Chapter 175: The Defeat of Astraea, The Confession of the Goddess of Justice!
"Rumble!!"
The shattering of the Reality Marble was an inevitable consequence of the ultimate clash between the Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi and the Sword of Judgment. With the boundary broken, the impact that had been contained within was finally unleashed, shaking out as a fierce storm that swept across the entire execution grounds.
"Bang!"
In an instant, whether it was the Gods on Babel, the Guild and Familia fighting to maintain Order, or the Familia fighting to save Ryuu, everyone's vision was overwhelmed by the extreme radiance. For a moment, they could see nothing but a blinding light. The violent storm transformed into ultimate ash, suddenly obscuring everything.
When they regained their senses, the entire execution grounds were shrouded in smoke.
"..."
The first thing everyone did after recovering their sight was to anxiously look at the high platform of the execution grounds. Everyone there, regardless of their faction or whether they were neutral, was eager to see the outcome of that astonishing battle.
As time passed, the smoke that shrouded the entire execution grounds gradually dispersed.
Astraea and Shirou's figures slowly appeared before everyone. On the surface, their condition seemed unchanged. Although both were covered in blood, both the Goddess of Justice and Shirou were still standing. If it weren't for the immense pressure that lingered in the air, most people might have thought the battle was still ongoing.
But it was clear from the extremely weak aura of the two that the battle had already concluded. Even if it seemed to show no clear winner, the victor had already been decided.
"Pfft!"
Suddenly, Shirou was the first to react. An astonishing wound appeared on his chest, from which a large amount of blood spurted. For a moment, he couldn't even stand steadily, forced to support himself with the Agiris in his hand to keep from falling.
"Emiya!"
Ryuu and the waitresses of the Hostess of Fertility all looked at Shirou anxiously. If the battle with the golem army hadn't been ongoing, they would have rushed onto the execution stage immediately. Besides them, other Familia on the scene, be it the Hestia Familia, Ishtar Familia, Kali Familia, or Thanatos Familia, all showed worried expressions.
However, in the face of everyone's panic, Shirou showed a calm expression. He used his hand to signal them not to approach and turned to look in the direction of the Goddess of Justice, Astraea. Although Astraea still looked calm and showed no visible wounds on her body, just
an instant after a bloody mark appeared on Shirou, Astraea's aura suddenly became extremely weak. Her whole body seemed to become as thin as a piece of paper, and it felt as though she would be forced to return to Tenkai in the next second.
She wearily moved a few steps forward, then collapsed forward, like a torn rag, falling directly to the ground.
"Oh my God!"
"Lady Astraea lost?"
"The Goddess with the strongest Authority lost to a human?!"
"This is insane!"
"..."
Gods and mortals alike watched Astraea's collapse, their mouths agape. No one could believe that Astraea, the Goddess of Justice, had been defeated by a mortal, even after fully unleashing her Authority. This event was a shock to both Gods and mortals.
"Lady Astraea!"
Compared to the shock of most people, Ryuu and Alise, who had appeared next to Shirou in her soul form, showed panicked expressions. The two former members of the Astraea Familia were still filled with deep affection for the Goddess of Justice, Astraea. Even though they had once been enemies, they still didn't want to see their beloved Goddess die.
Regarding her members' attitudes, Astraea sighed with a serene expression. She used her last bit of strength to turn over and face Shirou, speaking with emotion, "You won, Shirou Emiya. You are the one who represents Justice."
"No, that's not it, Astraea," Shirou looked at the Goddess of Justice before him. "At the very end of the battle, you must have held back. Otherwise, the result would most likely have been mutual destruction."
"Is that so... Perhaps it's because I subconsciously felt I couldn't win..."
"Or could it be that you never wanted to win in the first place?" Shirou looked at Astraea and slowly spoke. "Although you said many things to convince yourself during the process, making me think you were sincerely fighting me to realize Justice, in reality, you never truly agreed with what you said. You don't believe that pure Order is Justice."
Shirou's words plunged Astraea into silence. With the Goddess of Justice seemingly speechless, Shirou continued, "The reason you fought me from the very beginning was to save your original Familia's member. To achieve this goal, you had to obey the orders of the Old God Ouranos, even if it meant sacrificing Justice to fight me. This resulted in your Authority never being used to its fullest, because you fundamentally did not believe what you were doing was an act of Justice."
