysia's smile. A confident smile...
If there were a competition in this world for who loved humanity the most, Elysia would absolutely be first place.
In Elysia's view, human nature was flawless. This perfection was not only reflected in humanity's noble qualities but also in humanity's "evil." Elysia was the incarnation of all humanity's beautiful qualities. Since she could inherit all the good of humanity, she could naturally accommodate humanity's "evil."
If the Holy Grail absorbed all of humanity's malicious thoughts, then in that oppressive era of the Previous Civilization, it would absolutely have been even more depraved and sinful than it was now.
As the Flame-Chaser of "Ego" from the Previous Era, the parts of human "evil" that Elysia had witnessed were no less than this so-called All the World's Evil!
Seeing this, Saber nodded, indicating her willingness to believe in Elysia's will. Then... she said to her: "Good! In that case, let me buy you the final time! Elysia!"
Saying that, she rushed directly toward the Outer God standing in the void at extreme speed.
Under the effect of Avalon, Saber didn't need to worry about getting hurt, nor did she need to care about mana drain. She opened up with a Noble Phantasm blast immediately.
Seeing this, the Outer God countered a light cannon with light cannons—opening its mouth to fire dozens of beams with power comparable to Excalibur!
Saber showed no panic. If one shot didn't work, fire another!
And so, in the sky above Fuyuki City, as Saber rapid-fired her Noble Phantasm, countless pillars of light rushed into the sky. Roars rang out constantly. Relying on the power of Avalon, Saber actually suppressed the Outer God for a short time!
With reckless Noble Phantasm spamming and consequence-free charges, even the Outer God was likely confused right now, unable to understand how this fighting style—which no living human could sustain—appeared in a place like this.
The audience outside the light curtain was even more confused. They knew Avalon was broken, but that didn't mean they could accept Saber spamming her Noble Phantasm like a maniac!
Where does this leave the dignity of the previous Servants? Like Lancer, who had to worry about this and that when using his Noble Phantasm, having to pick the best timing to release it.
Other Servants were much the same. There weren't many who possessed the condition to rapid-fire Noble Phantasms, let alone doing so without scruples like Saber.
However, having said that, Saber's rapid-fire Noble Phantasm was indeed spectacular to watch. If it were just one or two golden pillars of light soaring into the sky, they might disappear before one could see them clearly.
But now, with dozens of light pillars going off like fireworks, it was truly a sight to behold, forcing people to look.
Meanwhile, while Saber was fighting, Elysia successfully infused the Honkai energy into the Holy Grail.
From the moment the Honkai energy symbolizing Elysia entered the Holy Grail, Elysia's consciousness entered with it.
She wanted to see just what form the legendary All the World's Evil would take...
---o---
Inside the Holy Grail
Elysia's consciousness entered without any obstruction.
This was natural. If the Holy Grail possessed its own consciousness after falling, it would naturally feel the oppression from the Outer God outside.
Compared to the aura of the Outer God, All the World's Evil was insignificant. It was only natural for it to feel fear.
It was a pity that the Holy Grail itself had no shell. Even when it was inside Irisviel's body previously, it had no way to affect her. So, it urgently needed to control a puppet to save its life.
And with Elysia delivering herself to its doorstep, the Holy Grail naturally wouldn't be polite.
What followed would naturally be the Holy Grail's usual tactic: searching Elysia's memories to transform into someone Elysia knew well, breaking her conviction and heart, causing her defenses to crumble, and then using that to take complete control of her.
So, acting almost on instinct, the moment Elysia entered the Holy Grail, it tried to retrieve her memories.
"Eh? This is..."
Inside the Holy Grail, Elysia, with her Authority as the Herrscher of Origin, easily detected the Holy Grail's will trying to invade her body.
"My, my~ What a coincidence!"
Elysia was somewhat surprised. Her original purpose in coming here was to find All the World's Evil. She didn't expect that before she even started looking, the other party would come knocking on her door.
