Shirou decided to show Ariel Unlimited Blade Works.
This wasn't just to make Ariel realize the end she would face after making the wrong choice, and to make her deeply aware of the consequences of different choices, but also because Shirou himself wanted to try again.
Before the Armor Dragon King helped him, he wanted to figure out why he couldn't fully activate Unlimited Blade Works on his own.
"Hoo--"
Shirou took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and began to focus his mind.
This was different from when he had released Unlimited Blade Works in the past.
Before, every time Shirou used Unlimited Blade Works, he was forced to do it during a battle with a strong enemy, using the power from Servant Emiya against his will.
But this time was different. Shirou wasn't facing any powerful opponent, so he could completely relax and extend the preparation time as much as he wanted.
He poured his spirit into the bottomless abyss in one go, and at the moment when everything was concentrated into one point, it suddenly erupted!
"I Am The Bone Of My Sword."
Under Ariel's gaze, Shirou slowly raised his arm, and as magic circuits bloomed with light, he began to chant the incantation of Unlimited Blade Works.
As his voice rang out, heat appeared in the surrounding space out of thin air, and blue flames began to burn fiercely, yet without a trace of heat.
Even so, Ariel inexplicably felt a terrifying pressure, coming little by little from the invisible space in front of her.
Even though she lacked eyes that could see magic, she could feel a huge amount of magic power rising slowly.
At the same time, Shirou was slowly chanting the spell, confirming each word.
"Unknown To Death."
"Nor Known To Life."
The body always stands on the hill of swords, drunk alone in victory
Therefore this life has no meaning
Therefore I pray, Unlimited Blade Works
As all the chanting was completely finished, Shirou felt as if a huge hole had been dug out of his heart, and a sense of loss and confusion surged in his spirit like a broken record.
It was a pressure that almost crushed his soul.
But compared to the last time, when Shirou had made no preparations and was suddenly overwhelmed by the huge impact and passed out, this time he forcibly held onto himself, and confronted and questioned the immense sense of justice within Unlimited Blade Works.
Although this was an extremely difficult thing, it was a huge pressure and test for Shirou's soul, like countless needles piercing into his bone marrow, that level of pain.
But Shirou stubbornly endured the pain on a spiritual level, allowing himself to overcome all the pressure and stinging, forcibly maintaining the activation of Unlimited Blade Works.
"Rumble!"
As the azure flames suddenly swept across the scene, the surrounding environment changed dramatically. Trees, grass, birds, and flowers were all gone.
The field, originally typical of the northern lands, was now replaced by a huge foundry.
Dark skies, churning clouds, a pungent smell… everything around had completely turned into a hill filled with endless swords.
Shirou stood silently in the center of the hill, looking at this familiar yet unfamiliar environment. He confirmed once again that this was not the Unlimited Blade Works he used in the battle with Angelica, but the Unlimited Blade Works that Servant Emiya himself possessed.
The most distinctive feature was the countless gears shaking little by little in the sky, constantly turning, like a precise machine, constantly moving forward.
That was the symbol of the Guardian, the restriction created by the Counter Force for its own Guardian, allowing the Guardian to only take the path of salvation to save humanity.
That was why Servant Emiya was in so much pain, making choices he didn't want to make in despair, yet having no choice.
All the bitterness and sorrow eventually turned into a long sigh, and like the embodiment of will, countless sword marks were added to this endless plain.
That was both Servant Emiya's own mental trauma, and the embodiment of his unshakable will.
Even though he had taken the wrong path, he still had not given up on the ideal of being an ally of justice.
"Clap!"
Now, Shirou had completely used Unlimited Blade Works, but none of the swords on the hill listened to his call.
He could only stand in the center of the hill, as if watching the shape of someone's soul, but unable to further interfere with this space.
The reason was simple.
This wasn't his Unlimited Blade Works, but Servant Emiya's Unlimited Blade Works.
There was a huge difference between the two, and the most important thing was the completely opposite nature of their souls.
Therefore, even if Shirou used Unlimited Blade Works, he couldn't get the approval of this space, and the power of the reality marble couldn't be used by him.
In fact, as Shirou continued for a long time, he could even feel a strong sense of rejection.
