You are very strong, but my painting style is better than yours!

"..."

"..."

No one spoke, and Rafe stared in disbelief at what was behind him:

The Greater Grail is gone.

Not only that, he also seems to have lost his connection with his "original body"...

Ugh?

Wait a minute, if I don't have enough magic power, then I...

The Greater Grail is missing?

"Did Rafe do it?"

"But why was he so surprised?"

"He doesn't know either..."

"By the way, the magical reaction on Rafe has decreased a lot."

"Could it be that……"

Suddenly realizing something was wrong, Rafe turned around, his smile already quite forced.

Seeing that Mash and Cú Chulainn had quickly realized what was happening and were eyeing him menacingly, he took a deep breath:

"Hey! Is it possible to reconcile?"

……

boom!

The Greater Grail, summoned from some unknown singularity, was cleaved in two by Iori's blade. He ignored the immense magical impact, his eyes fixed on the distant Beast of Doom.

The Beast of the End watched him with mixed feelings: 'This guy... he's far too tenacious.'

Logically speaking, as the ultimate trial given to humanity by the universe, she has infinite power at her disposal, and her authority in various aspects touches upon the truth of the universe. However, no matter what form of attack she launches, it seems that she cannot put enough pressure on Iori.

"Is that all?"

Iori carried the savior sword on her shoulder, looking somewhat listless.

"Haven't you noticed yet?"

The wedding dress of the Beast of the End fluttered in the energy tide, and twelve dark red halos spun behind her like a sun corona. "The more you use mythical weapons, the faster the order will collapse, and the larger the scale of my summoning will become!"

As if to confirm her words, a huge gap suddenly appeared above their heads, connecting the Sea of ​​Imaginary Numbers to another space.

Rumble…

The remains of the Greek Mecha God, along with fragments of the entire interstellar city, rained down. Iori's pupils constricted as he swung his savior sword to fight back, but the Beast of the End seized the opportunity to unleash the Chains of Lies (Norse mythology), binding his ankle—

Similar to the Chains of Heaven, the higher the divinity, the greater the power, and the stronger the chain becomes!

"Fall!"

The light wheel burst forth with jet-black lightning, and the beast's power transformed into a celestial body that sent Iori flying, crashing heavily into a suddenly unfolding bubble of time and space—the Russian Lostbelt.

The permafrost ice field cracked open into abysses upon impact, and the Yaga's mournful cries were frozen by the cold wave before they could be heard, as if an extraterrestrial meteorite that had once destroyed the entire world had fallen again.

He coughed twice and leaped out of the ice cave, his body returning to perfect condition in the blink of an eye. Before he even raised his head, he suddenly swung the platinum radiance in his right hand, and the God of Salvation Blade instantly cleaved the light cannon chasing the Beast of Doom in two. The scattered aftershocks ignited the entire Lostbelt into a white inferno.

"It's really difficult..."

The Beast of Doom frowned as it watched the figure emerge from the sea of ​​fire.

Iori's white clothes were already tattered and worn. Although they were specially made divine artifact-level equipment, they were still insufficient on a battlefield of this level.

However, the pale golden aura surrounding him became even more dazzling—a sign that he had pushed the [Fluid] power to its limit.

Suddenly, Iori's figure split in the girl's vision, and her clones, each wielding a different divine weapon, attacked from various timelines. The slash of the Ama-no-Murakumo and the Zanpakuto fell simultaneously, and the weapons of the Steel God also revealed their sharp edges.

The Beast of the End sneered and raised its hand, the Ten Commandments of King Solomon lighting up at its fingertips: "The time of birth has come; let this correct all things (Ars AlmadelSalomonis)!"

The phantoms of the seventy-two demon god pillars stretched across the heavens and earth, a huge halo stretched across the sky, and hundreds of millions of rays of light, equivalent to the highest-level Noble Phantasms, began to "focus" under the control of the Beast of the End.

The power of the beast!

Increase! Increase! Increase!

The realm of Goetia has been completely surpassed, and the power of this Noble Phantasm has reached an unprecedented level!

However, as if in response, the platinum divine sword in Iori's hand also shone with an increasingly brilliant light!

"That knife is even more troublesome than the [Logic of Comparison]!"

The girl frowned, but she didn't have time to think too much right now, and directly released the demonic light that could destroy three thousand worlds—

"The Strongest Divine Strike!"

Like a giant lightsaber, the platinum-colored blade shot from the ground into the sky, colliding head-on with the Demon King's third Noble Phantasm. The ice and snow of the Russian Lostbelt melted almost instantly, and the immense heat enveloped the entire planet.

Taking advantage of this brief moment, a faint white light appeared in Iori's palm as she unfolded the treasure she had previously seized—

"It's now!"

The powerful slash parted the energy tide, and as Iori faced the Beast of the End, a round shield resembling a Celtic cross appeared in his left hand.

"That is……"

The Beast of the End's pupils shrank suddenly, and a sense of fear inexplicably arose in its heart.

"No...don't touch me with that thing!"

"【The now distant ideal city (Lord Camelot)】!"

Suddenly, the shield fragments burst forth with a pure white light that concealed a rainbow-like glow, and the Beast of the End abruptly stopped moving.

Those deliberately buried memories pierce the soul like sharp swords:

Mashu raises her shield to protect the dark King Arthur; Fuyuki City burns; a werewolf fires a lonely shot on the icy plains; her first encounter with the goddess of the underworld on a starlit night; the silly grin she gave when she secretly pocketed the Saint Quartz…

"Ah ah ah ah ah--!"

The Beast of the End suddenly clutched its head, and a clear amber light cracked open in its rainbow-colored eyes.

