Chapter 24: Did You Escape to Hell, Kiara Sesshōin!
Guided by the Jujutsu High staff member, Emiya quickly traversed half the campus to the area designated for temporary lodging.
"You'll be staying here tonight, Emiya-san.
Feel free to use the ingredients in the refrigerator, or if you need anything else, you can call me. But please don't wander around the campus freely... There are some areas here that you cannot enter without permission.
Someone should come to notify you of the next steps tomorrow morning.
Well then, goodbye... I wish you a pleasant night."
After a brief set of instructions, the staff member left, leaving Emiya alone in the refined two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment.
At least based on the lodging, the treatment at Jujutsu High was quite good.
It made sense; the few students at Jujutsu High were considered talented in the Jujutsu world; it would be strange to force them into cramped, four-person dormitories. Even this temporary lodging area hosted guests who were Sorcerers, so basic accommodation standards had to be met.
One shouldn't forget that even a Grade 4 Sorcerer earns a minimum monthly salary of 300,000 yen.
Once Emiya's rank was raised, that amount would likely easily jump to around 1,000,000 yen? This was a level utterly unattainable for the Emiya who once only worked odd jobs.
He wasn't particularly concerned about the accommodation, but, well... living in a normal house was certainly much better than sleeping on cardboard in an alley.
So, while imagining when Jujutsu High would finally pay him, Emiya immediately opened the double-door refrigerator.
Cabbage, Chinese cabbage, chili peppers, eggs, fish, beef... various ingredients filled the refrigerator, and there was even milk.
The ingredients looked very fresh. It was unclear whether the staff frequently replaced them or if they wasted food by throwing out any batch that went bad.
'But this means I have all the ingredients I need for the lunch box I'll prepare for Miko tomorrow, right?'
With that thought, Emiya only poured himself some milk and had some bread to fill his stomach before lying down on the unfamiliar but comfortable large bed.
He simply didn't have the energy to prepare a hearty dinner tonight, as there were still various unresolved issues piling up. Even though Gojo-san said he would delay the verdict, the underlying problem still existed.
He didn't know how Kasumi Miwa-senpai's injuries were, though Nanami-san had assessed them as non-life-threatening. They also mentioned the involvement of a Curse User behind the incident... Those bastards, they'd harm children to achieve some goal. They truly deserve to die.
And what exactly was the deal with this dense Cursed Energy? Emiya gently extended his palm, condensing the energy.
Even in the pitch-black room, its blackness was as conspicuous as a light.
He naturally didn't know much about Cursed Energy, but he knew he shouldn't be generating this level of negative emotion. Could this be something from Heroic Spirit EMIYA as well? But he had no way to confirm this speculation.
With these thoughts, Emiya slowly closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
"..."
.
.
.
"BANG—!"
A loud gunshot suddenly echoed in his dream.
The entity named 'Emiya Shirou' stood in a place decorated like a church hall, being watched by countless devout followers. They all wore devout and happy smiles that were completely out of place with the bloody scene in the center.
Yes, 'Emiya Shirou' held the life-taking firearm in his hand. Its barrel hadn't yet cooled, just like the corpse lying on the floor. She, too, held a gun, but no bullet had been fired from the chamber.
'Emiya Shirou' profoundly felt the tearing apart of something familial and loving. His heart ached as if steel had been forcibly stuffed into it, but he couldn't change the situation before him.
Shingan Tachikawa Enkyō-ryū—a burgeoning new religion that emerged from nowhere and rapidly took over half the world.
In just a few years, it grew from obscurity to a point where it could influence the global landscape. Its members were mostly sorrowful, lonely, socially unaccepted scientists, and a portion of those in power.
Because an incurable disease was spreading across the world, which major nations were powerless to stop, the scientific and governing followers, led by the Guru Kiara Sesshōin, claimed they could cure the disease unconditionally.
They preached that the sect's true purpose was to overcome prejudice and discrimination, fostering a united and friendly human community. It was precisely for this reason that they became a globally popular and great religious sect in such a short time.
'Emiya Shirou,' sensing something was wrong, launched a solo investigation and discovered the so-called treatment was nothing but a sham.
They simply used tubes to tie patients down and prolong their lives, which did nothing but increase their suffering.
Upon learning the truth about Enkyō-ryū, 'Emiya Shirou' decided to expose it, but he underestimated the sect's influence.
Enkyō-ryū, under the kind and loving facade of Guru Kiara Sesshōin, was deeply rooted in the world. A large number of high-ranking government officials and leaders in various countries had become its followers.
How could one man's words possibly affect that?
Under the overwhelming pressure of public opinion, the truth was distorted into a lie, and the lie became reality.
The so-called "weapon of criticism" can never replace the "criticism of the weapon."
The ignorant believers were all deluded by the facade of Enkyō-ryū. They genuinely believed they were striving for a united and loving reality, yet they failed to realize they were merely accomplices to 'Evil.'
Thus, 'Emiya Shirou' decided to cut off the entire chain of sin at its source: by killing Kiara Sesshōin. Excluding the true instigator of evil, most of the followers were merely victims of a hypocritical appearance.
'Emiya Shirou' arrived at the headquarters of this evil sect, but he once again underestimated the terror of Kiara Sesshōin.
The person who aimed a gun at him to protect the Guru was the only remaining family he had in this world. She had only joined the sect to treat a relative's terminal illness, yet after her relative was killed by them, she had converted to their side...
