"Wait—"
Caught off guard, Shirou was shoved forward and sent quite a distance away.
When he looked back, the Emiya residence was already nowhere to be seen.
Nor was Illya.
"Honestly... at least let me finish what I was trying to say."
Pressing his lips together, Shirou muttered softly.
Goodbyes were not something he was good at. Perhaps Illya had acted that way because she did not want to exchange farewell words.
No... she had already said everything she wanted to say.
More likely, she had seen through what he was thinking and pushed him away before he could dwell on it.
Besides, the sensation of being drawn somewhere was growing stronger and stronger. If he followed that feeling, he might be able to leave this place.
Turning around, Shirou looked at the gate of the Emiya residence before him and reached out to push it open.
Standing at the entrance for a moment, he said:
"Thank you. You have taken care of me once again... big sister."
With that, he stepped forward, walked through the gate, and casually closed it behind him.
Just as he had done countless times over the past decade whenever he left home for school.
Back then, Emiya Shirou had admired the ideal known as the Ally of Justice and worked tirelessly toward it.
Now, Emiya Shirou still carried that same ideal in his heart and was putting it into action.
After passing through the gate, what appeared before him was not the sea of flames that had haunted him for so long.
Instead, it was Fuyuki City, devastated by the Holy Grail War.
The place where he had wandered afterward.
The "nightmare" from his past that he had failed to remember.
And there was something else.
He saw many people he knew.
Sakura, Rin, Taiga, Issei, Shinji...
One after another, the familiar faces stood on either side of him, leaving a path open down the middle.
From their expressions and reactions, Shirou could tell that these people were merely phantoms preserved within his memories.
So he did not stop.
As the pulling sensation intensified, it even seemed to drag his legs forward.
Step by step, each figure he passed dissolved into nothingness.
His pace quickened from a walk, to a jog, and finally into a full sprint.
The black curtain hanging high in the sky gradually became tinged with a faint, pale blue light, as though the endless night had finally been pierced by the first rays of dawn.
Yet it remained frozen at that exact moment when dawn illuminated the darkness.
Illya was right.
The past was the past.
What mattered most was facing the present before him.
But that did not mean Shirou intended to abandon or forget those experiences.
He would carry those memories.
He would carry those wounds.
And he would continue moving forward, just as he always had.
He ran for what felt like an eternity.
He had no idea how far the finish line was.
All he could do was desperately keep running in a single direction.
Completely unaware of the changes around him.
The ruins of shattered buildings had disappeared.
In their place stood Originium crystals.
Some were as large as hills or houses.
Others were no bigger than stones scattered along the roadside.
A broken land.
Shattered blades.
Fractured Originium.
And overhead—
Eventually, his consciousness began to blur.
Apart from the command to keep running forward, Shirou had discarded every other thought.
"—Shirou!"
A voice called out to him.
In the distance, he saw a hand reaching toward him.
He could clearly see the rings adorning each finger.
The crown-shaped Command Seal on the back of the hand was partially faded.
It was Amiya's hand.
As long as he could reach it...
Even though the finish line was now in sight, there was still some distance between him and that outstretched hand.
The sensation pulling him forward had completely vanished.
He knew that the remaining path could only be crossed through his own strength.
But his body felt unbearably heavy.
Every step forward was like dragging a massive block of iron.
His legs felt as though they were filled with lead.
His entire body teetered on the verge of collapse, held upright only by the last remnants of his strength and determination.
At this point, Shirou's mind was completely blank.
His body moved mechanically, lifting one foot after another and forcing itself onward.
He could feel as though his entire body had been hollowed out.
Even the passage of time had become unnaturally slow, just as it had when the Nation first began consuming him.
"Guh..."
Gritting his teeth, Shirou squeezed out every ounce of strength left within him.
He took another step forward and stretched out his hand, trying to grasp hers.
But it was still not enough.
There remained an entire arm's length between them.
Amiya's hand was right in front of him.
Just one or two more steps would be enough to reach it.
Yet for Shirou, that distance felt impossibly far away.
No matter how desperately he tried to take that final step, his legs refused to move.
His mind reached its limit before his body did.
In this place, the state of one's mind seemed to matter far more than physical condition.
After everything he had gone through in such a short period of time, Shirou's mental reserves had already been stretched thin. Coupled with the final burst of exertion he had just forced out of himself, reaching his limit now was only natural.
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the fact he had endured this long before reaching his limit already placed him beyond most people.
"You really never stop causing trouble."
Shirou recognized that voice.
It belonged to Archer.
Before he could react, he felt a push from behind.
The force was not strong, but it was enough to carry him across the final stretch.
Without hesitation, Shirou grabbed Amiya's hand.
Looking back, he saw the black Archer with his usual expressionless face, alongside the red Archer, whose face carried a trace of helplessness but even more satisfaction.
The next moment, a flash of white light swallowed everything.
Their figures vanished.
As for Shirou, his consciousness returned to reality.
The difference between that place and reality was quite significant.
The most obvious difference was his physical condition. He was no longer so weak that he could barely stand or walk.
