Why was this happening?! Up until an hour ago, everything had gone smoothly without a hitch. I should have known to expect the unexpected!
What should have been a simple task of tracking Avalon's aura had transformed into a sprung ambush.
I let out a string of curses as I used Kanshou and Bakuya to block an arrow, then an axe. If I had learned more about this new world, then I might not have been so clueless about the enemies attacking me. Had I had some time to read the history that constantly streams of weapons and armor appearing inside my Reality Marble, then I might have had a good grasp of the enemies attacking me.
Kanshou blocked another blow of an axe, and while leaving my attacker exposed, I slashed with Bakuya. Bakuya cut through the enchanted steel my attacker was wearing with ease and dealt a deep cut to the torso.
My second slash was prevented when a barrage of arrows came towards me. I was forced to abort the second slash and jump back to avoid the arrows.
I glanced at the archer shooting at me, then returned my attention to another attacker swinging their great-axe at my shoulder. My body tilted to the left side and I used the opportunity to send a right kick. The right foot smashed into an armored neck, and I felt something solid break in my enemy's neck.
There wasn't much time to see if my attack had killed the target as more enemies swarmed me and I was forced to turn my attention to them.
I was a killing machine that brought death to any that attempted to kill me, but my mind also scrutinized my enemy. It didn't make sense why dwarves were working alongside elves to attack me. Weren't they supposed to be mortal enemies or something like that? If my mind wasn't completely preoccupied with keeping me alive, then my Reality Marble could have easily answered that question.
My eyes glanced at the surrounded Add.
Most of the enemies might have been focusing on me, but they had been more of the rank-and-file soldiers attacking me. The smaller group of elites had devoted all their attention to Add.
Three elves and dwarves pressured Add the most out of the thirty or so elites attacking him. They seemed to be on the same tier as Add, a Demigod or Soul Transformation Stage according to the standards of this world, but they did not possess the same level of strength, skill or experience as Add given that three of them had to surround and tie Add down so that he fought defensively or was prevented from escaping.
I glanced at the misty walls of Camelot that constantly surrounded him. You might ask how I knew it was the walls of Camelot when I was so busy fighting to stay alive and didn't have time to use my Reality Marble's history reading abilities. Well, the answer was simple: my Arturia had shared memories of her past as King Arthur with me.
Parts of the misty walls would be damaged and the water vapor would break off to retaliate against the individual responsible for any damage. If the enemy inflicted twenty points of damage, then ten points of damage was reflected back.
The three elven and dwarven demigods didn't seem affected by Kay's misty walls that were inflicting damage on the dwarf and elf elites. The reason why they were not taking any damage seemed to be related to the projections of plants or forge and armory projected around the demigods, similar to how Add had misty walls around him.
"Sir Shirou, you must run!" shouted Add, and just letting out those words seemed to have distracted him as scores of hits that he had blocked previously hit the misty walls. "You must bring the news that the elves and dwarves were the ones responsible for Avalon's disappearance!"
"I am a bit busy here!" I shouted as I dodged an attack and delivered a devastating stab that killed a dwarf. "And there is no way I can escape when…" I jerked my head to the common soldiers and elites standing in the distance that acted as reserves for any casualties that I inflicted upon the enemy. "They will never let me go!"
"I will open the way," Add roared as scores of attacks from the enemy elites and powerhouses hit him. He gritted his teeth and shouted, "Camelot Image!"
The mist of water extending only about half a meter from Add suddenly expanded. The thirty-some elven and dwarven elites were hit by misty walls that hit them from above. About a third of them were crushed into a bloody mess while the rest took serious injuries.
"This is what we have been waiting for!" laughed the elven demigod. "Forest!"
"Forge!"
"Armory!"
Plants, blacksmith tools, and weapons appeared out of nowhere, akin to when I used my Reality Marble, and rushed towards Add. The Pendragon Guard didn't seem to be focused on the defensive as the misty walls that had defended him before instead smashed down on the dwarven and elven soldiers attacking me.
"Go! Don't look back!" Add roared as he suffered scores of wounds to his body. "Camelot must know what happened here!"
