Chapter 179: Forging Solomon's Ten Rings, the Creation of the Incineration of Humanity Ritual!
The Goddess of Beauty, Freya.
A goddess of the Asgardian divine system and a former subordinate of the Great God Odin.
A long, long time ago, during the time when the Labyrinth City of Orario was just beginning to take shape, Freya, following the Great God Odin, had a clash with the Heavenly God Ouranos of the Olympian divine system.
Since both were veteran divine systems, there wasn't a significant difference in strength between them. The clash between the Olympian and Asgardian divine systems remained in a state of stalemate. Until one day, the Great God Odin, who commanded the Asgardian divine system, suddenly died, and his true form was forced to return to Tenkai, no longer able to be active in Genkai.
From then on, Genkai officially entered an era of being controlled by the Olympian divine system, which is to say, the Heavenly God Ouranos.
This situation continued until the collapse of the two major Familia, Zeus and Hera. Only with the rise of Loki Familia and Freya Familia did the divine system controlling Orario turn the tables and once again become the Asgardian divine system.
However, even though the divine system of the strongest Familia changed, the fundamental fact that Orario was manipulated by the Heavenly God Ouranos still remained unchanged.
Because, although Freya was a goddess of the Asgardian divine system, due to her collaboration with Ouranos to defeat Odin, she was essentially inseparable from Ouranos.
She had always been in close cooperation with the Heavenly God Ouranos.
As for Loki, she was a goddess who came to Genkai only after the end of the Age of Myths.
She had not experienced the clash between the two divine systems at all. Therefore, she was completely unaware of the essential conspiracy of Orario and had no intention of opposing Ouranos.
In short, it was because of this past experience that Freya had no choice but to stand with Ouranos.
Her connection with the Heavenly God was much closer than imagined; there was essentially no possibility of her betraying Ouranos.
However, the current Freya did not seem to be in a completely rational state.
She appeared before Shirou in the form of Syr and generously revealed the fact that she had once teamed up with Ouranos to defeat the Great God Odin and destroy the Asgardian divine system.
All of this seemed to indicate that Freya was not necessarily in lockstep with Ouranos.
It was possible to persuade her to join their side.
If they could really pull the Freya Familia into their camp, their chances of winning the upcoming War Game would increase significantly.
"Why are you telling me all of this?"
Although Shirou really wanted to win Freya over, he remained calm on the surface and communicated with her as rationally as possible to figure out her purpose.
"I just want to show all of myself to you." A complex, bitter smile appeared on Syr's face. "I want to convey my feelings, and I also want to confirm my feelings. I know there are many other people who like you, but if you could truly love me, I would do anything."
"Anything... Including leaving the Ouranos Familia?"
Shirou looked at her with a questioning expression.
"Although I cannot leave the Ouranos Familia and defect to your camp, Emiya, I can leave Orario with you." Syr looked at Shirou with a passionate gaze. "As long as you are willing to leave Orario with me, Ouranos should not be too persistent in hunting us down. In that case, I can offer you everything, even if you only feel sympathy or pity for me, as long as you are willing to choose me—!"
Syr confessed unilaterally, conveying her love to Shirou.
Although this was a complete plea, it was a genuine, undeniable, and heartfelt wish.
"Why me?"
Shirou did not immediately respond. Instead, he asked for Syr's reason.
If Syr was truly the Goddess of Beauty, Freya, she shouldn't have such complex emotions and attachments to a mortal like him.
"Why... I haven't quite figured it out myself..." Syr spoke with a complicated expression. "At first, I was just simply watching you, wanting to keep looking at you. But gradually, I became unable to be satisfied with that. I wasn't willing to let time pass by in vain, and I wanted to seize the moment and do my best.
I have always been a goddess who would stop at nothing to get what I want. The Great God Odin was consumed by my desire for freedom. However, I am afraid of using forceful means to control you. I want to be close to you, to touch you, but I hope all of this is of your own will!"
Hearing Syr's words, Shirou was silent for a long time.
He likely understood her thoughts but also felt a sense of incongruity.
Because the Goddess Freya in his impression would not have such a gentle mind. She should be a much colder goddess at her core.
Was the Syr in front of him truly the Goddess of Beauty, Freya?
Holding a skeptical attitude, Shirou looked at her and questioned her directly: "You are very different from the Freya I know. I don't know which one is the real you."
"Actually, I'm also gradually starting to get confused about which one is the real me," Syr's voice was bitter. Her words even sounded like she was crying. "As a goddess, I want to use forceful means to treat you. I want to forcibly confine you by my side so I can have you. But besides being a goddess, there is another voice inside me.
That voice makes me not want to hurt you. Even if my authority is effective on you, I don't want to use my authority to influence you!"
Syr's words were incredibly sincere.
She, like an ignorant child, stood there, completely lacking the strength a god should possess.
Shirou gradually understood the situation.
