Chapter 165: Shirou, Turning Divine Blood into Fuel; The Day of Ryuu's Execution Arrives!
"Uwaaaah!"
A change occurred.
In the Dian Cecht Familia's infirmary, Hestia was originally holding Shirou's hand, anxiously watching over the unconscious man, praying he would wake soon.
But unexpectedly, blinding flames suddenly erupted from Shirou's body.
The fire spread over him at incredible speed, making it almost impossible for anyone to approach.
"What's happening?"
Airmidst the shock, Airmid and Heith—two of the top healers in Orario—who had been treating Shirou, stared wide-eyed at the scene.
"C-could it be the effect of my authority? But my authority doesn't ignite flames…"
Hestia's face was full of helplessness.
Her power was simply "Immortality"—it could not ignite fire where there was none. She had never imagined that it would set Shirou's body ablaze.
At the same time, after carefully examining Shirou, Airmid and Heith came to a strange conclusion.
"Those flames… seem to be balancing the swords constantly emerging within Emiya's body," Airmid said with a complex expression. "Although we cannot fully understand why the swords and flames appear, from his condition, these flames are actually helping his body recover as much as possible."
"Indeed," Heith nodded. "Though rare, it's not unimaginable. We can think of those swords as pathogens attacking his body, and the flames as Emiya's self-healing mechanism. If we can further ignite the flames within him, perhaps his body can recover faster."
Heith's judgment was based on her own self-repair ability. Though not in the form of flames like Shirou, her skill Gullveig automatically heals her injuries whenever her body is endangered or damaged.
"Eh? You mean… it would be best to keep Shirou's flames burning continuously?"
Hestia's eyes widened in surprise at the healers' assessment.
"That's right," Airmid and Heith agreed. "So it's up to you, Hestia. Use your authority to maintain the flames in Emiya's body. This may be the only way to save him."
Flames.
"Oh, leave it to me!"
Hestia's expression brightened—she couldn't believe she could finally be of use.
She poured all her effort into activating her authority, allowing the fire within Shirou to burn like an eternal holy flame, transforming into endless fuel.
Airmid, upon observation, felt this alone might not be enough.
If Shirou was to recover quickly—or even awaken before Ryuu Lion's execution—an even greater fire needed to ignite his body.
"Hestia-sama, could you provide some divine blood?"
Airmid pondered for a moment before making the request.
"Divine blood?" Hestia blinked, then decisively nodded. "Of course! If it's for Shirou, it doesn't matter if you take all my blood!"
"Uh, that's not necessary," Airmid said awkwardly, then prepared the equipment to extract a large amount of blood from Hestia.
While not all of it, roughly a third of her blood was drawn at once—enough that for a normal human, it could cause fatal blood loss.
Though Hestia was a goddess, losing so much at once left her feeling weak, yet she still maintained her authority, keeping Shirou's flames alive.
"Airmid, what's your plan?" Heith, beside her, still didn't fully understand.
Airmid slowly explained: "Divine blood differs from mortal blood. It contains divine power, authority, status, and other elements. By feeding this blood to Emiya and periodically using Healing magic to merge it with his body, we might further activate the flames within him. After all, this is the divine blood of Hestia, containing abundant elements related to Immortality."
"I see," Heith nodded. "Then let me maintain the Healing magic. Back when I was captured by the Istar Familia, this person saved me. I've wanted to repay the debt, but never had the chance. This is the opportunity."
"Good. I'll leave it to you," Airmid agreed. She was only a v.2 adventurer; maintaining the Healing for long periods was impossible for her.
With Heith's lv.4 capabilities, she should be able to sustain the Healing.
Thus, using Hestia's divine blood as a catalyst, the Dian Cecht Familia began a special treatment. By infusing Shirou with divine blood, they further ignited the Karma's Flames within him, transforming his body into undying fuel!
Although unnoticed outside, within Shirou's body, the fire boiled like molten water, igniting the entirety of Unlimited Blade Works' Reality Marble.
This allowed Shirou to further struggle against his origin, remodeling his very origin and the power of his Reality Marble.
