Chapter 339: The Final Trial
Shirou knocked the god's avatar back into the gate of light. What met his eyes was a space of boundless white—the corridor of light that compresses time, through which one passes during spatial movement. Normally, passing through here would take mere seconds, yet once inside, it could feel infinitely long.
Seizing the momentum, Shirou threw a punch, only to be sent flying backward immediately afterward; he was quickly met with a counterattack from the god's avatar.
Shirou's chest caved in, and blood sprayed from his mouth, though it was quickly restored to a perfect state by the white light.
The avatar was also knocked off balance. Some parts of the white membrane covering the avatar's face and body shattered and fell away under Shirou's strikes, revealing Asian yellow skin and crimson short hair.
"It seems you are prepared?" The voice of the god's avatar echoed directly in Shirou's mind.
"Prepared? Ha! If you mean the resolve to fight, I've had that for a while now." Shirou glared at the avatar, taking a stance to resume the battle.
"No, I mean for what comes after," the avatar said, shaking his head.
"After?" Shirou frowned. Because this enemy was so powerful, he hadn't even figured out a way to win yet, let alone thought about what would follow.
The avatar said, "Our stubborn persistence has caused massive changes to the world. Now, whether we stop or make a change, it will bring about a tremendous impact. Defeating a god can no longer be described as a simple story of a hero defeating a villain. The real problem lies in the influence on the world after that 'villain' departs."
"Even so, as long as what you do hurts my family and companions in my world, I will never let you go, no matter what," Shirou declared.
The avatar continued to ask, "The God has evolved to be too pure, discarding too much; perhaps he truly is no longer fit to protect humanity. So, do you intend to take his place and manage the world he created?"
Shirou shook his head and spoke. "Not at all. How could I become anyone's ruler? I simply hope that everyone can find happiness, nothing more."
"Haha, quite a naive thought. But it really does sound like something a person who admires heroes would say."
Hearing Shirou's words, the God let out a hearty laugh. In the next moment, he shed the white light of divinity. No—at this moment, he should perhaps be called the Emiya Shirou of another world. He was a tall, robust young man. With crimson hair, a typical East Asian complexion,
and that familiar face; if Shirou had grown up successfully in his previous life to university graduation age, this was roughly what he would have looked like.
"As an avatar of the God, shouldn't you be identical to the deity? Why are you so full of humanity now?" Shirou asked, voicing the doubt in his heart.
The man explained, "No, we share the same origin, yet we are different. The divergence between worlds gave us different experiences, and thus, distinct personalities. These are engraved in the depths of our hearts; they cannot be forgotten simply because one wishes to. It's just that when we merged into one, a unified persona was generated for the sake of coordination. But when we manifest as separate units, our individual personalities still emerge. Therefore, even among us, there are those like you who wish to oppose the unified will."
"I see!" Shirou's eyes lit up. He felt he had found a crucial breakthrough.
"Anyway, let me first tell you about what happened during my life," the man said, looking at Shirou as he reminisced and began his story.
"In my life, the Projection magecraft had flaws regarding the gap between mana consumption and supply, as well as the inability to maintain objects without a continuous supply of mana. I once had the experience of projecting the Jeweled Sword for Tohsaka, and it was truly difficult back then. A design blueprint of a system completely different from standard magecraft could only barely be completed and projected with Illya's assistance.
However, precisely because of that, the experience left a deep impression on me. It inspired me during my later training as a magus. I found a way to compensate for the flaws of Projection magecraft. In the later years, I studied blacksmithing techniques for ironware, wanting to forge 'blanks' that were infinitely close to Noble Phantasms. If I used those as a base for Projection, I could save a massive amount of mana.
It turns out my affinity for 'sword forging' is quite high. I repeatedly tried to forge a single sword, and before I knew it, as long as I found suitable materials, I could create an imitation with power infinitely close to the real thing even without using magecraft."
"Do you know Senji Muramasa?" Shirou asked, looking at him.
"Ah, yes. There are indeed some similarities between me and that swordsmith. However, he forged the Tsumukari Muramasa that severed karma, while in the end, nothing changed for me. Even though I forged divine artifacts, my world was still destined for destruction. So, I chose to merge with the 'me' of other worlds and borrow the power of the God. I just didn't expect it to end up like this." The man spoke with great emotion as he recalled the past.
"So, the God's desire to strip the gods of their power and eliminate 'Mystery'—is that not an action based on everyone's collective wish?" Shirou asked in return.
"It is... but none of us have the power to resist the main body, except for a special case like you." The man gazed at Shirou and continued, "Among all us avatars, you are perhaps the
most different. Compared to us, the life you've lived in this world has been far less cruel. You grew up smoothly to this age under the protection of family. You have friends by your side who are worth trusting and who are willing to understand you. Therefore, your desire to live is much stronger than ours."
"Mhm. The Counter Force once said I was an accident created inadvertently by the God's longing for happiness," Shirou nodded.
The man said, "You are the only one who can resist the main body. We avatars were generated under the control of the God on the snowy mountain, so while we have our own consciousness, we have no way to resist. You are the only individual created while he was unconscious; therefore, you escaped his control.
I only wanted to save the person in front of me, yet I never expected that I might eventually lead to the destruction of the world because of my actions. Being unable to do anything, I am nothing but a burden here. I leave the rest to you."
The man smiled self-deprecatingly and then—grasped Shirou's hand. His entire body emitted a brilliant white light, and shimmering, multicolored specks of light began to drift upward.
"Wait! What do you mean by this?" Shirou asked in astonishment.
'Since you want to resist, let me help you. I give this power to you!'
