Chapter 3: You Can't Handle This, Let Me
Being led away by the girl, Shirou looked at her slender silhouette ahead, a small smile playing on his lips.
"Wouldn't it be easier for you to run alone? Why bring a burden like me along?" Shirou asked curiously, keeping pace with Liliana's frantic sprint without the slightest sign of exertion.
"Those madmen saw you with me, so they'll definitely think we're accomplices. Since you helped me earlier, it's only right—both logically and morally—that I don't leave you behind!" Liliana replied, her breathing slightly labored.
"..."
Shirou nodded with a look of realization.
"In that case, since you can't handle it, why don't you give that stone tablet to me? I'm a bit stronger than you; I should be able to handle it."
"Huh? What nonsense are you talking about?" Liliana glanced at him in disbelief.
After all, her strength had reached the Great Knight rank. Beneath the six Devil Kings, it was difficult to find anyone stronger than her. Hearing a man who appeared to be her own age say such a thing—how could she possibly believe him?
By now, they had run into the center of the Colosseum, a vast, circular, and incredibly spacious arena. There were still many tourists around. Seeing Liliana's long saber and the black-robed magi chasing behind, they assumed a movie was being filmed and gathered around out of curiosity.
"Get out of the way!"
Liliana swung her saber anxiously, surging her magical energy. A silver flash of a blade-strike cut through the air!
Crash!
As a crack split the ground, the tourists stood frozen in shock. Even a fool would understand by now—this was definitely not a movie!
"AHHH! HELP!!"
Someone in the crowd let out a scream, and with that sound, the uninformed masses behind them who hadn't seen the action felt their hearts tremble. Instinctively, they began to flee in a panic.
Hearing a scream immediately led them to think of terrorist attacks or similar events, and panic spread instantly. The terrified crowd stampeded, and the black-robed magi who were about to catch up found themselves lost in the human tide.
Dragged outward by the flow of people, the magi finally lost their patience and activated their magecraft. In an instant, magical lights of various colors flashed repeatedly. Those running toward them were slaughtered in mere moments. Corpses filled the paths, and blood began to pool and flow toward the center of the arena.
"Those monsters... they're slaughtering innocents!"
Seeing the atrocities of the black-robed magi, Liliana's brow furrowed deeply, and her grip on her saber tightened. Suddenly, she noticed something wrong with the ground. The blood flowing from the corpses was converging toward her.
No, more accurately, it was being drawn toward the Holy Relic in her hand—the Profane Tablet!
"Could it be... that activating the Profane Tablet requires a massive amount of human blood!?" Liliana murmured, her lips trembling.
Just as Liliana felt a heartfelt terror toward the evil power of the relic, she suddenly noticed the tablet's temperature rising rapidly. Her hands were scorched as the heat became unbearable. At the moment it slipped from her grasp, Shirou reached out and caught it.
"Watch out!" Liliana warned urgently.
However, she watched in amazement as the youth caught the glowing, scorching Profane Tablet with his bare hands. He looked completely unfazed, casually inspecting the relic as if it were a common stone.
"How can this be..." Liliana looked at the boy beside her in disbelief. Aside from being tall, handsome, and having red hair, he seemed no different from anyone else. The only distinction was his composure—an unshakable calm that was impossible to ignore.
Liliana, of course, didn't know that Shirou felt this way because the enemies before him couldn't even begin to compare to Heroic Spirits. While the girl beside him was reeling from shock, Shirou was carefully observing the Profane Tablet.
Carved onto the stone was a massive tree. Beneath the tree, where three twisted roots met, sat a black dragon and six serpents gnawing at the roots. Liliana peered over curiously and found it strange: as long as she stood near this boy, the curse radiating from the tablet could no longer disturb her mind.
"Is this... the Black Dragon of World Destruction, Nidhogg?"
The imagery was too vivid for Liliana not to make the connection. Legend says that near the roots of the World Tree, Yggdrasil, which leads to the mist-realm Niflheim, lurks a black dragon named "Despair" (Nidhogg), gnawing at the roots alongside countless serpents. When the roots are consumed and the tree rots, the world will end.
This was a prophecy. In truth, Nidhogg biting through the roots was a herald that Ragnarök had arrived, not the cause of it. The true cause was the accumulated hatred from years of war between the gods and the giants. Regardless, Nidhogg's power was not to be underestimated.
After sorting through the information recorded on the tablet, Shirou did not feel any fear at the prospect of summoning a dragon. Instead, he placed the tablet directly onto the blood-soaked ground.
"Let's see just how strong this World-Eater truly is..."
As the Profane Tablet touched the ground, the surrounding blood rippled as if struck by a vibration, surging frantically toward the stone. The carvings on the tablet were instantly dyed a dark crimson.
The next moment, a pillar of scarlet light erupted from the tablet, shooting straight into the sky!
Rumble!
Accompanied by a deafening sound like thunder, a massive red magic circle appeared in the heavens. Violent winds howled and black clouds gathered, swirling above the Colosseum. From within that red magic circle in the sky, a gargantuan draconic head gradually began to reveal itself.
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