Chapter 174: The Eruption of the Heaven-Wrought Sword Boundary! Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi VS. The Sword of Judgment!
"So that's it..."
Feeling the intense burning sensation from his body, Astraea finally understood the true ability and Authority Shirou possessed.
It was a flame that could burn the soul, the wrath of a mortal that could defy even a God's will. By concentrating all will and spirit into a single point, it thoroughly ignited all power to transcend the limits a mortal could reach and cross the boundary of will.
The flame, rather than being mere fire, was Shirou's own soul, burning endlessly. With the blessing of Hestia's 'Authority of Eternal Flame', it became a God-slaying power that would burn without end. It could ignite even a God's soul, which made perfect sense.
The Karma's Flames that ignites the soul—this was Shirou's true Authority.
At the same time, although Shirou's own Authority was half-baked, with the other half—the 'Authority of Eternal Flame'—provided by Hestia, he possessed a power equivalent to a true God's Authority.
Upon realizing this, Astraea's expression gradually became serious. She recognized the unprecedented great feat created by the man before her and quietly spoke, "Alright, this is perfect... Let this battle prove whose Justice is correct—is it mine, or is yours the true one! I will hold nothing back, using everything I can control to completely destroy you, Shirou Emiya!"
As her words fell, an astonishing wave of divine power erupted on the scene. The entire space of Unlimited Blade Works was violently shaken, as if the searing energy were about to tear the very space apart!
.
.
.
The appearance of the metal golem army reversed the one-sided battle once again, and the chaotic fight seemed for a time to be a struggle to the death. In the midst of the chaos, Ryuu and the waitresses of the Hostess of Fertility all fought on the front lines against the metal golems. However, these golems, all made of Super-Hard Alloy, possessed a toughness that was beyond ordinary people's reach. No matter how powerful the attack or magic was, it couldn't inflict any damage.
Just as everyone was in a tough fight, Ryuu subconsciously looked at the sky not far away, especially at the Sword of Judgment hanging in the heavens, and discovered that the greatsword was releasing some kind of astonishing energy.
"Lady Astraea's Sword of Judgment has been activated!"
Ryuu's voice slowly sounded in the chaos. Everyone instinctively looked over and was surprised to find that Astraea's Sword of Judgment, which had been firmly bound by Enkidu in the sky, was now erupting with some incredible energy, causing the entire city of Orario to be covered in terrifying divine power.
"W-What's happening?"
"Such heavy pressure!"
"Has the end of the world come?"
Everyone spoke in confusion, watching the change unfold in disbelief. Especially those close enough to the execution stage could feel a sensation like death approaching, completely destroying their spirit and will.
.
.
.
The Loki Familia and the Freya Familia were working together to defend against the invasion of the Rakia Kingdom led by the War God Ares. Although the disparity in strength was obvious—the combined power of the two great Familia could easily suppress the Rakia Kingdom's army outside the city walls—due to the enemy's numerical advantage, the battle had unknowingly turned into a prolonged one.
Both the Loki Familia and the Freya Familia, while concerned about the events at the execution grounds, had no way of leaving the battlefield. They could only grit their teeth and continue the fight.
"Do we really not need to go help?"
In the midst of the battle, Ais's expression was a little complicated. She felt the divine power fluctuation erupting from the execution grounds and was extremely concerned about Shirou's safety, so she looked at Finn, who was the commander.
"Trust that man," Finn waved his hand. "If we go and mess things up now, the Freya Familia will follow, and the Rakia Kingdom will successfully break into Orario, causing even greater chaos. Therefore, we cannot take any unnecessary actions right now."
"..."
Ais still seemed unwilling to accept Finn's words. She could only fight even more desperately to defeat the Rakia Kingdom's soldiers, trying to end the battle here quickly so she could go to the execution grounds for support.
However, just then, the anomaly of the Sword of Judgment in the sky shook everything. The fierce fluctuation was clearly felt even at the city walls.
"What, what?! What's happening?!"
Lefiya's spell was interrupted by the sudden tremor. She frantically looked up at the sky and saw that the Sword of Judgment, which was originally sealed by chains, was gradually producing astonishing fluctuations, and the sword itself had become larger and was exuding an even more exaggerated aura of power for some reason.
"That is..."
At the same time, everyone on the scene—the Loki Familia, the Freya Familia, and even the Rakia Kingdom's army—was stunned by the Sword of Judgment in the sky, unable to imagine that such a terrifying weapon was the manifestation of a certain God's Authority! Every person who saw the Sword of Judgment descending from the heavens, as if it would annihilate the world, felt a fear from the depths of their soul, as if everything would be utterly frozen!
.
.
.
Rudra Familia Territory
A very small team had quietly entered the territory. The members of the team were the God of Death Thanatos, the Goddess of the Hearth Hestia, the God of the Forge Hephaestus, the Goddess of Beauty Ishtar, and the God Rudra himself.
