IBHJ 1002

"Well said, Shirou," Arthur praised him with some admiration in his voice. It was clear that when it came to cultural references and explaining complex concepts, the well-read young man was better than him.

Gilgamesh scoffed, a smirk playing on his lips as he cast a sidelong glance at Arthur. "Of course, he is the Master who summoned me, after all. How could one hope to summon the King of Heroes without some measure of ability?" His smirk widened. "Unlike your weak Master."

"Ayaka is not weak!" Arthur retorted. "Your Master is the one who's weak, hiding like a coward throughout this entire Holy Grail War!"

"Oh? I can't pretend I didn't hear that, you homeless mongrel who was betrayed by your own child," Gilgamesh sneered, arms still crossed. "My Master is formulating strategy, unlike yours who flounders about like a headless chicken—pushed back by Lancer, ambushed by Rider. A constant source of trouble for her Servant! Completely useless!"

"How dare you say that, you half-breed?" Arthur challenged. "If hiding at home is considered strategy, then my Master is a master of proactive planning. How can someone who doesn't even understand the basics of magecraft, an outsider, possibly compare to Ayaka?"

"Half-breed..." Gilgamesh's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You have quite the nerve, wielder of the holy sword. Perhaps you need a reminder of your place."

"Hmph, care for a rematch, King of Heroes?" Arthur challenged, gripping his holy sword tightly, a spark of excitement in his eyes.

"Indeed!" Gilgamesh boomed. "Our last encounter was inconclusive! For me, there is only victory, and then more victory!" He turned to the young man with a dramatic flourish. "Fujimaru Shirou! Now is the time to prove your worth as my Master!"

"Ayaka," Arthur said, his voice gentler now, "it's time to show them your magical talent."

Misaya watched the two legendary kings with wide-eyed disbelief. She leaned towards the young man. "Are they...always like this?"

Fujimaru sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Every. Single. Time."

"How nostalgic," Ayaka murmured, a hint of a smile on her lips. But it faded quickly, replaced by a grave expression. "But this isn't the time for arguments. My sister's attack will come soon."

"Manaka..." Arthur's face clouded over at the name.

Ayaka nodded solemnly. "Eight years ago, your ambush failed. After falling into the Grail, she's spent all this time amassing power, corrupting the Heroic Spirits from that war. She's been waiting, biding her time for the perfect moment to strike and destroy the Human Order Foundation."

"Your sister's actions are hardly surprising." Fujimaru adjusted his glasses and looked at Ayaka. "But you've seen the future, right? And it seems my future self has forgotten the details of this Holy Grail War. Do you remember how it plays out?"

Ayaka nodded. "I remember the events clearly, though I'm not sure what you did differently."

"Tell us what happened," he urged. "For example, Arthur just fought Rider and Caster's black dragon, and we ran into Demonic Bodhisattva. How did it go down in the original timeline?"

Ayaka thought back. "At this point, Caster came after me. Rider initially wanted to take out Caster along with Saber, but Caster managed to convince her to team up against Saber instead. Lady Tethys protected me while you..." She hesitated, glancing at the young man. "You were ambushed by something my sister summoned."

"Wait, what?" Misaya interjected, her eyes wide. "Are you saying I was here before? That's ridiculous! I'm only here now because I was threatened!"

Ayaka shook her head. "I can't explain why you're with him now, but... you were definitely there with Shirou back then."

"You must be joking. What kind of situation is this?" Misaya glared at the young man.

The young man ignored Misaya's outburst. "What happened next?"

"Saber... Saber was badly hurt and taken away." Ayaka recounted, her voice grim. "Caster and Rider were corrupted. And Lancer..." She swallowed hard. "Caster blew his head off while he was trying to protect Misaya. Archer lost his right arm trying to save you, and then Rider ambushed him, taking out his right eye. He had to use the herb of immortality and died thirty-seven times just to hold them off temporarily, but..." Her voice dropped to almost a whisper. "Half of his body was corrupted by my sister."

"Oh?" Gilgamesh raised an eyebrow, unconsciously touching his own right arm.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Fujimaru's eyes widened. "That sounds like a complete disaster!"

Ayaka nodded. "It was." Her gaze shifted to Misaya, her voice softening. "And it got worse. Two days later, Reiroukan's curse flared up, and she started turning into an undead. She ended up joining us to break the curse."

Misaya's face drained of color, her usual composure cracking as fear crept into her eyes.

"To fight my sister," Ayaka continued, "we sought out Assassin and Sancraid Phahn, the Master of Berserker. Assassin agreed to help, but Sancraid refused and tried to take Archer from you, unleashing Berserker. Archer used his immortality to hold Berserker off while you, Reiroukan, and I, with Assassin's help, killed Sancraid. Reiroukan then transferred the Command Spells to me."

Misaya scoffed, folding her arms. "A touching story, but it makes no sense! With Lancer gone, it would have been the perfect opportunity to snatch Berserker for myself. Why would I help you?"

But no one paid her any attention. They were all staring at Ayaka, their faces grim. They were putting themselves in her shoes, imagining the despair of that situation: Arthur, Rider, and Caster gone, Lancer dead, Gilgamesh half corrupted, facing a powerful anomaly connected to the Root and six Heroic Spirits from the previous Holy Grail War.

Just thinking about it gave them a suffocating feeling.

