CH 50

"Alright!"

Shirou secretly shouted in his mind.

I can win!

With his Chariot destroyed, Iskandar's last resort is to activate his Noble Phantasm, Ionioi Hetairoi. However, as a Reality Marble, it is uncertain what will occur when it clashes with another Reality Marble, such as Shirou's Unlimited Blade Works.

The outcome of the clash between the two Reality Marbles is uncertain and there are several possibilities of how the situation might play out. One possibility is that one Reality Marble will override the other. Another possibility is that they may coexist. The result could also be determined by the difference in magical energy between the two, the degree of mysticism, or the strength of the mental image of the user. Regardless, it is still uncertain as to which outcome will transpire.

Even though Shirou is uncertain about how his Reality Marble, Unlimited Blade Works, will fare against Iskandar's Noble Phantasm, Ionioi Hetairoi. However, with Spartacus by his side, the plan becomes clear.

If Iskandar activates Ionioi Hetairoi, Shirou will let Spartacus charge through, and at a crucial moment, he will activate his own Reality Marble, "Unlimited Blade Works," and launch a surprise attack on Iskandar. As long as there is a brief pause in Ionioi Hetairoi, the towering Spartacus will have enough time to break through and eliminate Iskandar.

A double fatality!

"The chariot... has been destroyed." Waver looked at the debris of the chariot and felt a sense of disappointment.

He couldn't help but feel that if he were more useful, if Iskandar had not had to use some of his energy to protect him, the chariot may not have been destroyed. He looked up at Iskandar, ready to express his regret but was caught off guard when he saw Iskandar laughing.

Even though the chariot was destroyed, and they were in a dire situation, Iskandar did not blame Waver, instead his face was filled with a conquering smile. 

As they stood there, the towering Spartacus charged toward them, roaring loudly.

"Dong -, Dong -"

The ground shook and trees were effortlessly knocked down as if they were mere blades of grass as the giant Spartacus bore down on them with an overwhelming force, charging toward Iskandar!

Go, Spartacus! Claim victory!

Shirou shouted inwardly, his heart filled with anticipation.

It's over, it's over!

Waver's heart trembled.

The giant charged at them with relentless force, while the thunderstorm raged on with such ferocity that it seemed intent on consuming everything in its path. Iskandar, however, remained unfazed. He turned to Waver and asked calmly, "Have you ever lived in a big world, kid?"

Frustrated, Waver exclaimed, "You fool! How can you still expect to teach me anything? Haven't you seen what's happening right now?"

Iskandar let out a loud, booming laugh and raised the sword of the king high above his head. "I am Iskandar, the King of Conquest!" he proclaimed. "Tell me, what is conquest? What does it truly mean to conquer?"

Confusion was etched on Waver's face. Iskandar's words seemed like a question directed at someone, yet there was no one else there except themselves and their enemies in the midst of battle. Who was Iskandar asking? Was it the sky, the earth, or perhaps, Waver himself? The young mage couldn't help but wonder as he looked on in bewilderment.

Just as he was about to try to persuade Iskandar to focus, a sandstorm began to brew, rising up around them and engulfing everything in its path.

"Here it comes!" Shirou's heart tightened as Spartacus instinctively came to a stop beside him.

Terrorizing magical energy enveloped the area and in an instant, the world around them changed. The forest, which had been ravaged by Spartacus and Iskandar, disappeared, replaced by a raging sandstorm and an army of soldiers that seemed intent on laying waste to the earth.

"What is conquest?" Iskandar asked.

"Raze nations to the ground, raise our own to the skies, all for the sake of conquest!" The soldiers' voices were uniform, as if they were one entity, and their cries seemed to tear apart the very fabric of the world.

Shirou was shocked. A sense of vastness enveloped his small and ordinary heart, as if it covered the sky and earth, and he couldn't help but be moved by the sheer scale of it all.

Is this Ionioi Hetairoi?

Iskandar asked again, his voice ringing out clear above the chaos, "What is conquest?"

"Crush armies beneath us, raise our own to new heights, all in the name of conquest!"

Waver surveyed the endless sea of people, so dense that it felt like a temple fair. Yet, their voices were so uniform and their wills united, as if they could tear apart the earth and sky in pursuit of their goal. It was as if they were all chasing after the end of the starry sea, driven by a singular purpose.

