Chapter 171: Shirou Unleashes Indestructible Authority, The God-Mortal War Under All Eyes!
The Goddess of Justice, Astraea, revealed her true Authority. It was not merely the manipulation of swords, nor was it a specific ability to create swords, but rather it encompassed almost the entire concept of the sword. Her own Authority was equivalent to the collection of all swords in the world!
"Boom!"
When Astraea's Authority manifested, numerous colossal, mountain-like longswords appeared from behind her, each one enveloped in astonishing divine power.
Facing this startling move, Shirou did not hesitate. He immediately controlled the swords within Unlimited Blade Works, attempting to break through with sheer numbers, just as he had before. By unleashing an astonishing quantity of swords, he tried to break through Astraea's defense in one go.
However, after witnessing the capabilities of Unlimited Blade Works once, Astraea clearly would not be restricted by the same move again.
Confronting the countless swords Shirou conjured out of thin air, the numerous giant swords behind Astraea suddenly dispersed. They then rushed toward Shirou like scattering snowflakes, forming a vortex of swords that collided with his own.
Yes, Astraea possessed the Authority to create swords, meaning she could create a large number of blades in a short time, just like Shirou. Furthermore, Astraea could not only create swords but also control the swords Shirou created.
The numerous weapons existing within Unlimited Blade Works, under the influence of Astraea's Authority, also began to converge into her hands, transforming into an even fiercer wave that rushed toward Shirou.
With her gaining power while his was diminished, even with the might of Unlimited Blade Works, Shirou couldn't compete with Astraea in terms of quantity. In the end, the previous scene was reversed.
This time, it was Shirou's turn to be swallowed by the countless swords unleashed by Astraea, forced to duck and dodge to avoid her assault. Even so, the astonishing number of swords that closely followed Astraea didn't let up, pursuing him at a terrifying speed and completely engulfing Shirou's figure!
"Bang!"
The smoke dissipated, and Shirou's figure reappeared. His body was nearly run through by a sword that grazed him, leaving a clearly visible scar across his chest.
"I'm afraid that as long as you use the sword as your adversary, it's impossible to defeat my Authority," Astraea quietly spoke, seeing Shirou severely wounded. "The Authority of the
Sword can control all swords in this world and can create a large number of swords at will. If I wanted to, I could release tens of thousands, even hundreds of millions of blades at any time. Your Unlimited Blade Works Reality Marble is certainly powerful, but its compatibility with my Authority is simply too poor, because the number of swords I can create is also infinite..."
"It certainly looks that way..."
Shirou struggled to his feet. In that instant, he had fully realized that Goddess Astraea's Authority was no ordinary thing. His Unlimited Blade Works, rather than being the same type of ability, was actually a lower-tier version of Goddess Astraea's Authority.
If he only used this level of power, it was clearly impossible to defeat the Goddess before him.
In that case, to defeat Goddess Astraea, to directly confront the Authority of the Goddess of Justice, he would have to transcend the concept of the sword itself; he would have to transcend Unlimited Blade Works.
"Hoo—"
Shirou slowly got up from the ground. Enduring his injured body, he looked again at the female deity before him and quietly spoke, "You're right. It's impossible to defeat your Authority with the power of the sword. In that case, I must create an even greater power, a power that transcends the sword."
"A power that transcends the sword? You have another move?"
Astraea's eyes widened. She seemed to not have expected that even this Reality Marble filled with countless swords wasn't Shirou's limit, and she couldn't help but show an expression of surprise.
"I didn't originally, but whether you call it a coincidence or destiny... I received help from Hestia and gained an even greater power."
"Hestia? What did she do?"
Astraea couldn't understand Shirou's words.
She didn't believe a God could give any substantial aid to a mortal. The most a God could give a mortal was something called an 'Falna' (Blessing), but Falna was a limited power—it was a way for a God to use a minimal amount of Divine Power to help the mortal's inner talent blossom further. And that level of power was undoubtedly worlds apart from the true power of a God.
Unless there was one possibility: that a God had bestowed their Authority upon a mortal.
But this was impossible.
Aside from how a God could even grant an Authority to a mortal, a fragile mortal simply could not bear the burden of a God's Authority and would be instantly destroyed.
Thus, Astraea could not comprehend Shirou's words.
Shirou, however, didn't pay attention to Astraea's reaction. He quietly spoke, "That's right. Just as you are thinking, Hestia granted her Authority to me, giving me a comparable portion of that Authority."
"That is impossible!"
Astraea flatly denied Shirou's words. She couldn't believe a God would share their Authority with a mortal, nor could she believe a mortal could truly bear a God's Authority. Such a thing would shock the worldview of any deity.
Yet, watching Shirou's actions, Astraea couldn't help but suspect that Shirou might have truly obtained the power of a God's Authority.
.
.
.
When Shirou unleashed the power of Unlimited Blade Works, his and Goddess Astraea's figures completely vanished from everyone's sight, utterly obscured. This situation was very similar to Kali's War God's Arena next door, both swallowing everything through some kind of boundary ability.
While the fact that a mortal could use boundary magic was astonishing, everyone on the scene, Gods and humans alike, had clearly grown accustomed to the recurring miracles created by the man known as Shirou Emiya.
Furthermore, because Shirou's Unlimited Blade Works had dragged Astraea entirely into the Reality Marble, Astraea's Authority could no longer interfere with the rest of Orario.
Consequently, the allied forces who had come to rescue Ryuu quickly routed the Guild's numerous Familia, successfully finding a path to escape the scene! Of course, because many in the allied forces were worried about Shirou's safety, they generally didn't leave directly, instead wanting to stay and observe the situation at the execution stage.
