Chapter 115: The Fourth Divine War! Shirou vs. Thanatos the God of Death!
"To think she held off an entire floor's worth of monsters alone for so long… Should I say it's to be expected of a Level 6? Or perhaps, to be expected of Lady Riveria of the royal elven bloodline, who bears the title of 'Strongest Mage in the City.'"
Before the completely exhausted Riveria, who had lost all her magical energy and ability to resist, a tall human with a powerful physique slowly walked forward.
The man wore sunglasses made of tinted crystal. Behind the pitch-black lenses, a faint glow of a blood-red left eye could be seen, as if cursed by some unnatural force.
His twisted, feral smile made it clear that he was no kind-hearted man.
Riveria stared coldly at such a ruthless man, making it clear she had no intention of submitting.
The man in sunglasses was about to say something else when he suddenly murmured with a complicated expression:
"You're watching me again? Aren't we brothers?"
"We were only born from the same woman. I don't recognize a traitor to the progenitor as a brother, Dix," said Barca as he slowly stepped into view, staring at the man who shared his bloodline.
"Heh. I feel the same way, Barca," Dix sneered. "Just the thought of sharing blood with a 'cursed' servant like you makes me sick."
Though both Barca and Dix were descendants of the Daedalus family, their personalities were completely opposite.
From the time of their progenitor Daedalus, the Daedalus family had ceaselessly constructed a man-made labyrinth.
Generations of their clan had sacrificed themselves for this cause.
Through determination comparable to moving mountains, they managed to create an artificial dungeon beneath Orario that came extremely close to mimicking the real one.
Though man-made, the layout, mechanisms, and even the design concepts were indistinguishable from the true Dungeon.
Naturally, building such a place came with an astronomical cost in time and effort.
Even after a thousand years of labor, the Daedalus family had only managed to construct twenty floors.
At that rate, building a hundred floors to match the true Dungeon would take another four thousand years.
And even that was just an estimate.
As one goes deeper into the Dungeon, each floor increases exponentially in size. If one wanted to replicate the entire Dungeon, the time required would likely be counted in tens of thousands of years.
Facing such an absurd task, the progenitor Daedalus's intentions aside, it was unrealistic to expect his descendants to continue sharing his vision.
Yet, the Daedalus bloodline could not stop building.
For they were cursed by their progenitor.
Anyone who inherited the Daedalus bloodline would become instinctively obsessed with constructing the artificial labyrinth, dedicating their entire life to it.
This irrational curse turned every descendant into a prisoner—trapped forever within the man-made Dungeon.
In such an environment, two extreme personalities were born.
One type, like Barca, willingly accepted the fate, viewing the construction of the labyrinth as their life's mission.
The other type, like Dix, rejected it. But in doing so, they lived in pain, tormented by the curse.
One suffered physical torment, the other spiritual anguish.
Which was worse? Only the descendants of Daedalus could say.
At the moment, Barca frowned slightly as he looked at the fallen Riveria.
"Why is she alone? Where are the rest of the Loki Familia?"
"Unfortunately, she kept me busy so the others could escape to the upper levels," Dix waved dismissively. "Honestly, I'm just a mere Level 5, and you people expected me to capture two Level 6s? That was a ridiculous order from the start."
"Hmph. You can control the monsters in this labyrinth. With such an overwhelming advantage, don't complain," Barca said coldly. "Lord Thanatos's orders were to capture Riveria and her entire team. If you can't do that, forget about using this artificial dungeon for Ikelos Familia's monster trafficking operations."
Knowing he had to comply with his "brother" to continue smuggling monsters, Dix didn't argue.
After all, the monsters in this artificial dungeon were either captured from the deeper parts of the Dungeon by Thanatos Familia or cultivated using corrupted fairy essence.
Though Dix was only Level 5, with the ability to control these monsters, he could overpower Riveria's team.
Now that Riveria was dealt with and Gareth, the Level 6 dwarf, was wounded, Dix didn't believe completing the job would be difficult.
He quickly led a horde of monsters in pursuit of the Loki Familia escapees.
Artificial Dungeon – 19th Floor
Though Lefiya and the others had successfully escaped from the dangerous 20th floor, they soon encountered monsters from other floors.
With Riveria trapped and Gareth severely injured, the team's combat power had drastically dropped. Even without Dix's control, the roaming monsters on the 19th floor were now a major threat.
