The cold black armor only stared coldly at Zouken Matou without any intention of taking action, but the red light filled with killing intent visible through the gap in the helmet startled Zouken.
Oda Nobunaga was the Sixth Heaven Demon King who had killed countless people in his past life.
However, so what if he's a Demon King? I have the Command Spells in my hand; even a god has to obey obediently.
Zouken raised the Command Spell imprinted with a strange symbol towards Nobunaga. Nobunaga, encased in pitch-black armor, looked at the three Command Spells and finally turned his gaze towards Meruem.
His pitch-black arm slowly pressed onto the long sword at his waist.
"Die!" With a flash of cold light, Oda Nobunaga's figure appeared in front of Meruem.
Iaijutsu (Quick Draw)!
The lightning-fast speed startled even Meruem.
Without any of the preamble typical of other Heroic Spirits before launching an attack, he attacked directly without a word.
What about the Bushido we agreed on? Why the sudden attack?
Although Nobunaga was fast, Meruem was not slow either. Don't forget, Meruem's Agility stat was as high as A+A+A+. His speed was faintly a shred faster than Nobunaga using Iaijutsu.
"Want to play with blades? Then I'll keep you company." From the void, Meruem pulled out a long saber. This was also one of the Noble Phantasms sucked into the alternate dimension from Goldie's Gate of Babylon earlier.
After all, dozens of weapons were sucked in, including sabers, swords, and even odd weapons like meteor hammers.
The white figure and the pitch-black figure clashed continuously in the sky; both were quite powerful martial arts types.
The tachi and the long saber clashed with metallic sounds. Although Meruem couldn't release the True Name of the Noble Phantasm, the long saber in his hand wasn't some roadside junk, and Nobunaga's tachi wasn't some heaven-defying item either, so the two were evenly matched for a while.
"Old worm, is this the guy you spent so much effort summoning? It seems his strength isn't as powerful as you expected?" During the gaps in the battle, Meruem didn't forget to provoke Zouken Matou's nerves.
Is Nobunaga weak? No, quite the opposite. Oda Nobunaga lives up to his title as the Sixth Heaven Demon King. If another Master were present, they would see that except for his Luck stat at B−B-B−, all other stats were actually above AAA.
What does this concept mean? It's on the level of Berserker Hercules after Mad Enhancement. And Hercules only gained such powerful stats after sacrificing his reason for Mad Enhancement.
Yet Oda Nobunaga, summoned illegally by Zouken Matou, retained his reason while possessing such powerful stats. Although there was certainly a boost from being in District 11 (Japan), Oda Nobunaga's origin, it also demonstrated that Oda Nobunaga truly deserved to be the strongest Heroic Spirit of District 11.
However, Oda Nobunaga was strong, but Meruem was not weak either.
In terms of strength and speed, he even completely suppressed the opponent.
"Damn it... Oda Nobunaga, this old man permits you to use your Noble Phantasm. Hurry up and finish this guy off." Meruem and Oda Nobunaga were stalemated for a while; neither could defeat the other.
But Zouken Matou could sense that the pawn Seimei he had placed earlier was about to be defeated by the combined efforts of those Servants.
Even if he had confidence in Oda Nobunaga and still had quite a few trump cards in hand, he couldn't fight against the combined efforts of several Heroic Spirits simultaneously.
The Holy Grail War wasn't nearing its end yet; exposing trump cards too early wasn't good.
"Yes, my lord." Another Iaijutsu slash was executed from Nobunaga's hand, forcing Meruem back. Then Nobunaga reached for the second tachi at his waist.
It was a purple tachi filled with ominous aura, slowly drawn by Nobunaga.
"The tachi contains astonishing vengeful spirits!" Others might not see it, but Meruem could. Countless vengeful spirits encircled that purple tachi, wailing.
This was a cursed sword, or a demon sword.
"This sword is named: Futsu-no-Mitama." Oda Nobunaga looked at Meruem and coldly spat out a few words. It seemed Meruem's strength had gained his acknowledgement.
"Futsu-no-Mitama?" Meruem raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. He had heard the name of Futsu-no-Mitama; it was a well-known ominous sword in District 11 and also a god-slaying blade. But he hadn't heard that this cursed sword belonged to Oda Nobunaga, right? According to history, the timeline seemed a bit off.
But now wasn't the time to think about that, because Oda Nobunaga was already swinging the tachi towards Meruem.
Something's wrong with this sword.
It can actually drain my stamina.
Not only that, it can also lower my strength.
Not long after engaging Oda Nobunaga, Meruem discovered the problem. Futsu-no-Mitama lived up to its name as a cursed sword. Although it didn't possess the powerful destructive force of the Sword of Promised Victory, it had the ability to drain the opponent's stamina and also lower the opponent's strength to a certain extent.
Combined with the power of resentment from the vengeful spirits on the tachi, an average Servant might really fall for it.
For a martial artist, wielding this cursed sword in battle provides a huge advantage.
But Futsu-no-Mitama also had weaknesses. As a tachi forged in District 11, it was sharp enough, but the blade body was relatively fragile compared to those famous swords.
"Iai Slash!" Meruem's figure suddenly disappeared from Nobunaga's sight.
This was the highest realm of sword technique Meruem could execute, thanks to Musashi's contribution.
Meruem's agility was as high as A+A+A+, but if combined with Meruem's spatial power, what realm would his speed reach?
This wasn't just a simple one plus one equals two.
A certain-kill strike.
The blade swung at extreme speed looked like it was about to cut Oda Nobunaga in half at the waist.
Clang! The sound of metal clashing rang out again.
Blocked.
The blade Meruem swung at extreme speed was firmly blocked in front of Oda Nobunaga by Futsu-no-Mitama.
Did the sword spirit protect its master? However, my goal has been achieved.
Due to the extreme exertion just now, the long saber in Meruem's hand was full of cracks and finally let out a mournful cry, turning into ashes.
"Haha, you have no weapon now. Oda Nobunaga, finish him off." Seeing all this, Zouken Matou let out a triumphant laugh, as if victory was right before his eyes.
"Idiot... do you think blocking my Iai Slash comes without a price?" Meruem mocked.
A mournful cry came from the purple blade, and clearly visible cracks covered the entire body of the sword.
Oda Nobunaga gently stroked Futsu-no-Mitama, which had blocked the fatal attack for him. Unlike Zouken, as the master of Futsu-no-Mitama, he understood. To block that attack for him, Futsu-no-Mitama had shattered.
"Alright, time is running out. The warm-up is over. Now, get ready. I'm going to use a part of my true power."
Instantly, strange patterns covered Meruem's entire body.
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PS: Chapter recommendation for a girl's new book "Kosaka Honoka's Blood Rending Eight Directions". Here is the link:
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