Chapter 12

Conversely, Elysia, who was also voiced by her actual mother, had far too many lines.

Far more than maids, zombies, or anything of the sort.

Although a single 'pink fatty' can shatter Elysia's mental defense, describing a girl so bluntly is generally not very nice. I have to find a chance to make Mei say it.

I also have no idea what progress they've made over there. If it's the very early stages, that world's understanding of Honkai is far too limited. Even if I can provide some intelligence on my end, they won't be able to put up any effective resistance. Only after Vill-V joins, a sufficient number of Divine Keys are acquired, and even a batch of Flame Chasers is formed, will that information hold any value.

After all, the knowledge he possessed was limited strictly to the abilities of the Herrschers. Moreover, once that intelligence was transmitted over, the subsequent abilities of the Herrschers might end up undergoing numerous changes. Because the Cocoon of Finality of the Previous Civilization had not been implanted with the program "Prometheus," there was no backdoor, and the sequence of Herrschers had not yet fully solidified.

If they prepared in advance and alerted the Cocoon of Finality, the Authority of the Herrschers might develop other variations.

Kevin's personality started turning dark beginning with the 6th Herrscher, but... that round of darkness was an important step that spurred his growth. Only after that would he become the first Flame Chaser, and only then would he truly qualify to fight against Honkai.

If they have the Scythe of the Victor over there, I'll have to get the blueprints and replicate a few to play with.

At this thought, Shirou Emiya suddenly smiled again. If he waited until Little Grey Hair pulled out the Flame Spear, and then disguised himself with white hair to create a Scythe of the Victor, snapped a photo, and sent it to the old man, the old man would surely be ecstatic.

Speaking of which, if Vill-V could come over here, she'd definitely be able to develop even more interesting equipment. She supplies the blueprints, and I'm responsible for creation—simply perfect.

An inventor filled with wild, unconstrained imagination and the Herrscher of Reason who could bring an inventor's unconstrained imagination to life!

What was called the ultimate combination?

Come to think of it, when he previously drew the Aurora Curtain, he also acquired two Rider Cards in passing. Because he lacked a belt, he couldn't use them, and having stored them in the warehouse, he had completely forgotten about them. If there was a chance, he should let Vill-V or Herta take a look at them for research.

If he had a choice, who wouldn't want to transform as coolly as Miss Sam in front of a crowd?

Among those two Rider Cards were his favorite Heisei stag beetle suit. Who could hate the Heisei big brother whose kick packed a nuclear explosion?

The Sword of Fallen Gods actually ended up drifting to the Previous Civilization. It looks like even if the True World can be located, the timeline still cannot be fixed.

Putting it that way, Shirou Emiya finally understood why all those beacons he had tossed out still remained untraceable. Even the Sword of Fallen Gods had only been picked up by someone with true sentience under extremely lucky circumstances, and moreover, that person was willing to actively communicate with him.

I have no idea if Welt's glasses and someone's Wind Glider have drifted to their proper locations either.

Let's just hope my words don't act as a self-fulfilling prophecy. What if the one who actually picks up the glasses turns out to be Otto? Would the old man really take off his glasses and start chanting the release spell?

Power, destination, ideals...

Imagining the scene of the old man directly transforming into Yang Chaoyue on the spot, Shirou Emiya couldn't help shaking his head, then calmed his mind to sense Nen and his faint, tenuous connection to the other side.

Nen-weaving is genuinely a subjective and idealistic gimmick. Even as the user, I completely fail to understand the operating principles of my own ability.

Ordinary abilities generally involved forming a preliminary understanding, conducting research, in-depth study, and subsequently carrying out later improvements and enhancements.

Nen was different. When you unleashed your imagination and assigned it a way to function, it was like it found a line of executable code out of a mountain of shit-code and smoothly began to run. But when you wanted to study that single line of program code... you were forced to face that towering pile of useless code all over again.

For now, I can only use the brute-force method to manage it, unable to operate it with finer precision. I'll just expand the capacity and find a way to get it running first.

Right now, the daily call duration is hard to push past five minutes. It'll take at least a month to gradually stabilize. As for capturing the coordinate system on the other side... Huh, wait... Has the Thousand Realms Shattered been manufactured yet?

Shirou Emiya suddenly thought of the existence of the 2nd Divine Key, the "Thousand Realms Shattered." If that thing was currently put into use, then... could the anchor point for his own world on top of the Thousand Realms Shattered serve as an anchor point for the Aurora Curtain's judgment?

I'll have to ask next time.

After sorting out all the information regarding "Nen" in his head, he suddenly thought of that "Crimson Eye" he had drawn. His current Nen was deployed based on specialized Nen linked to others, and it wasn't actually a Specialist-type Nen.

Enhancement, Manipulation, Materialization, Transmutation, Emission.

Specialized Nen only exerted effects in the fields of "Emission" and "Manipulation."

