The chariot Noble Phantasm "Hecatic Wheel" and "King of Execution" are both B-rank Noble Phantasms. The latter focuses on quantity and attack range, while the former has the advantages of flight and high speed, which is precisely where Hatres's confidence lies.
Flight magecraft is considered high-level magecraft, and high-speed flight is even more challenging. Moreover, given the unfavorable environment where the Great Source restriction hasn't been fully lifted, even Lorelei can't achieve such a feat.
However, Lorelei wasn't in a hurry and calmly said:
"There are not only magi here but also beings that don't rely on the Great Source. How much longer can you hold out without being able to replenish your mana?"
"No need to worry, Lord Barthomeloi. Because I lost my heart, my connection to the Great Source is even tighter than you think. The moment the Einnashe disappears, I can replenish my mana. The time you take to divide the spoils will be enough for me to recover all my mana."
Heartless waved his hand, signaling his shadow servant to stop ascending.
"As for beings who don't rely on the Great Source, like the True Ancestor and the Knight — it seems the True Ancestor has no intention of meddling in human conflicts, and the Knight has just gone through a major battle. If you can still catch us under such circumstances, I'll have nothing to say. Making this choice itself was a gamble, and I'll be more cautious in the future. Knight, it would help if you also learned your lesson and don't give the enemy time to recover. So, with that—"
"Wait a minute! You haven't returned the relic you stole!"
Waver suddenly shouted. This was his main goal for boarding the train. Due to the continuous battles earlier, he hadn't had a chance to ask for it, but now he finally found the opportunity.
"Oh, I see. Well, since it's useless to me now that the summoning is over."
Heartless took out an ancient piece of cloth. As he released it, the cloth floated with the wind toward Waver, landing in his hand.
After confirming the relic was back in his possession, Waver pursed his lips, took out a handkerchief, carefully wrapped the cloth, and put it back in his pocket.
Heartless, on the other hand, waved towards the ground and raised his voice slightly: "This time, I'm going to escape. Goodbye—"
Before he could finish, he was interrupted again, this time by Shinji.
"There won't be a next time—"
At the same time, a snap of fingers echoed.
The shadow servant beside Hearless seemed to sense something and lunged towards Heartless' left hand. Unfortunately, due to severe injuries, her movements were far less agile than before, and she couldn't reach in time. She could only watch as Heartless' still-raised left hand emitted a golden lightning bolt that instantly exploded, blowing off his left hand along with a significant portion of his arm.
Shinji took a few steps forward, catching the severed hand before it hit the ground, a smug smile curling at the corners of his mouth.
"—because you can't escape at all."
"You—"
Heartless' face turned pale, whether from the massive blood loss or the psychological shock of his plan failing at the last moment.
The shadow servant pressing down on him acted decisively, grabbing the reins as quickly as possible and unleashing the true name of the Noble Phantasm!
"Ride, Hecatic Wheel!"
The chariot suddenly erupted with powerful magical energy, its intense brilliance so overwhelming that it seemed ready to tear apart the people below and the earth itself.
At the center of it all was Shinji, the young man who had ruined Hatres's escape plan.
With the chariot bearing down on him, Shinji remained unafraid, calling out a name in a calm tone.
"Arcueid!"
"Oh!"
The last True Ancestor, the only living god, leaped high and charged head-on toward the descending chariot.
The chariot's charge was ferocious, but compared to the princess in her formal dress, who was unarmed and frail, it seemed unstoppable.
Yet the result of the collision was the opposite of what one might expect. The brilliance that could tear the earth apart faltered just before it reached the ground. The two bone dragons pulling the chariot had their wings and spines snapped by Arcueid with a single swipe each.
Deprived of its propulsion, the chariot's momentum naturally diminished, and it was then yanked by its harness and tossed several dozen meters away onto a barren field.
As a price for taking the attack head-on, Arcueid also endured a massive shockwave and over ten lightning strikes. However, such injuries were negligible to her; within a few breaths, she had fully recovered, and even the pure white princess gown she wore was restored by Marble Phantasm.
Shinji, holding the still-bleeding severed hand, walked to the edge of the crater formed by the chariot's crash, smiling as he said:
"Sorry to disappoint you, but of course I understand the principle of making sure to defeat the enemy. The reason I gave you time to recover was to make you lower your guard. See, you fell for it."
"Cough... How did you—"
Having lost his left hand and fallen from a great height, Heartless, now only human, was gravely injured. Despite this, the first thing he did after regaining mobility was to stare at his severed hand, as if he couldn't rest until he figured out what had happened.
Shinji didn't rush to answer. He first summoned four stakes to impale Heartless' legs and shoulders before speaking.
"I'm the kind of person who likes to keep a backup plan. I always leave a backdoor in the tools I create. If I issue the command, they turn into bombs. The explosions aren't powerful, but in a critical moment, they can be deadly, right?"
"Tools... Could it be—" Heartless' eyes widened in realization.
"Yes, the Mystic Codes Waver gave you were made by me. In other words, the moment you chose to masquerade as Caules, and the moment I appeared before you, your fate was sealed."
The backup plan had been in place long before, back when Shinji left London. The many pieces of equipment he prepared for Waver were not only to ensure his friend's safety but also part of his scheme against Heartless.
If you're going to put on a play, you have to commit fully. Since Heartless intended to impersonate Caules, he had no choice but to follow his teacher's advice. The teacher said this journey was dangerous and prepared some equipment, so as a student, Heartless naturally had to accept it. In the end, Heartless had unknowingly strapped a bomb to himself — it was that simple.
"Cough, cough! You even managed to deceive my eyes. Impressive, truly impressive—" Heartless coughed up blood but sincerely praised Shinji.
"That's the mark of a professional bomber," Shinji chuckled.
There are three levels to being a bomber. Using bombs made by others is amateurish, making your bombs is standard, but turning non-bomb items into bombs is the mark of a professional.
Shinji had now stepped into the third level. During the creation of the equipment, he hadn't tampered with anything. Whether it was Caules, Waver, or even Gray's equipment, everything functioned as expected; otherwise, it wouldn't have fooled a master magus like Heartless.
The issue lay in the concept attached to the mystic code — magic and belief extracted from a Noble Phantasm. The famous explosive technique Broken Phantasm was used to turn this power into explosives.
Normally, it posed no threat, but when needed, it could be turned into a bomb at any time. That's the terror of a professional bomber — and this was just the beginning. When Shinji could break free from his imagination and turn all fantasies into bombs, he would have truly mastered the art of bombing.
As for reaching the pinnacle, that wouldn't just be about fantasies; it would be about turning everything into explosives — that would be the true essence of the bomber's path, the ultimate form of artistry!