Chapter 154: Shirou Reaches LV.9, the Exaggerated Status That Shocks the God of Death!
The great battle against the Sea Demon that shook Orario had finally come to an end.
That night, the entire populace of Orario truly experienced what it meant for "death to be close at hand." They deeply felt how terrifying the malice of the world could be.
But at the same time, just as Hermes had said before— The harsher the despair, the crueler the sacrifices, the more they set off the greatness of a hero.
The Sword Princess, Ais—her brilliant achievement of single-handedly defeating the Sea Demon instantly made her the hero of all Orario.
Her popularity among the people skyrocketed, and she was now regarded as a savior figure, even more glorious than the mighty Ottar and the brave Finn.
Though Ais herself did not accept this honor, the common people clearly did not care what she thought. She was inevitably branded with the title of hero, and from then on, wherever she went, she would be the center of countless gazes.
This plunged her into an extremely troublesome situation.
Aside from the Sword Princess Ais, however, there was another figure who gained the people's support and admiration after the Sea Demon War ended.
That was the Goddess of Justice, Astraea.
In truth, even years ago, Astraea had already been a household name throughout Orario, a god whom everyone admired.
Because Astraea represented justice, upright and uncompromising, and because she would punish evil without hesitation—even if the target was an evil god—her actions had made her the very embodiment of light and justice, a god supported unconditionally by the people.
However, several years ago, with the destruction of the Astraea Familia, Astraea chose to leave the labyrinth city of Orario. No matter how much the citizens wished to keep her, they were powerless.
Until tonight—when Ikelos sought to revive the Sea Demon and stir chaos again—the Goddess Astraea returned, directly sending Ikelos back to Tenkai.
With this action, Astraea's popularity in Orario instantly returned to its peak.
Now in Orario, the most beloved mortal was undoubtedly the Sword Princess Ais, while the most beloved god was the Goddess of Justice, Astraea.
However, after returning to Orario, Astraea showed no intention of rebuilding her Familia.
Instead, under the Guild's name, she established an organization called the Tribunal, assisting the Guild in suppressing Orario's dark factions and extremist groups, using her divine authority to restore order to the city.
On the surface, this was unquestionably a favorable development for Orario.
But for Shirou, who now held real control over Evilus, it felt more like an indirect but targeted attack.
After all, there were hardly any dark factions left in Orario anymore.
In reality, the only faction with true influence was the Thanatos Familia, which Shirou controlled.
If Astraea sought to wipe out all the dark factions in Orario, sooner or later, she would inevitably clash directly with Shirou.
Whether right or wrong, at the very least, for the god Ouranos, this was the outcome he most wanted to see.
It was hard to believe he had no hand in this.
Of course, regardless of Ouranos' schemes, Shirou presently had no ability to resist.
After his fierce battle with the god Miach, his injuries were even more severe than when he had first arrived in Orario.
Even though Thanatos had immediately brought him back to Evilus's artificial labyrinth headquarters and arranged for skilled healers among his Familia to treat him, they could not fully heal him.
In fact, Shirou only regained consciousness half a month after that night.
.
.
.
"So, this is everything that happened while I was unconscious?"
After waking, Shirou learned from Thanatos and his Familia about the changes in Orario.
Aside from Ais and Astraea, even the Xenos had undergone major shifts in their situation after the chaos.
Though the Guild still did not acknowledge the Xenos' existence, nor could it reveal the truth of the experiments on them, both the Loki Familia and the Freya Familia agreed to support the Xenos in their struggle for rights, with the schemer god Loki actively working behind the scenes.
In the end, the Xenos were temporarily recognized as a new race. Though they could not live openly on the surface, wanton hunts like those carried out by the Ikelos Familia would likely never occur again.
Apart from the Xenos' changes, another uproar had recently arisen around the Hephaestus Familia.
That was Welf's rise as a magic sword smith.
