Talking with Alaya

"Um... Ah?" Shirou was about to agree, but after hearing what followed, he froze for a moment.

"Princess, you've revealed your true nature, woof!" Tamamo Cat barked.

"Master, please rest assured, whether it's magic or a curse, I will protect you. Just silently say the name of your lovely pet and then summon me. Even if it takes crossing multiple worlds, even if it takes training to grow several tails, I will come to find you," said Tamamo Cat.

"Hmm... I was inexplicably summoned here, but I have to go back now, there's nothing I can do about it, Shirou, let's play together again next time~!" Astolfo said with a smile and waved his hand.

Shirou saw off the Servants one by Servant, then walked with the silver-haired girl to a high place. They felt the wind blowing and looked at the surrounding scenery under the starry sky. The green grass swayed slightly, and the reappeared azure lake reflected shimmering light in the wind.

"Jeanne d'Arc, what do you plan to do next?" Shirou asked the only girl who remained.

Jeanne d'Arc grinned awkwardly and said, "Me? I'll go back to Chaldea first, return the retrieved Holy Grail, and then go to Shirou's world... After all..."

"After all?" Shirou looked at the silver-haired girl with a puzzled expression.

"After all! Even that Cold-blooded King went to the outside world! So I wanted to go find you too, is that not allowed?!" Jeanne d'Arc glared at the boy and said fiercely.

"No, no, I was just concerned about you. If you want to come over, I'm at the Paris Branch School. Just come find me after you've finished your business," Shirou explained, waving his hand.

"I know! I'm going back! Shirou, you go back too! I'll be coming to find you soon!" Jeanne d'Arc waved and shouted!

"I know, I think there's going to be a bonfire dance party at school tonight. You really like dancing, don't miss it!" Shirou replied.

"I didn't say I wanted to dance with you! But since there's a ball, I'll join in. Shirou! I've practiced that dance hundreds of times already, just you wait!" Jeanne d'Arc pointed at the boy, smiling smugly.

"Hmm..." Shirou hesitated, unsure whether he should tell her that the fire dance was a different kind of dance...

"Very well! Da Vinci! Send me back!" Jeanne d'Arc cried.

"Yes, thank you for the hospitality. I've had my fill of dog food," Da Vinci replied.

"Well, I'll let her have some delicious snacks later, and that should cheer her up." Shirou said as he left the dream world.

After Shirou and Jeanne d'Arc left, the dream world, which had lost its energy supply, began to dissolve little by little. Under the restoration of the world's consciousness, the people who had been drawn into this dream were called back to their original world.

Most people say goodbye to this place forever when they wake up from their dream. But there are still some people inside who are still dreaming, and it seems that they will not leave until the very last moment.

On the first street, in the center of the square with the fountain, a young couple strolling hand in hand stopped. A dark-haired France man, gazing at the changing surroundings, said with a hint of reluctance, "The dream is ending..."

"What's wrong, Julien?" the beautiful woman asked her lover, puzzled.

"No, let's dance instead," the man said, bowing slightly and extending his hand to his wife.

"Hey? Here?" the girl asked with a smile.

"Believe me, I swear, even if the whole world is blessing us, will you stay with me?" the man said, looking at his wife.

"Alright then, but if people laugh at you, I won't talk to you anymore." The wife placed her hand in the man's hand.

And so the two of them began to swirl around the fountain, the man and the beautiful woman dancing gracefully in the square, like a pair of butterflies shimmering with golden light, scattering their glow.

"Ah, this reminds me of that night fifty years ago..." Tears streamed down the man's face as he gazed at the stars in the sky, his eyes blurred with tears.

The woman who had danced with him was gone, and his body was emitting light as he gradually moved away; the dream was over.

On the fourth street where the battle royale game was in progress, a bearded man with a cowboy hat and a face full of scars, holding a sniper rifle, hid in a corner and aimed at his opponent in the distance.

Although he didn't know what had happened, the absence of some strange monsters allowed him to gain some experience. While he lacked those bizarre abilities, the sniper rifle in his hand was the perfect weapon for him as a top soldier.

The bearded man flicked open his American-made Zippo lighter with a click, lit a cigar, and exhaled a thick cloud of white smoke that obscured his eagle-like sharp eyes, but couldn't hide the dashing aura of a seasoned soldier honed by war and hardship.

Call out!!

A ghost dressed as an Indian saw the firelight, blew on a bamboo tube, and spat out a poisoned arrow that pierced the bearded man's forehead.

The bearded man died instantly, as the world's consciousness intervened, sucking back all those still in the dream world.

