Chapter 328: Escaping to the Next World
In the secret chamber of the palace, Shirou stared at the spot where the holographic image had vanished. He hadn't even had time to react; everything had happened far too suddenly.
Shirou tried to re-establish communication with Chaldea, but there was no response. He had lost contact completely. Trapped in this world by the Witch, he was utterly helpless.
"How could this happen..." Shirou clenched his fists. The very thing he dreaded most had come to pass: his friends had been dragged into the conflict between him and the White God.
"Chaldea... they'll be okay, won't they? No, if it's the God I know, He shouldn't harm humans." Shirou muttered to himself, his voice thick with worry.
"I cannot be certain, but we must leave this place. I will open a direct path here to where the angels are. If we go back up, we might be delayed by Charlemagne's affairs—that Emperor won't give up so easily, and I have a very bad premonition," Scheherazade said.
"A bad premonition? Wait! Even if we leave, we have to take Sita," Shirou insisted.
"Don't worry. For the girl in the real world, this is merely a dream. As for those inside this world—virtual personas constructed using Heroic Spirits—even if they 'die,' they simply return to the Throne of Heroes. If fate allows, you will meet again. You need not worry." Scheherazade raised her staff and opened a passage to the dream world right there in the underground chamber. Since the two worlds were currently merging and overlapping, performing a feat of this level was quite simple for her.
As the bronze-skinned woman worked, she continued, "When it comes to the fear of death, perhaps no one surpasses me. My heart is racing right now; I have a truly ominous feeling, and that alone is enough to prove the danger."
"Scheherazade, are you okay? You're trembling," Shirou said, looking at her with concern.
"Eh? Ah..." Only then did the bronze-skinned woman realize her body was shaking uncontrollably. Her face flushed crimson, and her breathing grew heavy, exhaling a heat that was different from her usual composure.
"Hey, calm down. Why does it feel like—besides being afraid—you're actually... looking forward to this?" Shirou asked.
"Hah... hah... I don't know! But if it is that God... under that white light that creates all things, perhaps He could do the opposite and make me vanish completely! But dying is still so terrifying!!!" The woman spoke with a mixture of terror and excitement.
"Then don't die!" Shirou retorted.
Scheherazade cried out shrilly, "But as long as one lives, death will come eventually! I want to become... I want to become sea foam, so I'd never have to worry again!"
Realizing they truly couldn't stay any longer, Shirou and Scheherazade took Artoria and Jeanne and prepared to find Yukinoshita, Yuigahama, and Asuna to leave this world.
"The others... where are my sister and Mashiro?" Shirou asked.
"I haven't seen the girls you mentioned. It seems the Witch didn't keep everyone together; some were placed in other worlds." Scheherazade shook her head.
"I see. Then let's go. I felt your premonition too. That White God will definitely come here soon. This is a reality I'm certain of," Shirou said.
Shirou understood that the White God—who currently possessed only divinity yet busied Himself with "caring" for humanity—might be doing what He considered good, but He completely failed to understand human thoughts. This could lead to catastrophic harm.
Life is unpredictable, and things rarely go as planned. Even when humans act with good intentions, the results aren't always positive. Sometimes, a blessing in disguise is actually a curse.
In fact, those who only preach morality and criticize others while doing nothing themselves are the worst of all. Once such people gain power, they often make a mess of things; history is full of such examples, and such failures often signal the rise of even worse rulers.
When faith in morality collapses, society turns toward meritocracy—much like Cao Cao did. In times of chaos, he issued decrees to recruit talent regardless of virtue. Consequently, the world's most capable and ambitious talents gathered under his banner, but he also brought in the likes of Sima Yi.
Giving opportunities to capable but wicked men leads from one abyss to the next. If talented villains lose all restraint, they lose themselves as well. When people focus solely on profit, their vision becomes narrow, and their inherent selfishness and cruelty, once unchecked, become terrifying as their desires know no bounds.
Those who possess both true virtue and talent are far too few. This is why establishing perfect laws to restrain power is so vital.
For example, the current White God feels the Counter Force is unnecessary and has blocked its interference. But the Counter Force is the collective subconscious of humanity and the survival instinct of the Earth itself.
Furthermore, the White God has negated Heroic Spirits and wishes to close the Throne of Heroes. Yet, Artoria, Jeanne, and all the other Servants Shirou has met and befriended are within that Throne. It is precisely because of this mechanism that humans and Heroic Spirits have the chance to meet, learn from one another, and form deep bonds.
However, in the eyes of the White God—who is gradually forgetting human emotion—these things have become completely incomprehensible. One day, He might decide they are entirely unnecessary and turn His "blockade" into "erasure."
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They arrived back at the spot where their companions were waiting, and Shirou explained the situation.
"Shirou, are you really going to fight such a terrifying existence?" the girls asked, worried.
"In any case, we have to escape before that God discovers this place," Yuigahama said, standing up.
"Y-yeah. Come on, Gabriel, stand up already," Vignette urged her friend.
"Waiting a little longer won't hurt, right? I'm at a critical part and haven't saved yet! I don't know what kind of monster He is, but no matter how powerful, He couldn't possibly fly to this world instantly, right?" Gabriel sat with her controller, eyes glued to the screen.
"No, we've been spotted." Shirou looked toward the window.
Standing amidst the ice and snow, the White God had discovered Shirou. Across an unknown number of worlds, the two locked eyes.
