The speed of this punch surpassed the speed of sound, yet it was utterly silent.
As the punch neared Salter's back, it split into hundreds of fist shadows, converging on her small frame.
"Avalon!"
With a cold shout, Salter shattered the colorful sphere in her hand into countless fragments. These fragments wrapped around her like a rainbow-colored silk wedding dress.
Clang!
A loud crash echoed as Ryou's fist struck the seemingly delicate wedding dress, but it felt as if he had hit an impenetrable wall—he couldn't advance at all.
"It's Avalon..."
Feeling the immense recoil from his fist, Ryou's expression darkened. He hadn't expected Salter to still have such a powerful trump card up her sleeve.
Avalon, the distant utopia, was an absolute defense even the Five Great Magics couldn't bypass.
Ryou knew he was in deep trouble.
On the sidelines, Sakura smiled with the confidence of certain victory.
With Avalon in her possession, Salter was practically invincible. Normally, the high mana cost of Avalon would be a vulnerability, but that had been erased ever since she and Salter had received the Abyss's gift, becoming Abyss Lords.
With their combined mana, they could sustain Avalon for an entire week without interruption.
And this was only the first trump card Sakura had revealed.
Today, right here, Nguyen Ryou must die!!!
Salter landed lightly on the ground, and the swelling on her face healed almost instantly under Avalon's powerful restorative abilities.
At first glance, she appeared completely unscathed.
In contrast, Ryou's face turned ashen. He carefully adjusted his stance, trying to find a weakness in Salter.
Ryou had resolved to drag the fight out, confident in his endurance.
"If you plan on dragging this out, I advise you to abandon that thought," Salter said coldly.
Initially, Ryou remained unfazed, but soon his expression grew serious as he sensed a terrifying power surging from her.
Unlike typical mana, this was a higher, more terrifying, and darker force.
Ryou's alarms went off, but before he could react—
Boom!
Black energy erupted from Salter, sending shockwaves that blew everything around her away.
Even Ryou, standing over ten meters away, struggled to keep his footing.
Roar!
A dragon's roar echoed from the void as if an ancient dragon from a foreign realm had been awakened from its slumber.
Salter's body began to undergo astonishing changes.
A pair of massive black dragon horns sprouted from her head. Her golden eyes transformed into reptilian vertical slits, and fine black dragon scales began to appear on her cheeks and parts of her exposed skin.
Her full-body metallic armor now bore intricate scales, as if it had turned into dragon hide. The once rigid plate armor transformed into a wild, sexy, and flexible leather armor, with large areas of her pale skin exposed.
Most striking of all was her figure. Both her height and bust size increased dramatically.
Staring at the drastically transformed Salter, Ryou's expression became extremely odd.
This... isn't this Lancer Alter!?
Except for the fact that she was wielding a demonic sword instead of the sacred spear Rhongomyniad, Salter's current appearance was almost identical to her parallel universe counterpart, known for her southern hemisphere assets and the title Lancer Alter.
Salter, with her keen senses, immediately noticed his gaze.
As expected, a despicable and lecherous scoundrel!
Salter was aware that in this transformed state, her attire was more revealing, and her figure had become exceedingly voluptuous, making her far more alluring.
Precisely because of this, she despised him even more.
For a warrior to concern himself with such trivial matters in the heat of a life-and-death battle—he wasn't a true fighter!
To think I once lost to such a devious villain... It's humiliating!
Though her facial expression didn't change much, the aura Salter emitted grew terrifyingly cold, showing she was genuinely enraged.
If Ryou knew what she was thinking, he would probably cry out in grievance.
Even if she had once been his favorite Servant, Lancer Alter, he wouldn't hold back now that they were enemies.
"Die, you vile scum!"
Salter's words sent a cold sweat down Ryou's back.
Big Sister, you're the one dressed like a lingerie model, and yet you accuse me!? How unreasonable!
Their fists collided with a force akin to a natural disaster.
The stone tiles of Ryuudou Temple, reputed to be the strongest defensive Noble Phantasm, shattered and exploded around them, forming a massive crater beneath their feet.
In this transformed state, Salter's attributes had increased even further.
This time, Ryou didn't last long before he was sent flying by her immense strength.
Still airborne, Ryou saw a black figure rush toward him—it was Salter.
With a demonic sword in hand, she swung it fiercely at his head.
Gritting his teeth, Ryou raised his aching arms to shield himself.
Boom!
With a deafening crash, he was slammed into the ground.
A human-shaped crater formed in the stone floor, and dust shot into the sky, carried by the shockwave.
"Argh!"
Ryou spat out a mouthful of blood, the dark red liquid mixed with fragments of his internal organs.
One strike. Just one strike had left him with broken arms, dislocated ribs, and damaged internal organs.
"Get up. Isn't this level of injury just a minor inconvenience to you?" Salter's voice rang out beside him.
"And besides, how does this compare to the pain Irisviel endured back then!?"
Salter roared, raising her cursed sword without hesitation and unleashing an Excalibur Morgan into the dust cloud.
Ryou had only just regained enough mobility to move when the black beam engulfed him.
Golden light enveloped his body, and the deadly black beam, powerful enough to decimate an entire army, was stopped dead by a thin layer of golden light.
If the black beam was like crashing waves, then the golden shield was like an unbreakable reef, standing firm despite the onslaught.
Though protected by the golden light, Ryou's expression was grim.
At that moment, his retinal display showed partial attribute information for the transformed Dragon Queen Salter.
