Chapter 192: The Shattering of the Dream and the End
"Why are you obstructing me?"
The Black Mud Servant struggled to get up from the ground, with black mud continuously welling up inside her, attempting to repair the wounds.
The Black Mud Servant looked coldly at the group and asked:
"If I complete this world of dreams, I will let everyone who comes to this world have the beautiful dreams they desire. Why are you stopping me? Even those who have been absorbed into this dream world are enjoying the dreams here, aren't they?
I only absorbed those who were dissatisfied with reality in the first place.
Let those who want to punish themselves or vent their inner frustrations fight and kill. Let those who want to cry, cry, and those who want to indulge, indulge.
In this world I created, everyone can get what they want.
Whether it's happiness or sadness.
Even things that don't exist in reality, characters from fairy tales and manga stories, can be created here.
In such a wonderful world, even if they abandon their external bodies, there must be many humans willing to come in! All they need to contribute is to provide me with the initial energy to maintain this world. After that, they can gain eternal beautiful dreams. Isn't that the most profitable thing to do?"
Shirou shook his head and said:
"No. Dreams, lies, failures, and setbacks are all essential parts of the journey towards what one yearns for, and that's what makes up reality.
It's not enough for things to be achieved in a dream. Being satisfied with what you get in a dream is not enough. Insatiable greed, craving excitement while seeking a stable life—that is what humanity is. The desire to embrace, the desire to touch, these are things that cannot be achieved in a dream.
For achievements like contests or exams, people don't stop pursuing them in reality just because they dreamed of getting a perfect score. The dream is only a part of reality; they dream that way precisely because they are desperate to achieve it.
They are thinking and searching for feasible ways to realize that reality even in the dream, so if you stop here in the dream, then everything is reversed."
The Black Mud Servant looked at the boy and said with great dissatisfaction.
"Why? Why would someone deny me? When they can achieve their dreams just by lying down and get everything they want, why?!"
"What I want is for everyone to achieve true happiness. This half-baked thing is simply not needed."
"In reality, there are countless things that can't be achieved! But here, they can be realized!"
Shirou looked at the little girl who was the Black Mud Servant and countered, "No! It is precisely by overcoming these impossibilities, these uncrossable hurdles, that something becomes a dream! If all humanity can achieve happiness, no matter how many setbacks or how much suffering, it is all worthwhile!
Reality has a lot of hardship and cruelty, and even with effort, the results are often disappointing, yet it is full of possibilities. Encounters between people and the collision of ideas always produce unexpected new things.
If there was a mechanism where you could dream of everything you wanted, it would indeed be easy and pleasant there, but this self-indulgence can only satisfy a person's needs temporarily.
Who would want to stay forever in a dream that can only satisfy desires through their own meager imagination!"
The Black Mud Servant said solemnly, "Is that so! Is that so! Shirou, you must not be the real Emiya Shirou to say such hateful things!
Enough is enough, I will kill you! Then no one will stop me.
I will become the God of Dreams and allow everyone to be satisfied here. I don't need a remnant's dream like yours!"
Shirou had already understood the essence of the book through his Mystic Eyes. Although the body was Nursery Rhyme, the inside had been replaced by the black mud.
What resided in the pages from the beginning was not the little girl named Nursery Rhyme, but the chaotic black mud, like the hole from which the corrupted Holy Grail gushed out when summoned.
It was only during this process that the Servant system required a medium to drive the Spirit Origin and the body, and so the internal black mud spontaneously generated consciousness.
The mud, as an object, after acquiring an inner self and thought, became the little girl before them, who wanted to become a god and, out of her own opinion, wanted to give people beautiful dreams and happiness.
Although she possessed a lot of knowledge and common sense, she might not have been alive for more than half a year since her "birth," making her a clumsy imitator of a god.
The Black Mud monster then looked at the woman and shouted, "Marie, don't you want revenge? Come and help me! Then you can take revenge on the descendants of those who did those things to you and your children back then."
"Shut up! I don't need revenge achieved in your dream! Even in a script, I have absolutely no interest in watching a beheading! Moreover! Under the Crown of the White Lily, no traitor is accepted!"
Black Queen Marie sternly rebuked, raising her hand and activating her Noble Phantasm once again!
From the crown, which symbolized the White Lily Dynasty, a white horse flew out, trampling petals as it charged towards the Black Mud monster.
A black magic blast was fired from the book, but its power was significantly reduced, only barely managing to cancel out Marie's Noble Phantasm before running out of steam.
"I won't accept this! Why! I could have become a God! Why are you obstructing me!" The Black Mud monster roared, releasing all the black mud within her, charging forward, trying to make one last stand and consume everything.
"A god like you is simply not needed! Disappear!—Roar! My Wrath!!!" Jeanne directly activated her Noble Phantasm.
The demonic flames burned the rushing black mud and surrounded the Black Mud monster in a circle of fire.
"It's not over yet!!!" The Black Mud Servant walked out of the flames, with black mud covering her entire body. The black mud was continuously burned into gray smoke and vanished. The arm held in front, where the black mud had been burned off, had exposed skin that was charred black, yet she stubbornly protected her body.
"Ugh! Why is she not falling even after fighting this hard!" Jeanne frowned and cursed, looking at the wounded Black Mud Servant.
Facing such an opponent, she couldn't feel happy at all, even with the advantage.
"It's not over yet, it's not over yet..." The Black Mud Servant repeated in her mouth. This was the only dream the non-human black mud had ever generated. An unconscious object gave birth to a conscious being, pursuing a dream in the body of a Servant. Perhaps she was the exception among exceptions among all Servants.
"Enough is enough. I will finish you off." Jeanne showed a serious expression and stepped forward.