The members of the Dark Faction, like the Thanatos Familia, however, didn't want to be exposed to the light for too long. After seeing the execution had been completely destroyed, they wished to leave.
However, before they could act, a startling aura swept over the entire execution grounds. Then, the ground suddenly began to shake.
"...Earthquake?"
The Familia on both sides—the Guild's and Ryuu's rescue party—were momentarily confused by the sudden, intense tremor. They hadn't expected such a sudden change.
Following that, the violent shaking intensified, and the ground around the plaza suddenly cracked open.
"Rumble!!"
Accompanied by the tremendous sound of the shaking, a large group of golems made of steel suddenly emerged from all directions, quickly surrounding the plaza where the execution was taking place.
"Whoa!? What are those!?"
"Metal monsters!?"
"Are they monsters from the Dungeon!?"
Everyone on the scene was utterly confused for a moment.
As everyone said, what had suddenly appeared was a group of golems made of a metal similar to silver. Each golem had limbs thicker than a large monster, a head shaped like a small mountain, an eye-like organ, and a dark, engraved mark on its forehead that belonged to no known race's language.
Their colossal bodies, nearly 3 meters tall, were asymmetrical, looking as if they were constructed from irregular blocks of metal, appearing as distorted as the deep-level rock monster, the 'Volcanic Rock Wyvern'.
The moment these golems arrived, they immediately surrounded Ryuu and the many Familia who had raided the execution, positioning themselves on the same side as the Guild-aligned Familia. Witnessing all this, everyone immediately realized that this must be some kind of tactic employed by the Guild.
"My apologies, but to maintain order in this city, I must resort to this."
From a certain direction in the plaza, a figure wearing a black cloak spoke, clutching a magic staff. If Shirou were here, he would surely recognize this black-cloaked man as the member of the Ouranos Faction he had encountered when he met the Xenos, Wiene.
This person seemed to be an individual specifically performing some covert operations for Ouranos and would normally never expose himself to people.
His appearance here indicated that the current chaos in Orario had spiraled beyond Ouranos's control, forcing him to intervene to prevent further outbreaks of disorder.
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"I can't believe even Fels showed up."
From atop Babel, Loki showed a cold smile as she saw the black-cloaked mage appear. Although the general populace of Orario didn't recognize this mysterious mage, Gods of Loki and Freya's level naturally knew his identity.
His name was Fels. He was a member of the Guild, but most people in Orario were unaware of his existence and knew nothing about him. This was because Fels had always operated in the shadows of Orario, carrying out the dirty work for Ouranos without anyone's knowledge.
It was said that Fels was not from this era. He was a human mage from eight hundred years ago, hailing from a great magic nation. He had once maximized the Development Ability known as 'Mystery', successfully creating the Philosopher's Stone, which could grant a mortal eternal life.
Fels, elated by his great achievement, went to meet his patron God. However, when Fels's patron God learned that the Philosopher's Stone could grant eternal life, he smashed the stone right in front of Fels, mocking Fels for daring to covet the 'domain of the Gods.'
Yes, in the eyes of the Gods, eternal life was always their domain, a place mortals should absolutely never encroach upon. The deity's atrocity reduced Fels's life's work to naught. Enraged, he left the Familia. However, the Philosopher's Stone was, after all, a chance creation, and Fels was never able to recreate it afterward.
But due to his dissatisfaction with the patron God who had scorned him, Fels continued to labor in the field of eternal research and created a new secret art of immortality. However, the new secret art had severe side effects: it turned Fels himself into a skeleton, unable to feel hunger or thirst, and unable to update his Status.
Fels wandered Genkai for hundreds of years in this state. When he finally arrived in Orario, he coincidentally met the God Ouranos. After some process, he approved of Ouranos's aspirations and charisma, choosing to become Ouranos's personal mercenary, serving the Old God.
As a mage who had lived for hundreds of years, Fels's Status was unable to be updated due to the side effect of his immortality secret art, remaining stuck in the Lv. 4 domain. However, his years of research granted him numerous incredible skills and magic.
Especially his Development Ability [Mystery], which gave him a technique almost akin to turning base metal into gold.
He used this to create these golems from a special material in the Dungeon called Super-Hard Alloy and used his short staff to remotely control them by transferring the creator's 'Magical Power'. Since Super-Hard Alloy is the material used to forge Second-Tier, and even First-Tier weapons, its hardness is far beyond imagination. Even against Lv. 5 or Lv. 6 adventurers, they could hold their own.
Furthermore, the number of Super-Hard Alloy Golems in the plaza right now was unimaginably large. A single one of these golems likely cost over a hundred million Valis, and
such a large number of them were worth enough to buy an entire kingdom. This clearly showed that Fels's actions were certainly supported by Ouranos, who provided him with ample funding for his plan and actions.
"Capture all the sinners!"
To execute Ouranos's command, Fels brandished his short staff and issued the directive to the metal warriors. In the blink of an eye, a great number of metal warriors surrounded the crowd and instantly suppressed everyone, including Ryuu.
Even the two Lv. 6 members of the Kali Familia were somewhat unable to resist. This was because their techniques and combat skills were designed for use against people; they were utterly ineffective against this emotionless, lifeless golem legion.
"This is trouble..."
Hermes on the high platform couldn't help but show a helpless expression upon seeing all this. He never expected Ouranos would proactively send someone to interfere with the chaos, which meant that the people present now had no way to escape with their current strength.
Therefore, everyone could only instinctively look toward the area engulfed by Unlimited Blade Works, waiting for the battle between Shirou and Astraea to conclude!
This battle between a mortal and a God was destined to influence everything!
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