Rise of Empires in the Multiverse

Snapped!The self-disciplined intelligent magic dress spewed out in an instant, and then a flower of mercury bloomed in it.Ding!The flattened bullet fell to the sand with a tiny thud.

"Be careful, Sola!" With a loud shout, Kenneth poured magic power into the Moon Spirit Essence, and completely activated the magic command in it. Before Sola could react, he was pulled by the tentacles protruding from the Moon Spirit Essence The waist was directly pulled into the protection circle.

At the same time, there was another muffled gunshot, but the bullet had already arrived. Kenneth could only feel that the magic dress was hit again, as if the nature of the non-Newtonian fluid made the moon spirit marrow fluid contact with it. The kinetic energy of the bullet was absorbed immediately, and a silver flower bloomed on the mercury-built wall again.

"Huh! The first layer of restraint is released, and the fourth, seventh, and No.14 orders of the law are implemented." With a cold snort, Kenneth released the orders in the magic dress he had already entered, and gave most of the power to Self-disciplined intelligence in a magic dress.

And Kenneth only manipulates the mercury to form a thin layer of mercury that is only a few microns in front of him, completely covering the scenery around him. The ductility and fluidity of mercury are very good. Milliliters of mercury can cover everything within a range of tens of meters. Although there is not much protection, Emiya Kiritsugu has no way to aim and snipe under such circumstances. The mercury completely reflects all the light back.

Kenneth, on the other hand, prepared other magic tricks, one after another magic bullets or familiars quickly emerged from the mercury. Although due to the distance, it was impossible to hit Emiya Kiritsugu, but it was still very troublesome.

Emiya Kiritsugu put away the sniper rifle, and turned to pick up the submachine gun, ready to get close to force the opponent to use other means, to see if the opponent still has cards.

There was a powerful impact, the sword and the gun were intertwined and struck each other, sparks exploded in mid-air like fireworks, and white clouds formed a circle in the collision between the two and scattered out.

"You can push me to this point, you are worthy of being the King of Knights. But..." Karna ignored the Wind King's hammer released from the tip of the sword, pierced his shoulder, and grabbed the opponent tightly to attack With the exposed flaws, he shot backhand, following the strength of the opponent's sword, reversed the handle of the gun and knocked the opponent away heavily.

The King of Knights held his stomach, stood up with difficulty, and looked at the opponent panting. Just now, she rushed to attack in anger. Although she hurt the opponent, she also suffered a heavy blow from the opponent. If she hadn't retrieved it now With previous strength, this human body might not be able to bear such injuries and die.

"Karna!" With a loud roar, Arturia raised her sword again, and the wind of the sword shattered the sand dunes in front of her, and directly slashed at Karna's figure.

"You are too lonely! You put yourself above the saint from the very beginning. Do you understand people's hearts too much? Or do you look down on people's hearts too much?" Karna's voice was not loud, but it was heard directly in the ears of the King of Knights. Afterwards, Karna What flowed from the wound on Erna's shoulder was not blood, but streams of flames, and then the wound that spewed out flames began to shrink rapidly, and within a second or two, it completely returned to its original shape, as if it hadn't been injured at all.

The golden sharpshooter swept across easily, and a strong storm swept between the two, but Karna seemed to be at his leisure, and didn't pay attention to her at all. There was no fluctuation in his eyes, and he continued: "I can feel it, Are you angry? Resentful? Regretful? Painful? But you don't have to!"

"You...how can you...understand...my feelings!" Roaring, accompanied by huge power, another brilliant and brilliant king sword joined the battle group, and the two swords shot together, sparking out a brilliant The sparks from the explosion randomly scattered the sand and rocks on the ground, forming ravines of tens of meters long.

Under the ravages of the two, the earth was completely blown away to expose the mantle rocks. The flames caused by Karna's magic power baked the earth into glass-like crystals, but the magic power of the Knight King and the wind king's enchantment cut it again. Crushed into particles smaller than sand.

"Of course I understand! You don't resent others, you just resent yourself and regret the decisions you made in the past, so you want to make amends, you want to save them, so you come, you pick up the sword, you and I fight, just It's all for the possibility of redeeming the regret!" Karna saw through the wounded heart of the King of Knights, and mercilessly tore open the scars in her heart.