In this crisis, Lefiya—who possessed Level 5-level firepower—naturally became the team's core.
"Arc Ray – Light Arrows!"
Facing a swarm of monsters, Lefiya took a deep breath, drew the longbow from her back, took aim, and launched her attack.
BOOM!
Magic converged on her arrows, turning into shining beams of light. The mighty shot vaporized the swarm of water spiders in an instant.
This magic-arrow technique was undoubtedly a skill she had mastered under Shirou's guidance.
She combined magic with archery, layering spells onto the arrows as she shot them.
Although this reduced the power of the spells, it drastically shortened chant time and allowed for rapid-fire attacks.
BANG!
With a few consecutive shots, Lefiya cleared the path, allowing the Loki Familia members to continue forward.
"Amazing, Lefiya!" exclaimed Anakitty Autumn, the Level 4 catwoman swordswoman. "We thought you were just practicing archery for fun, but I didn't expect you to combine it with magic! That's incredible!"
"I-It's nothing…" Lefiya replied, blushing.
She knew full well that her strength wasn't self-earned—it was all thanks to Shirou, her archery teacher.
Not only had Shirou trained her in archery, but he had also forged Avalon for her, which had saved their party multiple times.
Without Avalon's self-repair and defensive barrier abilities, Lefiya might have already died—and the whole team with her.
By now, Lefiya's heart was full of gratitude toward Shirou… and emotions beyond mere gratitude.
However, a shadow hung over her heart—especially the time she saw Shirou embracing the girl who called herself his daughter, Wiene, atop the city walls.
Lefiya had stormed off in a jealous rage, not asking for clarification.
Afterwards, she felt something was off—she had never heard that Shirou had a wife or child. But since they had gone off to fight the Dark Faction, there had been no time to ask.
Now, Lefiya could only assume Wiene really was Shirou's daughter, and that he had quietly built a family of his own.
If that was the case… what should she do with these feelings of hers?
How could she stop this pain in her heart?
A fierce conflict raged inside Lefiya.
"Watch out, Lefiya!"
While Lefiya was distracted thinking about Shirou, a few venomous demon larvae suddenly lunged from the shadows, spraying poisonous liquid.
!!!
With no time to react, Lefiya instinctively activated the power of Avalon, the sacred scabbard Shirou had given her.
BOOM!
A beam of white light erupted from the scabbard, blocking the poisonous attack.
Just as Lefiya let out a breath of relief, monsters began pouring in from every direction, completely surrounding them.
"This is…"
Faced with the all-too-familiar sight, Lefiya and the others widened their eyes—and immediately spotted the familiar silhouette of Dix, the man in sunglasses, in the distance.
He had caught up to them!
"Lefiya, get back!"
Anakitty stood in front of Lefiya and faced the Level 5 enemy.
But the difference in power was clear.
Dix drew a long spear and with a single thrust, sent Anakitty flying.
He then summoned a huge wave of monsters to form a pincer attack, completely surrounding Lefiya and the others.
"The cat-and-mouse game is over."
Dix grinned coldly, staring at them like prey caught in a trap, as if already picturing their corpses.
In such hopeless circumstances, most of the Loki Familia members were consumed by despair—unable to even think about resisting.
Lefiya, too, was afraid—but she refused to give up.
Because if she gave up now and fell into the hands of the Dark Faction, she would never get the chance to see Shirou again.
Yes—Lefiya had made up her mind.
Whether or not Shirou was really Wiene's father didn't matter. Her feelings had nothing to do with that.
No matter what, she had to express her heart to him.
And for that—she absolutely could not die here!
"Light arrow of liberation, sacred wood for the bow's shaft—by the name of the bow, I shall shoot!" "Sniper, fairy archer!"
Lefiya once again drew her bow and nocked an arrow. This time, her target was Dix, the mastermind behind it all. As long as Dix was taken down, the surrounding monsters would cease to be controlled.
"Snap!"
As Lefiya released her arrow, the magical energy transformed into a bolt that instantly crossed space and arrived in front of Dix.
However, against an attack of this level, Dix didn't even glance at it—he simply raised his spear and swatted the arrow aside.
The difference between Level 3 and Level 5 was simply too great.
"Futile struggle. Let's end this." Dix swung his spear and unleashed a curse.
In that moment, the surrounding monsters surged toward the group even more aggressively and quickly broke through the Loki Familia's defensive line.
