"Hmph… Then let me show you what I can really do."
Within the pure white radiance of divine power, a palm-sized rainbow shield materialized out of thin air. Like a tiny satellite, it revolved around Leon's body.
"Noble Phantasm—Release."
"Even in a foreign world, my spirit shall never yield."
"So that one day… I may repay everything I have been given."
"Miracle of the Rainbow… become my strength."
"Father… allow me to bring my distant homeland here."
"Manifest!"
"Lord Asgard—The Miracle Shield Forged by Courage!"
The moment Leon finished his invocation—
Time itself seemed to stand still.
The Noble Phantasm Aegis Saga automatically attached itself to the back of Leon's left hand before instantly expanding into its standard form: a colossal shield nearly two and a half meters tall.
After becoming a Noble Phantasm, Aegis Saga had sacrificed much of its offensive capability. It could no longer transform into armor to enhance Leon in every aspect.
In exchange…
Its power to protect had reached an entirely new level.
Under everyone's astonished gaze, Leon raised the massive shield high overhead.
A pure white divine magic circle expanded from the Shield of the War God in an instant.
Boom—!
A veil of sacred white mist billowed outward.
Then came an ancient foundation unlike anything of the modern world.
Beyond it rose a magnificent celestial city, forged from gold and crystal, dazzling beyond imagination.
Majestic.
Sacred.
Eternal.
The divine realm enveloped not only the entire Tohsaka Mansion—
But all of Fuyuki City itself.
Everything lay beneath the protection of Asgard.
BOOM!!!!
Like the collision of an unstoppable spear against an unbreakable shield—
The ancient nuclear warhead descending from the heavens slammed directly into the royal throne standing at the pinnacle of Asgard.
The night sky instantly became as bright as day.
The crescent moon lost its brilliance.
It was as though a second sun had risen.
The explosion was clearly powerful enough to annihilate everything within sight.
Yet beneath the protection of Asgard, Irisviel, Artoria, and the others felt not even the slightest tremor.
To them…
It was nothing more than a magnificent display of fireworks.
"...What an incredible…"
At that moment, Leon's already imposing figure seemed to grow infinitely taller in the eyes of Irisviel and Artoria.
Iskandar watched him in respectful silence.
Waver was so overwhelmed by the spectacle that his jaw nearly hit the floor.
Artoria couldn't help but think of one particular Knight of the Round Table renowned for bearing a shield.
Irisviel, however, was thinking much further ahead.
Whether it was Leon's Noble Phantasm's incantation or the divine palace that looked utterly unlike anything of the human world—
Everything hinted at an extraordinary origin.
Could such a thing truly exist?
She couldn't help asking herself.
The Age of Gods was supposed to have vanished into the distant past...
"Hmph."
"I knew that fellow had been concealing his true brilliance."
"A mere holy sword burdened by countless restraints could never measure the extent of his worth."
Watching Leon's display, Gilgamesh wore an expression that suggested he had expected nothing less.
Not the slightest surprise appeared on his face.
"That shield… is a genuine divine miracle."
"So Saber's true identity is far more than simply a Knight King or a wielder of the Holy Sword."
Kirei looked curiously toward Gilgamesh.
"So you already knew?"
"Of course."
Gilgamesh rose from his royal throne and walked to the edge of Vimana, overlooking the miraculous manifestation of Asgard below.
Admiration and disgust intertwined within his crimson eyes.
"A god."
"I would never mistake that nauseating divine aura."
As he spoke—
A slender figure with long emerald hair and flowing white robes flashed through his mind.
The moment that person had died in his arms—
Gilgamesh had forever severed his ties with the gods.
Even though he himself was a demigod—
One-third human.
Two-thirds divine.
"I see."
Kirei nodded thoughtfully, gazing at Asgard below.
Even without relying on Vimana's surveillance Noble Phantasm, the eternal realm remained clearly visible.
"Remarkable."
"Whichever Norse deity he descends from, such a Noble Phantasm should have made him every bit as famous as the one Knight of the Round Table known for carrying a shield."
Even after searching every myth he knew, Kirei found no answer.
Standing beside him with his arms folded, Gilgamesh smiled faintly.
"Kirei."
"You've been mistaken from the very beginning."
"Oh?"
"I can't explain it precisely…"
"But he and I are probably the same kind of existence."
"We are both wedges created by the gods for some purpose."
"I can feel it."
"The true meaning of this Holy Grail War…"
"...was for me to meet him."
"As a substitute for that one…"
"...to determine which of us is the superior creation."
"A reenactment of the Age of Gods."
The calm smile on Gilgamesh's face instantly twisted into savage delight.
More than a thousand golden portals blossomed into existence behind him.
"Since one wasn't enough to break it..."
"Let's see how you fare against these!"
Gate of Babylon—
Unleashed at full power.
This was not Gilgamesh's limit.
It was Kirei Kotomine's.
In an instant—
Kirei felt nearly all of his magical energy drained away.
He dropped to one knee.
Although opening each portal required only a trivial amount of mana...
The sheer number of them was beyond what he could sustain.
Without hesitation, he expended another Command Seal, using its power to replenish Gilgamesh's mana.
Only then did he avoid being completely exhausted.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
"That lunatic..."
Following the ancient nuclear weapon, thousands upon thousands of Noble Phantasms poured down from the sky like a golden rain.
Leon couldn't help cursing with a smile as he continued supporting Asgard.
The magical energy within him evaporated as rapidly as boiling water.
Mana—
Was Leon's courage.
As long as his mana endured—
So too did his courage.
While Aegis Saga maintained Asgard's defenses, it also continuously fed mana back into Leon.
Even so, its output had already reached its limit.
Little by little—
Leon's mana reserves began to decline faster than they could recover.
The same was true for the Command Seals on Kirei's arm, which were being consumed as substitute mana.
The battle had become one of endurance.
Whichever side exhausted its magical energy first—
Would immediately lose the initiative.
However—
"Ea…"
"Enuma…"
Just as Gilgamesh, dissatisfied with Gate of Babylon's lack of results, reached for Ea, the Sword of Rupture, intending to escalate the battle even further—
And just as Leon decided that simply defending would only lead to a slow defeat, preparing to draw the All-Black Necrosword stirring within his shadow and unleash Ultimate Darkness—
"JEEEEAAAANNE!!!"
A hysterical roar suddenly echoed from the distance.
The shout interrupted both Gilgamesh and Leon just as the tension was reaching its peak.
Expressions of annoyance appeared on both their faces simultaneously.
They turned toward the source of the voice at the exact same time.
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