Shirou's eyes widened as he watched the god's avatar before him gradually dissolve into white specks of light. They condensed into a pure white Yin-Yang fish that swam before Shirou, lightly touching his forehead. Like a raindrop falling on a lake, it created ripples and dove right in. Instantly, blood surged through his veins, and his nervous system was stimulated as if an electric shock had passed through his entire body.
Normally, even if a god's avatar encountered a powerful existence and was destroyed, the power would be reclaimed by the white God at the command center, as this was already a type of concept.
The gloomy space turned into a solid, pure white, with crystalline specks of light drifting through the air.
'Remember, we possess the power of creation. The strength of that creation depends more on your ability to conceive and visualize; it is far freer than Projection.'
Those were the man's final words to reach Shirou's ears.
The man's words echoed in Shirou's mind, leaving him with complex feelings. Someone he had thought was an enemy had now entrusted their convictions to him.
"Clap, clap, clap!" A slow, rhythmic clapping sounded. The Witch of the Dense Forest had appeared there at some unknown time, speaking in her shrill voice.
"Congratulations, Emiya Shirou. You have passed the second world—a world that was supposed to be ruled by the terror of gods. I didn't expect such an accident to occur." At this point, the Witch bit her thumb nail. After a moment, she quickly adjusted her emotions and looked at Shirou with a smile.
"But it doesn't matter. You still need to complete one final task. As long as you can pass my trial, then according to our agreement, I will no longer stop you."
"No, there is no 'final'!" Shirou waved his hand, and a white ring of light erupted from his palm. The Witch was instantly and tightly surrounded by various types of Noble Phantasms. At this moment, the Witch was like a prisoner in a sealed cage, or an Iron Maiden with only her face exposed. If she dared to move even a centimeter, she would be sliced bloody by the blades.
"Oho, it seems my previous estimation..." The Witch looked at the weapons surrounding her. They were no longer just white light, but possessed their own distinct colors. This was a new skill Shirou had developed himself, unique to this place.
Up until now, he had always stood in a position of relying on the white God's power. But now, everything was different. His identity was no longer that of a god's avatar, nor was he merely the God's longing for a happy life.
This time, the boy made his own choice: to become an enemy standing against the God!
Shirou had obtained the energy transferred to him by that god's avatar. This wasn't as simple as adding +1 to his internal divine power; rather, he had found the door to mastering all the powers of the Creator God.
The experiences possessed by an avatar who had gone through far more than Shirou were absorbed by him like a sudden enlightenment. Because they were essentially the same person, the process proceeded very smoothly.
Scenes of everything this avatar had experienced flashed through Shirou's mind: transferring humans destined for disaster to another world, or bringing about an Evil of Humanity to destroy a region, or rescuing a certain purple-haired girl from the white space and bringing her to the snowy mountain...
Shirou understood many things, and he understood that his opponent was not the Witch here, but the most distant yet most closely related existence.
At the summit of the snowy mountain, the white God shifted his head, moving his gaze. His eyes looked toward this space—the world where Shirou was.
At that moment, Shirou involuntarily raised his head and widened his eyes, looking forward. As if standing before a mirror, he silently locked eyes with the main body of the white God in the other space-time.
When he had used his divine power in the previous world, Shirou had already made the decision to settle things with the white God. He believed the white "self" on the other side knew this as well; this was a battle of oneself against oneself.
"But an agreement is an agreement. Even if you kill me, it won't change the fact that you must complete the trials in the three small worlds. Although you consider this my curse, it is actually a covenant," the Witch of the Dense Forest said.
Shirou asked coldly, "Witch, you keep trying to stop me from seeing that God. What exactly is your purpose?"
The Witch said:
"Regarding the future, the fact that 'Mystery' will disappear cannot be changed. Even if all the witches were gathered, they would understand it cannot be altered. We only seek for the end to be a bit more beautiful.
Otherwise, watching the magecraft we constructed rot away bit by bit would be like letting a woman face a mirror and witness her own progression from youth to old age—watching herself age little by little, her face covered in wrinkles that cannot be smoothed. How cruel and terrifying.
For us witches who have lived long enough, this is the one thing we cannot compromise on. If we cannot change it, then we will destroy everything cleanly. If we are to be tied to the cross, then the fire must burn bright, burning everything until not even ash remains. There should be no screams, and no scorched corpses should be left behind.
Since it is the God's decree, how can it be acceptable if everything is not resolved thoroughly!"
"Immortality is a delusion. Even if the Third Magic is completed, it cannot be said to be absolute eternal existence," Shirou shook his head.
"Indeed. That God probably thinks so too, and he intends to lay these realities bare before all living beings. Life's equality will be realized for all creatures without exception. At the same time, he will complete the simplest and most direct funeral for us, without showing any unseemliness or leaving any trace. So, I choose to help him and contribute my meager strength," the Witch giggled.
"Then why did you say you were helping me now?" Shirou asked, looking at the Witch.
"Because that is part of the plan! No, and because your recent performance proves my idea wasn't wrong. Yes, Emiya Shirou, you will be the one to mark the end of everything." The Witch of the Dense Forest revealed a manic side, laughing as she spoke. "That God is ready to clean up everything in the world, and by then, all worlds will return to the mundane. You cannot distance yourself from this, after all, you are essentially the same person! Shouldn't you stand up and clean up your own mess?"
The Witch whispered the method she knew into Shirou's ear...
Several hours passed after that. Shirou passed through the gate of light and arrived at the world of the final trial.
Inside a mansion in the territory of the Tokugawa family, within the Honda clan that had served the Tokugawa for generations, a petite young girl was alone in the martial arts training ground. She was working hard to thrust her spear, sweat drenching her hair. Yet her eyes lacked confidence; she looked less like a valiant warrior and more like someone suffering from a lack of self-esteem.
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