It was as if the space itself was rejecting him.
This rejection wasn't obvious at first, but the more it went on, the clearer it became, until it turned into a clear blade, stabbing straight towards Shirou's heart--
"Ooh!"
The same pain as when he faced the Demon King Badigadi last time came from his chest.
Shirou didn't have time to think, and the huge Unlimited Blade Works suddenly shattered.
But before it disappeared, Shirou seemed to see a red figure, that figure was like one of the thousands of swords, even after endless wear and tear, it still did not have a trace of wavering or confusion, and was still walking on a road that could not be seen to the end.
On this lonely road, only endless wind and sand accompanied it.
The other party was destined to never reach the true end.
Shirou's mood was complicated.
He had complicated feelings for Servant Emiya, which were neither admiration nor disgust, and he could neither empathize with nor completely deny him.
Because the other party was one of his future possibilities, one of the dead ends that Emiya Shirou's path would lead to.
It was like when a person looks in a mirror, they don't have too many emotions about themselves in the mirror.
Shirou couldn't have too many opinions about Servant Emiya either.
He just looked at the other party, examined them, and in the end still couldn't approve of them.
Constantly pursuing justice until the soul was completely burned out.
But what did that justice mean, and what did everything sacrificed for it contain… I'm afraid Servant Emiya himself couldn't get the answer either.
The only thing he could remember was that night with the moon.
The sigh and exclamation that Emiya Kiritsugu gave before his death, and the scene where the still-child-like boy took over the mission of being an ally of justice with a face full of longing.
What was he thinking at that time?
When did that initial intention change...
Shirou's consciousness unknowingly fell into chaos, sinking into a dark valley.
He didn't know how long it took before he regained consciousness.
When he woke up, the first thing he felt was a soft touch, and something incredibly soft seemed to be resting on his neck.
Shirou opened his eyes, and what came into view was the sky, white clouds, and the side of a girl's face so delicate that it seemed to have come out of a painting.
"You're awake?!"
Ariel saw Shirou open his eyes and said with concern.
Shirou then realized that he had apparently been lying on Ariel's lap all this time, and this princess seemed to have given him a lap pillow.
Shirou was undoubtedly startled by this treatment that was too much like a manga protagonist, and instinctively wanted to stand up, but was forcibly held down by Ariel.
The girl seemed to have seen the scene of Shirou suddenly passing out just now, and Shirou's expression showed extreme pain, which made her realize what kind of price the other party had paid when showing it to her just now.
So she didn't care about Shirou's own thoughts and forced him to rest more.
"..."
Faced with Ariel's attitude, Shirou had no choice but to accept the girl's kindness and continue to lie on her soft lap.
The air suddenly fell into extreme silence.
The only sound was the rustling of the wind blowing through the grass.
In this silence, Shirou was the first to speak: "Did you see it just now, Princess Ariel, that's the end point that the future me will arrive at, the dead end of the path of an ally of justice."
"Dead end..."
Hearing Shirou's words, Ariel seemed at a loss for words.
Her body became tense at some point, as if she still hadn't come out of the overly shocking scene just now.
At the first moment of seeing Unlimited Blade Works, Ariel, like most people, was first shocked by the size of the reality marble and the strangeness of the scene.
But at that moment, her heart also felt a strong wave, and her soul received a strong shock and resonance.
That was a feeling that could not be described in words.
It was full of loneliness, but it was also as hot as fire, surrounded by despair, but it was never truly defeated, like a soldier with countless sword wounds, yet stubbornly moving forward, desperately heading towards an unknown end on a battlefield with only himself.
For Ariel, who had never risked everything, or even her life, to pursue something, that was an extremely dazzling and unignorable thing.
Any human emotion, whether it was family, friendship, or even love, was far less shocking to Ariel than the feeling brought to her by witnessing Unlimited Blade Works at that moment.
If possible, Ariel didn't dare to imagine being able to see the same scenery as Shirou himself, but she at least wanted to be in a similar position as just now, watching the end that the man who risked everything would eventually reach.
Only this emotion remained in her heart.
"I will continue to challenge and get Lord Perugius to recognize me."
