Chapter 248: Enuma Elish!!!!
In fact, due to regional differences and the loss or revision of details during the process of dissemination and inheritance, myths pointing to the same subject matter invariably derive into many different versions.
For instance, consider the ghost-god Ryomen Sukuna, who is truly extolled in Japanese mythology. Some stories regard him as a bloodthirsty and cruel, ferocious evil god; yet in stories from other regions, his image is that of a benevolent deity who protects the local land. If a ghost-god who is normally obscure can possess two diametrically opposed faces, one can imagine how many different stories a god in a widely circulated mythological system might be praised for.
This phenomenon is much like history passed down from ancient times—once the time elapsed is too great, the room for verification is completely lost, and the official history books left behind are not necessarily worthy of trust. After all, with so many changes in dynasties, who can guarantee that an accident wouldn't occur in every transmission, or that subsequent dynasties would faithfully preserve the history of the previous ones?
When it comes to stories passed down among the folk, the level of credibility is even harder to fathom. In ancient eras, the level of literacy and knowledge dissemination was worrisome; the vast majority of ordinary people could only rely on word of mouth to pass down ancient myths and stories. Under such a premise, the fact that many spiritual matters have endured to this day is already considered a miracle of civilization; how could one dare to hope for their authenticity or completeness?
One can see clues as to how things barely preserved through word of mouth are altered by the wash of time just by looking at how a rumor can be perfectly birthed in a mere few days.
If historical transmission guaranteed at the official level is like this, then mythological transmission—which is rarely formally recognized—is infinitely more complex in its chaos. Local legends, religious beliefs, ghost stories... with various factors combined, several faces of a single god or even a historical figure are likely to be widely acknowledged.
From the perspective of absolute truth, a single existence cannot possess several diametrically opposed faces, nor different experiences and stories. However, setting aside historical figures who truly existed, things like gods are often fictionalized, or rather, they come into being in accordance with people's faith... therefore, for them, every different legend is actually real.
Furthermore, from the perspective of Noble Phantasms, they are the crystallized results of all human fantasy; human fantasy is the source of Noble Phantasms. Even if a Noble Phantasm is not entirely a product of fantasy but is a real object, once it is elevated to the level of a Noble Phantasm, those widely spread legends and fantasies can similarly influence its essence, allowing it to truly possess the powers described in the legends.
For example, the Kanshou and Bakuya that Emiya uses most frequently: even though they possessed no special utility when they were first forged and were merely famous swords made of sturdy materials, after being baptized by legend and fantasy and elevated to the rank of Noble Phantasm, they immediately gained a high-specification exorcism ability. As long as the fantasy regarding "exorcism" is sufficiently ingrained in people's hearts, then regardless of which version of Kanshou and Bakuya it is—even if it is a pure replica—it will similarly possess that ability to a stronger or weaker degree.
Even beyond Noble Phantasms, Heroic Spirits themselves can receive the same blessing from legends and fantasies, gaining different traits and abilities across different legends. When a Heroic Spirit is summoned as a Servant in a [Holy Grail War] or other battles, the influence and blessing of these legends on their abilities are thoroughly revealed.
Take, for instance, the King who once dominated Romania—Vlad III. His fame in Romania can rival that of Heracles in Greece or King Arthur in England. Based on this extreme popularity, he possesses different identities in the eyes of different people. When this Grand Duke is summoned as a Lancer, he is a wise and powerful monarch. But when he is summoned as a Berserker, he manifests as the more widely known "Vampire Dracula," based on the descriptions in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.
It is worth mentioning that Vlad III himself actually loathes the image of "Vampire Dracula," as it is entirely a form of public opinion and contempt added by later generations. Yet, when he is truly summoned as Vampire Dracula, he—possessing all of Vlad III's memories and behavioral habits—still does not harbor self-loathing. Of course, his senses and cognition as Vlad III remain. If any Master truly dares to use this aspect to show contempt or insult, he would surely risk the destruction of his Saint Graph to drag his Master down with him.
Since Heroic Spirits possess many different facets and individuals, what about Noble Phantasms? It's not as if different forms of Servants use the exact same Noble Phantasms, right? For this reason, Noble Phantasms with similar forms and abilities that do not belong to the same individual also exist. Perhaps in the legends of one region, the "Sword of Rupture" is a miracle birthed by the planet, while in the legends of another region, it becomes something forged by human hands.
