Karna raised the God-Slaying Spear high, a halo as radiant as the sun forming behind him. Even the rising morning sun paled in comparison to his brilliance, making him appear as if the Sun God himself had descended to earth.
"Nameless warrior hidden within the Eastern swordsman, I wish to know your name," Karna, holding the God-Slaying Spear aloft, suddenly spoke.
"Nguyen Ryou!"
Ryou loudly declared his name.
"A fine name! For the strongest foe of my second false life, with the utmost respect, I shall deliver my strongest strike!"
Under the intense heat, Karna's face seemed to blur.
As Karna began to chant the incantation to release his true name, the magical energy surged to its peak.
"Feel the mercy of the King of Gods, You will be destroyed with this one strike... Watch, Indra! I will burn it all! Vasavi Shakti!!"
Karna aimed the God-Slaying Spear at Ryou, the brilliance at its tip seeming to condense the entirety of the sun.
This strike could not be resisted by any individual, could not be evaded by anyone, and even gods would fall to it!
However, at that moment, a beam of light streaked across the sky, piercing Karna's heart instantly.
Karna tried to muster the strength to release his god-slaying strike, but several more beams of light followed, turning his body into a sieve.
Unable to hold the God-Slaying Spear any longer, it fell from his grasp, and he plummeted from the sky like a bird with broken wings.
While releasing this move, Karna's golden armor vanished as a sacrificial offering, and he nearly became one with the sun. Anything below an A-rank Noble Phantasm couldn't even approach him, being incinerated by the sun's indiscriminate flames.
Yet these successive light arrows seemed unaffected, plunging directly into the solar flames to obliterate Karna, their power beyond comprehension.
...
Time rewound to the moment Karna began to release the God-Slaying Spear.
Ryou immediately used telepathy to contact Ishtar in the distance.
'Hey, Goddess, it's time to get to work. I need you to kill someone.'
'Huh? This goddess is busy right now. Go find someone else!'
'Don't joke around. This is life or death! Goddess!'
'It's fine, it's fine. With my relationship with Ereshkigal, even if you die, I can bring you back...'
'Ah!!! Enough! In 20 seconds, I'm using a Command Seal. Do what you must!'
'How dare you! If you use a Command Seal now, this goddess won't let you off!'
'What are you doing!?'
'It's a rare opportunity, so this goddess is having a blast in Las Vegas~!'
'...By the Command Seal! Ishtar, kill Karna right now!'
'You! You! You are a scoundrel! Just wait, when I get back, I'm tying you to Maanna and launching you! You're...'
'I'll compensate you double for any losses! Now get to work!'
'You should have said so earlier~ but I want triple~'
'Four times! Now! Immediately!'
'Deal!'
So, after Ryou ended the exasperating telepathic conversation, within two seconds, an attack spanning half the globe descended, instantly killing the invincible Karna.
No wonder she is the true Heroic Spirit; she is incomparable to the Servant-like avatars.
On the back of Ryou's hand, one stroke of a blue Command Seal silently dissipated.
The dust settled.
Looking at Karna, who had fallen like the sun, Ryou deactivated the Heroic Spirit Descent state and slowly walked to his side.
"Sorry, I'm not an honorable warrior," Ryou sighed.
Karna, lying on the ground, began to sparkle with tiny points of light, a clear sign that he was about to disappear.
"No need for guilt. From the moment we stepped onto the battlefield, we were prepared for this. Killing and being killed are natural outcomes. All I can say is, Nguyen Ryou, you did well. My heart, frozen for so long, has become passionate again."
As he spoke, Karna couldn't help but cough up blood, accelerating his disappearance.
"I'll save your Master if it's within my power," Ryou blurted out, driven by an unknown impulse.
Karna's eyes widened. "Though I regret not being able to serve my Master to the end, you are my enemy; there's no need for you to do this..."
But Ryou smiled.
"I do what I want, regardless of others' opinions. I want to save them because of you, Karna, and for no other reason."
Hearing Ryou's words, a rare smile appeared on Karna's usually stoic face.
"Then let this past spirit owe you a favor."
Ryou's expression suddenly turned serious.
"Though this might displease you, I must use that favor now."
Facing Karna's surprised gaze, Ryou slowly said, "Please lend me your heart."
Faced with such an impolite request, Karna agreed almost without hesitation.
"Alright, I'm already on the brink of death. If this remnant of mine can help you, take it. It seems I've profited by exchanging my remains for a favor."
Moved by such a selfless and noble hero, Ryou couldn't help but speak.
