The Exorcism Tale of Hachiman

Riding on the back of the giant fox, Hachiman Hikigaya looked at Artoria beside him and said.

Although the two were riding foxes at the same speed, Artoria possessed the inherent skill of riding.

If she acts alone, she can get back to provide support much faster.

"I understand."

Artoria, who was already anxious about the possibility of the Holy Grail being taken away, heard Hachiman Hikigaya nod and immediately distanced herself from him, running forward.

"That's really fast..."

Although their foxes were roughly the same size, the speed difference was so obvious that it made Hachiman Hikigaya feel a little frustrated.

However, Hachiman Hikigaya's attention was soon forced to focus on squeezing magical energy.

"What attack did Karna suffer? Why did he suddenly consume so much magic power?"

Karna's mana consumption was originally within the normal range, but just a moment ago, without releasing his Noble Phantasm, Karna suddenly took away three-quarters of Hachiman Hikigaya's mana.

A sudden depletion of magical energy within his body sent a wave of weakness and dizziness crashing into Hachiman Hikigaya's brain...

Another sudden sharp pain jolted Hachiman Hikigaya back to his senses, clearing his somewhat dazed mind.

Looking at the innocent-looking white fox in front of him, whose mouth still had a trace of blood, Hachiman Hikigaya helplessly reached out and patted its fluffy head.

Thank you so much.......

"It's nothing, sir, it's what I should do!"

Licking the blood that remained on his lips, Xiao Wu's eyes narrowed into slits.

After obtaining one-seventh of the divine power of Inari, Hachiman Hikigaya is, in a sense, Inari himself.

And the blood of Inari, the goddess of indigo, is naturally attractive to those created by her...

"Um, if you don't mind, I can help clean the wound~"

After cleaning the blood off her lips, Xiao Wu looked longingly at Hachiman Hikigaya's right hand, which she had just bitten.

"Xiao Wu!"

However, before Hachiman Hikigaya could answer, the majestic voice of the golden giant fox beneath him rang out.

"Hey, big sister, I was wrong!"

Upon hearing the chief priestess's voice, Xiao Wu instantly bristled. She no longer mentioned continuing to treat Hachiman Hikigaya's wounds and directly transformed into a mark, attaching herself to Hachiman Hikigaya's arm once more.

"................"

Hachiman Hikigaya silently watched the farce unfold before him.

With a formidable enemy at hand, the mischievous fox's antics suddenly made him less tense.

However, this is clearly just an illusion.

After regaining consciousness, the feeling of emptiness returned.

Especially with Karna constantly demanding magical energy from him, and with production unable to keep up with supply, Hachiman Hikigaya could only watch helplessly as his magical energy gradually dwindled...

And that's not even the worst part!

About ten minutes after Artoria left, the mana consumption increased again, becoming double the previous level.

It is clear that Artoria has already returned to Ryudouji Temple and engaged Archer in battle.

"If it's two people, even Archer could definitely beat them, right?"

From afar, Hachiman Hikigaya could already see the three people fighting at the foot of Mount Ryudouji.

Karna maintained his usual indifferent expression, though his disheveled hair and tattered golden armor seemed to testify to the intensity of the previous battle.

Beside him, Artoria, who had only recently joined the battle, looked even worse.

However, the armor formed from magic was far less defensive than Karna's golden armor. At this moment, her armor was not only tattered, but her body was also covered in wounds...

Similarly, Gilgamesh, their opponent, clearly didn't gain much advantage either.

Originally, he and Karna were both Great Heroic Spirits of the same caliber, with comparable strength.

After Karna received support from Artoria, under the combined attack of the two, even with endless Noble Phantasm defense, Gilgamesh's armor still had several deep cracks left!

Moreover, Gilgamesh's originally handsome face now had a thin, long bloodstain, ruining the original harmonious beauty.

At this moment, he was unleashing a barrage of Noble Phantasms at Karna and Artoria, but thanks to their coordinated defense, the dense rain of Noble Phantasms couldn't cause them any damage whatsoever...

Has the situation reached a stalemate for the time being?

After glancing at the battlefield on Karna's side, Hachiman Hikigaya bypassed them and headed straight for Ryudou Temple.

Before completely eliminating Archer, he needed to ascertain the situation of Irisviel and the Lesser Grail.

Unfortunately, he had barely stepped through the gates of Ryudou Temple when he encountered Kirei Kotomine, who shared the same thoughts as him...

Chapter 257 The Final Battle (Part 2)

"!"

Kirei Kotomine, who had just sneaked into the temple from the woods beside the steps, was taken aback when he saw Hachiman Hikigaya behind him. He then fired several black keys at him and rushed towards him at the same time.

"Close combat?"

For the first time since arriving in this world, Hachiman Hikigaya encountered an enemy who didn't stand still and unleash magic, but instead chose to engage in close combat.

While feeling surprised, he couldn't help but feel a strange sense of excitement.

"Dangdangdang..."

The Demon-Slaying Blade instantly appeared in his right hand. After slashing away all the attacking black keys, Hachiman Hikigaya looked up at Kirei Kotomine, only to find that the other had already rushed down to within a meter of him, bending over and preparing to attack his lower body.

"So fast..."

Completely different from the slow-moving magicians of the past, Kirei Kotomine is agile and his attacks are quite deadly!

