Dense spikes shot out in all directions, surrounding Ryou.
The spikes struck the ruins at his feet, stirring up a large cloud of dust that enveloped his entire figure.
But in the next moment, a blade's flash, like moonlight, split through the smoke. The dust cloud was cleaved in two, and the severed spikes clattered to the ground.
Emerging from the smoke, Ryou, now dressed in a purple samurai's outfit after a quick change, rushed forward.
Sakura raised an eyebrow. She lifted her right hand, the one not holding the gemstone, with her palm facing upward, slowly raising it.
Golden patterns on her right arm flickered irregularly as energy flowed through it, gathering in her palm. The light turned to darkness, forming a pure black energy sphere.
Ryou was instantly shocked at the sight.
Light energy can transform into dark energy. What kind of ability is this? That gemstone holds a significant secret!
His mind raced as he quickly devised a plan.
"Attack the gemstone in her hand!"
Ryou commanded through mental communication.
Sakura clutched the gemstone tightly. From her earlier actions, it was clear the power of the gemstone was too much for her to fully control.
This was her weakness—one of her own making.
Swish!
Ais quickly circled behind Sakura, thrusting her sword toward her heart.
Mercury instantly formed a round shield behind Sakura, following her like a shadow.
Unexpectedly, Ais's sword flickered, and the tip suddenly changed direction, darting toward Sakura's left hand.
"Hah!"
At the same time, Jeanne's flag whipped up a violent gust of wind, crashing down toward Sakura's head.
Mercury quickly formed a new shield in the direction of their attacks.
In the next moment, Ais's sword struck the mercury shield with force. Wind elements, like a drill, relentlessly bored into the shield, sending sparks flying and emitting a piercing noise that made one's scalp tingle.
Immediately after, Jeanne's flag slammed onto the shield above Sakura's head with a deafening boom. A white shockwave spread from the point of impact, sweeping away debris, dust, and rubble in all directions.
Seeing that Ryou was closing in, Sakura furrowed her brow slightly and was forced to prematurely release the energy of the black sphere in her hand.
Suddenly, a terrifying force erupted from her palm, rapidly expanding outward.
From above, it looked like a bowl-shaped black energy dome, growing larger as it spread.
Ais quickly retreated with the aid of the wind element, narrowly avoiding the blast.
Jeanne, moving slightly slower, was directly hit by the energy and blown away.
Abandoning his offensive, Ryou hurried to catch Jeanne and retreated.
The black energy dome continued to expand, covering nearly a kilometer before gradually dissipating.
Everything within the dome—branches, leaves, rubble, even the lawn in front of Buckingham Palace—was completely erased. From above, a perfect circle, about a kilometer in diameter, had been carved into the ground.
Ryou, having retreated to a safe distance, quickly checked Jeanne's injuries.
His expression darkened. Jeanne, once so valiant, was now covered in smoke. Her silver-white armor was riddled with corrosive pits, and her clothing was full of holes, exposing patches of skin that had turned an unnatural purple-black.
Her eyes were closed, her brow furrowed, and from time to time, unconscious moans escaped her lips.
One hit had left Jeanne severely injured and unconscious.
That black energy was truly terrifying.
Ryou immediately exchanged energy for a bottle of the highest-grade healing potion.
Just as he was about to administer it, he realized Jeanne had fallen into a deep coma.
With no other option, he took a large gulp of the potion himself and used a mouth-to-mouth method to feed it to her.
Jeanne's lips were soft, with a faint scent of flowers, but he had no thoughts of nefarious in his heart.
As expected, the potion produced by the system was powerful. After Jeanne consumed it, the spread of the purple-black hue on her skin slowed.
He then spent 100,000 energy points in exchange for a bottle of ultra-concentrated holy water.
According to the system, this holy water was a true artifact blessed by Jehovah, with effects comparable to a noble phantasm. Unfortunately, it was a one-time-use item.
Ryou poured the holy water over Jeanne as if he were dumping out a cheap bottle of water.
The effect was extraordinary. Black smoke billowed from Jeanne's body, and the purple-black hue on her skin began to fade at a visible rate.
However, the holy water seemed to be a bit too potent, as Jeanne let out a soft, unconscious moan.
While he focused on treating Jeanne, Ais faced Sakura alone.
Fortunately, Ais was experienced in battle. She avoided direct combat, instead using smoke bombs from Yamato and Shimakaze, relying on her wind-enhanced agility to launch guerrilla attacks.
"Petty tricks!"
Sakura scoffed, visibly irritated.
She raised her right hand and made a series of strange, mysterious gestures.
Suddenly, the shadow beneath her feet came to life, transforming into countless snake-like heads that swayed back and forth.
It was a chaotic dance of shadows.
Ais, caught off guard, nearly fell into the trap. But her quick reflexes saved her. Before the shadow snakes could close in, she unleashed the wind coiled around her body in a powerful burst, sending wind blades flying in all directions, slicing the shadow snakes to pieces. Ais quickly escaped the encirclement.
After a brief observation, she realized that while the shadow snakes were agile, they were much less durable than mercury.
Together, though, the two defenses complemented each other perfectly—one flexible, the other sturdy.
Seeing her trick exposed, Sakura changed her approach.
She absorbed energy from the gemstone in her left hand. After her transformation, another black energy sphere formed in her right hand.
Ais tensed, her eyes locked on Sakura's every move.
Sakura smiled sweetly and, with a flick of her fingers, split the black energy sphere. One became two, two became four…
Until over a thousand tiny black raindrops floated above her palm.
"Careful now—don't die too easily," Sakura teased with a faint smile, flicking her hand to send the black raindrops raining down toward Ais.