"How about this: I promise you that someday, you will return under my command, and we will ride together across the battlefields of myriad worlds."
"Then I shall wish for that from the void of the Throne of Heroes."
With a serene smile, Karna disintegrated into stardust in the morning light.
"Farewell, Hero of Charity," Ryou whispered, watching the sparkling light with indescribable feelings.
In Ryou's hand was a crystal vial, inside which a heart, seemingly burning, was slowly beating.
To be honest, Karna was the epitome of an "ideal Heroic Spirit": obedient, powerful, hard-working, and without any arrogance.
Unlike his own two:
One was a queen, who advocated a form of Spartan-like harsh education, never letting him sleep well and often beating him half to death.
The other was a goddess, tsundere, greedy, and always unreliable at crucial moments, lacking any semblance of a deity.
Such misfortune!
How did I end up summoning these two?
Ryou felt a mix of pain and joy in his heart.
"Huh?"
Just then, a message from the system interrupted his thoughts.
Ding!
[Congratulations, host, for defeating the Servant and obtaining a Servant Inheritance Card and 200,000 energy points.]
[Since the Servant was not defeated solely by the host, the reward is reduced to a Fragmented Inheritance Card and 50,000 energy points.]
I didn't expect much from coming here, but I ended up with a pleasant surprise.
As for the issue of Ishtar intervening, which resulted in a reduced reward, Ryou had no regrets.
Given his current strength, even with the Descent Card, he could only spar with Karna without using his Noble Phantasm for barely ten minutes.
Ryou immediately checked the information on the Fragmented Inheritance Card.
It turned out that the Fragmented Inheritance Card allowed him to choose one ability from the Servant he killed. This could be a Class Skill, Personal Skill, or even a Noble Phantasm.
Moreover, the Fragmented Inheritance Card could be used not only by himself but also by any contracted Heroic Spirit.
However, because the Servant is merely an avatar of the Heroic Spirit, any chosen ability would be downgraded by one rank.
For example, if Ryou wanted to choose Karna's ultimate move "Vasavi Shakti," it would be downgraded from EX rank to A rank.
The power would be equivalent to the one Karna, as a Servant, had just unleashed.
Furthermore, the Fragmented Inheritance Card is not guaranteed to drop with every Servant kill; it's largely a matter of luck.
Above the Fragmented Inheritance Card, there's the Heroic Spirit Inheritance Card, which drops when the true Heroic Spirit is killed. The abilities chosen from this card retain their original rank.
With this, all the remaining Servants in this Holy Grail War, including Amakusa Shirou himself, became treasure chests in Ryou's eyes.
Of course, this excludes my wife Jeanne and Sieg's wife Astolfo, Ryou shamelessly thought to himself.
Alright, now let's see what I can inherit from Karna.
Ryou thought as he issued a command to the system, using the Fragmented Inheritance Card on the spot.
A detailed list, visible only to him, popped up immediately.
Karna's abilities, all included.
Class Skills excluded, Personal Skills excluded.
Without thinking twice, Ryou, having already tasted the benefits, scrolled to the bottom of the list and clicked on Karna's ultimate move.
[Selection Error!]
A line of red text mercilessly popped up from the system.
[Due to using a Fragmented Inheritance Card, the Noble Phantasm "Vasavi Shakti" cannot be selected.]
Ryou was greatly disappointed. Looking closer, he realized the bottom line was indeed different, faintly gray.
Of the remaining three options, he first excluded the Golden Armor.
The Golden Armor can reduce any damage taken to one-tenth, which is incredibly powerful and cost-effective.
Unfortunately, this ability conflicts with his Noble Phantasm "Crying Warmonger."
It's not that he awakened some strange attribute.
It's because his Blessing hasn't been sublimated into a Noble Phantasm and only works in the DanMachi world, cutting off a major source of his rapid attribute growth.
He now relies on the abilities attached to Crying Warmonger to quickly enhance his base attributes.
The Golden Armor is excellent for survival but won't make him stronger, so he has to give it up.
That left Brahmastra Kundala, a skill that enchants flying weapons with magical energy to increase their power and range.
And Brahmastra, a godly skill that kills with a glance.
The former excels in power and range, while the latter is convenient, highly concealed, and sudden.
And most importantly... it's cool!!!
Forget power, range, and practicality.
A true man kills with his eyes!
What's the point of being a strong person if you can't shoot beams from your eyes!
Without even half a second of hesitation, Ryou's finger clicked on the "Brahmastra: O' Brahma, Cover the Earth.
The moment he made his choice, he felt an invisible heat flow into his eyes.