Kiara Sesshōin, that fiend, couldn't possibly have been unaware of this... or rather, precisely because she knew of their relationship, the one who stood in front of that fiend was the person closest to 'Emiya Shirou.'
Was this unconcealed malice, or was such a thing merely an instinct for that fiend...? As a human, Kiara Sesshōin was simply doing what a human would do.
Finally, before his only family member could shoot, 'Emiya Shirou' pulled the trigger first. To protect the greatest perpetrator of evil, she didn't hesitate to use her own body to shield her from the bullet.
"Kiara Sesshōin!!!"
'Emiya Shirou' desperately tried to kill her. He thought that if he only killed her, the world could be restored to its 'original' state, and such evil would cease to exist. Yet that person, the Guru, merely stood there with a gentle smile like a Bodhisattva.
Why? Because the surrounding believers surged forward first.
To protect the true culprit who had ravaged the world, they rushed forward, sparing no cost.
No amount of benefit can allow one to calmly face death.
The reason they did this was their conviction... They believed they were working for the common good of humanity, convinced that the sect was the place where malicious humanity could become one, united in love and friendship.
They did not know that the person they were protecting with their lives was the very source of all malice.
Did Kiara Sesshōin, knowing someone would come to kill her for 'justice,' deliberately call so many devout followers to shield herself? Or was it simply that the upper-echelon members, tainted with other motivations, wouldn't fight for her?
Among the people rushing forward, guns blazing, were they all people who had sincerely done good deeds under false doctrines before today, or were they suffering victims who had been 'saved' by her? Were they someone's parents, someone's children, someone's relatives, or someone's savior?
He didn't know. 'Emiya Shirou' didn't know any of these things.
Even with boundless pain in his heart, he had no choice but to kill the armed believers one by one. After a great slaughter, 'Emiya Shirou' killed all those he had once considered innocent and deserving of protection.
'Emiya Shirou' finally drove that fiend to the edge. At this point, he no longer knew how he felt. He only wanted to personally kill the true 'Evil.'
But just as 'Emiya Shirou' was about to strike, that fiend, she personally stood at the corner of a high-rise, slowly leaning backward and falling into the void.
Besides her instinct for evil, she was only human.
Falling from such a height made survival impossible. Yet, in the second before she fell, her face still wore that smile, a loving smile like a Bodhisattva's, aimed at all things.
It was that smile alone that would deceive countless people into welcoming tragedy.
"..."
Unacceptable. 'Emiya Shirou' could not accept this ending.
"Did you escape, Kiara Sesshōin! Did you escape to HELL!!!"
The sight of her retaining that hypocritical smile even in death was a monumental irony for 'Emiya Shirou.'
Kiritsugu was right: once you take a life with your own hands, you can never go back.
How much worse for 'Emiya Shirou,' who took more than just one life. Among the many believers he killed, at least the vast majority were the innocent people he believed should be protected.
He had debased the 'Justice' he upheld to the dust.
Perhaps his spirit was completely shattered, or perhaps he knew he had no reason left to live. 'Emiya Shirou' remained in place, was taken away by the belated government forces, and was sent to the gallows.
Yet he still didn't die.
Another faction of the government approached him, inviting him to become the government's shadow, striving to eliminate the remaining 'Evil.'
'Emiya Shirou's' soul was an empty void.
All he did was kill mechanically. During this process, he gradually lost himself. Finally, during a mission that even a rookie could have easily completed, he disappeared.
After that, the person 'Emiya Shirou' ceased to exist in the world.
Unfortunately, death was not the end.
His mind was inverted, and he was subjected to a form of brainwashing that prioritized the preservation of human order above all else, discarding everything else.
This is the original way of existence for a 'Counter Guardian.'
No ideals, no thought—hence, high efficiency.
The infamous, nameless Anti-Hero, like a machine. Because his fundamental core was utterly corrupted, he could kill mercilessly to achieve his goals.
Emiya dreamed of this twisted experience without omission, except for the scenes of the massacres.
It was at the end that Emiya saw the current form of the entity also named 'Emiya Shirou.'
He had cut off his excess hair, his skin was scorched from countless breakdowns, and his body was covered in gold-colored marks, like cracks.
When a porcelain object is shattered, people re-glue it and use gold dust to decorate the original cracks, supposedly making it unique.
"The ideal of a 'Hero of Justice' itself has limits.
When one realizes that the way to save more people is often not through miracles but through slaughter, one falls into self-doubt and becomes physically and mentally exhausted.
When faced with the necessity of committing an unforgivable crime to achieve justice, one must either allow evil to continue or become evil oneself first."
I am the bone of my sword.
He had long forgotten everything; the landscape of his mind was broken, and this one line was all he remembered.
The man who completed his long atonement and walked the gallows saw the "Universal Justice" he had dreamed of in his youth.
"What a nightmare..."
The figure's words were unclear, whether he was lamenting seeing the past again or speaking to Emiya before him. But he did see Emiya's figure and didn't speak further, only leaving a faint sentence.
"Don't run away."
Emiya finally sensed his own body. He struggled to respond.
"You...?! "
Regrettably, his voice could not be conveyed. But the figure lying there jolted up from the bed, and when he turned his head, he saw Satoru Gojo, who had arrived at some unknown time, sitting there backward on a small stool.
"Oh my?
Good morning!"
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