"What do you know!?" The King of Knights slashed with two swords, one high and one low, faintly changing attack and defense alternately, as if it was a very practical and rigorous swordsmanship on the battlefield, the sword that promised victory and the brilliant king's sword slashed at the same time Then, the release of magic power and the enhancement brought by the blood of the red dragon made the little girl Arturia transform into a red dragon as if she really was, crushing Karna down.

"That's why I said that you are too lonely! King of Knights!" Karna's eyes suddenly widened, Brahma!Cover the earth!The Noble Phantasm Eye Cannon version directly liberated the real name, and the crimson Lieyang laser cannon was released from Karna's eyes, directly brushing the cheek of the King of Knights who was close at hand, leaving a scorched black scar.

This attack was really beyond the expectations of the King of Knights. If his intuition had not reached the state of being able to know without hearing or seeing, and he turned his head at the moment the eye cannon was fired, I am afraid that now only A corpse with a brain pierced through it.

But even so, the next moment, the Noble Phantasm was liberated again, "O Sun Wheel! Turn into armor!" The golden armor that was integrated with the body was completely liberated, and the crimson flame gushed out, turning it into a small sun, and the magic power was released Once again, the original blazing flame was expanded several times, and Artoria was about to be wrapped in it. The temperature was close to the sun, and even Artoria couldn't bear it. Under the cover of the wind king barrier, she retreated quickly.

But at the moment when Artoria was forced to retreat, the golden gun in Karna's hand was covered by flames, and all the surrounding flames were covered by the golden gun.It is its treasure "Brahma! Cover the earth!" It is not a magically modified version of the eye cannon killing people, but a powerful move that truly liberates the real name of the treasure and fully exerts the power of the treasure.

At this moment, Artoria regretted it. Obviously, the other party gave her a dilemma, whether to be burned to death at close range, or to be stabbed to death by a musket after retreating. Obviously, she chose a very bad result. .

"EXcalibur! Clarent!" The two holy swords once again radiated powerful magic power, and the golden and silver brilliance shone, resonating with each other to form a more terrifying burst of light.

The extremely powerful flames of the flame gun bearer fell down, just like the sun falling, or a meteorite wrapped in flames falling. The brilliance of the two holy swords intertwined into a double helix of light, directly resisting the falling flames, And under the radiance of the holy sword, they were completely deadlocked for several seconds, and then under the power of the two holy swords, the flames outside the holy gun were offset.

"King of Knights, you are really a child who can't grow up. Do you treat your country as a game? If you lose, you won't admit defeat and want to start over again? Or do you want to play again?" Karna stretched out his hand casually, The spear crossed a golden line and returned directly to his palm, shaking his head, very dissatisfied with the King of Knights.

"What did you say?" Artoria's body felt empty for a while, and the huge mana consumption, even in the strengthened state now, was too much to bear, so she could only take a few breaths.

Seeing Artoria like this, Karna could only shake his head helplessly, "I am the son of the sun god, known as the "Hero of Charity", so I am very similar to you, and I understand people's hearts and you too. heart of.

I am unwilling to refuse other people's requests because of pity, but you have closed your heart because of your aloofness, and you can't see clearly what is really precious to you! "

Chapter 290: The End of Pure White

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Artoria looked at Karna angrily, "I didn't come here for myself at all, I am..."

"Yes, you are for others, but do you really lower your head and really listen to their thoughts? Instead of going your own way and hoping that you can redeem the regrets of the past!" Karna spoke, but Artoria was silent go down.

"That Berserker, is your old friend? Did he ask for your redemption before he died?" Karna's words suddenly shocked Artoria. Buried in the soil like an ostrich, something that cannot be seen clearly appeared in her mind at this moment.

From the depths of this land, from the long river of history, from the depths of the soul around the round table, none of the voices are seeking salvation, and none of them are asking for change. The desire and hope to fight as the Knights of the Round Table.

"So...so, I've never been alone...have we been together all this time? It's just because I didn't listen to your voices!" Artoria listened again deep in her heart That call, and it's getting clearer and clearer.

"My king, please call me!"

"My king, I, Galahad, will always wait for you!"

"My lord! Gao Wen once again asks for your response." …

"It turns out that what I want is never to make them happy like self-satisfaction, but to be with them, fight side by side, follow our will, until death, this is what I want!"

