IBHJ 1075

Manaka gritted her teeth. "Fujimaru Shirou! Do you have to win every argument with me?"

Arcueid watched the two of them, feeling lost. Manaka was the enemy, wasn't she? But fighting alone seemed like suicide. Shirou had to understand that, so why was he acting like this?

Manaka glanced at the black tree, its form now pulsing with divinity. She turned back to Shirou, a vein throbbing in her forehead. He knew he had her cornered.

Damn it! He must understand how serious this is!

"Are you begging me?" he asked again.

Something shifted in Manaka's expression. She unclenched her fists, drew a measured breath, and curved her lips into a smile. "Yes," she said softly. "I'm begging you. I need your help, whatever the cost." She took a step closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. "My life is off limits, but everything else—including my body—is yours."

"Eh?!"

Arcueid's head whipped back and forth between Shirou's impassive expression and Manaka's gentle smile, her mind spinning like a broken compass. What in the world was happening?

No!

Her glare could have melted steel as she stared daggers at Manaka from behind Shirou. That—that evil witch! Actually trying to tempt him with her body like some cheap seductress! How shameless!

But Arcueid wasn't worried. Shirou was completely blind to romance - if these tactics worked, Morgan le Fay would have succeeded long ago in the Eternal Kingdom with her attempts.

"Good." he nodded.

Of course he would refuse, answering 'good' is only natural. This was exactly what she expected...

"Eh?!" Arcueid's body went still. Her mouth fell open. Had this evil witch actually managed to tempt him? This couldn't be happening...

Shirou held out his hand to Manaka. "Give me Beast II and your Vortex."

"You're asking for my life, Fujimaru Shirou." Manaka's lips twitched. "I can't give you those."

"Then what do you have?"

"The... Beast III?" she offered weakly.

"That vile thing?" A look of pure disgust twisted his features, breaking through even his usual Eternal Emperor composure. "I wouldn't take it if you paid me."

"What about my... my body?"

His gaze was withering. "Are you worth anything?"

Color flooded back into Manaka's face, anger replacing humiliation. "Then what do you want?" she hissed.

"Give me a portion of your power. Bind yourself with a geass never to scheme against or ambush me." His lips curved into a smile. "And whenever you see me, you must shout three times: 'I lost to Fujimaru Shirou, I Manaka am an absolute loser.' Furthermore, you'll answer any questions I have completely and honestly without hiding anything. When I dismiss you, you'll leave immediately and stay far away out of my sight."

"You—!" Manaka's eyes flashed with fury, her hands clenching into fists.

How shameless could this person be?

"Don't you agree?" he continued. "Then we can all just wait to die. No, you're his primary target, so you're definitely going to die. While he's busy with you, I might be able to escape. Or I could try to survive when the other Ultimate Ones realize something is wrong with the Moon and destroy it. Either way, you're finished, while I still have a chance."

Manaka's proud head lowered. Without another word, she summoned a mass of black, mud-like substance and offered it to him.

He took it, immediately sensing a power similar to the Dark Vortex from the Shinjuku connection point. When the power tried to corrupt him, he raised an eyebrow and used his Evil to contain it, placing it within his Evil's imaginary space.

Manaka, still looking down, quickly signed a contract and handed it to him.

He scanned it. There were no loopholes; Manaka clearly understood that trickery and wordplay wouldn't work with him. Satisfied, he let the contract take effect.

"Are you satisfied now?" Manaka ground out the words.

Humiliation! This overwhelming urge to kill him was pure humiliation. Again and again, she felt this way because of this man!

The first time was when he betrayed and killed her. Now, he was trampling on her pride.

"It's okay, not particularly satisfied," he said flatly, his words fueling Manaka's rage until her breathing became ragged.

She clenched her fists. The casual dismissal in his voice made it worse.

Looking at her, Shirou felt nothing close to revenge. Although he initially ended up in the endless time loop because of Manaka's first love, the constant resets had awakened him to his true purpose.

Defeating the Lord of Salvation, rescuing the future from the past – that was his goal. Though he had to admit, getting under her skin was a nice bonus.

"Is there any way to defeat him?" he asked.

"No." Manaka shook her head. If she knew of a way, she wouldn't have swallowed her pride to seek his help.

"Hmph. And you claim to know everything. How useless."

Her eyes narrowed. "Oh? Then does the all-seeing Arthur have a brilliant plan?"

She knew he was just trying to provoke her, but it was unavoidable. They were mortal enemies.

She had been killed by him, and he had been trapped in endless time loops because of her. Now, she held the Dark Vortex, while he held the Formless Vortex. Their positions, their beliefs, even the nature of their powers were completely opposed. They were destined to be enemies.

Manaka scoffed inwardly. If she didn't have a way to defeat the Lord of Salvation, then Shirou had even less of a chance.

However...

"Of course I have a way," he said calmly.

Manaka's eyebrows shot up.

"Shirou, do you really have a way to deal with that pest invading my Moon?" Arcueid asked, her eyes wide with surprise.

He nodded and pointed at the black tree. "Can you see it, Arcueid? That dragon – Uranus – hasn't been devoured by the Lord of Salvation. Instead, Uranus is using his power to manifest in a new form."

Arcueid squinted at the tree. "Now that you mention it, I can sense Uranus's aura... Wait, are you saying if we destroy Uranus, we destroy that monster too?"

He nodded again.

"I noticed that as well," Manaka said. "But it's not that simple. Gandharan's grudge, Beast V, Velber-02—they've all been absorbed by the Lord of Salvation. There's no way Uranus could—"

Shirou waved her off without even looking at her. "Nobody asked you."

Manaka: "..."

This arrogant bastard... Manaka's teeth clenched as she glared at his back, practically seeing death omens swirling around him. She wanted nothing more than to rip him to pieces.

But she couldn't. Not only were they evenly matched, but she was trapped under his control. The humiliation burned, but she had to swallow it. Survival came first. Her own salvation would have to wait.

"There's still a sleeping UO inside Uranus," he explained. "If we can wake it up and attack from both the inside and outside, we'll have a chance to destroy the tree."

"You mean..." Heaven's Corpse spoke up, the sullen Venus standing beside her.

Clearly, the threat of the Lord of Salvation had forced these two, with their opposing ideologies, to put aside their differences.

Shirou turned to face the black tree. "ORT, Gaia—whatever you want to call it. It's time we woke them up."