Kanshou and Byakuya are very sharp.
That concept became further enhanced by human sacrifices, in turn making it into a Divin Construct that could kill even the gods. Its special history elevated its position among Archer's weapons, more so when he could use them to their full capabilities with Alaya's assistance.
Compared to his time as a lone servant, Alaya's support simply pushed him to another level.
However, there are things even he wouldn't expect.
'There's a strange move from earlier.'
Archer had been hiding for quite some time. He was able to see the outcome between Nobu's and Achilles' battle, which ended in the latter's defeat.
The cursed technique, [Limitless], bypassed Achilles' "immortality" since it only made use of his senses. It wasn't a poison or a curse, either.
Seeing its strangeness, Archer decided to be wary of it.
Clang-!
Clang-!
After his first wound, Archer was no longer able to harm Nobu. The latter moved skillfully, as if he could predict the future. Since the two of them are skilled regarding this, it became a battle on who could outsmart the other.
It didn't take long for someone to break the balance.
"Ryouiki tenkai." (Domain Expansion.)
The domain summoned from Nobu's dreamland enveloped Archer. He tried to resist the force that enveloped him…
Crack-!
Archer summoned a part of his Reality Marble to counter it which worked. It achieved an effect similar to a [Domain Clash], something that happened frequently during the final duel between Satoru Gojo and Ryomen Sukuna.
Two domains were able to cancel each other out, thus canceling [Domain Expansion] in its entirety.
Surprisingly, Reality Marbles worked nearly the same way as Domains.
Of course, that included the downsides as well.
'It's weaker?!'
Just as Archer noticed the slight decrease of his Reality Marble's strength, Nobu greeted him with a new move.
"Raiju." (God of Lightning.)
Arcs of lightning blitzed straight to Archer. He wasn't even able to block it properly as Nobu turned into lightning. Strangely enough, he could still feel the solid hit of a blade.
Clang-!
Clang-!
When Archer blocked the attack for the second time, he felt something ominous—that it is a prelude to Nobu's unreadable chain of attacks.
He was about to bring out [Ea] when a flurry of intangible slashes aimed at him. At that moment, he knew it was something he couldn't avoid, thus he decided to change what he'll be projecting.
A huge sword seemingly made out of ragged stones appeared in his hand. A mysterious power came from it, making its user effectively immortal until he suffered nine deaths.
Pssshk-!
The sword slashes passed through Archer easily. His entire body was cut apart into pieces, only to be reattached by a mysterious force.
"..!"
What he didn't expect, however, is the flurry of sword slashes flung at him. It was enough to "claim" several lives at once… even when he is at Alaya's disposal. An even stranger thing was that these attacks had seemingly come out of nowhere.
Rather, they are already placed in position from the past and only acted now.
As more sword slashes barranged him—all coming from Nobu's [God-slaying Magicka]—cursed techniques started popping out of nowhere. Even Grand MAgickas are being fired off several times at once.
Hum-!
The starlight bow in Nobu's grasp suddenly turned solid. It became a divine bow used by none other than his goddess, Artemis.
Silently, he drew the bowstring and fired off many arrows at once.
Boom-!
Boom-!
Boom-!
Unlike before, each of the arrows contained enough power to obliterate a city. The battlefield suddenly turned noisy due to the arm-sized artillery bombs he kept firing.
"Damn it..!"
Archer gradually became more pressured by these attacks. Their intensity suddenly increased out of nowhere, completely throwing off his momentum.
Hum.
He projected one of his strongest Noble Phantasms—the King of Heroes' Ea. It started spinning before it destroyed everything in its way. His entire radius was cleaned up due to the sword's ability to "rip through everything it touches".
Just as he cleaned up all of the attacks, he was shocked to find out that… his senses couldn't find Nobu.
'Where is he..?!'
"Secare adventus ad finem." (...shall cut the looming end.)
Endless blue light greeted his vision.
*****
The Lapis Judaicus is still at the Holy Grail's side. It was the reason why it became unusable during that fight. However, my realizations with the "sure-hit" effect changed things.
What if I applied it to my dreams?
Will they surely manifest?
The answer to that is a resounding yes. I felt my [Revelation] at work before I was able to summon another copy of [Ein Sof]. A heavy burden came into me, but it is still within the acceptable range.
Through this, I was able to skip several of my preparations and end the battle immediately.
The surroundings started collapsing. The desolate wasteland's gears started falling as the sky started cracking up.
Looking at the state of my enemy, I decided to talk with him properly.
"We're now able to talk properly, I assume?"
"...You win."
The man was unable to move a bit of his body. The eternal freeze affected his entire being—that included his connection with the world's will. I couldn't help but think about the fully-repaired Philosopher's Stone.
"It could send more people like me, but I am sure you'd have finished everything you wanted here by then."
"You are not wrong."
Since this world is already similar to a Singularity's, the counter force's connection here should be weaker than usual. I shall see later with my [Revelation] on whether to use the grail's miracles to completely cut off its tentacles in this world.
"I want to know. The entities revealed in Atlas Institution's database…"
"You've already been there? No wonder…" He muttered in reply. "That was the primary reason why it is very particular in targeting you. It saw an ending whereas humanity destroyed the world with their own hands. That will lead to the entities you speak of to appear and finish them off."