As a result, a force would emerge that even Shirou could not fully comprehend, fundamentally altering his understanding of his Reality Marble.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
After three days of Orario's underground currents churning in secrecy, the day of Ryuu Lion's execution—the center of all conflicts—finally arrived.
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In the dungeons beneath Babel Tower, Ryuu stared blankly at the ceiling.
Having been imprisoned underground for so long, her hair had grown unkempt.
Long ago, during the Astraea Familia period, she had grown her hair long and tied it into a ponytail, emulating Captain Alise, whom she admired, in an attempt to align herself with her ideals.
But when the Juggernaut catastrophe struck and chaos and death unfolded, everyone except her perished in the Astraea Familia. Ryuu cut her hair short, symbolizing a break from the past and her determination to pursue vengeance by any means.
Now, her hair had grown long again, reaching past her neck and brushing her back.
This instinctively reminded Ryuu of her time with the Astraea Familia—gentle gods, loyal companions, shared goals… everything had been beautiful, dreamlike.
Yet dreams remain dreams because they are not reality.
Her former companions were all dead; the revered gods had become enemies.
The gentle eyes that once looked at her were now far away, barely a memory.
At this point, Ryuu no longer understood why everything had turned out this way.
Where had things gone wrong to lead to this?
Had she made a mistake, a wrong judgment?
Had the gods she once revered never cared for her at all?
Ryuu no longer knew what was right or wrong. Her mind could not process anything; countless chaotic questions flashed in her head, unanswered.
Might as well… end it here.
If she died, she wouldn't have to think about anything anymore.
Her gaze grew more chaotic, drifting toward death.
Just then, the dungeon door slowly opened. The current guild master of Orario, the portly elf Loiman, strode in arrogantly:
"The time of execution has come, Gale Ryuu. Today is the day you die."
Ryuu didn't react at all.
She had long stopped caring about the meaning of her execution, fully sinking into chaos.
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Ryuu's execution day officially arrived.
Early that morning, Orario was filled with festivities reminiscent of a celebration.
Since the goddess Astraea left Orario years ago, public trials and executions of criminals had become nearly nonexistent.
The citizens longed to witness the battle of justice against evil again, to feel the thrill of seeing justice triumph.
The execution platform was to the right of Babel Tower, a deliberately cleared, floating platform.
Beneath it was a vast plaza, normally used for celebrations, capable of holding thousands, even tens of thousands of people.
Due to the guild's prior announcement, both citizens and adventurers had gathered early, awaiting the execution.
"Wow, so many people…"
At the edge of the crowd, the staff of the Bountiful Lady tavern hid their identities with cloaks to cover their faces and weapons.
After days of preparation, they realized a direct assault on the guild headquarters to rescue Ryuu was impossible.
After much thought, they chose a more classical approach to rescue—a heist of the execution.
Though they knew the guards were the Freya Familia—a terrifying opponent beyond imagination—they resolved to act, regardless of the danger, to save their important companion.
For this, they even spent all the money they had to go to Hephaestus and commission the demon sword craftsman Welf to forge powerful magic swords, planning to use them in this operation.
However, upon actually arriving at the scene, they realized just how reckless their plan had been.
Because the guards responsible for the execution were not only the Freya Familia—they were joined by the Kanisa Familia and numerous other famous Familias of Orario, all deployed to maintain order during this execution.
This situation undoubtedly aroused suspicion among the citizens.
Ordinary people could not understand why so many guards were arranged for the execution of Ryuu. It did not seem like a punishment for an ordinary Lv.4 criminal. Rather, it looked like a total war against the entire Dark faction.
In fact, some who understood the inner workings clearly knew that this execution of Ryuu Lion was not merely to kill her.
The essence of this execution was to force Evilus's Emiya Shirou, who had taken no action since Astraea declared war, to step forward and act.
The god Ouranos and the guild had laid an inescapable trap, waiting for Shirou to jump voluntarily into this unfathomable net.
This was why so many Familias were deployed here.
In essence, this execution was the ultimate showdown between the Order faction and Evilus!
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On the walls of Orario city.
All members of the Loki Familia had been assigned there. The guild's official reason was to protect the overall safety of Orario during the execution.
