Chapter 106. Tragic Heroism – Martial Arts Reaching the Realm of Heroic Spirit!
["Even though I find this meaningless… once you've decided, then I will lend you this life."]
[On the adjacent high-rise, the final President of the Onmyou Bureau revealed a slightly comforting expression: "Hey, Makoto, let me unleash the divine storm around me, paving the path for you to reach the divine."]
[Then, he burned his own life, acting as a living core, draining the ley lines of Tokyo City, his body cracking into countless threads of white light connecting to each magi on the battlefield, and immediately, streams of aura erupted.]
[Countless magi, like glowing dots, under the lead of seven figures, charged straight toward black Saber.]
...
The people of Tokyo felt something was about to happen, their hearts filled with sorrow.
"President is a true man…"
"Kyogoku-kun, Yomi-chan, Nura-kun, lady Sankarea… We will forever remember your sacrifice!"
"This battle to protect Tokyo, I acknowledge it now!"
"Japan will forever remember this moment engraved into history!"
"The thousands upon thousands of mages present here are all heroes!"
"We must expel Saber and Berserker no matter what!"
"My eyes sting, snot's running, ah hu hu hu~_~."
"Kyogoku the GOAT..."
However, even if the people of the cherry blossom land shed tears on the spot, they could not change the distance between humans and gods.
...
[The corrupted king standing tall atop the tower, with just a horizontal slash of her sword, a black light cannon roared like an enraged dragon and fired out.]
["BOOM!!"]
[Like the terrifying roar of thunder, the dense air currents were pushed away layer by layer.]
[A pale wrist flicked lightly, the light cannon formed a crescent arc, under the gritted, hateful gazes of the magi.]
[The dense glowing dots in the sky were instantly swept clean, like a chain of continuous explosions.]
[The sound echoed thunderously.]
[Bang bang bang!]
[Countless figures fell, some losing all vitality, some still barely struggling, turning the ruins and collapsed walls into a bloody mess, exuding frenzied brutality.]
[Nura Rikuo held the shikigami Yuki Onna, his thigh cleaved right in the middle, blood and flesh exposing a blinding white bone, his face pale, forcibly pulled out of the Fusion state, his aura weakened to an indiscernible degree.]
[Not far from there, there were still remnants of scale-armored shikigami scattered around.]
[Even if they exerted all their strength, they still could not get within ten meters of that King Arthur.]
["Absolute Territory, huh?"]
[Nura Rikuo dragged his crippled body, covering his blood-bleeding blind eye with his hand, sighing with a bit of lament.]
[In the end, still too weak…]
[He didn't know how many old friends were still alive.]
[He glanced over — Sakan Rea had lost nearly half her body, her chest pierced with a bloody hole, flesh charred black, still twitching in painful struggle to rise.]
[It was as if the large broken bones inside her body had shifted out of place, making her unable to stand up.]
["Aha, this time the enemy's really unimaginably strong…"]
[Keikain Hidemoto clutched his severed arm, letting out a slightly helpless smile; if not for only having half a head left, the intense pains from nerve reflexes would have already blurred his consciousness.]
[He could no longer accept the reality that he had lost so many friends and subordinates.]
[Such a desperate battle had already worn people down to the bone.]
[On the ruins, the corpses of Onmyou Bureau magi lay scattered everywhere, even underfoot were the severed arms of disciples who used to joke around.]
[It was no longer possible to distinguish whose body was whose, many had even been completely melted by the light cannon.]
[Among them were those who used to quarrel and curse with him, comrades who had faced life and death together, a lover who nearly could have grown old alongside him, the respected President… too many, too many.]
[Before the thing called victory might finally arrive.]
[The exhaustion released at that moment, he only wanted to sit down on a bench, close his eyes for a while.]
[This ancient onmyouji staggered as he walked, nearly tripping over the corpse of Isayama Yomi.]
[Fortunately…]
[Before Keikain Hidemoto could trip, he was already dead.]
[Life force gone.]
[Wearing a serene smile, he fell straight back into the mountain-like pile of corpses, among them students from the Spiritual Evocation department, professors from the Creation department, the head of Astromancy, specialists from the Curses department…]
[Everyone lay neatly together, the atmosphere peaceful and beautiful.]
[Though a bit distant from the other seven Directors, it could still be considered a feng shui blessed resting place.]
[Hidemoto was buried among the corpses, half his head severed from his neck, rolling a few times before coming to rest beside old friends.]
[A flock of crows beneath the blood-colored clouds cawed noisily, circling as they descended.]
[Amidst the tragic air, there was an enchanting, almost magical beauty.]
...
"Looks like my way of dying wasn't the worst after all."
At the Training Base, responsible for Master training, Isayama Yomi covered her face, not knowing whether to grieve or laugh, caught somewhere between tears and laughter.
Her own abilities, as she'd glimpsed them in a parallel world, were more than enough, definitely not inferior to herself when summoning the spirit beast Nue.
In theory, she should have been able to fight against standard-class Servants, at least hold on for a bit.
But…
The opponent was a Blackened King Arthur, and after she lost that signature ahoge strand on her head, she gained an unprecedented, massive amount of magical power.
She practically one-hit killed everyone.
"If it were Saber under Yukino's control, then Yomi definitely…"
Satou Kazuma, as if thinking of something, leaned over and whispered into Hideyoshi's ear.
He spoke while wearing a disgusting, perverted grin.
