Chapter Eleven "Worlds Shattering Battle"
(Possible?) Future Shirou
Damn it all! I cursed internally as I felt the overwhelming power of Gaia's blessing merge with Selena's Reality Marble, threatening to overwrite my own. The very world around us seemed to tremble and shudder, the landscape of Unlimited Blade Works beginning to crack and splinter under the immense pressure.
Sweat poured down my brow, my breaths coming in ragged gasps as I pushed my body and mind to their absolute limits. Every fiber of my being screamed in protest, the strain of maintaining my Reality Marble and fighting against the combined might of Gaia and Selena threatening to tear me apart from the inside out.
My muscles burned with an intensity that bordered on agony, the constant flow of divine mana through my circuits feeling like molten fire in my veins. Blood trickled from the corners of my mouth, a testament to the internal damage I was sustaining, yet still I fought on, unwilling to yield even an inch.
The very fabric of my soul seemed to fray and unravel at the edges, the boundaries of my existence blurring as I pushed myself beyond all limits. The world around me wavered and distorted, the landscape of Unlimited Blade Works flickering in and out of focus as I struggled to maintain my Reality Marble.
Despite the dire situation, I refused to yield. The sacrifice I had paid to return to the past was no small matter. I had lived eight hundred years, six hundred of which I had spent to reach godhood, and the remaining two centuries as a god. By the standards of a god, I was a newborn when the oldest human gods were 400,000 years old, coming from when humans were still cavemen. My sacrifice had to be justified.
Yet even as my body and mind teetered on the brink of collapse, my spirit remained unbroken. The fire in my eyes, the determination etched into every line of my face, spoke of a will that transcended the physical, a resolve that burned brighter than the stars themselves. I would not fall, I could not fall, for the sake of my past mortal self that had so much more waiting to unfold, even if they didn't happen exactly the same as it had done for me.
Gritting my teeth, I reached deep within myself, tapping into the very core of my being. The power of my Reality Marble, the manifestation of my soul, pulsed and thrummed in response, pushing back against the encroaching forces of Gaia and Selena. It was a battle of wills, a clash of divine powers on a scale that few mortals and gods could comprehend.
As I fought, both physically and spiritually, my thoughts turned to those I held dear. Rin, Arturia, the countless others who had stood by my side and believed in me throughout the ages. Their faces flashed before my eyes, their voices echoing in my ears, urging me onward.
For them, I thought, my resolve hardening like tempered steel. For the future we dreamed of, the world we sought to create... I will not fall here!
With a roar that shook the very foundations of my Reality Marble, I surged forward, Kanshou and Bakuya flashing in my hands as I met Selena's charge head-on. The clash of our weapons, the collision of our divine powers, sent shockwaves rippling through the air, the earth beneath our feet trembling and cracking under the immense force.
I am Shirou Emiya, I reminded myself, the name a mantra, a prayer, a promise. I am the embodiment of my ideals, the bearer of my dreams. And I will not be denied!
Selena and I circled each other, our weapons poised, eyes locked in a fierce battle of wills. My twin blades, Kanshou and Bakuya, gleamed in the shifting light of the clashing Reality Marbles, a testament to my mastery of the blade. I moved with the fluid grace of a seasoned warrior, my every step calculated, my every strike precise.
Selena, in turn, wielded her daggers with deadly elegance, her movements swift and serpentine. She called upon iconic aspects of her people, the elves, that were tied to nature. Animals and plants manifested, and these were all at the minimum of demigod level.
My response was to draw upon my vast arsenal. I summoned forth a barrage of Noble Phantasms, each one imbued with the power and legend of its original wielder. Swords, spears, and arrows rained down upon Selena, forcing her to defend herself with a shield of shimmering light. The shield held strong, flaring with bright light as the damage my Noble Phantasms inflicted was rapidly repaired.
The demigod-level plants and animals rushed at me while their creator defended. All sorts of abilities tied to a particular race came rushing at me.
I did not have to react. My Reality Marble didn't just include Mystic Codes and Noble Phantasms I had encountered. The spirits of their former owners wielded them and rushed to fight the animals and plants.
My spiritual senses didn't need to extend outside my body for me to be aware of everything that happened. Every thought and action of my arsenal and army were clear to me as they were an extension of myself, my Reality Marble.
The only thing that I focused most of my attention on was Selena.
The elven and dwarven soldiers, caught in the midst of the titanic clash between Shirou and Selena, could only watch in awe and terror as the very fabric of reality warped and twisted around them. The sheer power emanating from the two gods was almost tangible, a suffocating pressure that threatened to crush their mortal forms into dust.
