IBHJ Chapter 797

"The Enlightened One has reset the world, and the dream realm has completely ended. I'm going to leave, Shisho," Shirou said, looking at Scathach.

"Mm." Scathach nodded and smiled at him. "Be careful on your way, Shirou."

"Mm." He nodded and disappeared from the dream.

Watching Shirou vanish and looking at the gradually dissipating dream world, she sighed. "I said what you wanted me to say."

Skadi appeared behind her. Scathach turned her head, looked at Skadi, and asked, "You remembered everything, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't have made me say those things. But since you've remembered everything, why didn't you tell him?"

Skadi remained silent.

"I see," Scathach said, her eyes flashing with understanding as she showed a slightly lonely smile. "Like me, you're also considering Artoria, aren't you?"

Skadi didn't answer. Instead, she looked at Scathach and said, "After the matter with Surtr is over, I'll return this body to you. Until then, please lend me your body for a while longer. My soul still needs a vessel."

"I understand," Scathach nodded.

As Skadi turned to leave the dream realm, she froze in her tracks, her face filled with astonishment.

"What's wrong?" Scathach asked, noticing Skadi's shocked expression. She felt uneasy and turned around, only to find Shirou standing behind her, watching them both. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Shi-Shirou? I thought you'd left already?"

"Come on, I'm not that dumb. I could tell something was off with you two, so I pretended to leave and watched from a distance. Looks like my hunch was right." Shirou said with a shrug.

Scathach pointed at him angrily. "You sneaky little king, you tricked me again!"

"How is this tricking? If anyone was trying to trick anyone, it was you two trying to fool me. I just saw through it and turned it around on you. How is that my fault? And honestly, did you really think such a simple trick would work on me?" Shirou smiled.

"You-you-" Scathach was fuming. She thought back to how her naive younger self from over 1,500 years ago had been played by this man. She'd sworn she wouldn't fall for his tricks again, yet here she was, outwitted again.

Shirou turned to Skadi, looking puzzled, "I don't get it. You've got your memories back, so why won't you acknowledge me? And what does Artoria have to do with any of this?"

Scathach glanced at the bewildered Shirou and sighed inwardly. Was he playing dumb on purpose?

...

As Shirou woke from his dream, he slowly opened his eyes and sat up, glancing at the woman beside him. Her long eyelashes fluttered slightly before she gradually opened her eyes. Noticing Shirou's closeness, she flinched, her shoulders trembling as she quickly put some distance between them.

"Why are you pulling away again?" Shirou asked, puzzled by Skadi's behavior. Despite her memories being restored, she still seemed to keep him at arm's length.

"I'm just not used to having someone so close," Skadi murmured, her gaze slightly lowered.

"I see, I guess that makes sense. You've been alone for the past two thousand years," Shirou nodded, understanding her perspective, but feeling a heaviness in his heart. He knew that both Skadi and Scathach feared loneliness more than anything.

"But it doesn't matter. From now on, I'll always be right here with—" Before he could finish, Skadi pressed her slender fingers against his lips, shaking her head. "I don't need your promises. In the end, you'll just destroy yourself trying to keep them. Don't make promises so easily. Besides, I just need some time to adjust, Shirou."

He nodded, then asked, "What about your divinity? Are you okay now?" With her memories restored, the Runes of Wisdom had harmonized Skadi's chaotic divinity. She pointed to her forehead, and he looked closer, noticing the same strange rune as his own—the greatest mystery in Norse mythology, the Runes of Wisdom.

"That's a relief," he sighed, finally able to relax. Now that Skadi had regained her memories and awakened the Runes of Wisdom, her divinity would no longer be destroyed or scattered.

"By the way, how did you get the Runes of Wisdom back?"

"You don't remember?" she replied with a question of her own.

"No," he shook his head. Due to the Sixth Seat's interference from outside the dream scenario, some forced events hadn't occurred, leaving him unaware of how she had regained the Runes of Wisdom.

"Then don't worry about it. I don't want you to relive those painful memories."

Shirou reached out and flicked her forehead hard with his finger.

"Ouch!" she covered her forehead, glaring at him. "What was that for?"

"I had a feeling you were thinking something pessimistic. Couldn't help myself."

"I'm your teacher! This is... this is disrespectful!" she said, indignant.

"Of course I'm disrespectful. I even go against my shisho. Didn't Scathach tell you? I've been bullying her for years. Honestly, it's been a while, and my hands are itching for some love."

She thought to herself, "How did this child end up so twisted?" She reminisced about the puppy-like Shirou from the past, then looked at the wicked man before her, feeling utterly depressed. Little did she know, Scathach shared the same frustration.

"If you don't tell me, I'll tickle you," he threatened, wiggling his fingers at her.

"Don't, no, don't! I'll tell you, okay?" she said helplessly, knowing he was aware of her weaknesses. "It's because you gave me Odin's legacy."

As it turned out, after the Sixth Seat handed the Black Grail to Odin, Odin suspected the Sixth Seat harbored ill intentions against him. Using the Runes of Wisdom and technology obtained from defeating the White Titan, he transformed the Black Grail into the Nordic Grail.

His suspicions were correct. Just as the Sixth Seat had previously controlled Skadi and Scathach, he had controlled Odin, forcing him to destroy all the Norse gods who had come to Pan-Human History with him in Russia. The most direct evidence of this deicide was the Tunguska explosion.

Odin, regaining his sanity through the Runes of Wisdom, was devastated. He then used the Nordic Grail to absorb the fallen gods' divinity and began hunting the Sixth Seat all over the world.

Despite his efforts, Odin's hunt for the Sixth Seat was fruitless, only making him weaker and falling back under Sixth Seat's control. It wasn't until he spoke with the Mother of Mifune in Fuyuki that he regained his sanity. Tragically, the Sixth Seat later shot and killed the Mother of Mifune.

To honor the intelligent human who helped him regain his senses, Odin began acting on Earth using her image. In 1993, during another Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City, Odin met Shirou. Recognizing his qualities and speculating about the world reset and the Council, Odin guided Shirou, allowing him to drink from the Well of Mimir. He then entrusted Shirou with the Grail, which held all the Nordic divinity, while he continued his search for the Sixth Seat.

However, Odin's prolonged search remained unsuccessful, only weakening him further. Eventually, he gave up. At that moment, the Sixth Seat appeared before Odin and killed him. In his final act, Odin managed to send out Gungnir, concealing the existence of Shirou and the others. Perhaps Odin did this because he was betting his revenge on Shirou, knowing that sooner or later, Shirou would confront the Sixth Seat. Even in death, Odin's power and legacy would live on, offering a chance for revenge against the Sixth Seat. He wagered everything on this possibility. Unfortunately, despite Odin's efforts, the Sixth Seat still discovered Shirou.

Taiga, her family, his workers, and even Scathach—all of them were killed by the Sixth Seat, who, in the end, shot Shirou dead too. With his last breath, Shirou passed on Odin's entire legacy to Scathach, giving her a chance to survive, even as he faced another reset.

"So that's how it all went down," Shirou sighed.