The girl whispered.
Releasing the words that had been decided before hand.
“Gray…Rave…Crave…Deprave…”
Suddenly, something changed.
Or maybe it would be better to say, something was blown away.
Just like the spirits from before, all the mana in the surrounding area was devoured. Being dragged into a space devoid of any magical energy, Ashbourne’s monster screamed.
“Engrave…in me…”
As I whispered, I hung my head. My own consciousness was dying.
“…a grave…for you…”
Oh ancient Mystery, die away.
Oh sweet enigma, return to nothing.
“Pseudo-intelligence disabled. Minimum magical energy levels and collection rate reached. Releasing second stage limiter.”
Add’s voice, sounding unbelievably mechanical, echoed in the darkness. Like a door flying open as its magical seal came undone, the Mystery in my hands opened.
The scythe that devoured spirits and magical energy alike, conferring inhuman strength on its wielder, was not Add’s true form. No, the fake intelligence that was Add only existed as a temporary seal to stop the degradation of the weapon’s Mystery in the first place.
A seal…for this spear.
The beast howled again.
I had lost track of how many times it had howled like that.
But it didn’t matter anymore. Impacting into the wall of concentrated magical energy suffusing the air around me, the attack dissipated of its own accord.
It was basic logic that a Mystery would be erased my another Mystery of greater power. No matter how profound the magecraft that went into creating Ashbourne’s monster, it had no way of standing against that spear.
"Holy Spear, activated.”
The Grim Reaper’s Scythe had fully deployed.
In a way that didn’t seem to be physically possible, the scythe had twisted and changed shape, taking its true form as a spear.
No, that wasn’t quite right. The heroic, noble magical energy pouring off of it made it clear that this was not just a spear. It was on a completely different scale. It was like a tower standing at the end of the world, a crystallized Mystery proving that countless legends, countless myths, were true.
It was the end of the story.
The accursed yet divine spear, decorating the end of the legend of King Arthur.
Softly, the true name of that weapon left my lips.
“Rhongo–”
The time had come.
The divine spear warped and shuddered.
Unable to resist the vortex of swirling magical energy, the Castle of Separation shook as if in fear. Though it was built only to respond to waves of sound, the sheer amount of magical energy was forcibly drawing a reaction out of it. The manifestation that drew in all mana from the surrounding environment was like disaster incarnate.
The Thirteen Promises hadn’t been released yet, so it was still only a small fraction of its full power peeking through. Even so, that small fraction was on the level of Divine Spirits, something magecraft couldn’t hope to match.
That level of magical energy, concentrated to the absolute limit, could be felt like an extreme heat. It felt like I was sticking my hand into a volcano.
Ashbourne’s beast would not make it in time.
There was no way it could. The manifestation in my hands was a Noble Phantasm exceeded only by Excalibur itself. The divine spear wielded by King Arthur against his mortal enemy, Mordred.
“–myniad!!!”
Who could even see that spiraling light?
Even though it was night, it was as if the Sun had suddenly risen - as if a piece of the Sun had fallen down amongst them, a brilliant crimson spiral. The magical energy, and even the water vapor that hung in the air were burned and boiled away, the flash of light from the Age of Gods riding forth like a mounted tyrant.
Gouging out the spire above, the light pierced through the Castle of Separation’s domed roof and castle wall, only stopping when it bit deep into the hillside beyond the castle.
Both Seigen and Ashbourne’s monster vanished before that light.