The beautiful bell sound was incomparably crisp.
The resonant tone was incomparably firm.
"This is—"
"The great bell tower's chime?"
The adventurers kneeling on the ground slowly lifted their heads.
In the ruins, broken bodies twitched their fingers.
The Empress, lying face down, clenched her fist with difficulty.
Exerting every bit of strength in her body, Adi, standing before Emiya, even forgot she was on a battlefield, lost in intoxication within the sound of the bell.
This sound spread through every corner of the city. Whether at the central plaza or holding out at strongholds, adventurers all heard this majestic and powerful melody.
To their ears, this sound was like a shout.
Like a battle cry that shook their very souls.
Everyone stopped moving and listened.
Even Emiya seemed momentarily stunned. He lightly lifted his head, his expression half smile, half not.
The first to respond to the "bell sound" was a girl.
Younger than anyone present, at some point she had run to the center of the ruins, raising her staff high.
"Drops of healing, tear of light, eternal sanctuary, summon the hymn of medicine here."
The world's strongest healing magic, [Dia Fratel], began its chant.
Emiya immediately noticed Airmid. Casually, he raised his sword, as if to cut out a Residual Light.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!!", A boy, his face wet with tears, roared and rushed forward, throwing himself at Emiya.
Loki Familia's Raul Nord. At this time, he had not yet earned the title of [High Novice].
Raul had come with Finn, Riveria, and Gareth, but as soon as the battle began, he fled in terror, hiding in the plaza's corner.
Until now. Watching Airmid stand beside his most respected captain Finn, casting magic, hearing this magnificent bell sound, Raul finally overcame his cowardice.
"I-I-I-I... I'll fight you to the end!", His speech stumbled, his shoulders tensed like stone, both fists trembling nonstop.
Raul's nervous figure, so pitiful it hurt to watch... yet, seeing it, Ais and Loki Familia members found their fear slowly lessening.
Fire, thunder spears, water cannons, light slashes... magic of every kind came from all directions. Elves, humans, beastmen... chants of all races interwove, harmonizing with the bell tower's beat.
Emiya merely swung his sword, a raging storm of magic was instantly swallowed.
Where his blade cut, stone shattered, earth cracked. Adventurers charged fearlessly, yet before they reached him, the heavy sword's wind pressure blew them away.
Those in front were instantly cut apart, crushed, and from atop the tower, Riveria silently recorded their states in Oath of Time.
Emiya's simple swing was enough to extinguish fragile lives.
Warriors behind, bones crushed, fell and howled on the ground. Yet still, more charged forward, fearless of death.
"Come, purge evil. Bury wounds, banish sickness," Airmid kept chanting.
Emiya turned his head toward her.
The distance between them, a single step.
Anyone in between could not stop him. Even brushing his sleeve meant broken bodies, death in an instant.
Adventurers fought with all they had, yet only bought less than ten seconds.
Airmid's chant was still unfinished, when Emiya already stood before her, at that moment, someone grabbed Emiya's ankle, halting him just one step away.
"The Empress," Looking at the woman prone on the ground, Emiya whispered her title.
Hippolyta's left hand locked tightly on his ankle, her other hand pressing the ground, as if to stand.
Emiya lifted a foot, stepped on the Empress's shoulder, stamping her back into the floor.
The earth sank inches under his tread. Hippolyta's fingers twitched, then released.
"Curse to the other shore, deliver to the cardinal of light. In the name of gods, let me heal!"
Airmid's chant at last completed.
The highest healing magic, Dia Fratel, unfolded.
Beautiful pure white radiance surged upward. Bathed in its glow, everyone's wounds healed without exception.
Airmid's magic could heal everything.
Injuries, fatigue, even abnormal states and curses, all dissolved.
The instant Absolute Healing expanded, Zald the beast leapt forward.
"AHHHHHHHHH!"
Before Emiya, healed [Gluttony] rose again, swinging his greatsword and charging.
Behind, the [Empress] stood, wiping blood from her mouth, eyes resolute, thrusting her sword.
Her Berserk skill surged to its peak, scarlet bloodlight flashing in her gaze.
On Melvette's blade, white-gold and black-red light entwined, pure white wings spread behind her, and beneath her golden blindfold, the girl's Mystic Eyes opened, "gazing up" at Emiya.
His magic, words like "mountain" and "torrent" weren't enough. He was the blazing moon over fireflies, the vast heavens over mayflies.
Mental trauma threatened to return, Melvette's limbs went cold, body trembling. Yet as a Sword Saint, her swing never faltered.
Behind her, the Celestial Fox danced.