With the soldiers attacking me gone, I was about to seize the opportunity that Add had created by exposing himself to danger when I felt a powerful presence lock onto me.
"There is no way I will allow a Heaven's Chosen to escape!" An elven archer roared and let loose an arrow that seemed to share some similarity to Tristan's Failnaught. "Arrow of Death!"
I cursed as while I didn't have the time to use my Reality Marble to analyze the incoming arrow, it likely had the same abilities as Gae Bolg, reversing cause and effect to ensure the target was hit.
This might be the end, I mourned as the arrow seemed to lock onto me and my instincts told me whatever I did was useless. Sorry, Rin, Arturia. I don't think I can return…
"How pathetic that I could die to a mere demigod!" scoffed an arrogant voice in my mind, and for some reason it felt intimately familiar as if I had met EMIYA again.
I never got the chance to respond as my mind turned blank and all I heard was Add's scream. It felt as if something powerful was entering my body, and the darkness welcomed me into its fold.
S! ro# E$%^a
"How troublesome," I muttered as a mortal soul was forced into unconsciousness and forced to a corner.
I glanced around first, likely because of my current body's habit, instead of sweeping the area with my spiritual senses. It was only when I didn't gain the usual detailed information that went beyond the eyes that my spiritual senses washed over the immediate area.
What I discovered baffled me. It didn't match up to what I remembered. This moment in my life had been a turning point that began my journey to godhood and altered the fate of Camelot. I was supposed to discover traces of Avalon and a portal leading to the Reverse Side. When I returned to deliver the news, Camelot had sent members of the Round Table and the Pendragon Guard as an expedition force to retrieve Avalon. The expedition would then kick start the British Empire baring its fangs at the Dwarven and Elven Alliance residing in the Reverse Side.
That clearly wasn't going to happen if the memories of my past, mortal self were anything to go by. My head started to hurt as it started to think about the consequences of the past changing. I groaned and suppressed my curiosity. This was not my past anymore as this timeline was going in a different direction from my own, turning into a parallel timeline from my perspective.
"How dare you challenge a god!" I roared angrily, and I simply crushed the elven demigod's Noble Phantasm with my divine mana like deep-ocean water crushing a submarine to pieces. "Your punishment is death!"
The elven demigod roared in defiance as she exerted all her power. She summoned the source of her godhood, the Reality Marble. It was all but useless. If the elven demigod had been a Stage-Leaper, those that could easily hold their own and possibly kill individuals one stage above their power levels, then she might have had a remote chance of surviving my attack.
Sadly, for the elven demigod, I was a Minor-class God and a Stage-Leaper, allowing me to fight non-Stage-Leaper Intermediate-class Gods on equal grounds.
I didn't even need to partially call upon my own Reality Marble. A minor world capable of supporting tens of thousands of humans was crushed into oblivion like a tin can squeezed by a bodybuilder. If any life had been living inside the elven demigod's Reality Marble, they didn't suffer as they were instantly destroyed.
My spiritual senses swept around to see if there were more enemies. My past self's memories had counted thousand elves and dwarven soldiers, thirty elites, and three demigods.
"Oh boy, I had been so ignorant," I muttered as I recalled the past as a mortal.
I corrected my past self's blank knowledge and filed it away so that it became aware of certain pieces of information when I disappeared. There had been a thousand elven and dwarven soldiers at or below the Core Creation stage, thirty elites varying from the Organ Fortification to the Mind Splitting stages, and three Soul Transformation stage powerhouses before my appearance and my sweeping spiritual senses.
My spiritual senses detected more enemies that my past self hadn't been aware of. There was a hidden force of ten thousand soldiers ranging from Circuit Building to Core Creation stages, fifteen hundred elites at the Organ Fortification and Mind Splitting stages, nine Demigod powerhouses, and one Minor-class God.
"My, my…" I smiled as I recognized a familiar god that had been my mortal enemy since I had left Earth and been responsible for a constant obstacle of eight hundred years before I had become a god and killed in a battle to the death. "What are you doing here, Selena?"
"Fuck!" cursed the elven goddess. "I should have let you go… Damn Heaven's Chosen for having the ability to call upon their future self."