There's still a huge amount of room for utilization among the remaining three categories...

Should I try materializing the "linked" targets? Projecting those people over directly using Nen?

It didn't seem like a bad option either; it was essentially just manually DIYing Nen Beasts. And if he really had to materialize something... he'd rather materialize things that looked cool.

For instance, things like Strike, Barbatos, Unicorn, Arceus, Typhon...

When will my "beacon" ever drift to the Elves' realm in Yu-Gi-Oh?

...Wait, does the Hall of Heroes possess spatial manipulation? But figuring out how to link Nen to a "soul" seems like yet another proposition.

Should I try using Himeko first?

Thinking of Himeko Himeko, who was stored and nurtured within his own body, Shirou Emiya couldn't help starting to let his imagination run wild. It was just that Himeko's spiritual awareness was far too faint at present; even if the link succeeded, communication would remain impossible...

Therefore, the proposition returns to how to revive her sentience.

If a world deeply involved with the soul domain can capture a "coordinate"...

Let me think. Aside from "Death God," works whose soul domains are favorable for Himeko's sentience recovery include the Soul-Soul Fruit from "Pirates," Mahito's Cursed Technique from "Jujutsu Kaisen" which also counts, and spirit summoning exists there too... The Killing Stone from "Ga-Rei" has similar functions, and so does the "Shikon Jewel"... The God-Slaying Tool, the "Holy Grail of the Netherworld."

Hmm? Wait, the Holy Grail of the Netherworld... Come to think of it, winning a Holy Grail War seems far more tangible than these things.

Ah damn it, it looks like I've entered an infinite loop again.

In order to study whether heroic spirits could be directly summoned using Nen, Himeko needed to be used as a test subject.

And to use Himeko as a test subject, she had to recover her sentience.

To make her recover her sentience, one had to win a Holy Grail War.

Therefore...

Why not just grab Servants as test subjects right inside the Holy Grail War?

Himeko's sentience? (Unconcerned.jpg).

Chapter 25: Do not unilaterally project expectations onto others. (1/4)

"I am Natasha, the true leader of Wildfire."

Inside the small clinic in Rock Town, Shirou Emiya met the true primary leader of the Lower City—a doctor who had dedicated her entire youth to the Lower City's medical enterprise and the maintenance of order.

Much like a certain island-dwelling explosive crow who liked taking in orphans, this woman, who should be Raven's alternate-world counterpart, hadn't embarked on the path of a mercenary like Raven, yet still possessed an extraordinary enthusiasm for the cause of rescuing others.

Raven had lost both her parents and her older brother at a tender age, and Natasha's encounters were quite similar. She had lost her biological parents and lived with her adoptive parents, but as her older brother gradually walked down a deviant path, she was forced to drive him away. After her brother completely disappeared without a trace, out of self-blame, she ultimately chose to leave home as well to pursue the path of redemption.

"We hope to purchase this 'rice bag' you've manufactured."

Without excessive pleasantries, this leader-miss had the decisive and brisk manner characteristic of frontline medical personnel. While her words were not forceful, they contained personal willpower and a strong intent.

"This 'rice bag' is crucially important to the Lower City—no, to the entirety of Belobog."

It only required the provision of Imaginary energy to continuously produce rice. Although its operating logic defied understanding, the reality of scarce farmland was no longer a secret to all of Belobog. Aside from the very small fraction of bread that could flow into the market, one rarely saw fresh fruits, vegetables, or unhulled grain in ordinary Belobog households.

Staple food.

As a medical professional, Natasha understood the importance of such carbohydrate-rich foods to humanity far better than ordinary people. Presently, ordinary commoners in the Upper City and numerous miners in the Lower City subsisted mostly on coarse grains, meal replacements, and concoctions blended with a massive quantity of unknown additives—among which were even "ancient items" of unknown age discovered underground by the "Geodust Pioneers."

Those poisoned or even killed by these foods were by no means few in number, and a source of clean food was undoubtedly something the entirety of Belobog yearned for in their dreams.

"What can you use to buy it?"

Gazing quietly at Natasha, Shirou Emiya could have also played the philanthropist and bestowed the Endless Rice Bag upon them, but... the Endless Rice Bag was, after all, merely drinking poison to quench thirst.

"...The wealth of the entire Lower City might not even be enough to buy it."

Natasha's tone did not sound rushed. Her expression remained calm and collected, possessing a strong sense of a commanding general. Naturally... without this composure, she wouldn't have been able to sustain the order of the entire Lower City for decades.

"Yet I imagine that you chose not to trade with that Supreme Guardian in the Upper City precisely because you have demands of us... of Belobog."

"Reasonable."

Shirou Emiya nodded. After pondering slightly for a moment, he spoke,

"I do indeed have some demands of you, but accomplishing them won't be easy for you."

"Please speak directly."

"The 'Stellaron.' We need to eliminate or contain this thing."