After witnessing Shirou's divine weapon forging and realizing the distance between himself and true mastery, Welf finally broke free of the shackles of his magic sword bloodline and began forging magic swords freely as he wished.
However, he did not sell these swords directly. Instead, he only gave them to a few individuals he personally acknowledged.
This "scarcity marketing" spread his reputation even further, though Welf himself never intended it.
Nonetheless, Welf's magic sword forging became increasingly famous, reportedly even drawing the attention of the Kingdom of Rakia.
The god of war Ares, ruler of that kingdom, even openly declared that Welf must immediately return to Rakia to serve the kingdom—otherwise, Rakia would march its armies against Orario.
Naturally, both Welf and Orario ignored Ares' demand.
After all, compared to the labyrinth city Orario—built by countless gods—the mortal kingdom of Rakia was laughably weak. The difference was not just like Tenkai and earth, but like a dragon compared to an ant.
Thus, the conflict between Rakia and Orario hardly attracted anyone's concern and quickly faded into Orario's everyday life.
Recently, however, a different unconfirmed rumor had been spreading through Orario.
That the Moon Goddess Artemis had been sighted in the labyrinth city.
Years ago, the Artemis Familia had accepted a Guild commission to investigate abnormalities in the destroyed dungeon "Great Tree Labyrinth."
But since departing, they had never returned.
Many adventurers and citizens who adored the beautiful goddess remained concerned, even wanting to send people to the Great Tree Labyrinth to check. But the distance was too great, and the plan had always been shelved.
Thus, Artemis' sudden rumored reappearance in Orario naturally caused a sensation.
Yet what puzzled people was that Artemis' appearances were irregular. At times she appeared before the people, and at other times she would vanish suddenly.
Whenever she appeared, she always carried a long spear, asking passing adventurers to try pulling it from the ground.
But almost no one could.
When the ritual failed, Artemis would abruptly vanish, as if she had never appeared at all.
Because of this, Artemis' presence in Orario now resembled an unverified legend. Aside from a small number of adventurers who claimed to have met her, most could find no proof of her return.
After all, aside from Artemis herself, none of her Familia had returned.
"The Moon Goddess Artemis, huh…"
Hearing the news, Shirou instinctively recalled the strange vision he had once seen long ago, when using his Noble Phantasm "Phoebus Catastrophe."
The effect of that Noble Phantasm was to pray to the god who symbolized the bow—Artemis—and gain power in return.
So Shirou suspected the vision he saw back then might have been this world's Artemis.
But at the time, the Artemis he saw was imprisoned inside a monster's body, which didn't match the current rumors of her being in Orario.
Unable to make sense of it, Shirou temporarily set the matter aside and began considering what he and the dark faction should do next.
"Emiya, how is your recovery?" Thanatos asked.
"Terrible," Shirou shook his head. "Though I can barely move now, I have almost no combat ability. A random monster could probably take me down right now…"
"… I see."
"Well, as the price of slaying a god, this outcome is actually light." Shirou gave a bitter smile and a look of resignation.
After a moment of silence, Thanatos finally spoke: "Evilus has hardly any members skilled in healing. If you want your body healed, you'd best seek Orario's most famous healers—especially Airmid, the 'Saint of the Battlefield.' If it's her, she can cure any ailment."
"The risk is too great." Shirou shook his head. "Ouranos is surely monitoring all of Orario right now. His bringing Astraea back is clearly aimed at me. If I show myself, I'll immediately be attacked. And it's not just me—if Astraea discovers your existence, Evilus will face destruction a second time."
"…That's true."
Thanatos sighed, acknowledging Shirou's reasoning.
But Shirou couldn't help but ask: "By the way, I still don't know what Astraea's divine authority actually is. How can she kill gods of her own level? A power that strong must have a price, right?"
"Of course it does. Astraea's divine authority is called the Sword of Judgment. It's a mechanism-type authority that only activates when certain conditions are met." Thanatos nodded slowly. "Condition one: the target must be an enemy of justice. Condition two: the target must have committed numerous crimes.