Shirou spoke in one breath, voicing his truest feelings from the battle. Although Astraea had shown unprecedented pressure during the fight, making her the strongest opponent Shirou had ever faced since coming to this world, Shirou always felt that something was missing.
The Goddess with the strongest Authority in Genkai should not have been at this level.
Although Shirou had mastered Unlimited Blade Works, obtained Hestia's Authority, and mastered the more advanced Heaven-Wrought Sword Boundary, fighting the Goddess of Justice head-on and defeating her in a fair manner shouldn't have been so simple. Therefore, Shirou concluded that Astraea must have held back during the process, and that she never wanted to win from the very beginning, which led to this result.
"Emiya... you really are..." Astraea was silent for a long time before speaking with a helpless tone. "Well, in that case, there's no harm in telling you. You asked me why I had to be your enemy, right? The reason I gave you then was to maintain the Order of Genkai, to maintain this system where Gods and Falna coexist, allowing mortals and Gods to live in harmony."
"That was a lie, wasn't it?"
"It wasn't a complete lie, because that was indeed my previous thought," Astraea's expression was bitter. "However, five years ago, faced with the complete annihilation of my Familia and the obvious conspiracy behind that incident, I chose to investigate the truth at all costs to realize Justice. To do so, I secretly searched for Orario's darkness and even found the secret laboratory under Babel."
"You went to that secret laboratory?"
Shirou's eyes widened. He suddenly recalled a sentence he had heard from the God Miach during his battle with him. Miach had said that 'someone like you who sought justice once arrived here.' At the time, Shirou didn't know who Miach was talking about, but now it seemed that person must have been Astraea, the Goddess of Justice.
As the Goddess of the Astraea Familia, she could not accept her members' wrongful deaths. So she sought the truth of Orario at all costs, even finding the secret Ouranos had hidden. However, considering that Astraea later left Orario and then returned, even becoming Ouranos's lackey, it seemed she hadn't achieved what she wanted.
"Before arriving there, I never imagined that Orario's darkness could be so profound," Astraea sighed. "I originally thought the cancer of this city was just Evilus. If I could just bury all the Dark Factions, I could achieve the Justice I once fantasized about. However, my thinking was too naive. The darkness that shrouds this city has never been 'evil' or a single organization."
"The true darkness of this city is the city itself. The foundation of its existence is the source of all darkness. From the day it was born, Orario has not been a place where Justice could exist. Only darkness and sin could flourish here. A defiled land can never bear the fruit of Justice."
Astraea's words came from her heart, touching Shirou's soul.
When he had learned of Orario's darkness and the city's inherent sins, he had also felt extreme fury and found the Gods' sins unacceptable.
As a Goddess herself, and a Goddess of Justice who had once believed in Orario's Justice, the shock she had endured was surely far greater than his.
Astraea continued:
"In that moment, I realized the limitations of Order. While Order is a necessary means to bring about Justice and the only way to maintain peace, if the very foundation of Order is flawed, and the rules of Order are sin themselves, then no matter how you maintain Order, it can never lead to true Justice."
"However, even though I realized this, I still couldn't find another answer to realizing Justice. Because I am a God myself and must abide by the rules of the Gods. If even I cannot abide by the rules set by the Gods, how can I talk about changing this flawed Order?"
"This... So the reason you deliberately challenged me and lost to me..." Shirou's eyes widened as he looked at Astraea.
"That's right. I've been waiting for you all along," Astraea looked at Shirou with a gentleness she had never shown before. "A mortal with an absolute heart of Justice, who, without a God's Authority, can fight against the strongest God, using the coldest means to execute the gentlest form of Justice. I had only imagined such a hero, Shirou Emiya. I never thought you would actually appear."
"I see. Because you couldn't personally destroy the Order established by the Gods, you wanted to use my hand to destroy Orario's old Order," Shirou finally understood all the reasons and the motivations behind Goddess Astraea's actions.
"When I first heard of your existence, I was skeptical. I couldn't believe a human exactly as I had imagined would appear and challenge Orario's old Order and authority," Astraea quietly spoke. "So I returned to Orario with a scrutinizing attitude and pretended to align with Ouranos's attitude to meet you. After meeting you in person, I realized that you truly were the person I had imagined—a man who could shatter the flawed old Order and realize true Justice."
"If it's you, you can likely crush without hesitation both the Order established by the Gods and the shackles of mortals themselves. Unlike me, who is limited by meaningless self-imposed constraints, you might truly be able to tear down this old tower and establish a new Order on this land."