Yukino silently drifted over like a ghost, raised her hand, and angrily knocked Kazuma on the head.
"BONK!"
A crisp, resounding smack.
Kazuma yelped in pain, jumping up on the spot, still muttering something like "only petty people and women are hard to please."
Seems that after becoming a Master, his guts had gotten a little bigger.
...
At that moment, many people on Earth looked up at the Celestial Curtain carrying a tragic atmosphere, sighing.
The efforts of the Onmyou Bureau… was it all ending just like that?
...
[No…]
[But it wasn't entirely in vain!]
[Under the strengthening of the bespectacled, chestnut-haired female magus, plus the support of countless magi and the other Directors, Kyogoku Makoto became the single aurora piercing through the battlefield between the two clashing Servants.]
[He broke through the cloud layers, shattered the atmosphere, dazzling and blazing as he shot downward!]
[Closer…]
[Even closer!]
[Gathering all his energy, eyes filled with determination, he poured every ounce of strength into a single strike!]
[Like a meteor cannonball, exploding powerfully, crashing down on Black Saber.]
[His blood burned dry, nose and ears pouring blood — whether this punch succeeded or not, he would die.]
[This punch — was the final blow!]
["BANG!!"]
[The fierce force of the punch tore through the storm, crushed countless air currents, erupted into a sonic boom, and shattered the violent whirlwind surrounding Black Saber.]
[Kyogoku Makoto burned everything, as if ascending, touching the realm his master had once spoken of.]
[The light in his peerless fist, like an ultimate power, forced his shattered body to pull together, forming a punch that shattered the void — in everyone's sight, like a giant black tiger roaring and stomping through space.]
[The compressed air twisted, letting out a wailing scream from overload…]
[Black Saber tilted her head, revealing a surprised expression, a gap appearing.]
[For the first time in her vision, someone other than Heracles appeared.]
[The strike, crystallizing the entire strength of the Onmyou Bureau, finally made Black Saber take notice for a moment — it was a punch that could threaten her.]
[At that moment, at the ruins of Castle Einzbern, the Purge King — still sharing vision with Berserker — roared, activating two Command Seal boosts.]
[Just as Black Saber was about to draw her sword to face the attack, the giant brute before her suddenly erupted, expanding like a demon god, roaring as he raised his stone axe high.]
[With one mighty swing, the wind barrier surrounding Black Saber was cleaved apart!]
[For the first time, her armor let out a groaning sound, unable to withstand the pressure!]
[A strike like Kyogoku Makoto's electromagnetic cannon blasted her away, at super-speed, like a blade slicing through a city, the buildings in its path instantly disintegrating into fine dust.]
["BOOM BOOM BOOM…!!"]
[After that, the air within several kilometers was sucked clean.]
[A single blow shattered the entire metropolis!]
[The black shadow skimmed across the sea's surface, tearing straight through Tokyo Bay — the supersonic explosion, dozens of times faster than sound, split the sea in half, revealing the cement blocks beneath Tokyo Bay!]
[No… they were cement containers.]
[Exposing countless buried crimes beneath Tokyo Bay! (Note: Akikan definitely contributed the most here.)]
[It even charged out near open waters.]
[The raging giant even chased at an even faster speed, another axe strike slamming the opponent down into the deep sea.]
[The pitch-black mask of Black Saber shattered, revealing her magnificent golden pupils, the demon armor on her body cracking apart, and she was slammed by the fist into the distant sea hundreds of miles away, shooting like a sword plunged into the ocean. The sea surface went silent for a second, and then…]
[Suddenly swelled, exploded, sending up tsunamis as tall as multi-story buildings!]
[When they saw those two beams of light disappear, the surviving magi finally turned back joyfully toward Kyogoku Makoto.]
[Right on the spot, Kyogoku Makoto remained in his punching stance, having completely lost his breath.]
[It was the pride of a warrior — even after death, his spine remained upright, standing tall amid the ruined land.]
[In the moment before death, he had broken through, his martial art touching the realm of a Heroic Spirit.]
["Truly worthy of Makoto… he achieved what none of us could."]
[Several Directors of the Onmyou Bureau watched Black Saber slash across the ocean, leaving Tokyo, and they laughed with satisfaction, swallowing their last breath.]
[The inner city area lay heavily scarred, filled with meteor craters and lava as if divine myths had descended; no one knew how many buildings had collapsed.]
[The entire city sank into silence.]
[Only the crackling of burning fires remained.]
[Desolation, death.]
[Countless people wept as if rain poured, frantically searching for new life.]
...
Many remained silent, but their blood boiled.
A surge of emotion rose within them.
A glorious death, greater than a cowardly life!
Perhaps the seven Directors of the Onmyou Bureau, and the magi who had been ready to sacrifice, had thought exactly that in their hearts.
They had succeeded.
They had pushed the battlefield out to another sea region.
This was the limit of what they could do — an almost total annihilation sacrifice.
To outsiders, it might seem not worth it, but to them, it was worth everything.
Black Saber and Berserker might still continue their destruction and make landfall on Japan.
But…
They had given their all, and even if they could only shield the populace for a fleeting moment, they had no regrets.
"What the hell are the Americans trying to do?!"
Suddenly, someone shouted in alarm.
All eyes turned — discovering that the American fleet had appeared at the far edge of the ocean horizon, surrounding the spot where Black Saber had sunk…
...
Note: If this buddy Kyogoku Makoto were to become a Heroic Spirit, I'm sure his NP would be just like Arash's!