As long as one of the conditions is met, the Sword of Judgment activates. If both are met, Astraea enters a state of full divine power, able to wield godly might freely. In that state, she is the only one in Genkai who can use divine power without restriction."
"If both conditions are met, she can use divine power at will?"
"Yes. And Astraea's authority is highly offensive in nature, unlike Miach's non-combat authority. Once unleashed, its destructive power is far beyond that of ordinary gods." Thanatos said this with lingering fear. "Back then, Evilus was annihilated because most of the evil gods were trapped and struck by Astraea's authority. Since they all satisfied both conditions, Astraea could unleash her full firepower without restraint, sending all those evil gods back to Tenkai."
"…I see."
At last, Shirou understood the Goddess of Justice Astraea's power, and why she was able to send even gods of equal rank back to Tenkai.
As for her two activation conditions, Shirou wasn't sure whether he might meet them himself.
Though he did not see himself as evil, he was certainly far from universal justice.
And his countless killings…
Shirou had long since lost the qualifications of being a "partner of justice."
Perhaps, when he meets Astraea, he himself will also become the target of Astraea's Sword of Judgment. However, even so, Shirou would not have the slightest hesitation. Things had already come to this point—he would not be intimidated by any powerful enemy. Even if he had to face a true god head-on, he would exhaust all his strength to pursue victory.
"But Astraea… she really is a dangerous opponent." Shirou realized the risk, then turned his gaze toward Thanatos. "Thanatos, as a god, you should be able to use the power of Falna (blessing), right? I can't return to Hestia Familia right now, so I can only ask you to perform the blessing ritual for me."
"Is that possible? You are not my Familia's child."
"My situation is rather special. Strictly speaking, I don't really count as belonging to any god's Familia."
"Is that so?"
Half-believing, half-doubting Shirou's words, Thanatos had him lie on the bed, then poured his divine blood onto Shirou's back. And as Shirou had said, Thanatos's divine blood truly made Shirou's status appear, completing the blessing ritual.
"..."
Thanatos didn't even have time to be shocked at Shirou's bizarre situation, so completely different from ordinary adventurers, before he was utterly shaken by the imprint that appeared on Shirou's status panel.
Even without looking at anything else on the panel, just seeing the very first line left Thanatos speechless in shock.
Shirou's status panel was as follows—
[Emiya Shirou] Affiliation: Hestia Familia Race: Human Occupation: Adventurer Level: LV.9 Strength: ??? Endurance: ??? Dexterity: ??? Agility: ??? Magic: ???
Skills
Ever-Burning Flame of Karma: A flame that eternally burns, ignited by one's belief and soul, never ceasing. It incinerates all defilement. After countless baptisms, the flame has gathered all condensed wishes, collective resolves, and non-karma, forged into a mortal's flame, granting it the property of Anti-Nonhuman (God-Slaying) Specialization. Mystic Eyes of Death Perception: Having seen through death, witnessed endings, and surpassed the limits of life and death, these inhuman eyes allow the bearer to perceive death-lines. By severing them, no matter what the concept is, it will be forced into the termination of death. Body of a Hundred Battles: Having surpassed his limits countless times, having transcended death countless times, he has reached the ultimate extreme of a warrior.
During combat, he more easily surpasses his own limits. When near death, temporarily grants massive combat boosts. • Blood of a Demigod: Provides overwhelming corrections to all abilities; grants high resistance to divine power; greatly increases success rate of forging and projecting divine-class weapons.
Magic
Unlimited Blade Works (unrecovered)
Seeing Shirou's exaggerated status, even Thanatos, the god of death himself, couldn't help but draw in a sharp breath.
Even without considering those terrifying skills, just Shirou's current LV.9 alone was already the absolute limit of the mortal domain. After all, in nearly a thousand years of Orario's history, only the Hera Familia once produced a single adventurer who reached that level—the woman known as the Empress.
