In the early morning hours, Emiya sat together with Alfia on the high platform at the top of the Tower of Babel, gazing at the countless stars in the sky.
It had rained the whole day today, but at night, the clouds had completely dispersed. The sky seemed as if it had been washed clean, the Milky Way dazzling and the bright moon shining; it felt as though they could reach out and touch the stars.
"Even though your level has gone up to Lv.8 and your capacity has sublimated, improving the condition of your body quite a lot, you still need to be careful from now on."
"Mm."
"That super long magic, although it no longer causes such a powerful recoil, still has great power and consumption. Unless it's absolutely necessary, try to use it as little as possible."
"Mm."
"Take your medicine on time, and most important of all, make sure to maintain your mental state. Only Will can surpass Fate."
Emiya spoke seriously and patiently, while Alfia leaned against his side and responded softly.
No one knew how long had passed when Emiya's voice gradually became smaller, and only then did Alfia open her mouth and ask in a quiet voice, "You're leaving?"
"Yes," Emiya nodded.
Right now, he didn't feel sleepy at all. Instead, there was a strange sense of weightlessness, as if he was standing on clouds. Every step light and floating, as if walking in the void.
Emiya did not know whether what he wanted to do had succeeded or not, but he could only do this much.
The Hera Familia now had one Lv.9 and three Lv.8 members. Although the loss of their core members was hard to compensate, their top-level combat strength had already surpassed the past.
The likes of the King, Braver, and the others, as well as the Astraea Familia, had also improved, even if they were beaten from beginning to end.
More importantly, the people of this world had obtained the precious Mental Resistance, and had become aware of the existence of the [Satanas Verina] and the [Genos Angelus].
Alfia opened her mouth, wanting to ask something more, but in the end didn't say anything.
No one knew how much time passed before Alfia lifted her head. The moonlight shone upon her side profile.
"Your name?", she asked.
"Emiya Shirou," He could feel that, the moment he said his own name, the world's force of rejection increased noticeably.
"Will we meet again?"
"Definitely."
A fleeting sensation brushed across his lips. Alfia reached out, but caught nothing.
On top of the tower, only the [Silence] remained, sitting alone, starlight like glowing fireflies drifting by her side.
"I will wait for you," She gently stroked her abdomen and murmured softly.
———
Inside the tower, the Goddess Hera, who had once again reigned over the Dungeon City, raised her cup to the stars.
"From this moment on, the ink has dried… the heroic spirit's illusion has vanished like bubbles… the bell of blood and fire will ring again, and there will be many, many tears. Take care."
———
Emiya did not leave this world immediately. He still had one more thing to do.
("The Black Dragon is only a symptom. The Dungeon is the root of the disease,") In his ears echoed the off-handed words of the Goddess Hera.
[Dungeon, Floor 18]
The moment Emiya stepped out of the man-made Dungeon and entered the real Dungeon, the entire space trembled violently.
The development ability Divinity (A) was openly provoking the Dungeon.
Right now, he was still blessed by the Spirit Origin Heracles • Grand Archer.
The knowledge that had entered his consciousness along with it was becoming even clearer.
"I see," Some questions in his heart gradually became clear.
The eighteenth floor of the Dungeon, known as the Under Resort, was a safe zone. The crystals on the ceiling flickered with pale-blue light, simulating the sky outside.
At this moment, however, the ceiling collapsed, and a massive white crystal fell from above.
During its fall, the crystal cracked and broke apart again and again, like an egg shell being incubated. Finally, what emerged from inside was the monster that had once pushed Emiya and Ryuu into a desperate situation, the special species dungeon solitary king, the Black Goliath.
But this time, Emiya didn't even raise his head. He simply swung his sword casually.
Arondight, although its power was somewhat inferior to the true Sword of Light Canon, it was more than enough to deal with a weak enemy.
The sword aura engulfed the Black Goliath's body. Its enormous body and magic stone turned to ashes. A piece of black hard carapace fell away, and Emiya tossed it toward the empty Rivira Town, leaving it for someone destined to pick it up. [T/N: Thus began the story of Goliath Slayer]
After slashing apart the Black Goliath that had fallen from the seventeenth floor with a single strike, Emiya stepped into the passage to the deeper levels without hesitation.
