Chapter 88. The Breath of the Stars that Rips Through the Divine Age!
Fleeing is an indispensable seasoning in any heroic epic. If the previous grand farce in Black Iron City was a tactical victory titled "The Trojan Horse," then the current situation could only be described as—a total Battle Royale.
"Fast, fast, fast! Don't look back! If you look back, you'll turn to stone... No wait, you'll be shot into a sieve!" Argo wailed while clutching his rear as he bolted. Behind him, arrows and magic orbs fell like a torrential rain, cratering the ground in a dense barrage.
Though the Black King Eld had been sent flying by the explosion, his mage corps and elite knights were far from dead. This pack of loyal (or perhaps just thick-headed) pursuers followed them like rabid hounds.
"Emiya! There's no road ahead!" Olna, running at the very front, suddenly braked, her combat boots plowing two deep furrows into the earth.
The group stopped and looked up. Despair had taken a physical form.
Stretched across their path was a grey curtain of light hundreds of meters high, connecting heaven and earth. It stood like a Wall of Sighs, severing all routes to the Royal Capital. Complex ancient runes flowed across the surface of the barrier, radiating a chill that rejected the passage of all living things.
"Is this... the [Wall of Sighs]?" Wishe's face turned deathly pale. She reached out with a trembling hand, trying to analyze the field. "It's no use... this is a super-large-scale barrier constructed directly using the Ley Lines of this land! Unless we can blow up this entire mountain range, we can't get through!"
Pursuers behind, a dead end ahead. This was the classic "forced death" level design of an RPG.
"No other choice! Since we can't go forward, we fight our way back!" Crozzo drew the magic sword from his back, his gaze fierce. "Even if we die, we're taking a few of them with us!"
"Don't be reckless! There are thousands of them!" Shirou grabbed Crozzo, his mind racing. Break the barrier? Use a saturated bombardment from Unlimited Blade Works? No. Wishe said this was linked to the Ley Lines. Ordinary physical attacks or anything below B-rank would likely be infinitely repaired by the earth's mana. To break it, he had to sever its connection to space. He had to use... that.
"Brother Emiya! Do you have some kind of god-tier artifact in that treasure bag (UBW) that can dig tunnels?" Argo asked, shivering as he hid behind Shirou. "Or maybe one of those cloaks that makes people invisible?"
"Tunnels won't work. This barrier seals the underground too." Shirou took a deep breath, staring at the towering curtain of light. His gaze grew sharp; deep within his pupils, a dark-red light began to pulse.
Since there is no door... then I will create one.
"What are you planning to do, Emiya?" Wishe keenly sensed the change in Shirou's aura. It was a spine-chilling pressure that felt as though it didn't belong to this world.
"Step aside," Shirou said flatly, offering no explanation. "Everyone, retreat fifty meters. No, make it a hundred."
"Huh?" Olna blinked. "You're not planning to take on thousands by yourself, are you? Don't be an idiot!"
"Listen to him!" Wishe suddenly shouted, grabbing the confused Argo and running backward. Her intuition as a Half-Elf told her that if they stayed near Shirou, the coming scene might traumatize her soul. "Go! That mana fluctuation... is not something a human should have!"
The group retreated to a safe distance, half-doubting.
Shirou Emiya stood alone before the Wall of Sighs. He closed his eyes. The twenty-seven Magic Circuits within his body shrieked in protest. He was mobilizing mana—not ordinary mana, but high-purity energy mixed with the Primeval Ether from his dragon-bone limb and his own life force.
His body might collapse. This was a taboo that absolutely should not appear in this era. But... to carve a path through this desperate chessboard.
Trace — Start.
The air began to vibrate. It wasn't the wind; it was space itself mourning. It was as if something heavy, ancient, and beyond the laws of the Divine Age was being forcibly squeezed into this reality.
"Hm? What is that?" The pursuing black-armored knights halted. they saw the red-haired youth. He hadn't taken a combat stance; he merely extended his right hand, grasping at empty air.
