With a terrible wail, the Sphinx slammed to the ground, and its breath of life quickly fell.

The mammoth beast looked extremely miserable now, the upper half of its face was completely gone, and the half of its head and the vertical half of its body were dissipated into minced flesh.

The modified howitzer was still a little more powerful than the limit, and it didn't have time to make the most destructive explosion, piercing an entire Sphinx like tofu.

However, such injuries are sufficient, and it is impossible for any creature to survive an injury of this level.

"Live...... survived. ”

Emiya Shirou pulled away the earth, stone and bricks that were covering his body, and looked at the giant beast that had fallen silently on the ground in the distance, and his heart was full of joy.

Fortunately, he didn't be lazy when he was learning magic these days, so the moment the rocket hit the Sphinx, he used magic to strengthen a rock in front of him as cover.

After that, he dragged Jekyll who had lost his combat ability non-stop, and ran as far as possible in the direction of leaving the battlefield, if it weren't for relying on magic to strengthen his body, Emiya Shirou really didn't think he could drag Jekyll so far, after all, his current state was a bit peculiar.

Looking at Jekyll who was still lying on the ground with a hideous expression, Emiya Shirou had a headache, it should be said that he was not sure whether the one in front of him was Jekyll or Hyde, because only half of the other party's face had returned to its original state, and the other half of his face was still alien.

It seems that the damage should have been too great in an instant, causing part of the effect of the treasure to fail, so now Jekyll and Hyde should be in the process of fighting for their bodies.

"Shirou!"

Illya's voice came from the side, and before Emiya Shirou could look up, he felt like he had been slapped on the head.

"Are you stupid?! Why do you want to approach in that situation, you will die if you are not careful! ”

Illya slapped Emiya's head angrily, her face full of fear and horror.

At the most thrilling moment just now, the distance between Emiya Shirou and the sphinx was probably less than five meters, and for such a giant beast, it was a position that could be reached with a slight stretch of hand.

As soon as the giant beast moved a little, Emiya Shirou would be reduced to pulp with his servants.

"I'm sorry, Illya, I'm sorry."

Emiya Shirou also knew that what he had just done was too thrilling, and he didn't dare to refute anything, so he just held his head and kept apologizing.

"Stupid Shirou! Also, call me sister! Illya was still slapping his body a little relentlessly.

Compared with the atmosphere between the two, the atmosphere on the other side is a little dignified.

"Oh, little girl, are you going to fight me too? I don't mind, I just had too much fun with this big guy. ”

Beowulf carried his big sword and looked at Artoria in front of him vigilantly, although the other party's figure was too petite compared to him, Beowulf's intuition constantly reminded him of the terrifying power contained in the body of this sister-in-law in front of him.

Once the war starts, I'm afraid I may not be able to beat the servant in front of me.

Thinking of such a strong man on the other side, Beowulf's eyes turned red with excitement, and his body was a little eager to try.

Artoria frowned as she looked at the slowly condensed battle intent on the enemy in front of her, and also clenched the invisible sword with both hands and made a posture of guard.

She had seen the way the other party fought with the Sphinx just now, and it was definitely a tricky enemy.

However, just as the atmosphere between the two sides was about to fight, Beowulf suddenly looked the same, because he received an order from his master to retreat.

"Cut! You're in luck, my lord made me retreat, so I won't fight you today. ”

Beowulf shrugged his shoulders, his originally high will to fight quickly declined, and the treasure in his hand also turned into a spirit child and dissipated.

"Really? Do you think you can retreat so easily today? ”

Hearing that her opponent wanted to leave, Artoria disagreed, and she changed her initial defensive stance to an offensive stance.

The opponent is indeed a tricky enemy, so if she takes this opportunity to destroy it, with the help of Illya, Artoria is sure that she can win this war.

"What an unforgiving woman, I really like your character, but before that, how about you take care of your master?"

Beowulf scratched his hair indifferently and pointed behind Artoria, who was able to see what Artoria couldn't see with his back to the beast.

"What?" As soon as Artoria was stunned, she felt a strong wind behind her, "Suffer! ”

The giant beast, which had almost disappeared with its original aura, suddenly stood up, and burst out with the last of its strength in a posture that was almost returning to the light, and pounced on the two of them who were talking.