The World Calamity was not the Black Dragon. Whether Heracles' spirit origin had the "Grand" prefix or not didn't matter to whether he could kill the Black Dragon.
A mere lizard that used the power of fear did not have the qualifications to make a Grand Heroic Spirit descend.
Heroic Spirit Emiya, only after activating the development ability Fate did he finally understand what that "Archer," or rather, what a certain future version of himself, really was.
He was a Guardian, a human who became a hero due to the Counter Force from Alaya (Humanity).
Alaya would summon Guardians after the main cause of world destruction appeared, in order to annihilate that cause.
Emiya had once thought that he had been summoned to this world as a Guardian, in order to prevent the extinction disaster caused by the Black Dragon.
Now it seemed, that was a mistaken assumption.
———
[Floor 27]
Three black two-headed dragons, Amphisbaena, burst out from a bottomless pool and roared at Emiya in fury.
Even the Hera Familia likely had no previous record of seeing the black Amphisbaena.
Emiya did the same as before, projection, then a single sword swing.
The three two-headed dragons all turned to ash under the roar of the holy sword Balmung.
Ignoring the drops from the Dungeon solitary kings, Emiya continued forward while silently organizing his information.
A Guardian could only be summoned when the destruction was caused by humans themselves. If the destruction came from natural or external causes, then it would be handled by the world's Counter Force.
Emiya could be certain: he was not summoned to this world by Alaya as a Guardian.
———
[Floor 49]
One arrow from the Bow of the Firmament pierced through the eye of the one-eyed demon king Balor, and then countless arrows of light shot out from its body, tearing its enormous frame apart.
Lifting the long bow, Emiya shot another arrow upwards. One second later, centered on the spot where he stood, brilliant arrows of light poured down like a torrential rain.
The range of the arrow storm expanded rapidly, soon covering the entire vast wilderness of the forty-ninth floor, piercing through every black beast monster as the magic stones shattered.
At this point, as he descended deeper and deeper into the Dungeon, Emiya's perception became increasingly clear.
The one who summoned him to this world was not the prayer of humanity, Alaya's prayer for averting destruction.
It was the prayer of the planet itself, Gaia, praying for its life to be prolonged.
———
[Floor 66]
Emiya stepped over the remains of a fallen spirit. The blazing flames of the Agni Gandiva spread rapidly, burning the blue-white flesh walls covering the entire floor into ashes.
Then Emiya leapt down from a vertical shaft, passing through five floors opened by Caladbolg.
After landing, the grotesque black monster Juggernaut pounced at him.
When the Dungeon suffered excessive damage, it would give birth to special monsters known as Juggernauts, or, one could say, a sort of "immune mechanism."
Extremely high attack, extremely high speed, low defense, innate anti-magic armor, claws that could destroy armaments. They could obtain the abilities of other monsters by devouring them. Their level was proportional to the floor on which they were born; appearing on the 27th floor would put it roughly at the level of a floor boss of Lv.5.
They had no magic stones; they must be completely smashed in order to kill them. Their lifespan was very short; if left alone, they would die on their own.
To adventurers, they were almost certain death at first encounter.
The claw of the Juggernaut shot forward like black lightning, directly piercing toward Emiya's chest.
However, that claw, fast enough to pierce a sonic boom, was caught by someone's bare hand.
The Juggernaut froze, seemingly not understanding what had happened. Its head was already held in the man's hand.
Crack! Crack!
An ear-piercing cracking sound rang out. Within a few seconds, this monster had turned into a pile of fragments.
At the end of this floor, Emiya saw the door that Alfia and the others had spoken about.
The expedition records of the Zeus and Hera Familia ended at the seventy-first floor of the Dungeon. Not because they lacked the strength to go further, but because they could not open the door.
Alfia had said that they had searched every floor ahead of them, but had not found the key to open the door. They had also tried breaking the floor, but still couldn't find a path to the lower levels.
Staring at the silver-white gate in front of him, its astonishing height and width twisted one's senses and brought about a surreal illusion.
Emiya stepped up to the gate, reached out his hand, and gently pushed.
At the moment his finger touched the gate, Emiya felt his consciousness start to separate from his body.
The world's tolerance had finally reached its limit. The return ritual had begun.
