Sensei felt the abundance of mana in the air ever since he first stepped foot in Kivotos. This higher density of mana, combined with the general acceptance of the existence of Mystery, allowed him to use his Magecraft with far less restrictions—in theory anyway.

In practice he had to hold back much of his arsenal when personally taking the field in many Kivotos conflicts, which were comparable to a school brawl back in his world rather than a true battle, except a school brawl in Kivotos involved the usage of guns.

At first he was concerned about this, but as he had witnessed early on, residents of Kivotos were far more resilient that they could easily shrug off getting hit by bullets. This was especially true to the Mystics of Kivotos—his students.

Thanks to their halo, a single shot to the forehead was akin to getting flicked by a finger. One would have to unload dozens upon dozens of bullets for it to even injure any of his students. Even a direct hit from a tank shell would just knock the average student unconscious, with their halo's protection preventing any lasting damage from being inflicted to them.

As he got used to Kivotos' environment, and knowing his students were in no real danger, it made Sensei more comfortable sitting on the sidelines and giving instructions to his students to allow them to resolve their problems with their own hands, only stepping in when things were about to escalate beyond their control.

Facing the Eighth Prophet of Decagrammaton was one of those times.

Sensei invoked the words that activated his magic circuits as he projected his bow and arrow while glaring at Hod.

"Sensei, two students are nearby and are on the way," Arona said as he avoided one of its metal limbs. "ETA in 90 seconds."

"Please hang in there, Sensei. More help will arrive soon," Himari said over his earpiece.

"I will assist you using the turrets, but be warned that Hub's outer shell is extremely durable and it can hack into the turrets with its pillars," Rio said. "Then there's the halo it gained after becoming a prophet."

"Understood," Sensei said as he avoided another of its attacks as he fired multiple arrows with his bow, targeting its 'eye' as it had less protection. The arrows exploded upon impact. Once the smoke cleared, he clicked his tongue as he saw Hod unscathed.

Those arrows should have been strong enough to penetrate it. So Hub really did gain a halo's benefits when it became Hod, Sensei thought as he continued weaving through the battlefield and shot arrows at Hod. He made a quick glance on a different part of the battlefield where Yume and the others were.

Yume was currently flying around the battlefield defending Toki, assisting the latter by deploying her shield when needed. This allowed Toki to focus fire on Hod's main body. Eimi was preoccupied with taking down the pillars that were already deployed. All of them were wearing an earpiece that allowed them to easily coordinate with each other.

"Sensei, Hub has a flaw in that it will malfunction if its data pillars were taken down within a short period of time," Himari said. "I suggest you focus on taking them out as soon as possible while I continue to bypass Hod's firewall and take down its functionalities with the help of my juniors in Veritas."

Sensei glanced at the Shittim Chest, but Arona replied, "Sensei, Hod is fully active this time so attempting to halt its movement will use up most of the Shittim Chest's battery. I highly recommend trusting Himari on this instead as you will still need its other functionalities for this fight!"

Arona was right. Sensei still wasn't clear about some of the Shittim Chest's functions, but one of them was improving his students' abilities.

"Got it. Toki, focus on helping Eimi take down the pillars," Sensei said. "I'll shoot down any new pillars."

"Understood," Toki replied as she turned her attention to the pillar, with Yume blocking a a couple of laser shots headed to Eimi and Toki by deploying her shield's functionalities, which deployed a single pink shield made from light.

Sensei could end this fight quickly if he were to use his stronger weapons much like he did when he helped fend off Binah in Abydos, but unlike the fight with the Third Prophet, this battle was taking place in the heart of Millennium. The collateral damage would be too much if he did so and the situation hadn't yet devolved where he had to resort to more forceful means.

Sensei shot down a pillar that came out of Hod's body with one of his stronger blades turned into an arrow before firing at its main body a few more times more times with multiple copies of the same blade.

"Significant damage confirmed, Sensei! We're making progress, but it's still not enough to disable Hod," Arona said as Sensei dodged Hod's metal limb before coming face to face with a beam headed right to his face. Sensei instinctively extended his hand to project a shield, but the beam went off-course and avoided him entirely.