"For this, I will become the first sacrifice, a symbol that a God's power is no longer omnipotent, that a God can be defeated by a mortal's power, and that the Order established by the Gods can be crushed by a mortal. I committed evil, and you came to vanquish me. In this way, a new Order can plant its first seed in this city..."
Astraea spoke word by word, revealing the truth of everything she had done up to this point.
After realizing the darkness of the labyrinth city of Orario and discovering that as a God, she could not destroy the Order established by the Gods, she chose to leave the city and wait a long time. She finally waited for Shirou, a mortal who could realize her wish and help her destroy the old Order.
For this, she returned to Orario without hesitation. Her purpose was none other than to be defeated by Shirou's sword, to use her body to become the first sword to cut down the old Order.
"Come on, Emiya, kill me. If you do..."
"No, I won't kill you, Goddess Astraea."
Shirou shook his head, rejecting Astraea's stance.
This was something Astraea found unacceptable. She had already made up her mind. Everything she had done, every action she had performed, was for this moment.
"No, you have to kill me." Astraea spoke loudly. "If you don't kill me, those children will..."
"If you're worried about the souls of the Astraea Familia members, don't worry. I've already had Thanatos and the other Gods go and rescue them," Shirou responded to Astraea. "Because most people's attention is focused on this execution grounds, it's unlikely anyone is still paying attention to the laboratory. And a group made up of Gods, no matter what, won't be targeted, since no one wants to face a God who unleashes their own divine power."
"..."
Astraea's expression instantly became complicated, having not expected Shirou to have prepared to this extent. After all, Shirou had essentially solved her biggest concern, making it unnecessary for her to die here and deceive Ouranos.
"But what's the point of me living?" Astraea looked at Shirou. "I am a God who has betrayed once. No one will believe in the existence of a betrayer."
"It's true that you betrayed Ryuu," Shirou nodded, but changed his tone. "However, you never betrayed Justice, did you? Your will was not corrupted by the darkness of Orario, nor did you become a puppet of the Old God. Therefore, I am willing to believe in your existence. Or rather, if I can't even believe the Goddess of Justice, there is probably no God in this world worth believing in."
"..."
Shirou's words completely silenced Astraea. She seemed to be thoroughly convinced by him, showing a deeply moved expression as she slowly spoke, "Thank you, truly thank you... You are indeed the existence I have always been waiting for and aspiring to..."
As Shirou and Astraea conversed, the chaos around the execution grounds had escalated further. Ryuu and others forcefully broke through the blockade of the golem army and came to Shirou and Astraea's side.
"Emiya! Lady Goddess!!"
Ryuu ran over in a panic. She looked at the two people before her with a complex expression, unsure of what to say.
After all, both sides of the battle were important to her. She was completely frozen in place, unsure of which side to support.
Shirou was the first to speak. "Don't worry, Astraea and I are fine. And we shouldn't be fighting anymore."
"And Lady Goddess too..."
Ryuu seemed to have not expected things to end this way.
While she was instantly relieved, she also quickly looked at Shirou.
The elven girl's face was flushed, as if she didn't know how to describe her feelings at the moment. Her feelings for Shirou were now far beyond mere gratitude, to the point of being almost uncontrollable.
However, before Ryuu could speak, Shirou raised his head first and looked at the distance of the plaza where the execution grounds were located.
Not far away, Thanatos, Ishtar, and Hephaestus were running over in a panic. Thanatos was holding a special container in his hand, and the souls of the Astraea Familia members were inside.
"Thanatos, you succeeded?"
"Yeah, I guess you could say we succeeded."
Thanatos nodded in response to Shirou's question. This result not only made Shirou happy but also made Goddess Astraea feel relieved, meaning she was completely free from the manipulation of the Old God Ouranos and could act as she pleased.
However, Thanatos's expression showed no joy at all. Instead, it was incredibly serious. And before he could organize his words, Hephaestus next to him couldn't control her emotions and spoke first, "Emiya, it's bad. Hestia has been captured by Ouranos's people!"
"What?"
Shirou was caught off guard by this unexpected turn of events and immediately gave his full attention, even though his injuries had not yet healed.
Hephaestus spoke further in a panicked tone, "Ouranos's side sent a message that he wants to have a Familia War with you! If you don't agree, he will forcibly return Hestia to Tenkai!"
"A Familia War?"
Upon hearing this term, the expressions of Shirou and everyone present immediately changed, as they realized the crisis had not ended, but had only just begun!
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