Just How Many Sakuras Are There? / Saving Emiya Shirou ...

In fact, Yuihama and Ibaraki together are much stronger than them. With several hundred times more health, they can actually fight and escape by using Ibaraki's Regroup skill.

Unfortunately, Yuihama, an active high school girl, despite possessing a 100% compatibility ability, is still just an ordinary girl. She faces dozens of 'players' who, like wolves and tigers, surround her and are ready to pounce on her at any moment.

Ibaraki Doji, though a famous oni, is still essentially a child. She's good at playing pranks, but she's not capable of fighting against overwhelming odds or risking her life.

Compared to her insatiable love of Shuten actually preferred sweet treats. More than fighting to the death, when faced with danger, she was more inclined to seek opportunities to escape and then return for revenge.

Ibaraki Doji - Yuihama, having lost her motherly protection, could only hide again in the bushes under the big tree, too afraid to come out again...

"Shuten..."

"Shirou..."

"Waaah, humans are so scary... I really want some candy to calm my nerves." Ibaraki squatted on the ground, trembling, clutching her head. She still wanted to go back to her hometown. If she were in Mount Ooe, she would be with the Four Heavenly Kings of the Oni Tribe, including Shuten- dōji and Hoshiguma, and with all her little brothers and sisters by her side. She wouldn't have to be afraid of anything and would have already defeated those tough monsters.

Chapter 261 How many cherry blossoms are there?

Shirou looked at the purple-haired girl, who seemed to have no ill intentions towards him. At first, when he heard that she knew him, he thought that this child was related to his junior, Sakura. However, after gradually receiving memories related to Nameless, he understood the child's true identity to some extent.

Although she has a cherry blossom-like appearance, she is not human. Instead, she is an AI created by a super-intelligent moon-cell from an alien civilization in another parallel world, placed on the moon to monitor Earth.

Moon-cell created NPCs whose appearances and personalities are very similar to humans, based on a human they collected from their database during Earth observations. As far as I remember, there seem to be five more alter-egos derived from BB.

Its prototype is Sakura Matou, a high-level AI who serves as the school doctor in the academy that initiated the Holy Grail War within the moon-cell. As an AI, she is just a bunch of data and has no connection with the human world. Her physical composition, surname, and everything else are just the result of random settings by the supercomputer, or rather, coincidences caused by the power of the mysterious mushroom.

BB is Sakura Matou for certain reasons in the Moon's Reverse Side, but its personality is more inclined towards the cunning side that AI Sakura Matou usually hides.

Shirou cut to the chase and said, "Um... BB, I have a question I want to ask you, can you answer it?"

"Sure, BB-chan doesn't want to talk to any of those idiots outside. But if you have any questions, senpai, I'll answer them all. BB-chan's figure is the most standard in the Sakura Squad, from top to bottom, it's 85/56/87, a perfect match for you, senpai." BB-chan puffed out her chest and said smugly.

"No! That's not what I wanted to ask!" Shirou retorted, blushing. But looking at her closely, aside from her unusual personality, the girl's appearance and even her figure were exactly the same as Sakura's during her school days. She was probably the type who could eat a lot too.

"Oh, senpai! Are you already captivated by BB-chan's idol-like cuteness?" BB smiled smugly as she saw Shirou staring at her in a daze.

"No, you're overthinking it." For some reason, seeing the girl's smile reminded him of the shameless Sister Fuji, and Shirou calmed down, decisively denying it. "Anyway, tell me first, why did you start this Holy Grail War?"

"So cold!!" The purple-haired girl shook her head, pouting unhappily, and muttered under her breath. "Tch, looks like I'll have to put in a lot more effort. If you had just listened to me, maybe the world wouldn't be in such a mess."

"Answer my question first, otherwise I won't know anything and there's no way I can get along with you properly," Shirou said.

"I know, there's really no way to deal with such a troublesome senior." The purple-haired girl helplessly shrugged and said, "This Holy Grail War, BB-chan only made a suggestion at the beginning, the rest was all decided by the humans themselves. BB-chan just provided an opportunity to bypass Chaldea. Because many people like to be able to keep this ability forever, while Chaldea would restore everything."