Many fell to their knees, their weapons clattering to the ground as they gazed upon the spectacle with a mixture of reverence and horror. Some wept openly, tears streaming down their faces as they witnessed a battle that defied all comprehension, a conflict that would surely be etched into the annals of history for all time.
Others, the bravest among them, fought on despite the overwhelming odds, their loyalty to their goddess unwavering even in the face of certain doom. They charged forward, their battle cries drowned out by the thunderous roar of divine powers colliding, their blades and arrows little more than insignificant pinpricks against the might of the gods.
Yet even as they fought and died, their hearts swelled with a strange sense of pride and purpose. To be a part of this moment, to bear witness to the clash of titans, was an honor beyond measure. They knew, deep in their souls, that their sacrifices would not be in vain, that their names would be remembered and revered for generations to come.
And so they fought, and so they fell, their blood mingling with the shattered earth beneath their feet, their spirits rising to join the eternal dance of life and death. In the end, they were but mere mortals, caught in the crossfire of a war between gods, yet their courage and devotion would forever be a testament to the indomitable spirit of all living beings.
As mortals and gods fought, the temporary Textures overwriting the original cave system underneath Fuyuki started to disturb the fabric of the Human World. Alaya, which was tied to countless other events that could weaken or lead to the human race's extinction, turned a proportion of its attention to the battle between Shirou and Selena.
The collective unconsciousness of humanity became furious that Gaia broke the ancient pact of non-direct confrontation. A fight between Alaya and Gaia was no laughing matter as, while it was unlikely to lead to a total war where neither the human race nor the children of Gaia would survive, neither of them wanted that. It would only encourage the hungry predators outside the Human World and Earth with an opportunity that they would never miss.
Still, despite Alaya's fury, it calmed itself as the battle was still through proxies. If Gaia was going to empower a proxy, then it would do the same to Shirou.
Within the boundless expanse of Unlimited Blade Works, power flowed into Shirou and he didn't stop to pause to think about what was happening. He just shrugged off the empowerment and continued his fight.
A tapestry of landscapes unfolded, each one a reflection of the myriad experiences and memories that had shaped Shirou's existence. Rolling hills of verdant green gave way to stark, windswept plains, while towering mountains cast their shadows across shimmering lakes and meandering rivers. The sky above was a kaleidoscope of colors, shifting from the warm hues of sunrise to the deep, velvety blue of a moonlit night.
Amidst this ever-changing vista, countless weapons stood sentinel, their blades gleaming in the ethereal light. Swords of every imaginable design and origin were scattered across the land, some thrust into the earth like grave markers, others hovering in the air as if suspended by an unseen force. Spears, axes, and bows mingled with the swords, each one a silent testament to the battles fought and the lives lost.
As the clash between Shirou and Selena intensified, the very fabric of Unlimited Blade Works began to warp and distort. The once-tranquil landscapes became a roiling sea of chaos, as the two gods poured their power into the fray. Mountains crumbled, their peaks shattering into jagged shards of rock, while rivers boiled and evaporated, leaving behind parched, cracked earth.
The weapons, too, were caught up in the maelstrom of energy. Blades shattered and reformed, their fragments dancing in the air like deadly confetti. Some were consumed by the raging inferno of Selena's spells, while others were swept away by the howling winds that tore through the Reality Marble.
Yet, even amidst the destruction, new weapons emerged, born from the depths of Shirou's soul. They rose from the shattered remains of their predecessors, glowing with an inner light that pulsed in time with the beating of his heart. These were the Noble Phantasms of legend, the crystallized essence of heroic spirits who had left their mark upon the world.
As the battle reached its climax, Unlimited Blade Works itself began to unravel, the boundaries between reality and illusion blurring until they were almost indistinguishable. The once-solid ground became a shifting, treacherous morass, while the sky above was rent by lightning and swirling vortexes of raw mana.
(Possible?) Future Shirou
I pulled out my trump card, besides Unlimited Blade Works. The golden and blue colors decorating the steel of my sword glowed with divine mana. Light gathered at the blade. It was not just mana gathering around my sword. The concept and emotions of hope also materialized.
The elven goddess's eyes widened in horror and her pale hands tried to stop me. She might have been able to do something if I wasn't alone. Even with Gaia empowering her, Selena couldn't hope to stop me when I, myself, and another proxy for Alaya worked together.
"Excalibur!" I roared as I unleashed the Sword of Promised Victory's wrath against the enemies of man. It was more than just divine mana that fueled the golden light. The sword might have been originally created and belonged to Gaia, but Alaya had stolen it and I turned a fraction of Excalibur's ability to defend the Earth against any planetary-level threat against Selena.
"No!" Selena screamed as her body and soul were destroyed.
