Humanity's ultimate weapon.
Though it may pale in comparison to the Black Barrel, which contains magisterial components, or various conceptual armaments, the Tsar Bomba is a bomb that possesses a simple, brutal destructive force capable of surpassing the Noble Phantasms of most Servants—provided one prioritizes pure, unadulterated annihilation.
At the very moment the Stone Sentinel Maze was dispelled and the army sought to overrun us, that gargantuan bomb fell upon the earth. It triggered an explosion so violent that the intense vibrations reached even us, hiding within the depths of the Naraka Path. Through the narrow fissures, the landscape outside began to warp into a melting vista, resembling oil paint running down a canvas.
Sand liquefied, soldiers and armaments were not merely burned but pulverized, and even the clusters of light signifying the disappearance of Servants were swept away and scattered by the storm of destruction.
The forces caught within the column of the massive mushroom cloud had long since vanished without leaving a trace. Even the Mage-corps stationed at a distance found their bodies dissolving, caught in the wake of the shockwave and heat.
While the destruction was insufficient to "dismantle" the world itself, and it lacked the Anti-World capability to shatter a Reality Marble, it was enough to turn the dust-choked desert into a hellscape of searing heat. More than half of the army had already been excised from existence by the blast.
"…This is a capability even I was unaware of. To think you could manifest such a technique through the Asura Path…"
Surprisingly, two figures still maintained their forms amidst that explosion: the Servants Zhuge Liang and Iskandar.
The Gordius Wheel they had been riding had long since perished in the blast, but his beloved steed, Bucephalus, had been summoned at some point. Standing by their side, the horse let out a spirited whinny while gazing at the towering mushroom cloud. The two men began to gloomily observe the scenery of the Reality Marble, which was gradually being dismantled as their prana reached its limits.
"One must always have an 'ace up their sleeve,' or several."
"To think you even hid it from me… You sly fox."
"Preparation for contingencies is basic. To begin with, most of my hidden techniques are things even Alice-san or Aoko-姉 (Ane) are unaware of."
Strictly speaking, among my hidden assets, the only person who knew about the Doll Self-Detonation was Touko Aozaki. Since she was the one who crafted the Sun Rune for me, that much was unavoidable. Furthermore, only Waver and Rita Rozay-en knew of the Mystic Eye Great Fighter, whereas almost everyone knew about Heavenly Obstruction: Shattering Star and planetary devastation.
No one knew of the summoning of the Hundred Demons through the Animal Path, except for Arcueid, who witnessed it while resisting the Crimson Moon on the lunar surface. And the ultimate card that overturned the board—the Impure World Reincarnation—its mechanism remains a mystery even to the Crimson Moon and the two Magicians who beheld it, with the sole exception of our Romani Archaman—Solomon, the King of Mages. Perhaps even the King of Demon Gods would fail to grasp the nature of this ability, unless he were a being that was the 'Materialization of the Origin.'
"Furthermore, I possess a degree of knowledge regarding the Singularities… One truly must prepare every possible countermeasure, don't you think? It would be quite a problem if I leaked information to you, only for you to manifest as an enemy and be captured by Leif Lainur Flauros, subsequently revealing my secrets."
"Thorough, as always. Well… that is your nature. You don't just tap on a stone bridge to check its safety; you smash it to bits and build a steel one in its place to ensure a safe crossing."
As the mushroom cloud subsided, Waver leapt down from Bucephalus as if he had made a decision, gripping his feather fan.
Iskandar, seemingly realizing what Waver was thinking, let out a boisterous laugh. He drew his sword and shouted.
"It seems my subordinate is setting the stage for me to engage you in a duel!"
Returning to his hearty, natural voice instead of one amplified by magecraft, Iskandar spoke.
"So it seems, King of Conquerors… Do you intend to fight?"
"Asking the obvious! Even if my army has been dismantled, even if the King of Conquerors' chariot has been shattered! I still have my beloved steed Bucephalus, my subject Waver, and these two sturdy legs of mine! Even if this body turns to white bone, the conquest of the King of Conquerors shall never cease!"
Each of us had exhausted our respective trump cards.