"If every Heaven's Chosen future self came to save their past self, then Heaven's Chosen would be invincible, and they would never die. Most gods, who had been Heaven's Chosen in their mortal life, refuse to go back into the past. It would mean taking an immense amount of damage to their Reality Marbles that they might never recover from or suffering damage preventing them from advancing further into godhood." I chuckled darkly. "If I return to my time, I will likely revert into a demigod."
"Even if the sacrifice is great, you're preventing your death since if your past self is killed, then your present self would cease to exist." Selena snapped back.
"That isn't true, Selena." I shook my head. "The moment a Heaven's Chosen future self arrives, the timeline is altered. They are no longer in danger of ceasing to exist as a parallel world has been created. That is why hardly any former Heaven's Chosen travel back in time."
"You're lying."
I sighed. What I had said was often denied as false propaganda spread by former Heaven's Chosen to deter mortals and gods from attacking their former kin. So, it wasn't a surprise Selena disagreed with me.
Alas, it didn't really matter after what I planned to do.
"Shirou?" asked Add as he had stopped fighting, and his attackers had similarly stopped as the unrestrained pressure of two gods was like a mountain pressing down on their body, soul, and mind.
"Hello, Add." I smiled at my friend who had helped me greatly in the past. "It's been centuries since I last saw you. I suffered depression for several decades when I heard of your death."
"My death?" Add repeated with wide eyes.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that." I blurted to my great regret. "Don't worry. The future has changed with my appearance. You will live, but do be careful of Merlin's shenanigans. In the unlikely-to-happen future, Merlin made arrangements so that you ended up drunk, but due to an unfortunate series of events, you were assassinated in your drunk state."
Before Add could respond, Selena directed her divine mana at Add, which would have likely smashed him into the ground if it wasn't for my intervention.
"Why are you treating an ant like an equal? Only fellow gods should treat each other as equals," growled Selena as she shot Add a disdaining look.
"Don't forget your mortal past, Selena." I shook my head. "Well, my advice no longer matters as you will not live on to treasure my words."
"You and I are on the same level. We are minor gods. Only if we face an overwhelming enemy or are outnumbered by fellow gods are we likely to die." Selena snorted.
"That might be the case if I wasn't a Stage-Leaper," I shook my head as Selena's eyes widened in horror.
"You're bluffing!"
I laughed at Selena's denial and simply replied, "Unlimited Blade Works!"
The cave system disappeared as my Reality Marble expanded from me and overwrote the Texture of the Human World around me. My Inner World, another name for a Reality Marble, started to manifest. A series of environments from the green forest to lush plains, blazing deserts of hidden life to salt deserts where hardly any life existed, rivers to oceans. All of them manifested along with all the Mystic Codes used by mortals and Noble Phantasms used by demigods and gods I had encountered appeared.
"Welcome to my Reality Marble," I announced while smiling evilly, "and this will be your tomb."
"My servants!" shouted Selena as she shot her divine mana into the elves and dwarves that had been unable to withstand my divine aura. "Prepare the Anti-Divine battle formation!"
The previously pressured elves and dwarves stood up and quickly started to get into position. An arrogant god might have scoffed that mere mortals could kill them. I wasn't an arrogant god, having seen too many gods killed by the numerous Anti-Divine battle formations out there in the universe. In fact, in my mortal life, I had been part of several Anti-Divine battle formations to kill gods in the past.
I willed my Mystic Codes and Noble Phantasms to rise and shoot towards the elves and dwarves before they could assemble into an Anti-Divine battle formation.
Alas, Selena was not like many gods that looked down on the powerful battle formations. Blue mist of divine mana exploded out from her body and changed. I felt part of my Reality Marble change, but it was too solid for Selena's Reality Marble to manifest and clashed with Unlimited Blade Works in a futile clash. It wasn't to say that Selena's efforts were completely wasted.
Many powerful magical animals and plants were able to manifest despite Unlimited Blade Works preventing most of Selena's Reality Marble from overwriting UBW. They destroyed most of my Mystic Codes that had been designed for mortal hands, and even Noble Phantasms belonging to lesser demigods were destroyed. But the manifestations of Selena's Reality Marble could do little to prevent the Noble Phantasms belonging to more powerful demigods and weaker minor gods.