[Since the strength difference between both parties exceeds threefold, only partial attributes can be displayed:]
Name: Artoria Pendragon [Alter]
Race: Dragon Queen of Magic / Abyss Demon
Class: Rider
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Rank: Grand
Basic Attributes:
Strength: EX
Agility: EX
Endurance: EX
Mana: EX
(For reference, the average attribute value for normal humans, excluding mana, is 10. Below 10 is F-, between 15 and 20 is E-, and so on.)
Luck: D-
Class Skills:
Magic Resistance (EX)
Riding (A)
Personal Skills:
Instinct (A+)
Mana Burst (EX)
Charisma (E)
Dragon Core (A)
Abyssal Blessing (EX)
Noble Phantasms:
Excalibur (A++)
Avalon (EX)
Dragon Queen's Wrath (EX)
Just look at this over-the-top stat panel.
This cheat ability is even more ridiculous than me, the system host.
And you're a Rider, right? Where's your mount? Could it be that by transforming into the Dragon Queen, you count as riding yourself? What is this, a self-guided tour?
Are you also, jumping two whole ranks from Epic Servant to Grand? Is there no basic rule of law anymore?
Such blatant cheating makes the game so unbalanced that no one would want to play!
Ryou admitted that, upon seeing Salter's stats, his mindset nearly shattered.
With such exaggerated attributes, combined with the absolute defense of Avalon, how could he win?
Given his current combat power, there wasn't even a sliver of hope to defeat her. Unless...
His gaze fell upon the two [Root Gems] quietly stored in his inventory.
Unless he was willing to bet his life on it!
Ryou knew very well that using unidentified treasures carried immense risk, but faced with this invincible Salter, he had no other choice.
"Die, Ryou!"
Salter, filled with hatred, attacked even before the smoke cleared.
There was no time left for Ryou to weigh the pros and cons.
Using the [Root Gems] might kill him.
But not using them would also lead to death.
So, he bet it all!
A trace of madness flashed in his eyes as he leaped from the pit and charged toward Salter.
As they collided, it was like two massive beasts crashing into each other.
The shockwave alone lifted the tiles from the roof of Ryuudou Temple, and the ground shook as if struck by a magnitude-ten earthquake.
Boom!
The sound was so loud it could be heard even in the new city, kilometers away.
Thanks to the [Reversal War God] effect, Ryou barely managed to hold his own in the clash with Salter.
Both took a step back.
At that moment, Ryou summoned the [Root Gems] into his palms, activating, absorbing, and transforming them in one smooth motion.
Soon, a gold-and-silver cycle formed between his hands, though it was unstable.
A phantom silver clock emerged from the [Root Gems], and a light ring expanded, enveloping both him and Salter.
Sensing danger, Salter activated Avalon's defense, a protective barrier of multicolored light shards surrounding her.
But Ryou extended his finger to turn the second hand backward.
"Bite the Dust!"
Everything within the light ring, under the power of time, began to rewind as if someone had hit the rewind button on a movie, rapidly reverting to the state from one minute ago.
Even Avalon returned to its unactivated state.
The gamble had paid off!
As expected, the [Root Gems], bearing the name of [Root], possessed a level of mystery and power that surpassed even the absolute defense of Avalon, which even the Five Great Magics couldn't interfere with!
Ryou hesitated no longer. Mana surged through his limbs, and the power of revenge coursed through him as he pulled back his right fist and struck fiercely at the frozen-in-time Artoria!
Machine Gun Blow!
Hundreds of fist shadows rained down on Salter, especially her heart, protected by the high mound of flesh on her left chest.
The gold and silver lights dissipated, and time resumed its normal flow.
In the next instant, Salter hadn't yet realized what had happened when the high mound of flesh on her chest jiggled violently, swaying in an irresistibly seductive motion.
But her heart now had a bowl-sized hole, shattered into pieces.
The terrifying power of revenge poured into her broken heart, ruthlessly destroying her life force.
Spurt!
A mouthful of blood sprayed from her lips. The blood was black and mixed with fragments of her internal organs.
Salter's aura quickly weakened.
In no time, she lost the strength to even stand and collapsed onto him.
"I'll be waiting for you in hell!"
With her last strength, Salter grabbed Ryou's collar and whispered this curse into his ear.
This final act expended her remaining life force. Salter's body fragmented into countless black specks of light and disappeared into the air.
In her place, a crystal flower resembling black obsidian remained, with an Abyssal Crystal floating above it.
The light radiating from the Abyssal Crystal was more brilliant than any Ryou had ever seen.
He took it in hand.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations, Host! You have obtained an EX-level Abyssal Crystal (Purified)!]
[You have slain Artoria!]
[You have earned one special gacha draw!]
[(Since the opponent was an Abyssal creature, some skills and Noble Phantasms cannot be drawn.)]
The battle wasn't over, so Ryou didn't examine it closely. He swiftly stored the Abyssal Crystal in his storage.
This item was equally attractive to other Abyssal creatures, and he suspected they could also absorb its power to strengthen themselves.
Not far away, the intense gaze from Matou Sakura confirmed his guess.
Boom!
On the other side, the battle between Medea Lily and Medusa had also ended.
To everyone's surprise, the victor was... Medea-chan?
Medea Lily stood with her staff in hand, her entire body glowing with various support spells, looking like a goddess of war.
Meanwhile, Medusa lay miserably in a human-shaped crater against the wall, blood trickling from her lips, one arm twisted at an unnatural angle, her once-proud chest now sunken. Her body was slowly disintegrating into purple specks of light.
Looking at the smug smile on Medea's face and the bloodstains on her staff, Ryou had the urge to cover his face.
Buffing oneself with all sorts of enhancements and charging in for melee combat — that was the true way of a true mage, right?
Ding!
[You have slain Medusa (Assassin)!]
[Due to your low contribution, rewards have been reduced...]
[You have obtained one Agility Crystal.]