65: So exciting, it makes me want to join in!

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in Rome.

Inside a top-tier hotel suite, a massive virtual screen was broadcasting the duel in Tokyo in real-time.

Jiang Ming leaned back on the sofa, holding a glass of red wine, watching everything on the screen with great interest.

Through the soul connection with the Mirror Puppet, he could even experience the world-shaking collision of power firsthand from a first-person perspective.

"Tsk tsk."

Jiang Ming swirled the wine in his glass and couldn't help but comment.

"Does it have to be so hot-blooded?"

"Even I, the mastermind behind the scenes, am starting to feel like personally joining a round."

Within Jiang Ming's sea of consciousness, the emotion points balance on his personal panel was ticking upward at an unprecedented, terrifying speed.

[Current emotion points Balance: 31,457,990...]

[33,784,110...]

[36,011,240...]

This "battle of the gods" sweeping the globe had brought Jiang Ming unimaginable gains.

Shock, fear, fanaticism, worship from billions of people worldwide... all these intense emotional fluctuations were now transforming into the purest energy, flooding into his system account.

"The eighth choice requires one hundred million emotion points."

Jiang Ming watched the rising numbers, a curve forming at the corner of his mouth.

"Just a 'small goal'."

"It looks like it will be achieved very soon."

...The Tokyo Battlefield.

At the exact moment Jeanne d'Arc declared the True Name of her Noble Phantasm, the bone torii gate behind Shuten-dōji swung wide open.

[Noble Phantasm: Gate of the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons] — Fully Unleashed!

From the deep darkness behind the gate that connected to hell, countless spiteful roars echoed out.

Immediately following, innumerable, bizarrely shaped, and hideous demons—mingled with a torrent of pitch-black demonic power capable of eroding reality—surged out from within the gate like a bursting tsunami!

Wraiths, evil spirits, monsters... they converged into a black wave representing absolute evil, sweeping toward that tiny silver figure with a terrifying momentum as if to drag the entire world into the abyss.

In the global live broadcast, everyone held their breath.

On the screen, that sky-blotting black wave was about to swallow all of Tokyo.

And before that wave, the silver figure was as small as a grain of sand.

Facing a sight that would make even gods and Buddhas tremble, there was not a trace of fear on Jeanne d'Arc's face.

She held the banner, which was now completely enveloped in holy flames.

No defense.

No retreat.

Facing the world-destroying torrent of demonic power, Jeanne d'Arc launched a charge.

At the moment of the charge, Jeanne's body also began to burn, merging completely with the holy flames in her hand.

She herself transformed into a flaming spear that pierced the darkness.

With a mortal body, performing the divine power of a god.

Without a second thought, she plunged headlong into the terrifying core representing the "Night Parade of One Hundred Demons"!

The moment the two collided.

The entire world suddenly lost all sound.

At this moment, all live broadcast equipment was left with nothing but meaningless static.

A pure white "sun" abruptly rose over Tokyo, expanding frantically at a speed that defied all laws of physics.

The ultimate white.

The ultimate purification.

Wherever the white light reached, the surging torrent of demonic power was instantly evaporated like snow exposed to a scorching sun.

Those hideous demons didn't even have time to let out a scream before they were completely dissolved in the pure holy fire.

Even the massive torii gate, constructed of white bones and emitting endless evil energy, shattered inch by inch in the white light, turning into dust.

At the very center of the light, Shuten-dōji felt that irresistible purification power originating from the conceptual level, and for the first time, a look of disbelief appeared in his golden beast-like pupils.

"Im... possible!"

In a final, unwilling roar, Shuten-dōji's body, along with his concept as a "demon," was completely purified by the pure holy fire.

This white sun lasted for a full dozen seconds.

Then, the light slowly faded.

The blood-red mist and demonic energy shrouding Tokyo were swept away; the sky returned to the tranquility a night should have, and even a few sparse stars could be seen.

Only the scarred urban ruins on the ground proved that everything that had just happened was not an illusion... Inside a cramped rental room in Toshima Ward.

Takahashi Shota sat blankly in front of his computer.

On the screen, only snow from a lost signal remained.

He slowly raised his right hand and spread it before his eyes.

On the back of his hand, the blood-red marks that once obsessed him and drove him mad had disappeared without a trace.

There was nothing.

The mental link with Shuten-dōji had also been completely and crudely severed at the moment that white light flared up.

That destructive power that had once filled his entire body and made him feel omnipotent was gone.

An unprecedented, massive sense of emptiness swallowed Takahashi Shota's soul like a black hole.

He had lost his power.

He had turned back into that unemployed youth with nothing, rejected by society, living in a cheap rental room.

Nothing was left... When the live signal was restored a few minutes later, the whole world saw the clear night sky over Tokyo and the completely leveled Shinjuku Ward on the ground.

The result made everyone's skin crawl.

After a brief silence, the global internet completely boiled over with an unprecedented momentum.

"Noble Phantasm."

"command spells."

These two terms, which originally belonged only to the ACG subculture, topped the trending lists of all social media worldwide within a single hour.