Selena seemed to be aware that many of my Noble Phantasms couldn't be stopped and instead commanded her creatures to sacrifice themselves. It certainly worked to a certain extent as many elves and dwarves that should have died were saved, although suffering grave wounds.
Her vibrant skin started to turn pale as more of her creatures died. This was a sign that Selena's Reality Marble was taking damage and any damage to a Reality Marble also affected their owner.
I was also affected, but it was nothing compared to Selena as my Mystic Codes and Noble Phantasms were damaged or destroyed. It was akin to me suffering scratches.
Selena's skin started to pale more, but her powers had hardly been affected. Her wounds would have likely been minor cuts.
The elven goddess smiled as the majority of her servants managed to get into position.
"I win," She chuckled as she synchronized her powers with the Anti-Divine battle formation. "It's the end!"
"Far from it," I replied as the ownerless Mystic Codes and Noble Phantasms, which I had used as projectiles, had hands gripping them. Light extended from the hands and turned into complete bodies. "You have your army, and I have my own."
The fully formed figures charged at the elves and dwarves with very limited intelligence, nothing compared to their original selves. Still, my army might be a shadow of the originals, but they were all elites from the Organ Fortification to Mind Splitting and demigod powerhouses. The enemy soldiers were slaughtered in great numbers. The enemy elites managed to hold on. The enemy powerhouses were able to kill my spirits.
I coughed as the manifestation of my Reality Marble took damage.
Selena howled like a wolf and UBW shook as magical creatures and plants manifested. These new reinforcements arrived and clashed with Mystic Code and Noble Phantasms' spirit manifestations.
The twin Noble Phantasms representing Yin and Yang appeared in my hands. A battle between gods might involve colliding Reality Marbles, but that didn't mean gods didn't fight themselves anymore. I rushed to engage in a man-to-man fight.
Selena's skin paled and she started to cough blood as her Reality Marble took damage, but she summoned a pair of daggers for the inevitable duel.
"Holy Pendragon!" shouted a stunned Add at what he was witnessing, but no one paid any attention to him as they were too busy fighting for their own lives. "Is this Shirou's potential?"
His primary mission prior to leaving Camelot had been to protect Princess Arturia, and if the opportunity presented itself to investigate any traces of Avalon. Add had also received strongly hinted orders to not recruit Shirou. He was starting to feel that even if it meant losing his vaunted position as a Pendragon Guard that he should recruit Shirou.
Only a fool wouldn't attempt to try after witnessing what he was seeing!
Add sensed that the future Shirou might be a minor god, but this possible version likely could challenge even the weakest of the Round Table (who were an intermediate god).
His knowledge of the gods was limited due to an unspoken rule amongst the gods that mortals were not allowed to know too much about the gods, but he had his own experience as a demigod to aid him.
He was able to see Selena was slowly losing. As someone with his own Reality Marble, Add knew the magical creatures and plants were part of her Reality Marble. Any damage or loss of her animals and plants added up to chip away at the elven goddess' health. This also applied to Shirou as Mystic Codes and Noble Phantasms took damage or were destroyed or the weapon-using spirits were hurt or killed.
Yet, compared to Shirou, Selena was taking more damage than her opponent.
It was obvious that if nothing changed significantly then Selena and her servants were going to lose.
"Oh, Mother Gaia! Heed the call of your daughter," screamed Selena as she fought for her life against Shirou. "Please bless me with your powers. Take my Reality Marble after this battle as a sacrifice!"
"Oh, shit!" Add cursed as he felt overwhelming power that only Alaya itself could counter.
Unlimited Blade Works shuddered and started to crack. The landscape filled with many natural environments didn't change, but they felt different as if part of mother nature rather than belonging to a human god.
The overwritten Texture that came from Shirou's Reality Marble started to lose ground as Selena's Reality Marble and Gaia's blessing in the form of a Marble Phantasm stacked upon each other to start encroaching on Unlimited Blade Works.
If Add had been in Shirou's shoes he would be mourning for his inevitable defeat, but the Pendragon Guard got down onto his knees to pray for Shirou.
"Oh, the guiding force of humanity, please hear my plea and…"
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