Chapter 477: [477] Ig-Alima, Sul-sagana, and the Exposed Holy Grail
"Has it... ended?"
After witnessing the divine energy flooding the sky collide with the hero’s self-destruction, annihilating each other, the Black Faction couldn’t help but feel a mix of regret and relief. Though they were disappointed that the Red Faction’s Hanging Gardens remained unscathed, they were also somewhat grateful.
They couldn’t have withstood Spartacus’s Noble Phantasm, the Crying Warmonger.
Nor could they have countered Karna’s strongest strike.
Now that the enemy’s two greatest trump cards had canceled each other out, it was undoubtedly excellent news for the Black Faction.
"We still have to thank Assassin for this," Vlad III remarked, as if he could sense the Red Faction’s frustration. No longer needing to suppress his emotions, he curled his lips in satisfaction. "It seems this full-scale battle has ended with our Black Faction gaining the upper hand—"
"No, it’s not over yet, Lord Vlad!"
Chiron’s urgent voice cut through Vlad III’s premature celebration. "Someone has taken the Red Lancer’s place atop the Hanging Gardens... It’s Sakatsuki!"
Sakatsuki.
The name seemed to carry a magical weight, instantly choking Vlad III’s words in his throat. The other Servants and Masters tensed, as if facing a dire threat.
He had grievously wounded Vlad III, forcing Darnic to waste two Command Spells.
He had forcibly bound Astolfo’s Master contract to a homunculus.
On the battlefield, he alone had restrained two of the Black Faction’s Servants, even finding an opportunity to kill Berserker Frankenstein and claim her power...
If there were a ranking for the Black Faction’s hatred toward the Red Faction’s Servants, Sakatsuki would undoubtedly sit unchallenged at the top.
Now, when both sides had withdrawn and the storm had momentarily subsided—what was he planning by appearing again?!
Before the Black Faction could speculate, the anomaly in the sky gave them their answer.
The stars shone, but the sun was nowhere to be seen.
This world seemed eternally silent.
The earth trembled, and countless particles of dust silently rose, reflecting the verdant hues of nature as they danced soundlessly through the night.
Was that the sky? Or was it the horizon, mirroring the earth?
Only when the dark clouds were shattered by mountains did both factions finally behold the full majesty of the divine sword—and gasp in awe.
The outline of its blade was formed of mountains, capable of cleaving through a thousand peaks, as if it were a treasure forged by Gaia herself. Encased in an earthen shell, the emerald jewel at its core was both immaculate and terrifying.
Its name was Ig-Alima, the weapon wielded by the god of war in Mesopotamian mythology—Ig-Alima, the Green Field Cutting Trough the Thousand Mountains!
The emerald flash of the blade, capable of severing a thousand peaks, now descended upon the Black Faction’s fortress with a force akin to the apocalypse!
"Quick, stop this strike!"
Chiron’s voice was frantic, his eyes instantly bloodshot—a backlash from using his Clairvoyance to glimpse the radiant divine energy coiled around the sword. "That blade carries the concept of severance! If it lands, all barriers and defenses will be obliterated!"
Though he was the first to recognize the danger, his Noble Phantasm was only effective against individuals, utterly incapable of stopping such a cataclysmic attack. His only hope now lay with the other Servants.
"Saber! And Lord Vlad! I’m counting on you!"
Artoria was still at the center of the battlefield, unable to return in time. Vlad III and Siegfried exchanged glances and without hesitation began to unleash their Noble Phantasms.
"Kazikli Bey—"
"Balmung, the Phantas— Ugh!"
The silver-haired dragonslayer’s expression changed abruptly as he forcibly halted his Noble Phantasm release. Spreading his arms, he shielded Caules and Fiore beside him before rolling off the castle walls with them.
BOOM!
Golden lightning bolts as thick as barrels split the dark clouds, dividing into four streaks midair that pierced through countless barriers of the Fortress of Millennia like divine whips lashing down—their targets being all four present Masters of the Black Faction!
"Whoa, that was close!"
Astolfo reacted swiftly, thrusting his grimoire forward to block the attack for Sieg. Avicebron had anticipated this and snapped his fingers, summoning a golem that sacrificed itself to protect his Master Roche. Had Siegfried not acted quickly, Fiore and Caules would have surely perished.