Despite Ais's best efforts to dodge, several of the black raindrops still struck her.
The wind element surrounding her was quickly pierced, leaving multiple small holes.
Her light magical armor provided only slight resistance, and large portions of it melted away instantly.
The black raindrops then hit her arm, thigh, and waist without further hindrance.
"Ugh!"
Ais let out a muffled groan, her steps faltering as she nearly stumbled to the ground.
The areas of her skin that had been hit turned a purple-black color as if they had necrotized instantly.
Ryou, having just finished tending to Jeanne—who had already opened her eyes—saw that Ais was now seriously injured as well.
If things continued like this, total annihilation was inevitable.
He made a swift decision.
He issued a command through their mental link.
"This tactic... How could it work?! It's far too risky!"
Jeanne, standing beside him, looked at him in shock. But when she saw his cold, terrifying expression, she knew there was no dissuading him, either as a Servant or as his lover.
Without a word, Ryou placed several bottles of healing potions and holy water beside Jeanne.
Then, he slowly started walking toward Sakura, picking up speed until he was sprinting.
"Oh? After watching for so long, you've finally decided to come over and die?"
Sakura chuckled.
Ryou remained silent, his expression cold, and instead shouted at Ais.
"Kouhai, fall back!"
A rare look of frustration crossed Ais's usually expressionless face.
But after years of adventuring in dungeons with her familia, Ais had developed the good habit of always obeying the leader's commands.
She tossed a few wind blades at Sakura before retreating to Jeanne's side.
As soon as the wind element around her dissipated, Ais staggered and dropped to one knee.
Jeanne immediately supported her.
Suddenly, Jeanne felt Ais's body trembling violently under her palm.
Having personally experienced the agony of dark magic's corrosion, Jeanne quickly realized that Ais had been enduring severe pain while continuing to fight.
"You foolish girl!"
Jeanne cried, both angry and heartbroken. This innocent girl had no one to look after her and was so reckless with her well-being.
She quickly applied holy water to Ais's wounds and helped her drink a healing potion.
After a round of treatment, Ais moved her limbs and found that most of her combat strength had returned. She then looked at Jeanne.
Jeanne knew that Ais was waiting for her decision.
But when Jeanne thought of Ryou's plan, she couldn't help but worry. Their enemy was as cunning as a demon—would things go as Ryou had predicted?
Despite her concerns, Jeanne decided to trust her Master and lover's judgment.
"We're retreating immediately!"
Jeanne gritted her teeth and said.
Ais silently nodded, her expression a mix of reluctance and sadness.
Jeanne placed a hand on Ais's head and gently comforted her.
"If we stay, we'll only be a burden. As contracted Servants, we need to trust our Master. If you're dissatisfied, work hard to get stronger."
Ais nodded fiercely, her eyes burning with determination.
If the Tower of Aincrad were in front of her, Ais would probably clear it from the first floor to the hundredth in one go.
While Ais retreated to Jeanne's side, Ryou had already engaged Sakura in battle.
With the power of the Descent Card boosting him, Ryou danced on the edge of death, weaving through danger like a dancer on a knife's edge.
The katana in his hand traced strange trajectories, attacking Sakura from impossible angles.
If not for the immense power granted to her by the mysterious gemstone, the mercury defense would have already failed, and Ryou's katana would have bypassed it to take her head.
Even with the greatly enhanced mercury, it was struggling to keep up with his mesmerizing sword dance.
Desperate, Sakura brought most of her shadow snakes into the defense.
A strange glint flashed in Sakura's eyes, and a smile appeared on her face.
"It looks like your companions have abandoned you."
By now, Jeanne and Ais had fully recovered and retreated, following Ryou's plan.
The two ship girls had also withdrawn toward the Thames River.
Suddenly, the battlefield was empty, leaving Ryou alone. It was as if the others had secretly agreed to abandon him.
Faced with Sakura's taunt, Ryou's expression remained unchanged. This was all part of his plan.
Swish, swish, swish!
Seizing her momentary distraction, he unleashed three consecutive strikes, targeting her neck, heart, and knee.
If not for the quick release of a black energy shield, she would have been decapitated.
After careful observation, Ryou had identified a minor weakness in the mercury defense.
The speed of the mercury's response was tied to Sakura's own reaction time. If she failed to react quickly, the mercury wouldn't be fast enough to block his attacks.
And Sasaki Kojiro's Yagyū Shinkage-ryū swordsmanship was all about speed and unpredictability.
As Kojiro once said, his swordsmanship was an evil path, designed to take someone's head before they even realized it.
"Such a beautiful yet deadly sword technique," Sakura commented, even as she narrowly escaped death.
At that moment, Ryou threw a barrage of flashbangs and smoke bombs before quickly retreating toward the Thames.
Sakura instinctively raised her hand to shield her eyes.
As the effects of the flashbangs wore off, her expression darkened with fury.
"Don't think you can escape!"
Her face contorted with anger, and the gemstone in her left hand flared, pouring massive amounts of energy into her body.
Whoosh!
A pair of massive black wings formed behind her. With a powerful flap, the wings generated tremendous thrust, propelling Sakura toward Ryou at lightning speed.
In an instant, she appeared in front of him, blocking his path.
"You plan to use a high-powered weapon to blast this place, so you had them retreat ahead of time, didn't you?"
"Too bad. Your intentions are far too obvious. All I need to do is stay close to you. If you want to use a high-powered weapon to kill me, you'll have to die alongside me!"
"Sorry, but I never planned to die with someone like you."
To her surprise, Ryou's face showed no disappointment at her seeing through his plan. Instead, it was filled with triumph, as though his scheme had succeeded.