As Northern Emperor Aubel's sword was about to strike Eris, Shirou arrived just in time, completely blocking the blade that was about to be stained with blood.
After completing the final trial on the aerial fortress and fully mastering Unlimited Blade Works, he rushed to the Asura Kingdom without stopping.
Even though his body hadn't fully recovered, he didn't pause for even a moment.
And because Dragon King Perugius had a teleportation magic circle within the Asura Kingdom, Shirou didn't need to cross most of the central continent. By using the teleportation magic circle, he instantly went from the Ranoa Kingdom to inside the Asura Kingdom's border.
Next, he arrived at the royal capital at top speed, and using his Clairvoyance ability, he instantly found the situation at the execution ground and arrived at the critical moment, completing the rescue!
"Clang."
Shirou blocked Northern Emperor Aubel's sword with a sword behind him, and in the process, he didn't even turn his head, as if he didn't see Aubel as a threat at all.
This scene stunned everyone present.
Especially the Darius faction. Darius, First Prince Gravel, and others originally thought they had victory within their grasp. After Ghislaine was defeated by the Water God and Eris was defeated by the Northern Emperor, the Ariel faction, which had lost two Sword Kings, was about to completely collapse. But they never expected that things would suddenly change so much.
The sudden appearance of Shirou added some uncertainty to what was happening.
Of course, Darius and the others were still confident enough. They felt that everything was under control and that nothing could change.
Even if Shirou didn't seem simple, they didn't think he could suppress the scene by himself, let alone leave here alive!
"Shirou..."
In contrast, Ariel's expression was incredibly shocked and shaken.
She never expected him to appear at such a crucial moment. For a moment, she showed a complex mix of emotions, but these thoughts eventually turned into reason and calm. She immediately said, "Shirou, quickly take Eris away. As long as she can survive..."
Ariel made the most logical decision, which was to have Shirou save Eris.
Although doing so would mean that the Ariel faction that remained here would inevitably be targeted by Gravel's faction, and might even be completely wiped out, at least they could leave a chance for the future.
Most importantly, Ariel didn't think Shirou could completely reverse the situation by himself. Now that Eris and Ghislaine had already been defeated, she couldn't see any hope of victory.
"..."
Shirou's expression didn't change when he heard Ariel's words, and he didn't move from where he was standing.
He only gave Ariel a calm smile in the end, a smile that seemed to say, "I told you, don't be afraid, because I'm here now."
Seeing his smiling face, Ariel's heart beat very quickly for some reason.
She tried hard to control the strange feeling in her heart, but she didn't know what to say.
At the same time, the Northern Emperor and Northern Kings around the execution platform had already set their sights on Shirou. They hadn't noticed when Shirou had appeared at all. It was as if he had teleported, suddenly entering between Aubel and Eris.
"That speed... you must be at least a Sword King."
Aubel looked at Shirou with amazement, "I didn't expect to fight three Sword Kings in one day. I feel like even if I went straight to the Holy Land of Swords, I wouldn't encounter King-level Sword God Style users so often."
"Are you the Northern Emperor?"
Hearing Aubel's words, Shirou finally turned around.
He held a common long sword, one that seemed like it could be found in even the most ordinary blacksmith shop, and stood in front of Aubel with calm and steady movements.
Aubel looked at him silently and nodded, "I am Aubel with the Peacock Sword, a Northern Emperor."
"Aubel with the Peacock Sword, I've heard your name. A long time ago, I fought one of your disciples, a Northern Saint named Rodriguez."
"Rodriguez? Oh, he's indeed one of the more outstanding younger members. I heard that he went to the Demon Continent to adventure."
"That's where I met him, on the Demon Continent. He even gave me a keepsake from the North God Style's Unorthodox Faction."
"Really... It seems that guy Rodriguez thinks highly of you."
Even though they were on a battlefield where it was either you or me, Shirou and Northern Emperor Aubel were chatting like ordinary adventurers in a tavern, chatting without realizing it.
It was a case of strong people recognizing each other. Aubel wasn't the kind of maniac who enjoyed killing, but a true strong person who also followed the principles of a swordsman.