Even if Rider Iskandar was a top-tier Heroic Spirit of the highest caliber, now that he had expended both his Reality Marble and the Gordius Wheel, even Boudica could stand against him to some extent. If I paired Spartacus with Waver and let Boudica engage in close quarters, we could likely take them down easily. Even if I fought him at full strength, I could handle him without much difficulty using Chibaku Tensei… but.
'I've pushed myself quite hard right now. In this physical state, I absolutely cannot maintain Chibaku Tensei.'
Thus, did I intend to yield the fight to Boudica?
"…Ho? You intend to fight me as you are? I expected you to launch a pincer attack alongside the Victory Queen of Britain!"
"Though I may be obsessed with efficiency, occasionally even I wish to indulge in a bit of sentimentality. Besides, if I do this, you might give me some truly choice information, wouldn't you?"
"You certainly have a silver tongue!"
Conversation was no longer necessary.
Pulling the reins of Bucephalus, Iskandar let out a signature roar and began his charge toward me. Transforming one arm into a battery, I began to unload machine-gun fire at him.
While Iskandar spun and dodged bullets to close the distance, I narrowly managed to form a hand seal with one hand, calling forth the beasts of the Animal Path once more.
They were mere chimeras, significantly weaker than the Phantasmal Species of the Age of Gods I had summoned previously, but they were sufficient to trip Bucephalus and bind Iskandar's hands.
"Against the likes of these!!!"
Yet he, too, was a veteran of a thousand battles, the King of Conquerors.
With a roar, he released magical energy to crush the monsters. Boldly abandoning Bucephalus, he began to sprint toward me.
[Shinra Tensei—Repulsion!]
"UTTERLY FUTILE!!!!"
If pushed back by the repulsive force, he simply accepted the sensation and sprinted again.
Slaying beasts and becoming drenched in their blood, he pushed forward even as bullets lodged themselves in his body. Because he was the King of Conquerors, because that was his mission and his Origin—Conquest!
He had no chariot, no horse, no Reality Marble. Yet the King was running on his own two legs.
Even as his body was shredded by my armaments, those legs that would not stop brought him to within a single step of me…
"…Gugh!"
And then, he stopped exactly one step away.
His sword was thrust toward me, and my Shinra Tensei was still on cooldown… It was a situation where he could harvest my head with a single swing.
Nonetheless, he did not swing his sword. No, it would be more accurate to say he couldn't.
"Poison… was it…?"
"No, it is your legend."
The numerous legends surrounding Iskandar.
Immunity weakened by excessive drinking, assassination by close associates, death from exhaustion due to unreasonable wars of conquest, or death by endemic diseases contracted in conquered lands—many legends exist. But the most prominent among them is this.
"Malarial fever… a type of parasitic disease transmitted through the Anopheles mosquito."
From where he was rolling on the ground, having been suppressed by Spartacus, Waver shouted in a raspy voice.
"The Animal Path… you summoned mosquitoes…!"
"Ordinary mosquitoes wouldn't have sufficed… but these are special little ones."
A great magus who once even contested with Servants.
Though he had fallen into ruin, he was a magus who, upon regaining his sanity, handed over all his visions for the sake of the future.
Makiri Zolgen did not merely research the Ghost Rider—the records of the boundaries. Rather, his specialties were insect magecraft and curses.
One of his primary fields while majoring in Botany was Curse-craft. At the end of his life, his skill was such that he maintained his physical body with insects. While leaving behind texts regarding the binding of Servants via Command Spells, he also passed a portion of Makiri's insect magecraft to me.
"Normally, insect magecraft wouldn't catch you… Your Magic Resistance is exceptional, and had you activated the Gordius Wheel, they would have all been intercepted by lightning. But the Gordius Wheel was destroyed… and your prana is depleted."
"…Indeed, a brilliant strategy. To strike at a legend that even I was not fully aware of! It seems you truly have the right to call yourself the final hope of Human History."
As the curse eroded his body and he coughed up blood, Iskandar spoke calmly before eventually breaking into a quiet smile.
