Chapter 257

Chapter 257: Chapter 257

"Did we win?"

Astolfo stared at what remained of Bashmu, now reduced to little more than a mangled section of corpse, and relief flooded across his face.

The feeling lasted only a moment before weakness spread through every part of his body.

His legs gave out beneath him, his chest tightened, and even drawing breath became painfully difficult as he collapsed toward the floor.

"Hey, hey! You all right?"

Mordred reacted immediately, flashing across the distance before Astolfo could hit the ground.

She caught him by the arm, hauled him up, and carried him back inside the protective barrier Jeanne was still maintaining.

"I think... I got poisoned."

Astolfo managed a strained smile, though his face had already gone pale.

Jeanne looked at him with obvious concern. "That isn’t surprising. Bashmu is a legendary creature infamous for its poison. Even after its flesh has been destroyed, the fumes released as the remains dissolve are still lethally toxic."

"Is that right?" Mordred glanced at the thickening haze beyond the barrier, then frowned. "Why do I still feel mostly fine?"

"Because I injected you with an antitoxin made from Hydra tissue," Kairi replied irritably. "It’ll keep you protected for a while, but once the effect wears off, you won’t be able to withstand this poison either."

Chiron’s expression grew steadily more solemn as he watched Bashmu’s remains dissolve into a spreading pool of venom.

The liquid continued evaporating into the air, feeding the poisonous mist until the entire throne hall was becoming saturated with it.

"We need to leave as quickly as possible. Staying here any longer would be no different from committing suicide."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get out of here." Mordred answered immediately, the urgency in her voice unmistakable.

Whatever happened to her, she had no intention of letting her Master die in this place.

"But..."

Jeanne hesitated, and everyone turned toward her.

"To maintain Luminosité Eternelle, I have to remain where I am."

Silence descended over the group.

The problem was immediately obvious.

To escape the throne hall, Jeanne would have to deactivate her Noble Phantasm and move with them, but the moment the barrier disappeared, there would be nothing standing between the group and Bashmu’s poison.

Most of them would be overwhelmed long before they could reach safety.

"This is a pain in the ass."

Mordred clicked her tongue.

The Hydra antitoxin meant she could probably force her way through the poison for a while longer, but Kairi and the other Servants did not possess the same protection.

"Then Saber, you should leave first."

Kairi calmly lit another cigarette and took a long drag as though he were suggesting something perfectly ordinary.

"Hah? What kind of bullshit is that?"

Mordred immediately bristled.

"You expect me to abandon my comrades and run away? I’m still a Knight of the Round Table, you know!"

"If we continue like this, none of us are getting out."

Kairi’s voice remained frustratingly calm as he stated the cruel reality of their situation.

Mordred stared at him for a moment before rolling her eyes.

"Seriously? You’re my Master. If you die here, how exactly am I supposed to stay alive?"

That simple response left Kairi visibly embarrassed, and despite his scarred face and rough appearance, a flush crept across his features.

Watching them, Jeanne found a possibility gradually taking shape in her mind.

If she released La Pucelle, then the purifying flames that burned away all evil should be capable of cleansing the poisonous atmosphere filling the throne hall.

The cost, however, was something she understood better than anyone.

’With Kiriya’s strength, defeating Amakusa Shirou Tokisada and reclaiming the Greater Grail shouldn’t be beyond him. If that happens, then my duty as Ruler will effectively be complete.’

As that thought settled in her heart, the balance within Jeanne began tipping steadily toward using her final Noble Phantasm.

If sacrificing herself could save everyone here and prevent Bashmu’s poison from becoming a disaster, perhaps that would be an acceptable conclusion.

She was just about to speak when a weak voice interrupted her.

"Um... I think I have another idea."

Astolfo was still lying on the ground, but one trembling hand had slipped into his clothes and pulled out a kunai.

Jeanne recognized it immediately.

It was one of the Flying Thunder God kunai Kiriya had given them.

"You mean... call Kiriya here?"

Jeanne shook her head almost at once.

"No. We can’t bring him into a place like this."

"You forgot already, Ruler?"

Astolfo gave her a mischievous wink despite how miserable he looked.

"Master can teleport!"

Jeanne froze.

Then understanding spread across everyone else’s faces as well.

Of course.

Kiriya did not need to remain here after reaching them.

If he could teleport in, then there was no reason he could not simply take all of them somewhere safe immediately afterward.

For someone whose Evaporation of Sanity made him seem hopelessly scatterbrained most of the time, Astolfo had a remarkable habit of producing useful ideas precisely when they mattered most.

Without wasting another second, Astolfo poured magical energy into the kunai.