Tears dripped down, and Arturia finally understood what she had been avoiding all this time, because she didn't dare to face failure at all?Are you afraid to face your incompetence?Dare to admit the reality?The comrades and friends who have been refusing to care about themselves and accompany themselves to the end, isn't this a self-admiration that wants to be self-satisfied?

"I was wrong, I should have been with you a long time ago, face the future together, fight side by side, even if it is the abyss of despair, don't deny our past feelings and experiences. This is my King of Britain, Altoli Wearing the crown, Ya should bear everything." Artoria's tears kept dripping on the blue battle armor scorched by the flames on her body, but there was a calm smile of relief on the corner of her mouth.

"Understood?" Karna did not take the opportunity to attack. This person in front of him is a good opponent, but also a girl who is confused or has gone on the wrong path. She is a dead person, a remnant of the past in history, and even Karna It is very clear that I am more engraved on the root, a negligible point in the Akasha record, if it is not for this Holy Grail War that copied my own spirit from the Hall of Valor, so far I am only a little bit in the process of the world. Insignificant cogs.

It is only with the help of this Holy Grail War that the ego is copied from the operation of the world and the spiritual body is able to have an independent will, but the other party is different. The King of Knights still has a trace of vitality in his spiritual will, and even the way of summoning this time is different from pure heroic servants like them, with a trace of flesh, maybe it can be rescued.

This is also the reason why Karna actively induces and preaches the opponent. Of course, if he really wants to fight, Karna will never hold back. This is not only because of his own personality, but also because of his respect for the opponent.

"Huh!? This is..." At this moment, Karna suddenly discovered that some wonderful changes had taken place in Arturia before him.

The blue battle armor on Artoria's body was like a faded shirt, slowly fading away from its original color, revealing a pure white background instead. Unprecedented brilliance, not so dazzling, but unprecedented softness and warmth.

One of the two holy swords represents the invincible soldier of King Arthur, while the other represents the succession of his royal power. One symbolizes victory and the other represents royal power. When they were used at the same time, Artorie Ya felt the connection between the two swords, but never before, she saw the essence of the two holy swords.

"It turns out that you have always been by my side, but I abandoned you and didn't really reflect on you!" Artoria sighed, as if she understood something, the two holy swords collided with each other suddenly without a sound , the two holy swords completely disintegrated, and what appeared in Artoria's hand was a brand new gorgeous rapier. The slender blade was like an ornament, with a green streamer flowing, and the sword was carved With natural elf writing, the hilt and jaw are slender and elegant.

The whole sword looks more like a beautiful decoration than a sword. The slender blade is not suitable for use on the battlefield at all, but more of a symbolic meaning.This is exactly the proof of the kingship that Artoria became the king of Britain, the sword in the stone, Calibur!

With the appearance of this long sword, a holy aura swept across the world, and the battle armor on Artoria's body was also changed, turning into a pure white battle armor, and the whole person looked as holy as a saint Flawless and perfect, it seems like an inhuman god.

"Finally, have you returned to the original posture?" Karna's eyes were full of surprise, seeing the holy sword appearing in Artoria's hand, even changing the armor did not make Karna anything special, but The next changes around Artoria surprised him. Under Arturia's feet, the ground that was almost reddened by the flames released by her magic power was completely replaced by another strange land, a little bit of green. The plants broke through the ground and spread to the distance. The blue lake and green mountains look like a peaceful homeland.

The sound of rumbling horseshoes, accompanied by the footsteps of countless people, appeared behind Artoria, and banners with abstract red dragons carved on the white bottom appeared among the cavalry.

"That's..." Karna's A-level divinity gave him a different vision, and he easily saw through the real situation of Arturia today, "It turns out that it is the power of faith. Is it an enchantment built by faith?"

That's right, all these changes were brought about by the Sword in the Stone. As the Sword of the King, it is only a B-level Noble Phantasm in FGO, and its power is not even comparable to the victory of the oath. As a weapon, it is only a one-time weapon. Yes, even many other lesser-known treasures are better than it, how can this be worthy of its reputation in the history of human mythology?Furthermore, as the sword for choosing kings, it is equivalent to the holy sword that suppresses national destiny to a certain extent. If it is equivalent to the Xuanyuan sword in the hands of the Chinese ancestor Huangdi in China, or the three artifacts of Dongying, it can be regarded as American. Falling Cherry Axe... Ahem, there seems to be some problems with the last one, but it doesn't matter.

