Sensing the immediate, lethal threat, Genos surged backward, his internal thrusters firing in a desperate attempt to gain distance.
"Hmm?"
"How touching. Trying to lure me away so the residents of that castle don't get caught in the blast?"
"A noble effort... but too late."
Yubel's twisted, sadistic smile widened as she watched his struggle.
BOOM!!!!
A deafening roar shattered the silence of the night, followed by a mushroom cloud of fire and smoke that rose hundreds of feet into the air.
The secondary shockwave pulverized everything within several dozen yards of the explosion's epicenter.
"It seems the stronger the target, the more feedback I receive."
Yubel glanced at her Life Point display, which had dropped from 7000 back down to 4000. She was beginning to understand the nuances of this "reality-integrated" duel.
The core rules of the game still applied, but they were now governed by a law of immediacy.
Traps required a period of "setting" before they could be triggered, but Monsters and Spells could be activated and summoned with a single thought,unless the opponent was also a Duelist, in which case the battle would revert to a formal, turn-based turn-flow.
"The irony of it..."
Yubel mused, realizing that the [Duel Disk], as a Noble Phantasm, was immensely convenient when used against non-duelists. Its cards possessed conceptual effects that could bypass normal defenses with a terrifying, illogical authority.
"Hehe..."
As the dust began to settle, Yubel looked at the charred, metallic scrap littered across the cratered wasteland.
"Such a dangerous little toy."
"Destruction..."
"Even I would have been erased if I'd taken that head-on."
Certain that Genos had been annihilated by the conceptual effect of [Ring of Destruction], Yubel turned her predatory gaze back toward the castle.
A single Trap card had effortlessly destroyed a Servant. The thrill of wielding such absolute, rule-based power was intoxicating.
Destruction, in this context, was equivalent to a single, lethal blow that ignored standard durability. For a Servant, it was a terrifyingly efficient way to be removed from the board.
Of course, there were downsides. The cards she drew were random.
While a targeted effect like [Ring of Destruction] was a guaranteed hit, an area-of-effect card like [Raigeki] might be avoided if the enemy managed to clear the designated zone quickly enough.
But even so, the potential was staggering. There weren't many Servants who could survive a direct, conceptual "destruction" effect.
Just as she prepared to resume her advance on the fortress, a figure leaped from the high balcony, a massive greatsword wreathed in a brilliant blue light.
'The evil dragon shall fall...'
'Light and shadow, severing all in their path...'
'The world... has reached its sunset!'
'I shall strike you down!!'
The rhythmic chanting sent a shiver of alarm through Yubel. The column of blue magical energy rising into the night sky was unmistakable,a massive Anti-Army Noble Phantasm was about to detonate.
"Balmung , [Fafnir's Fall]!!"
The beam of pure, focused mana surged forward, vaporizing anything in its path. The colossal dragon standing before Yubel was caught in the center of the blast and disintegrated instantly.
Yubel found herself swallowed by the aftershock, the sheer force of the impact lifting her host's body and hurling her backward.
THUD!
UUGH!
She hit the ground with a violent impact, her vision swimming in a haze of pain.
[LP: 4000 → 2500]
"How... How's that possible? That single strike hit for 1500 damage?!"
Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, and her entire body throbbed with agony. She looked up at the newcomer, a knight in silver armor who held his greatsword in a ready stance.
She had experienced the destructive output of the previous machine-man, and while this knight's beam was powerful, it felt... different. Less raw energy, but more "weight."
Why had the damage to her Life Points been so catastrophic?
'Wait,'
She looked at the spot where her [Bystial Magnamhut] had been. It hadn't even gone to the Graveyard; it had been completely scoured from existence.
'The knight... does he have a special property against dragons?'
Yubel realized the truth. The knight was a specialized dragon-slayer. Against a dragon-type monster, his damage output was amplified to an absurd degree.
It seemed the "conceptual logic" of this world's heroes was merging with her "game logic," creating a volatile and unpredictable combat dynamic.
"Tch."
She struggled to her feet, her eyes burning with a mix of fury and hesitation as she memorized the knight's face.
BANG!!
In that split second, a single gunshot rang out.
PST!!
The sound of the bullet impacting flesh followed instantly. Yubel was jerked off her feet as if she had been hit by a runaway train.
"!"
She lay on her back, clutching her abdomen. The hole in her host's side was jagged and deep, blood pouring through her fingers.
[LP: 2500 → 500]
A gun?
A single bullet had done 'that' much damage?
Yubel stared at her Life Point display, her mind reeling with shock.
'Is this some kind of joke?! That knight's ultimate move only took 1500, and a single bullet takes 2000?!'
She looked toward the castle, her eyes widening as she identified the shooter.
Standing in one of the high windows was an older woman with blue hair, holding a smoking pistol in a steady, practiced grip.
Another Servant.
'This isn't good...'
'I have to get out of here.'
Yubel didn't want to find out what happened when her Life Points hit zero. The risk was no longer acceptable. This woman with the gun was... terrifying.
Even at 2500 LP, she had been willing to play around with the new knight. But one shot taking her down to 500? That was enough to break her fighting spirit.
Yubel didn't hesitate. She dissolved into Spirit Form and vanished from the battlefield, her infiltration attempt ending in an ignominious retreat.
"The intruder... is they gone?"
Gored watched the spot where she had disappeared, a long sigh of relief escaping his lips.
Seeing Genos's apparent destruction, he had used a Command Spell to snap Siegfried back to the fortress for an emergency defense. The decision had been the correct one,the [Balmung] had clearly dealt massive damage to the enemy.
"Doctor... Archer's body was completely pulverized."
"Even with those reinforced materials, it didn't seem to do much."
"Now what?"
Roche ran up to Bulma's side, his voice urgent as he reported the status of their Archer.
"It's fine."
Bulma tucked the specialized handgun back into her pocket, showing no sign of distress over Genos's "death."
"It's fine? We just lost a Servant! How can you be so,"
Gored's protest was cut short as he heard a familiar metallic footstep behind him.
'CLANK.'
"Archer?!"
He spun around to see Genos standing there, looking perfectly intact, as if he had never even been on the battlefield.
"Dr. Bulma anticipated that something like this might happen, so she built several backup bodies for me."
"My Spirit Core is kept in the primary lab under a protective seal, so the destruction of my hull doesn't affect my existence."
"I simply initialized a new body and resumed my duties."
Genos explained his status with his characteristic stolid demeanor.
He was deeply impressed by the doctor's foresight and scientific prowess. In his own world, being reduced to scrap would have been a catastrophic event. Here, it was just a minor maintenance delay.
"That's... preposterous!"
Gored's jaw dropped, his jowls quivering with a mix of shock and indignation.
He was proud of his ability to craft Homunculi, but this Caster (Bulma) had managed to separate a Servant's "Soul" from their body and provide them with multiple, interchangeable "shells"?
'Is your science... perhaps a bit too "unreasonable"?!'