Elsois Ruins — Central Altar.
The air was on fire.
If not for the scorpion swarms fleeing in every direction, the battlefield would have looked like a pure apocalypse mural—stone splintering, dust boiling into the sky, and divine power raining down like punishment.
"ROOOOOAAAR—!!!"
With a roar that seemed to shatter the atmosphere itself, the enormous black scorpion—Antares—flared. The goddess-like statue embedded in its back erupted with a blinding red glow, and countless dark-crimson beams lanced out like orbital bombardment, sweeping the entire area without discrimination.
"Barrier! Now!" Asfi hurled every magic item she had left. One shield after another bloomed into existence—only to be crushed by that red, godlike pressure as if they were chips of glass.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The ground caved in. Dust swallowed the horizon. Hestia curled into a crater with her hands over her head, trembling. Ais and Lili were thrown by the shockwave, and even the transport wyvern screamed as it fell and skidded across broken stone.
"So this is… divine power…"Emiya Shirou knelt on one knee, breathing hard. The Pseudo–Demonic Sword: Zansan in his hands had been reduced to little more than a hilt. His body was a map of cuts and burns, and his magic circuits screamed under the strain of overload.
"It's useless, Orion."Artemis—this unstable remnant made of prayer and longing—stood beside him. Her form was already turning transparent, like moonlight fading at dawn. "It's devouring my divine core. In minutes it will 'metamorphose' completely, becoming a true god of destruction. When that happens, its arrows will be loosed upon the world, and the entire Lower World will burn to ash."
"Minutes, huh…"Shirou wiped blood from the corner of his mouth. His eyes, oddly, were calm.
"For a 'hero of justice,' a few minutes is enough to save the world several times over."
Artemis blinked. "What…?"
Shirou stood—slowly, steadily. He didn't look at the monster towering over the altar.
He looked at the weapon in his grasp: the long lance that had chosen him.
Orion's Arrow.
And then—deeper than weapons, deeper than pain—he looked inward.
Warning: Mana reserves below 10%.Warning: Bodily collapse rate 40%.Warning: High-dimensional conceptual armament projection request detected…
"Shut up," Shirou said inwardly, coldly—toward a system that didn't exist, toward fate itself."If this is 'godslaying'… then we do it at godslaying standards."
He drove Orion's Arrow into the ground like a marker.
Then raised both hands—empty, as if grasping the sky.
"Trace…"
This time, it wasn't copying.
It was awakening.
In the farthest reach of recorded legends, in the archives of heroes, there existed a sword that was not forged for slaughter. It was born for the moment a planet faced extinction—to drag everything back from the brink.
A holy sword of stars.
"I am the bone of my sword."
As the chant left his lips, the air around him warped. Golden motes appeared like fireflies from nowhere, gathering into his palms, swirling tighter and tighter—until the light began to take shape.
"Grrr…?"Antares sensed it. The bombardment stopped. Its chaotic gaze fixed on the tiny human below.
Instinct screamed: kill him now.
The monster opened its maw. A dark-red sphere formed instantly, condensed from its stolen divinity—a roar made physical, enough to erase the ruins and the surrounding mountains in one stroke.
God Howling.
"Not a chance!"Ais burst from the rubble, black wind coiling around her like a living curse—Avenger fully ignited. She threw herself into the line of death, buying time with sheer will.
"We're going too!"Hermes hurled every explosive concoction he carried. Asfi triggered self-destructing magic devices.
Even if it was mantis versus chariot, they fought for a single second.
Shirou didn't look away. He didn't flinch at the carnage. His mind sank fully into the concept he was dragging into reality.
A sword bound by thirteen restraints.
A sword whose true radiance would only be permitted under certain conditions.
Seal Thirteen — Decision Start.
In that instant, time seemed to still.
A vast, solemn voice echoed—inside Shirou's soul, and above the battlefield as though the sky itself were speaking.
"—This battle is a battle for survival. (Kay)"Acknowledged.Facing inevitable death to live—first restraint released. In Shirou's hands, the light condensed into a tangible hilt.
"—This battle must be against one stronger than oneself. (Bedivere)"Acknowledged.A mortal challenging a god—condition met. The guard appeared. Golden particles spun violently.
"—This battle must not be one that strays from the path of humanity. (Gareth)"Acknowledged.For protection, not for desire. The blade began to extend. The air purified under its sanctity.
"—This battle is one of subjugating evil. (Mordred)"Acknowledged.A beast that devours a goddess and seeks to incinerate the world—this was absolute "evil." The light flared, outshining even the red glow within Antares's throat.
"—This battle is a battle without selfishness. (Galahad)"Acknowledged.No glory. No reward. Only the wish of a sorrowful goddess.
Five restraints released.
In Shirou's hands, a fully formed holy sword—beautiful, sacred, wrapped in golden brilliance.
Excalibur Proto — the Sword of Stars.
But it still wasn't enough.
Against a god-tier enemy, five restraints could not guarantee a single decisive kill.
He needed one more.
He needed the most crucial one.
Shirou opened his eyes.