Extremely excited, Ryou didn't think twice and aimed at a distant mountain, unleashing the new attack.
Swish!
A crimson "laser" swept across, and immediately, violent explosions erupted from the mountain peak, centered along that horizontal line. Large amounts of earth were instantly melted into lava by the high temperature, flowing downwards.
In an instant, Ryou had transformed an ordinary mountain peak into a volcanic inferno.
The power is less than Karna's…
Ryou couldn't help but frown slightly, suddenly feeling an extreme emptiness as if his body had been hollowed out.
Cold sweat broke out on his forehead instantly; this feeling was entirely unfamiliar to him.
"Master, you've exhausted your mana, quickly replenish it!" came an urgent voice from the side, belonging to Medea Lily, who had been watching the battle.
"I'm… out of mana!?"
Medea's reminder immediately made Ryou realize.
All along, he had never lacked mana in battle thanks to the Crying Warmonger, so he was too unfamiliar with this state and found himself somewhat at a loss.
But… replenishing mana…
Ryou's gaze instinctively turned to Medea, sizing up her seemingly petite but actually quite well-endowed body.
Perhaps Ryou's gaze was too direct, and given that Medea herself was a magus, she instantly understood the meaning behind his look.
Her cute little face immediately turned dark with anger.
Medea pulled out a twisted, strange dagger from her bosom with a look of irritation and asked in a "friendly" tone, "Master~ What are you looking at?~"
Ryou instinctively swallowed hard.
"N-nothing."
Not daring to look at her again, Ryou hurriedly exchanged for a mana recovery potion from the system and drank it.
A minty fragrance rushed from his mouth to his head, and he instantly felt his mind clear up, the symptoms of mana exhaustion quickly alleviating.
At this moment, Ryou's brain had already recovered from the dizzying state caused by mana deficiency.
So it was because of insufficient mana…
Ryou couldn't help but show a bitter smile. It seemed he still had a long way to go before truly unleashing the true power of Brahmastra.
Just one shot had drained all his mana; it seemed this Brahmastra move could only be used as a trump card for ambushes.
Just then, a valiant figure came running from afar, having noticed the commotion from Ryou's fierce battle with Karna. It was Jeanne.
"You!?"
Jeanne ran over, only to see the heavily burned Ryou and the landscape that looked like the surface of the moon.
"Jeanne, you're here. That guy attacked you, and since you couldn't fight back, I took care of him for you," Ryou said with a hearty laugh.
Sorry, my friend, but for the sake of my wife, I had to sell you out.
Ryou silently apologized to Karna in his heart.
However, Medea, whom only Ryou could see, was muttering resentfully to herself, "For this woman, Master deliberately stopped his injuries from healing. Master, you pervert! Scoundrel! Big liar!"
Unfortunately, Jeanne couldn't hear any of this. What she saw was a young man covered in wounds, having fought for her sake.
A warm feeling welled up in Jeanne's heart, and her originally stern expression softened.
"You got yourself all injured for something like this? You're just a human, after all; it's not worth it for someone like me, a spirit of the past…"
Before Jeanne could finish, Ryou suddenly raised a finger, pressing it against her lips.
"Whether it's worth it or not is for me to decide. I think it is!"
Jeanne's face immediately showed a look of helplessness as if she had been defeated by him, but the warmth and smile in her eyes couldn't be hidden.
"Can you still walk on your own?"
Jeanne asked with concern.
"I'll give it a try..."
Ryou took a step, but his foot twisted, and he involuntarily fell forward.
Jeanne leaped forward in an instant, catching him with a concerned expression, chiding, "Really, don't push yourself at a time like this."
"Sorry."
Ryou scratched the back of his head with a silly grin, looking like an innocent teenager.
"Let me help you walk."
Without further ado, Jeanne lifted one of Ryou's arms over her shoulders and supported him towards the Harley motorcycle that had fallen by the roadside.
Jeanne didn't notice the fleeting look of "plan succeeded" on Ryou's face.
It had to be said, this Harley was pretty lucky—it hadn't been damaged in the battle between the two, only toppled by the storm and lost a bit of paint, but nothing more.
When they reached the bike, under Jeanne's firm insistence, she took the driver's seat.
Ryou "reluctantly" agreed to sit in the back, wrapping his arms around Jeanne's slender waist.
Ah~ I finally get to hug the living Jeanne~ My wife's waist is so soft~
Living is worth it just for Jeanne~
A life without Jeanne would be meaningless!
