Vlad III's overwhelming regenerative power made him virtually immortal.
Even as flames consumed him, his body continually healed itself.
Now, Vlad had finally reached Karna, face-to-face in midair.
"I will grant you, invader, the harshest possible punishment!"
Vlad III stared fiercely into Karna's eyes, madness and fury burning uncontrollably within his gaze. The fire encircling him twisted his expression into a terrifying snarl.
"[Kazikli Bey: The Lord of Execution—]!!!"
[Kazikli Bey: The Lord of Execution]
Rank: A+ (Originally B+)
Type: Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm
What should have been merely a B+ ranked Noble Phantasm surged in strength under the combined influence of the [Command Spells] and the territorial boost of Vlad's [Demonic Defender of the State], reaching a terrifying A+.
Countless stakes made from blood, hair, flesh, shadows, and steel exploded violently outward from Vlad's body at point-blank range, instantly surrounding Karna, granting him no chance to react.
Countless piercing whistles echoed as the stakes surged forth faster than even a first-rate Servant could perceive.
Shnk—!
Shnk—!
Shnk—!
Shnk—!
In less than 0.1 seconds, Karna's entire body—from his head and torso down to each of his limbs—had been thoroughly skewered by countless stakes.
Having cast away his golden armor, Karna no longer possessed the means to ignore such devastating strikes.
These stakes were unlike those Vlad had previously unleashed upon Karna.
Infused with vampiric power, these stakes were far sturdier, faster, and vastly more powerful, completely eclipsing the earlier iterations.
Normally, even a single stake carried low immediate power, but once it pierced the opponent, it inflicted continuous internal damage. Even more terrifyingly, one successful strike could spawn additional stakes directly within the victim's body.
Under ordinary circumstances, this was already a guaranteed death sentence, leaving the opponent only a painful, futile struggle before perishing.
Now, each stake Vlad generated had the destructive capability of a B-ranked Noble Phantasm. Both speed and power had risen to unprecedented heights.
But even if Karna had retained his golden armor, it would have provided no protection from these stakes. Because—
Just before the flames fully devoured him, Vlad let out a burst of wild, manic laughter, clenching his fist sharply.
Countless stakes, each drenched in Vlad's own blood, erupted violently from inside Karna's body, instantly filling every inch of him. Not a single spot remained unpierced.
"Let us vanish from this stage together, Hero of Charity!"
The golden armor's greatest weakness lay precisely here—it offered no defense against attacks manifesting from within one's own body.
Vlad had long recognized this vulnerability during their earlier clashes. Previously, Karna continuously circulated flames inside himself, instantly burning away any stakes that penetrated him.
But now, to unleash his Noble Phantasm at maximum power, Karna had momentarily stopped this internal circulation. Moreover, Vlad's current stakes far exceeded the previous ones, far too strong to be instantly consumed by those flames.
Indeed, the truly lethal strike was always meant to explode from within Karna's own body—this had been Vlad's ultimate killing move.
Vlad never realized Karna's Noble Phantasm required discarding his armor anyway; he simply chose the most certain method to ensure Karna's defeat.
At that moment, the flames unleashed by Karna's divine spear surged forward at terrifying speed, swallowing Vlad whole.
Even Vlad's vampiric regeneration was but a cruel joke before this divine spear.
Yet Vlad himself showed not a hint of surprise.
He seemed fully prepared for this end.
Under conditions of abundant mana, Karna's Noble Phantasm could annihilate virtually any single target—be it living, nonliving, or conceptual. Creatures, phantasmal beasts, divine beings, humans, shields, armies, fortresses, bounded fields—even gods—nothing could withstand it.
A mere vampire like Vlad III had no chance whatsoever of surviving such an attack. His extraordinary regeneration could only prolong his suffering slightly within those all-consuming flames.
Moreover, Vlad III never harbored any intention of surviving once he accepted becoming Dracula.
The vampiric identity was the deepest humiliation he could endure. He bitterly despised how a mere novel had utterly negated all his true accomplishments.
Yet he couldn't deny it was precisely that despised power which allowed him to push himself to these extremes and defeat Karna.
Nevertheless, Vlad would never accept this twisted strength as his own.
No matter how powerful, it brought him nothing but disgust and humiliation.
Watching Karna's body start to dissolve into golden motes of light, Vlad III—for the first time in ages—allowed himself a genuine smile as his last vestiges of reason faded away.
Even transformed into a vampire, Vlad remained Romania's "Shield of Christendom," still among the most noble of its kings.
The moment he felt certain Karna would be removed from the war, Vlad deliberately ceased his regeneration, choosing to let the flames consume him completely.
The divine spear's merciless flames incinerated Vlad instantly, leaving not even a trace of ash behind.
The stakes impaling Karna disappeared as their creator faded away.
"Never trust a Lancer's apparent death… Allow me to return those words to you."
Karna, riddled with wounds and pierced from head to toe, twisted his neck slowly midair, calmly regarding the spot where Vlad had been consumed by his spear.
At this point, Karna himself hovered on the brink of existence. His spiritual core had shattered under Vlad's relentless assault, making survival impossible. With the loss of his golden armor, his devastating wounds were impossible to heal.
Yet somehow, Vlad's parting words struck Karna as strangely familiar—as if he'd heard something remarkably similar before, from a Servant he'd fought to the very brink of annihilation. That Servant had wielded a crimson spear and fought with the ferocity of a wild beast, bringing Karna himself to the edge of disappearance.
At that moment, he hadn't stood a chance.
And yet—wasn't his current situation precisely the same? Spiritual core broken, barely clinging to reality—
Karna tightened his grip on the spear, causing its flames to flare more violently.
Typically, once a Servant perished, their Noble Phantasm lost its mana supply and ceased activation.
Vlad III had staked his very life upon precisely that: removing Karna before the spear could finish descending, thus preserving Saber and Berserker.
Yet Karna was different.
Though lacking [Battle Continuation], the Hero of Charity would still complete his attack before vanishing.
"It was inevitable—"
Even as his core shattered and his existence unraveled, Karna's tone remained perfectly calm.
The spear Karna wielded was such a rare existence that it didn't even appear in the treasury of the renowned King of Heroes, Gilgamesh—a hidden weapon beyond all others.
The spear flew forward, piercing Siegfried's chest and embedding itself deep into the ground.
All anyone saw was an overwhelming flash of blinding crimson.
The chaotic battlefield fell utterly silent the instant the spear landed. Everything vanished beneath its indescribable power.
A towering pillar of flame erupted skyward, seemingly without end, releasing shockwaves that annihilated every tree within a kilometer radius.
The three Masters desperately invoked every defensive measure at their disposal, only to be violently hurled away, crashing painfully onto the shattered ground.
At that very instant, all three simultaneously felt their Servant contracts sever abruptly.
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