Chapter 53: Your Lord Cannot Defeat Me
The shimmering flower of flames transformed into explosive energy.
The so-called "Suicide-type Noble Phantasm" is a weapon activated by infusing one's own life; it does not fall into categories like Anti-Personnel or Anti-Army. It is a Noble Phantasm that possesses destructive power sufficient to annihilate an enemy at the cost of one's own life. No matter what kind of hero they may be, there is only one path before this Noble Phantasm: extinction.
The flames that burn the Saint will incinerate all kinds of holiness, all kinds of demons, and all kinds of people who stand against them. The shining flames were just that beautiful. Within those flames, Shirou clearly saw the unique radiance of the Saint.
These flames were what Jeanne d'Arc used for purification, to become a cornerstone for the future, and to redeem herself. It was a sight that would not be forgotten even after a hundred, two hundred, or a thousand years—a memory that would never be let go, whether one descended into hell or not.
"Truly beautiful flames..." Shirou's eyes reflected the silhouette of the Saint.
Those beautiful flames were her very life. If a Servant faced this strike, they would be heartlessly eliminated in an instant. Even with the title of "Saint," Jeanne was simultaneously a warrior; naturally, she would not be soft-hearted toward her enemies. Exhausting all her strength to eliminate the enemy instantly was, perhaps, her form of "mercy."
"This power could stand invincible against any Servant, but unfortunately, it is meaningless before me."
Shirou, who had not made a single move from beginning to end, raised his right hand for the first time toward the Saint and suddenly made a grasping motion in the air.
"Because... your Lord cannot defeat me."
Shirou violently swung his right arm, and the High Thaumaturgy exercised by Jeanne, which was comparable to True Magic, was instantly shaken. Amidst the girl's shock—a shock so great her faith seemed to tremble—the sword of flames that La Pucelle had transformed into shattered into pieces!
The crystals of the sword fell within the girl's line of sight, as if symbolizing that all her faith was being heartlessly crushed by the Demon King at this moment.
"No... please no..."
The corners of Jeanne's eyes grew moist, and tears of sorrow gushed out. The girl stood frozen in place, lost and soul-stricken, reaching out her hands as if to gather the fragmented crystals of her faith. Her body, at this moment, turned into flecks of luminescence and finally vanished.
"Ruler..." Watching the scene of the blonde, braided girl vanishing in despair, Caren could not help but feel a surge of empathetic sadness in her heart.
"Caren."
Suddenly, the man's call pulled the silver-haired girl back to reality from her mourning.
"Mr... Mr. Orihara..." Caren immediately responded, sounding a bit nervous.
At that moment, Caren noticed that the man who had crushed the Saint's faith wore a playful smile on his face, looking just like the evil Demon King from legends who strikes down justice.
"Perform your magecraft, Caren. Ruler is special; using the method of Command Spells can make her manifest once more."
Caren's expression froze for a moment upon hearing this, and then she asked with a dazed look, "Can that... really be done?"
Shirou chuckled. "She is a Ruler, a special Class distinct from normal Servants. Through the Command Spells, I have a way to make her reappear."
The Holy Grail needs the souls of Servants, but as a Ruler, Jeanne is not absorbed into the Holy Grail after "death"; instead, she returns to the Throne of Heroes. And the prototype of the "Throne of Heroes" is the hall used by Odin, the King of the Gods in Norse mythology, to receive the dead.
"I wield the power of the gods. I can directly pull the Servant I want over. As long as you exercise a Command Spell to serve as an anchor, it will be easy for me to find her among the crowd of Heroic Spirits," Shirou said with a shallow smile.
"Power of the gods...!?"
Caren didn't know how many times she had been shocked today. Hearing Shirou say things that would have sounded absolutely preposterous to her in the past, she now believed him almost without thinking. Shirou's past help had established enough trust in him.
"Then, I'll begin now...?"
With a hint of trepidation, Caren raised her right hand, which bore the Command Spells.
"By the power of a Command Spell, I order—"
The "Throne of Heroes" is the place where those who signed contracts with Alaya or the fallen heroes of legend reside. Beings who become Heroic Spirits are released from the shackles of time and move to the Throne of Heroes located on the Outside of the World.
A Master performs a ritual to interfere with the Greater Grail; the Greater Grail borrows information from the original body of the Heroic Spirit located on the Throne and pours this information (the soul of the highest purity) into the framework of a "Class." The resulting clone of the Heroic Spirit is the Servant.
In the Fuyuki Holy Grail War, the souls of six deceased Servants are poured into the Lesser Grail. Utilizing their power as they return to the "Throne of Heroes" on the Outside of the World, a hole is opened in this world. This hole is then fixed using the massive amount of magical energy accumulated in the Greater Grail to create a gate leading outside the world. As long as the Greater Grail is in a dormant state, Servants are accumulated as magical energy. When seven are gathered, the Spiritual Cores of the Servants are released, their Heroic Spirit bodies in the current world are eliminated, and the time of the core's return to the Throne is calculated in an attempt to fix the path leading to the Throne.
Saint Jeanne is a Heroic Spirit; her original human flesh was destroyed long ago, so the possibility of reaching the Inner Sea of the World is certainly not zero. That said, it is a "not zero" on the level of quantum tunneling through a wall, but because the Throne where Heroic Spirits exist is cut off from the timeline, the number of trial attempts can be said to be nearly infinite.
As Caren exercised the Command Spell, a crimson light immediately flared. It was unknown how many Command Spells would be needed to make Jeanne manifest again normally, but currently, each Command Spell possessed a massive amount of magical energy capable of performing High Thaumaturgy. This vast magical energy was now being used to establish a bridge to the "Throne of Heroes."
Of course, without Shirou's presence, such an operation would be meaningless, as no modern magus possesses the power to pull a Heroic Spirit from the Throne in such a brute-force manner.
"By the power of the Command Spell—"
Less than ten seconds after Caren activated the power of the Command Spell, the magical energy of the bridge was nearly exhausted. Naturally, this amount of time was sufficient for Shirou. His divine power transformed into incredibly tough, thin threads, following the path of the Command Spell's energy into the Throne of Heroes, where he snared the newly returned Jeanne and pulled her back.
Accompanied by a sacred, milky-white light lingering in the air, the blonde, braided girl manifested her form once again.
"This place is...?"
However, the sword she wore at her waist had completely vanished because it had already been used.
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