IBHJ Chapter 963

Shirou snapped back to his senses, looking at that inverted vortex, that all-seeing eye, with a face full of fear.

He understood. That was—

The Lord of Salvation!

The Lord of Salvation had used the four eyes to open a sealed channel, projecting his gaze into their reality.

—You are me, I am you.

The Lord of Salvation's voice slithered through his mind, a seductive whisper urging him to merge, to become one with it.

"No!" he roared, defiance blazing in his eyes. "You are you, I am me! We're not the same! I am Fujimaru Shirou!"

Willpower alone couldn't fend off the Lord of Salvation's temptation. But the formless vortex within him surged, anchoring his sense of self against the overwhelming pull.

Gasping, he snapped back to reality, sweat pouring down his face. A chilling realization struck him - without his vortex, no one could have withstood the Lord of Salvation's temptation.

Not Venus. Not even Tiamat. No wonder they were so wary of this thing.

His hand trembled as he touched his chest, relief sweeping over him. His identity, his very soul, had survived - but only just.

Shirou looked up and his heart nearly stopped. What he saw was a twisted reality, filling him with dread.

"You are me, I am you."

The chant came from everywhere. Flowers bobbed, their petals somehow forming words. Trees creaked, their bark cracking to repeat the phrase. Houses shook, bricks and wood moving like they were alive. The ground rumbled, dirt and rocks shifting to join the chant.

It didn't end there. Time seemed to stutter, each moment whispering the chant. The air vibrated with the words. Even space itself warped, all of it drawn towards the Lord of Salvation.

Everything - physical and intangible, objects and ideas - moved as one, chanting and surging towards the Lord of Salvation.

Flowers, plants, and trees rushed into the Lord of Salvation.

They vanished.

Houses, earth, and wood followed.

They too disappeared.

Time and space twisted and surged forward. Reality warped, leaving a hole - there, but impossible to touch.

"You are me, I am you."

The words poured from Morrigan and Grandma Enos lips in perfect sync. Their eyes were blank, lifeless. They turned away from Shirou, drawn towards the Lord of Salvation like moths to a flame.

"No! Stop!" his heart pounded as he lunged forward, desperate to catch them, to keep them from the Lord of Salvation.

Now he didn't dare to use the black mud. There was still a dangerous amount of the Lord of Salvation's power within his Evil. With the Lord of Salvation nearby, using his power would be like walking into a trap.

Organic matter, inorganic matter, living beings, concepts... everything was being absorbed into the Lord of Salvation's projected gaze.

Then, the Lord of Salvation's gaze fell on him. It was unfathomably deep and serene, something beyond human understanding.

Yet, the moment his gaze met Shirou's, it rippled, as if gaining a personality.

—In you, my vessel.

The moment that voice echoed in his mind, Shirou felt a chill of dread.

As he feared, the Lord of Salvation's projection stopped assimilating everything else and transformed into a beam of light, shooting towards him.

Its speed was beyond light, beyond any measurable velocity. Even the speed of thought couldn't compare.

Before he could even react, the Lord of Salvation's projection entered his soul.

—Become a part of me.

"Ah—!"

He released Morrigan's and Enos's hands and clutched his head.

An overwhelming will began to contaminate his very being.

The Lord of Salvation's projected gaze vanished. Aside from the flowers, plants, trees, houses, and earth that had been assimilated, and the irreparable distortions in spacetime, everything seemed to return to normal.

Except for Shirou, whose soul had been invaded by the Lord of Salvation.

"Ah—!" He clutched his head, stumbling as tides of pitch-black mud flowed from his body, engulfing him.

He could feel the Lord of Salvation's will infecting his sense of self, and at the same time, his soul was undergoing a terrifying mutation under the Lord's influence.

Shirou remembered what Merlin had told him long ago when he was helping him control the Vampiric Evil. Merlin had said that as a vessel of evil, there was a limit to what he could contain. It was like a bowl – as long as it didn't overflow, he was fine. But once it did, even Merlin didn't know what he would become.

With his strengthened mental fortitude and the birth of Eternal King's record, Shirou's capacity had grown significantly. He could now handle All the World's Evil, Vampiric Evil, and even the Gods' Evil all at once without breaking a sweat. But now, he could feel the Lord of Salvation's malice steadily filling his vessel, threatening to overflow. And while he was a vessel of evil, he couldn't possibly contain the absolute evil of the Lord of Salvation.

It was twisting him, warping his very being. The Lord of Salvation's evil seeped into every crack, threatening to turn him into something monstrous. Something unspeakable.

And there was nothing he could do about it.

—Damn it!

Shirou's teeth clenched so hard they might crack.

At this point, his Evil, sensing Shirou's dire situation, couldn't hold back anymore. Almost instinctively, it surged out from his shadow. The pitch-black human evil from Angra Mainyu, the blood-red evil, and the silvery evil of the gods – these three evils formed hands, trying to push Shirou away. But the moment they appeared, they were frozen in place by the Lord of Salvation's power.

The Lord of Salvation, the destroyer of ancient civilizations, was so powerful that even the UOs were its prey. It was absolute evil, and dealing with three lesser evils was child's play.

It wanted to corrupt Shirou, to twist him into a monster of pure evil, to make him a vessel like Manaka!

—You are me, I am you.

As the Lord's absolute evil invaded his soul, the formless vortex within him spun faster and faster, its infinite power trying to repel the Lord's influence.

But it was useless.

The Lord of Salvation's absolute evil resisted the formless vortex's power, and instead began to encroach on its edges.

As the Lord's will observed the formless vortex, it produced waves of complex, almost human-like emotions.

Longing, hatred, liking, dislike, joy, sorrow, respect, contempt...

Observing the vortex, the Lord of Salvation's projection expressed a surge of these personified complexities, finally condensing them into a single sentence.

—You, are finally becoming me.

Then, without hesitation, the Lord of Salvation's absolute evil plunged into the formless vortex.

In an instant, the rapidly spinning vortex screeched to a halt, then began to spin in reverse.

Shirou's body convulsed violently. He felt an endless tide of negative emotions bubbling up from the depths of his heart, battering against his rationality.

Hatred, greed, envy, rage...

These emotions clawed at his thoughts, ripping into his reason. His very self was being torn apart.

—No. I can't let this happen!

Shirou screamed.

He knew that if his mind broke, his sense of self would disappear, and he would become a monster of pure evil.

What kind of monster he would become, no one could say.

But more importantly, if he became a creature of pure evil, who would protect the things he cared about?

Worse yet, if he became a monster, he might become a weapon for the Council, destroying Chaldea and harming the people he loved.

He couldn't let that happen.

Humans were flawed, limited beings because they couldn't become eternally rational, absolute beings.

But it was precisely because of this that Shirou feared becoming a monster of absolute evil.

I refuse! Absolutely not!

The thought blazed through his mind. He clenched his jaw, summoning every beautiful memory he had, and started fighting back against the endless tide of negativity.