IBHJ 1121

"Done." Mordred stepped back from the tree where she'd tied up the unconscious Artoria. She turned to Shirou. "Is this tight enough, Father?"

Shirou shuddered. "Wait, I need a minute."

She tilted her head. "What?"

"Your being all... polite and calling me father. It's giving me goosebumps." he hugged himself, shivering dramatically.

A vein popped on her forehead. "You're just a creepy old pervert, aren't you?"

"Says the actual pervert."

Mordred's eyes flashed with rage, her teeth clenched like an angry lion cub ready to bite.

Seeing that look in her eyes, he quickly held up his hands before she could pounce. "Wait - what happened to you, Mordred? Tell me everything."

"That's my line!" She snapped. "You, Mother, Morrigan, and Arcueid disappeared from South America. We couldn't even get back to Chaldea since the path was completely sealed. We were stuck at the connection point." She took a breath. "If Gaia hadn't used some tricks to make a path to Pan-Human History, we'd still be trapped there! Now tell me—what happened to you these past two months?"

"Two months?" He frowned.

"Yeah, in Pan-Human History's time. That's how long you've been gone."

"I still don't understand what's happening myself." He then explained everything - the Eternal Empire, the Emperor's victory over the Council, and how the crown had sealed him.

"Wait." Mordred's eye twitched. "The Emperor defeated the Council? You can't be serious." She threw up her hands. "The UOs barely finished giving up their Judgment, and now we're stuck with an even crazier connection point? This is worse than some badly planned game update!" She groaned. "And don't forget there's still a Lord of Salvation at the Root... That's it. Human Order is finished. We might as well give up."

"Don't say that," he said softly.

"But it's true." She dropped into a squat, shoulders slumping. "Eternal Empire, the Emperor..." she paused. "So that thing wrapped around the solar system like a giant arm - that must belong to the Emperor."

His eyebrows shot up. "What thing?"

"I can't even describe it..." She shook her head. "If you saw it from outside the solar system... it's beyond anything humans can imagine." She shuddered at the memory.

Forcing herself to focus, she looked at him. "We'll deal with that later. Right now - if you're sealed, does that mean you can't use your Servant trump card?"

"Yes, but the crown didn't seal my Vortex," he said. "I couldn't feel it even before they put the crown on me. But someone did say they could help remove this crown."

"Who? Someone from the Council?"

"They didn't say who they were."

Her face scrunched with doubt. "You sure about this?"

"Not really, but right now March is our only lead."

"So what do we do with this blondie?" She jerked her thumb toward the unconscious Artoria.

"We leave her here. Her powers are beyond us, and she can't die. I only got lucky with that surprise attack - a real fight would be different."

He sighed. "And stop calling her 'blondie.' She's still Artoria."

"She's not my mom." Her lip curled. "And you're one to talk - you just smashed her head with a rock! That's way worse than name-calling. I'm just following your lead!"

He opened his mouth, then closed it.

Somehow this was his fault again.

He watched as Mordred pulled out a pen and started drawing on Artoria's face.

"Mordred, what are you doing?"

"Just making sure we don't mix her up again." Mordred grinned as she drew a tiny turtle on Artoria's face.

He stared at the doodle on Artoria's face. "You really have no respect for her, do you? Maybe you need Artoria to pin you down and teach you a lesson."

"She's not my mom." She stuck out her tongue. "And my real mom loves me too much to ever hit me."

He just shook his head.

As they set off, Mordred suddenly stopped. "Hey, this connection point used to be Britain, right? If there's a parallel version of Mother here..." Her eyes widened. "Could there be one of you too? Father, what if the Emperor is your parallel self?"

Shirou smiled. Unlike others, he was a transmigrator - not created by the Root. Sure, there were similar beings like Shirou Emiya and Heroic Spirit EMIYA, but their souls were fundamentally different from his.

The Root shouldn't have any record of him. How could he have a counterpart?

"That's impossible." He paused, then added with less certainty, "...probably."

Someone in this Empire had written "The Tale of the Holy Sword." It was his story. So it wasn't exactly impossible.

Shortly after Shirou and Mordred left, an enraged female scream rang out:

"FUJIMARU SHIROU--!!"

…

In the Grand Palace, the White Apostle hurried through the hall.

"What's wrong?" the Strategist asked.

"The leylines are erupting. Monsters from the planet's Counter Force are breaking through."

"So the Counter Force is still fighting His Majesty's synchronization." The Strategist shook his head. "Impressive that it can still resist after what the other UOs have done to it. But that's all it can do. Why the rush?"

"We sealed thirty-seven leyline nodes. Every leyline on this island should be blocked, but many are still erupting." White Apostle didn't slow down. "This falls under my jurisdiction."

"Morgan and Ector are hunting down stragglers. They could help."

"No need." White Apostle smiled. "You handle strategy, Morgan and the others handle conquest. Internal affairs and data management are mine."

A crushing weight descended from above - an overwhelming presence beyond words. Both the White Apostle and Strategist's eyes narrowed before dropping into deep bows.

"We welcome Your Majesty the Emperor!"

In the entire Empire, only one being could exert such overwhelming presence.

Slowly, that huge, crushing pressure began to fade, as if some supreme being had looked away to focus on something else.

"We bid farewell to Your Majesty the Emperor!"

After the crushing weight faded, the White Apostle and Strategist rose from their bows.

The White Apostle frowned at the Strategist. "His Majesty the Emperor..."

"His Majesty's thoughts are far beyond my understanding.” The Strategist shook his head. "It's not our place to question."

The White Apostle nodded. "I should go."

"Make sure you return. The Capital needs you, Lord Bedivere."

"Mm."

The Strategist didn't move, watching the White Apostle's figure grow smaller and smaller until it disappeared in the distance.

…

"Fujimaru Shirou, you horrible, sneaky, lying turtle bastard!"

Artoria stared at her reflection in the river. Her beautiful face - one that even the sun would envy - now had a stupid little turtle drawn on her right cheek.

"My face--!!"

She dropped to her knees by the water, frozen in despair.

Getting caught off guard by Shirou in front of Mordred had helped her piece together who he really was. She wasn't even mad about falling for his trap again - that was her own fault for being naive and inexperienced.

But that turtle on her face... that was different.

What was he trying to say?

Getting ambushed twice was one thing. But drawing a turtle on her face - her precious, cute face - that felt personal. Was he calling her slow and stupid?

Even if they weren't who they pretended to be, their time together hadn't been fake, had it? She'd still felt warmly toward him even after he tricked her the first time. And this was how he repaid her?

She'd rather be killed three or four times than have this stupid turtle on her face!

This was unforgivable!

"Damn you, Shirou! You won't get away with this!" She gripped her staff tighter. "I'll catch you and draw ten thousand turtles all over your face!"

Her eyes burning with rage, Artoria snatched up her staff and took off toward March.

She knew that's where he was headed. With her ability to track enemies, finding that despicable guy would be easy. All she had to do was follow the path to March.