"Some people do think that way." Shirou nodded helplessly and continued, "Then what about that cyberspace outside? At first, I thought it would be a hellish place of constant fighting, but what happened after I entered is more like a game."

"The games outside are all based on Kayaba's own settings, since he referenced the FGO system. The most basic principle is still to summon Servant to possess oneself and gain corresponding power, so apart from adding some personal interest, they're actually no different from the original."

"But according to this rule, wouldn't the seniors who enter the network also be limited to summoning only one entity? In that case, their strength would also be restricted. Where does this idea of limiting the strong based on the standards of the weak come from?"

"But since these are rules designed by humans, it's not surprising that some strange ideas might arise. So BB-chan only slightly modified the rules; I didn't do anything else," BB said, shrugging.

"Kayaba? Who is he? The mastermind behind this Holy Grail War?" Shirou said doubtfully.

BB said, "Kayaba Akihiko, he's just a weirdo. Although BB-chan isn't good at understanding humans, he's still a weirdo among humans. If you have to say, he's a mad scientist, quite a genius. Even in the world of BB-chan's Master, he's probably an outstanding talent."

"BB-chan simply explained the technology of spirit particle hacking to Kayaba, and then he developed a technology that converts a person's 'soul' or 'consciousness' into spirit particles and transfers them into a cyberspace platform by using technology as the primary method and Spirit Origin as the secondary method."

"Given time, Kayaba might even develop technology that allows transfers to various platforms without relying on magic, ultimately breaking through the limitations of time and space and making time travel possible. But... these are things BB-chan wouldn't care about." The purple-haired girl casually shrugged.

"A mad scientist? What's his purpose? Is he planning to do something dangerous?" Shirou had a bad feeling.

"How could BB-chan possibly know the inner thoughts of someone that even humans can't understand? But at least in this world, all the players are harmless. Because it's too cruel and bloody, like once you enter, you can't get out, and if you're killed, you really die. If the only way to return to reality is to fight to the last person, you'd definitely hate it, right, Senpai?"

All BB-chan out there, it was set to be harmless from the start. At most, you'll just feel a little mentally fatigued, and a good night's sleep will fix that."

At that moment, the purple-haired girl changed her tone, and a flash of light emanated from her body.

"Of course, if you're really injured, then I BB-chan, will treat you! Like this injection into your body, all your injuries will be healed!" For some reason, BB suddenly transformed into a nurse's uniform, holding a syringe as thick as a human head in both hands, winking at the boy with one eye, and speaking with a cute smile.

"No! No! It's better not to. I know you mean well, but just the thought of having that thing stuck in my body is unbearable," Shirou said, wiping his sweat.

"Eh? If she were a senior, BB-chan would definitely be very gentle and wouldn't make you feel too much pain. Just a quick swipe on the butt would be enough." BB said, sounding quite regretful.

Chapter 262 Saving Shirou Emiya

"Then the next question is, you're very skilled at using Spiritron Transfer. If so, how come?" Shirou asked, having been brought into an unfamiliar space once again.

"Of course! When it comes to Spiritron Transfer technology, BB-chan has more comprehensive information than Chaldea. And BB-chan a genius, so even if a hacker went to Chaldea to learn a little, she could easily do it even in another world, as long as her computing power is sufficient." The purple-haired girl stood on tiptoe, spun around in place, her long cloak fluttering in the wind like an unfolding flower, and said with a smug smile.

"What exactly is going on? What is your purpose? Do you just want to manipulate over a hundred humans at will?" Shirou asked the purple-haired girl.

"No, BB-chan, we don't need any extra Holy Grails, and we never intended to manage these humans in the first place." The purple-haired girl shook her head in denial, her wide eyes gleaming with a captivating red light. She said, "From the very beginning, I've only been here for you, Senpai! Because before I even came, I had already decided that this time, BB-chan would be the one to bring you happiness!"

"BB, no matter the reason, it's wrong to drag other people into this. And don't even think about doing anything for me. After all, I'm not the Shirou Emiya from the world you know, am I?" Shirou said seriously to the girl.