Secondly, even though he was still enveloped by vast amounts of black mist and black snowflakes, he could vaguely make out several Emperor Blades outside.
That immediately reminded him of the situation he was currently facing.
The Emperor Blades still appeared to be wary of him within the "Nation."
Each of them stood spread apart while keeping their eyes fixed on him.
Within just a few seconds, Shirou grasped the current situation.
Although his mental state was not particularly good, the amount of magical energy inside him was astonishingly abundant.
In fact, he had even more mana than when he was at his peak condition.
At the very least, it was more than enough to deal with the immediate crisis.
As for where that mana had come from, Shirou already knew the answer.
The Command Seal.
He had originally assumed it would be useless for someone who was not a Servant.
Yet it had become the key to breaking through the current situation.
If Amiya had not used a Command Seal, the mana he possessed right now would probably only be enough to project a few copies of Kanshou and Bakuya.
Furthermore, it was because she had called out to him through the Command Seal that he had been able to return from that place in the first place.
How should he deal with the enemies before him?
The Emperor Blades possessed exceptional combat abilities and years of coordinated battle experience.
On top of that, whatever lurked beneath their armor was extremely troublesome.
In Shirou's estimation, perhaps only Saber's Noble Phantasm could deal with them effectively.
Unfortunately, they were clearly prepared for that possibility.
From the very beginning of their battle with him until now, they had maintained widely dispersed positions, making it impossible to eliminate them all at once.
As such, Saber's Noble Phantasm could only remain a contingency plan.
He needed to consider other options.
Caladbolg?
It could penetrate the Emperor Blades' armor, but there was no guarantee it would damage whatever lay beneath.
The Sul-Sugana on his back?
If he poured a large amount of mana into it and unleashed its flames, the destructive power would likely be considerable.
However, with the same mana expenditure, it certainly could not compare to Saber's Noble Phantasm.
And whether he could successfully release the sword's true power was another matter entirely.
...
In a single instant, countless Noble Phantasms flashed through Shirou's mind.
Yet every option either consumed too much mana or lacked sufficient firepower.
These Emperor Blades had clearly studied both him and Archer.
That was precisely why they were proving so troublesome.
Many of the Noble Phantasms he commonly used were difficult to apply effectively in the current situation.
Perhaps there were other Noble Phantasms better suited for dealing with the problem at hand.
But Shirou did not have that kind of time.
Ten seconds.
He needed to devise a way to break the stalemate within ten seconds.
Failing to find an answer, Shirou decisively changed his approach.
"If borrowed power will not work... then I will use my own!"
If other powers could not solve the problem, then he would rely on the power that belonged to him alone.
The Unlimited Blade Works compressed inside a bullet was not suitable for the current situation.
Which meant the answer was obvious.
He would deploy his Reality Marble.
Unlimited Blade Works.
He would drag both himself and the Emperor Blades into Unlimited Blade Works and settle everything there.
The most troublesome aspect of the Emperor Blades was that once the things inside their bodies erupted, people could easily be caught in the destruction.
Aside from overwhelming them with enough firepower to eliminate them instantly, transporting them somewhere devoid of people was also an effective solution.
At least as far as Shirou knew, there were virtually no Originium Arts across Terra that functioned in a similar manner.
Furthermore, Archer had never revealed information about this ability.
That meant Shirou was fully confident he could deploy Unlimited Blade Works and pull everyone into it.
There was only one problem.
Could he actually deploy Unlimited Blade Works?
Back during his time with Penguin Logistics, he had attempted it before.
At that time, he had failed.
Halfway through the chant, he had inexplicably felt a powerful sense of rejection.
As for now...
Even Shirou himself was not sure.
Perhaps deploying a Reality Marble on Terra was simply an extremely difficult feat. After all, a Reality Marble was fundamentally a bounded field created by the caster's inner world overwriting the world.
Just because it worked in his original world did not mean it would work here as well.
...No.
Perhaps none of that had anything to do with it.
Perhaps his previous failure had simply been his own fault.
If his heart was clouded by uncertainty, if he doubted himself, then how could he possibly manifest his inner world?
" My body is made out of swords—"
Swords.
They were both his magical affinity and his Origin.
Because of that, projecting swords required less mana than other weapons or objects, while the resulting quality was significantly higher.
"Hss... Target is alive. Prepare for a second attack."
Although Shirou's chanting was not loud, it was perfectly audible to these battle-hardened Emperor Blades.
The other Emperor Blades immediately raised their hands.
Black spheres of energy began condensing within their palms.
"Hss... Watch out!"
Before they could launch those energy spheres, however, a piece of tactical equipment shaped like a greatsword came crashing toward them.
The emblem of Rhodes Island was clearly visible upon it.
Its owner—
The white Feline from that pharmaceutical company.
The same girl who had previously hurled a gigantic sword the size of a building at them, causing no small amount of trouble.
"I will not let you hurt Shirou."
In the distance, Rosmontis and Amiya stood together.