"Thanks, Arona," Sensei said, realizing what happened.

"No problem, Sensei!" Arona exclaimed. "Remember that the Shittim Chest's protection can be used in this situation if you really need it."

"I'll keep it in mind," Sensei said as he noticed the Hod about to send another pillar. He made the motion to shoot it down in mid-air—

"Threshold output breached—Fire."

But it seemed someone was faster than him as a beam of light obliterated the pillar.

"Thanks, Kei," Sensei said as he glanced over his shoulder and saw pink eyes looking at him.

"It could have been the Princess," Kei replied as she and Sensei dodged another attack while continuing the assault on Hod.

"You and Aris have slightly different tones," Sensei replied over his earpiece. "Isn't that right, Aris?"

"That's right!" Aris's voice was heard over the earpiece. "Aris wanted to help you in this fight, Sensei, but it seems that Kei has a character quest that requires facing this boss, so I will cheer you on from the sidelines!"

Kei fired a charged shot at one of the metal limbs headed their way and sent it off-course.

"You heard the Princess," Kei said to Sensei as she blasted another pillar. "I have a personal vendetta against that aberrant and its creations."

"Alright, but don't let it affect your judgement in battle," Sensei said as he glanced at her direction after firing another volley of explosive arrows.

"No need to worry about me," Kei said with a small smirk. "But perhaps the little one might get too into the fight."

"Hey, who're you calling small, huh?!" Another student drop kicked the metal limb that Kei shot, causing its recovery to be delayed before repeatedly firing at it point blank before jumping off. "Tsk, this guy's armor is tough! Need some support, Karin!"

A sniper shot was heard as it hit an exposed part of Hod. Sensei glanced at where the shot came from as he fired another shot and saw Karin in position in Millennium Tower. He gave her a nod as he, Kei, and Neru dodged another attack as she fired at Hod with her SMGs.

"Glad you could come, Neru. I was afraid you were away on another mission," Sensei said as rushed towards the disabled metal limb as he swapped his bow for his favored pair of yin-yang twin swords Kanshou and Bakuya.

"You're in luck! It was actually my day off!" Neru exclaimed as she fired on Hod's main body before glancing at Sensei's attack.

"Trace Overedge." Sensei's swords became longer, with the blades becoming reminiscent of crow wings as he leapt and made a downward slash on the metal limb that Neru disabled. Sensei felt some resistance from the halo's protection, but managed to pierce its protection thanks to the extra momentum from the attack and severed its metal limb.

"Nice trick, Sensei!" Neru exclaimed as Sensei switched back to his bow and fired at its main body.

The fight continued for a bit after that, with him, his students, and the cannons firing at Hod's main body, with him coordinating an attack every once in a while with the help of Arona and the Shittim Chest. Eventually, Sensei noticed a change on the battlefield, as the remaining pillars self-destructed.

"Hacking complete!" Sensei heard Himari's voice from his earpiece.

The continuous attacks from Sensei and his students, along with having too many of its pillars either be destroyed, seemed to have affected Hod, as it collapsed writhing in pain. Everyone noticed this change as they turned their attention to Hod.

"Hod's been disabled! Throw everything at Hod's main body!" Sensei exclaimed.

Everyone fired on Hod's main body, with Kei aiming for Hod's 'eye' with the Sword of Light's full power, causing a crack to appear on its lens, which didn't escape Sensei's notice.

Sensei distanced himself from Hod and made a running start toward the prophet.

"Yume! Toss me towards Hod's eye!" He called out for her.

Got it! Yume replied using their mental link as she disappeared from where she was.

Sensei reinforced his legs before he leapt as high as he could upwards and reached double the height of Hod. Yume materialized above him and grabbed his hand, spinning once then flung Sensei downward towards the Prophet's eye before, following behind him afterward just in case.

…

…

Throughout the entire fight, Sensei—Emiya Shirou delved into his collection of blades to find a weapon capable of destroying Hod completely without risk of getting the others caught up with the attack. There were promising ones that he had planned on using, but maintaining his Reinforcement and Yume's materialization at the same time during a fight ended up using more magical energy than expected and limited his choices.

