Chapter 23: There is always Darkness to Light. But rarely are they ever even.

As I stood there floating in stopped time at the tail end of my swing, I was patiently waiting for her [Time Stop] spell to end.

'Well, not like I can do anything else though. Still, colour me impressed a tad that she managed to dodge and use a counter spell. Good to know time magic can affect me like this. I need to ask Tearwyn if she knows how I can train against time magic when I get back. Oh, she's finally making a move.'

Lilly: "[Delay-Maximise-Penetration-Triplet-Holy Chains]!"

'Going all out trying to hold me down for as long as possible. What are you up to little pigeon…?'

Then she started a ritual chant. A chant that I was intimately familiar with actually. And my mind blanked a little at the realisation of what she was doing.

'There is no way, right? Is she that much of a failure to think this will help her in any way?'

Lilly's [Time Stop] came to an end when she also finished the entire chant. Since she was behind me, I couldn't see exactly what was going on as her [Holy Chains] spell took hold, but I had a feeling. And when I heard a new voice speak out, a voice I knew, I was dead on with my guess.

???: "I ask you, are you my Master?"

Lilly: "Yes! But we have no time, Saber, turn around and prepare to fight!"

I heard some rustling of armour, and then a small gasp. I must look very interesting to an inferior version of myself, all bound like this by glowing holy chains.

Saber: "That…?"

With a small bit of struggle, I caused the chains to explode outward as I broke them. I then turned around and before me was exactly what I expected. The little pigeon actually had the gall to summon a version of me.

{Image}

Saber: "What? But, that's clearly…"

Lilly: "You? Yes, but she has been corrupted by something truly vile, and enhanced by an equally vile Dark God. It will take everything we have, Saber, to fight her."

My brows twitched a little as she called Tearwyn vile.

'Yet, she said "God" and not "Goddess?" Did her masters not tell her exactly who she was trying to kill?'

Saber: "Right. I don't really follow what is going on, but I will help. The Darkness that I feel from her, and from Excalibur. They sadden me, but I will take responsibility and stop this version of myself from causing any more harm!"

Getting annoyed at the self righteousness spewing out of a face that looks so much like mine, I charged forth. Causing a loud crack as I broke the sound barrier, I appeared in front of Saber instantly with a swing aimed at her neck.

Saber's eyes widened as she brought up her own sword to defend from my attack, which caused her to fly backwards a bit.

Saber: "Fast! You were not joking about her being enhanced."

Ignoring the pigeon, I couldn't help but zero in on Saber. Something about her was making me angry. I couldn't place my finger on it, but just seeing her was causing a lot of rage to bubble to the surface.

Artoria: "You speak of responsibility to stop me? Then I also have a responsibility. A responsibility to remove such disgusting weakness and Light that has stolen my shape."

Saber: "It is you who is the thief. You and Excalibur have become twisted into something I can scarcely recognize."

I bring up my beloved sword, and hold it in two hands in front of me.

Artoria: "Good. The less we resemble the weakness you represent, the better."

I debated if I wanted to use Mana Burst or not, but I ultimately decided not too. Something inside me was screaming to overpower her without it. So instead of just pure overwhelming power, I'll overwhelm her with technique and a bit of magic.

With that mindset, I charged at her once again. This time she used Mana Burst to withstand the strike I sent her way, and then we got into a sword dance with each other.

Slash after slash, we exchanged attacks. However, after a few seconds of this, it was clear I was the superior one in terms of base stats and skill as I was steadily starting to overwhelm her.

However, she had access to the mana pool of a level 100+ player and was making use of it. Using Mana Burst whenever I would land a devastating blow to accelerate herself to defend. Yet even then, I left no room for her to counter. She was fully on the back step, and unable to retaliate in any way.

The world seemed to fade away as Saber and I continued our Dance of Steel. We had both entered a battle trance of sorts as even our swords reacted to each other. In my initial clash, she had already dispelled her Invisible Air spell on her sword, since it didn't matter if it was hidden or not. So both of our swords were glowing in their own elements as they fiercely clashed with each other.

Mine with a purple aura, surrounded by black-red flames, and hers with a brilliant golden light. Neither sword was willing to let its owner down, as they clashed over and over again.

I managed to land a solid attack that once again sent Saber flying. However, she took this opportunity to release her Noble Phantasm's true name.

Saber: "All right. Let's finish this. Sheathed in the breath of the planet, a torrent of shining life. Feel its wrath. Excalibur!!"

Taking the queue to do the same, I followed suit.

Artoria: "Cry. It's time you come crashing down. Vortigern, Hammer of the Vile King, reverse the rising sun. Swallow the light, Excalibur Morgan!"

