Chapter 217: Dagon: Emiya Shirou, I'm Challenging You to This!
"Is it over?"
Seeing the giant beast fall back into the sea, Dagon wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but suddenly felt a strange sensation through its shikigami.
"No, it seems there's still..."
BOOM!
The giant beast had only been submerged for a few seconds when a deafening explosion erupted from the deep sea, sending sprays of water dozens of meters high. The beast's body, severed in half, floated back to the surface a moment later along with the surging currents, providing Emiya with a space to stand.
"That was close. For a second there, I thought I was going to be ground to pieces by those teeth."
The moment he was swallowed into the beast's belly, Emiya had quickly used several blades to prop open the sides, preventing himself from being pierced by the various fangs within the maw.
As for the method of escape? Positioned inside the beast's body, it was indeed difficult for Emiya to judge his orientation, and the relatively cramped environment prevented him from using explosive Noble Phantasms. But didn't he still have Hrunting?
The concept of a "correct strike" is very broad. Could a strike that allows Emiya to escape quickly from a giant beast's belly not be counted as a "correct strike"?
By relying on this conceptual ability, Emiya was able to easily dispatch the beast that had swallowed him while maximizing his output. Though it hadn't played a massive role in the hands of its original owner, Beowulf, Hrunting was an A-rank Noble Phantasm after all. When its true power was unleashed, how could it be weak?
"This kind of technique and ability... is it really as hard to target as Jogo and the others said?"
To say it was "hard to target" was an understatement. The reality was that no matter what means Dagon used, it was easily countered. Normally, techniques at most counter each other; why did this guy's technique seem to counter everyone's?
As expected, its intuition was correct: trying to defeat or crush the opponent through techniques or other methods was a mistake. One should use the massive volume of cursed energy inherent to a cursed spirit to crush him.
But before that...
"Human, I have one more question I want to ask you."
At this moment, Dagon suddenly reined in its intent to attack and asked Emiya.
"What?"
Based on the curious nature of humanity, Emiya did not ignore the question to launch an attack.
"I remember in the original task assignment, the job of blocking you was supposed to be carried out by Hanami. But now you have appeared here... what happened to Hanami?"
After all, they had plotted this plan for a long time, and the division of labor for each part was quite clear. Originally, Hanami's task was only to stall Emiya, yet not much time had passed, and Emiya was already here.
Of course, there was a possibility they simply hadn't run into each other, but that possibility was far too small.
Even knowing there was a high probability of hearing the worst answer, this was a question Dagon had to ask.
"Hanami?"
"It might be a bit apologetic to say this, but she is dead."
Facing an opponent who was somewhat worthy of respect, Emiya would not joke about such matters.
"I see... so even Hanami... even Hanami..."
In an instant, Dagon's emotions fell into an extremely unstable state, causing the entire ocean to fluctuate along with it.
The goal of these Special Grade cursed spirits was to completely erase humanity from this planet, and Jogo, Mahito, and Hanami truly thought that way. Only Dagon, representing the ocean, was slightly different.
As a cursed spirit, it indeed hostiled and loathed humans, but whether the human species would vanish entirely from the planet was not within its primary consideration. Because it had been in a Cursed Womb state without much combat ability, Dagon had always been well-protected by the others, leading it to place all its emotions on them.
It might be a strange way to describe it, but Dagon was a cursed spirit that cared more about "family" than the grand plan of exterminating humanity.
Yet now, not only had Mahito been killed by Emiya, but even Hanami had been killed by the same man...
Just moments ago, Emiya had even intended to kill Jogo as well.
To Dagon, this was a hatred no different from having its entire family slaughtered.
Fueled by this hatred, Dagon's rage and cursed energy were completely ignited. Its already terrifying volume of cursed energy began to boil over at this moment.
"I will definitely kill you, Emiya Shirou!!!
Technique Release—[Death Swarm]!"
The name of the technique was somewhat comical, but the actual effect was anything but a joke. On this boundless ocean, countless massive, bizarre fish began to swarm toward Emiya from all directions, eventually biting and crashing into him along with the high waves.
Because the number of man-eating fish this time was far too exaggerated, even with Emiya projecting blades to blast in all directions, he couldn't completely block their movements. Fortunately, with Hrunting in hand, even as the space he stood upon was constantly squeezed by waves and fish, he was able to stand on the water with composure, even steadily approaching Dagon's direction.
Finally, after a dozen meters, Emiya—advancing rapidly through the fish and waves—reached Dagon's front and swung Hrunting, which was flashing with the light of a [Black Flash].
"Human!"
BOOM!
Under the powerful strike, Dagon's right arm, which it swung in a counter-punch, was completely torn apart by the blade. Before its left fist—swung despite the intense pain—could arrive, Emiya's foot slammed hard into its abdomen.
BOOM!
Under this heavy blow, Dagon's figure was sent flying back a dozen meters behind the waves that had expanded ahead of it. It struck the sea surface several times before barely stabilizing its form further away.
With only its left arm remaining, it mimicked Emiya's manner and slowly stood up from the sea. Clutching its struck abdomen with its palm, it suddenly began to vomit.
From its tentacle-filled mouth, it first spat out dozens of white bones of various shapes. Emiya could see clearly that these bones all belonged to humans. In an instant, the human bones vomited by Dagon surpassed its own body size, yet it did not stop, as if it wouldn't rest until it vomited out its very internal organs.
Finally, a moment later, after spitting out an unknown number of bones, Dagon's throat suddenly hitched. It punched its own abdomen hard with its left arm, finally vomiting out a strange object.
It was a... bi-colored scale?
The left side of the scale was silver, and the right side was gold. An object that should have symbolized fairness looked far more bizarre under such a strange color scheme.
And why did Dagon go out of its way to bring out this unknown scale?
"Is this... some kind of Cursed Tool?"
This was the only possibility Emiya could guess. Although he hadn't heard of a scale-shaped Cursed Tool, things that became Cursed Tools were inherently strange; a scale wasn't a hard shape to accept.
At this moment, Dagon spoke up to resolve Emiya's confusion—
"This is the Special Grade Cursed Tool [The Unfair Scales], given to me by Kenjaku before he left.
When the tool is activated, the power of a [Binding Vow] compares the cursed energy quality of the two subjects. The side with a higher total volume and quality of cursed energy will tip the scales and achieve victory.
The winning side can arbitrarily strip the loser of one organ... Kenjaku said my cursed energy volume is the most terrifying existence he has ever seen, so he gave it to me."
Dagon had absolute confidence in its own cursed energy quality. No matter how you looked at it, the cursed energy of a mere human could never compare to the "quality" of the Ocean.
This was the winning trump card Dagon had devised. Its previous direct contact with Emiya was merely to collect his cursed energy signature to activate the tool in its hand. Now that the scale had the foundation to be activated, the battle could end.
For a cursed spirit, the price of having one organ taken away was not fatal, but a human could absolutely not withstand the consequences and pain of losing an organ. If it chose to take Emiya's heart after victory, even if he had mastered the [Reverse Cursed Technique], it would be impossible for him to be unaffected. Dagon could then easily dispatch him and avenge Hanami and Mahito.
Just thinking about it made its surging emotions and cursed energy begin to feel restless again.
"Whose cursed energy will be superior... I'm going to settle this with you right now!
Feeling afraid will be of no use, Emiya Shirou!!!"
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