Chapter 148: A World Against a World

[Akhilleus Kosmos].

Achilles' most special Noble Phantasm.

Unlike his other phantasms that acted like either a Reality Marble or a weapon, [Akhilleus Kosmos] represented something achieved by gods. It was the weapon forged by Hephaestus when Achilles returned to the battle.

Aside from its uniqueness of being able to let everyone who knows its name to utilize its power, it is a small world capable of blocking every single strike.

However, just like my shield, it could be employed offensively as well.

The world, which could block these attacks, could be used to completely crush one's opponent. It is akin to bearing the wrath of an entire world—a sure-kill weapon against those unprepared.

"An entire world… Just like Satoru-san..!"

I didn't let myself fall behind. Activating [Camelot] to its full strength, it was thoroughly enforced throughout this world.

Bzzt-!

Hum-!

Crack-!

Satoru-san was the reason why I came up with [Camelot]. His [Limitless] is nigh-invincible, yes, but even Sukuna managed to find a way against it. That is, to create an attack that spans the entire world.

As long as Satoru-san is in that world, no matter how much [Limitless] protects him, it will reach him in the end.

As such, I created a shield that encompasses the said world.

A world versus another world.

It didn't take long before the conclusion came. After an entire minute of space cracking and shattering, perhaps the [Noble Phantasm] that is said to maintain this world fluctuating, a victor emerged.

"Huff…"

I remained standing still. [Camelot] was able to block against [That World] without expending copious amounts of magical energy. The [sure-hit] effect of [Domains] proved to be useful in this scenario.

"..!"

The danger didn't stop.

Without any warning, my surroundings turned into an abandoned wasteland. Endless amounts of sand could be seen. Rusted weapons remain resting in the ground; gears of a clock floated among the sky.

It is a scene nothing short of an apocalyptic event.

"A Reality Marble… no, it's on another level…"

A man in red stood still as he silently looked at me. His white hair and tanned skin made me think he went through many things.

Just then—

…

…

—a surge of new memories came to my mind. [Revelation] worked at this moment, filling the gaps in my knowledge.

"...I see."

"No hard feelings on me, other worlder. You chose this."

"I surmise they finally caught on? Or was it only one of them?"

"I'm not allowed to say that."

From the beginning, I felt something was off—like I missed something vital.

Then it dawned on me.

"This world… it was destined to fall from the beginning."

"You saved it. Consider it as you are doing."

My Ruler's Authority along with [Revelation] barely allowed me to see through this heroic spirit's identity.

"The adjudicator of Alaya… A Counter Guardian."

Since the moment I arrived on this world, it was already saved.

The most crucial factor in its demise, a homunculus named "Sieg", was killed prematurely by Avicebron's actions, thus powering up his Noble Phantasm in advance.

Sieg was supposed to fight against the Ruler, Amakusa Shirou, and save the world from its downfall brought by the latter's wish.

However, since he didn't exist, Amakusa Shirou's wish would become true, turning humanity into a stagnant civilization, thus spelling their doom. Coincidentally, it fitted the category of my world that there are two ways for a world to end naturally.

One, the world enters an entropic state that turns everything dormant.

Two, there are no longer mysteries known to man, turning them stagnant.

As long as humanity becomes stagnant, it is already their end. That principle could be applied in this world.

Since they are all immortals without any needs and means to repopulate due to the effects of the Third True Magic, Heaven's Feel, the world will come to an end.

Thus, it was already deemed as a "Pruned Timeline", the abandonment of the two wills maintaining the entire world.

However, my arrival caused things to change drastically, which caught their attention. It was different from my time in the Singularity World; everything remained the same as of now. Meanwhile, my arrival directly caused its disappearance to halt, turning it into an anomaly—a Singularity of sorts.

This brought everything to this present state.

"What do they want? The Holy Grail inside me? The possibilities I could bring over to this world?"

"Your ideals are noble. I believe you aren't the type to misuse that power. But… they seem to think otherwise."

"...I see that this wouldn't be over with a talk. If so…"

I didn't continue my words but stared at the counter guardian in front of me. He also didn't let me wait as more than a dozen of my father's swords, [Arondight], appeared out of thin air and flew straight at me. Each one of them blitzed with blue light, seemingly containing the destructive power behind them.

'To fight a domain…'

This counter guardian's [Reality Marble] seemed a bit similar to Okkotsu-san's cursed technique. It could copy Noble Phantasms, replicate them, and hurl them towards me.

As for the power, I have no doubt it came from Alaya itself.

"Somnia vertere in veritas." (Dreams turn into reality.)

The surroundings within me changed once again. It overwrote the wastelands and the dreary sky, bringing forth a colorful world.

The full manifestation of my [Dreamland] revealed itself to the world for the first time.

It was a grassland filled with flowers. A stone huge enough to be a chair is amongst them.

This place was Galahad's—my—final resting place before the battle to the Holy Grail occurred.

With this, the fighting ground was evened out.

"Fighting against a world… I wonder if it's more difficult than the end."

Numerous cursed techniques and magicka brewed within myself. All nine of my mind partitions worked to their maximum. I am uncovering my everything against an entire world.

"...Rhongomyniad."

A moment of the past was recalled. Endless golden light fell upon the white-haired counter guardian.

Crack-!

Fizzle-!

Along with it is the shaking of space. The overwhelming magical energy poured by my King's attack is enough to overcome most adversities, but…

"Rho Aias… The irony here…"

A seven-layered shield protected him. It was the only Noble Phantasm capable of stopping Hector's spear, Longinus, during the Trojan War.

However, it was far stronger than its original counterpart. I could see magical energy coming out of nowhere, enhancing the barest concepts of the shield itself.

