14 Chapter 13: Consequences of Noble Phantasm Use

Emiya Estate

Shirou had made his way back home using conventional means. He could have gotten back quickly using the flying machine he had gotten from defeating Gilgamesh, but old habits of hiding what one is capable of died hard.

Shirou made his way to the dining hall where the others were waiting for him. Upon opening the doors, his court greeted him joyfully, """"Shirou!""""

After greeting everyone and explaining what had happened, Shirou turned to Saber and asked her to take him to Pandora.

"No problem, but be prepared. Pandora is known as the "All-Knowing Woman", so if you truly managed to rattle her like you said she appeared to be, expect whatever she has to say to be very important or completely unexpected in nature," Saber responded, her tone filled with anxiety.

Shirou took Saber's hand, and the two vanished immediately afterward.

Netherworld

When Shirou's eyes opened, Pandora was standing in front of the two of them with a serious look on her face, "I need to know just what it was that you just did. No heretic god in history was ever defeated so easily, not even the weakest, much less one as powerful enough as Mordred. But it's what happened after he was defeated that we need to speak about in particular. While some aspects of Mordred, namely Ares and Mars, are recovering slower than normal, the aspect of Mordred is not recovering at all. Just what was that weapon you used?"

Saber started to fidget, "I can explain. You both understand that I existed at the end of the Age of the Gods in the other reality right?"

Both Pandora and Shirou nodded. Saber took a deep breath and dropped a bombshell on them, "what isn't known is that Merlin was the one who ended the Age of the Gods. He created a pillar to separate the Human World and the Reverse Side of the World and used me to hide it. The name of the pillar is Holy Lance Rhongomyniad, the weapon Shirou used to defeat Mordred."

Both Pandora and Shirou were shocked into silence. The ramifications of what Saber had revealed occupied their thoughts.

For Shirou, it was the revelation of what had caused the end of the Age of the Gods. Many mages had theories on the topic and Rin had told him a few, but as they say, truth is stranger than fiction.

For Pandora, it was what Rhongomyniad could do. Because Rhongomyniad was made for a different world, it couldn't create the same effect, it didn't change that the lance could suppress a god's recovery. It was likely that as long as the lance existed, which in this case meant as long as Shirou existed, Mordred would not recover due to being the aspect directly exposed to its power. The aspects of Ares and Mars would recover but nowhere near as fast as they normally would.

Pandora was the one who broke the silence, "Shirou."

"Yes?"

"Try to not use that weapon as much as possible. If its abilities became known, many gods would go heretic to destroy that weapon as soon as possible. Although your magecraft and unmatched arsenal would help you greatly, they would overrun you with numbers alone. Only use that spear if absolutely necessary."

Shirou nodded, "you don't have to tell me twice."

Emiya Estate, Present

Rider raised her eyebrow, "so Nyx qualifies as being necessary?"

Shirou gave Rider a flat look, "if a goddess who would plunge the world into eternal night wouldn't qualify, what would?"

Rider raised her hands like she was surrendering, "okay, you made your point. Has anyone besides Nyx qualified to be victims of Rhongomyniad?"

Shirou shook his head, "nobody yet, but I am planning to use it to permanently seal Aisha's Fairy Corridor authority. Leaving a power like that in the hands of someone who rivals Salvatore Doni in idiocy if one can prevent it from continuing is something only someone who lacks a brain entirely would do."

Rider nodded, "both halves of me agree with that statement completely. But wouldn't killing her be faster?"

Shirou responded without hesitation, "it would but permanently losing Pandora-oka-san's favor isn't worth it. Unless she gives me permission to do so on no uncertain terms, killing Aisha is the absolute last option. It's getting late, let's get some rest. We can continue in the morning."

Everyone else in the room nodded their heads in agreement.

"""""Goodnight."""""