Chapter 180: The War Game Begins, Meeting with the Heavenly God Ouranos!
"I see, I understand what kind of existence you are." After listening to Artemis's account, Shirou roughly understood the situation of the Moon Goddess in front of him. He then questioned, "By the way, you called me Orion just now? What does that mean? My name is Emiya Shirou..."
"Orion is my lover from a prophecy," Artemis said with a serious expression. "When I was in Tenkai, I received a prophecy that I was destined to encounter a great calamity. At that time, a hero would shoot a divine arrow that would end everything and save me from the disaster!
Now, my body has been consumed by the disaster as prophesied, and at the same time, you have appeared like a beacon of hope to save me from the sea of suffering! You must be the one foretold by destiny!"
"..."
"If you don't believe it, you can take this arrow." As Artemis spoke, she handed an arrow, about the size of a spear, to Shirou. "As long as you are my destined existence, you will definitely be able to use this arrow and receive the blessing of my divine power."
"Really?"
Shirou was still half-skeptical about Artemis's words.
But he still accepted Artemis's arrow.
The moment he grasped the divine arrow, a wave of divine power suddenly flowed out of the arrow and quickly merged into Shirou's body.
Just like every time he absorbed divine power, Shirou once again absorbed new divine power.
This time, he not only absorbed divine power but also gained a new Authority!
"This, this is..."
"Indeed, you are Orion! There's no mistake!"
Artemis showed an excited expression. "You just absorbed the divine power in this arrow, and thereby received the blessing of my Authority, 'Infallibility'."
"The blessing of Infallibility?"
"Yes, that is the effect of my Authority—to make any attack absolutely hit, an absolute arrow that will never miss its target!"
"I see, so this is the Authority of the Moon Goddess."
Shirou nodded.
As of now, he possessed three god-level Authorities—[Karma's Flame] belonging to himself, [Eternal Flame] from Hestia, and [Infallibility] from Artemis.
Under the blessing of a total of three Authorities, even though Shirou had not yet reached the realm of a god, he could essentially be on par with a true god.
On the other side, Artemis had completely regarded Shirou as her destined lover. She clung to Shirou completely, hugging him and absolutely refusing to let go.
"Ah, my Orion, come, accept me!" Artemis said with a fervent voice. "From now on, let us be together forever!"
"No, wait a minute..."
He hadn't expected to receive the love of two goddesses in such a short time.
Shirou felt his sinfulness deepen.
In desperation, he could only seek help from the other gods, at least to find a way to stop Artemis from clinging to him like this.
And upon learning about the existence of the Moon Goddess Artemis's clone and that she had completely fallen in love with Shirou, the gods also reacted in a very subtle way.
"Emiya, you bastard, you really make people envious and hateful!" Loki immediately launched an attack. "Damn it, I also want to be fancied by Artemis, a god who is so cute and a virgin!"
"Why don't you just go with it?" Hephaestus looked like an instigator, "Isn't it quite an interesting thing to fall in love with the pure Moon Goddess?"
"Don't joke around."
How could Shirou just accept Artemis's affection like this?
Putting aside the fact that Artemis was only a clone at the moment, even if she were the original, it would still be quite difficult for Shirou to accept.
After all, he genuinely had no intention of getting involved in romance right now.
In the end, it had to be Astraea, the Goddess of Justice, who was more reliable.
After learning everything, she looked at Artemis seriously and said, "Artemis, you should calm down first. Even if you can't control your feelings, you should at least express your emotions after the final battle with Ouranos."
"Yes, that is true..."
Heeding Astraea's advice, Artemis was finally persuaded and released her embrace of Shirou.
Shirou breathed a sigh of relief and was about to thank Astraea, only to find that the Goddess of Justice in front of him also looked relieved.
"Astraea?"
Shirou asked in confusion, not understanding her state.
The Goddess of Justice didn't expect her emotions to be noticed and quickly turned her head, saying, "It's nothing, haha, I definitely wasn't jealous because Artemis was too close to you."
"..."
Shirou never expected that Goddess Astraea would also develop those kinds of feelings for him.
While once again lamenting that his attraction to women was still active, he also tried to keep his distance from these goddesses, making sure not to accidentally cross any boundaries.
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With the arrival of Artemis, time began to flow again.
The day for Shirou's War Game with Ouranos was completely fixed.
The unprecedented grand war would take place at noon on the second day of Orario's public timetable, on a vast archipelago tens of kilometers from the mainland, outside Orario.
To build up the battle, the Guild had also announced the list of participants from both sides in advance.
The participants of the Ouranos Familia were Freya Familia, Ganesha Familia, the Guild, the School District... In addition to these major players, there were also many smaller Familia and those with concealed identities, truly showing the foundation of this old Heavenly God who had controlled Orario for over a millennium.
In contrast, the participants on Shirou's side were Hestia Familia, Loki Familia, Hephaestus Familia, Astraea Familia, Ishtar Familia, Kali Familia, Takemikazuchi Familia, Soma Familia, the clone of the Moon Goddess Artemis, and numerous Xenos.
Yes, upon learning that they would be fighting Ouranos, the culprit behind everything, the creator of the Xenos race, and the source of all tragedy, the Xenos also chose to join the battle.
As a race that had been constantly fighting in the Dungeon and growing by consuming magic stones, the Xenos had undergone extraordinary changes.
In just a short time, the overall strength of the Xenos had risen to another level.
Not only had the Siren Wiene, with whom Shirou was familiar, leveled up to Lv.6, but the Black Ox Asterius, whom he had met before, had even reached the realm of Lv.7.
Although, as a monster, its Lv.7 was just a raw status board without any skills.
