Chapter 401: The Appearance of Kuro Shirou
At the entrance of the spiritual vein that concealed the Greater Grail, six bodies lay upon the stone platform. They had served to maintain the contract for the Servants, but now their eyes were closed and they lay motionless.
They were all mages invited by Kirei Kotomine to participate in the Holy Grail War. Within a faction of the Mage's Association, there were those who wished to restart the Holy Grail War, and so they had quietly come to the cave where the sealed Greater Grail was located.
These people were not merely asleep; anyone reaching out to them would discover they had no breath. That their bodies could not move was because the mages had already been turned into living corpses, existing solely as tools for summoning Servants.
At this moment, their life force faded once more, as new Servants were summoned onto the battlefield.
"Enough. I understand perfectly now. You, as expected, should not exist in this world." Shirou raised his hand high, and dozens of swords appeared in the void behind him, flying toward the priest.
A Western knight, covered in black armor from head to toe, lunged forward directly and intercepted the swords Shirou had fired.
"What!?" Shirou was startled. He tried to cancel the magical energy within that sword to make it disappear. But when the sword was grasped in the palm of the opposing Servant, his connection to it was severed.
"Gah-roar-roar-roar!!" The black-armored knight brandished the sword, knocking away all the other flying swords projected by Shirou.
Kirei Kotomine extended his hand and summoned the Holy Grail, which descended from the sky, into his grasp.
"Let us begin. The final battle. May the ally of justice perish in despair."
Splat!
The swords and daggers of four Servants pierced into each other's bodies. Unwavering, they pulled out their blades and stabbed at each other again. While creating wounds on their opponents, they were also riddled with injuries themselves. Blood dripped continuously onto the ground, like a rain of blood, staining the ground outside the church red.
Swoosh!
Two more Servants had their necks split open by each other's axes and cleavers. Two massive heads were sent flying into the air, rolling as they splashed blood, and finally fell to the ground with a dull thud.
Crackle! Crackle!
The summoned Berserker grabbed his own neck with both hands and twisted his own head off. As his bones rotated in an unnatural direction, it made a bone-chilling sound. Finally, as his body fell to the ground, he still held his hands high, appearing to be in a pose of cheering "banzai."
The Servant entangled in black mist died just like that. Then, Kirei Kotomine once again used the Holy Grail to summon new Servants, only to have them kill each other, or commit suicide...
In that moment, the grounds of the Saint Church became a slaughterhouse of self-executing Servants, a scene like the apocalypse.
As the black mud expanded, continuously expanding, there was far more of it churning violently in the sky than in the previous life, like a black ocean above a heavenly pool, threatening to overturn at any moment.
"This... is simply like... the descent of an evil god? A believer of the Alien God?" Gudako was also stunned at the sight.
"This is truly insane..." Tohsaka frowned, looking helplessly at this scene of a human purgatory.
If the world of Shimosa was a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood created by a group of killing demons, a hell piled up from the bones of millions of mortals, then this place looked like the scene of a mass martyrdom by a group of fanatics whose minds had been controlled.
"No! It is not I who is insane, but this world!" At this moment, from within the ocean of black mud in the sky, a figure emerged.
He was the existence regarded as the sole evil in the dualistic world of Zoroastrianism's good and evil.
His name is Angra Mainyu. He is the All the World's Evil, the mortal enemy of the creator in Persian mythology, and the head of the many evil gods in the dark world.
In fact, during his lifetime, he was merely an ordinary youth in a village, but he was treated as a living sacrifice by the people of his village to prove their own righteousness, framed as the incarnation of an evil god, and finally killed. He became an undead spirit of vengeance, and because of this, he was regarded by humanity as the incarnation of an evil god.
At this very moment, he wore a red headscarf, had short black hair, and his body was covered in tattoos. What was even more special was... his appearance. It was not the image of a ferocious ghost or god, nor was it the transcendent beauty of a deity, but rather that of an ordinary teenager—somewhat handsome, and that was all.
"Senpai?"
"Shirou..."
Gudako and Tohsaka looked at Angra Mainyu in surprise and called out.