Ariel made a firm decision in her heart.
This made Shirou happy, realizing that his efforts were not without reward.
However, Shirou didn't know that what Ariel had witnessed was not what he had imagined, and that the other party did not have an inner desire to pursue something because she had seen a negative example.
On the contrary, Ariel had seen Unlimited Blade Works and was deeply shocked by the scenery, and made up her mind in this way because she wanted to continue to see the end.
But no matter how the process deviated, the result was correct.
After resting, Shirou stood up again.
He didn't notice the slightly disappointed look on the girl's face, and silently looked at the distant land.
After Unlimited Blade Works disappeared, nothing was left, neither the dark clouds covering the entire sky, nor the constantly turning gears that seemed to never stop, nor the endless hill of swords that seemed to reach the end of the world...
They had all disappeared.
Only a clear blue sky remained.
Looking at the land where nothing remained, Shirou inexplicably felt a sense of relief, as if he had been freed from some kind of restraint.
But he knew that fate had never left him.
There was still a long way to go to truly get rid of the shackles.
...
After Shirou had Ariel cheered up again, the latter immediately returned to the student council room, met with Luke and Fitz again, and told them what had happened after climbing the Sky Fortress.
During the process, Ariel deliberately concealed many details of her contact with Shirou, only stating that she was currently unable to obtain the approval of the Armor Dragon King and needed to put in more effort.
Luke and Fitz were naturally very concerned about this and expressed their support for each other.
After Shirou returned to his smithy, he first encountered a drunken Nanahoshi, who seemed to be drowning her sorrows in alcohol because there was no progress in her research, so Shirou had to spend time taking care of her until she was completely quiet before silently leaving.
He then found Rudeus and found that Rudeus was teaching Juliet magic.
Although he didn't want to disturb them, Shirou still called Rudeus out, and the two of them went to the house outside the city of Sharia to prepare to welcome his two younger sisters.
As a result, before they even reached the place, Shirou noticed several familiar figures appearing in front of the post station.
It was a blonde little girl and a red-haired little girl, and standing next to them was a long-haired blonde woman with elven ears.
"Hmm?"
The blonde elf woman immediately revealed a concerned expression when she saw Shirou and Rudeus.
Shirou also walked over as soon as possible and heard the voices.
"It's all Norn's fault for getting the wrong way that made us so late!"
"Aisha also said that going that way wouldn't be wrong, right?"
"What should we do? The inn is already closed! We have to spend the night outside even though it's so cold!"
"If you really want to say, the one who said that we had a place to spend the night today, so we didn't need to go to the inn, was Aisha!"
"After all, we're finally going to meet, so of course I want to spend more time with my brother."
"...There's no need to care so much about that guy."
The blonde girl and the red-haired girl were arguing with each other.
Shirou took a look and almost instantly recognized them, Norn and Aisha, his two younger sisters.
But the blonde elf woman next to them was obviously someone he didn't know.
"You two little ones calm down, we've already found the person we're looking for."
The blonde elf woman showed a relieved expression the moment she saw Shirou. Even though the two people didn't know each other at all, she seemed to have already seen Shirou's identity.
She came to Shirou as soon as possible and introduced herself: "Hello, I'm Elinalise, Paul and Zenith's former teammate. You should be Paul's two sons, Shirou and Rudeus, right?"
"That's right."
"Um, um... yes."
Compared to Shirou, Rudeus's expression was very hesitant. He didn't dare to look at Elinalise at all, as if he had a fear of women.
Shirou was a little worried, but that wasn't the time to consider it.
Seeing his two younger sisters arrive safely, Shirou breathed a sigh of relief and was about to send the two girls to the house that had already been prepared.
Just then, Elinalise suddenly spoke: "Although this is very sudden, I'm not only here to send Norn and Aisha over, but also to tell you something important."
"Something important?"
"Paul has already located Zenith. She's deep within the labyrinth of the Begaritt Continent. Explorations have already begun, but considering the difficulty of conquering an entire labyrinth, Paul hopes that you can go and give your help."
Hearing Elinalise's words, Shirou agreed on the spot with almost no hesitation:
"Okay, I'll go right away!"
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