While the higher density of Mana in Kivotos allowed him to recover his reserves faster, he was still limited by the fact that his spells needed to use his internal reserves—Od—rather than the ambient Mana in the air. Once his Od ran out he would be unable to continue fighting and wouldn't be able to supply Yume with magical energy for a while.

Shirou wasn't about to push his luck when Yume's condition was still far from stable. He had to end the fight as soon as possible while using the least amount of magical energy.

In the end, he was left with two choices.

One was the Sword of Selection that was once wielded by his former Servant, Saber. While he was able to imitate Saber's strength to pierce through Hod's armor, he would be unable to truly showcase its power by invoking its True Name to finish off Hod even if he were to pour all of his remaining energy reserves due to the sword's restrictions. Without invoking the sword's True Name, it might allow Hod to escape.

And he wasn't planning to let it do so.

No, he would not have a repeat of Binah. This led him to consider his other, more physically taxing option, but a lot cheaper in magical energy consumption.

It was the usage of an unnamed axe-sword that was once wielded by the Berserker-class Servant of his war, Heracles. It was a weapon that he familiarized himself with in an effort to learn about Berserker's Master after learning about their familial relationship after the war. Something that he failed to discover earlier as a result of her death during the aforementioned war.

The sword by itself was nothing special, having been crafted by the Einzberns with a stone taken from the temple of the hero and used as a catalyst to summon him. As a result, it was relatively cheap to reproduce, if rather unwieldy due to the size of its intended wielder.

Rather, its value lied in the fact that it carried the history of the hero who wielded it, even if for a short time. Even if the hero himself was unable to use it due to his insanity, the nameless axe-sword was left with a record of Heracles' history and skill—

Allowing Emiya Shirou to imitate its wielder's abilities.

Shirou estimated that he had about 6 seconds before making contact with Hod's surface.

That is more than enough time, he thought as he put as much magical energy as he could on his left hand.

"Trace, on."

His left hand grasped the yet to be formed handle of the sword as it appeared in his hand.

Under normal circumstances, he would not be able to perform the hero's technique due to the large difference between their physiques. Perhaps the archer in red could, but Shirou was not quite at his level yet. But the use of his current momentum, the reinforcement of his arm to its limit, and the protection from the Shittim Chest reduced the strain on his body. This would allow him to perform it—

"Trigger, off."

—even if it would leave his arm useless for a while after that. Though considering this was his final attack, there was no need to hold back.

5 seconds. His speed increased.

4 seconds. He had reached terminal velocity.

At the same time, Hod slowly restarted its activities—

3 seconds. Its 'eye' looked directly at Shirou as it glowed. Arona warned him of the attack, but Shirou didn't—couldn't stop his attack. There was nothing he could do but trust that the Shittim Chest's protection would be enough.

However, there was someone next to him capable of doing something.

"Oh no, you don't!" Yume exclaimed as she flew right in front of Hod's eye with her shield deployed. "Rho Aias!"

2 seconds. Four pink petals made from light appeared in front of the Iron Horus as Yume blocked the laser before being blown away by the resulting explosion as the laser dissipated.

1 second. Hod prepared a second, stronger laser—but it was too late.

Hod was already in Shirou's sword range.

"Set—Nine Lives Blade Works."

Shirou made eight consecutive slashes with godspeed mid-air, utterly destroying Hod's main body.

Author's Note:

The Heroic Spirit Heracles' Noble Phantasm - Nine Lives. It's an incredibly powerful and flexible technique-based Noble Phantasm that can be performed with a variety of weapons, which is a testament to the Greek hero's martial prowess.

It's also incredibly mana efficient as long as you stick to the technique alone and not empower the blows that causes it to summon the heads of the Hydra like what Alcides did in Strange Fake. Of course one drawback of withholding the usage of Magical Energy would be that the range would also be limited as a result. With that said, each slach is so fast that its aftershock can still break the ground, as shown in the Heaven's Feel movie.

In any case, this makes Nine Lives, or rather his version Nine Lives Blade Works, great for Shirou's reserves if you ignore one small caveat. Namely the fact that it wasn't intended to be used by someone with his physique.

With that said, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.