The man wearing the red headscarf, who looked exactly like Shirou, said: "I am Angra Mainyu, and also an existence who once possessed Emiya Shirou and lived as him. I am the evil of the world, and I am also Emiya Shirou. I possess all of his past memories, and under his mental guidance, I made choices and acted according to his thoughts. Yes, it is quite similar to your current state, little girl."
Shirou frowned as he looked at the guy who, apart from skin color and attire, looked exactly like him, and said: "Shut up, evil path. If you are me, then why do you indulge Kirei Kotomine in persecuting the people living in Fuyuki City! He is a villain who wants to destroy the entire city!"
"Because it is necessary. Between a mere few million people and millions of worlds, what kind of choice would you make? If the white god is left to go on like this, he will eventually collapse. When that happens, the worlds he created will all disappear along with him. The people who were saved by him previously, brought to a new world and finally settled down to restart their lives, will once again face a desperate situation of death."
"Therefore, I have made a judgment. Yes, humanity needs Holy Grails. Very, very many Holy Grails; at least seven are needed for one world! These Holy Grails will be exchanged for the souls of the people of Fuyuki City. As long as they are made to summon multiple Servants, and then keep repeating this, as they are doing now, the magical energy can be infinitely filled, and I can then mold new Holy Grails." As Angra Mainyu spoke, he demonstrated, producing black mud in his palm, squeezing it up and down, kneading it into a ball, and finally turning it into one.
"Even if Holy Grails are needed, it shouldn't be a black Holy Grail polluted and distorted by you like this!" Tohsaka Rin retorted.
Angra Mainyu sneered and said: "Black and white, evil and justice, cruelty and kindness, Tohsaka? Surely you don't also believe in the dualism of good and evil where everything is either black or white? Even a pure white Holy Grail, if it falls into the hands of a terrible person, will cause equally bad results. And even a black Holy Grail, as long as it is used properly, can also bring salvation to people."
"..." Gudako did not speak, but she recalled the experiences of the past, the Heroic Spirits she had met at the Singularities who possessed Holy Grails: Edison, who wanted to cut off the American continent on his own.
The Lion King, who abandoned human emotions and gave up on the majority of people, choosing to shield only the few who could survive.
These existences were not using the Holy Grail for themselves, yet they were the culprits who caused the appearance of Singularities and had to be stopped.
"In the final analysis, the Holy Grail is merely vast magical energy. What kind of result is obtained depends on the choices made by the holder. As long as Fuyuki City is sacrificed, I can continuously manufacture Holy Grails to allow the energy of the Holy Grail to maintain the world after the white god falls. Even if I cannot save everyone, at least I can allow a large portion of people in various worlds to survive," Angra Mainyu said.
"Because of the white god's recklessness, abnormalities occurred. I awakened in this world, and I can freely use the power belonging to the Third Magic within the Grail of Heaven."
"So I decided: since this world thinks I am evil, then what is wrong with me bearing the evil of this world? I don't like the look of that god, so I took action. I am determined to save this world. What is wrong with saving so many worlds by sacrificing the people of one city! Compared to a world war, this level of loss actually counts for nothing."
Angra Mainyu said, raising his hands. The ocean of black mud in the sky rose high, forming a reverse waterfall. When this ocean of black mud descended, it would turn into the highest tsunami in history, smashing Fuyuki City down.
"So! Don't get in my way! Woman! Take the Chaldea Master and leave this place! There are still three days until the ritual is completed. As long as you don't show up again to hinder my plan, I will allow you to take your relatives and friends to escape Fuyuki during this time," Angra Mainyu said, looking at Tohsaka.
"Indeed. Rin, put down your pride. Never mind being the head of the Tohsaka family; anyway, you are already alone. How about escaping from here so that the magic crest does not cut off?" Kirei Kotomine looked at the young girl and smiled maliciously.
"Shut up! I don't need your meddling! You fake priest!" The black-haired girl glared at the man unhappily.
Shirou and the girl looked at each other, and then laughed in unison.