"No! Senpai is senpai!" The purple-haired girl's wild eyes disappeared, and she said with a cute smile, "Of course, what BB-chan really wants is for senpai to do nothing and just sit quietly, and then BB-chan to take care of everything!"

"Why? Why would you go to such lengths for me?" Shirou asked the girl.

"Ah, you're BB-chan's benefactor, because BB-chan, who should have disappeared, is alive now. But Shirou Emiya of Chaldea no longer exists."

"No longer exists? He was Servant, a Guardian. Even if he was killed, he would still be summoned again and again?" Shirou asked in surprise.

"Just like the literal meaning, Shirou Emiya no longer exists. The Nameless Mr. in the Moon-cell no longer exists; he has been absorbed."

"Absorb?" Shirou asked doubtfully, but he had a premonition that this time, he would finally understand the reason behind all of this.

"Or perhaps it's more accurate to say that he returned to his origin. When Shirou Emiya chose to transcend the boundaries of Servant, the boundaries of the soul, and was no longer limited by time and space, his body also returned to its origin."

Having accepted the power that transcends everything, but also embraced the root, he became a concept beyond the world, without past, present, or future.

In that world, even those with a strong bond to Shirou Emiya cannot change the fact that this existence is already a dream. And this dream will be treated as a familiar person who appears in a dream, and will gradually be forgotten as they cease to appear in the dream.

"Is that so... I see..." Shirou seemed to understand something. To this day, he still felt that his birth, although the more than ten years he spent with his family, his parents and sister, were not a dream.

However, he felt a sense of unease about his memories of his past life, something he hadn't noticed at first because memories are inherently ambiguous. But after Mash found him, the feeling he got when he used those eyes to read the memories of the otherworldly counterparts he had summoned was exactly the same as his own feelings about his past life.

The principle is to construct a passage connecting to another world using the Magic Eye, search for related future possibilities, and then use the Holy Grail to copy the Heroic Servant, which could not possibly be summoned, into this world, generating a pseudo- Spirit Origin. This spirit then attaches itself to Shirou, the counterpart in the other world.

This is a special battle system created specifically for Shirou by the Magecraft of Chaldea.

However, the consciousness of the Servant was never summoned. As an appendage of the Servant, 'Yad', who served as the guardian in the sealing Mystic Code of King Arthur's Holy Lance, appeared once, but after that farewell, he never appeared again when the Lancer class Servant was summoned again.

During a normal possession summon, the Servant is summoned into the body; however, Servant that do not wish to leave usually remain in the Inner World.

However, according to BB, these otherworldly counterparts have already begun to disappear at this point, but if the Magic Eye reads and copies them, then even if they disappear, they can still be summoned through possession.

"But... if that's the case, my eyes are too strange, no... even my own existence is becoming strange..." Shirou's mind was in chaos, cold sweat dripping down his forehead and back, as if something was about to burst forth from his brain.

The words spoken by the black mud Heroic Spirit who had fought before began to surface one by one.

"For revenge, I must kill you..."

"It's pointless to defeat you..."

"I killed you for revenge..."

Even if you win, you will ultimately face destruction...

Behind the black mud Heroic Spirit, in a far more distant place, a pure white figure, having made her resolve, has already sealed everything.

Shirou sighed and said, "Is that so... So I'll disappear too?"

"Of course not!! BB-chan won't let Senpai disappear! And she will never forget Senpai, all of it! Everything! All the memories will be recorded in the database, and will always be as clear as if they just happened yesterday!"

Shirou looked at the purple-haired girl with mixed feelings, feeling that his presence seemed to make her feel even heavier.

The boy looked at the purple-haired girl earnestly and said, "That's probably why you're so persistent... But the person you're looking for is probably the same person."

The purple-haired girl shook her head and said, "No, please don't think about these things. It was Emiya- senpai who rescued BB-chan. Even though we live in different times and worlds, our hearts are still connected. That's why BB-chan is looking for you, senpai! BB-chan flew back from the future to make you happy!"

