The fight between Shirou and the Water God Reida had barely begun, but it already showed incredible pressure, turning the not-so-large execution ground into a battling hell.
Neither side used their full power from the start, only testing each other with moves. Even so, the aftereffects of the battle were already shaking the entire battlefield.
Faced with such fierce fighting, ordinary nobles couldn't even see the situation clearly and began fleeing from the execution ground.
Even the knights of the kingdom's knight order originally wanted to join the fight and help the Water God against the enemies.
But they quickly realized they couldn't participate at all. They tragically discovered that in the face of truly terrifying strong people, they were almost no different from ordinary nobles, unable to even stand still.
Soon, only a very few people were left who could watch the battle: Eris and Ghislaine, Ariel protected by the two Sword Kings, and a few Saint-level or higher people from the Ariel and First Prince factions, like Sylphy.
Anyone below Saint-level didn't even have the right to be there, unable to withstand the terrible aftereffects of the fight between the Water God and Shirou.
It's worth noting that among the people watching was the Water God Reida's student, the Water King Isolte.
When Isolte saw Shirou appear, she showed a surprised expression, instinctively remembering what happened in the royal capital many years ago.
She had been very happy because of this, thinking she could greet Shirou and even discuss sword skills like they used to.
She had worked very hard over the years, quickly becoming the Water King thanks to her excellent talent.
So she originally thought she could win back her past defeat and beat Shirou once.
But soon, Shirou's fight with the North God Aubel made Isolte realize the difference between them. After so much time, the gap between them hadn't changed at all but had instead grown wider and wider, to the point where it couldn't be closed.
When Shirou killed the North God Aubel, Isolte didn't know how to express her feelings, only complex thoughts flowed in her mind...
Because of this, when she saw her master, the Water God Reida, start fighting with Shirou, Isolte didn't even know if she should stop it. She just stared blankly at the fierce battle, her mind completely stopped.
Besides Isolte, almost no one from the Darius faction was able to see this battle.
The moment Darius felt Shirou's killing intent pointing at him, he fled in panic, not daring to stay there any longer. He didn't even think about watching the fight of the Water God Reida, who had saved him, his mind was full of escaping to save his life.
The Ariel faction naturally wouldn't stand by and watch Darius escape.
Although Eris and Ghislaine were badly hurt and were doing their best just to protect Ariel, with no ability to chase Darius, there were still many people in the Ariel faction who had some strength and hated the evil Darius.
The moment they saw Darius running away, they immediately chased after him.
Ariel allowed this to happen and secretly arranged for Luke to go and help. She originally wanted to send Sylphy, but Sylphy was clearly more concerned about Shirou fighting the Water God than about Darius, so Ariel had to settle for Luke to control the situation.
In short, the people at the execution ground who could still see the battle were a very small number.
Sauros, who was originally the one being executed, had become ignored by everyone. Everyone was watching the fierce battle in the center of the execution ground, a battle that would surely shake the world!
...
In the center of the execution ground.
"Bang!"
Shirou and the Water God each swung their swords, their magic and fighting spirit intertwined to the extreme, pushing their physical strength to its limit.
The result was a scene of equal power.
Of course, normally, a Sword King like Shirou couldn't possibly be evenly matched with the Water God.
The reason he could collide head-on with the Water God across levels was because he was holding the Dragon King Sword. The power of this sword made up for the difference between him and the Water God. Gravity magic even allowed Shirou to easily dodge many of the Water God's attacks, giving him an advantage in pure swordsmanship.
Of course, Shirou didn't seem very proud because of this.
He knew better than anyone how much the Water God was holding back.
She wasn't using her best Water God Style, or even any other style's moves, only using the simplest swordsmanship.
But even though it was the simplest swordsmanship, the pressure she gave off when swinging her weapon was no less than when Shirou used the Longsword of Light.
This was undoubtedly a huge difference in skill. The Water God used pure skill to fill the gap between the Longsword of Light and the Dragon King Sword, achieving equality with Shirou, and even surpassing him to some extent.
The strongest current Water God Style user was showing power so exaggerated that it could make ordinary swordsmen feel hopeless.
"Clink,"
"Clink," "Clink,"
Sword hit sword several times in an instant.
Shirou felt the pressure from the Water God even more and stopped holding back. He fully used the power of the projected Dragon King Sword. The gravity magic he released directly covered the entire battlefield. The ground around them visibly sunk in, the reality twisted by the exaggerated gravity.
Logically, the Water God should also be affected by the gravity magic. Every movement should have become very tiring, making it impossible to move easily.
But in reality, Shirou found that the Water God didn't seem to be restricted by the gravity magic much.
In the gravity field, the Water God still maintained the same movements as before, suddenly rushing in front of Shirou without stopping.
"Bang!"
After a brief clash, Shirou and the Water God retreated.
Seeing what just happened, Shirou realized the situation and couldn't help asking in surprise, "You weren't using your full power just now? No, you're still not using your full power now? You're still holding back?"
"Hehe, you saw through it?"
The Water God Reida seemed to realize she couldn't pretend anymore. The old woman smiled and said, "After all, I haven't fought in so many years, and this might be the last fight of my life. I'll definitely want to enjoy this fight more, just like the Sword God Gar Farion."
"Last fight?"
Not understanding why the Water God would say such a thing, Shirou soon didn't have time to think about it.