I started learning more things with… Archer. His name is a bit strange considering how he used swords, but I should pay it no heed.
"The thing you hold has the potential to do just that—to empower humanity. While I do not know the particular details, it is abnormally strong compared to other human relics."
The will behind the counterforce, "Alaya", noticed something abnormal with the holy grail. If I'm not mistaken, it should be His acknowledgement to it, or at least a power of Him contained here.
The words Archer spoke were brief but concise. It was far easier to learn this new knowledge from his mouth compared to researching things on my own.
It brings this question:
"Why are you revealing these things to me?"
"...You are a better person than me."
His answer startled me.
"Not being selfish… acting to protect others with your life… you have truly earned the title of a hero, knight Galahad."
For some reason, I saw melancholy and sadness within his eyes. It was like he was looking at something he could never reach.
Even people like him have a story, huh…
"I hope you'll find what you're looking for."
Archer's eyes widened just as he was about to disappear.
"...Maybe I'll find it."
This fight had officially ended. Only my dreamland remained active within this space. With a thought, it was deactivated, making me return to the real world.
Hum-!
Buzz-!
[The World], a wide-scale Reality Marble of this world, started reacting to my unsealed presence. It began to fix all the phenomena caused by [Mana Furnace] at maximum output. The air returned to normal while the frost spread from my feet started disappearing.
All that was left is the intense gaze of the god I fought earlier.
"You really are…"
"I'm not a god. This is something within humanity's potential."
"Potential…"
Everything turned into a deadly silence as I earned the gazes of everyone. I disregarded them and looked at the direction of this war's [Greater Grail].
"It's finished."
Using [Space Magicka], I teleported straight beside it—to the underground room within the fortress I built using nanites.
Inside the metallic room lies a shiny spherical golden statue. In front of it was the [Ein Sof] providing it with endless amounts of magical energy to recharge itself with.
"Even the Greater Grail has limits. It's not surprising. But for something created by humans, it is indeed a miracle by itself."
According to the brief chat with Zelretch as well as the memories of the two high-ranked magi from before, the Greater Grail consisted of the Einzbern Family's greatest invention—a homunculus that touched the realm of humanity. She was already a miracle by itself—to produce a human through a homunculus.
Even now, the only person who reached it was Hydemary-san, Suimei's sole disciple. She was able to do it when she took the Lapis Philosophorum in the future. She became something reminiscent of a "magic god" or a "Magister".
This homunculus might've been able to reach that realm in this world. Sadly, she sacrificed herself to create this huge miracle right before my eyes.
Crack-!
As if detecting my presence, a small crack appeared within the center of the [Greater Grail]. Bits of golden light seeped out of it, tantalizing any Masters into going inside it.
From the moment I stepped inside, my surroundings changed. It turned into a field filled with flowers.
'Huh… The Reverse Side of the World..?'
"This place is merely a copy of the Reverse Side."
A woman's cold voice greeted me.
"Einzebern's greatest invention..." I muttered. "How does everything work here, Miss?"
As expected, she answered in a mechanical tone.
"You are currently within the greater grail. This is the space to make the wishes of the grail's holder. Currently, it has been filled with enough magical energy to fulfill them."
After speaking, she looked at me as if saying "make your wish".
'I might be cheating here, but this doesn't matter anymore…'
"Transfer all the power you have collected here."
With a thought, I summoned forth the holy relic with me from the beginning. A golden cup the size of my fists appeared out of thin air as it floated. It continuously emitted a sacred glow as it did so. Its caved portion remained empty.
All in all, it looks similar to the [Lesser Grail] but less conspicuous.
"...Wish received. The transfer of the greater grail's power will be started."
The surroundings glowed brightly as invisible particles began gathering into my holy grail. These are the manifestations of miracles—the distortions that appear every time I use the holy grail for something.
Slowly, I could feel the "miracle meter" of the holy grail rising. The numbers within the "miracle" portion started spiking up.
Surprisingly, the other "portions" also received their fill. Be it the [Chances] to reverse time or the [Summoning] of heroic spirits, they are all rising up.
I felt a sense of satisfaction by seeing these numbers up. My expended resources during the Singularity were all returned at this moment. It even exceeded these previous earnings.
"The transfer has been completed. The Greater Grail will now deactivate."
Miss Justeaze acted without any surprise and began the "shutdown" function of the Greater Grail. The surroundings began to disappear into nothingness as I was ejected back into the real world.
"Phew… Its still rising…"
Just as I was watching the numbers rise, I suddenly received a new revelation from Him. It went something along the lines of:
"It is the right time to know about everything."
In short, I am being prompted to go into the Reverse Side of the World.
"I might go to a random place if I do this alone…"
Although it is similar to the "Spirit Realm" which I have already visited with Suimei back in some iterations, this world's spirit realm remains unknown. I only knew from my King that her divine lance, Rhongomyniad, is currently being used to separate it with the physical realm.
Since I gained this amount of miracles, it'll be best to use one of them to make sure I won't end up in a random place.
'Miracle Usage Detected.'
'Purpose: To enter the Reverse Side of the World'
'Confirm?'
'Confirm.'
Thus, my first visit to this world's spirit realm has begun.