About fifteen minutes after the Catastrophe had dispersed, inside the city of Chernobog.
The operators of Rhodes Island had cleared out an area and were preparing to begin disaster relief operations.
Most people were busy with various tasks, while Amiya was assigning missions to some of the stronger combat operators and the elite operators.
"Operator safety takes priority above all else. Blaze, Rosmontis, and everyone from Penguin Logistics will move with me. Everyone else will provide support on-site."
In just a few sentences, Amiya had arranged the work at the scene.
The Catastrophe had ended far sooner than they had anticipated, leaving them severely short-handed. Fortunately, Alina had brought some people to assist them.
Even so, it was still not enough.
They had not forgotten that there were still rioters scattered throughout the city.
Part of their manpower had to be assigned to security and vigilance duties.
Ace, Scout, Nearl, and the others took on that responsibility, while Amiya would lead the four members of Penguin Logistics in a search-and-rescue operation.
The target of that search was naturally Shirou.
As for the pillar of light that had torn through the skies above Chernobog earlier, if anyone said it was not Shirou's doing, the members of Penguin Logistics would be the first to refuse to believe it.
"According to Miss Alina, the price of using that Originium Art is extremely high. The person she knew... disappeared after using it."
After assigning the tasks, Amiya led the group forward while explaining the severity of the situation.
At first, she had not fully understood Alina's words.
Only after Alina showed her a red crystal identical to the black diamond-shaped crystal Amiya possessed, along with the red markings on her left hand, did Amiya finally understand what she meant.
After carefully considering her wording, Amiya chose to use the word disappeared.
Partly because she did not want to upset everyone.
And partly because, on a personal level, she did not want to bring up the matter. She did not want to face it herself.
"That may be true... but how are we supposed to find him? The communicators are working again, but Shirou gave his comunicator away long ago. All we know is that he was probably heading toward the city center."
Hearing Amiya's explanation, Exusiai put aside her usual playful attitude, holding her gun with a serious expression.
Although she often appeared carefree, she could be relied upon whenever things became serious.
"There is no need to worry about that. It will guide us. Shirou should be fine for now. I can feel something drawing it forward."
Amiya opened her right hand and showed the Mana Crystal to everyone.
It was no longer flashing continuously like before, but the golden patterns on its surface still occasionally emitted faint glimmers.
As its holder, Amiya could naturally sense the restless energy within it.
This seemed different from the Mana Crystal in Alina's possession.
Perhaps it was because Shirou was not familiar with that crystal's original owner?
Amiya did not know.
She only felt that things were far more complicated than they appeared.
However, there was no time for her to sit down and think about it.
Finding Shirou was their highest priority right now.
"Whoa... I feel like Penguin Logistics should get something like that too."
After learning that Mana Crystals could serve this purpose, Croissant felt that everyone in Penguin Logistics ought to have one.
"Now is not the time for that."
Texas shot Croissant a cold glance.
While they had been waiting earlier, she had eaten all of the Pocky, and combined with the grim situation, her mood was even worse than usual.
Only slightly worse, however.
At the moment, Texas was simply giving off an intimidating aura and wearing a fiercer expression than normal. Other than that, she was much the same as always.
"Anyway, let us divide the work first! We need to stay alert for attacks from behind!"
Seeing the atmosphere becoming somewhat awkward, Sora stepped in to ease the tension.
With Amiya and the two elite operators clearing the path ahead, they could not just stand around doing nothing. Any threats from the rear would naturally be their responsibility.
It had to be said that Rosmontis and Blaze were exceptionally skilled at clearing paths.
Blaze swung her chainsaw and smashed apart any obstacles in the way, while Rosmontis used her Originium Arts to move the debris to the side.
At a glance, it was obvious that they had done this sort of work many times before.
As for why Rosmontis did not simply force a path open by herself?
Because the obstacles were too large.
If they were not placed properly, they could easily slide back down. If someone happened to be underneath, it would be extremely dangerous.
This method also placed less strain on Rosmontis.
And so, the group continued advancing, following the direction indicated by the Mana Crystal in Amiya's hand.