The expression on the right half of her face began to contort, and the blackness on the wedding dress faded like snow exposed to sunlight: "I...I am...Iori, quick, I...cut it off...cut it off too!"

"Ritsuka!"

Without hesitation, Iori summoned the Star Grail, consuming magic power comparable to the source of a planet in just one breath.

He placed the Star Cup on the Round Table Shield that once protected humanity, and what he summoned was not the pure white city wall of the Perfect City, but the phantoms of heroic spirits, which were completely reproduced in the void just like the real Hall of Heroes!

"Master!"

"Master!"

"Little piglet!"

"My player..."

"Husband!"

"Humph!"

"Ritsuka!"

"Your name is—"

The rainbow light of True Name Liberation acted as a bridge piercing through the darkness, and the phantoms of the Chaldea members appeared one by one in the light—

【Fujimaru Ritsuka】!

The crimson halo of the Beast of the End shattered amidst the rainbow light, and cracks appeared on the beast crown atop her head. She struggled to summon the power of the Throne of Heroes, but her right eye suddenly regained its clarity: "I won't let you... succeed...!"

Ritsuka's personality forcibly controlled her left hand to grab her right wrist, and taking this opportunity, Iori's golden sword pierced through her chest, and the spirit words that appeared on the blade instantly wrapped around her body like chains.

"Got you!"

Panting, Iori twisted the hilt of her sword, the light of the Star Cup and the rainbow light of her shield intertwining to form a cage. "Give me back my contractor!"

Blood tears suddenly streamed from the Beast of the End's left eye, yet a poignant smile curved its lips: "Is that so...? Is the bond with the Heroic Spirit... stronger than I imagined?"

The entire imaginary space suddenly fell silent—

Iori turned around abruptly and found that all the floating Lostbelts and Singularities had stopped moving.

The rainbow light released by Mash's shield spread through space and time, calming the chaotic tides created by the Beast of Doom wherever it passed. At the end of the path of light, the Hall of Heroes was rising and falling from the inner sea of ​​the star.

"I see……"

The Beast of Doom looked at its hands, which were gradually becoming transparent. "Your shields are the medium for summoning spells... all bonds can use them as a vessel... I miscalculated! I never expected that mere humans... the will of humans could actually resist the final trial!"

“Not just ‘humans’,” Iori grasped her fading hand. “From the moment Ritsuka became a beast, she was waiting for someone to raise this shield… Humans are far stronger than you think.”

The Beast of the End stared blankly at the fragments of memory that emerged in the rainbow light: Ritsuka from countless timelines had worked towards the same goal, forging deep bonds with many Heroic Spirits and the people of Chaldea in the process, and these bonds became the anchors of cause and effect... All of this had accumulated the power for this counterattack.

Even without Iori's intervention, one day in the future, a "Fujimaru Ritsuka" will jump out from some timeline, challenge her, and then use this shield, right?

"How...foolish..."

Her figure began to transform into specks of light, a relieved smile playing on her lips. "But this foolishness... is dazzlingly enviable..."

As the last glimmer of light faded, the weight in Iori's arms suddenly felt real. Ritsuka, wearing a tattered Chaldea uniform, slowly opened her eyes, the pale red Command Seals on the back of her hand resembling the first rays of dawn.

"……it's over."

Iori let out a long sigh.

Of course, the Beast of the End will not die. Since its birth, it has been the ultimate trial of this universe. As long as the universe itself does not perish, its malice towards humanity will not disappear.

However, when she will return in the flow of time is something that cannot be predicted...

The imaginary space began to collapse, and Iori returned to the inner sea of ​​the star. Petals fluttered down through the spatial rifts.

At the crossroads of end and origin, Iori carries the unconscious girl through the portal to the world's surface, while behind him, the faint voice of Rin from Space echoes:

"Well done... Remember to come on the next tour, I'll save you a front-row ticket~"

As soon as she finished speaking, a beautifully printed ticket floated over, and Iori glanced at it—

Why are Nero and the dragon girl on top?

"oops!"

Iori reached out but couldn't grab it: "Oops, I accidentally missed~"

Before Yuju Rin could react, Iori decisively jumped into the passage.

……

"So, it's over?"

The petals of the Starry Sea suddenly froze in mid-air, and the hem of Dr. Roman's white coat was gently lifted by an invisible wind.

He raised his right hand blankly, feeling a sense of relief mixed with a sense of bewilderment.

"Oh dear, isn't this our reliable doctor?"

Leonardo da Vinci appeared behind Roman, brandishing his quill pen.

Mashu's long hair swept past the lilies of the valley at her feet as she walked from the end of the flower path, shield in hand, accompanied by a white beast that was as majestic as a horse but looked like a slender cat.

Aside from Roman, the remaining three are Ritsuka's companions from the first loop. In fact, they did not die completely, but were permanently isolated from Ritsuka's world by the larvae of the [Beast of the End].

Moreover, even when they meet face to face, Ritsuka cannot sense their presence, as if they are in different spaces.

But now that they have been defeated by Iori in the final trial, they can return to Chaldea.

"you……"

Roman looked at the three of them (including Fufu) with a puzzled yet delighted expression.

"It seems you've been through a lot... Can you tell me about it? Don't rush, take your time, we can rest for a while."

Chapter 567 Returning to Daily Life?

Artificial sunlight streamed into the room through the gaps in the curtains in the early morning. Ritsuka rubbed her sleepy eyes and reached out to turn off the alarm clock on the bedside table. Outside the window came Fou's soft "Fou-woo" cry, followed by Mashu's gentle footsteps.

"Senior, are you awake?"

Mashu knocked gently on the door, her voice as gentle as ever.