Although it had no face, no eyeballs, and no sight, the beast's front paws remained unbiased, and its speed had not diminished, as if the injuries on its body had no effect on it at all.

Because of the large amount of mana infusion, a pair of front paws had turned red.

In the face of the sudden attack, Illya still showed enough combat quality, and had already launched the displacement magic in the moment before the attack was about to come, unfolding a transparent network structure around her body.

At this point, she was no longer in this space, and any attack would pierce through when it hit.

After doing all this, Illya's face suddenly changed, because she was not the only one who was attacked this time.

But it's too late, it's very difficult to use the displacement magic to replace the space, and Illya can instantly activate it on herself, which doesn't mean that she can also launch the replacement magic on others so quickly.

"Shirou!"

With Illya's scream, the Sphinx's attack had arrived.

Rumble!

With a burst of sound, a not-so-loud roar blast spread out in all directions, and its might seemed to be nothing compared to the Sphinx's heyday.

This is also natural, after all, after being so badly injured, even if it is back to the light, it is impossible to provide too much strength.

But such a force is deadly enough for humans.

Although the Replacement Magic was keeping Illya safe from attack, the dust kicked up obscured her vision.

Fortunately, the dust was not too big, and the distance between the two was very close, so Illya quickly saw the situation clearly.

Unlike what Illya had imagined, Emiya Shirou remained intact and fell to the ground due to the shock wave and fright, but he was not injured, but he was splashed with blood.

"How?"

As Illya's gaze turned, she finally saw the man standing in front of Emiya Shirou.

There, a not-so-tall figure stood in front of the Sphinx, his body still showing strange protrusions and mutations, and his face was only half human.

The Sphinx's front paws were completely resisted by his body, and the half-human claws almost hollowed out his chest, and the internal organs and bones were completely turned into flesh and splattered out.

After striking this blow, the Sphinx's last strength disappeared completely, and his body gradually dissipated as a spirit child.

The figure who blocked the attack for Emiya Shirou, his body began to become transparent, after all, the spirit core in his body was completely exploded by such an injury, and he didn't even have a chance to save it.

"Jay...... Kiel?! ”

Emiya Shirou still maintained that shocked expression, but tears involuntarily overflowed.

In front of him was Jekyll, who was originally considered incapacitated for a short period of time, in fact, looking at his current appearance, his two consciousnesses were still fighting for the dominance of his body, and theoretically he should not be able to move.

"Ah...... The Master......"

Jekyll, who collapsed on the ground, raised his head to look at his master, with a comforting smile on his face: "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I can't accompany you to the end of this war." ”

Jekyll's voice sounded strange now, with a subtle hiss while speaking normally, as if two people were talking together.

"Sorry...... I'm sorry. ”

Looking at Shirou Emiya, who looked sad and kept apologizing, Jekyll used the last of his strength to raise his hand and touch his hair, as if he was comforting a child.

"Don't be sad...... My wish has been fulfilled, you are a very good master, after all...... We all want to save you. ”

At the end of the day, the roar in Jekyll's voice gradually stopped, and gradually changed to two slightly different male voices.

Hearing these two voices, Emiya Shirou couldn't help but shed tears that had been stopped.

Because he finally understood that the other voice was Hyde, who had been fighting for control of his body with Jekyll, but in the moment when he was in danger, the two wills came to an agreement, so that Jekyll, who was originally unable to move, could continue to move.

After saying this last word, Jekyr's body also turned into a spirit child and dissipated, and even the blood splashed on Emiya Shirou's body turned into a little golden spirit child and flew into the air.

After Illya canceled the replacement magic on her body, she looked at the sad Emiya Shirou and hesitated for a moment, and finally could only helplessly reach out and stroke his head to comfort him.

Artoria, who came from the side, didn't know what to say when she saw this scene, and taking advantage of the panic just now, Beowulf had already left here.

In any case, the other party's strategy of delaying time has been achieved, and it is imperative that Artoria does not know whether her men will continue to go to support or return home.

Just as Artoria was troubled, she suddenly looked up at the air vigilantly.

Alarmed by her movements, Illya and the others raised their heads vigilantly.

However, the reactions of the two sides were different, Illya simply scanned the sky to try to check the traces of the enemy, and Emiya Shirou only then realized that there was a huge suspended temple in the sky in the distance.

