Fate: Hero of Justice Takeover-Chapter 637

Chapter 637: The Beast Messiah Reappears

"Here we go, breaking through the first defense line, advancing toward the second... Oh, the second line’s been breached too."

"The third line is struggling desperately, just one corner away from Karna."

"Mmm, reaching the final front. Damage rate... let’s round it off to 1% for now."

In the conference room, the girl lazily reported the progress, yet aside from Julius and Rin—who was tied up—there was no one else present.

It was as if the true form of this mysterious Master was nothing more than the buzzing broadcast echoing through the room.

"Hi~ This is Jinako here. All three defense lines I set up have been completely breached. The intruder is a total monster, but no worries—my mission ends here anyway~~"

Her lazy, utterly irresponsible remarks made Rin’s lips twitch. Julius, who had long since dragged this shut-in NEET out through threats and bribes, had already given up on expecting anything from such a societal deadweight. Still, the fact that she had summoned a top-tier Servant was nothing short of a once-in-a-lifetime stroke of luck.

"Understood."

"Uwah, cold and expressionless guys are the worst. A handsome boss to conquer is more my style... I wonder if the traps I set managed to lower his guard. Hmm, decided—I’ll play a galgame tonight."

Jinako’s abrupt topic shift wasn’t due to drunkenness but rather the communication disorder born from long-term isolation.

"Ahh, anyway, Jinako is signing off now. The rest is up to my Servant... Oh, wait, did I just reveal my Servant’s True Name? Meh, whatever, it’s fine~~"

With a click, the static of the broadcast vanished, and Jinako—wherever she was hiding—officially went offline.

"How the hell did a Master like her even make it to the third round...?" Rin muttered under her breath. Julius, lost in thought, nodded subconsciously before catching himself and turning his attention to the figure slowly appearing on the surveillance feed.

"He’s here."

On the third-floor corridor by the windows, the young man cleaved through the hostile programs teleported in his path. His black blade rested naturally against the bright window ledge as he strode forward, fireworks of light igniting behind the glass, illuminating his golden vertical pupils.

"Traps on the first floor, brute force on the second, summons on the third... The magecraft is top-tier, but unfortunately, I’m terrifyingly strong right now."

Brilliant bursts of magecraft exploded behind the young man, forming a dazzling yet deadly backdrop. Sakatsuki hummed a cheerful tune, his confident, spirited demeanor unmistakable even through the surveillance feed.

Nothing could halt his advance. Nothing could shatter the certainty in his eyes. This young man was an unyielding presence in the Moon Holy Grail War, an insurmountable wall to all.

In the conference room, Julius silently clenched his fist.

Too similar. From the preliminaries onward, this young man and Leo had been polar opposites—yet shared an uncanny resemblance.

But if Leo was the ideal Holy King, then what should the young man standing beside him be called?

No matter what, this threat must not be allowed to approach Leo...

"Enough."

Golden armor radiant as the sun materialized. If Gawain was the knight who symbolized the sun, then the hero before them was the sun’s divine child. That compassionate countenance reflected in Sakatsuki’s eyes seemed to flicker with flames.

"Lancer, Karna."

"You even told him that?" Julius frowned sharply in the conference room, turning to glare at Rin, who rolled her eyes in response.

"Weren’t you the one keeping it secret? I only just learned his true name myself—from that Master called Jinako."

So Sakatsuki recognized Karna at a glance? No, impossible. That was a Servant who’d never appeared in the Moon Holy Grail War. There must be some reason... but how exactly?

Julius fell silent again, an emotion of losing control sprouting in his heart that he couldn’t conceal.

Similarly, even Karna looked momentarily startled when Sakatsuki called out his true name. But after meeting Sakatsuki’s eager, battle-ready gaze, the Hero of Charity regained his composure, accepting this initial disadvantage as fact.

"My Master has ordered me to end you here. I am merely acting according to our contract—but if you look at me with such eyes, then our battle is no accident, but inevitable."

Golden wings unfurled as Karna’s fighting spirit erupted, claiming half the sky within Sakatsuki’s aura. As blue flames roared to life, he swung his divine spear, heralding the beginning of their clash.

Sakatsuki responded with pure exhilaration, gripping the dragon-slaying demonic sword. Like a scene from the past, Balmung and the undying blade clashed once more.

The spear tore through the air with thunderous roars.

The sword rent the winds with piercing shrieks.

No battle cries, no dramatic declarations—yet their fighting spirits burned like scorching flames, gradually staining everything around them.

Only by fighting former enemies could Sakatsuki clearly recognize how he continuously surpassed his past self.

This time, the divine spear technique finally met its match. Though this body wasn’t that of the great dragon-slaying hero, within the Mooncell, Sakatsuki’s martial prowess had reached inhuman heights. Against the spear’s fierce thrusts, silver sword blossoms formed an exquisite defense, parrying every attack.

Realizing prolonged offense bore no fruit, Karna decisively withdrew his spear—then thrust forward with renewed ferocity.

"Witness my spear’s fury!"

At his command, blue flames engulfed the divine spear. Unwilling to be outdone, Sakatsuki twisted the jewel in his sword, channeling pure ether into demonic energy that coated the blade as he swung.

He had witnessed Siegfried and Karna’s legendary battle, and had fought Karna to the death himself.

Yet this Karna, contracted to Jinako, held no memories of that Holy Grail War.

This disparity in experience became magnified infinitely in combat between masters. Just as now—Sakatsuki anticipated Karna’s every move, confident his sword could deflect the spear’s edge and wound the sun’s child!

Thud.

His left arm was pierced, blood instantly vaporized by the solar flames. Sakatsuki’s pupils contracted as he stared at the divine spear impaling his body, finally discarding all underestimation at this moment.