After finding out that the Water God had been suppressing her strength, only slightly getting serious when forced by the gravity magic of his Dragon King Sword, he felt a huge amount of pressure.
After all, a strong enemy isn't scary, not knowing how strong the enemy is is the scariest.
The Water God Reida hadn't even used her best Water God Style swordsmanship, and even her basic abilities seemed to be not fully used.
This undoubtedly made it hard for Shirou to accept.
But he knew he had to accept it. He had to pursue final victory in this fight no matter what.
"Clack!"
Shirou didn't hesitate anymore. He silently stuck the Dragon King Sword into the ground, not giving up on the weapon, but freeing up his hands to pull out the bow and arrow from his back.
The Water God Reida had clearly noticed Shirou's strangeness before.
Even though he was a swordsman, Shirou carried all kinds of weapons, from swords to knives, from bows to spears. He even wore heavy armor.
This didn't look like a Sword God Style swordsman's outfit at all.
As the Water God was puzzled, Shirou quickly showed her the reason he dressed this way.
"Clack!"
"Clack!" "Clack!"
The moment Shirou raised his hand, several arrows had already shot out from it.
The arrows cut through space, suddenly reaching the Water God.
Faced with such precise shooting, the Water God's eyes flashed with praise, and she easily knocked down all the arrows without batting an eye.
Shirou obviously didn't think he could defeat the Water God with arrows. He kept shooting arrows only to prepare for his next move.
"I Am The Bone Of My Sword."
When he had shot a certain number of arrows, Shirou suddenly recited the chanting words.
As the chanting began, Shirou immediately began a projection with his right hand, and in the blink of an eye, projected the Noble Phantasm, Fake Spiral Sword.
He mixed the Fake Spiral Sword among the ordinary arrows, pretending it was just an ordinary arrow, drew his bow, and suddenly shot it out!
"Boom!"
The flying arrow gave off visible, terrifying pressure.
Everything Shirou had done before was just preparation for this attack. Its destination was undoubtedly the Water God's body, intending to completely pierce through her body!
In fact, Shirou's attack was very effective.
When ordinary arrows are shot too many times, the opponent will undoubtedly gradually get used to his movements, and will gradually relax their guard.
The Water God was undoubtedly like this. When she blocked many flying arrows, she had begun to get used to Shirou's movements, even starting to find opportunities to get close to Shirou.
But in that moment when normal people would relax their guard, Shirou's real strike suddenly came, a fatal strike rushing in front of the Water God, making it seem impossible to resist.
However, the Water God is the Water God because she has absolute skill.
Even with this sudden attack, even in the moment when the Water God couldn't react in time, she immediately took steps to correct it.
She raised the sword in her hand at an extremely fast speed, and in the moment when the Fake Spiral Sword was less than a few centimeters from her body, she struck the flying projected Noble Phantasm directly.
"Clang,"
The sharp gold sword and the Fake Spiral Sword rubbed together for a moment, causing the Fake Spiral Sword's movement to shift.
The Water God Reida grabbed this moment of weakness. Her body was like flowing water, dodging the shot of the Fake Spiral Sword with exaggerated movements.
However, the Water God's plan still had a flaw.
She only thought the Fake Spiral Sword was a flying arrow, but she didn't know that the real killing move of Shirou's attack wasn't the shooting action, but the Fake Spiral Sword itself!
"Broken Phantasm!"
The moment the Fake Spiral Sword reached the Water God, Shirou suddenly self-destructed the Noble Phantasm itself.
"Boom!"
As the Noble Phantasm's core collapsed, the Fake Spiral Sword began to collapse rapidly, and in an instant, turned into a huge mushroom cloud, completely submerging the Water God's figure.
Even so, Shirou still didn't feel safe.
He didn't stop at all, taking out the Noble Phantasm Undying Extreme Spear from behind, and instantly activated the Noble Phantasm's effect.
"Target confirmed, angle fixed! Undying Extreme Spear!"
Shirou threw the spear in his hand directly without hesitation, the spear cutting through space and stabbing straight into the place where the Water God was originally.
The place, which was originally covered in smoke from the Fake Spiral Sword's explosion, was once again covered in an absolutely terrifying violence. The oppressive power crushed everything.
After a long time, the twisted reality gradually floated into view as the dissipating smoke.
The first thing that came into view was the completely broken earth. The shattered ground could be described as horrible. The destructive power of the two Noble Phantasms went without saying, having torn and shattered the ground, smashing out a huge pit covering almost half the execution ground.
In the very center of the pit, the Water God Reida stood silently, looking spotless, as if none of this had happened.
"How could..."
Shirou frowned. Although he had expected that it would be difficult to truly defeat the Water God, he never expected this to happen.
His full-power strike not only failed to defeat her, it didn't even cause much damage.
The Dragon God had used fighting spirit to withstand his attack, then what about the Water God? Would this old woman have fighting spirit at the level of the Dragon God Orsted?
As Shirou hesitated, the Water God stepped out of the pit.
The old woman's expression didn't change much, but she clearly looked more serious.
"This is really... more exaggerated than I've heard. No wonder the Sword God and the Second North God think you're the most likely to beat the Dragon God."
The Water God Reida looked at Shirou, her eyes seemingly calm, but her serious attitude was like a thunderbolt ready to strike.
"Then, it seems I need to use some real skills too. If you're aiming for the Dragon God Orsted, then watch closely! I will show you what the real Water God Style is!"