The battle between Red Lancer Karna and Black Berserker Vlad III remains evenly matched.
Although both used spears as weapons, their styles were completely different. Flanders III used a single finger to move the rafters to launch an attack, while Karna simply smashed the target with the spear in his hand.
Vlad III would release rafters while keeping the distance, while Karna would crush the opponent's rafters while approaching the opponent - this process would always repeat itself.
Mysterious phenomena are nullified by more powerful mysterious phenomena. In this respect, Karna is far superior to Vlad III. Judging from his power during his lifetime, the great hero Karna was already an extraordinary existence.
In order to bring him back to the earth, the Thunder God Indra had to rack his brains and use all kinds of conspiracies and tricks. Despite being betrayed by all his companions, he still remained the strongest spearman with a noble character.
—However, even he was unable to defeat Vlad III.
Unlike Karna, whose real existence is unclear, Vlad III is a hero who truly existed in the world.
He is viewed as an object of fear by neighboring countries, and the people also have an equally strong fear of him - despite this, he is still a hero who saves the country and is respected and admired.
Without him, our country would not exist - a hero so engraved in history has now come to this country. In this country, his fame is equivalent to that of a great saint.
His treasure "King of Death Penalty" also has extraordinary power.
Indeed, they were just ordinary rafters. But the problem was that these rafters could be summoned freely according to Vlad III's instructions.
Of course, even though he used such a powerful treasure against only one person, Karna was still invincible. His feet, right shoulder, left abdomen, left elbow, etc., were all hit by the rafters more than once, but his movements and strength remained unchanged. Those were just insignificant injuries that could be repaired during the battle.
but-
"—You are indeed amazing. You shattered a thousand rafters with your spear, burned eight hundred with the flames wrapped around your body, and blocked two thousand with your golden armor. Red Lancer, you are truly worthy of the title of hero. With your armor, I'm afraid even a battering ram would have no effect on you, let alone the rafters."
In response to Vlad III's praise, Karna responded in a serious tone:
"You are flattering me, Archduke. I understand now that for you, these rafters are both a means of attack and a means of defence, a symbol of demonstration and terror.
"... What?"
"You have defined territories, cities, and things to protect. In other words, you are trying to form a country by yourself. Is it your love for your country that drives you to do this? Or is it your sense of responsibility as a king?"
In a bland tone, Karna peeled off Vlad III's skin—not the skin of his body, but the skin of his heart.
"But you don't have any followers here. A king should maintain aloofness, but there is no king without followers. You made a mistake, Lord Piercer. I am a Heroic Spirit, and I will not be afraid even if my country becomes an enemy."
"—Oh, that's interesting."
Vlad III smiled - a cruel smile that seemed to be filled with anger, passion, hatred and murderous intent.
"You are not afraid to fight my country alone. You are a hero indeed. I have punished you three times for your arrogance. That's right... I have stabbed you with my spear three times. Therefore, you will die here."
"!?"
Feeling the chill that was sweeping through his body, Karna instinctively tried to jump back—however, now it was no longer a question of how fast or slow he was. That was already in the past, and the attack was over...!
"You're alerted so quickly. That's right, the rafters of my "King of Punishment" are not my Noble Phantasms. The Noble Phantasm is actually the "standing rafters" themselves. As long as you are in this area, no matter how much you strengthen your defense, as long as there is the fact that I am launching an attack—"
Something inside Karna's body began to swell violently. That hard, sharp, and icy cold thing was -
"Is it the rafters...?"
The golden armor on Karna can almost completely protect against rafters, blades, war hammers, and all physical and magical attacks. However, the only exception is attacks from the inside. And the rafters appear to be piercing the target.
Even a bee that flies freely in the sky and has strong jaws and poisonous stingers to catch its prey will be nothing more than powerless bait if it is trapped in a spider web with dozens of layers of overlap.
Blood began to drip from the rafters that pierced his body. This was probably the first time for Karna to be injured while wearing this armor.
Seeing this opportunity, Vlad III thrust his spear hard in order to seize the victory. He had never thought that such a small amount of damage would be enough to kill Karna.
So he did not miss this moment. No matter what kind of hero he is, it is impossible for him to resist when being pierced by a rafter! !
"That's enough, Red Lancer...!"
Countless rafters attacked like a muddy current, and Vlad III attacked with a gun. Those things were more like piranhas than treasures. After all, he did not run out of magic power. As long as there was magic power squeezed from the artificial people, his rafters could regenerate forever. The number of 20,000 was just the maximum number at the time of activation. No matter how many rafters were broken, they could be regenerated continuously as long as there was magic power.
In other words, the battlefield was actually filled with his malicious rafters. It was impossible to win. It was impossible to win by challenging the king who ruled the whole land and the whole country alone.
But - for the hero Karna, this situation of being surrounded by enemies is just an extremely common situation.
Facing the spear aimed at his forehead, Karna actually deflected the attack with ease, and it was almost impossible to feel the damage caused by the rafter piercing his body.
"... !!"
Even Vlad III was speechless.
At this time, Karna exerted his superhuman willpower even more.
"Flames—"
The flames immediately enveloped Karna's entire body. Instantly, Vlad III realized that he was going to use the flames to burn the rafters.
Vlad III was about to sneer, but suddenly froze. The flames were absorbed into Karna's body. Burning, burning, burning non-stop - the rafters that ravaged Karna were burned to ashes without a trace.
At this moment, the rafters came at him like a rainstorm.
However, what they were trying to penetrate was the embodiment of fire, the Son of the Sun, who even the Fire Spirit could not burn.
The golden armor, the strong spear given by God. The golden armor given by his mother's wish, and the blood of God inherited from the sun god - all this information as an introduction to Karna as a Servant only covers half of the information.
Karna's strongest weapon is his will. He is a great hero with a strong will and a strong heart, who endures all the misfortunes without grudge against anyone. He is a man who has been given something more special than anyone else, but does not consider himself special because of it.
He was neither arrogant nor complacent, but was a hero who insisted on living a way of life worthy of his father's reputation from birth until he was shot down.
Therefore, even if only three rafters pierced his internal organs and severed the nerves in his arms, even if he endured the mental oppression from countless rafters, even if he endured the unimaginable pain of having flames circulate in his body in order to escape the current situation—
Karna would never be afraid and would never surrender to his enemies!
The flames swirled around the two of them. It was exactly the same as before. The flames could make everything invisible. However, it was not just that.
"—Grand Duke, I accept your head!"