However, Shirou was confident that by forging the appropriate weapons, he might be able to equip Asterius with the genuine combat capability of a Lv.7.
This was undoubtedly a huge boost for Shirou's side.
Both sides were therefore supremely confident in their own strength and were all geared up, just waiting for the official start of the War Game.
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On the night before the War Game began.
Shirou returned to Hestia Familia after a long absence.
Because he was previously wanted by the Guild, Shirou could only hide underground. But now that he had openly broken with Ouranos, he was able to move freely.
Compared to before, Hestia Familia hadn't changed much.
The members were still just Bell, Liliruca, Wiene, and Shirou himself.
The originally quiet church became even more desolate and lonely due to Hestia's disappearance, making people occasionally miss the time when Hestia was still here.
"Shirou-nii, please teach me to fight."
Bell made a request to Shirou. He clearly wanted to become stronger to perform better in the War Game the next day.
"This... Alright."
Shirou had always had high hopes for Bell, believing that he would continue to grow and become stronger, and one day reach heights unimaginable to ordinary people.
Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time for him to grow now.
Even with Bell leveling up at an unimaginable speed, he was only barely reaching Lv.4 now, still a long way from being a true powerhouse.
In this War Game, he was also destined to be unable to influence the outcome.
Bell seemed to be very aware of this, so he fought Shirou with all his might, as if to vent all his unwillingness and emotions.
"Hah—!"
In the blink of an eye, the two engaged in a fierce battle that was invisible to the naked eye.
Although Shirou was holding back, Bell's growth was indeed astonishing. With only a Lv.4 status board, he almost had the speed of a first-class adventurer.
Of course, Bell's only advantage was speed. He did not demonstrate any further capabilities.
"You have improved quickly enough."
When the training ended, Bell panted heavily on the ground, while Shirou remained as calm as before, quietly giving his assessment.
"I wish I could be stronger." Bell spoke with a face full of unwillingness. "Ever since the Apollo Familia incident, I haven't been able to catch up to you, Shirou-nii, and I haven't been able to help you. I'm really unwilling, and I really want to become stronger!"
"There are always things people can do and things they cannot do," Shirou said quietly. "For us, the only thing we can do is to do our best in the things we can do. At the same time, we entrust the things we cannot do to others and pray that they can accomplish what we cannot."
"Do you also have things you cannot do, Shirou-nii?"
"Of course."
Shirou nodded quietly to Bell's question. "There are many things I cannot do, and many things that make me feel powerless. That's why I always rely on the people around me, borrowing strength from others so that I can do things that I cannot do on my own."
"..."
"So Bell, you can also relax a little. While there are things you cannot do now, there is no need to be too unwilling. Honestly entrust everything to others, and to me, to handle. And one day, your battlefield will truly arrive, and that is what you should be doing!"
"My battlefield..."
Hearing Shirou's words, Bell was finally comforted, and his expression began to calm down.
While the two were talking, Liliruca and Wiene on the side prepared a lot of food, clearly planning to have a final celebration tonight before tomorrow's decisive battle.
"Shirou-nii, this is divine wine sent by God Soma," Liliruca said excitedly.
"Divine wine?" Shirou was startled.
"Don't worry, God Soma can now make divine wine that isn't addictive," Liliruca said with a smile. "However, even so, he generally doesn't sell divine wine to outsiders. He only gives it to people close to him in very few circumstances."
"That's very kind of him."
Shirou naturally acknowledged Soma's kindness.
He and Bell and Liliruca raised their cups and drank, and even Wiene shared a little.
This brief period of time was incredibly pleasant.
But everyone also knew that after this pleasant time ended, the real crisis and danger would truly erupt!
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The night passed.
As the entire Orario fell into an almost unprecedented state of chaos, everyone in the Labyrinth City realized that an unprecedented War Game had broken out.
The location of the War Game was an isolated island on a lake, called the "Orsa City Ruins."
The scenery here was incredibly magnificent, yet also permeated with a sense of loneliness.
Giant stone pillars, fallen and collapsed, stood everywhere. The ground was covered with countless mottled stone slabs, and damaged arches, even slightly tilted, stood tall after long ages. This ruin, which looked like it was composed of many tombs and residences of priests, showed exposed soil and raised rocks eroded by vegetation, gradually becoming part of nature.
This was a fortress city, built over two thousand years ago, that once fiercely resisted monsters from the Dungeon.
Due to its geographical location, it never lacked water, and the caldera lake served as a natural barrier to prevent the invasion of monsters.
However, later, after the Dungeon in this area was completely conquered and monsters no longer appeared, it gradually became desolate and abandoned.
It is worth mentioning that on the west side of the island, there was a particularly large ruin.
It was a [Temple].
But the god enshrined in that temple was not the gods currently in Genkai. Instead, it was a "god" that people, who were threatened by monsters in ancient times before the gods came down, had fabricated to seek salvation.
No one knew if this fabricated god had ever truly helped the mortals in Genkai.
But at least, the existence of the temple itself symbolized that in the past, "gods" who were not the current gods of the present world were indeed believed in here.
Before the War Game began, the two sides of the confrontation would meet in advance.
The meeting place was this ancient temple.
When Shirou and the gods on his side stepped up the stairs and came to the front of the temple, he immediately saw the aged white-bearded god not far away.
The Heavenly God Ouranos.
The founder of Orario, the builder of Babel, the savior from the disaster...
Various titles gave him a status in Genkai that no one could match. He was truly the Lord of the Gods in Genkai, whom no one could look down upon.
An ordinary person seeing such an existence would almost subconsciously show a nervous attitude.
But Shirou not only did not have any unnecessary emotions. Instead, he walked forward with a calm expression, which drew a complex gaze from Ouranos.
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