IBHJ 1246

The Kingdom was already gone. All that remained were the spirits of those who couldn't let go, spirits filled with hatred.

He couldn't allow his past accomplishments to become weapons of hatred that hurt innocent people and erased his friends and family from existence. Instead, he would carry the burden of that destruction while facing toward the sunrise of tomorrow. He would make sure the kingdom's story lived on, so that everyone who had lived there would be remembered in history.

This was all he could do now—both as the king and as someone who survived the Eternal Kingdom.

But his decision completely crushed the Empire's Incarnation. She had hoped, longed, even begged for everything to go back to how it was before—back when Scathach and Shirou weren't her enemies or enemies of the Eternal Kingdom.

But that was just a fantasy, nothing more than a dream.

Her voice went cold, "You created me, and now you're the one trying to destroy me. If that's how it's going to be... then you should just disappear! Disappear along with all these expectations, all this trust, all this admiration, Eternal King!"

With that, she pulled the golden crown from her head, transformed it into a golden arrow, and hurled it straight at him.

"Shirou!" Scathach shouted.

"Father!" cried Mordred.

"Mongrel—!"

As everyone who cared about him called out in panic, Shirou calmly projected dozens of legendary shields to protect himself. But the arrow made from the crown tore through those shields like they were paper, heading straight for him.

There was no miracle this time. The Incarnation of the Empire, bitter and disappointed, truly meant to kill him.

The irony wasn't lost on him. The King had betrayed his own greatest achievement. And now that achievement, grief-stricken and furious, was trying to kill its creator.

As the golden arrow closed in, Shirou had no defenses left, and none of the Heroic Spirits around him could reach him in time.

Just when it seemed hopeless, black bubbles suddenly burst from the ground. With a sudden whoosh, black mud erupted from the earth, forming a shield that swallowed the arrow whole.

Everyone gasped in shock. "Black mud?"

"How is this possible?" The Incarnation stared at the mud shield in front of Shirou, completely stunned. "[Evil]... it should have disappeared!"

Feeling some kind of connection between himself and the mud, Shirou asked hesitantly, "Is that... my black mud?"

The black mud bubbled and churned in response, then formed what looked like a hand that gave him a thumbs up before melting into his body. The arrow transformed back into the Eternal Crown and dropped into Shirou's hand—but now the crown had been corrupted by [Evil], turning it a decaying black color.

As he held the blackened crown in his hand, he could sense the [Evil] stirring inside him. Suddenly it all made sense—he understood where this [Evil] had come from.

This wasn't the [Evil] that had originally been part of him. This was the [Evil] he had placed inside Ritsuka's body 13 years ago to protect her!

Which could only mean one thing...

"I'd like to see who's brave enough to mess with my brother and sister!"

A sharp voice suddenly echoed through the basin. When he turned to look, he spotted an orange-haired girl in a dress standing proudly on a nearby mountaintop, glaring down at the Incarnation of the Empire.

"Ritsuka...?"

Both Shirou and Kama stared at the orange-haired girl, completely shocked by her appearance.

There was no doubt about it—this was definitely his sister, Fujimaru Ritsuka. But the little girl from his memories had grown into an elegant young woman.

Of course, that made perfect sense. What felt like just a quick nap for him in the dimensional rift had been a full thirteen years for her.

Still, something felt off. Shirou frowned as he sensed an aura coming from her that reminded him way too much of Demonic Bodhisattva and Kama. Even stranger, his [Evil] was drawing in endless waves of malice from her, converting it all into magical energy.

The Empire's Incarnation raised an eyebrow. "Beast VII..."

Beast VII? Shirou looked at his sister in shock. Had even Ritsuka become a Beast? The thought made his heart feel sorrowful.

He had done everything—sealed away that abomination, left his hometown, slept alone in that dimensional rift—all to make sure his family and friends would have a beautiful and safe world to live in. But now look at what happened. Humanity destroyed, his parents gone, Sakura transformed into Kama, and now Ritsuka had become Beast VII. Reality couldn't have been more cruel.

Kirschtaria appeared next to Ritsuka and pointed at the Empire's Incarnation. "Leader, I'm picking up a massive energy signature from that girl. That has to be our culprit—the one who invaded Pan-Human History, the Emperor of the Eternal Empire."

"I won't let you bully my brother and sister!" Ritsuka snapped, completely ignoring his words as she glared at the Incarnation.

Thirteen years ago, she had been just a child when she lost her family during the Fuyuki invasion. She'd joined Chaldea out of sheer desperation, and later discovered that Kama existed. Finding family had become her obsession over those thirteen long years. She even treated her Servants as her family. Never once did she imagine that her brother Shirou might still be alive.

For Ritsuka, finding her family should have been the happiest moment of her life. But now someone was trying to hurt the brother and sister she'd spent so long searching for—how could she just stand by and watch?

Without hesitation, she formed an orb packed with massive magical energy and flung it at the Incarnation.

Even though she'd made it in a hurry, the orb contained enormous power—pure True Ether compressed into a deadly package, with destructive force that made Goetia's Noble Phantasm look tame by comparison. But the Incarnation just reached out her hand and, with nothing more than a soft "pop," crushed the orb as though it was a soap bubble, sending a flash of brilliant light everywhere. And amidst this flash, a dark shadow streaked through the air, and suddenly a figure materialized right in front of the Incarnation.

"It's King Hassan!" someone shouted.

And they were right—this intimidating figure who had appeared with the wind of death during that brief moment of brightness was none other than the Grand Assassin himself, King Hassan!

"False Holy Spirit, thy destiny is evident," declared King Hassan as he swung his massive sword—a weapon infused with the very concept of death—at the Incarnation. But she simply extended one finger and stopped the blade.

"I AM Inevitable!" she proclaimed solemnly.

The Grand Lancer—Rome's divine ancestor who looked like he'd stepped straight out of a Golden Saint legend—suddenly appeared beside the Incarnation and threw a punch at her. "Leave my Rome alone!"

Without even glancing his way, the Incarnation twisted her wrist, grabbed King Hassan's massive sword by the blade, and swept it toward the Roman divine ancestor, sending him flying through the air.

At the same moment, Grand Archer Orion pulled back on his bow, aiming an arrow powerful enough to shoot down satellites, and released it straight at the Incarnation. She forcefully summoned Gungnir to her control, swinging it through the air with a thunderous "BOOM" that sliced the glowing arrow clean in half.

As these confrontations unfolded, the previously clear sky suddenly filled with dark clouds, flashing with endless bolts of lightning.

Iskandar, Atalanta, and the other Greek-related Heroic Spirits squinted their eyes and gasped in surprise. "This divine presence... it's him!"

Countless lightning bolts gathered together like primordial thunder that could split heaven and earth, striking directly at the Incarnation.