Meanwhile, on the other side, inside the school.
Although Shirou's condition looked somewhat bad, he was not in any life-threatening danger.
In fact, aside from the dirt on his face, he looked almost completely unharmed.
"You really overdid it."
Watching members of the Yeti Squadron wipe the bloodstains from Shirou's body with wet towels while checking that he was not in mortal danger, Frostnova finally let out a sigh of relief.
She had witnessed that beam of light from close range.
Even now, she felt as though something was floating before her eyes.
After recovering somewhat, Frostnova began organizing the Reunion members inside the school and preparing to lead them back to Talulah's base of operations—the Azazel Clinic.
The Catastrophe had already ended.
The school was no longer the safest place to stay.
She was absolutely certain that once people saw the pillar of light that had split apart the Catastrophe, they would come searching here.
After all, three years ago in the Ursus Plains, an Ursus military regiment and several Emperor Blades had vanished within that very pillar of light.
At the time, she had only thought that it was a move with an impressive display and nothing more. But after witnessing it from such close range just now, she had changed her mind.
In any case, she was not Shirou's enemy, so she did not have to worry about being hit by that attack. The pressure on her was minimal.
Those enemies, however, would certainly be under immense pressure. They would likely come looking for the person who had unleashed such a technique, trying to confirm his identity and perhaps even eliminate him.
So they had to leave before those people came knocking and regroup with the old stubborn man or with Talulah.
At the moment, finding Reunion's strongest fighters was the best option.
"Boss! Everything is packed up. We can leave at any time."
While Frostnova was keeping watch outside for suspicious individuals, the Yeti squad's crossbowman approached with the unconscious Shirou slung over his back.
Among the entire squad, only he had exchanged a few words with Shirou, so everyone unanimously agreed that he should serve as the human stretcher.
The other person who had spoken with Shirou more often was Frostnova herself, but she was not suited for the task. After all, her uncontrollable cold could easily turn Shirou into a human popsicle if she was not careful.
Besides, Frostnova's combat ability far surpassed his own. Even a dozen of his crossbow shots might not deal as much damage as a single one of her Arts attacks, so naturally he ended up carrying the burden.
Not that he had any reason to complain.
After all, Shirou had just shattered a Catastrophe.
In the crossbowman's eyes, Shirou was now someone worthy of great respect.
Being able to help him was a very good thing indeed.
"Mm. Then let's go."
Turning around to take a look, Frostnova saw that the Reunion members had indeed finished preparing. Along with them were some students who had decided to leave with the group.
The Catastrophe was over, but human threats could still be lurking in the city's shadows. After considering the situation, some people chose to seek Reunion's protection.
As for the students who refused to leave with them, that was no longer her concern.
Once the Catastrophe had passed, she had no obligation to worry about their survival unless some reckless rioters came looking for trouble and happened to run into her.
After all, she was not a soft-hearted good Samaritan like Shirou who wanted to help everyone.
Thinking about how he had been determined to venture out into the Catastrophe itself to rescue people, Frostnova could not help criticizing him in her mind. She even reached out and pinched the sleeping Shirou's cheek.
After giving it several hard tugs to vent her frustration, she finally let go.
She had a feeling that the road ahead would be far from smooth.
Hopefully she was just overthinking things.
"..."
After Frostnova released him and began directing the people on site, Shirou's reddened face twitched slightly as he frowned.
He still retained a faint degree of consciousness, but opening his eyes felt like an impossible task. All he could do was allow Frostnova's icy hands to wreak havoc on his face.
His mind was foggy, and his limbs refused to obey him.
It was probably the side effect of overloading his Magic Circuits.
At least the worst-case scenario had not happened. Shirou estimated that some rest would allow him to recover a portion of his strength.
Moreover, he could feel that if he wished to... he could project Excalibur once again, and the cost would be far lower than before.
This was Saber's gift to him.
Although the cost had decreased, it would still drain the majority of his magical energy to project it.
Simply put, after firing one devastating attack, he would collapse on the spot and lose all combat capability.
Unless absolutely necessary, there would probably be no opportunity to use it.