In short, the sword in the stone is really in the hands of King Arthur. As a king-chosen sword, it may not be suitable for destruction, but at this moment in the hands of King Arthur who has let go of his heart, it is really the most top-notch treasure. Its role is only one, to connect The oath that runs through ancient and modern times, when the king of knights draws his sword, swears before the sword, condenses countless heroes, braves, knights, and warriors, and lays the foundation stone for the entire European cultural and moral chivalry spirit.

Under such power, Artoria easily used the sword in the stone to transform the power of faith and contract accumulated in the spirit of chivalry for thousands of years into her own power, and she herself became the embodiment of the spirit of chivalry in this world. The avatar becomes a real beacon, and the surrounding terrain is completely transformed by the power of dissipated belief in the realm of the gods.

If in the DND world, Artoria could be called a saint after the descending of the gods, a divine avatar who manifested on the ground, which represents the most just chivalry, and has achieved the most cornerstone part of the entire human history and civilization.

"My noble warriors, let us take an oath together. We will fight only for justice and justice, never for wealth, and never for selfish reasons. We will help all those in need, and we will Help each other. We are to be gentle with the weak, but punish the wicked severely."

Arturia stood with her sword in her hand, and recited loudly the declaration she made when she established the Knights of the Round Table. Following her words, the cavalry and soldiers behind her also shouted loudly, forming a sound that shook the world.

"Knights of the Round Table, see Your Majesty."

"Knights of Fiona, met King Arthur."  …

Not only these knight orders, but also all kinds of knights, whether they are famous or not, some are great heroes who moved history, while others are just unknown knights who died early on the road of knighthood, but no matter whether they made famous or not The merits of history, whether there is much power, whether people are in a historical region, but as long as they abide by the spirit of chivalry and conform to the specifications of the knight declaration, at this moment, the sword in the stone will pass the contract of the knight declaration, from history summoned.

This is the true power of the sword in the stone. In the hands of King Arthur, the sword in the stone, which was originally more symbolic than practical, will become the strongest power far surpassing any treasure.

"Using the more to bully the less is not in line with the spirit of chivalry!" Karna said with a smile on his face, as if he was very happy to see the King of Knights like this, and said with a rare hint of ridicule.

"Ha, don't get me wrong, we are only here by invitation. We don't want to participate in the battle between you and the King of Knights. It's just that a strong man like you doesn't mind accepting our challenge after the battle with the King of Knights is over. Right?" A handsome man with blond hair and shoulders, wearing a battle armor and riding a war horse, stepped forward and said solemnly.

"You are....."

"I am the leader of the Knights of Fiona, Finn McCool, this is our first meeting." Finn McCool replied with a slight smile.

Karna nodded, then looked at the knight king who was chatting with his knight subordinates, and pointed his spear at the knight king in front of him. Silently, the fighting and killing intent reminded the knight king that there is enough time to complete the previous decisive battle Bar.

"If you want to hurt my king, step on me first." Knight Gawain in silver armor stepped out and stood in front of the King of Knights.

"That's right, don't even think about hurting my king."

"Go away, I'm the only one who can hurt my father!"

"..." Standing silently at the forefront, Lancelot once again fought for his king.

"Back off!" But at this moment, Artoria suddenly shouted back the others, stepped forward, and said to her comrades: "It's great to see you, but this battle, It was a fair and equal battle between me and him, and I have no regrets at all to see you again.

I no longer have any meaning to win this battle, but when I entered this world, I have already sworn victory with my master, so this battle is only my own business, please stay behind Do you support me? "The King of Knights smiled gently and said to the others. Those eyes and smiles were extremely pure yet extremely calm, but there was a kind of gentleness that seemed to embrace everything.

"king......"

"Father...you will definitely win!" Moremod in the bull head armor nodded first.

"Yes, I will definitely win! Thank you, my child!" Artoria gently reached out to touch Moremod, and Moremod's mask faded off, allowing Arturia to touch her The cheek, the gentle touch, is an unprecedented emotion, pouring into Moremode's heart.

"I'm sorry, child, if I could understand you earlier and communicate with you more, maybe you would be a better king than me..." Artoria didn't need to say anymore, because of her apology and heart, Already at this moment, Moremod knew through the connection of the heart that silent tears dripped from the other party's face, moistening her cheeks and her palms.