Strangely though, as our two attacks met I felt that something was wrong with what I had just said. Yes, my sword responded to my call and the name I stated but, it felt… wrong.

'I have to think about this later. It feels a little like with (not)Avalon. My sword accepts that name, but denies the chant. I can feel the sword released, but it was not a full release at all. Far from it.'

Bringing back my attention to our colliding attacks, I was not surprised in the least to see mine overtaking hers quite readily. Sadly for me, as my attack was about to vaporise my doppelganger, the pigeon I forgot that was still around got her out of the way. As my attack continued past her though, it completely obliterated the mountain that was in its way.

'Amazing. I really should start releasing my sword more often. That attack had as much power as my first Burst Air with Mana Burst going. I honestly think I might be able to crack a planet maybe if I fully released my sword and was using Mana Burst.'

Saber: "I thank you, Master. I was not expecting such an extreme difference in our power output."

Lilly: "It's fine, Saber. But don't worry! Because of you taking up all her attention, I managed to get reinforcements!"

As I heard her say that, my instincts went off causing me to lean my head to the right to avoid a sneak attack.

???: "Tch. That would have been a great opener."

Turning my back to the pair, I looked at who attacked me. My eyebrows raised slightly as I took in what was before me now. Nine more angels with twelve wings, her Floor Guardians I assumed. But behind them there were thousands and thousands of other angels.

'Reinforcements indeed.'

Artoria: "Impressive numbers. But ultimately, it is meaningless."

I didn't even bother to take in the features of the new angels as I attacked. With a loud crack as I broke the sound barrier again, I blew past the male angel who had tried to sneak attack me.

Lilly: "No! Michael!"

As red lines started to appear all over his body, I made my next move by rushing the next angel. I reached out and grabbed her by the face, and started to crush her head.

As she started to scream and claw at my hand Lilly shouted at them, "Snap out of it everyone! Save Gabriel! Attack Saber Alter!"

That did the trick, as everyone snapped out of their trance and started to make their own moves. Sadly for the little bird in my grip, it was too late. As Michael finally started to bleed everywhere and slide apart from all the cuts, I uttered my spell on Gabriel.

Artoria: "Blood Boil."

Her screaming intensified as the spell took hold, while I then threw her at an incoming angel. He gasped in shock as he caught her and went over to their master.

???: "Lilly-sama! I don't know what to do!"

Lilly: "[Remove Cur-]

How unfortunate for them that she was too slow, and the little bird had already started to rapidly melt away in the angel's arms.

While all that was going on, the literal army and myself were not idle. By the time my spell had killed its target, I had already cut down three more of the twelve winged angels, and countless of the lesser ones.

I flared my mana to push everyone around me away. Whipping my sword to the right to get the blood off it, I scoffed at all the angels.

Artoria: "As I said. Meaningless."

From behind me, I heard Saber yell as she closed in on me.

Saber: "Such a barbaric use of magic! How low have I fallen?"

Not even facing her, I use my sword to lazily block the cumbersome attack she did.

Artoria: "I believe you misspoke. You should have asked, 'How far have I risen?'"

Feeling her mana flare as she used Mana Burst, I quickly spun around to properly block the attack that had a lot more force than the haphazard one before it.

Saber: "No! I spoke true the first time! The evil that stains you and Excalibur disgusts me! To think I would be capable of such heinous magic? I will free myself of this Darkness. Even if that means killing you and shattering Excalibur."

Scoffing again as I use reinforcement on myself, I punch Saber in the chest with my free hand. She failed to see the attack coming, and was sent flying. Her armour now had a very noticeable indent shaped like a fist. I clearly did some internal damage, as she did the classic "spit out blood while flying away."

'I still find it interesting that they can bleed actual blood. Well, what looks like blood anyway.'

Blocking a sword from some random low level angel with my hand, I swiftly cut it in half. Tossing aside the bit I was holding up I quickly brought up my sword to block another attack by Saber.

Artoria: "Has anyone ever told you the definition of insanity?"

She ignored me, as she resumed our dance once again. While I was playing with Saber some more, I took note of where Lilly was. She, and what was left of her Floor Guardians were up to something.

'Looks like they are trying to cast a spell of sorts? Interesting.'

Returning my attention back to Saber, I used reinforcement and struck at her again the same way. And expectedly she saw the attack coming this time, and used Excalibur to block my fist. A loud ring was released from her sword as she was pushed back once again.

Lilly: "Now! [Hope of the Light]!"

Suddenly getting a warning from my instincts, I looked up. I saw a twinkle of some kind, before an absurdly bright and massive beam of Light came crashing down towards me.