"Thank you so much, Saber."
Fiore and Caules expressed their heartfelt gratitude to Siegfried after narrowly escaping death. The dragonslayer nodded in acknowledgment before turning his grave gaze toward the colossal sword in the sky.
Sakatsuki’s delaying tactics had worked—there was no time left for Noble Phantasm activation now. Only the Impaler could stop this attack.
Yet facing this mountain-cleaving, sea-parting divine construct, anyone would inevitably wonder:
Could it really be stopped?
"This is my domain, my kingdom!" The Wallachian Voivode roared as he swung his arm. A thousand black stakes materialized like soldiers, merging midair into several colossal pillars that fearlessly rose to meet the descending holy sword.
"Begone, you insolent wretches!"
When the giant stakes clashed with the saw of dust, the deafening impact nearly ruptured everyone’s eardrums. Smoke billowed from the distant collision, spreading deceptively slow yet frighteningly fast, carrying with it a foul wind. But the Black Faction had no time for awe—their eyes remained fixed on the aerial battle, their ears filled only with the pounding of their own hearts.
Crack, crack.
The crudely combined stakes couldn’t withstand the divine sword’s mass. The sounds of shattering continued relentlessly as Vlad III’s "giants" were forced to their knees—bowing toward the towering Red Faction’s garden.
For Vlad III, this was unforgivable humiliation.
"Guh... GRAAAAAAAAH!"
His hair whipping wildly, veins bulging, his finely tailored robes straining against his muscles, Vlad III recklessly pushed Kazikli Bey to its limits. A frenzied black storm manifested across the sky.
Stakes shattered? Discard the broken ones and replace them with new barriers!
Supports faltering? Reinforce the structure with more and more stakes, even if they became permanently deformed!
Simultaneously, Vlad III mustered his remaining strength to generate hundreds more stakes that madly battered against the holy sword. The continuous thunderous impacts created shockwaves that spread outward in waves. Homunculi within the fortress clutched their bleeding ears in agony, writhing and howling amidst the prehistoric-beast-like cacophony of battle.
But Vlad III’s abandonment of elegance in favor of pure violence proved remarkably effective—the descent of the emerald greatsword visibly slowed, even coming to a complete halt as its divine radiance dimmed.
"Then, I shall return it all to you!"
Vlad III clenched his fists with force, and the black stake giants roared in unison, gripping the Noble Phantasm tightly before collectively hurling the divine sword toward the Red Faction’s garden.
Crack!
That was not the sound of a blade striking its target. On the contrary, Ig-Alima dispersed into spiritrons midair, while the distant ’deity’ let out a furious roar.
The scorching waves of ignited air and the howling tempest could be felt.
Amidst the darkened heavens and earth, behind the thick layers of clouds, within the oppressive leaden gray-black, a searing crimson light abruptly emerged, igniting the darkness, wantonly stretching upward and forward, tracing blazing afterimages.
As if intent on setting everything ablaze, the divine sword forged of magma and pure fire emerged from the clouds.
Vlad III’s triumphant sneer froze on his face; Chiron’s eyes streamed with hot tears, unable to look directly; Siegfried instinctively reached for his sword, only to be stopped by Reika Rikudou’s outstretched hand.
As if intent on setting everything ablaze, the Horizon of Dawn that Purifies the Seas—Sul-sagana, transformed into unfurled demonic wings, casting calamitous flames across the suffering world!
This was the edge of sky and sea, the crucible of chaos that dissolves all things. The ceaselessly pulsing flames of purification incinerated everything in their path. Before this crimson sword flash, justice and evil, good and wicked, sky and ocean, enemies and hostile entities alike would dissolve and vanish equally in the dawn’s light!
Under the Black Faction’s stunned and despairing gazes, the Sul-sagana sword descended from the clouds, traversing the heavens and earth as the executor of divine wrath.
It tore through all barriers, all bounded fields, splitting the Fortress of Millennia in two. The exposed rocky foundation gradually crumbled apart, revealing the protected core within!
And the golden cauldron of wishes also laid bare its true form!