"No...it doesn't matter...I never want to be king, I just want you...to admit that I'm your child, that's enough...enough...boo ......" At this moment, the rebellious knight finally cried like a child in front of her father.

Arturia got up, walked past Lancelot, and smiled slightly, "I never blamed you, and since we are all in the past tense, there is no need to resent, turn all this into a myth, let Future generations will judge our merits and demerits, Sir Lancelot, you are right! I am also right!"

"King..." The sobbing sound made this perfect knight speechless, shed tears, looked at King Arthur's smile in front of him, seemed to understand something, nodded, and was completely relieved in his heart.

"The chat is over? Then let's make the last move to decide the outcome!" Karna sighed, his excellent eyesight had already allowed him to see that his master was in a hard fight, and the spear in his hand was burning with scorching flames, and then burned to the end. The god-made armor that was originally integrated with the body disintegrated and merged into the spear, triggering unprecedented power of flames, and pure white brilliance bloomed from the extremely concentrated flames.

In the legend of "Mahabharata", Indra, the god of thunder, gave Karna a sharp spear that even the gods could not master. It is the only one that can penetrate the world. .

Its name is:

"Comprehend the mercy of the king of the gods."

"Indra, take a good look at it."

"Extinction, that is, a stab here."

"Burn it all - 'O sun, submit to death (Vasa-vi shakti)'!!"

"Calibur!"

I have a headache for a day, so I can't update more!

Chapter 290: The End of Pure White

Aiming at the only erasing god-killing spear, a blazing white beam of light crashed down from the center of the crimson fire cloud vortex in the sky, and the air and dust along the way were completely wiped out under this white light.

The light of the sword in the stone looked so small under this white light, but it was like a reef in the raging sea. With the roar of King Arthur, the sacred light recoiled, forming a huge shock layer in mid-air that spread for several kilometers .

The rumbling explosion formed a tumbling crimson fire cloud, and the forces of the two sides formed a stalemate in midair, but if you look closely, you can find that in the shock wave that spreads like a fire cloud formed by the collision of the two forces, the white light gun from the sky , constantly suppressing the brilliance of the sword in the stone, continuously suppressing the blazing flame, and the escaping power of the gun of light, making the knight king's blond hair burnt yellow and dry under this blazing heat.

And the power of Karna's Noble Phantasm is not only explosive enough, but also has a strong endurance. The brilliance of the explosion is gradually suppressed. Even if the power of the sword in the stone is enough, facing this god-killing spear is enough to wipe out the individual's body. The powerful force, at this moment, is completely unstoppable.

"My king!"......

The cries of the people behind him gradually became inaudible, King Arthur tried his best to release the power, and finally the power of the sword in the stone was still directly suppressed by Karna's treasure.

Boom, a crimson mushroom cloud directly swept across the entire world, like a huge nuclear bomb erupting. The crimson shock wave not only made the people present, but even Kenneth, Emiya Kiritsugu, and Sora in the distance, see Seeing such a scene, they looked at each other, immediately dropped the firearms and magic dresses in their hands, and crawled to the back of the dune, relying on their respective abilities, to drill a hole and get in.

The shock wave that followed swept across the sand dune for several meters, until Emiya Kiritsugu and Kenneth were exposed, exposing their burned skin.

"Cough, cough, bastard, Karna, that bastard, actually...cough, cough..." Kenneth withdrew the protective cover of the moon spirit marrow liquid outside his body, took a mouthful of dry air, I felt a burning pain in my throat as if it was being burned by a flame.

Compared to him, Emiya Kiritsugu on the opposite side was even worse. The nature of the magic dress was different, making Emiya Kiritsugu almost a severely burned corpse at this time, with almost a layer of skin peeled off, and his hair was even worse. It turned into coke directly, and when the scorching wind blew, the hair turned into black ash and disappeared without a trace.

"Hahaha! It seems that Karna won this time. I am the winner of the Holy Grail War." Kenneth suddenly showed a smile on his face, because the news from the command spell has confirmed that Karna Erna wiped out the opponent with the Noble Phantasm, and he won.

"The only one left is you!" Kenneth looked at Emiya Kiritsugu who was lying on the ground beside him, "You scum who insults the pride of magicians, but at the end of your life, you are fortunate enough to let a It would be your honor to add a little bit of glory to the title of true magician."