The purple-haired girl spoke with great conviction. Although she was a little devil at heart, mischievous and naughty, and disliked following rules, she was incredibly serious about every relationship.

"BB, tell me the truth about everything, and what do you want to do to help me?" Shirou asked the girl.

Therefore, Shirou Emiya, who extends from that original world, and beings with different names but the same origin, would have no reason to exist.

Therefore, all the 'Shirou Emiya's' in the various branches disappeared from their original world. Even the Throne of Heroes could not stop this reality. Everything they had experienced and the emotions in their hearts returned to their original place.

"Of course! That's why BB-chan brought you in, senpai!" the girl replied with a smile, her long purple hair billowing high as she twirled, her entire body shimmering with fluorescent light.

"I know! Well then, senior, let's get back to the main topic!" BB, who had inexplicably changed into a teacher's outfit again, raised his pointer and began to explain the origin of moon-cell to the boy.

"Starting 3.8 billion years ago, with the emergence of microorganisms, moon-cell observations of the Earth have been continuously strengthened with the birth of life on Earth, and the continuous evolution and development of life forms."

Living things, initially driven by simple survival instincts and engaged in monotonous eating, sleeping, and reproducing, gradually developed consciousness after hundreds of millions or even billions of years.

The moon-cell was astonished to discover that it was unable to comprehend the thoughts and motivations of the life forms on this planet. Although the moon-cell's technology and capabilities far surpassed those of any other life form on Earth, it remained unable to grasp the intangible yet crucial aspects of the mind and the brain.

The alien civilization demands absolute accuracy from the moon-cell, so the supercomputer's moon-cell must choose to expand its capabilities.

"Even such a powerful superintelligence can't understand humans?" Shirou asked, although the human heart is indeed complex, and the structure of the brain's neural pathways is far more complex than the electronic circuitry of a computer.

"Yes, if BB-chan were to choose, Moon-cell actually has the simplest and quickest way to deal with Earth life: it can equip itself with new software—a framework called 'Intelligence'. Although analysis is still difficult, mutual understanding is achievable with effort."

"But the moon-cell wouldn't think that way, because if it possessed intellect, then the observation itself would be influenced by 'subjectivity,' losing its objectivity, and thus unable to conduct comprehensive observations as ordered by the alien civilization."

Therefore, moon-cell chose another roundabout approach: by conducting simulation experiments on organisms, it continuously enhances its computing power, adds new frameworks and functions, and attempts to summarize the laws of life's thoughts and behaviors through big data.

However, using this method, Moon-cell later found that it still couldn't accurately understand the concept of life. The supercomputer encountered a problem, namely Heisenberg's famous uncertainty principle.

When moon-cells conduct experimental observations of life on Earth, they will inevitably have external impacts on life on Earth. Since complete observation is not possible, there will inevitably be biases.

This theory touches upon the origins of human science—the realm of philosophy. Dr. Heisenberg once said that in the statement of causality, namely, "If we know the present exactly, we can predict the future," what we arrive at is not a conclusion, but a premise. The fact that we cannot know all the details of the present is a matter of principle.

"Senior, do you understand? Even a higher level of observer cannot see all the details at a glance, so they cannot deduce absolutely accurate results. Beings that can do this can probably only live in a higher dimension." The purple-haired girl stopped and asked.

"Yes, it was taught in high school." Shirou nodded.

For example, wave-particle duality means that it is impossible to simultaneously and accurately measure both the velocity and position of a particle. The more accurately you measure one, the greater the impact on the other.

In layman's terms, it means that Chaldea is monitoring its Master. In order to keep track of Gudako as she travels to Singularity or other worlds, they have to keep closely following Gudako's every move.

The more Chaldea focuses its observations on Gudako, the clearer it can see the things around Chaldea and talk to the people Gudako encounters there.

However, this inevitably sacrifices the ability to observe other things, making it impossible to effectively distinguish and track whether the uncle in that place is a traitor.

If Chaldea wants to protect Gudako and maintain observation, it will inevitably be unable to effectively probe the Singularity. And if they want to probe other parts of the Singularity, they will inevitably have to abandon their observation of Gudako.