His pupils had turned fully gold. The pressure of the holy sword tore his body apart—skin splitting, blood soaking his clothes. His right side looked ready to crumble into ash.
And still, he raised the sword high.
He stared at the monster that was about to end the world and spoke his final declaration.
"—This battle is the battle to save the world. (Arthur)"
Acknowledged.
The sixth restraint released.
More than half the bindings loosened—and the holy sword's true presence surged into the world.
Antares felt fear.
It no longer waited.
The dark-red sphere fired—an annihilation beam aimed to erase everything.
"EXCALIBUR—!"
Shirou brought the blade down with both hands.
Gold met red in midair.
There was no stalemate.
No grand explosion.
Only erasure.
The golden light cut through the red sphere as if through melting wax, carved through the air, carved through space itself—carrying the concept of "saving the world" with unstoppable inevitability.
It struck Antares.
Within that blinding radiance, something like the monster's despairing howl could be heard.
The beam pierced the colossal body. The supposedly indestructible carapace tore like paper before starlight.
A titanic detonation roared upward. The ceiling of the Elsois Ruins was ripped open. A pillar of light speared the heavens—so bright that even people far away in Orario would have been able to see it, clear as a second sun.
…
Long after.
The light faded. Dust drifted down.
The enormous beast was gone—nothing left but a vast, scorched crater.
"W-We… won?"Hestia peeked out of the dirt, staring blankly into the pit.
"That power…" Hermes wiped cold sweat from his brow, eyes fixed on Shirou with raw awe. "Even a god couldn't just tank that. That strike… it brushed the edge of true Arcanum."
Shirou stood at the rim of the crater. The holy sword had already vanished. His right hand—no, the entire right half of his body—had charred black, like burnt wood.
And yet he remained standing.
"It's over… Artemis," he said to the air beside him.
No reply.
Shirou's heart clenched.
His Mind's Eye alarm hadn't stopped screaming.
Then—
crack… crack…
A horrible sound of something breaking came from deep within the crater.
"No way…"Ais covered her mouth, horror flooding her eyes.
At the center of the scorched pit, amid ash and debris, a single core floated—still glowing with an eerie red light.
Artemis's true core.
Its surface was webbed with fractures. Its glow was dim. But it hadn't shattered.
Gloop… gloop…
Residual mana, hatred from deep within the earth—everything nearby poured toward that core. Black tendrils rose from the ground and wrapped around it, binding it like a cocoon.
A body began to regenerate—rapidly, grotesquely.
"…Not… over…""I… am… immortal…"
Antares's voice returned—weak, but dripping with mockery.
Shirou swayed, almost dropping to one knee.
That strike had been a miracle bought by burning his life away.
Six restraints.
Everything he had.
Why… why wasn't it dead?
"Because… I'm inside it."
Artemis reappeared.
Her form was almost completely transparent now—so thin the moonlight behind her could be seen through her skin. She looked into the crater and smiled, heartbreakingly beautiful.
"Antares has fully fused with my divine core," she said softly. "As long as I still exist—so long as this core remains—its regeneration is endless."
Shirou's eyes widened.
"The holy sword was strong enough to destroy its body," Artemis continued, turning to him. Her fingers brushed Shirou's burnt, deadened hand.
"But because you still wanted to save me… you held back."
Shirou froze.
Yes.
In the instant he swung, he saw the goddess's face—embedded in the monster's back.
And his trajectory shifted—
by one centimeter.
One centimeter.
That single hesitation made a perfect godslaying strike miss the true core.
And in a battle like this, one centimeter was an eternity.
"ROOOOOAAAR—!!!"
Antares finished regenerating.
But it was no longer simply a scorpion.
It had become something worse—an alien demon-god, a mass of arms and tendrils, twisted by stolen divinity and malice.
"Emiya Shirou!""Thank you for your mercy!""As repayment… I will make all of you… my nourishment!"
Despair fell again.
And this time, Shirou had no mana left to project another holy sword.
"…Is this… the end?"Shirou clenched his numbed fist. His chest felt like it was tearing apart.
He was furious.
He was sick with regret.
He wanted to scream.
"Not yet, Orion."
Artemis stepped forward and embraced him.
It should have been an illusion—nothing more than moonlight pressing against air.
But Shirou felt warmth.
A gentle strength.
"You still have one last card."
She pointed to the weapon planted behind him—the true divine armament he'd pulled from the crystal in Orario.
Orion's Arrow.
"Use it," Artemis whispered. "Use this lance… and pierce my heart."
Shirou's breath caught.
"This time… don't hesitate."
"If you truly care for me—whether as a friend, or as a believer…"
Her smile trembled.
"…then kill me."
The wind died.
The world narrowed to a single, tender cruelty.
Shirou looked at the lance in his hands, then at the demon-god advancing with its sky-splitting roar.
His fingers shook.
Tears—mixed with blood—ran down his cheek.
"Ah…"A raw, broken sound tore from his throat.
"…I understand."
He lifted the lance.
Not to save the world.
But to give the woman before him—this goddess who had already suffered too long—release.
The final battle would not be fought for victory.
It would be fought for—
farewell.
....
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