Pale blue light gathered around Rosmontis's hands, a sign that she was actively using her Originium Arts.
Now that the Ig-Alima Shirou had projected had disappeared, Rosmontis could only recall her tactical equipment and continue fighting with it.
Unfortunately, against veterans like the Emperor Blades, the trajectory of her attacks was relatively easy to predict.
But that did not matter.
The most important thing right now was buying time for Shirou.
She could sense that Shirou was trying to accomplish something within the black mist.
She did not know what it was.
But what she needed to do was very simple—
Protect Shirou.
As long as she accomplished that, it was enough.
"Blaze, stay on standby and protect Rosmontis and me."
Beside her, black energy gathered within Amiya's hand as she searched for an opportunity to attack while issuing orders to Blaze.
The current battlefield did not allow her to call reinforcements from Rhodes Island.
Even the three of them were supporting Shirou from an extremely distant position outside the Nation's effective range.
The only person Amiya could think of who might suit the current situation was Scout.
Even then, that was only because of his attack range and combat style.
Expecting Scout to engage Emperor Blades head-on without pre-positioned tactical equipment or support from other operators would be asking far too much.
"Leave it to me!"
Although her body was covered in wounds and stained with blood, Blaze still wore her trademark confident grin as she hefted her chainsaw and accepted the task.
One of Blaze's greatest strengths was that she never questioned orders.
The commander gave instructions.
She did everything in her power to carry them out.
"Hss... Annoying."
The tactical equipment flying through the air was little more than a nuisance to them.
It posed virtually no real threat.
However, the Arts gathering in the Caster's hand nearby was a different matter entirely.
Despite the great distance separating them, the Emperor Blades could still feel an intense sense of danger emanating from it.
It seemed that Rhodes Island was not nearly as weak as they had initially assumed.
Under the protection of the other Emperor Blades, the squad leader shifted his attention back toward Shirou within the Nation.
From the moment they noticed movement inside the Nation, to deciding to attack, until now, less than a few seconds had passed.
Yet within those brief seconds, he had already sensed a powerful threat emerging from within.
Without hesitation, he hurled his weapon into the Nation and rapidly condensed several energy spheres before firing them after it.
The attack was weaker than its original version.
But it was better than doing nothing.
The Emperor Blade's weapon and the energy spheres disappeared into the Nation, swallowed by the black mist.
And within the Nation...
"My blood is of iron and my heart of glass."
"Through countless battlefields undefeated."
Most of Shirou's concentration was focused on his chant.
Even so, he could still sense the events unfolding outside.
Especially the sword and energy spheres speeding directly toward him.
Violet flower petals suddenly bloomed before him.
Separated by that curtain of purple petals, every attack was stopped on the opposite side, allowing him to continue his incantation uninterrupted.
At the same time, to prevent the Emperor Blades from realizing what was happening and attempting to retreat, Shirou diverted a small amount of mana and unleashed the flames of Sul-Sugana.
The fire engulfed not only himself but every visible Emperor Blade outside as well.
"Not even once fleeing,"
"Yet my life remains unfinished..."
Ever since arriving upon this land, there had been one thing Shirou could never understand.
...And only now was he beginning to find the answer.
The question that had always lingered in Shirou's mind was this:
Why him?
Why was it him who had come to this world, rather than someone else?
In terms of knowledge, he was nothing more than a high school student who had not even graduated yet, with fairly average grades.
In terms of ability, aside from his skills at repairing machinery and his Projection Magecraft or more accurately, Unlimited Blade Works, there were countless magus better than him at Magecraft.
No matter how he looked at it, in no field was he the very best.
That fact had troubled him for a long time.
But after witnessing his memories and speaking with Illya, he finally understood.
There are no gifts without a price.
Every present already has its cost attached the moment it is given.
If someone wished for another Ally of Justice to appear upon this land...
Then he would grant that wish.
"This body that stands upon this land—"
Let Emiya Shirou, this individual, this existence, carry out the ideal known as the Ally of Justice upon this world!
"Is forged from infinite swords!"
The instant the chant was completed—
The flames covering the battlefield.
The Nation.
Sul-sagana.
Shirou himself.
Every person, object, and phenomenon present vanished without a trace.
The only ones left behind were Amiya, Rosmontis, and Blaze, who had been covering for Shirou moments earlier.
"Huh? Where did the fire go? What about the black mist? Where is everyone? Where is Shirou? How did they all disappear?"
Although countless questions filled her mind, Blaze did not lower her guard.
Gripping her chainsaw tightly, she moved closer to the two younger girls.
"...Do your best, Shirou."
Staring at the now-empty battlefield, Amiya quickly understood what had happened.
After all, during those brief few seconds, she had clearly felt Shirou draw upon a tremendous amount of magical energy.
A considerable portion of it had even been supplied through her.
Combined with her vague understanding of Shirou's abilities, she quickly pieced together what he had done.
Amiya did not know what Shirou was planning.
Nor did she know what he intended to accomplish.
All she could do was offer a silent prayer—
That he would achieve victory.
And return safely.