IBHJ Chapter 856

Summoning Saver, destroying the Beast of Revelation, shouldering everything, trapped in a cycle of resets...

It was all too complex, too much for even her to comprehend.

If she couldn't understand it, how could she console him?

Artoria felt a pang of helplessness.

Just then, black lightning struck from the Dark Vortex in the sky. Shirou saw a flash, and the memory bubble shattered, returning them to reality where the Black Grail appeared before them once more.

"Gilgamesh...!"

"Hmph! You finally return?" Gilgamesh said, arms crossed and looking displeased. "But it's too late! That thing has already made its move!"

He extended his hand, pointing at the swirling darkness in the sky.

Shirou looked up and saw that the Dark Vortex had indeed become distorted. The black miasma covering the sky was spreading outward, a viscous sound echoing from the depths of the vortex, as if that terrifying black mud was about to spill out again.

He realized this was because his own vortex had triggered the Dark Vortex, causing it to unleash another wave of that horrifying mud!

This Dark Vortex was the source of Manaka Sajyou's power. In the original Holy Grail War, Shirou had teamed up with Gilgamesh and Arthur, launching a surprise attack from behind to slay Manaka in a single blow. This vortex had then erupted from her body.

"Shaaaaa...shaaaa...shaaaaa...!"

The jet-black mud poured down from the swirling darkness.

That black mud was the root cause that had turned everyone, including Gilgamesh and Arthur, into zombies.

Gilgamesh looked up at the Dark Vortex, then turned to him. "Take your little lovers and leave, Shirou."

"What are you talking about?" Shirou stared at him in surprise.

"The mud is coming. Once you're contaminated, you'll become an abomination like me," Gilgamesh gestured at his disfigured body. "Go, while I can still control myself."

"What about you? You and Arthur have been undead for so long, waiting for release, right? If I leave, who will free you?" he challenged.

"Hmph. You underestimate me. This is merely another trial of time - something I can easily overcome," Gilgamesh scoffed.

"Don't try to be tough. And, I'm not the same as I was back then."

Shirou looked up at the pouring mud, a gleam in his eyes. Suddenly, the eight black arms on his back swelled into massive Black Arms.

Gilgamesh was stunned. "What are you doing?"

"I'll have my evil absorb it!" he declared, gazing solemnly at the mud tide in the sky.

Seeing the Black Arms manifest, Gilgamesh's brows furrowed deeply. "Don't do anything foolish!"

Shirou looked up at the mud tide gushing down from the sky, took a deep breath, and with a focused thought, the eight Black Arms on his back merged into one, forming his own mud tide that surged towards the descending one!

"Rumble!"

The two mud tides collided in midair, their ultimate curses clashing. The immense resentment and curses broke through the "All the World's Evil" barrier, praised as the embodiment of all malice, and reached directly into his heart, wreaking havoc on his mind and spirit.

This resentment was even greater than the "All the World's Evil"!

No. It should be said that it had already surpassed the very concept of the world! And this resentment and curse did not originate from its vessel, Manaka, whom he had assassinated, but from the true form of the Dark Vortex itself. The immense resentment, the horrific malice, bore down on Shirou, threatening to shatter his mind even with his "Indomitable Will A+++" skill. But he refused to be defeated.

Shirou gritted his teeth. He was the vessel of "All the World's Evil".

If it was evil, then it was only natural that he could endure it!

He wouldn't give in!

With unwavering resolve, the crimson "Vampiric Evil" surged from within him, attaching itself to the "All the World's Evil" and opposing the mud tide of the Dark Vortex.

Then, amidst the two mud tides formed from condensed malice, another stream of faint stardust-like mud appeared.

The Evil of Gods!

Although he hadn't inherited anything from the abomination thirteen years ago, he had absorbed a portion of its Evil of Gods, and now it was proving useful!

The three streams of malice held back the mud tide of the Dark Vortex.

Shirou's gaze was fixed on the clash. He knew that as the vessel of evil, he had reached his limit and could no longer recklessly absorb more malice.