"Rudra, why are you helping us?"
Hestia had a suspicious expression. After she had collapsed and was on the verge of death in the Dian Cecht Familia's hospital room from giving too much of her divine blood to Shirou, she still couldn't just lie there and wait for everything to end. Faced with the fact that her dependent was fighting in a bloody battle, Hestia chose to get up and take action regardless of the cost.
Then, she met Thanatos, who had privately come to see her. Thanatos said that he had discussed it with Shirou beforehand: they would take advantage of the chaos in Babel when everyone's attention was focused there to go to the Rudra Familia in the confusion to rescue the members of the Astraea Familia who were being used for experiments by the Ouranos Faction.
Because the risk of this was huge, the two of them agreed that a team composed entirely of Gods would carry out the action, so that even if they encountered danger, they wouldn't face too much trouble or threat. Thanatos therefore came to seek Hestia's help. Besides Hestia,
Thanatos also found Hephaestus and Ishtar and got their consent after explaining the situation.
Hestia naturally agreed to the terms and decided to go rescue the souls of the Astraea Familia members. But when they arrived at the Rudra Familia, they encountered the God Rudra directly, who even offered to lend a hand.
This is how such a peculiar team was formed, heading together to the Juggernaut laboratory to begin the rescue mission for the Astraea Familia members.
"Hehe, I'm not helping you," Rudra smiled in response to Hestia's question. "For me, this is just to make things more interesting."
"What a terrible taste..."
The expressions of the other Gods were quite suspicious of Rudra's words, but they had no choice but to let him join the team. After all, they couldn't do anything about him at the moment. It was safer to have him come along and keep an eye on him than to let him act on his own, or even inform the Old God Ouranos.
The Gods thus went all the way to the laboratory under the Rudra Familia's territory, smoothly reaching the underground and seeing the space filled with Juggernauts. Witnessing the reality of so many monsters being confined here for some kind of research, even the Gods couldn't help but show grim expressions, never having imagined that such profound darkness existed beneath Orario.
"What on earth is going through Ouranos's mind!?"
Although she had already learned the truth about the Juggernaut experiments, actually seeing the existence of these monsters still made Hestia show a sorrowful expression. Especially when she knew that the souls of many innocent people, including the members of the Astraea Familia, had been fused with these monsters for some special research, Hestia could not help but feel angry and sad.
"You guys guard me here," Thanatos's expression finally calmed down the fastest. "I have already prepared the reversal spell in advance. With my Authority, I can separate the souls from the monsters."
"Okay, we'll leave it to you."
The other Gods had no expertise in souls and could only rely on Thanatos's power now. As Thanatos began the soul reversal, Rudra suddenly looked at Hestia and smiled, saying, "Speaking of which, that man, Shirou Emiya, is in your Familia, right?"
"Sort of..."
Hestia wasn't sure how to answer for a moment. Although their official relationship was God and Familia, Shirou hadn't actually received a Falna from Hestia in the true sense, but had
obtained some inexplicable power. This meant that their relationship was not as close as a true God and Familia.
However, neither Shirou nor Hestia seemed to mind this, treating each other as if they were a real God and Familia.
"In that case, Hestia, do you know where that man Shirou Emiya came from?" Rudra looked at Hestia, asking a strange question. "The first time Orario have seen the Sword Demon was deep in the Dungeon."
"What are you trying to say?!" Hestia noticed Rudra's strange attitude and couldn't help but ask.
"Hehe," Rudra just smiled in response. "I just want to tell you that the identity of the man Shirou Emiya might be far more complex than you imagine. He might have a much closer relationship with the Dungeon itself."
"So what..."
"What if the man Shirou Emiya was a weapon created by the Dungeon to destroy the Gods?"
"..."
"He might not be the Justice you imagine, but might have an even more terrifying conspiracy, you know."
Rudra casually tried to mislead Hestia.
"That's impossible, Shirou, he... Shirou, he..."
Although Hestia firmly believed in Shirou, she was more or less influenced by Rudra's words, and complicated thoughts began to surface.
.
.
.
"The Authority of Eternal Flame is wavering."
Shirou noticed the fluctuation in the flame within his body.
His own Authority was still at full power, which meant this fluctuation had no relation to his own will; the wavering must be from Hestia's will.
Shirou knew Hestia was likely with Thanatos on a rescue mission to the Rudra Familia's territory to save the members of the Astraea Familia, but he didn't understand why Hestia would have such a clear change in her will during the process, affecting his Authority as a result.
At the same time, Goddess Astraea, before him, didn't notice Shirou's change. She just slowly raised her arm, which was condensing divine power, and slowly spoke:
"Take a good look, Shirou Emiya. I will let you know what the pinnacle of Justice is!"
