Crying Warmonger is a Noble Phantasm that converts accumulated damage into magical power, storing it within Spartacus's body until he can unleash it in a single, devastating burst.
In truth, Spartacus hadn't sustained much damage yet, making this an inopportune moment to activate his Noble Phantasm. But Deimlet had little choice. With the Beast already manifested, any further hesitation would likely cost him even the slightest chance of escape.
The explosion would engulf a vast area, temporarily shrouding the region in smoke and dust—his only opportunity to flee.
Spartacus's eruption was truly spectacular. The magical power granted by the Command Spell poured out in a single torrent, channeling nearly all of Spartacus's strength—aside from his resilience—into this singular attack. Though both were A-Rank Noble Phantasms, the force of the explosion rivaled the unleashed power of Atalante's berserk form, once again ravaging the towering trees.
Black Jeanne, tasked with intercepting the Master, instinctively raised her defenses and began to retreat. Her defensive capabilities were limited; being caught in an explosion of this magnitude would leave her severely injured, if not outright dead.
Just as Deimlet had predicted, Jalter gave them an opening to escape. He yanked Caules to his feet, ready to sprint away. The boy's Berserker still had some fight left, and they couldn't abandon him while Frankenstein was still active.
In the next instant, a clear, melodic voice shattered the smoke and dust with its sonic waves. Despite the explosion, no one was harmed. Even Achilles, who had been caught in the blast, stared incredulously at his hands. While he had previously witnessed Jason shrug off his attacks, experiencing this firsthand was completely different. This Noble Phantasm's secondary effect was likely even more effective than his own Small World Shield.
"Cough, cough... Really now..."
Tiamat coughed twice. Even if Jiang You hadn't used his Noble Phantasm to shield her, she would have emerged unscathed.
"My apologies for startling you," Melusine said, stepping in front of Jiang You the moment Spartacus unleashed his Noble Phantasm. She had intended to kill Spartacus with a single strike using her standard Noble Phantasm, but unfortunately, she hadn't acted quickly enough.
"He's your slave. It's my negligence. Punish me as you see fit."
"It's not a big deal."
Jiang You's current physical strength was more than enough to withstand a single explosion. He glanced at Spartacus, who had shrunk by half after unleashing his Noble Phantasm. Though now only about 2 meters tall due to magical power depletion, the same frenzied, oppressive aura still emanated from him. Spartacus even flashed Jiang You a smile, saying, "Get this one back quickly. He's got his eye on me."
"Destroy the oppressors with my love!"
Spartacus remained relentlessly fixated on Jiang You. Such was the nature of EX Rank Mad Enhancement—he clung to his convictions to the bitter end.
"The master-slave relationship is utterly pointless! All are equal! No one can be another's slave! Rebellion! The rebellion begins now!"
"You can't just say things like that!"
Jiang You's face turned green. If Spartacus continued this tirade, the conflict would escalate beyond mere combat.
"Melusine, please handle this!"
"Understood."
Melusine nodded her small head lightly. "To atone for my mistake, I'll give it my all this time. One strike, instant annihilation. Cleaving sword technique, commence. Connect, Now Unknown, Innocence Arondight!"
"You don't need to go that far with your efforts," Jiang You replied casually, still not quite understanding what Melusine was referring to.
The blue sword light cleaved through Spartacus's body. Having lost an arm and already unleashed his Noble Phantasm, Spartacus had little combat strength left, making him utterly helpless against an opponent of Melusine's caliber. Thus, the Red Team's Berserker was eliminated with such ease. Though, to be fair, his original departure in the story had also been rather anticlimactic.
"Innocence Arondight? Lancelot?"
Achilles showed no reaction to Spartacus's defeat. They weren't particularly close, and Spartacus was utterly incapable of communication. If he insisted on fighting an opponent like Jiang You, Achilles couldn't intervene—he wouldn't stand a chance either. Instead, he focused his attention on the servant who had nearly single-handedly defeated their entire team, genuinely curious about Melusine's true identity.
"Hey, hey, hey! No way! The legendary Knight of the Round Table is just a little girl? Does that mean King Arthur was also a woman?"
"Though the logic is flawed, the conclusion is correct," Melusine replied, her tone matter-of-fact.
Watching Spartacus retreat, Jiang You finally let out a sigh of relief. While Spartacus's strength was average, his madness was overwhelming. Once targeted by him, there was no peaceful resolution, and he even uttered incredibly dangerous threats.
"Huh? Are the Knights of the Round Table... always like this?"
Most of the Greek Servants, whose genders aligned with the original myths, were utterly shocked.
"I have my own version of King Arthur here. You'll understand soon enough," Jiang You said, glancing toward the Berserker Master's side, only to find them already gone. He then turned a pointedly disdainful look toward Jalter.
"Miss Jalter, you couldn't even keep two second-rate Magi in check?"
"Y-yes..."
This failure was indeed humiliating. Jalter barely managed to stammer out an apology before regaining her composure. Refusing to back down, she retorted, "No! Who the hell knows what your Noble Phantasm even does?! Did you bother to explain it to me? If you ask me, I should've just torched them earlier! You were the one who insisted on keeping them alive!"
Jiang You couldn't help but chuckle. If he had truly asked Jalter to burn them alive, she likely would have only ranted about it. Despite her fierce demeanor, she was actually quite reasonable when not provoked.
"You bastard!"
"Well then, Heel guy, could you please go fetch those two?"
Melusine offered to bring them back instantly, but Jiang You refused, feeling it wasn't right to leave everything to her. In fact, she was being too eager, so much so that Jiang You began to suspect he had summoned the wrong servant.
"Hold on, even though we're not fighting you for now, we're still on the other side, right?" Achilles pointed to himself and his Teacher. "Spare us some dignity."
"...Nope!"
Jiang You retorted, "Serves you right for attacking without asking questions first." Since you won't cooperate, fine. Catgirl, let's go bring those two back."
"You're way too fond of giving people nicknames, aren't you?" Jalter rolled her eyes, though she had to admit they were easy to figure out. She decided she needed to come up with a nickname for this boundary-challenged guy—the nastier, the better.
Caules hadn't been running for even two minutes when a gray-black servant blocked their path.
"Archer!?"
Deimlet breathed a sigh of relief when he recognized the servant as one of their own. But he quickly noticed something amiss. "Why is she also using the 2P color scheme?"