"Wait, let the old man win a round first, then leave!" The bearded man who had been eliminated felt a force pushing him out of the King of Soldiers' body, seemingly trying to send him back to where he started. He tried to grab the body and shouted loudly.

But that dream is over.

Image: "Godfather Marie", Location: "Images/1528649909-100062415-102027432. jpg"

Chapter 194 Talking with Alaya

Lost in a world of utter solitude, a gust of wind blew away all the clouds and mist, and looking up, one could see a sky full of stars, countless stars twinkling with various lights.

In fact, among the stars that can be seen with the naked eye, apart from the planets and satellites near our solar system, most are stars like our sun. Some stars are only visible to the naked eye at night because they are large and bright enough.

The Sun, which is about 109 times larger than Earth, appears to be this size to Earthlings. In fact, in the universe, the Sun is only of medium size. There are many stars that are several times or hundreds of times larger and brighter than the Sun, and there are even supergiants that are thousands of times larger than the Sun.

Compared to these giants, Earth is only one in tens or hundreds of thousands, as insignificant as a bacterium.

These giant stars, shining brightly, traveled countless light-years, bringing the romance and beauty of the stars and the sea to the humans living on a planet the size of a bacterium. Perhaps only the radiance emitted by the most powerful holy sword can compare to them.

The vast expanse of stars covered the entire world, transforming from the edges into long, shimmering streams of light, like shooting stars returning to the universe.

When Shirou left, he didn't wake up immediately; instead, he was pulled into another space.

This space contains countless crystal-like screens, and the scene of the dream world dissolving is playing out in one of these crystal mirrors.

Shirou looked around at the mirrors, which seemed to be scenes that were both familiar and unfamiliar.

Above, a swirling halo of blue and white light floated, and the voice of a woman whose age was impossible to discern came from above:

"Nice to meet you, Shirou. It's a pleasure to see you."

"This is our second meeting, isn't it? So you still came looking for me after all?" Shirou said, looking at the circle of light that had appeared there. He recognized the existence before him at a glance.

The Counter Force, more specifically Alaya, is not the realm or eighth consciousness mentioned in Buddhism, but rather the survival instinct of primates, an unconscious collection of forces that want to perpetuate their world.

Unlike the other Counter Force, 'Gaia', which protects the world's instinct to safeguard itself, Gaia only protects the Earth and does not care about the survival of humanity. If humanity threatens the Earth, it will even send out monsters to eliminate them.

Alaya also protects the Earth, but that's because if the Earth were destroyed, humanity wouldn't be able to survive. If the continuation of humanity is to be guaranteed, it might be necessary to destroy the Earth, and perhaps even at that cost.

The protective mechanisms operating through the Alaya consciousness are constantly at work, for example, deflecting comets that might collide with Earth, preventing Magecraft from reaching the source, and eradicating pathogens that could kill humans.

They eliminate all things deemed 'potentially capable of destroying primates' through various means. Sometimes the Counter Force manifests itself by residing in a person or object that serves as a medium; sometimes it manifests as a natural disaster to directly destroy the harmful part; and sometimes it sends out Servant and guardians with whom it has made a contract.

To ensure the continuation of the primate species, some existing primates are sometimes killed, making it arguably the cruelest yet most reliable protection system in the world.

The boy, through possession and summoning, learns about the experiences of Shirou Emiya in another world. He doesn't really want to deal with this protective mechanism. Although he dislikes it, it's a human protective mechanism, and he himself is one of those who have developed this awareness.

The greatest contributor to humanity's survival to this day has been the one who has silently saved humanity countless times in the most efficient and appropriate way. If he were to hate such a system, it would be as futile as a social person taking out their anger on society.

"How indifferent," the aperture remarked.

Then the halo transformed into a silver-haired, red-eyed girl of about ten years old, wearing a Russian-style top hat and coat. Leaning forward, she said cutely, "Your type? Is this it, Onii-chan? If you need, I can transform into anything you want to see."

"Illya! What are you trying to do?" Shirou asked in surprise.

"Don't get agitated. I was just kicked out when I tried to communicate with another version of yourself in the most efficient way before. So this time, I'm trying to simulate something you might like and communicate in a way that's most comfortable for you. Maybe that will yield better results," Alaya said.

"Still the same, Kaze's little sister?" As soon as she finished speaking, she transformed back into a little girl wearing a kimono, with long black hair and amber eyes like the boy.

"Indeed, it's better to have a pure and innocent girl like this?" Saber-Lily, dressed in a white dress and with her hair in a ponytail, appeared here.