Though that was the stated reason, anyone with eyes could see that the guild did not trust the Loki Familia at all, deliberately placing them far from the execution site.
Everything was to prevent the Loki Familia from potentially rebelling.
"What a frustrating conspiracy," Finn, the captain of the Loki Familia, muttered.
He clearly saw the truth but had no power to change anything.
As a hero, he could not publicly question the guild's decisions, let alone oppose the guild—the foundation of Orario—or the god Ouranos, who had personally created Orario.
His options were extremely limited. No matter how much he complained internally, he could only obediently lead his Familia members to the city walls to "protect" Orario.
"Now I increasingly feel that what Thanatos, the Death God, said back then might have been correct."
Riveria, who had listened to Thanatos along with Shirou, initially doubted his words, trusting more in Ouranos and the guild.
But now, faced with the reality that the gods were using Ryuu, an elf, as bait to force Shirou out, she could no longer fully trust Ouranos's justice. Her doubt extended to the guild and Orario itself.
Was the founding of this city truly for justice?
Riveria's thoughts mirrored those of many Loki Familia members. They could no longer blindly trust the guild or the gods, and their doubts about the system deepened.
In contrast, Lefiya remained calm, seemingly the most composed among them.
From the start, she had never doubted Shirou's sense of justice.
When she learned that Shirou intended to oppose the guild and the gods, even becoming the leader of Evilus, she naturally concluded that the guild and the gods were fundamentally flawed.
If she wasn't a member of the Loki Familia, she would have immediately sought out Shirou and joined Evilus.
Thus, unlike the mostly anxious Loki Familia members, Lefiya casually watched the scenery outside the city.
To her, whether Orario was just or the gods were righteous was irrelevant.
If Evilus truly engaged Ouranos in an all-out battle across Orario, she would unquestionably fight alongside Shirou.
However, as Lefiya contemplated meeting Shirou and ensuring he took her along, she suddenly noticed vast military camps rising across the plains outside Orario's walls!
A massive army, nearly numbering in the hundreds of thousands, had assembled outside the city and was poised to advance toward it.
"W-what is that!?"
Lefiya's shout quickly drew the attention of the Loki Familia members.
Following her gaze, they soon saw the enormous army approaching. After a brief moment of shock, they immediately adopted serious expressions.
"An attack!"
"Form up quickly!"
"Why is a large army suddenly attacking Orario?"
The Loki Familia members panicked instinctively.
Finn, the Familia leader, initially froze upon seeing this, but then suddenly realized something. A smile crossed his face as he spoke:
"That seems to be the symbol of the Ares Familia, which means it's the army of the Rakia Kingdom… Huh, I don't know which god's plan this is, but if this is deliberate, then I'll play along."
"What?"
As the Loki Familia members were confused, Finn calmly instructed:
"Everyone prepare to fight, but don't use full strength. Make it look like a tough battle."
"Huh?"
"Ais, go notify the guild. Tell them that the Rakia Kingdom army is attacking and that we, the Loki Familia, cannot resist them alone. Request reinforcements immediately!"
Most of the Loki Familia could not understand Finn's command.
Even if the Rakia Kingdom army was vast, they were still merely mortals—mostly Lv.1 or Lv.2 adventurers.
Such forces, no matter how numerous, could not pose any real threat to the Loki Familia, one of Orario's top-tier offensive Familias. In fact, someone like Ais, Lv.6, could probably repel the army single-handedly.
However, upon receiving Finn's order, Ais immediately understood his plan.
She nodded decisively and dashed toward Babel Tower.
"Finn, you're not seriously trying to split the forces at the execution site, are you?"
Riveria, being perceptive, immediately understood Finn's intention.
Finn feigned ignorance with a grin: "What are you talking about? I genuinely think the Rakia Kingdom army is terrifying."
Riveria pinched her forehead at Finn's shameless act.
Yet she did not oppose his plan. In fact, she fully supported it.
After all, she did not want the guild's plan to succeed, nor did she want to see Ryuu die.
However, Riveria also knew that even if Finn's plan successfully distracted the personnel at the execution site, stopping the public execution would still be extremely difficult.
This was not a task for mere mortals.
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