I don't want to be a heroic spirit

Hercules understood what Artoria was thinking, and suddenly he understood.

"Since you are still alive and have the strength to fight, then our battle is not over yet, and the outcome is still uncertain."

Artoria stared at Hercules, and the clear fighting spirit surged like a tide, stimulating Hercules' warrior instincts and making his whole body subconsciously tense up.

"Using your surroundings to unleash greater power is also part of your strategy. I won't blame you for playing dirty. Similarly... I will also use my most powerful move next. This will probably be the final blow."

"Let's put an end to this battle that satisfies both sides."

When they stood together, Hercules looked taller and more powerful.

But at this moment, facing that fighting spirit, Hercules felt as if he was overwhelmed by the opponent's momentum.

Hercules sighed helplessly and scratched his head.

"Ah... I'm truly defeated by you. Whether it's strength, talent, or warrior nature, I'm completely defeated."

Putting down his hand, Hercules grinned, his golden eyes fixed on Altria's figure, as if he wanted to engrave it forever in his godhead, so that all "Hercules" would remember... He had once met such an excellent warrior.

"Since you've invited me so warmly, I can't do anything to spoil the fun."

He bent down, clenched his right fist, and burst out with a mighty aura that seemed to break through the sky. The cursed power burned like a flame as it was mobilized.

In an instant, the blood flowing in Altria's veins began to flow faster, and the beating of the dragon's heart became stronger.

An unprecedented sense of crisis enveloped her.

"You kid... actually still have such a killer move hidden?"

Artoria could feel that the threat posed by the next attack was even greater than the arrow that pierced the sky and injured her before.

The strong emotion that fills my heart is not fear, but anticipation and excitement.

The warrior's instinct and the madness of a disobedient god were all urging her to defeat this crisis and accomplish this great feat.

"Let this be our farewell!"

392

Chapter 392: The mighty arm that once held up the sky and split the sea.

In Greek mythology, there was a very famous treasure.

Golden apple.

It symbolizes wealth, power, luck, and beauty.

Because of its great significance, it has appeared in many film and television works and game animations, such as FGO.

The golden apples first appeared at the wedding of Zeus and Hera. Gaia, the goddess of the earth, gave a tree full of golden apples as a wedding gift. Zeus sent the three daughters of the goddess of night, the Hesperides, and the hundred-headed dragon Ladon to guard the golden apple tree.

The most grand appearance of the golden apple was at the wedding of the human hero Leus and the sea goddess Thetis. All the gods were invited to attend, except the goddess of discord Eris. The resentful goddess Eris sent a golden apple with the words "For the most beautiful goddess" written on it to the wedding scene, which triggered a conflict between the three goddesses with the highest status and strongest power: Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. This incident also indirectly triggered the subsequent Trojan War. The eleventh trial of Hercules was to obtain the golden apple guarded by the Hesperides and Ladon.

Under the guidance of the goddess of mountains, forests and water, Hercules subdued the old sea god Nereus and found out the location of the golden apple.

On the way, Hercules also rescued the fire thief Prometheus from Mount Caucasus. Prometheus instructed him to go to the place where the giant Atlas carried the sky to seek his help.

After finding Atlas, Hercules temporarily carried the sky on Atlas's shoulders, while Atlas killed the dragon, deceived the daughter of the god of night, and retrieved the golden apple.

However, Atlas was unwilling to continue carrying the sky and wanted Hercules to hold it up. Hercules pretended that he needed a cushion to continue carrying the sky and asked Atlas to take his place temporarily. After Atlas took over the burden, he immediately left with the golden apple.

The Disobedient Hercules possesses twelve powers, corresponding to the twelve trials he completed in mythology.

However, his eleventh power was not the golden apple that could cause a dispute between the Queen of Heaven, the Goddess of Wisdom and the Goddess of Beauty, but the mighty power that once carried the sky!

"Gods of Mount Olympus! Lords of the Earth, Lords of the Sea, Lords of the Sky! All of you, look at this! Be terrified! Tremble!"

"O brave hero! I will deliver this blow!"

This power can only exert its true power when facing huge objects.

In addition, Hercules needs a long time to accumulate strength in order to use this power.

More importantly... even if he was in his prime, he would lose his combat effectiveness after using this power, not to mention him who was just resurrected and was still in a weak state.

If this broken body is forced to use this power, there will be only one result.

"After this complete blow, my strong body will be shattered immediately!"

The moment this blow is delivered, he will die.

The body completely collapsed, and the godhead returned to mythology.

However, if you want to respond to that warrior.

There is no better blow than this one.

Hercules's gaze pierced through the storm surrounding him and stared at Artoria in the distance who was also concentrating on a shocking attack.

Then, he couldn't help but smile.

"Please don't die!"

Alexander, who had been hiding in the dark and secretly observing the development of the situation, had the exact opposite idea to Hercules. He hoped that Artoria would die in this blow.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see how terrifying Hercules' next attack was.

Even if it was a godslayer, if he took this blow head-on, he would probably only be able to rely on the power of resurrection to save his life.

After all, it was an attack launched by a top-notch Hero God of Steel at the cost of his own life. It would be unreasonable if it didn't have this much power.

Artoria estimated intuitively... Even if she used all her strength to release the Noble Phantasm, the brilliance of the holy sword would probably be shattered by this blow.

So, I had to find another way.

Even a holy sword forged in the inner sea of ​​a star has limitations before it is unsealed.

After confirming that the light of the holy sword was not enough to cope with the current situation, Artoria put it down.

Of course, giving up easily is impossible.

She slowly raised her hand, and what came out of her mouth were not words, but spells.