Overall, it counted as gaining another trump card. With that Noble Phantasm at his disposal, he now possessed another means of confronting a Catastrophe.
However, he had lost many things this time.
Avalon, which had resided within him, had gone unresponsive.
Even the other Emiya Shirou had gone silent.
Although his feelings toward that other Shirou had always been somewhat complicated, his absence now left an unexpected sense of loneliness.
At the end of the day, the other Shirou had helped him many times. It was only because of that connection to the Black Mud that Shirou had instinctively rejected him.
But now Shirou finally understood.
From beginning to end, that Shirou had never harbored any malice. On the contrary, he had stepped forward to help whenever assistance was needed.
After realizing this, Shirou no longer referred to him as " Emiya Kuro."
Once he changed his view of that other Shirou, it felt as though a burden had been lifted from his heart.
It was the burden that had begun the moment he first saw himself bathed in Black Mud, the constant fear that he would one day become the same.
There was nothing to fear.
It was only Black Mud.
Had he not been completely engulfed by it just moments ago?
...Though thinking about it now, it was still rather terrifying.
He had no idea where all that Black Mud had come from.
Could it have been lying dormant inside him all along?
There had been quite a lot of it earlier.
That should have been all of it, right?
Having relaxed somewhat, Shirou began seriously contemplating that question.
At the same time, he continued trying to regain control of his body.
Ever since they had left the school, he had occasionally heard the sounds of battle.
Most of them were the noises of ice forming or shattering, with the occasional explosion of Arts attacks mixed in.
The sounds were all quite distant.
The person carrying him had consistently maintained a relatively safe distance from the fighting.
"...What is happening now?"
After trying for quite a while, Shirou finally managed to grasp that elusive feeling and slightly opened his eyes as he spoke.
His voice was somewhat hoarse, but he did not pay much attention to it.
"You're awake? We have run into a little trouble right now. I suggest you get some more rest. We are almost there."
Hearing the raspy voice beside him, the crossbowman replied.
"I can see, you know."
Upon hearing that, Shirou weakly shot back.
He could see things perfectly well.
There were quite a few people charging toward them from ahead. Aside from those who had been frozen into ice statues and turned into obstacles, there were still many, many more advancing from behind.
"Boss Frostnova is really strong. This many people are nothing. Back then, we followed Boss Frostnova straight into the mines and fought the Ursus troops. There were even more enemies then!"
After Shirou exposed his attempt at reassurance, the crossbowman quickly changed his approach.
In short, he simply did not want Shirou, an injured patient, worrying about what was about to happen.
Ever since they had left the school, Frostnova had been feeling uneasy. At first, everyone thought she was overthinking things, but it turned out that someone really had come to attack them.
The moment the situation developed, Frostnova ordered the other Reunion members to escort the students and refugees who had been traveling with them away from the area. Only the Yeti squad and Shirou remained behind to hold off the attackers.
Those people had come specifically for Shirou.
As a result, they could only organize their defense around protecting him.
Once the others reached Azazel, reinforcements would arrive.
The problem was that the number of enemies seemed even greater than Frostnova had anticipated.
Fortunately, she had sent away everyone except the Yeti squad. Otherwise, they would probably be struggling to distinguish friend from foe right now.
The vast majority of the attackers were rioters dressed in Reunion uniforms.
A smaller number were fully armed Ursus personnel.
Just earlier, she had not seen any of those people stepping forward to stop the rioters. Now that the two groups were cooperating, it confirmed that their suspicions had been correct.
The Black Snake had left Talulah, but he was still within Reunion.
The only question was where exactly he was hiding.
But after causing such a massive disturbance...
He was probably no longer interested in remaining hidden.
Since that bastard Black Snake wanted to eliminate Shirou once and for all, she intended to stop his scheme.
After all, Shirou had just saved them and the entire city of Chernobog.
Now it was her turn.
Even without that reason, thwarting Black Snake's plans was satisfying enough on its own. That man had torn Reunion apart from within.
As long as she could ruin his plans and make his life miserable, she would gladly do it.