After arriving in this world, Kiriya had modified the Flying Thunder God formula inscribed upon his weapons so that it could react to certain forms of supernatural energy.

Any such reaction would in turn be transmitted through the corresponding mark and become perceptible to him.

In practical terms, he had turned the Flying Thunder God mark into something resembling a supernatural messaging system.

The modification had been created for exactly this kind of situation: if someone important to Kiriya found themselves in danger, they could signal him immediately instead of waiting until it was too late.

Everyone watched the glowing formula on Astolfo’s kunai while holding their breath.

The very next instant, a figure appeared among them.

"Master—huh?"

Astolfo’s expression immediately became strange.

"Who are you?"

The Kiriya standing in front of him looked noticeably different from the one Astolfo knew.

Orange pigmentation framed the corners of his eyes, while his pupils had transformed from ordinary human shapes into horizontal, animal-like slits.

The effect was strange enough that Astolfo stared openly.

"I’m Kiriya."

The figure looked across the group’s puzzled faces before pointing casually toward his eyes.

"This is just what happens when I use a certain kind of power. Don’t worry about it."

He then turned his attention to their surroundings, taking in the ruined throne hall and the poison saturating the air.

His gaze lingered especially on Bashmu’s still-dissolving corpse and the increasingly dense cloud rising from it before he gave a small nod of understanding.

"I see. So that’s what happened."

The clone sighed with faint disappointment.

"Looks like there’s no chance for Sage Kiriya to make a dramatic entrance after all!"

He crouched beside Astolfo and cast Yang Power: Everflowing Vitality, stabilizing Rider’s rapidly deteriorating condition before the poison could cause further damage.

Once Astolfo’s breathing eased, Kiriya walked over to Jeanne and placed a hand firmly on her shoulder.

"Don’t rush into doing something stupid. There are still other ways to deal with this."

Jeanne’s heart jolted.

She met the clone’s gaze and suddenly felt as though those strange eyes could see straight through every thought she had just been entertaining.

"I want you alive, Jeanne."

Kiriya’s voice was unusually forceful, leaving no room for argument.

"Alive and completely unharmed."

The certainty behind those words made Jeanne’s heart tremble.

"But... this is Bashmu’s poison. If we simply leave it here, it could turn into an enormous disaster."

The venom produced by a Phantasmal Species approaching the level of a Divine Beast was no ordinary toxin.

If enough of it escaped the Hanging Gardens, turning an entire city into an uninhabitable dead zone would hardly be an exaggeration.

"You’re forgetting something."

Kiriya lightly tapped Jeanne on the forehead.

"We still have the Greater Grail."

Jeanne blinked, then realization struck her.

Of course.

If they reclaimed the Greater Grail, dealing with the remaining poison through its enormous magical power would be entirely possible.

"But if you’re here, doesn’t that mean the Grail is being left to that weird priest?"

Mordred cut in anxiously.

Kiriya looked at her.

"I’m only a Clone."

Then he turned toward everyone else.

"Put your hands on my shoulders."

No one argued.

They immediately gathered around him, and Jeanne obediently released Luminosité Eternelle.

The golden-white barrier vanished, and Bashmu’s poisonous mist rushed toward them from all sides.

It never reached them.

The instant everyone made contact with the clone, the Flying Thunder God Technique activated.

The entire group disappeared.

...

Elsewhere, the moment Semiramis’s ruined body was finally consumed along with Bashmu by Mordred’s Noble Phantasm, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada sensed the loss from where he stood before the Greater Grail.

He paused and looked back in the direction of the throne hall.

A helpless yet strangely tender smile appeared on his face.

"So in the end... you still failed."

There was no accusation in his voice.

"Even so, Assassin, you did more than enough."

Amakusa turned back toward the Greater Grail.

"Leave everything else to me."

His hand moved to the sword hanging at his side, and he slowly drew it from its sheath.

The weapon was Miike Tenta Mitsuyo, a renowned Japanese tachi whose craftsmanship was so extraordinary that even someone with no knowledge of swords could immediately recognize it as a masterpiece.

Its blade was broad and substantial, almost resembling a heavy chopping sword, while the edge gleamed with a frightening sharpness.

Having been sublimated into a Noble Phantasm through Amakusa’s manifestation as a Servant, the tachi possessed more than enough cutting power to cleave an ordinary human body cleanly in two with a single strike.

Tap.

A figure landed lightly on the floor ahead of him.

The newcomer looked first at Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, then at the Greater Grail standing behind him, still intact and apparently untouched.

Only then did he release a long breath of relief.

"Made it in time."

The one who had arrived was Kiriya.

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