Chapter 409: The Gate to the Divine Realm
The gentle and considerate Sakura couldn't bear to make overly firm demands on her Senpai, but if they went off and acted recklessly, she had her own way of dealing with it: following quietly behind to watch over them. But now that her Senpai had split into two, which side should she follow?
Two figures, an angel and a devil, appeared in Sakura's mind.
The little purple-haired devil wearing a mage's cloak grinned mischievously: "Kukuku, having two Senpais is simply like enjoying heaven. Hurry and find a way to make them both stay and keep you company!"
On the other side, the gentle and kind white-clad angel clasped her hands to her chest and said devoutly: "There's nothing to worry about. As long as you treat them with sincerity, won't having two Senpais mean double the happiness~!"
Sakura's little head became a jumbled mess, and she fell into confusion.
"That's not it... Senpai? That's not what I meant. Wawawa, what should I do?" The purple-haired girl shook her head, looking left, then right, waving her hands, her entire being in disarray.
"I know, I know what you mean, so calm down! Sakura." Shirou pressed down on the girl's shoulders to make her stand still, then held her face, locked eyes with hers, and said steadily.
"Mm... hm. I understand, Senpai." Sakura blushed and finally calmed down.
The white god Shirou turned his head to look at his other self and said, "No need to rush. When you are ready, come over. I will be waiting for you at that place."
"..." Shirou frowned but nodded. He knew exactly which place the other was referring to. Although he didn't want to admit it, they indeed shared the closest of relationships: the same person from different worlds.
The moment the white god spoke, the image of that ice-covered snow mountain naturally emerged in his mind, as if they shared a telepathic bond—or rather, their souls were connected.
Shirou asked, "What will happen to the people here?"
"Yes! Senpai, can you save them?" Sakura also looked nervously at the white-haired man. Although she rarely interacted with others, there were many people in this city she saw often—neighbors, shopkeepers in the shopping district, classmates and teachers at school. When she recalled their faces, they were vivid in her mind. But the city they lived in had now turned into a wasteland.
The white-haired man shook his head and said, "Unfortunately, while I can transfer those who encountered fatal disasters to another safe place to live, I cannot resurrect those who have
died. That is a violation of the laws of nature. Once violated, it will trigger even more terrible consequences."
"Is there really no other way? This is a whole town of people, and Sakura's home has disappeared too," Shirou said, frowning.
The white-haired man said calmly, "For the people of this world, memories will be restored. This city, destroyed by power that shouldn't exist, will become something taken for granted in people's memories. For instance, 'this place has been like this since ancient times.' As for Sakura, she will likely be treated as a girl who suddenly reappeared after going missing; assets like her bank accounts and identification documents will all be recoverable."
"Or, I can create a new home and a new identity for you, Sakura, right now. Any identity you want can be satisfied—like the sole heir of a real estate tycoon or a foreign princess, that is also possible," the white-haired man said, as if remembering something.
Sakura shook her head. Saddened by the reality she was forced to accept, she lowered her head. After a while, she said, "No, I'll find a way regarding myself. Rather than that, for everyone else... at least let me build a grave for them."
The white god said, "That is meaningless. Their souls no longer exist. Their existence has been defined by the world as redundant, and all traces left behind have been completely wiped out by this world."
"Senpai...?" Sakura looked up, staring blankly at the white-haired man; she seemed unable to recognize him.
"You... can't you consider Sakura's feelings? You really have deviated from humanity!" Shirou glared at the white-haired man, brow furrowed.
"Hmm, after all, I am a god now, and what I said is a fact. Some sacrifices are unavoidable; for humanity as a whole, sometimes they are even necessary. Otherwise, there wouldn't be the humanity that exists now," the white-haired man said as a matter of course.
When a person views problems from the perspective of God, they often arrive at a conclusion completely different from those involved, even if the choice made from that divine perspective is incredibly correct. But even if you tell the person involved that this choice is correct, they will not willingly follow it. They will still follow their own heart to do things that appear foolish and irrational from a divine perspective.