But in his hand, something was taking shape.
'Judging the concept of creation. That is the void before heaven and earth were split. Hypothesizing the basic structure. That is the revolution that divides heaven and earth. Copying the constituent materials. Impossible to copy... then I will fill it with my soul!'
"Uuugggghhh—!!!" Shirou let out a low growl of agony. His right hand—that platinum-colored dragon-bone prosthesis—began to crack. Blood seeped from the fissures, evaporating into a red mist before it could hit the ground.
What he was projecting was not a sword. It was a key. A key to cut open the world and reshape truth.
WHIR—!!
A dark-red gale erupted with Shirou as its center. This wind didn't blow objects away; instead, it caused visible black cracks to appear in the surrounding space. It was like a hammer striking glass; the veil of reality was shattering.
"Th-That... what is that?!" Wishe covered her mouth, her eyes trembling. She saw it. In Shirou's hand, a bizarre weapon slowly manifested. It had no blade. It consisted of three cylindrical segments rotating in different directions. The black body was covered in red cuneiform characters, each radiating an ancient aura that bordered on madness.
[Sword of Rupture, Ea (Enuma Elish) — Pseudo Divine Age Special Edition].
In this mana-rich mythological era, the Ea projected by Shirou was closer to the original than ever before. The soul-crushing pressure caused every living creature present—humans, elves, and forest monsters alike—to instinctively fall to their knees.
"Is that... a sword?" Argo stared blankly. No, it wasn't a sword. It was... the personification of the storm.
The knights' warhorses began to whinny in terror; weapons slipped from the knights' hands. "What sorcery is this?! Fire! Fire now! Kill him!" the commander screamed, his voice trembling with fear.
"Too late." Shirou snapped his eyes open. His right eye had lost focus due to mana backlash, but his left burned with a crimson light.
"I don't usually use this sword," Shirou's voice was raspy yet clear across the canyon. "Because it's too 'heavy.' So heavy that even I can barely carry it. But... since you built a wall, then I... will cut it open!"
He raised the Sword of Rupture high. The three segments accelerated their rotation. Wooooh—
It was the sound of space being ground to dust. A red mana storm surged into the sky, churning the clouds and staining the heavens the color of blood.
"Take this! This is... the breath of Genesis!"
Enuma—
Shirou brought his arm down. The movement was slow. But along the trajectory of that sword... the world split open.
—Elish!!!
There was no explosion. No fire. Only a... dark-red spatial fault that devoured everything.
That crimson torrent, like a rampaging dragon, roared toward the Wall of Sighs. The "indestructible" ancient barrier didn't last a single second upon contact. Like a hot knife through butter. Like scissors through cloth.
RIIIIIP!
The curtain of light hundreds of meters high was forcibly torn open with a massive gap. Not only that, the red torrent didn't lose its momentum; it plowed a bottomless chasm into the earth that stretched to the horizon. The mountains, forests, and rocks along the way... all were reduced to nothingness.
Silence. A deathly silence.
The wind stopped. The clouds dispersed. The knight corps were catatonic. Argo's jaw was literally dislocated.
"Is... is he still human?" The magic sword in Crozzo's hand hit the ground, crushing his toe, but he didn't even react. "This level of destruction... even the legendary gods are only thus, right?"
Wishe stared at the chasm that had appeared out of thin air. As a Half-Elf specialized in magic, she understood the weight of that strike better than anyone. It wasn't destruction. It was... rewriting. That man, with the weapon in his hand, had forcibly rewritten the laws of the geography.
"Gah...!"
Shirou collapsed to his knees, vomiting a large mouthful of blood. The Sword of Rupture dissolved into motes of light. His right hand had turned completely charred, even exposing the metal skeleton beneath. His mana was totally depleted. His life force was overextended. Right now, he didn't even have the strength to move a finger.