Syr, or rather the Goddess of Beauty, Freya, was an existence with two sides from the very beginning.
One side of her was the nature of a god—absolutely domineering and selfish, taking everything by force. But at the same time, the other side of her had a mortal aspect. As Syr, the Goddess of Beauty, Freya was a person who had simple emotions like a mortal—who would cry, laugh, be sad, and be happy.
This personality made Freya, despite having powerful authority and a strong Familia and being able to freely control everything, still behave like a fragile girl.
Her confessing to him here, showing a fragile appearance, was undoubtedly the girl persona named Syr, who was asking him for help.
If he ignored her plea for help here, she would likely be devoured by her goddess persona and ultimately revert to being that domineering and selfish goddess.
"Mr. Emiya, I love you!"
While Shirou was deep in thought, Syr couldn't help but voice her feelings.
She clasped her hands tightly in front of her chest and took a step forward. "I want to be with you forever. I hope you can accept me. I'm in so much pain and just want to be held in your arms. I'm tired of feeling insecure about tomorrow. So, please save me. For that, I will offer you my everything..."
The gray eyes of the girl gradually became moist.
Perhaps those eyes didn't even understand why they were forming tears.
Faced with a confession from a goddess, Shirou's heart did not waver at all. He was not swayed by Syr's weeping.
For him, some things were always above everything else.
"I'm very sorry, Syr," Shirou said, rejecting her. "I do sympathize with what you've gone through, but I won't give up the justice in my heart because of it. I will be an enemy of Ouranos, even if this thoroughly destroys me.
However, I also won't give up on you. I will save you. Whether it's justice or you, Syr, I will do my best to save everything!"
"Save everything..."
Shirou's words made Syr fall silent.
The girl's head was momentarily bowed as if her personality was undergoing a certain switch. When she looked up again, there was no longer the girl's gentleness in her eyes. All that remained was the cruelty and coldness of a goddess.
"Do you really think you can do it, Emiya Shirou?" After reverting to Freya's appearance, Syr's form was completely gone. "Challenging the Heavenly God Ouranos and challenging Orario—and not only that, but you even want to save me? Don't you think you're being too arrogant?"
"I may indeed be too arrogant," Shirou nodded quietly. "But this is the only choice I will make. It was so in the past, and it is so now."
"Then let me see how far you can go..."
Freya waved her hand, and a smile, or perhaps a sneer, appeared on her lips.
However, just as the two were about to part on bad terms, Ryuu's figure suddenly rushed out from the side.
She looked at "Syr," who had transformed into Freya, in disbelief and said in surprise: "Are you really the Goddess of Beauty, Freya, Syr? Have you been deceiving us all this time?"
"It wasn't a deception. After all, I also enjoyed the time I spent as Syr," Freya said with a smile. "But it's a shame that from now on, Syr will no longer exist. She will completely dissipate with the past and become a part of Orario's darkness."
"..."
Freya's words were still unacceptable to Ryuu.
But Freya herself clearly had no intention of explaining further. She took a deep look at Shirou, as if to say that everything would become clear during the War Game, and then she left the scene.
Ryuu tried to chase after her but couldn't keep up.
"...Accept reality."
Faced with Ryuu's unwillingness, Shirou couldn't offer much comfort. He could only leave the Elf girl there and let Alise comfort her.
He, meanwhile, turned around and looked directly at Ais and Lefiya hiding in the shadows.
"Y-you knew we were here?!"
Faced with Shirou's directness, Lefiya was startled at first.
"I couldn't help it. Your presence was still too obvious," Shirou said helplessly, shaking his head.
"Emiya, why did you refuse Syr's... no, Freya's confession?" Ais looked at Shirou deeply. "Is it because you have no feelings for her?"
"It's not that I have no feelings, but I definitely don't have feelings of that kind," Shirou shook his head. "And right now, I don't have the right to accept a person's good intentions."
"..."
Shirou's words caused Ais and Lefiya to fall silent.
It was clear that they realized from Shirou's words that he wasn't just rejecting Freya but was also rejecting almost all members of the opposite sex.
Because the current Shirou simply lacked the motivation to have those kinds of thoughts.
However, Ais and Lefiya did not give up.
The two realized that while the current Shirou could not accept anyone, if they waited until the War Game was over and the Ouranos Familia was completely defeated, he might have different thoughts.
At the very least, confessing at that time would have a much higher chance of success than it did now.
From this, Ais and Lefiya became more motivated. It was clear that both of them intended to perform well in the upcoming War Game, at least well enough to gain Shirou's recognition.
The news of Shirou's complete split with Freya soon reached the ears of the many Familia in Shirou's camp.
Although it was bad news, since Freya Familia had been assumed to be an enemy from the very beginning, no one panicked.
Most people still did what they had been doing: either raising their own strength as much as possible or trying to create useful items that could be used in the upcoming War Game.