"Magic Formula: Sharpness."

A reinforcement spell capable of enhancing an A-rank Noble Phantasm required rare catalysts to cast. The fact that it was deployed during initial probing attacks meant only one thing—

"Displacement!"

Boom!

The divine spear swept violently, stirring suffocating tidal waves in the sea of air. Karna’s eyes flickered slightly, quickly locking onto Sakatsuki who had reappeared at his flank: "Dodged it?"

Sakatsuki didn’t answer. His eyes shimmered with platinum light as he discerned the intricate patterns etched across Karna’s body—patterns so complex they’d make anyone gasp.

"Magic Formula: Boost; Magic Formula: Seal, Magic Formula: Heal, Magic Bullet, Curse..." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

To Sakatsuki’s knowledge (since he never lacked QP), engraving even a single spell onto a Servant required nonstop monster hunting in Mooncell for an entire day. Yet Karna bore twenty-four such formulas!

Karna probably never dreamed that someone as austere as himself would one day become a whale warrior.

"Did your Master gamble away his entire fortune just to defeat me?" Sakatsuki asked with strange expression.

Karna simply shook his head at the probing question: "This isn’t my Master’s doing."

"Understood. Julius then." Sakatsuki nodded knowingly, completely unfazed by his temporarily disabled left arm as he rubbed his chin. "Treating you so generously—Master Li won’t get jealous, will he?"

Meanwhile, Rin was interrogating Julius: "How did you manage this? I thought you’d pledged all assets to Leo?"

Julius kept his eyes on the battle between Karna and Sakatsuki as he replied: "I took out loans from Kirei Kotomine."

"You’re insane?!" Rin’s eyes widened in disbelief. "Borrowing from that vampire? That’s loan sharking where interest exceeds principal after one war! And that bastard’s the Holy Grail War supervisor—any default lets him abuse authority to enslave debtors until death!"

Finally, Julius looked at Rin, though his gaze remained utterly detached. "What does it matter? Even the most ruthless debt collector can’t extract payment from corpses."

"You...!" Rin was speechless. In that moment, she finally comprehended Julius’s resolve.

From the very beginning, he’d never intended to emerge from this conflict unscathed.

A Master fighting all-out and one prepared to perish while dragging enemies down with them existed on entirely different levels—the latter capable of unleashing unimaginable power to pull foes into the same hell.

Karna, armed to the teeth by Julius, stood as the most visceral proof. This was the pinnacle form of a top-tier Servant, surpassing even Gawain’s saintly state.

"Can Sakatsuki... win?" Rin murmured to herself.

The girl’s confidence wavered ever more.

At that very moment, Sakatsuki came to a halt on the battlefield.

Upon closer inspection, the young man bore multiple burn marks from flames. Apart from his pierced left arm, there was also a bloody hole in his abdomen, and his legs were covered in wounds—so severe that just looking at them seemed dire.

Yet, Karna wasn’t faring much better either. Despite the high damage resistance of his golden armor, blood seeped from the corners of his mouth, his divine spear now held in his left hand while his right arm hung limp, clearly rendered useless.

Only high-level magical formulas were rapidly repairing his injuries, surpassing even the Third Magic in efficacy.

If this continued, Sakatsuki’s defeat would only be a matter of time... or would it?

"Enough." Despite being at a disadvantage, the young man merely raised his eyes indifferently, his golden vertical pupils devoid of emotion. "Is this all the strength you possess?"

"If I’ve disappointed you, I apologize." The spear’s light flickered as Karna raised his Noble Phantasm, his unwavering resolve clear. "Regardless, I stand here now. If you wish to pass, you must defeat me."

"No, I don’t mean to insult you, Karna." Sakatsuki shook his head and spoke softly. "Perhaps it’s simply that my own strength has exceeded my expectations."

Did he sense something ominous in these cryptic words? Karna suddenly tightened his grip on the divine spear and lunged at Sakatsuki without a word. The white-haired, golden-eyed youth neither dodged nor evaded, merely spreading his arms and calmly invoking that skill.

"Beast’s Metamorphosis · Messiah."

The moment those words fell, Julius abruptly stood up in the conference room. Karna’s pupils contracted as his divine spear thrust toward Sakatsuki’s forehead, only to be deflected by a swirling crimson current.

A flash of red dress crashed into the young man’s embrace, shattering into countless scarlet fragments that spiraled into a vortex of destruction—shadow and darkness.

"Finally thought of me, have you?"

"Cough, cough... my bad. I thought I could handle this little problem on my own, but I didn’t expect the enemy to go all out just to defeat me."

"Oh? Suddenly, I find the resolve of these vermin rather amusing. Perhaps I should have stayed in the audience seats to enjoy your pitiful struggles?"

"Wait, I was wrong! Actually, I just couldn’t bear the thought of the brilliant, beautiful, kind, and generous Lady Draco feeling bored, so I invited you over for some fun!"

"But... you’re hurt like this." The little red dragon’s voice suddenly softened, sounding almost pitiful. "This shop isn’t going to scam me, is it? I didn’t rush over here excitedly just to get beaten to tears, did I?"

"...I was wrong, truly wrong. I shouldn’t have left you in the room and come here alone to play. Anyway, help me out here! Your contractor is about to die, Draco!"

"Sigh... you’re hopeless. Next time you pull this, I’ll bite you."

Bone hands stained with blood cradled the young man’s face, transforming into an eerie and solemn mask. Crimson roses morphed into battle armor, embracing his body as jagged bone spikes sprouted like a forest, accompanied by a swaying jade-white bone tail—marking the fusion of solemnity and sinister demonic allure.

As the young man raised his narrow eyes, the girl’s cheerful voice finally revealed a hint of danger.

"As for now... let those who harmed you struggle unto death!"