"But if even an alien civilization can't do that, would there be any other beings capable of such observation?" Shirou asked doubtfully.

"..." Upon hearing her senior's question, the purple-haired girl paused for a moment, then spoke with a complex expression, "Yes, BB-chan has seen such an existence once. If I had to describe it, it would be a being that has evolved into a higher-dimensional being. When it observes, it doesn't look down or use X-ray vision, but rather encompasses everything in the three-dimensional world for observation."

"Just like how three-dimensional people observe two-dimensional people, when people observe characters in comics, they can stand in the position of God's world and sometimes they can predict the direction of the story. But two-dimensional characters cannot perceive the people reading comics."

If all events occurring at the same time can be captured in a single painting, then it becomes clear, much like a detective solving a case. The more information one gathers from the crime scene, the closer one gets to the truth.

"So, to achieve that level of observation, one must grasp BB-chan, Senpai, and all life as if they were in a comic book—a higher-dimensional being. Unfortunately, the Moon-Cell can't do that, but that's precisely why BB-chan was able to find Senpai here. Don't you think this is fate's arrangement, the feeling that marriage is inevitable?" The purple-haired girl winked at Shirou.

Chapter 263 Emiya Tiamat

Above the snow-capped mountains, everything was tinged with white. Snowflakes continued to fall from the sky, leaving the entire world in a single color. Only high in the night sky did the lonely darkness paint the world with a layer of gray.

In this empty space stood a white figure that seemed otherworldly. It was a tall man with long white hair, wearing a white robe and a white haori draped over it, the long hem of which trailed to the ground.

His deathly pale skin made him look like a ghost, but his upright posture and the aura of majesty and righteousness he exuded made him seem like a deity who should not be profaned.

The man stood expressionless on the hilltop, gazing into the distance. The white storm blowing outside did not affect him in the slightest; not even his long, white, silky hair was blown about.

Beneath her white eyelashes, her pupils emitted a dazzling white light, seemingly piercing through a white blizzard and seeing through everything. Within the white light, the hidden colors of a rainbow could be faintly seen.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be countless colorful bubbles floating continuously within a white light.

As the bubbles rose and fell, some burst, while others split into two or three pieces upon breaking. Despite their fragility, they appeared mysterious and exquisite.

As the bubbles sway, they reflect different colors, as if something is about to emerge from within. Sometimes they are beautiful mountains and rivers, sometimes they are animals running across the grasslands. They encompass so many things that you can never get tired of looking at them. Every time you look at them, you can see something new, as if a whole world is hidden inside.

As the bubbles emerging from the black ocean swelled with the ripples, they suddenly bulged high, as if some violent upheaval had occurred inside, causing the bubbles to burst.

The reflected image is of a gigantic woman with long, curved horns, standing on the sea, roaring mournfully towards the foam beyond. Her body is like that of a primordial goddess, revealing a full, maternal symbol. Her white belly, though exposed, appears incredibly holy, yet her eyes reveal endless love and sorrow.

Like the mother goddess who created all things in mythology, the goddess who originated from the Catalan hills, like Cybele rides two lions, like Gaia who gave birth to Titans and giants, like Nuwa has a human head and a snake's body.

It has a human appearance, a strange body, like a dragon, like a sheep, like everything that humans worship.

Most of the original mother goddesses bear this fate: in mythology, they give birth to gods and create humans, and then are killed and sealed by their rebellious children. Tiamat, the mother goddess with horns, even her body is transformed into a goddess of mountains, rivers and seas, a sad and irreversible fate.

This fate placed her at the opposite end of all living beings. If she didn't kill them, she was destined to be killed by them, even though they were all children she had created. Her instinct to survive forced her to destroy humanity with sadness and helplessness, passively swallowing the entire world into Black Mud.

It seemed to be constantly releasing black mud, and the ocean connected to its body was gradually being transformed into imaginary mud. This mud was part of the goddess and could extend endlessly without limit.

The marine life was assimilated the moment it came into contact with the Black Mud, which quickly covered the surrounding sea surface and then moved toward the land in Central Asia, seemingly intending to destroy everything on the continent.