"That's ...... What is it? ”

The huge shock even diluted the sadness in Emiya Shirou's heart, after all, seeing such a magnificent temple can float in mid-air in violation of the rules of physics, no matter who it is, it will be shocked and speechless.

"I don't know, it suddenly appeared while we were fighting. However, looking at the shape of that temple, it is likely to be where the owner of the Sphinx is located. ”

The magic circuit on Illya's body lit up, and she also replaced her with a special anti-aircraft rocket in her hand, if an enemy dared to approach from the air again, she would definitely let the other party try two rockets first.

With the roar coming from a distance, with the eyesight of Illya and Emiya Shirou, they were finally able to see the figure flying from the distant horizon.

"It's him." Artoria's frowning brow stretched, and her battle posture relaxed.

Before the words fell, the figure in the distance had already come to several people with a huge roar, it was Zheng Shu.

"I'm sorry, but because of this guy's obstruction, I came a little late."

Zheng Shu exerted his magic power in mid-air to neutralize his impact, and after falling from the air, he landed accurately in front of several people, and in his hand, he was also carrying a human head larger than the human body.

Several people who had fought the Sphinx before could recognize it at a glance, it was the head of the Sphinx, and judging from the size of this head, this Sphinx was probably much stronger than the one they were fighting against.

"Woo......"

After Zheng Shu fell to the ground, the head of the sphinx in his hand also let out a final whimper, and then completely lost its breath and began to dissipate into a spirit child.

Artoria frowned as she looked at the head that had disappeared as a spirit child:

"This guy's strength is good, it shouldn't be an ordinary sphinx, it's probably the legendary Sphinx. Being able to control a holy beast of this level seems to be much stronger than expected. ”

When she said this, Artoria's eyes unconsciously glanced at Zheng Shu.

If she was confident that the previous sphinx could win one-on-one without injury, then according to the difference in size, in the face of Zheng Shu's Sphinx, Artoria estimated that if she fought one-on-one with the other party, she would most likely end up with serious injuries.

But there was not a trace of embarrassment on the guy in front of him, and his breath was very steady, as if he had just done a little warm-up exercise.

Although she had long known that the other party's strength far surpassed her own, Artoria still couldn't help but sigh a little when she saw this scene.

"That's what I'm here for."

Zheng Shu nodded, explaining the situation he encountered and the current situation of the two people, and at the same time, Artoria also communicated with Zheng Shu about the state of her side.

"Have you already lost a Servant?"

Zheng Shu nodded clearly, and when he looked at Emiya Shirou again, his gaze suddenly paused in his bulging pocket, and a knowing smile appeared on his mouth.

"Okay, I already know the general situation, but looking at the current situation, let's gather together first and discuss the next countermeasures."

"Yes."

As soon as a few people had made their decisions, Zheng Shu suddenly looked up at the floating temple in the distance.

"What's wrong?"

Artoria was the first to ask, but before Zheng Shu could answer, she saw more than a dozen beams of light suddenly erupt above the temple.

Even in the daytime, the brilliance of a dozen beams of light was still clearly visible, and they shot far away from the temple to the depths of the ocean, and the temple stopped its next activity after emitting these beams, as if everything just now was just an illusion.

Even with Artoria's eyesight, she couldn't see what the temple was firing these beams for.

"Trouble...... The other party is starting to move, let's go, let's move a little faster. ”

The magic lines in Zheng Shu's eyes faded, and he frowned as if he had seen something, but he didn't explain, but urged everyone to move quickly.

The three of them didn't have any opinion on this, so Artoria carried Illya again, and Zheng Shu held Emiya Shirou under his arm, and the two servants quickly left the scene using their superior mobility.

……

……

Church churches.

Amakusa Shiro Shizhen woke up from a tired sleep, not so much that he was asleep, but that he dug up a vague memory.

Originally, I was only going to take a nap to rest, but I seemed to have slept for a long time.

"Master, are you awake? Rest assured, the other servants have returned without a hitch. ”

Semiramis's voice sounded very close to him, and Amakusa Shiro Shizhen realized that there seemed to be something wrong with the place where he was sleeping, not lying on a hard chair.

When I opened my eyes, I didn't see the ceiling of the church, but two rounded objects wrapped in black dresses.