"Masked with blood and flesh, the steel maiden of decay and sleep, walk on your knees, step onto the spiral staircase, wear the crown and inherit the flaming light, thirty-three-year-old Greedy Wolf, sixty-six-year-old Owl Dragon, hidden thunder, distant light, curved water, broken wheel, red belt, pray devoutly to destruction!"

In an instant, nearly ten huge fiery red magic circles appeared in the sky, with complex and obscure magic patterns painted on them, and each stroke exuded amazing magical power.

The most powerful magic that humans can master, explosion magic.

It is said that even gods and demons can be killed.

However, the spell was made up by Artoria on the spur of the moment, because Huihui used a different spell every time for Explosion Magic, causing Artoria to forget what the real spell of Explosion Magic was. But if it was used directly without chanting the spell, the power would decrease, a bit like the difference between chanted and non-chanted Kidō in "Bleach", so Artoria just made up one at random.

And now, Artoria casts this magic again as the God of Disobedience, and its power has surpassed its original limit, becoming a true god-killing magic that can "kill gods with one strike."

Even the smallest magic circle has a diameter of nearly a thousand meters.

Such a huge magic circle overlapped with each other and slowly rotated, as if the terrifying curse power that seemed to destroy the entire world was constantly increasing and compressing.

Alexander looked up at the huge circles of magic circles. The scorching flames shone on his body, making him feel cold all over.

“Are you kidding me?!”

Without any hesitation, Alexander used the power called [Lightning Flash] and escaped at an incredible speed.

Once this magic lands, he who is within the attack range will surely die!

He doesn't have the same power of resurrection as Vauban, so if he dies, he is really dead.

He didn't even have the energy to care whether this blow would destroy his great maze, along with the surrounding water and even the seabed.

Now he had to race against time if he didn't want to die under this magic.

While Alexander fled in panic, Hercules looked up at the magic circles and laughed.

"So you also have such a powerful attack hidden away, King Arthur? Hahahaha!"

Hercules was delighted.

As a farewell gift, as a blow to return it to mythology, it is absolutely impeccable.

After Alexander escaped, it also meant that the maze had lost its owner.

If it were now, both Artoria and Hercules could easily break through the maze and escape.

But now, they only have eyes for each other.

The two people's gazes met through the fire and storm.

In sync with their minds, they simultaneously unleashed a long-accumulated attack filled with gratitude and respect.

"The mighty arm that once held up the sky and split the sea—!!"

“Explosion——!!”

393

Chapter 393 Alexander lost in thought.

light.

The blazing light, like a dying star, engulfed everything.

At that moment, the whole world shook.

The earth veins and magnetic fields all became chaotic.

Anyone who tries to look directly at the light will instantly faint.

Therefore, the light did not leave any real-time record.

Relying on his supernatural power of speed, Alexander successfully escaped from the range of the fire.

The clothes he was wearing were wet and stuck to his body. He couldn't tell whether it was the cold sweat caused by fear or the sea water splashing on him.

"Damn it... I thought I was going to die here today."

The whole person looked like he was exhausted, with fatigue and lingering fear between his brows.

He knew very well that the opponent was very strong.

He was aware of this after learning of the death of Marquis Vauban, and he took the other party very seriously. He was always looking for the enemy's weaknesses, constantly collecting information about the enemy, and even cooperated with the old rival who had defeated him.

However... the strength of that monstrous goddess was like a bottomless abyss.

Every time he thought he had seen the bottom of the abyss, what appeared before his eyes was even deeper despair.

“…It’s not time to despair yet.”

Scratching his head, Alexander quickly calmed down.

"Back when I wasn't a God Slayer yet, the gap between me and God was much greater than this... Since I was able to perform miracles then, there's no reason I can't this time."

"Use your brain and don't stop thinking, Alexander... As long as we have the magic sword that killed King Arthur, we will have a chance of victory, so what we need to do now has not changed."

"Hercules the Unyielding has likely returned to myth. Even the greatest hero among the Hero Gods of Steel couldn't withstand such terrifying magic head-on without dying. The terrifying heat, like the sun's extinguishing flame, is enough to melt all steel."

"And King Arthur the Disobedient had just unleashed such powerful magic. The cursed energy contained in that magic circle was already comparable to the combined power of a godslayer... Moreover, she had taken the full force of Hercules the Disobedient head-on. Even if she wasn't killed immediately, she must be seriously injured."

Facing Hercules' eleventh power [the mighty arm that once supported the sky and split the sea], it is actually understandable that he would die, and there is also the explosive magic that is even more powerful than that.

However, Alexander's intuition kept warning him that the other party would never die so easily.

"How could a magician who can use such powerful magic make such a stupid mistake as being killed by his own magic... huh?"

Suddenly, Alexander frowned, as if something was wrong.

This was a problem he had discovered a long time ago, but there were too many doubts that he had not figured out at the time, and everything was still in the realm of speculation, so he ignored it and let it go.

"Why can King Arthur use magic?"

This question suddenly popped into his mind.

He had raised this question at the beginning, and Alice just replied, "Maybe it's Merlin's fault," and skipped the topic.

There is no mention in the legend about King Arthur being able to use magic. If it was just basic magic like hypnosis and reducing presence, it would be fine. After all, he followed the great magician Merlin, and maybe he learned it through osmosis. But... even this kind of magic that is comparable to power, not even the wizard Merlin can do it, right?

To be honest, they were just guessing at that time and had not yet confirmed that the goddess was King Arthur, and the other party had never admitted it to them.

Why have they already determined that his real name is King Arthur and have begun to develop countermeasures against this?

"Because of what Alice and the others saw through their psychic vision? Or... because of Guinevere's attention?"

Alexander knew the legend of the Last King. After all, he had been fighting against Guinevere over the years. Among all the godslayers, he could be said to be the one who knew the Last King best.