But while he could no longer contain the malice, he could assimilate it!

The three mud tides merged into one, attempting to assimilate the black mud from the sky.

Gilgamesh was surprised and whipped his head around to glare at Shirou, a mix of emotions twisting his face. "As expected, you hid some of your abilities during our previous battle... Damn it, Shirou! You still find ways to make me angry!"

Gilgamesh gritted his teeth. Though wiser and kinder than his older self, his pride was just as fierce. He could handle defeat, but not pity. And this guy had the nerve to show him both!

Such disrespect!

A crime worthy of death!

Gilgamesh fumed, yet seeing Shirou's weakened state, he held back. As much as he hated admitting it, he had grown fond of the original Shirou.

Meanwhile, in the desolate garden, Arthur lifted his head. His blackened, decaying eyes locked onto the swirling chaos in the sky. Shock registered on his face. "Something can actually resist the mud of that vortex?"

He knew all too well the horror of that black mud. While its destructive power might pale in comparison to Excalibur or the Sword of Rupture, it was insidious. After Manaka had been possessed by it, she became unstoppable, and almost no Heroic Spirit could match her. She had easily polluted the Holy Grail, using the Beast of Revelation to create Sodom's Fall, causing everything to decay.

Its immense curse power could even directly break the concepts of Excalibur and the Sword of Rapture!

This was why they had failed in that Holy Grail War.

Yet now, something was actually resisting that power?

"Eternal King...!" Altera murmured, clutching Ayaka as she watched the mud tides with wide eyes.

Arthur turned to her, startled. "Eternal King?" Then realization dawned on him. "Fujimaru's title after becoming king? But..."

He looked back at the monstrous mud tide, a worry gnawing at him. "Has Fujimaru become a vessel like Manaka? But he mustn't let that power control him like she did...!"

Arthur clenched his fists, a sense of foreboding filling him.

Just then, the sky erupted in chaos.

Crackle! Boom!

Black lightning danced around the Dark Vortex. It was as if it possessed a mind of its own, sensing Shirou's actions and lashing out with bolts of black thunder from the dark clouds.

Gilgamesh scoffed, "You sensed your traces being devoured and panicked, didn't you?"

Defeated by the vortex, Gilgamesh's pride and arrogance still drove him to mock it. He hadn't figured out exactly what lurked within Manaka, but after all this time, he understood one thing:

That Dark Vortex, like the summoned Beast of Revelation, was a monster sealed away in higher dimensions. Immensely powerful, but unable to influence the present world without a vessel. And the initial vessel of that Vortex was none other than Manaka. It attempted to use her body to achieve victory in that Holy Grail War, thereby accomplishing its manifestation in the present world. What it didn't expect, however, was the appearance of an anomaly like Shirou in that war, which it had considered a sure victory.

Not only did he kill its vessel, he summoned Saver, destroyed the Beast of Revelation, and ultimately trapped himself in an endless loop to oppose it.

"Don't you dare touch Shirou!"

Seeing the black lightning targeting him, Artoria couldn't stand by any longer. After forcing back Heracles with a powerful sword strike, she raised her weapon.

The Sword of Promised Victory shimmered with blinding starlight, the radiant glow enveloping the blade like the first rays of dawn piercing the darkness.

"Excalibur!" she cried, swinging her sword downwards. The light surged upwards, attempting to consume the vortex's black thunderbolts.

But the starlight that once banished Crimson Moon's terror failed to penetrate the Vortex's darkness. This darkness was overwhelming, thick with a chilling malice.

"Though born in different worlds, that too is a Holy Sword. Very well, let me lend you my strength!"

Arthur's holy sword shone brightly, gradually taking the form of twelve human figures surrounding him.

Thirteen Restraints Released!

Arthur gazed at the twelve figures and declared, "This is a battle to save the world!"

Gawain: "Acknowledged, this is a battle for survival."

Bedivere: "Acknowledged, this is a battle against an enemy stronger than oneself."

...