Semiramis actually let him lie on his lap while he was asleep to guard, which is really not in line with her image as a queen.

"Hmm...... Why am I lying on your lap? ”

Amakusa Shiro Tokisada didn't remember doing this, he clearly remembered that he was lying on a bench, and there should have been no other people around at the time.

"Because I'm an Assassin." Semiramis let out a happy "giggle" laugh.

Amakusa Shiro Shizhen faced her with a smile that was enough to make any man smitten and crazy in her life, but she had a puzzled expression.

"Don't worry, no one bumps into you. Not...... It's rare for me to do something that a servant (servant) should do on a whim, do you have any dissatisfaction? The woman immediately turned into a tantrum expression.

"Really, I'll be shy if you do that, but thank you anyway." Amakusa Shiro Shizhen stood up with a wry smile.

In the face of his answer, Seramiras nodded with satisfaction: "It's all up to you, all our combat power has been assembled, but now the trouble is that the treasure still can't be lifted into the air." ”

"It's nice to not lose anything, but it's still very distressing to face such a situation."

"yes."

The two sighed together, the Semiramis Treasure had already been completed, and it was reasonable to be able to rise into the air at any time, but now there was a little accident, and the huge temple that could be seen when they looked up had become the biggest obstacle to their ascension.

At the beginning, when the Radiant Composite Temple used its main cannon to shatter the mountain range, Seramiras had already discovered the high-energy reaction through the detection array of the Hanging Garden, but at that time, they were in the middle of the battle analysis of Zheng Shu and his party, so they reacted a little late.

And I didn't expect that the opponent could actually float in the air, so that the speed of floating was a step slower, but now I don't dare to float casually.

"The destructive power of that thing's 'main gun' is too high, far exceeding the limit of the Sky Garden Protection Array, if it is okay to float, as long as the overload protection array resists for a moment, it can be avoided with its mobility. But in this case, if you want to force it into the air, you will be hit by someone. ”

Semiramis's tone was full of sorrow, even the empress couldn't think of any good way to solve this situation right now.

"In other words, if you want your Noble Phantasm to float in the air, you need to let the other party release at least one main cannon, right?"

"That's right, that kind of energy-level attack can't be released continuously, and the energy loop and energy consumption can't support it, so there will be at least a few tens of seconds after an attack, and this time interval is enough for the Sky Garden to fully lift off and increase the speed to the maximum."

"In other words, what needs to be done now is to lure the other side to unleash a 'main gun' attack to buy time for the launch of the Sky Garden."

Amakusa Shiro Shizhen also fell silent when he thought about this possibility, wanting to attract the other party to launch a main artillery attack, or at least to make the enemy's floating temple feel threatened.

It's not that there are no servants of this level on his side, but no matter which one of them, it is basically impossible for them to come back alive after releasing the treasure.

And in order to cover the servant's release of the treasure, the other servants will also participate in the battle, according to the combat effectiveness shown by that floating temple, it is still unknown how many people will be able to come back at that time, in case the loss is too high, even the hanging garden will not be able to save the defeat.

Glancing at the moon that had risen outside the window, Amakusa Shiro Shizhen sighed helplessly.

"Is there no other way?"

"Theoretically ......"

Semiramis's eyes widened in surprise before he could finish his words, so he couldn't explain anything to his master, and with a wave of his hand, a light curtain appeared out of thin air in front of him, showing the scene of the glorious composite temple.

"It's ...... With such a high energy fluctuation, the other party is ready to release the main cannon?! Who is the target? ”

Looking at the soaring energy values on the magic circle on the side, Semiramis felt sweat break out of his head.

In case the other party's target is their own place, then it seems that they have no other way but to abandon the Noble Phantasm and flee.

"Calm down, the direction of energy storage is wrong, and the target should not be us." Amakusa Shiro Tokizhen reached out and pressed her hand on Seramiras's shoulder to soothe her emotions.

He really doesn't know much about these magic tricks and the like, but looking at the "big light bulb" that stores energy in the picture, he can feel that the opponent's attack direction is not his own side with his combat experience.

"If the target is not us, then ......"

Speaking of which, Semiramis looked up and Shiro Amakusa glanced at each other, and both saw the same meaning in each other's eyes.

"This is the best chance, wait for the opponent to fire the main gun and prepare to take off!"

(End of chapter)