"What are you afraid of? I'm still here!" Tethys landed on the young man's shoulder, patting her chest confidently. "As long as I'm around, there's nothing to worry about. So what if some magus is born with a connection to the Root? No one understands Root better than me."

Ayaka shook her head. "No, Lady Tethys, you were the one in the most danger."

Tethys was stunned. "Why do you say that?"

"Because my sister's true goal was you," Ayaka explained. "On the third day after we gathered, Rider, Caster, and the six Servants from the previous Holy Grail War attacked us. The Sun King, Ozymandias, trapped Berserker in the sun's temple, and the other Heroic Spirits suppressed Archer. You... you revealed your divinity to protect us. But that's exactly what my sister was waiting for."

"But why me?" Tethys asked. "I'm not even a participant in the Holy Grail War."

Ayaka's gaze dropped to the floor. "She wanted to feed you to the black mud."

Tethys's eye twitched. "Don't say anymore. I know what happened after that."

The young man looked between Tethys and Ayaka. "What? What happened?"

"To disable the Counter Force and summon the Beast," Tethys grumbled, scratching her head. "But if I was captured, you shouldn't have stood a chance. Yet, here we are. Someone helped you, right? The Enlightened One? Or maybe Merlin's father, that incubus?"

Ayaka shook her head. "None of them."

Tethys's eyes widened, disbelief written across her face. "No way... It couldn't be...?"

"Oh?" Gilgamesh said with some surprise. "Now that's unexpected. I assumed he'd reach that level because of the power he gained. But if it's about sheer tenacity..." He shook his head, golden eyes narrowing. "No, impossible. He doesn't have the tenacity to endure that kind of trial."

Arthur was equally stunned. "Unbelievable... In that desperate situation, there was still a path to victory?"

"That has to be impossible!" Misaya exclaimed. "Someone capable of that should be a mythological hero. In modern times... it just can't happen!"

Mordred also turned her head, looking at the young man with a complicated gaze.

In fact, not just Mordred, but everyone's gazes were focused on the young man.

"Why is everyone staring at me?" The young man's eyes darted nervously from face to face. Suddenly, he understood, and he pointed a trembling finger at his own chest. "Wait... you don't mean...?"

Ayaka nodded.

"Impossible! There's no way!" he stammered, his voice rising in panic. "How could I have defeated Manaka in that situation?"

"It was you, Shirou," Ayaka confirmed. "Or rather, the Shirou who was taken by my sister. He not only rescued Saber but also killed Manaka... with a backstab."

Even Gilgamesh, Arthur, and Tethys couldn't help but be surprised.

Shirou, the young man standing before them – what did he have? A pair of glasses? Some half-baked knowledge from another world? Nothing more.

But Manaka? She was connected to the Root, wielding immense power beyond imagination, had some of the Lord of Salvation's power, and was protected by Rider, Caster, and six Servants from the previous Holy Grail War. Eight Servants in total!

How could someone like him possibly turn the tables on someone like her?

"How..." Fujimaru breathed, the question slipping out before he could stop it. "How did he—I mean, how did I do it?"

Despite his knowledge that it was him they were talking about, it still felt impossible.

Ayaka's gaze dropped to the floor. "I don't know the details, but he did it. Yet... Defeating my sister didn't end things. He won, but at a terrible cost. He couldn't save anyone... not even Lady Tethys. He only inherited her power."

She took a breath before continuing. "The Beast my sister summoned ravaged Shinjuku and destroyed the Human Order Foundation. Even we were almost killed. But he... he used Reiroukan's Grand Summoning Circle to summon Saver, who then destroyed the Beast."

"So that's why..." Fujimaru's eyes widened in sudden understanding. "That's why Demonic Bodhisattva reacted so strongly when I bluffed about Saver." He leaned forward, "After that, Ayaka... did we save the world? Was Chaldea established?"

Hearing this, Ayaka's head dropped.

Tethys shook her head. "I'm afraid it's not that simple."

He turned to Tethys, seeking an explanation.

Her expression was grave. "The Human Order Foundation... its destruction is far more catastrophic than you can imagine," she paused, choosing her words carefully. "Normally, a Beast can shake the foundation, distort it, but not completely destroy it. Humanity can recover from that, repair the damage. But some Beasts... they can annihilate the foundation entirely. And once that happens, civilization collapses. It's extinction."

The young man didn't fully understand, but it was clear that the situation wasn't as simple as he had thought.

"Yes, so the Enlightened One reset the Human Order," Ayaka said.

"Reset?" he frowned.

"It means he recreated the planet's history," Tethys explained. "Rewrote reality, reenacted civilization. Think of it like being a creator, shaping the world anew." She paused. "Shakyamuni has that kind of power."

"But remaking civilization... it's not without consequences. It creates a whole host of new problems." Tethys's gaze drifted, as if looking at something far away. "And if this keeps happening... if civilization is constantly being reset..." She turned back to the young man, her eyes sharp. "Does that mean Shirou is caught in an endless loop?"

The young man's head was spinning. "Wait, what?"

Gilgamesh gave the young man a knowing look. "I see. No wonder the future mongrel doesn't recognize me. Hmph, to think he'd forget this king!"

He placed a hand on the young man's head. "Don't worry yourself with endless questions. You won't be caught in any loop. I've said it, so it will be. Besides," he added with a smirk, "things aren't so bad right now, are they?"