"What is conquest?" Iskandar asked again.

"The creed of conquest is to vanquish and triumph, to crush the weak and elevate the mighty!"

Iskandar hoisted himself onto his steed, brandishing his sword. He bellowed, "What is our ultimate goal?"

"The end of the starry sea!"

"The end of the starry sea!"

"The end of the starry sea!"

...

The entire crowd and soldiers were shouting at the top of their lungs. They were like zealots in pursuit of enlightenment, their eyes burning with passion for their cause. With his sword held aloft, Iskandar directed it toward Spartacus and shouted, "Kill--!"

"Kill----!!!"

The sound was a unified, thunderous roar, sharp and piercing like a sword slicing through the sky. The army advanced, the overwhelming might of humanity causing the earth and sky to tremble.

They will perish...

They will certainly perish...

"If Spartacus dares to break through like this, he's certain to meet his death!"

Shirou's eyes were filled with wariness. He had not expected the King's Army to be so formidable. He had underestimated them.

He clenched his jaw and, without hesitation, merged with the Saint Graph, his body instantly overflowing with surging magical energy. Simultaneously, "Wisdom of Mortal" kicked in, causing Iskandar's momentum to diminish abruptly and even the soldiers' fervor to slightly wane.

In contrast, Spartacus's body grew even more robust, his aura surging outward like tidal waves, with him as the epicenter, causing the gravel within a five-meter radius to shake.

"Just as I suspected, it's you, Caster." Iskander laughed cheerfully, it appeared that he had already deduced Shirou's identity from the beginning.

But...

He didn't seem to mind. The king who held the fate of the world in his hands had greater ambition and greed than anyone else. His heart was as vast as the world he had conquered!

Shirou summoned forth a torrent of magical energy, harnessing the raw power of his 27 immature magic circuits. With fierce determination, he projected the massive sword that had once been wielded by Gilgamesh to subdue the legendary gladiator, Spartacus. The sword materialized in a brilliant blaze of light, its razor-sharp edges glinting menacingly as it hovered in the air, ready to unleash destruction at Shirou's command.

Of course, he could not fully materialize the giant sword. Instead, he could only project a sword that was a mere fraction of its size, measuring at a mere 15 meters in length. Though it shared the same shape as the original, it was inferior in terms of power and strength.

Exhausted, Shirou handed the sword over to Spartacus and shouted, "Spartacus, use this sword to vanquish the oppressors!"

"Oh oh oh oh oh oh----!"

Spartacus grasped the giant sword with the strength of an ancient giant and charged into the ranks of the enemy army. With swift and powerful strokes, he swept his sword through the throngs of soldiers, leaving a trail of death and destruction in his wake. 

Those who dared to stand in his way were met with a swift and merciless end, either falling to the ground dead or writhing in agony from their injuries. The battlefield shook with the ferocity of his assault, as he cut a swath of carnage through the enemy ranks.

Iskander shouted loudly, "Change formation four! Assault the giant blocking our path!"

In the blink of an eye, the tide of battle shifted. The King's Army adapted its strategy to counter Spartacus's rampage.

Heavily armored soldiers stepped forward to form a wall of defense, while archer soldiers positioned behind them quickly drew their bows and unleashed a barrage of arrows toward Spartacus. The relentless hail of projectiles rained down upon him.

"Oh oh oh oh oh----!!!"

Spartacus was peppered with arrows, yet his face still bore a serene, loving smile.

The more he was injured, the more powerful the magical energy that his body emitted. At this moment, his body had swelled to 15 meters, and every time it grew, "Wisdom of Mortal" would amplify its momentum.

The heat emanating from Spartacus's massive frame was intense, like a steaming airflow that made the air around him uncomfortably hot.

He held the giant sword projected by Shirou with ease, the sword glinted in the light like a beam of moonlight as he swung it with precision and power, cutting the enemies with deadly efficiency. 

His movements were deadly as he carved a path of destruction through the ranks of the King's army.

"Kacha Kacha Kacha Kacha Kacha Kacha----"

"Ah Ah Ah Ah Ah----!!!"

Accompanied by the screams of the soldiers, the heavy armor of the heavily-armored soldiers was no match for Spartacus's raw strength. With a single sweep of his sword, he cleaved through their defenses as if they were made of butter, leaving them unable to even put up a momentary resistance. The soldiers, who had thought themselves invincible in their heavy armor, were now nothing more than corpses on the battlefield.