A cough. A stream of blood leaked from his tightly set mouth. Waver watched the scene with a pained expression. Golden light began to emanate from Iskandar's body.
"Heh… Heh, yes. Hahahaha! Hahahahahaha!!!"
Eventually, he turned his gentle smile into a bright, beaming laugh, breaking out into boisterous guffaws.
"Magnificent indeed, Puppetmaster! To think that with a mere force of three, you would break my great army!"
"…Had you been at full strength, it would have been a far more difficult battle. You held back for us, after all."
"Hmph, what an insatiable fellow you are."
"It's your creed, King of Conquerors. To be never satisfied, to endlessly covet and conquer… Though I suppose the King of Knights would detest such a philosophy."
"Hmm… If you put it that way, I have nothing to say. Still, you were quite remarkable!"
"…My thanks."
"It's enough that you know. Next time, ensure you summon this King of Conquerors to your Chaldea. Retaking everything from the one who snatched away the History of Humanity would be quite the magnificent conquest indeed!"
Having voiced both his slight complaints and his hopes, his expression suddenly hardened into a serious look.
"I know what you are worried about. But there is only one thing I can tell you."
"...And that is?"
"This one never doubted the path of the King of Conquerors and pushed forward with intuition! My army was the same, and so were the subjects fascinated by me! You have already pushed your own subjectivity stubbornly to reach this point, have you not? Do not be swept away; follow your own path!"
Having delivered his own form of advice and information, he turned to Waver, whose body was also beginning to emit a faint golden glow, and spoke.
"Since I've said all I need to say, it is time for the loser to make his exit… By the way, Waver, you are quite the eccentric one too, are you not? To join such a perilous adventure as Chaldea simply to meet me again… Was your personality not one that detested danger?"
"…Who knows. In a way, you could say the current 'me' is merely an illusion. Ultimately, the real 'me' exists elsewhere, and the one conversing with you here is manifested as a Pseudo-Servant… a sort of duplicate. Perhaps running with you again was also a kind of illusion, a dream."
"Is that so? Then, as the protagonist of that illusion, let me ask you."
Wearing a confident smirk, he finally opened his mouth.
"Was it fun? The journey so far!"
"…Ah, of course… Rider. It was the journey of chasing your back until I finally reached it!"
*
After Iskandar and Zhuge Liang demanifested, I had to remain out cold for exactly eight hours.
Even though I had replenished my prana through Preta Path and poured healing magecraft over myself, and despite Boudica carefully massaging my entire body, the aftermath of using secret techniques twice in a row remained.
"By the way, information really is a terrifying weapon. To think you could kill the King of Conquerors using the legend of a disease…"
"That's why I have to be even more careful. It worked well on this King of Conquerors, but it could come back to bite us later in a much more troublesome way."
Indeed, that is the case with the Round Table in the Sixth Singularity.
Tristan, whose personality turned foul due to 'Inversion' and who gained poison immunity.
Gareth, who fell into a state near corruption after receiving the Gift of 'Purity'—though that's restricted by setting.
Even Gawain, who literally drags the sun with him.
Furthermore, this is information that already exists in the records; there's no telling what kind of tricks the King of Demon Gods might pull using the Holy Grail to alter Saint Graphs or tamper with things.
"Still, knowing is better than not knowing. The Roman United Empire must have lost three Servants, so their strength should be significantly reduced. They won't have the leisure to stab us in the back for a while. Shall we check the situation in the Roman capital?"
According to Boudica's intel, Nero is currently showing symptoms of being a Beast. Moreover, since it is highly probable that Ritsuka and Mash landed in the Roman capital, the correct move—if one trusts Boudica's information—is to head straight there…
"…No, we are not going to the capital."
"…Why? If we leave that Nero alone, she will turn this Singularity into something truly dangerous!"
"First of all… there's something I figured out when we killed Caesar. The mastermind behind the Incineration of the Human Order has essentially discarded this Singularity as a sacrificial piece."
"What?"
"Meaning… put simply, even if they fail to incinerate this Singularity, they have focused all their efforts toward a different objective."
And that objective was… the removal or exclusion of Ritsuka Fujimaru, Mash Kyrielight, and me.