But a tragic, fierce smile played on his lips.
"The road... is open," he said weakly. "Let's go... everyone."
"Brother Emiya!!!" Argo was the first to snap out of it, rushing over in tears. "Are you okay?! Don't die! If you die, who's going to cook for me?!"
"Is that all you care about?!" Olna rushed over as well, shoving Argo aside to gently help Shirou up. "Hey, Redhead. You're way too reckless. A move like that... is used to deal with small fry?"
"Small fry?" The knight commander in the back nearly vomited blood in rage. This is the treatment for "small fry"? This is basically a Divine Punishment!
"Retreat... RETREAT!" The commander looked at the chasm, then at the red-haired demon god surrounded by his friends, and his psychological defense collapsed. "That's a monster! A monster in human skin! Run!"
The previously aggressive pursuers scattered like startled birds. Joke's on them—who would dare fight a guy who splits the map with one sword? That's just asking for death!
"Did we... win?" Lyra (though not there, but as a future viewer) would likely have said.
"Quick! Healing! Wishe! Do you have recovery potions?!" Wishe shouted anxiously.
"Yes!" Wishe recovered from her shock, quickly pulling out precious elven secret medicine. "But... these injuries..." She looked at Shirou's charred right hand, her eyes full of heartache and awe. These were marks burned by the "World." Ordinary medicine could only treat the symptoms.
"It's fine..." Shirou forced the potion down, his complexion improving slightly. "As long as I don't die... it can be fixed. I'm a blacksmith... as long as I have materials..."
"Still talking like that at a time like this!" Olna wanted to hit him but couldn't bring herself to do it, finally letting out a long sigh. "Truly... an irredeemable fool."
"Yeah." Argo wiped his tears, looking at Shirou's pale face. "But... he's the coolest fool."
He stood up and looked toward the road leading to the Capital. The road Shirou Emiya had carved open with his life.
"Everyone!" Argo raised his wooden sword (though it was still shaking). "Our Vice Leader has paved the way for us! If we shrink back now, we'd be failing the blood he shed! Target—The Royal Capital! Let's pull that damn Black King off his throne! Save the princess! And create... our own Heroic Tale!"
"OHHHH!" Though there were only five of them, in this moment, their aura felt like ten thousand troops.
Shirou lay on Olna's broad back (the wounded treatment), listening to Argo's grand declarations, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly. Though he's just a clown who says pretty things... occasionally... he's quite reliable.
"Go to sleep, Emiya," Olna's voice came from ahead, carrying a rare tenderness. "When you wake up... we'll be at the Capital. Then... make me that thing called 'Curry' again."
"Yeah... it's a promise." Shirou closed his eyes. His consciousness sank into darkness.
But deep within his soul, on that [Moon World Skill Tree] panel, a new line of golden text appeared:
[Achievement Unlocked: Breaker of the Divine Age Barrier.] [Title Obtained: Wielder of Rupture (Pseudo).] [Unlimited Blade Works... Analysis progress increased.]
At the same time. The Royal Capital, the deepest part of the underground labyrinth.
A massive, chain-bound bull-headed monster—the Minotaur—suddenly snapped its eyes open. It felt it. A presence from the far East, sharp enough to threaten its very existence. It was a blade... capable of severing its "Immortality."
"Roar..." It let out a low growl. Beside it, the golden-haired Princess Ariadne shivered.
"What... was that?" The monster spoke in human tongue. "A red... star?"
And on the palace balcony, the Black King Eld watched the red light surging into the sky in the distance, the wine glass in his hand falling to the floor.
"Is that... the direction of my knights? That light... what is it? Have the Gods descended?"
No. That was no God. It was a human named "Shirou Emiya," leaving his first scar upon this mythological age.
The winds are rising. The name of the Argo Heroic Faction, following this one sword strike, will resound throughout the entire continent. And the true decisive battle... is about to begin on the stage of the Royal Capital.
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