Dao Of Heaven
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Chapter 52: Stillness, the Sublimation of Shadow
🕑 Added 2025-09-02 15:43:48 +0000 UTCThe Holy Grail no longer mattered. What mattered now was victory!
Mordred was certain—if she could defeat this woman before her, there would be no other Servant in Black stronger or more outrageous. That would mean Red's assured triumph. All she had to do… was cut down this obstacle!
With that thought, mana flared violently across her body. She glared upward at the eternal god descending from above.
"Hey! Woman! I don't care which backwater village's god you are—god or not, you'll fall to my blade! Be my ghost beneath the sword!"
The Shogun did not anger at her provocation. Her heart remained utterly still. In her eyes, the knight below was nothing more than a speck of dust, screaming in defiance beneath the storm.
"If you have the power, then show it. Why waste your breath? Empty rage suits the powerless."
Her words cut cold, even mocking. She raised Musou Isshin before her eyes, settling into an opening stance.
"You—! You sealed my Noble Phantasm, damn it! If you've got guts, undo it!"
Mordred raged.
"Heh…"
The Shogun gave a faint, mocking smile. This was what it meant to stand a step above.
Without further words, she lifted her sword and slashed through the air.
Unlike Engulfing Lightning, Musou Isshin was a divine weapon of immeasurable power. Even a casual swing, though not on the scale of Musou no Hitotachi or Secret Art: Musou Shinsetsu, could rend apart space itself.
Shhh!
A blade of void tore forth, cloaked in violet lightning. When the rift split open across the air, Mordred felt the very space twist around her. She rolled desperately across the ground, her helm scraping as she narrowly dodged.
"What the hell is that?!"
Cold sweat trickled as she muttered. She dared not even meet that strike head-on.
Step… step…
The Shogun descended from the sky, each step upon the air like walking down unseen stairs. Lightning trailed her blade, sparking even before it touched the earth.
"You said you wanted to face my sword. Very well. This time, I'll oblige you."
Her words fell as she spun the blade in a flourish, then drew into an iaijutsu stance. Lightning sheathed the weapon in a sheath-like layer of energy.
Bending low, one knee bent, her gaze sharpened to a killing edge.
"Raimei!"
Crash!!
In the instant of the draw, countless arcs of void carved across the battlefield, shredding space itself. Violet thunder detonated, searing light exploding outward.
Mordred could do nothing but flee in desperation. With her Noble Phantasm sealed, she was helpless against such overwhelming attacks. Her only options—run, or close the distance. She chose the latter.
But the Shogun was faster still. Anticipating her move, she flashed in a burst of lightning to Mordred's side, cutting down!
"Tch!"
The speed, the ferocity—unrelenting!
Clash!
Mordred barely caught the strike, but her eyes widened—
Zzzzt…
Her sword warped at the point of contact, the edge twisting unnaturally against the divine blade. Horror struck her as she shoved the strike away just in time. The moment the weapons separated, her sword returned to normal.
The Shogun pressed forward without pause. Her style of swordsmanship, Watatsumi-ryu, was flawless, every stroke lethal. Mordred parried some, dodged others, but each slash split the air with star-deep rifts, making her heart pound with dread.
Yet in one fleeting instant, she saw it clearly—
"!"
The edge wasn't sharpened?!
Crash!
"Ghhah!!"
One strike jarred her arms numb, blasting her across the field. She crashed down, rolling before pushing herself up to a crouch.
The Shogun, however, was done holding back…
But… how could a blade without an edge cut with such sharpness, with power enough to rend space itself? Reinforcement magecraft? No—it couldn't be something so lowly.
"Hey! That sword of yours has no edge, huh? Looks impressive, but maybe it's never even killed anyone. What is it, some brat's toy you stole?"
Mordred's taunt dripped with venom—a fatal mistake.
"…."
The Shogun's movements froze for a heartbeat, her eyes narrowing dangerously. Mordred had touched a forbidden line. Their line.
[Shogun…]
Ei's voice sank into cold steel.
[…Kill her.]
The words were soft, yet carried a chilling finality, sealing Mordred's fate.
And in less than a second—no, less than half a second—
The Shogun appeared before Mordred, faster than her eyes could follow. Mordred's gaze was still fixed on where she had been.
Her knee drove into Mordred's stomach with brutal force.
BOOM!
The impact lifted her body upward. The Shogun pressed the hilt of her blade against Mordred's helmeted head—
CRACK!
The helm shattered, exposing half her bloodied face.
"Ghhahh!"
Mordred coughed blood. Another knee smashed into her gut, hurling her away like a shell, skidding across the stony ground.
"Kh—khah! So you're finally angry, huh?! Good! I've hated that smug, composed look of yours all along! Don't think I'll go down easy, bitch!!"
BOOM!!
Red mana erupted wildly from her body as Mordred roared, face twisted in rage.
Clash! ×N
Countless arcs of steel tore across the battlefield, carving the ground with countless slashes. Yet in the end, the Shogun pressed the advantage.
Crash!
Her strike blasted Mordred back once again. Leaping to the center of Plane of Euthymia, the Shogun traced a circle in the void with Musou Isshin, like the hand of a great clock.
Darkness fell over the realm. Only the radiance of lightning gathered into her blade.
From the heavens, star-like spheres of thunder rained down, encircling the battlefield like stage lights. Each sphere struck the ground with the force of a meteor, detonating in thunderous explosions!
One, two, three—then countless more. The blasts drove Mordred scrambling, her body cut and bloodied even as she dodged desperately.
At last, the final star fell. Mordred gasped in relief, believing she had survived—
The Shogun's violet eyes snapped open.
And time stopped.
The world turned into pale negatives of black and white, frozen in silence.
"Stillness, the Sublimation of Shadow."
CRACK!
Blades of void filled the air like a forest, cutting across the battlefield. Mordred's frozen body was slashed through by countless strikes.
SHLK! ×N
Time resumed—
Blood burst from every wound as gashes crisscrossed her body. Her armor split, her flesh pierced, crimson spraying in torrents.
"Urragghhh!!"
Mordred screamed, collapsing to one knee. Her battered frame trembled as she forced herself upright. The Shogun became lightning once more, reappearing before her, and brought her sword down in a vertical cut.
"!!"
Clang!
With the last of her strength, Mordred blocked. But the Shogun gave no quarter. She knocked her blade aside, slipped behind her, and reversed her grip—
SHLK!
Musou Isshin plunged through her back, piercing armor and flesh, bursting from her chest through her heart.
"Ghhahhh!!"
Mordred coughed blood, strength leaving her. Her legs buckled, body quaking.
Clatter!
Her sword fell from her hands.
The Shogun twisted her blade free, turned the edge toward her neck—
SHLK!
With a single stroke, Mordred's head severed cleanly under the thunder's edge, tumbling to the ground.
The Shogun spun her blade in a final flourish, shaking off the blood. The weapon hung at her side once more.
CRACK!
Lightning split the heavens, striking between victor and corpse. It marked the execution's end—and the battle's conclusion.