It…

It's similar to what I did.

'I'm going to learn more things here…'

Excitement slowly replaced my apprehension at this fight.

*****

'Galahad.'

He was one of the greatest knights alongside King Arhur. If the counter force hadn't intervened, he would've been able to bring back the Holy Grail to King Arthur, which would extend the Age of Gods indefinitely. Camelot wouldn't fall, Artoria's ideals would be realized, and humanity would've become much stronger than they were now.

Unfortunately for them, Alaya and Gaia view these 'strong humans' as dangers. It desperately prevented many talented magi from reaching The Root, limiting the numbers of Magicians to measly five.

Every time they were about to reach them, a counter guardian would appear and destroy them. Only these five magicians were able to bypass them.

Galahad, with the full strength of the Holy Grail, is even more dangerous than them. For some reason, the two wills "knew" that it wasn't just the grail he got. There was something else that came with it…

…and they were determined to get rid of it.

'He's tough.'

Their battle began with long-ranged projectiles. With the help of unlimited magical energy from Alaya, it was comparable to having an entire world on Archer's support.

He was able to freely summon high-ranked Noble Phantasms and self-destruct them like normal bullets.

In response to this, Nobu dodged some while tanking some. Nevertheless, it was enough to let Archer's [Mind's Eye] from knowing about his strength.

Through his sheer power, he was able to "mimic" what Alaya gave him. A nigh-impossible feat to do alone.

As such, he felt what it was to fight against a "Magister" of Nobu's world.

'Some of them are exploding too early… They're also missing for some reason…'

Bam-!

Boom-!

Once again, some of the projectiles he sent missed on their own. It's as if probability itself is being controlled by Nobu. Although it wasn't enough to let everything miss, it was still a strange occurrence.

Moreover, it wasn't just that.

'Low-ranked Noble Phantasms wouldn't work.'

Nobu's [Rank Disparity Extinction] worked on every Noble Phantasm with a lower grade than A. That is to say, only Holy Swords at the level of Excalibur could potentially harm him. Archer's [Caladbolg] disappeared even without Nobu's [Camelot].

Therefore, it isn't wrong to say that…

'He's very troublesome.'

Archer didn't let this discourage him. He kept thinking of newer Noble Phantasms that could possibly affect him, all the while generating the same Noble Phantasm, Arondight, to fight Nobu.

Fwoosh-!

Nobu's black overcoat flew along the wind as another round of explosions occurred near him. Just as Archer had thought, he was using [Phenomenon Mixer] to decrease the number of projectiles. The remaining ones were then fended off using [Camelot].

As expected, Archer adapted to his attacks by calculating the number of Arondights that was removed by [Phenomenon Mixer].

'He doesn't want close-combat. Is this a bait or is he wary of me..?'

This line of thought made Nobu's decision of fighting in close-combat to be firmer.

Slowly, the distance between the two closed in. Archer noticed this but couldn't do anything, simply because he was still keeping his cards until he found a fatal gap.

The moment Nobu got close to a striking distance, he immediately summoned forth a "copy" of Lapis Judaicus. The blue katana shone as the blessings of two goddesses resided within it.

Push the grip with the right hand.

Pull its end on the left hand.

Just like usual, he performed a perfect downward strike towards Archer.

Bzzt-!

A pair of black and white daggers appeared on the latter's hands.

Clang-!

The two's strengths are on par with each other, if not slightly more tilted towards Nobu. His dream organs made his body insanely strong, yet there are still a number of Heroic Spirits that could match it… such as this counter guardian.

Clang-!

Clang-!

Each of Nobu's strikes were blocked by Archer.

Fzzt-!

Boom-!

The latter didn't stop summoning forth numerous Arondights in hopes of distracting him. These were then blocked by [Camelot] once more, producing a blue light that dissipated into nothingness.

Suddenly, Nobu let go of his katana. He ducked while converging magical energy on his fists.

Just as Archer was about to enhance the Shroud of Martin to the maximum, he swiftly changed his plans as he felt something odd on it.

BOOM-!

A similar effect to Arondight occurred on Nobu's punch. The converged magical energy was far stronger than Archer had previously expected, sending him flying across the wasteland.

It was none other than Melusine's attack, something that Archer doesn't know due to how Lostbelts are far detached from Alaya's influence.

Step.

Step.

Rustle-!

'Where..?!'

Archer found Nobu to be right in front of him. The sword that he wielded didn't change, but the former knew that something was strange about it.

At that moment, he decided to let go of everything.

Bzzt-!

Green lightning surrounded his twin daggers as they grew longer, comparable to Nobu's katana. The pair of black and white daggers, Kanshou and Byakuya, reverted to their strongest state.

The swords that are comparable to Divine Constructs reappeared once more.

Clang-!

"..!"

For the first time, Nobu felt the power and history hidden within the twin blades.

Archer couldn't use it in a normal state, yet the support provided by Alaya made things far different.

One.

Two.

Three.

Spontaneously, three sets of Kanshou and Byakuya Overedge appeared out of thin air. Their trajectories were placed in a way that forced Nobu to deal with three unavoidable attacks at the same time.

'The space is…'

Nobu found out that he was locked in his current position. An unknown force prevented him from using any of his space magicka. It's as if he was trapped in a frame, much like one of the Zen'in Leader's cursed techniques.

'I shouldn't reveal it this early.'

In the end, he took the three strikes directly.

Crack-!

Crack-!

Shatter-!

Archer's position moved into behind him as he executed the [Triple-Linked Crane Wings].

Surprisingly…

Drip.

A wound was left on Nobu's face. It disappeared a moment later, yet…

"You broke it."

At this moment, Nobu knew how Satoru felt when his [Limitless] was broken.