Several black keys in his hand were thrust straight towards Hachiman Hikigaya's abdomen, while at the same time, the black keys in his other hand were aimed at Hachiman Hikigaya's neck.

No matter which side Hachiman chooses to rescue, the attack from the other side will absolutely cause fatal damage to the fragile human body if it hits!

However, Hachiman Hikigaya was not one of the magicians Kirei Kotomine had encountered before. He stepped back with his right foot and dodged Kirei Kotomine's attack on his abdomen with a sidestep. At the same time, his right-hand demon-slaying sword collided with the black key that was attacking his neck. The enormous force was quickly transmitted along the black key to Kirei Kotomine's arm, causing his arm to go numb and involuntarily loosen his grip on the black key.

Upon seeing the enemy's weapon disarmed on one hand, Hachiman Hikigaya immediately lowered his Demon Slayer Sword to entangle Kirei Kotomine's other hand, which was about to retract. At the same time, he charged up his magic power in his free left hand. After a pause of a fraction of a second, a powerful stream of spiritual energy burst out from his left hand, instantly sending Kirei Kotomine flying in front of him!

"I was careless..."

Despite being knocked away by the Spirit Stream, Kirei Kotomine, who was completely unharmed, immediately sprang back to his feet the moment he hit the ground.

He slightly bent his fingers, and suddenly several more black keys appeared in his hands.

While keeping a watchful eye on Hachiman Hikigaya standing in the distance, Kirei Kotomine looked at his right arm with a serious expression.

Of the original 16 Command Seals, 11 were inherited from his father, 2 were transferred from his master, and 3 were his own. Now only 14 remain!

"Such power... Even if you use Command Seals to negate the damage, does it still require two for just one shot?"

On the other hand, Hachiman Hikigaya was far more surprised than Kirei Kotomine.

It should be noted that the Spirit Flow Technique was a skill that he had obtained from the very beginning. With the current spiritual power (magic power) having increased many times over, its power would cause considerable damage if it directly hit spiritual power. However, Kirei Kotomine, who took a full hit from him at short distance, was completely unharmed!

"We have to resolve this quickly!"

After glancing at Sakura, who had dragged Irisviel into the house since the start of their battle, Hachiman Hikigaya decisively stepped forward and launched an attack.

"coming!"

Hikigaya Hachiman launched an attack, but Kirei Kotomine, who had already determined through their previous exchange that his physical strength was weaker than Hachiman's, immediately changed his offensive strategy, intending to use the physical skills he had honed through years of combat to deal with him.

"Breath of the Sun - Waltz!"

Taking a deep breath, Hachiman Hikigaya entered a breathing technique state.

Instantly, his movement speed doubled.

"You were holding back your strength just now?!"

Kirei Kotomine, who was already prepared to deal with the attack, saw Hachiman Hikigaya's figure suddenly swell up, his pupils instantly contracted, and then a Command Seal on his arm was instantly consumed to enhance the various qualities of his body.

Just as Hachiman Hikigaya was about to pounce on Kirei Kotomine, he suddenly bent down and dodged Hachiman Hikigaya's sweeping attack.

However, Hachiman Hikigaya's attack did not end there!

The waltz didn't work. Seeing Kirei Kotomine's body almost parallel to the ground, Hachiman Hikigaya twisted his body and forced himself to turn around in mid-air.

"Breath of the Sun - The Setting Sun Turns Around!"

To Kirei Kotomine's astonishment, after his sweeping attack, Hachiman Hikigaya turned around and launched another attack on him in an instant for reasons that were completely incomprehensible.

Shocked and helpless, Kirei Kotomine, who couldn't possibly fall like this, used up another Command Seal. Instantly, his body flipped over at an incredible angle, almost touching the edge of the Demon Slayer Sword, to dodge.

After successfully dodging Hachiman Hikigaya's double attack, Kirei Kotomine quickly straightened up and then kicked Hachiman Hikigaya, who was still in mid-air.

Using the force of Kirei Kotomine's kick, Hachiman Hikigaya landed back in his original position and charged forward again without any pause.

Kirei Kotomine didn't hesitate for even a second. After enhancing his magic, he threw four black keys, one in each hand, and charged up the mountain to meet the attack...

While the battle raged fiercely inside the Willow Cave, at the foot of the mountain, Gilgamesh's battle with Karna and Artoria had also reached a fever pitch.

After realizing that the mere rain of Noble Phantasms could not cause any real damage to the two, Gilgamesh stopped attacking from above alone.

A golden wall of light could appear at any time in the sky, on the ground, or in any direction around Karna and Artoria, from which several top-tier Noble Phantasms would be fired!

“Saber, cover me…”

Karna's face remained indifferent.

Looking at the golden walls of light filling the sky, he didn't panic. Instead, he was eager to launch an attack.

"Lancer, are you serious?"

Artoria deflected a thrown spear with her sword, and upon hearing Karna's words, she instantly thought he had gone mad!

Karna is already at his limit just by defending against attacks, and now he actually wants to launch an attack...

Even if he has a defensive Noble Phantasm, he would definitely fall to the rain of Noble Phantasms, right?

"Of course, I never lie..."

As if oblivious to the expression on Artoria's face, Karna stated in a declarative tone the fact that he was about to launch an attack.