Just before leaving, Emiya heard a sorrowful female voice coming from behind the silver-white gate.
"—Please… save me."
———
"Save me… Shirou~"
Pushing open the room door, Emiya lost focus for a moment. Syr dodged behind his back in a flash.
"Close the door quickly!", The girl clung to the hem of Emiya's clothes and urged him.
Emiya closed the door, and shortly thereafter heard several waitress girls running past the doorway in a rush.
"What are you all…?"
"I skipped work, and they're the ones Mama Mia sent to catch me~", Syr stuck out her tongue and pretended to act cute, "Ehehe, I've been skipping work a little too often lately."
"Shirou, let me hide here for a while~", The girl pressed her palms together and pleaded.
"Mm, no problem," The girl's cute expression made Emiya unable to refuse.
"Great~", Without hesitation, Syr jumped backward and pounced onto Emiya's bed.
"By the way, Shirou," The girl rolled over, propped her chin on both hands, and asked in a soft voice, "Shirou, today both you and Ryuu and Haruhime didn't seem in very good spirits."
Emiya froze for a moment, then smiled wryly, "That… well…"
'Because we had just had a very long dream, and even now, we still haven't fully digested the experiences in that dream…', He didn't know whether the girl could accept such an answer.
"Could it be that you guys were getting too intimate recently😏?", Syr half-covered her mouth and teased him.
Faced with the girl's teasing, Emiya suddenly felt guilty and didn't know how to respond.
"Syr, I've promised Ryuu that we'd go out together today," Emiya said, "I'll go ahead. When you leave, please lock the door for me."
"No problem~", Syr agreed. She had a key to Emiya's room.
Right now the house being built next to the bar was not yet finished, so he was still living in the dormitory of the pub.
After that, Emiya left the room, and once the young man had gone, Syr's eyes dimmed a little.
She stood up, came to the bedside, and looked at the house under construction.
"In the future, we'll still be very close," The girl murmured to herself.
"That alone… is already good enough…"
———
In the morning, Ryuu went to the Demeter Familia's base to have her goddess update her Status. It was currently the agricultural off-season, so the goddess Demeter spent more time at her headquarters.
Emiya and Ryuu met up in the commercial district. They bought a bundle of lilies and then headed toward the Tower of Babel.
On the way, Emiya also called Haruhime to join them.
"I feel like I had a really, really long dream," Ryuu said softly.
"Was it a good dream?", Emiya held her hand.
"Yes, because… because I was together with Shirou," Ryuu lowered her head, her pretty face slightly red.
"So do I. As long as I'm with Lord, it's always a beautiful dream," Haruhime leaned against Emiya's other side, her tail swaying.
Yesterday at dawn, they had returned to this world, and all that had happened over there truly felt like a dream.
Under the Tower of Babel, at the entrance of the Dungeon, they met Riveria who was waiting there.
"Let's go," Riveria straightened Emiya's clothes, and then the group entered the Dungeon.
As he stepped into the Dungeon, Emiya deliberately paused.
There was no reaction from the Dungeon, everything was strangely calm.
———
[Dungeon, Floor 60]
The Fallen Spirit opened her eyes. On her innocent, girl-like pretty face, there was an expression that seemed like both a smile and a cry.
The ominous tentacles were withdrawn, the blue-white light particles dissipated, and the Fallen spirit left the throne made of purple gemstones, moving toward even deeper levels.
There was no sign of attachment at all.
At that moment, the entire sixtieth floor was already covered in flesh walls of pale-blue color, with many fleshy pillars embedded with spherical structures.
Yet with the departure of the Fallen spirit, that demonic realm-like scene immediately began to collapse.
The tentacles and the flesh walls, as well as the plant-type monsters of that level, all withered, died, and turned to ash.
Before long, the temperature began to drop. Pure white snowflakes once again began to fall.
———
[Orario, Timeline of the Great Horror]
Led by the Lv.9 Alfia, the adventurers defeated the Black Dragon and saved the world.
Ten years after the war of salvation, Alfia, who had upgraded to Lv.10 due to slaying the Black Dragon, as well as the other members of the Hera Familia and their children, all disappeared from the world.
Rumor says that, on that day, a holy sword descended from the heavens and cut open the barrier of the world, and a red-haired man took them away.
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