The angel and demon girls here felt it too. They suddenly shuddered, hugging their arms and rubbing their shoulders for warmth.
"Ah... what a creepy feeling." Raphi's smile faded as she opened her eyes.
"What is this? It feels like... our very existence is about to be erased," Vignette said, her face pale.
"Is this a natural enemy? No... it's like being caught by your parents while playing an eroge—that sense of despair where your personality is completely destroyed in their eyes," Gabriel said, clutching her head.
"Eroge? What's that? Hmph! How pathetic! The Great Archdemon Satania is not afraid at all!" The red-haired little demon laughed boastfully.
"If that's the case, please stop your legs from shaking first," Shirou couldn't help but retort. He hadn't expected the White God to pose such a massive threat even to these high-ranking beings. It seemed that even in their eyes, the Creator God was dangerous.
"Alright, all of you, leave this place quickly." Scheherazade opened the gate to their original world and had Gabriel and the others line up. Shirou saw them off.
"Senpai, are you really going to face such a terrifying being? I should stay behind. I'm just a student, but as a demon, I can still help!" Vignette ran up to him.
Shirou shook his head. "Thank you for the offer, Vignette, but it's not necessary. That God is actually another 'me.' This is a battle with myself, so please go back and rest easy. Everyone, I'll see you in the original world."
"Okay..." Vignette agreed, though she still looked worried.
"Alright, everyone, inside." Shirou ushered the girls into the passage.
"Hey, Shirou, I'm waiting for you to come back and make something delicious. Don't break your word, or I won't let you into Heaven," Gabriel said at the last second before stepping through. She waved her hand. "See ya."
"Yeah, of course." Shirou watched them leave. When he turned around, he saw Yukinoshita, Yuigahama, and Asuna standing there, watching him.
Yukinoshita spoke first: "We've said what needs to be said many times. We will always wait for you. You understand, right, Shirou?"
"Yes. Thank you, everyone," Shirou promised firmly with a smile.
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At that moment, an avatar of the White God appeared!
"This world... has strayed from its path. It is beyond saving. Therefore: destruction," the avatar said mechanically. It raised a hand and fired a white sphere of light.
"Go!" Shirou charged forward, casting an identical white sphere of light toward it.
As both were avatars of the God appearing in the same place, their power was split into two equal halves; the spheres collided and negated each other.
"Hindrance! This world is already distorted; destruction is the only path left. You, the 'Divergent Unit,' if you will not fulfill your duty, then do not stand in the way," the White God spoke through the avatar's mouth.
"No! The people here don't want their world to disappear! And as for 'divergence'... to me, the 'me' right now is the real one!" Shirou countered.
White lights clashed again, cancelling each other out.
"Hmph!" The avatar let out a muffled grunt.
However, an avatar controlled by the God Himself possessed infinitely more experience in wielding Authority than Shirou. When the spheres collided this time, they created a violent shockwave.
"Waaah!" Shirou was sent flying backward.
Seizing the opportunity, the avatar fired another light sphere.
This time, the white light threatened to swallow everything. In the nick of time, Scheherazade opened a passage and pushed Shirou inside. Under the impact of the white light, the passage—originally meant for the next world—turned into a violent spatial turbulence, a vortex that swept Shirou away.
"Divergent Unit must be secured!" The White God extended a massive, infinite white arm, reaching out to seize the escaping Shirou.
But at that moment, Scheherazade, having pushed Shirou into the gate, turned around and charged at the White God.
"Hey! Come back! Scheherazade! You're no match for Him!" Shirou screamed.
"Go! Shirou! Pursue the value that only you can realize! If we ever meet again... then I'll count on you!" Scheherazade didn't look back, shouting at the youth behind her.
Tumbling through the spatial distortion, Shirou became a falling star, leaving that world behind.
"Hmph." The White God ignored Scheherazade, emitting a blinding light to chase after Shirou.
But then, a magic beam struck the White God, making Him stagger.
"If the opponent is you! If it is you! If I am killed... will I truly vanish forever?!!" The woman shouted, her body trembling with a mixture of terror and madness.
She unleashed her final magecraft. Using the palace of the Abbasid Empire as the center, she trapped the White God within and detonated the dream world, causing everything to collapse.
Scheherazade vanished from that world.
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When Shirou regained consciousness, he found himself alone, tossed into a deserted forest. The surrounding plants were unfamiliar, and there were strange insects everywhere. He had no idea where he was or what era this world belonged to.
The trees were incredibly tall, and the air was fresher than he had ever experienced, saturated with oxygen.
Shirou peeked through the brush and saw a woolly mammoth. It was standing by a river, leisurely drinking water.
At that moment, a Deinosuchus—an emperor crocodile—with slitted, tennis-ball-sized green eyes swam silently toward the bank. Its massive body gradually emerged, but the mammoth noticed nothing.
Suddenly, the crocodile snapped its jaws shut, clamping onto the mammoth's sturdy head like a pair of pliers on a bolt.
The panicked mammoth let out a roar, twisting its body desperately. But the four-meter-tall giant elephant was no match for the ruler of the water. The crocodile raised its massive tail, slammed it down, and performed a death roll. Using its weight and momentum, it dragged the mammoth into the river, sending massive waves across the wide water. When the spray settled, the mammoth had vanished, leaving only a large cloud of blood rising to the surface.
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