Faced with such a desperate situation, even setting aside the others, Lefiya's expression was filled with helplessness and confusion.
She hadn't expected she would die in a place like this— She had done nothing, hadn't even conveyed her feelings to the one she cared for...
Was she going to die? To die here... so uselessly?!
Gritting her teeth, Lefiya struggled to raise her arm, trying once more to draw her bow. But before she could finish, a flying bat monster bit her arm, causing the arrow in her hand to fall.
At the same time, a horde of monsters pounced, intending to eliminate Lefiya, the wielder of the greatest firepower, right then and there!
"No… I don't want to die yet…"
Tears welled in Lefiya's eyes as Shirou's image instinctively surfaced in her mind. Her only thought in that moment was: "I want to hear his voice… one more time… before I die."
And whether it was her wish being fulfilled or merely an auditory hallucination— Deep beneath this artificial dungeon, she actually heard that familiar voice.
"How is it? Can you still stand?"
Before she realized it, the monsters surrounding her had already been slain.
The horde summoned by Dix had been rapidly wiped out by Ais and the others. In the blink of an eye, the battlefield had been cleared.
The monsters near Lefiya were also killed by Shirou.
"Shirou… Shirou? Why? Why are you here?"
Lefiya couldn't believe what she was seeing. While it was still within reason for Ais and the others to appear, she hadn't even imagined Shirou would show up.
Faced with her shocked expression, Shirou checked her condition. After confirming she wasn't seriously injured, he nodded and said,
"Looks like there's no serious damage. Good. Seems like the Avalon I gave you came in handy after all. Now, wait here for a bit. I need to take care of that guy first."
As Shirou spoke, he turned his gaze toward the distant Dix. He had immediately seen that all the monsters were under Dix's control.
Originally, he had assumed Dix was part of the Thanatos Familia, but upon closer inspection, he noticed the crest of the Ikelos Familia on Dix's body, revealing his true affiliation.
Shirou then suspected a collaboration between the Thanatos and Ikelos Familias and decided to capture Dix for questioning.
But as soon as Dix saw Ais and the others appear, he realized the situation had turned dire and chose to flee immediately.
Because of the distance and the need to protect their allies, Ais and the others were unable to give chase.
Under these circumstances, Shirou calmly picked up Lefiya's fallen bow and arrow. As he nocked the arrow, unnoticed by anyone, he secretly replaced it with a projected Hrunting.
"Hunt him—Hrunting!"
As one of Shirou's projected Noble Phantasms, the Hrunting, transformed into an arrow, had the ability to track and pursue its target. As long as the enemy's blood still flowed, it would chase the target to the ends of the earth!
"Snap!"
The moment Shirou fired the arrow, it flew like a homing missile, shooting straight toward Dix with unwavering speed.
Dix hadn't expected such an attack. As the relentless arrow chased him, he tried to knock it down—but even after deflecting it with his spear, the arrow continued pursuing him relentlessly.
In the end, Dix had to make a choice between:
Fighting Hrunting until Ais and the others caught up, Or taking the hit and fleeing wounded.
He chose the latter without hesitation.
"Aaaahhhhh!!"
The Hrunting pierced straight through Dix's abdomen. Blood spattered. Gritting his teeth and ignoring the pain, Dix escaped from the scene.
"Pretty ruthless…" Shirou watched as Dix fled and had no intention of pursuing. Since the man wasn't part of the Thanatos Familia, Shirou had no reason to kill him.
The Ikelos Familia wasn't his main target. Once the Thanatos Familia was crushed, he could always deal with Ikelos later.
.
.
.
After regrouping with Lefiya and the others, both sides shared their information.
Lefiya's team learned that Shirou had been chosen as Finn's successor and was now the acting captain of the Loki Familia.
Shirou, in turn, learned that Riveria had been captured by the Thanatos Familia to buy time for the others to escape.
Everyone was deeply worried about Riveria, except for Shirou, who remained calm. He believed that the Thanatos Familia wouldn't harm her but instead use her as a hostage to restrain him.
So instead of withdrawing and giving the enemy more time to prepare, the best option was to charge straight into their base, rescue Riveria before they could react, and destroy the Thanatos Familia.
Shirou presented his plan and did not allow any objections, leading everyone—including the heavily wounded Gareth—into the depths of the artificial dungeon.