"They are likely pouring all the Holy Grail's resources into that. The restriction placed on Caesar, and the immediate dispatch of the King of Conquerors and Waver to us, was because of that."
"…So the reason your junior and the other Servants landed on the Roman side is…"
"Nero is simple-minded, unlike you, and Ritsuka is still young. If they were told you were using the Holy Grail to wreak havoc and that the United Roman Empire had to be attacked first, they would believe it immediately, wouldn't they?"
"Sigh…"
For the King of Demon Gods, the primary target for elimination is essentially me, the commander leading Chaldea.
That is why they took a bit of a gamble by sending Caesar, the King of Conquerors, and Waver at the same time.
"However, there's something that isn't explained by that. First, proof that Nero is not a Beast."
"She's too quiet."
Beasts are fundamentally incompatible with everything else.
Furthermore, there's no way Goetia, who would be busy preparing for the Incineration of the Human Order right now, would come here. At most, the one here would be a Demon God Pillar… Flauros, if my memory serves me.
And such a Demon God Pillar awakened Nero as a Beast of Humanity?
"She would have decimated the United Roman Empire single-handedly by now, creating a banquet hall so massive it could be seen from all of Rome, indulging in a pond of wine and a forest of meat. If 'Nero' were to become a Beast, she would instantly transform this entire Singularity into a paradise of ecstasy and pleasure."
Even if she had emerged as an incomplete Beast, she would be strong enough to treat a manifested Demon God Pillar like a trifle.
Just think of how Zepar was treated by Kiara Sessyoin… don't you get the picture? Even if Leif Lainur or the King of Demon Gods advised her to maintain her Saint Graph as Nero to lure us in, 'Beast Nero' is not an existence that would listen to such things.
"Therefore… the current Nero is safe. At the very least, she can be seen as not an enemy."
Iskandar's advice said the same.
Not to turn my gaze elsewhere, but to push forward stubbornly toward the goal I aim for.
"Isn't there a possibility that was a lie?"
"If that were the case, he wouldn't have said anything at all. The King of Conquerors is the type of man who would cleanly admit defeat and vanish before providing false information."
If the opponent were someone like Hassan-i-Sabbah, who is loyal only to orders, or another mentally unstable Servant, the story might be different… but at the very least, among the Fourth Holy Grail War group led by the King of Conquerors, there is no one who would act like that. Except perhaps for Hundred Faces.
"Fine… then do you plan to just crush the United Roman Empire? I'm sorry, but I think that's a reckless plan. Currently, the United Roman Empire still has Berserker Caligula, a combat force potentially more dangerous than Caesar, as well as Darius III, who is also a Berserker. Caligula is someone even Spartacus would be slightly pushed back by in a direct confrontation, and Darius III is…"
"I know. The one who was the King of Conquerors' rival. Plus, the first emperor, Romulus, will likely be in the capital."
"…Even if I have a Roman Special Attack attribute, I'm not crazy enough to fight the First Emperor head-on. This is the land of 'Rome' itself, and it's glaringly obvious how powerful a man revered by them as a god will be."
"Hmm?"
"...?"
When I tilted my head, Boudica looked at me as if asking what was wrong.
"First… let me correct one misunderstanding you have. I have no intention of going to the United Roman Empire to fight."
"…What?"
Iskandar told me to trust my subjectivity and move forward.
…If so, I must perform the act I am best at.
"Then what do you intend to do?"
"Cause a riot."
I've been beaten up plenty by those bastards until now; it's high time for some real payback.
...And, the following day.
"...Servant, Saber. I have participated by summons."
Boudica had a critical wound, with one of her arms severed, and Spartacus was heavily injured, his entire body impaled by wooden spears.
Yet despite that, our faces were filled with smiles. Though Leif Lainur Flauros's face was filled with a look of pure disgust.
"My name is Altera. A warrior of the War God, a descendant of the Huns."
Well, it couldn't be helped.
Those terminals of the Demon God King know everything that is 'about to happen,' and naturally, they know exactly what kind of Servant she is.
"...I ask you. Are you my Master?"