Magic: [Kojiki, Scroll of the Emperor Ojin, Spear of the Sun]
Sword Saint's slash, Stellar Bow's rain, Celestial Fox's magic, Knight of Knights, King, Braver... under the bell, everyone stood again.
Emiya let every strike fall. In an instant, countless weapons struck his cloak-draped body.
Yet, he only laughed lightly.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Endless punches ravaged the adventurers. Though many against one, it was they who bled, fox-girl's dance broken apart.
"How... can this be!", Zald's voice cracked, chest crushed.
Slashes failed. Stabs failed. Spears, axes, arrows, nothing worked.
Blades struck Emiya all at once, yet he ignored them.
"The Nemean Cloak. Its effect denies human logic, rejects all born of human civilization," Emiya's calm voice sounded.
"Simply put, weapons are useless."
Throughout battle, he had never allowed Zald a clean strike. But it wasn't necessity, only habit.
Until now, adventurers finally tested the cloak's true power.
"You've gotta be kidding me!", the Empress screamed, breaking down. She threw her swords away, charging barehanded.
Then Emiya's fist smashed her face sideways, blood spraying as she flew.
On Amazons, his blows were especially brutal.
"My god, 'weapons useless', what kind of monster skill is that?"
"Can you cheat any harder?"
"Fighting you is a nightmare for life!"
"Even the Black Dragon isn't weapon-immune. You're worse than the Black Dragon!"
"Why not just get a skill that says 'always win'?"
Hera Familia adventurers cursed through blood and tears, while in hand-to-hand, they were crushed.
One by one, they fell. Replacements stepped in, but their only result was draining a little of Emiya's stamina, without a single effective wound.
Until—
That grand bell tolled at the plaza's center.
Hera Familia's last warrior appeared. After last night's trial, ascending to Lv.8: [Silence] Alfia.
The strongest offensive magic in millennia of Era of God's history, the Holy Bell that once slew the disaster beast Leviathan, had reached its peak.
"Root of blessing, hatred of birth, devour half of me as original sin."
"Unpurgeable, uncleansable, unsalvageable, echoing through the heavens, the sound of my sin."
"Trumpet of gods, harp of elves, melody of light, seal of guilt."
"Fate loved by man-made heaven and earth, shatter to ash, for I despise you so. This is the price, sin's proof to annihilate all."
Normally the chant would end here. Yet it continued.
"Yet even if destiny breaks, love endures."
"Half-body's wish remains, though I weep, my will does not fade; this pain, turn to dawn's light before daybreak."
"Resound, Holy Bell Tower."
Like Moses parting the sea, the crowd made way.
DONG! DONG!
She stepped with the bell's chime, straight to Emiya.
Emiya looked into her eyes, "This bell sound matches your dress well."
Alfia wore the same white wedding gown from yesterday.
She gazed at him, sorrowful, lifted her right hand, pressing her palm to his chest.
"[Genos Angelus]."
Hum!
Not only Emiya struck by the spell. At this instant, every soul in Orario heard only that sound.
Ununderstandable, unimaginable, indescribable... all they felt was fear.
"This time, your voice worked," Emiya's whisper reached her ear.
After a dazed interval, some recovered. They stared blankly at the unmoving statue-like Emiya.
All life signs gone, everyone felt it.
For this man, his life force had been so overwhelming, standing there like a towering mountain, suffocating.
Now, the pressure vanished.
His body, bearing the full force of Genos Angelus, had utterly collapsed within.
"...We won. We won!"
"We did it!"
Adventurers collapsed, weeping or laughing in joy.
Only Hera Familia's women smiled bitterly, their emotions too complex.
"You're celebrating too early," Their smiles were twisted, if one word could describe it: despair.
They knew why Emiya stood still, taking Alfia's spell head-on, he had a resurrection skill.
If not, they would never have dared strike him with everything.
But hearing of it, and experiencing it, were worlds apart.
Thump! Thump!
Like war drums, a heartbeat silenced all.
They stared at the statue-like figure. Fear, despair, deathly stillness.
Emiya's eyes reopened. His tone calm.
"'Twelve Labours.' Revives after death, limit eleven times. After revival, prior lethal damage nullified."
Meaning, Alfia's Genos Angelus, and the sound magic Satanas Verion, were now void.
Emiya looked at her, "Still want to fight?"
"I'll kill you, you goddamned bastard!", Alfia's face flushed red, tiny fists pounding his chest, thump! thump! thump!
Others collapsed, unable to rise again.
From the Empress down to Adi, everyone felt only absurdity. Even fear could not be felt.
"Compared to this man, 'Pitch-Black End' is nothing...", That was the Empress's last thought before losing consciousness.
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