With his strength, although he could effortlessly speedrun and flatly sweep across the entirety of Jarilo-VI, a fast-clearing steamroll held little value for him. He wasn't truly a goody-two-shoes like the real Shirou Emiya.

Most importantly, unconditional gifts tended to make people feel you were far too weak.

They might be grateful to you at first, but once you stopped unilaterally helping them, the other party would turn around and hate you instead.

Give a man a grain and he'll thank you; give him a bushel and he'll bite your hand.

In the inherited memories of "Shirou Emiya," instances of this nature were by no means lacking. Even if you extended a helping hand to them, what awaited you might not be a cup of clean water, but a bowl of poisonous soup.

On this Jarilo-VI, Little Grey Hair had to grow, and likewise, he would extend a modest helping hand to these people based on the system's yield principle.

Yet giving a man a fish was inferior to teaching him how to fish. The Endless Rice Bag could alleviate the food pressure, but it could ultimately never save this planet blanketed by ice and snow.

Igor of seven hundred years ago could not do it, Alexandra Land of four hundred years ago could not do it either, and Cocolia's current choice to embrace the Stellaron was, in reality, nothing more than a sense of despair over the planet's continuous march toward the finale of death.

Therefore,

Merely providing them with food was far from enough; this was merely the herbal catalyst in a prescription, and the genuine finished medicine was by no means food that could be converted solely by relying on a handful of Pathstriders risking their lives to serve as production tools.

On the surface, all that was expended was some Imaginary energy, but the Imaginary energy conversion consumed the very real energy and vitality of human beings. Over-conversion eroded life itself, and when the productive capacity of an entire city was pressed onto the hands of barely two dozen Pathstriders, it ceased to be mere food and became genuine blood-soaked steamed buns.

Yet even so, people akin to Natasha and Bronya would likely still swallow it with sweet willingness.

It was both a life-saving wonder drug and a fatal poison.

"The 'Stellaron'?"

Natasha pursed her lips slightly and knitted her brows. This term sounded somewhat unfamiliar to her. She looked in bewilderment at Shirou Emiya, who in turn provided her with an overview of the Stellaron's situation.

Upon hearing that the Stellaron might well be the true culprit summoning the Great Cold, yet simultaneously the "protective umbrella" shielding this world from destruction by the Antimatter Legion, her heart inevitably grew somewhat complex.

"If... if this thing truly exists, then as long as it is destroyed, this cold wave will dissipate, won't it?"

"Correct."

"And those monsters within the ice sheets—the so-called Antimatter Legion—will also awaken."

"Also correct."

Natasha drew in a deep breath, her mind racing with thoughts as she weighed both sides of the balance: shattering the cold wave and facing the monsters versus continuing to eke out a meager existence under the cold wave.

What to choose?

And what qualifications did she possess to make this choice on behalf of the Lower City, or even the entirety of Belobog?

"...What is your reason for wanting to eliminate the Stellaron?"

With the chaotic threads impossible to untangle, Natasha's gaze once again turned toward Shirou Emiya, hoping to extract a legitimate reason from his motives—a righteous, grand cause.

"It's blocking our way."

"???"

Natasha's delicate eyes froze slightly, leaving her momentarily unable to react. She parted and closed her lips slightly; for a long time, not a single further word could be uttered.

"Surprised? Or perhaps, furious?"

Shirou Emiya quietly gazed at the leader of Wildfire, speaking softly once more,

"What if I told you that we are Nameless, Nameless of the Astral Express left behind by the Aeon of Preservation, Aevium? That we plummeted from the skies specifically to resolve the Stellaron purely out of a sense of pure justice?"

"If I were to say that, would you feel somewhat better?"

Staring at the leader of Wildfire, Shirou Emiya continued,

"It is you who must make the judgment, rather than looking to our answers for reference. We are not people of this planet; we are simply stating our intentions and attitude to you. As for whether you decide to cooperate or reject us—those two options can only be judged by you yourself, by the people of this planet."

"...Do not unilaterally entrust everything to others, madam."

"If you need me to be the Savior, naturally you can now prostrate yourself before me as devoutly as praying to a deity, and then implore me to step in and resolve the 'Stellaron,' the 'Void creature,' or even the 'Antimatter Legion' on this planet."

"However, the price of that... is completely negating the hardships and history Jarilo-VI has endured for a millennium."

"Some things I can do; but other things must be done by you... by you, personally."

Chapter 26: Wildfire's choice, a response from a new spacetime beacon. (2/4)

Hardship was not worth praising.

Yet it deserved even less to be forgotten or denied.

If it were merely an individual's plea for rescue, Shirou Emiya wouldn't begrudge extending a helping hand, but when it ascended to the scale of an ethnic group, a civilization, a planet.

If he extended a helping hand this time, would he need to become their protector yet again next time?

Providing limited assistance was called support.