Chapter 44 : Demonic spirit
The golden hero king turns into particles of light and disappears.
The look on his face at the end was one of regret.
If I had to put it into words, I would probably say something like, "Why these people?"
We won.
I reset Tohsaka to be my "Owner" and together we used our swords to block the Hero King's attack, while Saber used the opportunity to bring the fight into close combat.
Tohsaka's plan worked perfectly, and thanks to the power of the "trump card" she brought out, although it was a tough fight, we managed to defeat the King of Heroes without any noticeable damage. However--
"Tohsaka..."
"...Don't say anything."
"But...!"
"I don't need any consolation."
Tohsaka answered my question weakly. Her expression was incomprehensible.
We had certainly won, but the price she paid for it was far too high.
As Tohsaka had said, he probably shouldn't call out to her. But even so, he wanted to do something, but something resembling melancholy about her prevented him from doing so.
It seemed Saber was also worried about Tohsaka, and she would repeatedly open her mouth to speak, then awkwardly shave her eyes off her. Eventually, she somehow managed to speak, again with her eyes shave.
"Rin, you know... cat ears look good on you, don't they?"
"I told you I don't need any comforting!"
Tohsaka screams as she slams the walking stick she is holding into the cobblestones.
A star-shaped ornament on the end of a short handle, about 50cm long. A toy-like wand with wings on either side. This was the trump card that Tohsaka had prepared to use against the King of Heroes.
Tohsaka now had cat ears, just as Saber had said, and was wearing a red miniskirt dress with lots of frills.
Combined with the design of the wand she is holding, it looks like a cosplay of a magical girl from an anime for girls. However, the problem is that this is not cosplay at all; it's the real thing.
The staff in question is apparently called a Kaleidostick, and is essentially a transformation stick that summons spiritual outfits stored in a parallel world and makes the contractor equip them, but these spiritual outfits are incredibly powerful.
Various auxiliary effects such as physical strengthening and magic resistance are constantly deployed at the highest rank, and he can also fire powerful magic cannons without chanting.
The most amazing thing about it is its ability to gather magical power from an infinite number of parallel worlds. This means that the owner of the Kaleidostick will practically never run out of magical power. If I combine this with the power of my sword-made wand, it will literally allow me to make an infinite number of swords.
The power of my sword was almost equal in speed to the Noble Phantasm from the Hero King's Storehouse. It was no match in power, and I could only slightly deflect it. But with the help of Tohsaka and myself, we slammed in more than twice the amount of power and overwhelmed it.
If it weren't for the infinite magical power of the Kaleido Stick, it's doubtful he would have lasted until the end.
Apparently the magic used in the Kaleidostick is far too complicated for humans to use, and in order to control it an artificial spirit -- apparently named Ruby -- is used, but there seems to be a problem with the spirit's personality, so it has been sealed away in the Tohsaka house until now.
"Now now Rin-san, if it suits you then that's fine. If a 17 year old was dressed like this it would be more than just painful, you know?"
"Then why don't you bring out a better spiritual outfit!"
"Even if you say that, this is the one with the best performance. Considering the power of the enemy, we can't bring ourselves to produce something half-baked."
"That enemy isn't here anymore, is it?! Hurry up and undo your transformation!"
"No way. It would be terrible if I had to be sealed away again after finally making it out into the open. I had thought that a high school student would be too old for that, but I think she's actually quite fun to play around with."
"What do you mean, teasing?! And who's the old man here?!"
And that's how it goes. It seems that Tohsaka would never have intended to remove the seal if it weren't for a case like this.
In any case, thanks to him we were able to defeat the Hero King without any casualties. I should be grateful.
"Anyway, let's go. Now all that's left is to rescue Illyasviel and destroy the Holy Grail."
Saber regained her composure and spoke up. Although they had certainly removed the biggest obstacle, it wasn't over yet.
Tohsaka and I nodded to each other and walked further into the temple grounds.
"You two, stand back!"
Saber suddenly yelled and jumped back.
An enormous beam of light came from behind us. Saber protected us from the intense flash with her holy sword, her resist ability, and herself as a shield.
"Ku……!"
"Saber!"
After a few seconds, the flash subsided and Saber dropped to one knee. It seemed that even with her best magic resistance, it was not an attack that could be blocked.
The aftermath had burned and melted the cobblestones, leaving a smooth, glassy groove. At the end of that groove was the person who had likely launched the attack earlier.
He was wearing a dark robe and his head was bowed so his face was not visible, but there was no doubt it was Caster.
"Get out of the way..."
A voice that seemed to resonate from the depths of the earth.
Caster raised his head and roared with a ghostly expression.
"The Holy Grail is mine!"