-41- Fight! A tragic and fierce conclusion!

"Roar!"

Berserker's roar echoed from the depths of the collapsed underground, sending chills down the spine.

"Now is the time!"

Rozen, undeterred, gritted his teeth and unleashed all the remaining magic power within him.

"〈Ant Summoning〉!"

A complex magic circle spun beneath his feet, summoning numerous magical ants that swarmed into the collapsed tunnel.

"Roar! Roar!"

Berserker continued to roar, struggling to break free. His massive axe-sword swung like a heavy meat saw, crushing, smashing, and cutting the ants clinging to his body, splattering flesh and blood, staining the bottom of the tunnel.

However, the advantage of the ants' sheer numbers came into play. One ant alone couldn't restrain a monster like Berserker, but with hundreds of them climbing onto him and their strength comparable to that of a high-level familiar, even Berserker, as a Servant, was firmly entangled and could only struggle desperately.

To break free from the ants' entanglement, Berserker had to kill each and every one of them.

But Rozen wouldn't give Berserker that chance.

"Mash!"

With a pale face and his body drained of magic power, Rozen gave one final command to Mash.

"Bury that monster alive!"

Upon hearing the command, Mash didn't hesitate to act.

"Haa!"

With a battle cry, Mash leaped into the air, raising her huge shield high before slamming it down forcefully.

"Boom—!"

With a loud rumble, Mash's mighty blow shattered the ground, causing cracks to spread around the tunnel, which eventually collapsed again.

Clearly, while Mash fought, Rozen had been manipulating the ants to dig a tunnel underneath.

Countless rocks and debris rolled down.

"Boom, boom..."

The ground shook, and the rocks and debris gradually filled the tunnel where Berserker and the swarm of ants were located.

Dust rose like smoke.

After an unknown amount of time, the rocks and debris completely buried the tunnel at the bottom, leaving a massive pit in Fuyuki City.

As the last rumble of falling rocks subsided, everything seemed to settle like dust, and silence returned.

"Did we... win?"

Olga Marie, hiding inside a building, nervously peered out to witness the situation.

Rozen, feeling relieved, leaned on Mash's body, about to fall.

"Senpai!"

Seeing this, Mash hurriedly rushed over and managed to catch him before he collapsed.

"Huff... Huff..."

Rozen leaned against Mash, heavily panting, extremely exhausted.

Seeing his incredibly pale complexion, anyone could tell that Rozen had completely depleted his magic power.

Again, providing Mash with a large amount of magic power, summoning the energy-consuming Evil Spirit, and ultimately calling forth hundreds of ants drained Rozen's magic power to the point where it felt extremely empty inside. His magical circuits stopped functioning, dimming like an extinguished electrical circuit.

At the same time, the surging power on Mash gradually diminished, reaching the limit of her Reinforcement spell.

"Senpai, are you okay?" Mash asked with concern, ignoring the loss of power within her.

"I'm fine..." Rozen shook his head weakly.

"Please wait; I'll make sure you rest immediately."

Mash supported Rozen, intending to help him rest.

But Rozen shook his head again. "Now is not the time for that. We can't defeat Berserker with these tactics. At best, we can delay him until he comes out of the underground. Let's hurry and leave before that happens."

If a Servant could be defeated by being buried alive, then the so-called Heroic Spirits would be severely undervalued. Mash clearly understood this.

"Understood, let's retreat now."

Mash helped Rozen up and prepared to leave.

However, they underestimated Berserker as a Servant.

"Creak..."

When a cracking sound came from the ground behind Rozen and Mash, the two froze completely.

Their eyes widened simultaneously.

"Fou!"

Fou, who had run forward intending to embrace Mash, stopped and let out a mournful cry.

"Ah!"

Olga Marie, who was about to come out of the building, screamed in horror as well.

Rozen and Mash didn't have time to react.

In the next moment...

"Boom!"

With an explosive sound, the ground behind them shattered.

With a terrifying momentum, the giant figure of Berserker emerged from the broken ground, covered in countless ants, roaring furiously at Rozen and Mash, who had their backs turned.

He raised his massive axe-sword high.

In this situation, the two had no time to escape.

Especially Mash, who, facing this sudden turn of events, seemed to have returned to being the powerless girl from before, unable to react properly.

In the end, only one person moved.

That was Rozen.

His final action was also simple.

He pushed Mash, who was supporting him, away without hesitation.

"Senpai!"

Mash cried out in shock, pushed away violently, and fell to the side.

This push allowed Mash to escape from the range of the axe-sword's attack.

The axe-sword swung down.

In an astonishing force, it collided with Rozen.

"Boom—!"

The heart-stopping collision resounded through the sky.

The force of the blow, strong enough to shatter rocks, sent Rozen flying like a bullet, hurtling into the distance and crashing into a pile of ruins.

This scene almost left Mash's mind blank.

When she finally reacted...

"-----Ahhh!!!"

Mash let out a terrifying scream, tears streaming down her eyes. Regardless of everything, she raised her shield and charged at Berserker.

The impact unfolded like an explosion.

Under this impact, the ground shattered once again.

The two Servants fell together, along with countless debris, into a seemingly bottomless abyss.