Human reproduction is built upon various sacrifices—extinct animals, and even humanity itself.
If not for the slaughter between the Seven Warring States, the collapse of the Qin Empire, the Chu-Han Contention; if not for the chaos of the Three Kingdoms, or even the invasion of the Five Barbarians, perhaps many, many people on Earth today would not exist.
After all, Li Shimin, the Emperor of the ages, likely had mixed Han and Hu heritage, as his ancestors were Han forces serving under Hu rulers during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, and they would have inevitably been involved in intermarriages. His mother's family, the Dugu clan, even had a surname that was the Sinicized version of the Xianbei tribe during the Han Dynasty.
The fact that Li Shimin could kill his brothers and force his father to abdicate, and then marry his brother's wife, only to sit firmly on the throne, is unimaginable in later dynasties where Confucianism flourished. This has a certain relation to the customs and concepts of the Hu people that influenced the Central Plains at that time.
Yet, it was the Tang Dynasty he started that promoted the tradition of Han bloodlines, forcibly designating the Li clan as the premier clan of China, which also involved various sordid dealings with the Eight Great Aristocratic Families of the time.
The humans alive today are precisely those who survived after one war after another and countless sins in this cruel world.
Just as Fan Zhongyan's descendants would include Fan Wencheng, a founding contributor to the Qing Dynasty, the direct descendants of Confucius also live well in Taiwan. The previous generation of successors to the Celestial Master Dao were also brought over, leading to the current split in the orthodoxy of the Celestial Masters across the strait.
Those who claim to be descendants of Emperor Wu of Han might be more closely related to Emperor Xian of Han.
Who can guarantee that their ancestors, while enjoying glory, did not have a moment of cowardice or compromise? Among the savages who competed for survival on the same land as lions and tigers in ancient times, those who didn't know how to "coward" have all gone extinct.
Survival is competition, reproduction is competition. The one who eats the chicken in the end isn't necessarily the one with the best aim, but definitely the one best at "camping" (hiding).
"You bastard! No one's life is a necessary sacrifice!" Shirou gritted his teeth in anger and strode toward the white-haired man.
"Wait! Senpai, don't argue over this," the purple-haired girl quickly grabbed Shirou, trying to persuade him. She knew that although this Senpai of hers was a good man, if he encountered someone he deemed a villain, he would absolutely argue based on reason without giving an inch. Plus, he had that fiery temper that wouldn't hesitate to start a fight.
"Sakura, don't worry, I won't fight here," Shirou reassured the girl, patted her shoulder, and then stepped forward to stand before the white god, their foreheads almost touching as he stared directly into the other's eyes.
The people alive today are mostly products of repeated baseness and retreat, the descendants of survivors who persisted at the cost of heroes' sacrifices and enemies' blood—
even though many people cannot accept these facts. Even in the 21st century, there are still many people who want to climb the family tree to dynasties before the Common Era.
Perhaps that is precisely because these things were necessary.
"Baseness is the passport of the base, nobility is the epitaph of the noble."
Indeed, people envy those clever individuals who hold power, possess great wealth, and are incomparably glorious, but deep down, people often prefer those tragic heroes.
Shirou looked at the white god and said, "It is true that you look down on the world from a higher dimension and probably know many truths that humans have explored for a long time but remain ignorant of. But for humans, these unknown things are also needed—like religion, like faith, like impractical dreams."
"Is that so? But they are clearly wrong choices, false conjectures—why would you still want to do them? The current me truly cannot understand," the white god said, looking at Shirou.
"Ah, so you and I must have a battle after all. Although you are much better than the situation I imagined, you are truly no longer human, so the future of humanity cannot be handed to you to protect. After all, that is too heavy; it is not something I can bear alone!" Shirou said decisively.
"Is that so? Regarding this point, I think it doesn't matter whether I have it or not. Fighting against oneself—isn't that too meaningless? I am actually thinking about integrating all power to better protect humanity," the white god said.