In an instant, a huge crack appeared from outside Unlimited Blade Works. The shattered sky seemed to have been directly torn apart by absolute force from the outside, and an astonishing greatsword descended from the heavens, manifesting in reality.
The Sword of Judgment, originally bound by Enkidu began to transform into a blade of absolute judgment, descending from the sky under Astraea's desperate urging.
"The Chains of Heaven are actually..."
Seeing Enkidu shatter as the Sword of Judgment fell, Shirou's eyes widened. This was the first time he had ever witnessed Enkidu being broken.
This meant that the Authority Astraea was using now had surpassed ordinary divine power and had already reached the very limit that divine power could reach. The divine power condensed within that Sword of Judgment had already surpassed the pinnacle of divine power in Genkai. Not to mention Shirou, even a true God facing this ultimate pressure could not endure for a single second.
"This Sword of Judgment is my complete understanding of Justice, and the power that my Authority has been sublimated to its utmost limit," Astraea's expression was pale and shaken; releasing all her Authority seemed to be a huge burden on her. But she still didn't stop. "Don't worry. You won't feel any pain. Everything will be over in an instant!"
As the most powerful of divine Authorities, the Sword of Judgment's only flaw was that it could only be used against an 'enemy of Justice'—one who was deemed a sinner. And the current Shirou had been completely identified by Astraea as an enemy. Because Astraea was now a guardian of Order, and she believed that maintaining Order was maintaining Justice, it followed that Shirou, who was destroying Order, was naturally an enemy of Justice.
This fulfilled the condition to judge Shirou!
"Boom!"
The pressure of the greatsword intensified. All of Astraea's divine power and might were now being used to maintain the existence of this sword. The extreme power it unleashed had already begun to completely tear apart the space of Unlimited Blade Works, shredding the boundary created by Shirou!
"Prepare to face judgment, Shirou Emiya," Astraea took a deep breath. "As an enemy of Justice, I will personally deliver your judgment and your end!"
The instant Astraea's words fell, the Sword of Judgment descending from the heavens plummeted straight down with not the slightest pause.
"Rumble!!"
The immense pressure made Unlimited Blade Works rip apart like paper. Although Shirou immediately activated his Karma's Flames to try and resist the greatsword descending from the sky, the flame he released could not withstand the ultimate Authority for even a single second.
"Bang!"
Even before the greatsword had completely fallen, Shirou instinctively knelt to the ground, the bones in his entire body on the verge of breaking from the overwhelming pressure. However, even in the face of this terrifying attack, even when confronting this despair-inducing Authority, Shirou still did not fall.
He forcibly maintained his resistance against the Sword of Judgment and, after taking a deep breath, plunged the Eternal Flame Sword in his hand straight through his own body.
"What are you doing?!"
Shirou's action confused Goddess Astraea. She could not understand what he was doing.
Shirou, meanwhile, quietly spoke, "I just turned all the swords in the entire Unlimited Blade Works into weapons to forge this sword, but that was not the true form of the weapon."
"What?"
"The sword I want to forge, the sword I need to forge, cannot be forged with the countless swords on the field. It must be something that can only be completed by using this Reality Marble, this domain, and even my very self, burning my soul completely."
As Shirou spoke, he completely pulled out the Flame Sword that had pierced his body. At the same time, the entire Unlimited Blade Works began to burn fiercely at this moment. The boundary itself began to turn into flying dust, igniting everything in an instant!
"Clang!"
"Clang!" "Clang!"
At the same time, Shirou's forging started again. He continuously struck with the hammer in his hand, a series of collisions, as if he were hammering the entire Unlimited Blade Works Reality Marble into a single weapon. In the end, what he achieved was an ultimate blade that could not be looked at directly with the naked eye, a sword of such sharpness that it could split even space in two.
"Forging, complete!"
"Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi!"
Shirou slowly raised the longsword in his hand, holding the blade—forged by striking the entirety of Unlimited Blade Works and his own soul together—high above his head. He
ignored the pressure of the Sword of Judgment that was about to tear everything apart, and he ignored the death-like declaration that came from his soul as Unlimited Blade Works shattered.
He simply condensed the longsword in his hand to its absolute limit, then abruptly swung it—transforming it into a stream of light that would annihilate everything!
"To reach the end of all swords with forging!"
"To achieve this realm, I have piled up thousands of sword tombstones."
"With Karma as the blade, with Destiny as the edge."
"My great enemy, I will crush you."
"Its name is, Heaven-Wrought Sword Boundary!"
In an instant, the sword Shirou swung met the Sword of Judgment descending from the heavens head-on. The clash between a mortal's strike and a God's great power created an ultimate confrontation that almost swallowed the entire city of Orario!
In an instant, everyone lost their sight and senses, plunged into nothingness!
Read ahead and Finish the Fanfiction by supporting me on buymeacoffee com/varietl or ko-fi edwriting