The tide of battle instantly turned in his favor.
Asuka, who had previously been forced to dodge in a panic, actually began to take the initiative and launch his own attacks.
Berserker clearly hadn't anticipated this situation.
His mountain-shattering attacks, right before striking Asuka, would have the majority of their magical energy devoured by that bizarre longsword.
Although the remaining physical impact was still heavy, it was no longer enough to pose a fatal threat to Asuka.
"Raaagh!!!"
Berserker seemed enraged.
He could feel his power being stolen, a sensation that drove him even further into madness.
Boom!
He stomped his foot heavily, launching himself like a cannonball toward the edge of the docks by the sea.
Asuka followed closely behind.
The two fought their way all the way to the coastline.
But he didn't know that this was Berserker's home turf.
With the ocean right beneath their feet, this place provided an endless boost for a Berserker wielding a water-attribute Zanpakuto.
"Aaaargh!!"
Berserker raised his trident high and let out a long howl at the sky.
Splash!
The ocean boiled.
Countless black pillars of water rose from the surface, transforming into ferocious water dragons that coiled around Berserker.
"Let... water and sky... reverse!!"
His voice was intermittent, echoing from beneath his bone mask.
Asuka watched this scene, his pupils shrinking slightly.
"To think he still has enough autonomous consciousness to use his Zanpakuto's abilities," he muttered.
He had assumed that the irrational Berserker would only hack and slash wildly; he hadn't expected him to have this trick up his sleeve.
But Berserker didn't give him much time to think.
"Die!!"
As the trident swung down, the overwhelming swarm of black water dragons reflected in Asuka's eyes.
That was no natural water, but a highly compressed mixture of Spiritual Pressure and magical energy, brimming with fury and battle intent, aiming to tear Asuka to shreds!
The power of this strike was enough to completely level this entire dock area!
There was no room to retreat, no way to evade!
But why should he evade?
The restless magical energy began to agitate, and the increasingly scorching blade was igniting the air!
"Roar—Nugata!!"
Asuka was merely a little surprised by the strike; he wasn't afraid of it.
A deep, condensed black-red slash that seemed ready to tear through the night sky roared forth from the tip of his blade!
It surged skyward against the tsunami-like swarm of water dragons. Wherever it passed, space itself seemed to be cleaved apart, leaving behind a fleeting trail of nothingness.
Boom—!!!
The slash and the water dragons collided explosively in midair!
In that instant, space itself wailed.
The black-red energy frantically gnawed at the bodies of the water dragons. The highly compressed magical energy was forcibly torn apart and devoured, as if it had plunged into a black hole!
Energy was rapidly siphoned away, and sharp shrieks continuously echoed through the air—the lament of boundless magical energy being sucked into the void.
On the coastline, a semi-circular barrier of turbulent energy, a mixture of black-red and dark blue, abruptly rose!
The turbulence shot a hundred meters into the sky before violently expanding outward in all directions!
"What is this power? Is this the characteristic of the Avenger class?" the Spearman's Master, Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, muttered from the shadows of the dock's gantry crane.
As one of the Twelve Lords of the Clock Tower and a Color-ranked Magus, he prided himself on knowing magic theory and Servant abilities inside and out.
Yet tonight, two Heroic Spirits he couldn't identify had actually appeared.
Not only were their true names and abilities unknown, but even their class was Avenger, something he knew little about.
Now, seeing that the battle between these two could cause such massive chaos, even he found it hard to remain calm.
"...I'm afraid such Servants cannot be defeated directly. We must find a way to target their Masters," he concluded.
"Diarmuid, retreat!"
At this moment, the Spearman, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, who was no longer tangled in combat with Iskandar, received the order from his Master.
Although he also wanted to witness the conclusion of this battle alongside the other two, his Master's command took absolute priority.
"Then, you two, I shall take my leave. I hope we can settle our match next time," he said.
He gave a deep bow and, with a few flashes of movement, vanished into the darkness.
Iskandar and Artoria, the two kings, exchanged a glance. They ceased their own struggle and mutually chose to silently observe the Avenger's battle.
At the center of the battlefield, Asuka's situation wasn't as relaxed as it appeared to the bystanders.
He barely managed to withstand the impact, even pushing it back a few meters and shredding two of the water dragons.
However, Nugata in his hands—the Zanpakuto that had accompanied him through countless battlefields—was currently transmitting an unprecedented sense of... fullness.
'I can't, I can't! I can't eat another bite!' the white wolf's voice echoed in his mind.
"You can't eat anymore after just one slash?!" Asuka exclaimed.
'And do you think that strike just now was easy to digest?! That's no ordinary Soul Reaper in front of you! That was a full-powered attack from a Captain-class! Don't tell me you couldn't feel it!'
"Then you should use Bankai too!"
The white wolf wanted to say more, but the opponent's trident had already begun to emit a chaotic, dark blue glow.
It was as if countless vengeful spirits were struggling within the water dragons' energy, on the verge of tearing through the void to descend upon this world. The oppressive might grew increasingly terrifying.
"Not good!"
Asuka knew he couldn't take this strike head-on.
He had already mobilized all the magical energy in his body, preparing to learn from a certain piece of trash who split into eighteen hundred pieces, and figure out a way to grab his Master and flee the battlefield at top speed.
As for whether the dock area would be destroyed, what did he care?
"Ugh—!!"
But in the next second, the overwhelmingly imposing Berserker suddenly froze.
His previously invincible figure, holding the trident high, violently swayed like a puppet whose strings had suddenly been cut.
The moment they lost control, the sky-filling water dragons collapsed with a massive splash, turning back into seawater and raining down into the ocean, drenching Berserker in the process.
"What's going on?"
Asuka paused, halting Nugata in midair.
He watched as the once incredibly ferocious monster now clutched his chest in agony, letting out bouts of hoarse panting.
The black aura around his body became extremely unstable, flickering on and off like a lightbulb with a faulty voltage.
Meanwhile, deep within the sewers.
"Cough, cough, cough!!!"
Kariya Matou knelt on the ground, vomiting mouthfuls of blood.
The blood was mixed with the corpses of countless tiny bugs, emitting a foul stench.
His body convulsed violently. The vision in his left eye was completely gone, and even his remaining right eye was beginning to blur.
"Gah... ah..."
Kariya's fingers dug deeply into the ground, dragging out a trail of blood.
'I can't hold on...' he thought.
Berserker's series of outbursts just now, especially that final move mobilizing the power of the ocean, had instantly drained all the magical energy in his body and had begun to overdraw his life force.
The Crest Worms rioted madly inside him, gnawing at his internal organs to extract magical energy.
This pain was a hundred times more excruciating than death by a thousand cuts.
Kariya's consciousness began to fade; his body had reached its absolute limit.
"I have to save this life to get my revenge on Tokiomi..." he muttered.
"Retreat..."