Shirou could be said to be using both methods.
On the one hand, he was increasing his own strength as much as possible, and on the other hand, he was also trying to create Noble Phantasms that could increase the chances of winning the War Game.
However, since Shirou's forging ability had its limits, he couldn't just casually forge God-tier weapons. He could only try his best to forge weapons that were close to Divine Constructs to increase the overall strength of his side.
Moreover, for this War Game, Shirou decided to forge an unprecedented trump card.
Its name: Solomon's Ten Rings.
As Noble Phantasms, these rings themselves were nothing much, but by creating these rings, Shirou might be able to master the Heroic Spirit Solomon's Noble Phantasm: Ars Almadel Salomonis (The Time of Birth Has Come; This Is the Correction of All Things).
It also had another name: the Incineration of Humanity Ritual.
When this Noble Phantasm was fully deployed, the world would be enveloped in an unprecedented light belt, and each light belt would have destructive power comparable to an EX-rank Noble Phantasm.
And once all the light belts expanded, it would be the literal destruction of the world!
Human civilization would be nothing but kindling in the face of those light belts that incinerated everything and would be completely set ablaze!
The purpose of Shirou creating such a terrifying Noble Phantasm was naturally not to destroy the world, but because there was always a sense of unease in his heart.
He felt that it was very strange that Ouranos would engage in a fair War Game confrontation with him.
As a Heavenly God who had been laying out his plans in Genkai for a millennium, Ouranos should have resorted to more despicable means. At the very least, it was impossible for him to compete so openly with him.
Unless this War Game itself was his objective.
Because of this, Shirou wanted to acquire a trump card that could overturn everything, giving him the ability to turn the tide in any kind of desperate situation!
Solomon's Ten Rings and the Incineration of Humanity Ritual were undoubtedly an exaggerated move that even the Heavenly God Ouranos would never have expected—a means to truly flip the game table!
Of course, even for the current Shirou, forging Solomon's Ten Rings still posed immense difficulties.
His own divine power was simply not enough to support the forging of ten rings. He had to pour in all the divine blood of Astraea and other gods.
This led to all the gods on Shirou's side becoming weakened. Even if the rules didn't forbid gods from participating, the gods on Shirou's side were now powerless to influence the battle.
Conversely, Shirou successfully completed Solomon's Ten Rings. Although the process had some deviations, he did indeed complete this unprecedented Noble Phantasm.
All he needed to do was to set up the ritual of the Incineration of Humanity in Orario and the rest of the world before the War Game began.
By making Orario the very center of the ritual, Shirou was confident that the Incineration of Humanity ritual could cover the entire world!
At that time, even the Heavenly God Ouranos would probably be greatly startled by this unprecedented power!
Just as Shirou was pouring his heart and soul into the Incineration of Humanity ritual, an unexpected piece of news reached his ears.
According to a member of Loki Familia, a girl who was suspected to be the Moon Goddess Artemis had come knocking on their door and specifically requested to meet with Shirou.
"The Moon Goddess Artemis? Wasn't she consumed by Ouranos's experiment and turned into a divine-powered monster?"
Shirou's confusion was also the confusion of many people.
But since the other party came to them, even if it was a trap, it was worth meeting.
Shirou quickly accepted the request and met with the girl who was suspected to be the Moon Goddess Artemis.
The moment he met her, Shirou instantly understood the situation.
The Artemis in front of him was indeed a real existence, but she did not appear in a physical form but in the form of a soul.
The real Artemis should still be trapped inside the body of the Scorpion Antares. It was just that Artemis used some special method to project her remaining soul out, similar to Alise's situation.
"I've finally found you, my Orion."
The moment Artemis saw Shirou, she said something that made him completely confused.
"Orion? Who are you talking about? My name is Emiya Shirou."
"I met you in a dream and sent you a plea for help," Artemis's soul form said without a care. "To be able to have such a spiritual connection with me, and even be willing to fight the Heavenly God Ouranos for me, you are definitely my fated love, Orion!"
"..."
After a brief conversation, Shirou realized that the Moon Goddess in front of him was probably crazy with love.
How should he put it? Since he had already experienced Freya's situation, he was somewhat used to it.
For this reason, he quietly maintained a distance from Artemis and tried to understand the situation from her as quickly as possible.
To put it simply, the Artemis in front of him was indeed the remaining soul of the true Artemis. After she realized that she was about to be devoured by the scorpion, she shot out a divine arrow at the last moment.
The divine arrow was imbued with the Moon Goddess's soul, thus becoming an existence similar to a clone.
To destroy her own body that had been taken over by the monster, Artemis returned to Orario and searched everywhere for someone who could accomplish this task.
But she was never able to find anyone, until she heard that Shirou was going to have a final battle with the Heavenly God Ouranos. She immediately realized that Shirou was the person she was looking for and decided to help Shirou and have a final battle with the Heavenly God Ouranos!
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