The holy sword was stabbed into the ground so it could support me. I coughed blood and breathed heavily as I inspected myself for injuries. Inspecting the health of a god was different from a mortal. We, gods, didn't just have bodies, souls and minds to be concerned about. Our Reality Marble also played an important factor in our health.
My attention turned to my Reality Marble first. A body could be remade. A mind could recover. A soul can regather. That all depended on the source of our godhood, the Reality Marble which acted as the factory of our power and anchor of our immortality.
Without having to look around, the status of Unlimited Blade Works became clear. The damage was very bad. If I had waited a bit longer, then I might have suffered crippling wounds that I might have spent centuries recovering from.
I was surprised when the empowerment I received from Alaya returned. Normally, Alaya would never intervene as it would be akin to using a nuke in a battle between armies and provoking the enemy (Gaia) to retaliate in kind, possibly triggering a nuclear war.
It seemed Alaya was making an exception…
No, I was wrong in my assumption. Alaya wasn't empowering me again. It was rewarding me. In my case, the reward was the highest class of divine intervention normally reserved for Creator-level gods like Zeus, Odin, etc.
I sighed in relief as my wounds started to mend. Wounds that would have taken me decades disappeared in seconds. It was not long before I had not just fully recovered, but had received a little extra. This extra would likely offset the sacrifice I had made to return to the past and make a little profit on top.
Alaya sure knew how to reward those that protected humanity…
Shaking my head, I looked around as Unlimited Blade Works faded away. The rocky interior of the caves returned, but they had also changed significantly. It was blooming with plant life that continued to grow with every second. Small little insects started to appear too. If the cave was left untouched, then it would become a paradise in a matter of a few weeks.
I smiled and wouldn't let that happen.
The fragments of Selena's Reality Marble were the key to her potential rebirth. For gods, our Reality Marbles were the wellspring from which our divine essence flowed. They shaped our abilities, fueled our immortality, and formed the foundation of our very existence.
Even if a god's physical form was destroyed and their soul shattered, as long as some vestige of their Reality Marble endured, there remained a chance for regeneration. The Reality Marble would gradually rebuild itself, and from that core, the god's body, mind, and soul could be reconstituted.
However, the process was slow and fraught with uncertainty. The more grievous the damage to the Reality Marble, the longer the recovery and the higher the chance of irrevocable changes to the god's fundamental nature. In Selena's case, with her Reality Marble nearly annihilated by Excalibur, any resurrection would likely see her reborn as a mere shadow of her former divine self.
"No way that is happening," I snorted and my spiritual sense swept over the cave to locate the Reality Marble fragments.
With a little force and application of telekinesis, Selena's Reality Marble fragments rushed towards me. They entered my body, then the soul, but not mine. They went to my sleeping past self.
"You should be grateful for what I am about to do…" I muttered and closed my eyes as I enacted my plans.
Add stood frozen, eyes wide with awe and terror, as he watched the titanic clash between the two gods unfold before him. The sheer scale of the battle, the raw power emanating from Shirou and Selena, was beyond anything he had ever witnessed or imagined.
A creeping sense of insignificance washed over him. In the face of such divine might, his own abilities and struggles seemed laughably trivial. He was but an ant, a speck of dust caught in the maelstrom of gods.
The gulf between his power and that of a god was too vast to describe. Even as a fragment of Sir Kay, an Indeterminate God with his own ego, no longer bound to the Knights of the Round Table, Add doubted he could ever reach such heights.
He shuddered, recalling the powerhouses that had made up Shirou's and Selena's forces. Hundreds of demigods had fallen. Had he been involved in such a fight, even without a god present, his chances of survival would have been slim.
His attention turned to the awe-inspiring sight of King Arthur's Excalibur, wielded by his liege. He felt blessed to have witnessed a moment that would be forever etched into history - the deployment of humanity's trump card against Gaia and any other threat that could lead to extinction.
As Shirou absorbed the remnants of Selena's Reality Marble and those of the fallen demigods, Add felt a twinge of jealousy. Reality Marbles, the source of a god's power and immortality, were rare and coveted. They could bless entire regions with nutrients, create countless mortals, and increase the military strength of nations. They were also crucial ingredients for divine medicine, as mortal remedies rarely affected gods.
For a moment, Add was tempted to steal from the distracted god, whose presence was rapidly fading as he prepared to return to his own timeline. But he shook his head, knowing that the high ethical and moral standards required of the Pendragon Guard would never allow such an act.
"Maybe I can ask the mortal Shirou for a slice of a Reality Marble when he wakes up," he mused, before taking out his smartphone to write a report for his liege, King Arthur.
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