Fate in Bleach: Unlimited Blade Works!-Chapter 461: Anti-Demon Path Mutual Annihilation

BOOM!

Although Artoria didn't understand why Berserker continued attacking her even after witnessing Avalon's capabilities, she certainly wouldn't hold back against Ailin. Her Excalibur, now infused with Ailin's reflected spiritual pressure, lashed out at him once more.

This time, Ailin didn't deploy Rho Aias. Instead, he summoned Meidō Tessaiga.

"Meidō—Full Moon Wave!"

BOOM!

The Meidō Tessaiga in Ailin's hand carved open a portal to the Netherworld, over ten meters wide, completely swallowing Artoria's attack. Like Avalon, Meidō Tessaiga could open a path to the Netherworld. While it couldn't block all attacks as Avalon did, it could divert most incoming assaults into that dark realm.

I wonder, can Avalon reflect an attack that manipulates space itself?

With this question in mind, Ailin swung the blade towards Artoria's location. "Meidō—Zangetsuha!"

BOOM!

A slash tearing open a dozens-of-meters-long rift to the Netherworld flew out, colliding with the space before Artoria. The star-strewn rift distorted as it contacted the spatial barrier shielding her.

The Netherworld path opened by Tessaiga and the space of the Everdistant Utopia unfolded by Artoria's Avalon clashed, intertwining and attempting to consume one another.

Ultimately, however, the Netherworld path carved by Tessaiga was completely consumed by Avalon. Powerful as the Netherworld might be, the rift opened by Tessaiga was merely an insignificant fragment. In contrast, Avalon's "Everdistant Utopia," though not vast in area, possessed the conceptual weight of a complete "world." Its ability to consume a portion of the Netherworld path was entirely expected.

This power... Sensing the ability—seemingly capable of rending space itself—now imbued within her Sword of Promised Victory, Artoria's gaze towards Berserker grew heavier. Still, since Berserker had delivered this power to her, not using it would be akin to letting him underestimate her. By now, Artoria understood Berserker was deliberately provoking her into using Avalon's abilities. It was obvious that doing so accelerated his analysis.

"Ex—calibur!"

The golden light, now cored with the star-strewn darkness of the Netherworld, ripped through space towards Ailin.

"Dance wildly—Raikū!"

Ailin released another Zanpakutō. The twin-bladed weapon spun clockwise, recording the current spatial state. Immediately, Ailin spun Raikū counter-clockwise, retrieving the recorded space.

HUMMM—

A greyish light shimmered into existence. A slash, slightly dimmer than Artoria's incoming Excalibur blast, flew out from this spectral image, colliding with her attack.

BOOM!

The collision of the two near-identical attacks erupted with tremendous force. A mushroom cloud surged over a hundred meters high, and the violent shockwave sent the Zanpakutō suspended in the sky swaying.

Eighty-four percent...

Sensing that Unlimited Blade Works' analysis of Avalon had exceeded eighty percent, the corners of Ailin's mouth lifted slightly. Having withstood so many of his attacks without injury, Avalon truly deserved its reputation as the strongest defensive Noble Phantasm in the Type-Moon world.

Subsequently, Ailin employed a variety of powerful Zanpakutō, launching attacks designed to provoke Avalon's defenses and rapidly accelerate his analysis.

Ninety-seven percent… Ninety-eight percent… Ninety-nine percent… One hundred percent!

BOOM!

Artoria unleashed another slash, then habitually raised the Sword of Promised Victory again. This time, however, Ailin's expected counterattack never came. The surrounding space began to shift. The blackish-red glow faded, the fiery sky dissolved, revealing the clear moonlight and the vast expanse of stars.

"Saber, I thank you for the data on Avalon."

"Let's end it here for today."

"Our next battle will decide the final outcome!"

Damn it, Berserker is trying to escape!

Hearing Ailin's words, Artoria's heart jumped. She instantly flared her magical energy and gave chase in the direction Ailin was retreating.