A Servant who was not meant to exist in this world appeared due to a miracle, a coincidence.
Seemingly formidable, yet actually very fragile, like an illusory dream, a bubble on the water's surface, a fleeting phantom.
Suddenly gaining life and consciousness, it must feel especially, especially important. With no past and no future, a very short life compared to normal humans—once dead, there would be nothing left.
But even an existence like this can still form a wish, which is why she is acting so stubbornly now.
The Black Mud monster... no, there was no black mud on her now. It was all used up. She was now a Servant in the appearance of a little girl in a black dress, covered in wounds.
The two cuts inflicted by the boy earlier had also stopped bleeding; perhaps the blood in her body had all flowed out.
But! Precisely because of this, she needed to be sent on her way. This painful struggle was futile.
"Die!" Jeanne released the demonic flames, which exploded in front of the Black Mud Servant. She shielded her body, was blasted away, and struggled to get up.
She was then swept by Jeanne's powerfully swung flag pole. She barely managed to block it with her book but was still knocked away by the force. She got up again after the fall, unwilling to surrender, and stood before her enemy.
"It's not over yet..."
"I can't watch this anymore. What kind of hopeless obsession is this, like an Avenger! I'll give you the final blow! If you'll keep standing up as long as you have hands and feet!"
"Then this time, even if I have to summon Fafnir, I will burn you until not a single fragment remains!!" Jeanne gritted her teeth, drew the black holy sword, and frantically absorbed the Holy Grail's magical energy, determined to end all of this herself.
The Black Mud Servant looked directly at the girl. This time, she couldn't even speak, but her eyes were still resolute.
"Jeanne..." The boy's hand pressed onto the silver-haired girl's shoulder, holding her back.
"Shirou!? Don't tell me you pity her? Then shut up! Get out of the way! Or I won't be able to stop myself from punching you away!" Jeanne shook off the boy's hand and shouted, glaring at him.
She had already resolved to kill this Black Mud Servant. For the conscious part of the black mud, this was indeed a very short and precious unique life.
But if she was the boy's destined enemy, then she would not show mercy. If the boy couldn't bear to do it, then she would do it alone.
"No, Jeanne, this child has reached her limit." Shirou looked at the silver-haired girl and shook his head.
Shirou observed the Black Mud monster's condition with his Mystic Eyes, put down his twin swords, and said softly, "It's over. I don't know what he did, but he wouldn't approve of you through this method."
"Ah... it's over." The Black Mud monster's body was already riddled with scars, looking like it could turn into fragments at any moment. The black mud on her body had long since withered and fallen off. She couldn't even breathe.
She was fighting with an overwhelming will, holding onto her last breath, using her already overburdened body.
That last breath was finally exhaled at this moment.
The small body collapsed onto the ground this time. The land, which had been covered in black, was now restored to a green lawn. The Black Mud Servant lay there, looking up at the stars in the sky.
The Morning Star was high and shining in the center of the night sky. It was almost morning.
"I'm sorry. If we could have met earlier, if we could have talked properly, perhaps the ending wouldn't have been like this." Shirou squatted down, looking at the little girl.
"Cough cough... That's impossible." The little girl smiled weakly and said, "If that were the case, you shouldn't have bothered with me in the first place."
"Since you were doing bad things, I would have come to curse you no matter what. It's just too bad that you had just gained intelligence, just like a child, yet you made the wrong choice due to orders." Shirou said sincerely.
"I don't understand why you're apologizing. You're also a remnant of a god. All Emiya Shirous except for the god will disappear, but even you will eventually disappear, won't you? Haha... turns out you and I are the same. It's just that if I disappear now, I won't be able to see that God again."
"...You really like that Emiya Shirou," Shirou said.
"Ah, I truly admire him. When I had just gained consciousness and was feeling overwhelmed, wondering if I should follow the orders, I saw that figure.
Silver-white long hair, spotless white clothes, and snow-white skin. He was so brilliant."
As the little girl spoke, she transformed into a glow of light and vanished from this world.
The next time a little girl looking like this appears, it will only be the Servant Nursery Rhyme, and no longer the dreaming Servant fused with black mud.
As the world, which had been enveloped in black, regained its former colors, the space here also became unstable.
"Marie, my dear wife, I hope you can find more happiness in the future. I regret that we must part now. Although there is so much I want to say to you, I missed all those chances during the days we lived together."
Louis XVI, who had temporarily taken over Shirou's body, said with a light smile to his beloved wife.
"Your Majesty... In that case, you must come and find me again. If I encounter danger, you still have to come and save me. It's a promise." Black Queen Marie looked at her husband and said with a gentle smile.
"Ah, it's a promise!" Louis XVI agreed unequivocally this time.
"That's a good answer~! Your Majesty is truly more handsome than ever today!"
Marie wanted to open her arms to give her husband a hug, and was about to go for a passionate kiss, but she slammed on the brakes when she remembered that the body was actually Shirou's.
However, as a French person, a kiss on the cheek for a handsome and kind-hearted boy should be acceptable.
The French Pervert Alliance's somewhat chilling gazes swept over, and Louis XVI cleared his throat.
Under the widening, cat-slit pupils of the silver-haired girl and the gloomy, solitary glare of the shut-in princess, Marie stopped the hand that was reaching for the boy's face.
The two tacitly separated in an instant.
"D'Eon, Sanson, and the Musician, let's have tea together next time, not as king and subjects, but as friends." Louis XVI said, showing the benevolent smile of a good-natured person.
"Yes, Your Majesty" everyone agreed.
Within the Inner World, Shirou and Louis XVI bid their final farewell.
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