Countless posts, videos, and analytical articles sprouted up like mushrooms after rain.

"Holy crap! Was that a Noble Phantasm clash just now? Definitely a Noble Phantasm clash! Crimson Saint vs. Night Parade! These special effects are even more badass than a top Hollywood blockbuster!"

"To the guy above, what special effects? That was a live broadcast! It really happened! I'm on the outskirts of Tokyo, and that white light almost blinded my damn eyes!"

"The point is the command spells! Did you see? That Berserker suddenly got stronger three times. Big shots have already analyzed that his Master used three command spells in a row, directly buffing the Servant to the point where he could go toe-to-toe with the Ruler! This thing is basically an official cheat!"

"So, the Master is the key! A crazy Master paired with a Chaotic Evil Servant almost flattened Tokyo! If a few more of these show up, will the Earth even be enough for them to tear apart?"

"Type-Moon, the copyright holder of the Fate series, has been completely 'protected' by the Sakura Country authorities. It's said that not even a fly can get into their office building now!"

"I declare that the Holy Grail War is the greatest piece of performance art in human history! It's also the most dangerous reality show! My mom asked me why I was watching the stream on my knees!"

...The battle in Tokyo had come to an end.

But for the world, the true storm had only just begun.

China, Ninth Bureau Supreme Command Center.

On the massive central screen, the final footage of Jeanne d'Arc's Noble Phantasm being unleashed and purifying everything was playing.

The entire command center was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Everyone's face bore an unmaskable shock and... lingering fear.

Chen Jianguo sat in the commander's seat, his expression solemn to the extreme.

Beside him, an old general who had served in the military for over forty years watched the screen and spoke with a raspy voice.

"If... I mean if."

"If we used the 'Dongfeng' series for a saturation strike against that 'Ghost King', what would the result be?"

Nearby, a top physics expert responsible for data analysis pushed up his glasses and shook his head bitterly.

"General, from an energy level perspective, the result wouldn't change at all."

"Conventional weapons, including our most advanced missiles, in the face of that Berserker's Noble Phantasm... the only difference might just be that the explosion would look... more spectacular."

"Unless," the expert paused, struggling to spit out two words, "we use nukes."

That word caused the temperature in the command center to seem to drop several degrees.

Chen Jianguo spoke slowly, breaking the silence.

"Nukes won't solve the problem either."

"The target is an individual with extreme mobility. Before the battle ended, we couldn't even accurately lock onto which room of which building his Master was in."

"Deploying nukes in an international metropolis with a population of over ten million? That's not victory; that's mutual destruction."

The conclusion was cold and cruel.

Everyone realized that the modern military system humans were so proud of appeared so fragile before these true "gods and demons."

Just then, Jiang Ming Mirror Image No. 1, who had been sitting in the corner playing the role of "Consultant," suddenly gave a light chuckle.

He picked up the teacup in front of him, blew on the steam, and said in a nonchalant tone.

"Don't be so nervous, everyone."

"Isn't this quite good?"

"Tokyo is a bit of a mess, but at least the Berserker has been dealt with, hasn't he?"

His words caused everyone to turn their gaze toward him.

Chen Jianguo's brow furrowed.

"Consultant Jiang, what exactly are you trying to say?"

Jiang Ming Mirror Image No. 1 put down his teacup and shrugged.

"The fact that Ruler Jeanne d'Arc intervened proves what? It proves that the Holy Grail War has rules; it's impossible to let Servants and Masters run wild without restraint."

"So what everyone should be considering now is how to make the battlefield of the Holy Grail War be in a foreign country or a controllable place, rather than becoming a wasteland like the capital of Sakura Country."

These words were like a clap of thunder, exploding in the hearts of every high-ranking official... At the same time, The Pentagon.

A four-star general slammed his fist onto the conference table with a loud bang.

"A disgrace!"

"Our 'ospreys', our most elite special forces, couldn't even enter the battlefield before being swatted down like flies!"

"Now, the whole world is laughing at us!"

"I demand that we immediately enter the highest state of combat readiness! Transfer the command of the 'B-2' and 'Minuteman' missiles to the Strategic Command!"

Opposite him, a civilian senior advisor from the Department of Defense shook his head calmly.

"General, calm down."

"Our enemy is not a country, or even an organization. It's three... no, it's now confirmed to be at least four individuals possessing transcendent power."

"If you detonate a nuke in Tokyo, the only result will be helping that Chinese sword immortal called 'Saber' and that Crow God, or some other hidden monster, clear out an opponent."

"The rules of this war have changed."

The advisor looked at the silver-armored figure holding the holy banner on the screen.

"From today on, the threat level of the 'Holy Grail War' must be raised to the maximum. We must find a 'Heroic Spirit' belonging to our America at any cost!"

...The Kremlin, Moscow, London, Paris... almost at the same moment, the top decision-makers of all the world's major powers had their perceptions completely overturned because of this battle in Tokyo.

Old orders, alliances, and deterrents had all become jokes in the face of absolute transcendent power.