"Stop right there! Don't think you can run, Berserker!"

Artoria roared. In this battle, Artoria had already used everything she had. From Berserker's words, she knew her ultimate Noble Phantasm, Avalon, had been completely analyzed. If she didn't seize this opportunity—while Berserker was weakened from maintaining his Reality Marble—to defeat him now, she would have absolutely no chance of victory in their next encounter.

After all, after their first battle, Berserker had produced a replica whose power surpassed her own Sword of Promised Victory. Next time, if he possessed a Noble Phantasm stronger than Avalon—no, not even stronger, just comparable to Avalon—Artoria's chances of winning would be zero. Therefore, even if Berserker retreated, Artoria had to pursue him, to eliminate Berserker completely tonight before he could forge his own Avalon.

"Ex—calibur!"

BOOM!

In the sky, Ailin watched Artoria's incoming attack, his brow slightly furrowed. Having fully analyzed Avalon, Ailin had lost the desire to continue fighting Artoria. After all, the barrier unleashed by Avalon's activation isolated her from the world. None of Ailin's current attacks could breach that barrier or inflict fatal harm.

Therefore, no matter how long they fought, a decisive outcome was impossible. In that case, Ailin would rather fight Gilgamesh and relieve the King of Heroes of all the sword-type Noble Phantasms in his treasury.

However, it seemed Artoria disagreed. Did she truly believe she could turn the tables now that she wielded Avalon?

Blackish-red spiritual pressure flared in Ailin's hand, meeting the torrent of light unleashed by Artoria. To Artoria's astonishment, however, the collision produced no explosion, nor any sensation of impact. Instead, her Excalibur blast and the blackish-red energy in Berserker's grasp simply canceled each other out.

What kind of ability is this?

Crushing the final vestiges of golden light with the blackish-red spiritual pressure in his hand, Ailin gazed down at Artoria.

The technique he had just displayed was an advanced application of Kidō spiritual pressure— Hanki Sōsai (Anti-Demon Path Mutual Annihilation).

By releasing Kidō spiritual pressure of the exact same intensity but with precisely opposite properties to the opponent's attack, one could completely neutralize their Kidō assault.

Ailin had already fully analyzed Artoria's Sword of Promised Victory. Having battled within Unlimited Blade Works for an extended period, he was intimately familiar with the magical energy Artoria unleashed when activating her Noble Phantasm. Thus, employing Hanki Sōsai to nullify her Excalibur was hardly a challenge.

"Saber, it's true that with my current abilities, I can't truly defeat you while you possess Avalon."

"I merely intended to postpone our decisive battle until the end."

"However, if you persist in this pursuit, I cannot guarantee I will deploy my Reality Marble next time."

"You must understand, given our power, fighting without a Reality Marble would mean the destruction of not just this castle, but all of Fuyuki City."

"In that scenario, Saber, I cannot guarantee your Master would survive the collateral damage."

"And how long could you remain in this world after losing your Master?"

Dispelling the spiritual pressure in his hand, Ailin looked down at Artoria from above and said: "Of course, if you still insist on fighting me, I will certainly stay and oblige. In all these years, I have never once avoided a battle!"

"Damn it!"

Artoria gritted her teeth. But she also knew that what Berserker said was true. If Berserker didn't open his Reality Marble, the battle between them would indeed cause devastating destruction to the real world.

Berserker was not a being of this world; he could disregard the humans of this world. But Saber could not. The Heroic Spirits contracted by Alaya in the Throne of Heroes, regardless of good or evil, existed to ensure the continuation of humanity. If a world-ending crisis occurred, these Heroic Spirits were humanity's strongest and final reserve. Therefore, Artoria could not possibly initiate a war that might annihilate all humans in Fuyuki City.

Seeing Artoria no longer making a move, Ailin's figure flickered and vanished from Artoria's sight.