It is just like Gilgamesh's [Gate of Babylon]. While it indeed preserves all types of treasures and Noble Phantasms in the world, they are still slightly different from the Noble Phantasms held by Heroic Spirits. The former are more like things within a concept, while the latter are the forms those things take after being truly realized... their abilities and appearances are extremely similar and can be categorized as the same thing in a certain sense, but individually, they are two distinct entities.
In contrast to this is the [Unlimited Blade Works] mastered by Emiya. Since these identical yet different individuals truly exist, [Unlimited Blade Works] can faithfully record all of them within itself, becoming things that Emiya can project.
The prerequisite for [Unlimited Blade Works] to record and project a Noble Phantasm is that Emiya must have witnessed these things personally. This would be difficult for Emiya, but fortunately, after "Heroic Spirit EMIYA" merged and "installed" with Emiya, the stock of Noble Phantasms he possessed simultaneously became Emiya's. As an existence that has maintained human history for countless years, is there anything this [Guardian] has not witnessed? Even if there were a few Noble Phantasms that "Heroic Spirit EMIYA" had not seen, Emiya's mind still contained the memories of many "Shirou Emiyas," providing him with countless types of useful information.
Therefore, within the [Unlimited Blade Works] possessed by Emiya, there are actually stored other "models" similar to the "Sword of Rupture" but even more ancient. Their effects are similar, but the power of the latter is significantly weaker than the former, with only the mechanism of activation being the same. For this reason, Emiya did not choose to use these "old models"—which are relatively easy to project but fail to reach his expected power level—and instead risked attempting to project the true "Sword of Rupture."
The accumulation of the "Shirou Emiyas" successfully came to fruition in Emiya. If not for the old models serving as a reference, Emiya himself might not have been able to clarify the true operating mechanism of the "Sword of Rupture" in a short time to successfully project it into his hand.
At this moment, there was no longer any need to hold back destructive power.
Why is it said that the power of this "Sword of Rupture" rivals the Holy Sword Excalibur, or even completely surpasses the latter? The final reason is quite simple: the power of the Holy Sword ultimately depends on the quality of the user's magical energy. If the Holy Sword is likened to a bow with no upper limit to its power, then the quality of the user's magical energy is the external force used to pull the bowstring—the greater this force, the greater the power eventually released by the Holy Sword. The Holy Sword itself is merely an amplifier of power.
But by comparison, the Sword of Rupture is more like a destructive machine whose power is controlled by a switch. How strong its final power appears depends entirely on how much power the King of Heroes, as the user, wants to release. In other words, when that King of Heroes releases the power of the Noble Phantasm at full strength, he doesn't need to consume his own magical energy at all to bring the power to its maximum.
As the object of Heaven and Earth that split open the beginning of everything on this planet, the power of the Sword of Rupture does not originate from anyone; it is purely the terrifying power contained within the blade itself. In this sense, perhaps a Noble Phantasm like this, which doesn't require extra magical energy for release, is the weapon best suited for Emiya, whose total magical energy isn't particularly large. Even if the projection process is arduous, it isn't a step that must be performed during battle.
As for why a divine tool that could open the world in legend is weakened at this time to a degree that it can be used in battles between Servants... it is likely because the Noble
Phantasms used by Servants are not the original Noble Phantasms themselves, but a projection in another sense. This should be a Noble Phantasm that only the King of Heroes is qualified to use. Unfortunately, the product Emiya projected at this time is not "The Sword of Rupture in the King of Heroes' hand," but "The Sword of Rupture in Shirou Emiya's eyes." The gap remains huge.
That being said, it is already the most terrifying Noble Phantasm in terms of power that Emiya can currently project.
"I speak of the beginning. Elements mingle and gather, creating the star that weaves all creation—"
As Emiya began to whisper the incantation used for the Noble Phantasm's release, the Sword of Rupture held in his hand gradually began to respond.
Clack, clack—clack—!
On the sword's body, the three parts representing Heaven, Earth, and the Underworld made a sound like jamming gears under the drive of magical energy, followed by a slow rotation in completely different directions. Along with the rotation of the blade, invisible and intangible ripples were generated around Emiya, which subsequently formed a dark red light radiating in all directions, as if an invisible pressure was expanding from Emiya at the center.
From an objective standpoint, that was indeed the case. While the user himself felt no pressure at all, Ryomen Sukuna—as the one being directly targeted by this attack—truly felt that mass acting on his entire body simultaneously. Even though the Sword of Rupture's attack had not yet been launched, and had not even passed the pure charging stage, that tangible pressure was something he had never felt before.