The corpses and the sea of blood mixed together, forming a gruesome and macabre scene of death and destruction. The once-ordered ranks of the King's army were now nothing more than a disordered mass of bodies, torn apart by the relentless onslaught of Spartacus. The ground was slick with blood, the air thick with the stench of death. 

It was a human meat grinder!

Shirou was aghast. Waver was horrified.

Such a vast world, whether it was Shirou as an ordinary individual, or Waver who was entrenched in his small inner world, neither had ever seen or experienced anything like it before.

"Welcome to the real world of conquest!" Iskander laughed boisterously and then swung his sword and shouted, "Change formation eleven!"

"The King's Army" changed formation once more. The heavy soldiers cleared a direct path to Iskander. Spartacus shouted loudly, his spirit high as he charged toward Iskander.

"Fool! Fool! Fool! How could you open the formation?" Waver was terrified, staring at the giant who had swelled to 15 meters like a mountain, he was paralyzed with fear.

Iskander's expression remained unchanged, even a hint of joy was present on his face.

"Kacha--"

As Spartacus rushed towards Iskandar, a strange sound echoed and then the ground suddenly gave way with a series of "cracks." The cave-in swallowed Spartacus whole, leaving only his head visible.

It turned out that when the heavy armor troops were massacred by Spartacus, there was already a troop that had set up traps around the battlefield.

Iskandar, with a sword in hand, stepped on the head of Spartacus, who was now trapped in the quicksand, and plunged his sword into the right eye of the mad warrior.

"Cha!"

Blood mixed with tears spurted out, coating his cheek in red. Iskandar laughed triumphantly, "This is my world, my domination, my conquest. Berserker, you... did you feel it?"

"Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah----!!!"

Spartacus' magical energy surged, his body expanding to over 20 meters. He reached out from the quicksand trap and struggled to climb out, wielding his huge sword in a frenzy and injuring anyone in his path.

The battlefield was a scene of carnage, with dead bodies strewn everywhere. Blood flowed like a river, the ground was trampled and crushed, littered with minced organs and viscera. Severed limbs and broken bodies were visible as far as the eye could see.

This was a barbaric world, a world of conquest, a primal, wild world of men that had existed since ancient times. In this world, civilization, morality, good and evil—all of those things that people hold dear—disappeared. Words were meaningless, strategies were pointless, and only the most primitive wildness existed in the blood of men.

In this world, there is only one rule.

Conquer or be Conquered!

"Hahaha!" Iskandar, surrounded by his heavy troops, laughed triumphantly. To him, fighting, bloodshed, and cruelty were the most genuine things in the world of men vying for dominance.

Spartacus had grown even stronger, towering over his enemies like an ancient giant. With ease, he killed a group of soldiers and trampled another to death. Even the heat he exhaled was enough to blow over a circle of soldiers!

But it was clear that he was reaching his limit,

Yes, reaching his limit!

The body that was brewing with magical energy had begun to riot and was gradually approaching the point of self-destruction. Shirou did not know if Spartacus' self-destruction could destroy the King's Army, as in the Nasuverse, Spartacus had never fought Iskandar to the death.

Despite his valiant efforts, Spartacus was unable to defeat the king's army, which controlled over 5 million square kilometers. He knew that a hero who rises up in rebellion would have even less chance of defeating the empire's tyranny.

But...

It's not just about having swords and shields, but also about having keen eyes and quick wits!

Shirou understood that swords and shields protect the eyes and the brain, and the eyes and brain also protect the swords and shields.

He inhaled deeply before slowly raising his arm.

"I am the bone of my sword..."

His voice was steady and resolute. The chant of [Unlimited Blade Works] flowed effortlessly from his lips as he fell into a trance-like state.

In his mind's eye, he saw a solitary figure clad in scarlet, standing tall and proud amid a sea of gears that seemed to stretch on endlessly, like the inner workings of a vast, industrial machine.

Without a doubt, this is a record of the Heroic Spirit Emiya within the Saint Graph that has been aroused.

"Hm? What is this?" Iskandar furrowed his eyebrows, looking at Shirou with interest, "Are you going to use your Noble Phantasm, Caster?"