Now, Shirou was not only the strongest adventurer of this era in Orario, but perhaps the strongest in Orario's entire history. At least, unless you dug the Empress out of her grave and had her duel Shirou, within Genkai Shirou was without a doubt the world's strongest.
"So this is my current status, huh."
Shirou looked over his own condition and nodded slightly.
After defeating the artificial angel, he had already sensed unprecedented changes within his body, but since he had no time to investigate, he was forced directly into battle against the god Mihhe. During that battle, he had vaguely felt many of his special traits, traits that helped him cross the divide between mortals and gods.
Now, seeing all of them concretely reflected on his status panel, he understood even more clearly why he had been able to defeat Miach, a true god.
While Shirou was analyzing his current power and pondering how to restore his battered body, Thanatos's attention was drawn toward Shirou's one and only magic.
His sole magic—Unlimited Blade Works—had, ever since Shirou's arrival in this world, remained gray and black in color, with a visible sword scar marring it, as if shattered and unusable.
Naturally, Thanatos grew curious about this magic, and he asked Shirou for details about Unlimited Blade Works.
When he learned that it was a Reality Marble that created a bounded field filled with infinite swords, all under Shirou's command, Thanatos's eyes lit up at once.
With great concern, he asked: "Emiya, this magic of yours, Unlimited Blade Works, you still can't use it?"
"Yeah. Because back when I used it once, the bounded field was destroyed by an attack infused with divine power, which left me unable to use it ever since." Shirou quietly explained his situation.
"Is there any way to restore it?"
"Is there really any need to restore it?" Shirou countered.
By this point, Shirou almost didn't care anymore about Unlimited Blade Works being broken.
After all, Unlimited Blade Works was ultimately just the culmination of projection—creating vast quantities of weapons to fill the entire plain of swords. But back when he fought Angelica, who wielded Gilgamesh's Servant Card, Shirou had already realized the weakness of Unlimited Blade Works.
That was: no matter how many ordinary weapons it produced, there was not a single truly overwhelming weapon among them.
Against a sword like Ea that could annihilate everything, numbers were meaningless.
Worse still, the bounded field itself was a weakness—once Unlimited Blade Works was broken from outside, Shirou himself would be gravely injured.
So by now, Shirou had almost no attachment to restoring Unlimited Blade Works, even thinking that not having it made no difference.
But Thanatos did not agree.
The god of death slowly spoke: "Emiya, it seems you don't know the specific nature of the goddess of justice Astraea's Authority."
"Her Authority isn't the Sword of Judgment?"
"Yes, but that's just the name of her Authority. In truth, the manifestation of Astraea's Authority is not limited to a single sword. When she creates her one and only Sword of Judgment, she simultaneously gains dominion over nearly all sword-type weapons in existence."
"Dominion over all sword-type weapons?"
"That's right." Thanatos's expression grew grave. "Because of this, if an adventurer who wields a sword faces Astraea's Authority, their weapon will be instantly stripped away. Not only that—once the sword falls under Astraea's control, her Authority will further empower it, making the weapon even stronger than before."
"In other words, anyone who fights with swords cannot possibly oppose the goddess of justice Astraea. To resist her, you must either abandon swords entirely from the start, or you must find a way to counter her dominion—by overwhelming her on the level of sheer numbers, creating more swords than she can control."
"I see…"
Hearing Thanatos's explanation, Shirou gained a much deeper understanding of Astraea's Authority. Even if he wasn't yet certain that he would face Astraea directly, having intel on his opponent in advance and preparing accordingly was clearly necessary.
And if what Thanatos said was true, then Shirou truly did need to consider restoring Unlimited Blade Works.
Because when facing a god of Astraea's caliber, there was no way Shirou could completely abandon swords. That path was impossible.
Activating Unlimited Blade Works, creating so many swords at once that Astraea's Authority couldn't control them all—perhaps that would be the only possible way to break through her power.
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