Ryou, a certain otaku, had long forgotten that he had made similar perverted declarations about other characters like Altria (Lancer), Brynhildr, Scáthach, Ereshkigal, and Jeanne Alter!
Black smoke rose as the two rode off on the motorcycle, gradually disappearing into the distance.
However, the stir caused by Ryou was far from over.
...
In a room within the famous Dracula Castle, the head of the Yggdmillennia clan, Darnic, sat facing Vlad III. Between them was a crystal ball.
The crystal ball displayed the scene of Ryou and Karna's battle.
As the owner, the Yggdmillennia clan leveraged their power to control all the ley lines in and around Trifas. Using the power of the ley lines, they could monitor everything within a few hundred miles of Dracula Castle.
Ryou and Karna's battle was noticed even by some ordinary people in the nearby towns, so it was impossible for the local powerhouse, Yggdmillennia, to miss it.
Moreover, Karna had just fought Siegfried and was under close surveillance.
"An unexpected troublemaker..."
Vlad III swirled a glass of crimson wine lightly.
"Grand Duke, what do you think..."
Darnic hesitated.
"Darnic, there's no need to hold back. You don't consider me a Lord who can't take advice, do you?"
Vlad III waved his hand magnanimously.
"In that case, Grand Duke, forgive my rudeness. How do these two compare to you?"
Darnic stood and bowed deeply, his question rather pointed.
"The Red Lancer, Karna, right? That final move of his, even I am not certain of victory against it. It's a pity such a hero fell to a treacherous villain. Truly a pity..."
Vlad III's gaze towards Karna was filled with admiration and blatant fighting spirit. However, when his eyes shifted to Ryou, they were full of disdain.
"...As for this clown who only knows how to play tricks, he would be powerless under my 'Kazikli Bey.' He's not worth worrying about."
From Vlad III's perspective, Ryou had nothing to show for himself besides speed, and his victory was entirely due to a sneak attack akin to treachery.
Speed, which could be countered by his ability to summon twenty thousand iron stakes.
"Grand Duke, do you mean..."
Darnic asked cautiously.
"The Red Faction has lost their strongest card, and this troublemaker is no match for me. We can already start celebrating our victory in this Holy Grail War!"
Without Karna, how could he lose?
This Holy Grail War is in the bag!
Vlad III confidently assured himself.
"Congratulations, Grand Duke!"
Darnic, adept in political maneuvering, naturally wouldn't dampen the moment. He immediately picked up the wine bottle and filled Vlad III's goblet.
For a while, both host and guest enjoyed the moment to the fullest.
However, they were unaware that, at the same time, within the castle, a seemingly minor event was occurring, which would soon cause a massive upheaval.
...
Similarly, in the church, Amakusa Shirou, who was praying before a statue, suddenly opened his eyes and stood up with a serious expression.
"What is it, Master?"
The Empress's form materialized from her spiritual state.
"Karna has been defeated."
With these words, Semiramis immediately showed a stunned expression.
Others might not know, but she, who had been following Amakusa Shirou closely, was very aware of the terrifying power of the Son of the Sun God.
Karna was the son of Surya, the Sun God in Indian mythology, while Semiramis was merely the daughter of an obscure fish god. In terms of rank, they were not on the same level. Semiramis's divinity was only C, whereas Karna's was almost the highest level, A.
In terms of combat power alone, even with the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Empress didn't consider herself necessarily stronger than Karna.
Now, such a powerful hero had been quietly taken down by someone.
The Empress felt she must have misunderstood something—perhaps the Amakusa Shirou before her was not the real one.
"Honestly, I'm also very surprised. Moreover, my intuition tells me that this unexpected troublemaker might be the biggest obstacle to fulfilling my long-cherished wish!"
A hint of cold killing intent flashed in Amakusa Shirou's eyes.
Possessing the same A-rank "Revelation" as Jeanne, Amakusa Shirou could instinctively feel the immense threat posed by Ryou.
"Indeed, the path to fulfilling my wish is truly fraught with obstacles..."
A sudden emergence of a troublemaker with unknown power, the disobedient Mordred, the missing Spartacus, and the death of Karna.
The Red Faction had already suffered significant losses even before the war had begun.
Even though Amakusa Shirou was always calm and composed, remaining unfazed in the face of great adversity, he couldn't help but feel a bit of a headache.
"So, Master, what do you plan to do?"
...
Amakusa Shirou expressed his thoughts only for the two of them.
"Excellent! As expected of my Master, so decisive!"
Semiramis's bright eyes sparkled, and the dejection on her face vanished, replaced by an inexplicable excitement.
PS: 1 Power Stone = 1 Push up