"Oh right, Fou, little guy, come here too. I need your help." The white-haired Shirou beckoned to Fou, who had been hiding in the hood behind Sakura's clothes from the very beginning.
"Fou~ Fou-uu!!!" The little animal felt some invisible force pulling it into the air. It flailed its four legs in panic, but could not shake it off. It could only be pulled by the invisible force to the side of the man in the white robe.
"Fou-uu! Fou-uu!!!" Fou screamed in a frenzy. Its front claws unsheathed, and it lunged directly at the white Shirou's face. Once it made contact, it would be a flurry of biting and scratching. It, who had even bullied Merlin, couldn't believe some guy dared to offend Lord Fou-chan!
At this moment, the white-haired man's hand reached out first, grabbing the soft skin at the back of Fou's neck and lifting it up.
"I am hiring you to help with the highest treatment I can afford. Once everything is settled, I will send you back to Chaldea," the white Shirou said with a light chuckle to the lifted Fou.
"Fou?" At this point, Fou sensed that the white Shirou truly had no malice, so it stopped resisting and quieted down. After all, it sensed the powerful energy contained in the man in the white robe; even if it reached its peak, it probably couldn't defeat this god who represented a certain concept.
"As expected, you and I are at different points in time," Shirou looked at Fou and then at the white god. The white man he encountered here was very likely an existence from a time before the divine avatar he had met previously.
"No, my situation is just that my first meeting with you is after 'now.' At the very least, the main body is connected to all time periods," the white god shook his head. "Because for a concept, this is how I am. Time is just a condition. Time and space—that is, what is called spacetime—is the prerequisite upon which gods can create the world. If these didn't exist, humanity and the Counter Force would be unable to exist. Even Heroic Spirits who have detached from the timeline, or those who have transferred to alien stars or internal worlds—don't they only have meaning because there is a timeline?"
"Don't change the subject. You know what I mean, right? Since you still have feelings for Sakura, since you are not a completely cold-blooded machine, then why do you still want to erase everything?" Shirou questioned the other version of himself in confusion.
If the white god were truly as the Counter Force described—a cold-blooded machine that viewed everything as dispensable items and would destroy or erase anything just for better order—then there would be no hesitation; that would be an enemy that must be defeated.
But the appearance displayed by the white-haired man at this moment did not match the Counter Force's description at all. If anything, he was looking at an upgraded version of himself, and it was truly annoying to feel like he was being overshadowed in every aspect.
"After all, since we originate from the same person, failing to understand is the difficult part. So, you knew my thoughts from the very beginning, didn't you? There is nothing to say. Then, goodbye. Since you have different ideas, work hard. Sakura, you too—seeing you doing well is better than anything else." The white god nodded to the purple-haired girl.
"Ah, yes, goodbye, Senpai," Sakura said, waving her hand.
The white god nodded, then flipped one hand over, palm facing the sky. A silvery, translucent halo of light appeared in his palm, absorbing the magic power remaining in the world. Although the black mud had disappeared, according to the law of conservation of energy, the vanished magic power remained in another form.
The white god gathered all of this into the halo in his hand. Then, the halo rotated slowly, absorbing the energy and beginning to glow. The more it absorbed, the more dazzling the brilliance appeared.
When everything was absorbed, the halo stopped rotating and slowly rose into the sky, drifting upward bit by bit like a released balloon. Along with that brilliance, it seemed as if the souls of the people who had died in this town were following it as well.
It was a dazzling, colorful aurora, and above the aurora was a brilliant ball of light, like a little white sun.
"The gate has been opened for you; I await your arrival at any time."
The white god waved his hand, left this sentence behind, and entered the white gate of light, disappearing.
"I look forward to your arrival, if you truly can find a better path."
"Ah, just you wait," Shirou said, feeling a sense of loss and unwillingness.
Little did anyone know that at this very moment, in another place, a dignified golden-haired girl was also looking up, gazing at the white sun within the aurora in the sky.
The girl said, "Found you!"
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