If their positions didn't conflict, he might not even fight Eris and the others to the death, but would become good teachers and helpful friends to each other.
Unfortunately, although Aubel himself had the air of a master, Darius obviously wouldn't allow him to waste time with Shirou in this place.
Darius couldn't wait to say, "Don't waste time, Aubel. Capture all these guys quickly. I'll give you double, no, triple the commission!"
"Oh dear, my employer is really impatient."
Aubel said with a helpless expression, "What a pity, it seems our chat has to end here. Let's continue our conversation with swords!"
"Come on."
Shirou drew the long sword behind him, ready to fight the Northern Emperor, but he didn't expect a few Northern Kings to jump out in front of Aubel.
"There's no need for Master Aubel to take action against this kind of nobody!"
A Northern King with an extremely small figure walked out slowly, his height being no more than a meter, obviously a member of the Mine Tribe. "A person like Mad Sword King or Black Wolf Sword King is a different story, but this unknown guy, leave him to us!"
After the Mine Tribe's Northern King spoke, he came directly in front of Shirou, along with two other Northern Kings, one a human with a medium build, and the other a beastman.
Putting aside the human Northern King, Shirou felt like he had seen the beastman Northern King somewhere before.
He couldn't remember for a moment, until the other party introduced himself.
"My name is Northern King Vita! One of the North God's Three Swordsmen! Vita of Light and Darkness!"
The one who spoke first was the dwarf Northern King. A full suit of armor covered his small body. The armor seemed to be very well polished, and it glittered under the sunlight. His whole body was short and dumpy, like a disco ball in a nightclub.
"I am Northern King Isis."
The human Northern King also introduced himself silently, but he didn't have as much personality as Northern King Vita.
It was the last beastman Northern King's turn. He was a beastman with rabbit ears, and he spoke slowly, "I am Northern King Nakuljad."
Hearing the name Nakul, memories flooded Shirou's mind.
It was when Ariel came to the Boreas family, when Ariel was on her way back, she was attacked by a pair of Northern Saint beastman brothers.
At that time, Shirou intervened in time, saved Ariel, and severed one of the Northern Saint brothers' arms.
He remembered that the names of the Northern Saint brothers he met at that time were Nakuljad!
"It's you?"
"It's you?"
Hearing Shirou's words, Nakuljad obviously recognized him immediately. Although Shirou's appearance had changed greatly now, the general features hadn't changed, so Nakuljad recognized him immediately.
Nakuljad was stunned at first that they would meet again in such a bad situation, and then a look of hatred appeared on his face.
"It's you, you bastard who killed my brother!"
"Killed your brother? I didn't kill him back then, did I?"
"You severed his arm, making him unfit to be a swordsman. One day after that, he chose to take his own life! I had no choice but to inherit his will and fight under the name of Nakuljad!"
Nakuljad's expression was full of anger, and his gaze towards Shirou was full of hatred, "Over the years, I have become a disciple of Northern Emperor Aubel, and I have worked hard to learn the techniques of the Unorthodox Faction. Now I have finally become a Northern King, for the sake of avenging the murderer who killed my brother! Now I have finally gotten the chance!!"
He never expected that his actions to save Ariel would cause such complicated issues.
If it were the Shirou of the past, he might feel regret and remorse for this, and would wonder if his actions were in line with the definition of justice.
But the current Shirou didn't have any of those thoughts. He didn't react to Nakuljad's hatred, and said calmly, "Is that so? Then do your best, as long as you can kill me."
"Hmph, I know that you must have grown a lot over the years, and you may have even become a Sword King, but today I'm not the only one who's your enemy!"
Nakuljad was still calm enough. He didn't rush up to fight Shirou one-on-one, but instead surrounded him with the other two Northern Kings.
He was sure that even if Shirou had become a Sword King, he would definitely not survive the siege of three Northern Kings!
"Shirou!"
Ariel couldn't help but call out in worry when she saw this scene. At the moment, she desperately hoped that Shirou would no longer participate in this hopeless battle and would be able to escape with Eris.