Facing this opponent with a very troublesome speed, even though the opponent is only a magician, it is enough for him to really show his strength, and the Yueling marrow liquid, which was nearly half evaporated by the shock wave, burst out.

"Instruction number three, cut!" The Yueling marrow liquid formed a stream of slender light like a whip, and turned into countless afterimages, tearing and cutting everything in front of me.

Just at this moment of life and death, on Emiya Kiritsugu's body like a dead body, streaks of white light let Emiya Kiritsugu's scorched dead skin grow out pieces of white and tender skin.

"Inherent time control, quadruple speed!"

The Moon Spirit Essence cut and shredded the ground, and Emiya Kiritsugu had long since disappeared. Then the sound of the submachine gun sounded again, and Kenneth looked ugly. The only remaining Moon Spirit Essence stood in front of him, but it made him feel It's a little hard.

Because it didn't just shoot him, more bullets were aimed at Sola, which restrained Kenneth's greatest energy.But Emiya Kiritsugu's expression was unprecedentedly calm. Under the milky white brilliance, his scorched black dead skin quickly fell off, and the skin on his body grew again. At this moment, half of Emiya Kiritsugu's face was recovering at a speed visible to the naked eye. Unprecedented calm, and the odds of winning!

"The magic dress is liquid mercury, showing defense, attack, detection, self-discipline response, the perception range is up to ten meters, the speed is close to the speed of sound, the strength is higher than ordinary steel, and it is close to special alloys, but the magical structure has heat, airflow , sound, vibration and other perception methods. Moreover, its magic power supply is provided by itself.” In his mind, the data collected so far was quickly turned, Emiya Kiritsugu calmly fired with a submachine gun, and the other hand from his arms Take out the trump card that has always been his, the magic dress that belongs to him, the biggest reliance on the origin of his title of magician killer, the "Thompson Contender" magic gun.

A submachine gun in one hand kept firing, even in this situation, Emiya Kiritsugu remained as calm as a machine, firing with one hand to suppress the opponent, counting the number of bullets in his heart, the other hand was extremely calm, opened the magic dress, confirmed The bullet was loaded, the firearm was thrown back to its original position with a click, and the safety trigger was released. At the moment when the last bullet of the submachine gun was fired, the last submachine gun was thrown away. The Thompson Contender was already in the right hand, aiming at the gun in the moon spirit marrow fluid. Kenneth.

A bullet was also the final fatal blow. When the Yueling marrow liquid hit Emiya Kiritsugu and carried its origin magic bullet based on his own ribs, the magic structure in the mercury was completely destroyed in an instant. It became the most common liquid, and the bullet hit Kenneth's shoulder without hindrance. At this moment, the nerves, muscles and even the magic circuit of the hit part were all destroyed, and then under the action of Emiya Kiritsugu's origin, , roughly connected together, and repaired into a group of irregular groups.

"This... ah..." The unprecedented pain caused all the magic power in Kenneth's magic circuit to run wild, causing thick veins to appear on his neck, forehead and even limbs, like a drowning victim. People strangled their own throats in pain, just asking for a little air to survive.

"Wow~!" Roaring in pain, Kenneth spurted out a puddle of blood, and the amount of bleeding was unusually large. After that, Kenneth, who suffered from the magic power, could only lie on the ground panting without breathing in, even using The power of the command spell is gone.

"It's over?" Emiya Kiritsugu immediately fired a shot, hitting Sora who was screaming at the side, fell into a pool of blood, and loaded the gun again. Now he didn't have many bullets on his body, so he could only rely on the few magic bullets of origin , One shot at a time, directly headshot Kenneth and Sola who were lying on the ground, showing the killer's style of killing if they can make shots without forcing them.

At the same time, Karna recalled the sharp spear, and the blow just now had completely pierced through the King of Knights, incinerated it, and wiped out its existence.In the huge storm, Karna suddenly felt that the magical link between himself and the Master was looming, as if it was about to be broken.

"Something went wrong!??" Karna's complexion changed, and the magic power released from his body formed flames that shot out from behind and rushed directly to the sky. Suddenly his movements stopped, his complexion became very ugly, and he stood in midair and looked The only remaining sword in the stone on the ground.