"You seem to be interested in women with great figures too." A woman with long, pinkish-purple hair, a slender and voluptuous figure, and an undeniably stunning beauty even through a black eye patch appeared before the boy and cupped his face in her hands.

"A blue-haired, blonde-haired, blue-eyed knight; a red-haired, black-haired, twin-tailed little devil; or a purple-haired, purple-eyed junior? Or girls from a second world?"

Alaya constantly changes its appearance, switching between the forms of the girls that the boy is familiar with.

"Or do you prefer your own type to others? Or do you prefer men? The King of Heroes, the Child of Light, or the Crimson Shirou Emiya?" Achako, with silver braids, stood there wearing an apron.

"Stop! That's enough! Any further changes are meaningless," Shirou refused.

"Is that so... then so be it. All I need is to have a proper conversation with you and convince you." Alaya stopped changing and remained in the form of the silver-haired, braided girl, Achako.

"Why is this conversation based on the premise that I have to be persuaded?" Shirou complained irritably.

"Hmm?" Alaya tilted her head, looking like a grown-up Illya, and was surprisingly a little dazed.

Just as Alaya, despite possessing supreme power, cannot comprehend his own thoughts, he probably also cannot comprehend the systematic thinking of world consciousness, the collective unconscious of humanity.

"Alright, let's just get straight to the point. Why did you call me here?" Shirou asked bluntly. Last time, he had hoped to offer himself as a sacrifice to make a contract with her in order to save the people in the nuclear power plant, but she disappeared halfway through.

In the end, he relied on his last strength and fought desperately to complete the miracle, which led to his birth into the present world. For some unknown reason, he retained his memories and possessed a very powerful innate Magic Eye.

The Counter Force is not omnipotent; everything must be based on rules. She could stop time for Artoria at the moment before her death, but instead of directly giving Artoria the Holy Grail or granting Artoria wish, the problem is evident here.

At this point, Shirou doesn't feel the need to pay a huge price to request the Counter Force. However, since the system is only responsible for the survival of humanity, it must have some important reason for approaching him.

"Shirou, look at these dreams." Alaya waved her hand, and several crystals gathered together.

One scene depicts a city where a giant robot, King Kong, is frantically raising skyscrapers hundreds of meters high and hurling them into the sky, wantonly destroying everything in its path. Then, waking from a dream, the baby stares blankly at its raised, delicate hand—it's a tiny white hand in its crib—and bursts into tears.

"Oh, baby? What's wrong? Mommy's here, don't cry, don't cry." The mother who was sleeping next to her quickly got up and picked up the child.

"That's strange, I haven't wet the bed, and I'm not hungry. What's wrong?"

Inside the other crystal mirror, he is constantly being chased and tortured in his dreams, while also torturing and killing others. He lights a cigar, his bare back covered with knife scars and bullet marks. This is a king of soldiers living amidst a hail of bullets.

After the final battle, he woke up with a start. A chubby-faced boy, covered in cold sweat, felt something damp and warm between his legs. He pulled back the covers and gave a bewildered look.

"So these are all people from that dream world... In other words, those strange guys I fought before were all just Parisian kids created in a dream?"

Ultimately, after countless facts have proven that children can get everything by crying, they naturally use crying as a weapon to protect their rights when things don't go their way. This is the law of children.

But it's precisely because of this self-centeredness that a child's dreams can be so unrestrained.

A handsome and wealthy man who drove luxury cars, frequented upscale clubs, challenged himself with skydiving and bungee jumping, and always had four beautiful women in his arms wherever he went, woke up to find himself lying in a hospital bed with a catheter inserted, a shaved-headed man with sunken eyes.

Every day, the loving couple would exchange sweet glances with his wife, go out for a French feast, and then leave hand in hand, dancing gracefully in front of the fountain as if no one else was around. When he woke up, the dim light on the bedside table in the bedroom was still on. One side of the double bed was empty, and on the other side, a thin, wrinkled hand was stretched out from under the covers. It belonged to an elderly man with white hair.

"This dream world isn't all bad, is it?" Shirou thought of the girl who had fought so tenaciously to the very last moment.

"No, this is a dream, but it's neither good nor bad; it's just a physiological reaction. The problem with this incident is that many people were pulled into the same dream," Alaya said calmly.

"What's going on?" Shirou asked. Indeed, simply sending a group of people into the dream world wouldn't be enough to make the Counter Force manifest.

"Human consciousness will continue to accumulate and gather. Right now, it's less than a hundred people, but what happens when thousands or tens of thousands of people have the same dream every night? What happens when tens of millions or hundreds of millions of people have the same dream?" Alaya asked.