Tohsaka Rin gathered her spirits, swept away her previous lethargy, and said: "This is Fuyuki City, a territory managed by the Tohsakas! Unidentified suspicious elements are not allowed to run wild here! To take a step back, now that I know your goal, I will not allow you to slaughter the innocent!"
"Rin-senpai!" Gudako looked at the girl, very touched.
"Ah, that is exactly what I mean. I will deal with the white god; you don't need to meddle in other people's business. If peace can only be exchanged by sacrificing millions of people, that is absolutely not something to be decided by a few individuals," Shirou said with a smile.
Tohsaka Rin extended her hand and pointed at the head of all evil, saying viciously: "Exactly!!! That grudge for destroying my home! Don't even think about getting away with this!"
"Senpai..." Gudako was speechless.
Never underestimate a woman's desire for revenge.
Angra Mainyu looked at the boy and said: "Emiya Shirou, I am no different from you, although our origins are different. But I have indeed had times when I thought of myself as you, and even spent a period of life that belonged to you. So, what are the odds of winning against a god? You can't fool me at all. Are you going to sacrifice millions of worlds to go with you just for a moment of impetuosity? Stop joking, you pig-head!"
"That was just me in the past, right? If you had my current memories, your thinking would probably be different," Shirou said, looking at the Avenger standing beneath the ocean of black mud.
"Zasshu (mongrel), I possess all the memories of what happened between you being adopted by Kiritsugu and participating in the Holy Grail War. I have also seen the end of Emiya Shirou, who became a Guardian, in the Fifth Holy Grail War. I don't think there is anything else that could cause your thinking to change significantly," Angra Mainyu cursed.
Shirou shook his head. He had changed a lot; just as he was no longer the same as the white god, he was already different from the Angra Mainyu in front of him. In his previous life, having no family by his side, he had a peculiar indifference to everything. Although he would not refuse to help others, he placed himself outside of consideration.
But in his new life, he had parents and a younger sister by his side, and he felt the kind of care that comes from blood ties. He understood some emotions that he had never possessed in his previous life, even though these emotions and experiences were actually just trivial daily matters—every one of them, if taken out, was insignificant.
The two dearest people, like those who gave birth to him, the younger sister who was born, sharing familial love with him, while he gained a new kind of familial love from her.
When leaving home, the concern parents have for you.
Sometimes wordy, sometimes troublesome.
If helping others is a choice based on one's own volition, or a sublimation of the soul, then performing these acts for family is a kind of obligation; everything is righteous and matter-of-course. Or rather, if you cannot do it, you would instead be blamed and criticized by outsiders.
But this kind of obligation, this kind of trouble, is also sought after, because this is a burden called family, and you must shoulder it. And when you have a problem, the consequences will be borne by the whole family.
Fatherly love, motherly love, the familial love of grandparents—once lost, they can never be possessed again. If you haven't experienced it, then you cannot possess that emotion which can only be possessed through experience.
Yes, neither the white god nor Angra Mainyu possessed this emotion, and thus they lacked a certain regard for humanity. That is why, even when the starting point was the same, they walked on completely different paths.
"No... the difference here is truly far apart. Perhaps I am indeed a fickle man, but the desire to let those around me be happy is not something I will change. What you are going to do will destroy these things, so I am going to stop you."
"Bullshit! Then just go die! I've long since found you an eyesore, especially your black hair!" As Angra Mainyu spoke, the black mud behind him surged high, turbulent and vast, ready to smash down at any moment, shattering everything on the ground.
"Ah, I actually feel the same way," Shirou said, tit for tat.
Perhaps because of the principle that like poles repel, he seemed destined not to get along with another version of himself. The red Emiya, the black Emiya, the white Emiya, the Emiya of other world lines, or this Angra Mainyu who possessed his own memories.
Although being different is not absolutely correct, one must cross the river by feeling the stones; to move toward a better future, one must move forward. This is humanity.
Life is not a business. When encountering a crisis, one cannot think about cutting losses in time. It is absolutely not about abandoning a part of people first, and then pursuing a result that is not very good, but just not too bad.
A holy white light lit up on Shirou, forming a sharp contrast with the monstrous darkness behind Angra Mainyu.
The battle was about to break out!
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