Chapter 64: The Thirteen Restraints and the Purifying Holy Grail
From the unknown, the voices of the various knights of the Round Table rang out.
Bedivere: Can only be used when engaging an opponent stronger than oneself—Denied!
Gaheris: Can only be used when the battle is not in defiance of humanity—Acknowledged!
Lancelot: The target must not be an elemental—Acknowledged!
Mordred: Can only be used against those who are evil—Acknowledged!
Galahad: Cannot be used for one's own selfish desires—Acknowledged!
Arthur: Must be used for a battle to save the world—Denied!
Palamedes: Can only be used during a one-on-one duel—Acknowledged!
Kay: Must only be used when fighting for survival—Denied!
Agravain: Must be used in pursuit of truth—Acknowledged!
Gawain: Must be used in the name of honor—Acknowledged!
Gareth: Must not be used to strike those who are good—Acknowledged!
Dagonet: Must be used against an opponent who is a hero—Denied!
"Thirteen Restraints"—this means there are thirteen seals placed upon the Noble Phantasm. When seven seals are released, meaning more than half the votes are cast, it can exert its maximum power. However, one unknown seal could not be evaluated for certain reasons.
But that was fine; at this moment, seven seals had already been released, which was sufficient to liberate the full power of this Holy Spear.
"Limit Release—" "Grave for you."
Following the conclusion of the Round Table conference, the Holy Spear in Shirou's hand erupted with waves of golden, sacred radiance.
"Ancient mystery, be extinguished." "Naive riddle, Holy Spear, anchor—cast off—"
Clearly, he had not spoken aloud, yet Shirou's voice reverberated in the air. As he aimed the Holy Spear at the city in the sky below, the tip of the spear shot out like a golden beam of light.
"Rhongomyniad (The Spear That Shines to the Ends of the World)!!"
A streak of golden light tore through the dark night, illuminating the very place where the sky and the earth met.
"Although it's a bit inferior to the Star's Holy Sword, its power is still quite good."
Standing high above the heavens, Shirou murmured this before tossing the Holy Spear back into the "Unlimited Blade Works."
"Next time I'll find an opportunity to test that Star's Holy Sword, though I must find a more suitable occasion."
However, Shirou was curious about one thing: if Saber were to use the Star's Holy Sword, what strange thing might happen?
Would the knights of the Round Table, who should have belonged to another timeline, suddenly discover that their King had become a woman?
"Shirou—!"
The sudden cry interrupted Shirou's wild imagination; it was the voice of Saber, who was gradually falling as the city in the sky vanished.
Medea was capable of spirit form and didn't need to worry about such things, but Saber was different.
She had not died; she had manifested in the world in her physical form and was incapable of spirit form.
Shirou hurriedly teleported to her side and scooped the girl into his arms.
In the panic of falling from such a great height, Saber subconsciously hugged Shirou.
"Shi... Shirou..."
It was not until they returned to the ground that she blushed, feeling somewhat self-conscious.
"That... that spear you used just now..." Saber felt a sense of familiarity toward that Holy Spear, feeling as if it were a spear she had once possessed herself.
Shirou smiled and said, "Assassin has been dealt with as well. Let's go to Ryūdō Temple."
Although they hadn't absorbed enough souls, Shirou had plenty of methods to make the Greater Grail manifest.
Together, they arrived at Ryūdō Temple on Mount Enzō. The last time he had come here was ten years ago.
At that time, the place had been destroyed beyond recognition by the appearance of the black mud. But now, revisiting the old place after ten years, it had already been repaired, and not a trace of the past remained.
However, accompanied by the re-emergence of the mud of death, full of evil, the facilities here were being constantly destroyed once again.
It was sin; it was the sum of all the evils in the world. Countless sins had transformed into this black mud.
The endlessly surging black mud continued to spread, as if it intended to swallow the entire world.
When Shirou stepped onto that viscous black mud, the scenery before his eyes changed instantly.
"What is your wish?" A voice came from nowhere.
"This is...?" Shirou furrowed his brow tightly.
Before him appeared a figure identical to Shirou at this moment, as if a mirror image. He wore an evil smile and spoke to Shirou once more.
"What is your wish?"
Without a doubt, it was an illusion. Shirou sensed this immediately.
"A Grail dialogue, is it..."
This was meaningless, because the consciousness of the Holy Grail right now was the absolute evil, Angra Mainyu.
Angra Mainyu was born in a small village that believed in Zoroastrianism, into a very ordinary family. At the age of one, he was isolated from his brothers; he was an ordinary youth who knew nothing of magecraft or mystery.
However, one day, in order to prove the goodness possessed by all the people in the world, the ignorant villagers burdened him with the name of the evil god Angra Mainyu and the sins of the entire world.
So-called customs are the rules that define evil.
In that village, in order to endure the day-to-day hardships and impoverished life, customs were necessary.
"Our lives never improve; there must be a culprit." This was an unsolvable problem. The hearts of those who could not find salvation required an object upon which to vent this resentment—a sacrifice named 'evil.'
He was locked on a mountaintop, his right eye dug out, his hands and feet severed, and he was continuously tortured, despised as the absolute evil.
In the end, he became the demon known as "all the world's evils," an anti-hero burdened with sin.
Years after being sacrificed, he hated the people of the village. Later, however, because he did not know who to hate, he accepted humanity. His sense of hatred transcended emotion and became his personality. After that, the legend that "an evil god lives on the mountaintop" spread throughout his village.
After tasting all the pain that humans could feel, the young man died, as was natural. But the hatred born from this absurd situation was deeply branded into that rock prison, and in the end, it turned into a nameless wraith.
Even after the young man disappeared, even after the hateful villagers left, even after the village itself no longer existed.
He remained bound to the mountaintop, watching human life, human ugliness, human joy, and the warm light, longing for the "natural daily life" he had never attained, like a sage.
No matter how one answered, the final outcome would always be pointed toward the side of 'evil.'
Tormenting the will of the wish-granter, causing them to make wrong judgments—the current Holy Grail was in a state polluted by the evil of this world.
"Therefore, it requires purification!"
A sword of gold appeared beside Shirou.
"I recognize you. Your name is Angra Mainyu, and your true form is an ordinary person who was wrongly burdened with the name 'Angra Mainyu' in a village of Zoroastrians!"
More golden swords glittered with light, appearing around Shirou.
Standing to the side, Saber looked at Shirou's transcendent posture—as if a god were examining the world—and her expression became somewhat dazed.
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