Realizing the Holy Grail's goal, Elysia was slightly amused. "Hmm... trying to invade a girl's memories? Although it's not very friendly behavior... it is also quite interesting."
Since Elysia had discovered the Holy Grail's attempt, she could naturally guide the Holy Grail to see what it should see. As for those girlish secrets, as long as Elysia wished it, the Holy Grail wouldn't see them even if it tried its hardest.
Although it was untimely... she also wanted to know what the scene would look like when the Holy Grail met those people.
"I'm already looking forward to it. In what form will it appear before me?"
---o---
[Light Curtain Barrage]
Seeing the Holy Grail attempt to invade Elysia's consciousness to break her mentally...
Both the Thirteen Flame-Chasers and the other audience members outside the light curtain felt a sense of second-hand embarrassment. It would have been fine if it hadn't been discovered.
But the problem was that the Holy Grail's move was detected by Elysia in an instant, and it hadn't even realized it yet. This was awkward. The scenes the Holy Grail would see next would likely only be what Elysia wanted it to see.
[Eriri Spencer Sawamura]: "Okay, okay, I'm willing to call this the most humiliating Holy Grail in history. Trying to peek at someone's memories only to get caught—this is so cringe I could dig out a two-bedroom apartment with my toes!"
[Conan Edogawa]: "Mainly, the person it's facing is too ridiculous. The Omnipotent Wish Granter is, fundamentally, not omnipotent. When it meets someone stronger than itself, it's useless. And both Saber and Elysia are far above it."
Saber's scabbard went without saying—if one could have their consciousness invaded while holding Avalon, Saber might as well headbutt a wall and die. And Elysia's Authority was a bug among bugs, commonly known as the "Power of 'I Think, Therefore It Is'." Theoretically, as long as Elysia willed it, she could do it.
Wasn't this stronger than the Holy Grail's wish-granting ability?
[Overseer of Schicksal]: "Although watching a clown perform to its heart's content is nice... I am indeed very curious. What kind of image will Elysia present to it?"
"If I'm not mistaken, it will inevitably be those thirteen heroes not even recorded in the Void Archives. A large part of the Previous Civilization's history of fighting the Honkai was contributed by them."
In the Honkai world, at Schicksal HQ, Otto sat upright. His former laziness was gone. Although resurrecting Kallen would always be number one in his heart... he still held the highest degree of respect for those humans who, like Kallen, fought for all the beauty in the world.
Just as he treated his old friend, the Immortal of Mount Taixuan. No matter what happened in the future, at least until now, he respected her from the bottom of his heart.
With Otto's barrage reminder, other viewers also began to grow curious. What kind of faces did those people, who previously claimed in the barrage to be Elysia's acquaintances, actually have?
Entities who could be called friends by that pink elf lady... surely, they must be dazzling and beautiful people just like her...
---o---
[Light Curtain Image]
As the Holy Grail invaded, Elysia's memories gradually emerged before the eyes of the audience outside the image.
Everyone stared intently at the screen, including the Thirteen Flame-Chasers. They also wanted to know what strange things were going on inside Elysia's head...
Although she wouldn't show the Holy Grail consciousness anything too private, people were gossips. They all wanted to know what kind of scene Elysia would show the Holy Grail consciousness...
The invasion plan was incredibly successful. To the Holy Grail, this was only natural. After all, isolated from the world, how could it know Elysia's strength?
Entering Elysia's memory space almost effortlessly only reaffirmed its delusion that Elysia wasn't strong!
"Good... then let me take a look at this girl's memories and ideals—"
As it spoke, the consciousness of the Holy Grail gradually manifested. Perhaps out of its own malicious taste, it took on Elysia's appearance.
However, unlike that flower-like maiden, what the Holy Grail transformed into... was a faded Elysia!
The outfit and appearance were exactly the same as Elysia before she transformed into the Herrscher of Origin, the difference lying in the color scheme of her hair and clothes.
Hair that faded from blue to purple, straight bangs, tied in a ponytail behind her head. Orange-red eyes, and a pair of elf ears.