Clenching her fist tightly, Artoria turned and began searching for Kiritsugu Emiya and Irisviel. Now, only three Servants remained in this Holy Grail War. Tomorrow night, or perhaps the night after, might mark the end of this Holy Grail War.

Artoria had already broken her promise to Irisviel, failing to protect her throughout this Holy Grail War. Therefore, even if only to make amends for her debt to Irisviel, Artoria decided she could not let Irisviel's husband, her own Master Kiritsugu Emiya, come to harm.

Of course, Artoria also knew the main reason she failed to keep her promise to Irisviel was Irisviel's own concealment. Given Irisviel's unique nature, truly protecting her would require all Servants in this Holy Grail War to survive. But this was fundamentally impossible for Artoria to achieve.

After all, it contradicted the very purpose of the Holy Grail War. Without Servants dying, Irisviel couldn't absorb their souls and transform into the Lesser Grail. Without becoming the Lesser Grail, the Greater Grail would have no vessel to descend.

Neither the magi nor the participating Servants could accept this. After all, magi participated in the Holy Grail War hoping to connect to the Root when the Grail descended, thereby becoming users of the Third Magic. And Servants participated hoping to use the Grail's immense magical power to fulfill wishes they couldn't achieve in life. Artoria's promise to Irisviel was doomed from the start.

…

This Holy Grail War is truly interesting.

After returning to the Matou residence, Ailin glanced towards the church. He hadn't expected Kiritsugu Emiya, after relocating Irisviel, hadn't stayed by her side. Instead, he had infiltrated the church and killed the Grail War supervisor, Risei Kotomine, who was also Kirei Kotomine's father.

Would Kirei Kotomine, knowing his father was dead, bring Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes, to seek revenge against Kiritsugu Emiya tomorrow night? However, based on Ailin's understanding of Kirei Kotomine, perhaps Kirei would even thank Kiritsugu Emiya for severing his last remaining bond.

After checking the state of the Matou residence, Ailin sat cross-legged in the front courtyard. Immersing his consciousness into his Reality Marble, he began the process of forging Avalon, now fully analyzed.

"Analyzing creation ideology…"

"Imagining basic framework…"

"Replicating constituent materials…"

"Reproducing production techniques…"

"Sympathizing with growth experience…"

"Reproducing accumulated years!"

"Projection—Start!"

"Replication complete!"

Gazing at the golden scabbard in his hand, having absorbed the countless instances of Artoria utilizing it, Ailin gained a far more concrete understanding of Avalon's capabilities.

Just as I suspected,

The barrier deployed upon Avalon's release can be considered the creation of a world's prototype.

Avalon's power created a world independent of this one, making the user within the Everdistant Utopia untouchable by any attack in the mundane world. All that remained in reality was a spatial anchor connecting the Utopia to this world, allowing the user to return upon deactivating the ability.

Having grasped the principle of Avalon creating a world's prototype, Ailin realized he could now construct an Unlimited Blade Works Reality Marble using the same method as creating the Utopia. This would be a Reality Marble belonging solely to the Type-Moon world's system, distinct from the world manifested by his Zanpakutō's Bankai.

Of course, compared to Ailin's Unlimited Blade Works, which had already been materialized by the spatial power of the Royal Seal, the Reality Marble constructed by Ailin based on Avalon's method of creating the Utopia would be much more fragile.

What I need to do next is clear. Collect all abilities related to the concept of 'world' and integrate them into Avalon's power. In doing so, one day, I too can become a 'god' capable of creating worlds!

…

In the church, Kirei Kotomine looked at his father, Risei Kotomine, lying in a pool of blood, without a trace of sorrow in his heart.

At that moment, Kirei Kotomine's thoughts were solely focused on speculating why Kiritsugu Emiya had done such a thing.

Just as Kiritsugu Emiya, upon reviewing Kirei Kotomine's profile, had concluded cooperation was impossible, Kirei Kotomine, upon becoming aware of Kiritsugu Emiya, also sensed that this man was perhaps his destined 'nemesis.'