Along the way, Lefiya walked beside him, her expression complicated.
"Shirou, aren't you afraid?" she asked, looking troubled. "That's the stronghold of the Dark Faction. Who knows what kind of horrors lie inside?"
"Afraid? Of course, I'm afraid," Shirou replied quietly. "But fear and terror don't change anything. If you want to save someone, what you must do is overcome that fear—and use reason to make the best decision."
"Overcome… fear…"
Hearing his words, Lefiya felt as if she had gained courage from him.
She no longer feared the danger that awaited in the stronghold of the Dark Faction. As long as she stayed by his side, she felt like she could do anything.
In her heart, she silently made a vow: Once this mission was over, no matter the outcome, she would confess her feelings to him!
.
.
.
Shirou and the others soon arrived at the 20th floor of the dungeon.
Just as they were nearing the Dark Faction's headquarters, Gareth regained consciousness. Despite his heavy injuries, he forced himself to move and fight alongside them.
"Gareth-san, are you really okay?" Lefiya couldn't help but ask.
"My body's a lot sturdier than you fragile mages!" Gareth barked. "If anything bad happens, just use my body as a shield!"
"Th-that's too much!"
The members of the Loki Familia all gave helpless looks at Gareth's words.
Shirou, however, replied calmly: "If that's your wish, I won't hold back."
"Heh, I like you, kid. You suit my taste just fine." Gareth laughed. "No wonder Loki chose you to succeed Finn."
Shirou didn't react to the compliment. He was focused on something else: the massive palace ahead of them.
Surrounding the palace were countless murals, lit by pale magic stone lamps that gave off an eerie glow—like a massive ruin.
"So this is the Dark Faction's lair?"
Everyone present couldn't help but grow solemn. But Shirou remained calm. He even had time to study the murals.
They all depicted a massive black dragon, its wings wide enough to blot out the sky. Beneath it were countless humans, trembling in terror.
From the murals, one could almost hear the monster's roar and the people's screams...
Upon seeing them, Ais's expression twisted in horror, something she herself didn't even realize. The others instinctively took a step back from her.
Shirou, however, noticed and deduced from her reaction that the dragon was likely the ancient calamity known as the One-Eyed Black Dragon, or "Beast of the End."
As if confirming his thoughts, a cold, oppressive voice rang out from nearby.
"What's depicted on these murals is the world-ending disaster of the past: the One-Eyed Black Dragon."
A pale-skinned male god stepped forward slowly.
"Besides the black dragon, there were two other calamities: the land king Behemoth and the sea king Leviathan.
Those two have already been defeated by the Hera and Zeus Familias.
Once the last black dragon is destroyed, the three great threats troubling the gods will be gone, and the lower world will know true peace—at least that's the theory."
Though his voice sounded solemn, his tone was laced with sarcasm. He clearly didn't believe that eliminating the three calamities would lead to true peace—perhaps even the opposite.
Shirou ignored the sarcasm and got straight to the point:
"Are you… Thanatos?"
"Indeed. I am Thanatos, the current leader of the Dark Faction." He smiled. "Which means, if you kill me, the Dark Faction of Orario will be headless and can never rise again."
Shirou didn't comment on that. Regardless of whether it was true, his mission wouldn't change.
"Prepare for the end, Thanatos. Your Familia and the Dark Faction will fall today."
Shirou calmly declared.
Thanatos simply waved his hand with a smile. "You really do have the air of a hero, Emiya Shirou. But I know—you're no hero. You're no champion of justice either."
"These eyes of mine can see into souls. I can see your hypocrisy. I can see… your secrets."
Shirou was startled that Thanatos could do such a thing. If he could see souls, maybe he even knew Shirou's true nature as the Sword demon.
Even so, Shirou was unfazed. Even if his identity was exposed, his mission wouldn't change.
Sensing Shirou's resolve, Thanatos smiled again.
"Very well. It seems we can't have a nice chat today. Then let's begin our duel—using your favorite pastime: the divine game!"
"Divine… game?"
"You defeated Soma, Apollo, and Kali—three gods. I know this very well. But precisely because of that, I want to face you fairly."
Thanatos stared at Shirou with burning eyes.
"Let me personally test the power of a god-slayer. Let's see if you're really a man who can keep creating miracles! If you do defeat me… maybe I'll even tell you the secret of this city!"
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