But Shirou obviously wouldn't do as she wished. He just silently gripped the long sword in his hand and walked step by step in front of the three Northern Kings.
"Northern Emperor Aubel, it doesn't matter if you all come at me together."
Shirou looked at Aubel silently and spoke.
"Kid, what do you mean by that?"
Northern King Vita showed an angry expression. He obviously didn't expect Shirou to underestimate him so much. He couldn't stand it anymore and rushed over directly.
As a Northern King, Vita's movements and skills were undoubtedly quite excellent, and he might even be able to fight a Sword King-level opponent for a while in a head-on fight.
And Vita also had a very insidious trick, which was his weapon.
When Vita drew his sword, everyone realized that Vita's weapon was a short sword about thirty centimeters long, but the blade was as shiny as a mirror.
Normal people wouldn't understand the reason why Vita did this, but only those who had fought Vita knew why the sword was designed that way.
"Brother, be careful of that sword!"
So many years had passed, and Eris no longer had any tsundere behavior. She directly called Shirou brother and also tried to remind Shirou to be careful of the other party's weapon.
Before Eris spoke, Shirou had already noticed the strangeness of Vita's weapon.
When the other party's sword was swung, it would correspond to the glass armor he was wearing. Due to the refraction and reflection of light, when the reflective blade and the glass armor simultaneously gathered light, the opponent would lose their eyesight for a moment, and even have a stinging sensation in their eyes, making it difficult to maintain normal combat movements.
And Vita himself was a member of the Mine Tribe. His stature was short, so his movements were extremely agile. He could use thrusting attacks continuously, and combined with the reflection technique, it could be said to be very annoying. Even an ordinary Sword King wouldn't be able to defeat him easily.
The one who took action wasn't just Northern King Vita.
Northern King Isis and Northern King Nakuljad also each used their special skills.
The former was a magic swordsman who would release intermediate and even advanced magic during battle. Although it wasn't chantless, he could chant while fighting, so his methods were no less effective than a true chantless magician.
Nakuljad's move was the most simple one. After losing his younger brother, his own talent was no longer enough to support him to go further. The reason why he was able to become a Northern King was purely because of the hatred in his heart. He finally made it to where he was today through desperate efforts and sweat.
Therefore, Nakuljad was actually the weakest Northern King. The strength he achieved through effort and sweat was like the fake thing that the Sword God described Shirou as in the past.
But even if it was fake, Nakuljad's hatred was real. He had even prepared to risk his life to kill Shirou.
Facing the attacks of the three Northern Kings, Shirou's expression didn't change at all.
First, he directly met Vita, who rushed towards him first.
If an ordinary person got so close to Vita, they would be stabbed by the reflections from the sword immediately, and their eyes wouldn't be able to open at all.
Shirou was also forced to close his eyes, but even if he couldn't see with his eyes, Shirou could easily judge Vita's movements with his mind's eye, and threw a punch directly.
"Boom!"
Shirou's fist accurately hit Northern King Vita's abdomen, not only shattering the glittering armor on his body, but also making him open his eyes wide, spit out blood, and fly out.
"Fire, pierce my enemy!!!"
Seeing this, Northern King Isis immediately swung the sword in his hand, and with the fire magic surrounding it, he stabbed at Shirou.
But Shirou was as if he had eyes in the back of his head. He didn't even turn around, and kicked out, directly hitting Isis's chin, interrupting the magic he was releasing and sending him flying into the air.
"How is that possible!?"
Nakuljad was completely shocked when he saw this scene. It was hard to imagine that the other party would defeat two Northern Kings directly without even using a sword.
Faced with this unheard-of thing, he was forced into a brief distraction.
And in that moment of distraction, Shirou seized the opportunity and appeared in front of Nakuljad as if he had teleported, and slammed a fist into the latter's face.
"Bang!"
It took a while to describe, but it actually only took a moment.
To outsiders, it looked like Shirou had instantly defeated the three Northern Kings, knocking the powerful Northern Kings down to the ground like ants.
This exaggerated scene undoubtedly shocked everyone on the scene, causing the entire execution platform to fall into silence!