"Will society descend into chaos?" Shirou asked tentatively.

"No, if it were that simple, I wouldn't need to get involved. Shirou, there are many methods in Magecraft that involve controlling people in their sleep, and there are also dream demons who can enter and exit dreams and are skilled at manipulating them."

"Even if your world has protections that can prevent most of the mysterious influences, the effects of dreams on human physiology and psychology are terrifying."

"One person's panic may not have any serious consequences, but when that panic spreads to hundreds or thousands of people, it can cause disaster. For example, once rumors gain traction, shortages of salt, water, and disease may occur, and goods in stores could be sold out due to price gouging."

"Humans are social beings and are naturally susceptible to the influence of others. For example, people are less likely to litter in a clean place, but if there is litter on the ground and it is not cleaned up, it will turn into a garbage dump in just Pegasus."

"This unified dream is like putting tens of millions, even hundreds of millions, of people on the same street. While it's impossible in reality, it can happen in a dream."

"Although humans are social animals, we can only truly have three close friends with whom we get along well. And even within a monogamous family, there will definitely be times when we feel uncomfortable."

With a large number of students, conflicts and disagreements are bound to arise. A class will always be divided into many small cliques. The number of people in each clique may change, but most of the time they will be united against a common enemy. Those who cannot integrate into a clique are easily ostracized.

In order to unite people in this situation, a leader is needed to discuss things with the people in charge of each circle, so that when class meetings are held or activities are organized, the group will not be a disorganized mess with everyone looking out for themselves.

The more people an organization has, the more positions it will allocate. Upper management leads middle management, middle management leads lower management, and lower management leads even lower-level managers.

Therefore, even if a Lord or modern leader decentralizes power, they will eventually have to deal with dozens or even hundreds of circles formed by various forces for different purposes, and must check and balance them in various ways to maintain healthy and fair development without disrupting the balance.

However, even so, this mechanism ultimately has its limits. For example, small countries like Switzerland, Finland, and Norway can achieve a high degree of fairness, integrity, and wealth. But that kind of operation simply cannot function in a large country with hundreds of millions of people.

Although we are all descendants of Homo sapiens, we are divided into different skin colors; even among people of the same skin color, we are divided into different countries; and even among people from the same country, we are still divided into different regions. There are always various excuses that can separate people.

It's not that we're not united or friendly; everyone has their own likes and dislikes. Humans are simply creatures that are forced to live in groups, yet conflict is inevitable in such groups.

Therefore, war and various forms of competition are inevitable.

"If the dragons in Britain destroyed humanity by eroding the land and polluting the world, then this black mud Heroic Spirit is using its spirit to corrupt the hearts of all humanity. Both are extremely dangerous."

"If hundreds of millions of people are having the same dream, it's equivalent to creating a new world, a world more advanced than the internet. Humanity doesn't yet have the ability to survive in such a world; it would only lead to self-destruction. That's why I came here," Alaya said.

"But the matter has been resolved, hasn't it?" Shirou asked.

"Well, I'm here to retrieve this. Although she was our enemy this time, her abilities are extremely rare. I think keeping her will be useful to humanity." Alaya said, taking out a crystal in her hand. Inside was a sleeping little girl holding a black book.

"This is that child from the black mud Heroic Spirit!" Shirou exclaimed in surprise. He had previously felt sorry for her, wishing he could have met her sooner and corrected her mistakes. He hadn't expected her to survive, but considering the presence before him, was this really a good thing?

"No, she has now become a completely new being, and the Black Mud is no longer in her body. I have made a contract with her, and perhaps one day, her abilities will be of use to humanity. If this world really needs to be destroyed once, finding a new way for humanity to survive might also be a solution," Alaya said calmly.

"Are you really going to let a little girl like that become a guardian?" Shirou knew there was no point in getting angry, but he couldn't help asking anyway.

"This is the price. She made her own decision and accepted the contract verbally, which is why I was able to use my power to keep her alive. It's actually the same thing she did before, making a contract with the master behind the Black Mud, except this time she's on the side of humanity."

"So what brings you here?" Shirou asked, frowning.

"I'm just here to talk to you. There is something that you must do, but it's not the right time yet. So I'm here to ask you, Shirou, are you willing to save this world?" Alaya said.

"If it's something I absolutely have to do," Shirou said coldly to Alaya. He couldn't imagine that there were things that the Counter Force couldn't do, but he could accomplish.

"Is that so? I believe I will come to find you soon." Alaya, carrying the crystal, transformed into a beam of light and left.