'This won't kill me, but I think it might actually hurt quite a bit.'

While being impressed she could summon such an attack, I decided it was time to stop playing around as well. For dramatic effect, I lowered my sword to the side and turned to Lilly as the attack was closing in at an impressive speed. Just as it was about to collide with me, I gave her a cruel smile.

When the Light was centimetres away from hitting me, I finally used Mana Burst while letting all of my power run freely. As the Light washed over me, I grimaced a bit from the pain.

'I was right, this would have hurt a lot more if I was still fucking around. Still, the fact that it still hurts even with my power fully released (as much as the seals allow anyway) is impressive. And the first time I have felt damaged in a real way. I totally understand why Tearwyn is worried about growth type systems.'

While the attack was still covering me, everyone around me was not in a great spot, if the shouts I could hear over the roar of the magic was anything to go by.

???: "Lilly-sama! This aura is very painful to endure. I can't move properly at all!"

Saber: "Is this her true power released? Master, you are in danger! This is so much worse than anything I could have expected. Like your servant said, even I find it very difficult to move. You need to flee!"

Lilly: "Agreed! This is just unreal! To think she was holding back so much?! Everyone, quick! Through the [Gate]! The [Dimensional Lock] is gone!"

'Oh? Did my aura kill Demiurge? While his soul was new, it was still on the strong side. Speaking of the lock spell, how in the fuck did she even get reinforcements if it was still up? Actually, knowing YGGDRASIL, it was a cash shop item.'

When the attack had finally finished, I released a sigh. While it was not super painful, it still hurt and I am not a masochist. A battle junkie, yes, but not a masochist. Shaking my head lightly to clear my eyes from the light spots from the bright attack, I took a look around.

There was no-one around but Lilly, Saber and a Floor Guardian or two standing near a [Gate].

Lilly: "Do not worry, Saber Alter! I will kill that stupid and hateful Dark God one day, and free you of this corruption!"

As they all entered the [Gate] and it closed, what Lilly said had finally registered with me. An unprecedented amount of killing intent started to flood from me. Like an unstoppable river of Death and Despair, my killing intent started to warp the very reality around me.

The air in an extreme radius around me became a deep blood red haze, and space itself seemed to groan and whine from the pressure. Black Water started to bubble off me and drip from my sword, falling down to the ground below me. My Mana Burst aura flared even more, and tripled in size around me.

My voice, laced with extreme amounts of hate, echoed out.

Artoria: "She dares?"

I turned in the direction of her base, where I could sense Saber. Summoning Saber will be her undoing.

I raised up my beloved sword above my head in a two-handed grip. And I spoke a release that instinctively came to me at the moment. At my desire, my need, to absolutely erase my enemy.

Artoria: "Peel back the veil of r̴e̸a̷l̶i̴t̶y̵. Close the curtain on e̵x̶i̸s̴t̸e̵n̸c̷e̴ and sink everything into N̴̨̨̛̼̲̝̪̟̘̈́̍̌̍͛̑͆͝Ù̵̢͎͉̩͎̤̫͕̠̠̊͝L̴̡͈̪͇̯̯̱̙̽̐̕̕͜L̴͕͐̐. Let c̷r̶e̷a̷t̸i̴o̸n̵ weep as it unravels before us. Ȇ̸̮x̵̡̎c̷̮̀ä̸̲́l̸̻͗i̴̩͗b̵̗̀u̸̜̐r̷͐͜ ̶̫͆M̴̗͋ȍ̴̠r̴͖̾ǵ̵͖ǎ̵̦n̴̮͠."

As I brought my sword down I felt it fully release, unlike last time. This was my true chant for my sword. And unlike my first release, there was no sound or giant energy beam of explosive fury with this attack. All there was, was a very thin black line of nothingness in the space where the tip of my sword cut.

And then suddenly, that line expanded outwards drastically, and covered my vision before snapping back to a small thin line again and disappearing. I was in awe of what I saw.

Everywhere that black nothingness had touched was now simply, gone. There was a long and several kilometres wide smooth trench before me, extending well beyond into the horizon. It looked like something took an eraser to the very world and cleanly removed everything.

As I was wondering just how much damage I did and if I actually managed to get that damn Reincarnator, I heard a wonderful voice in my head.

Tearwyn: "Wooooowwww Artoria! That was so COOL!!"

A smile graced my lips as I thought, 'Well, that answers that then.'

[author] Hope you liked this new chapter~. Did the fight surprise you? Did I manage to pull a fast one~?! Hehe, again, I hope you liked it and I'll see you in the next one~.[/author]