Even among the opponents he had met in the past, though there were occasionally one or two powerhouses who could spar with him... regardless, such tangible pressure was something they could never give him, and something Ryomen Sukuna had never experienced. At this moment, Sukuna's body began to bend slightly under this invisible pressure. He was no longer looking down his nose at everything as he had been just moments ago, but the excitement in his eyes and expression could not be hidden at all.
Pressure—humans need this kind of pressure. Only pressure can provide the driving force for life to progress! Whether as individuals or as a group, if humans completely lose external pressure, they might show a flourishing appearance in the short term, but as time passes, the drawbacks will inevitably be revealed. Not even just humans, but even the essence of life itself is like this.
The fundamental reason for life's existence is to continuously reproduce. But if reproduction no longer faces any pressure, then why would life evolve senses like eyes or limbs like legs to adapt to everything in this world? Without pressure, everything used to adapt for survival
would gradually degenerate; even human groups would gradually lose their emergency response capabilities or simply fall apart.
Feeling external pressure after so long, Sukuna felt as if his entire body had come back to life. He couldn't wait to vent his unreleased emotions on something sufficiently hard to find that sense of thorough satisfaction.
Unfortunately, Sukuna did not seem to know the true extent of the Sword of Rupture's power. Otherwise, one really wouldn't know whether he should be dripping with sweat or turning cold all over right now.
"Splendid... Splendid! Just experiencing this feeling, my blood has already begun to boil... You really are splendid, Shirou Emiya!"
Dropping his previous look of disdain, Sukuna, who had straightened his body against the pressure, strained to spread his four arms wide, his face almost entirely entranced. Such a bizarre emotional curve—if the scene weren't still in the middle of a brutal battle, Sukuna's true personality would likely need to be strictly scrutinized.
"In that case, I must bring out my true, genuine full power as well!"
As he spoke, Sukuna slammed his four palms together—the upper seals facing upward and the lower seals facing downward, forming two similar yet distinct hand signs. In true religious belief, even if the actual performance is the same, just a simple vertical inversion can cause the hidden meaning to show a contrast as great as heaven and earth.
It is like a simple thumbs-up—thumb up is praise, while thumb down immediately becomes a quite simple and crude insult. However, expressing two seals with completely different effects at once was not an accidental error caused by Sukuna in his haste, but a deliberate act.
"Having stayed in this era for over a month, I have at least learned a few things...
A technique that can simply cut through all things is far from being truly powerful. To reach an invincible level, one must be able to cut through space itself.
Everything in the world, even the world itself, must rely on space as its foundation... When the world itself is severed, even the sturdiest of things lose their meaning.
So watch closely. Using my [Slash that Severs the World], I shall annihilate this seemingly insurmountable [World] of yours!"
Sukuna's momentum never stopped building. His Domain, already reduced to a tiny range, was being further compressed at this moment. The bizarre light radiating from it seemed to have truly affected the continuity of space.
Since his opponent was doing this, Emiya naturally didn't waste another word, placing his entire heart and soul into the manipulation of the Sword of Rupture. Only after truly starting to use this Noble Phantasm did Emiya realize its operation was far from the ease he had
imagined before; it was not as simple as just pulling a trigger... even for Emiya, who projected it and served as its master.
But so what? If one cannot master the weapon in their own hands, they truly lose the qualification to even fight.
"The heavens and earth open, the primordial world! Die in admiration!
—With this one strike as the ritual of parting!"
As Emiya continued to chant the incantation, the vortex formed by the slow rotation of the Sword of Rupture's blade began to expand at extreme speed. In a few moments, the gale had extended to a full several hundred meters, encompassing the entire battleground.
The invisible pressure radiated by the Sword of Rupture also continued to strengthen as the storm expanded. However, Sukuna, who was constantly enduring this pressure, still persisted in raising his palms, his final target still being Emiya's position.
The final, decisive blow was officially beginning now.
"I speak of the beginning. Heaven and Earth are divided, and nothingness grants its blessing to the opening. My Sword of Rupture shall cleave the world apart!
Turning the celestial vortex, that which is called heaven and hell is the end of the eve of creation!
Let death bring it to a close—
Enuma Elish!!!!! (The Star of Creation that Divided Heaven and Earth)"
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