Rising to her feet, she said over her shoulder, "Let's go. With Eternal King and Beast gone, foul things are crawling out. Stay close so you don't get lost!"
"Ah, yes! I understand, Miss Unknown!" Kiara hurriedly followed along.
Mordred shot her an irritated look. "Don't call me Miss Unknown. That sounds really weird."
"Then, what should I call you?" Kiara shrank back timidly.
Despite being a chibi, Mordred had an imposing presence that demanded respect.
With her back facing Kiara, she said, "Mordred! I am the king of destruction, Mordred! Don't forget that!"
...
Time crawled by as the earth cracked like a spiderweb, and one after another, misshapen Chthonians emerged, making the already tattered Hanging Garden even more dilapidated, just like a leaf boat rocking precariously in a storm.
Semiramis clenched her fists, eyes flickering with annoyance and anger. Her splendid garden, her beautiful kingdom, now lay in tatters.
The situation had exceeded her imagination. Or rather, this Holy Grail War had veered toward an unpredictable outcome from the very start.
The perfect aerial garden represented her world - one where, accompanied by her Hanging Garden, she could gain power rivaling even Karna and Arjuna in battle.
However, the encounters in this Holy Grail War had proven far too unexpected. First came Devil's Bodhisattva, then the descent of Eternal King. Countless Towers of Light directly pierced her supposedly impregnable fortress, reducing her perfect garden to a shabby hut.
She directly fell from a noble queen ruling a kingdom to a pauper woman in ruins - the difference was like a heaven and earth!
The Bounded Field of Hanging Garden was destroyed, and its effects were also dispelled. The top-tier fame boost, the special effect of this Noble Phantasm, completely ended when Eternal King destroyed the garden.
Afterwards, her garden was connected to unknown evil wretches from which one disgusting worm after another emerged from the ground.
Semiramis showed a look of disgust.
"I'll help you one last time, Master."
She suppressed the nausea in her heart and made a decision.
Why would an expert poisoner help a man to this extent?
Wasn't the reason obvious? Once the Third Magic was achieved, she would become queen of the entire world - or so he had promised.
In the past, she had poisoned her own husband for the Assyrian throne and supreme power. Doing the same now was nothing surprising.
And yet, she had always wavered about the reasons in her heart. As the world's oldest vicious poisoner - an evil woman - why did she want to help this Master? She was unclear even to herself.
But whenever she asked herself this question, her mind recalled the yearning in her Master's face when he depicted his vision of heaven.
It was at that time that she had promised Kotomine to help him without regard for the consequences.
And now, faced with the same choice, the poisonous woman was no less conflicted. What exactly did she desire? Even she didn't fully know.
Yet she knew what she could still do here and now.
She mobilized the last magic circle of her Hanging Garden - the one Astolfo had failed to destroy. With so few Red Servants left, she had lost value as a trump card. So it was time to create another trump card.
...
Arjuna - son of Indra and one of the five Pandava brothers - had always regarded himself as a great hero. Others shared this impression of him as diligent, upright, righteous, flawless - beloved by the very gods, who granted him the divine bow Agni Gandiva.
However, Arjuna clearly knew he had a hidden side. He cared not for wealth, only the honor of battle. Yet at critical moments, he would unbelievably resort to despicable tricks.
This was the side he always kept hidden. Before carrying out those tricks, he would hesitate and conflicted. But upon executing them, a wicked smile would bloom on his face.
And that evil smile - he allowed no one to see it. For if witnessed, even by his Master, he would kill without mercy.
Yes, these were the standards he set for himself.
Who would believe it? Beneath that diligent, upright façade lurked hatred, scorns, deceit - a filthy, gloomy other side.
Arjuna called this his "Black" - the evil within. Perhaps it was this side that had goaded him into finally shooting the weakened Karna.
Unable to accept this, he desperately suppressed his blackness. Seeing himself as a hero, he obsessively attended to his words and deeds, forbidding himself any flaw.
And so he never truly faced his dark side - only ever suppressing it while clinging to his hero façade.
Living as a hero was his comfort zone. Maybe he didn't show it, but deep down he was scared of losing his heroic halo. But after seeing Eternal King's final blaze of light, Arjuna finally faced his darkest fears.
For he could not - would not - lose to HIM.
A wicked smile split his face as Arjuna launched a frenzied attack on Karna.
The land exploded as lightning and sunlight continuously intersected.
"Karna!" Arjuna cackled, rushing towards his opponent like a thunder wolf running wild.
Usually when they met, Arjuna would shout once, maybe twice, before shutting up. After all, shouting someone's name like this was awkward. Being seen doing this was even more awkward.
A hero had to maintain his image.
But now, Arjuna didn't care about anything else. He let loose all his dark and nasty feelings. Doing the right thing didn't matter anymore - all he wanted was to take down the man in front of him.
To shoot down the sun.
Gone were fair, righteous attacks - now Arjuna adopted every underhanded move imaginable. Throwing sand, spitting, howling - whatever proved effective. To honorable warriors, he'd become a scoundrel of the lowest quality.
But these moves were extremely effective. Having discarded propriety, integrity, and the burden of maintaining a heroic image, Arjuna began using tactics he would rather die than use before. In other words, he was now completely unrestrained.
However, Arjuna still couldn't best Karna. He was simply too strong. Just his armor Kavacha and Kundala alone could deflect most of Arjuna's attacks, and that spear was also a huge threat.
Although Arjuna had unshackled his mind and attacked without restraint, his parameters couldn't simply be enhanced by removing mental limits.
Arjuna wanted to pull back to snipe at Karna, but Karna's speed far exceeded his. Karna entangled him, stabbing out frequently with his spear, each blow meant to kill.
Arjuna knew if he couldn't break free of Karna's onslaught, only defeat awaited him. But Karna moved too quickly, his spear thrusts too precise. Once he was in his sights, escape seemed impossible.
He narrowed his eyes with a wicked grin. As Karna's spear shot toward him like a meteor, instead of dodging, Arjuna moved to meet it from a strange angle.
With a crunch, the spear pierced his chest. With a spurt, pillar-like hot blood mixed with lightning and thunder splashed directly into Karna's face, causing him to reflexively shut his eyes. As Arjuna grabbed the spear stabbing his chest with one hand, a wicked smile broke out, "How's this blinding technique, Karna?"
Karna paid him no mind, focused instead on pulling out his spear. However, Arjuna grasped the spear with one hand while his other shot out lightning fast towards Karna's face.
Caught off guard in close quarters, Karna reacted on pure instinct, throwing up a hand to block. But his reactions were slower, and Arjuna's hand became an eagle's talons digging for his eyes.
Karna's reaction caused Arjuna's attack to go astray, raking across his cheek. Arjuna grabbed at Karna's mouth instead, viciously ripping outwards.
With a terrible tearing sound, Arjuna ripped Karna's mouth wide open, blood flowing freely.
Arjuna lifted his leg, aiming a kick at Karna's crotch, only to be blocked by the golden armor with a dull thud. Using the momentum, Arjuna shot himself backwards, out of Karna's reach.
Covered in blood from head to toe, blood still flowing from the spear wound pierced through his chest,
Yet he laughed loudly.
"HaHahaHaha!"
He cackled without restraint like a gleeful, petty man.
"In the end I was still one step ahead. You lost, Karna!"
...
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