On her chest was a black eye symbol, symbolizing the identity of All the World's Evil. A blue-black top, with black sleeves and a shawl.
Although the appearance was still as beautiful and cute as Elysia, just looking through the light curtain revealed the evil aura on its body. That was not something that could be mimicked by appearance and dress alone.
The audience outside the light curtain felt their blood pressure spike instantly upon seeing this. Before it was the Old Worm, now it was the Holy Grail consciousness. It seemed the Type-Moon world never lacked creatures that made one's blood boil.
Seeing such a pure and beautiful elf lady turned into this by the Holy Grail consciousness would make anyone grit their teeth in hatred. If Elysia herself was a beautiful girl loved by all, then the Holy Grail consciousness was a loathsome rat crossing the street, possessing not a single redeeming quality aside from looking cute!
Regardless of what the audience outside said, the Holy Grail consciousness had already begun its move.
As the camera panned out, people no longer had the time to pay attention to the annoying Holy Grail consciousness. Instead, they focused their attention on the scene presented by the image!
It was a place completely unrelated to the Holy Grail War. One could clearly see that this should be some kind of base, filled with high-tech equipment everywhere.
Aside from that, a cool-looking logo permeated every corner of the base. The light curtain gave it multiple close-ups, making many viewers curious about the meaning behind the symbol.
But for the Thirteen Flame-Chasers, that logo couldn't be more familiar. That was the symbol of The Fire Moth. A symbol that no Flame-Chaser would ever forget!
"Oh? Is this the girl's memory? Strange... why can't I quickly browse her memories, but instead appear in a certain stage of them?"
When the Holy Grail consciousness appeared here, it suddenly realized it couldn't manipulate the flow of Elysia's memories and was forced to watch these scenes.
Damn it. This wasn't the scene it wanted to see at all. There were no people Elysia knew well, nor were there Elysia's wishes or beliefs. Without these, how could it break Elysia?
"What are you doing here? Elysia?"
Just then, a man's voice came from behind the Holy Grail consciousness, causing a cold sensation to rise from the bottom of its heart... Cold? How could it feel something that obviously shouldn't exist for it...
Turning around stiffly, it saw a dozen figures appearing behind it without it noticing. None were more than ten meters away, and the closest one was already standing two meters from it. Within such a short distance, it hadn't reacted at all?
At this moment, the audience outside the light curtain also saw the man who had spoken earlier. It was a man with short white hair, handsome features, wearing black fingerless gloves, and clothes with a black and white color scheme.
Behind him stood over ten men and women dressed in various outfits. Judging by their aura alone, none of them were ordinary people.
And that white-haired man stood in the center (C-position) of these ten-plus people. He was likely the leader!
"You... can see me?"
Its voice trembled slightly. Now it was the Holy Grail consciousness's turn to be confused. This should be a memory space, right? So why could these guys see it?
"Hmph—Ridiculous! Did you think you were playing hide-and-seek?"
The one speaking now was a white-haired man wearing a mask. Unlike the cold white-haired man from before, this guy seemed to have nothing to do with the word "cold." Instead, he looked unusually... restless?
"Elysia, your state seems a bit strange? Did you not rest well?"
A girl with pink hair just as beautiful as Elysia's, carrying a katana at her waist, asked in confusion. Her appearance was in no way inferior to Elysia's. Her perception was exceptionally outstanding, even among all the Flame-Chasers.
Hearing this girl's words, the people around them all looked at 'Elysia' with strange eyes. This gave the current Holy Grail consciousness a feeling of falling into hell.
I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die—I'm absolutely going to die! Among these guys, not a single one looked easy to mess with! Why were there so many monstrous guys in Elysia's memories?
If they were dragged together to fight a Holy Grail War, it was unknown who would win, but the one to die would definitely be it!
At this moment, countless thoughts of escape surfaced in the Holy Grail consciousness's mind. But its intuition told it that if it dared to move a muscle... it would be dead without even scum remaining in an instant.
It... had reached the most critical moment of its life as a cup...