C106

As Gilgamesh unleashed all of his Noble Phantasms, he was able to single-handedly hold back the army of Heroic Spirits for a brief moment.

"Someone has betrayed Alaya!"

"Who is it?"

"I don't know, but he won't last long. Anyone who goes against Alaya is bound to be captured and brought back soon enough."

...

As Arjuna prepared to take aim at Gilgamesh, a divine spear appeared before him. Arjuna turned his head to see Karna standing calmly nearby. "Do you wish to challenge me here?"

Karna shook his head, "That person is imbued with the power of Alaya, so go easy on him,"

"But isn't Alaya bringing us here to kill those who trespass?" Arjuna inquired.

"Let the monsters of Gaia handle what needs to be done. Can't you see that the others are holding back too?" Karna replied.

After considering Karna's words, Arjuna lowered his bow.

Despite calculating the time in his mind, Shirou struggled against both the army of Heroic Spirits and the monsters of Gaia. However, what left him feeling hopeless was the realization that there seemed to be no way out.

86400 seconds...

172800 seconds...

Counting. Running. Resisting. Struggling to survive. And then, feeling disappointed.

Despite the disappointment, he refused to give up.

His heart was no longer clouded by doubt.

Though he might be disappointed, he refused to despair.

He ran tirelessly, searching for an exit that didn't exist.

As time ticked away, Shirou found his magical energy reserves rapidly dwindling as he confronted both the monsters of Gaia and the army of Heroic Spirits of Alaya.

The monsters of Gaia were particularly dangerous, and Shirou had to activate his "Mana Burst" to stand a chance against them.

The Evil Flowers were able to absorb malice from the Heroic Spirits to restore magical energy, but the rate of restoration was far slower than the rate of depletion. As a result, all the energy was eventually used up.

Shirou constantly attacked and defended, repairing his wounds whenever he could. Despite his efforts, his magical energy was eventually depleted, leaving him unable to move.

Even Arcueid, who had been assisting him, suffered from heavy consumption, and eventually Marble Phantasm became difficult to operate.

Shirou was covered in wounds and had a tired expression on his face, but despite his injuries, his eyes remained bright. He had not given up hope.

He had just been pierced through the back by a monster modeled after the Hellhound, created by Gaia. Blood dripped slowly from the wound as he struggled to breathe. He tried to use his black mud to repair the wound, but without magical energy, it was no longer effective. Even moving was now difficult for him.

But despite his injuries, Shirou's eyes remained bright, showing that he had not given up hope. He was still searching for an exit.

All of his hard work finally paid off when Shirou spotted a broken passage in the distance, emitting the aura of the real world. It was undoubtedly the passage connecting to the real world and the way out of this place.

"Go, Arcueid! The exit is that way," Shirou gasped, his exhaustion apparent on his face as he gestured towards the passage.

Arcueid carried Shirou over her shoulder as they made their way towards the passage.

"You're not Roa," she stated with a serious tone.

With a pale face, Shirou managed a faint smile. "So, you've finally figured it out."

"The reason you're not Roa isn't that you're not his reincarnation, but because your mud consumed Roa!"

"I see... I'm not sure why that happened," he said with a smile. "Once we're out of here, you'll have to fill me in on all the details."

"Okay!" she nodded, her expression serious.

As Shirou and Arcueid made their way towards the passage, they were suddenly surrounded by the monsters of Gaia and the army of heroic spirits from Alaya.

Countless light pillars were flashing in front of the passage, pulling out heroes and monsters alike with the power of the two major Counter Forces.

Arcueid had to come to a stop, her face now heavy with worry. Shirou managed a smile, saying, "It seems that this is the final battle."

With great effort, he forced his weak body to stand up. Despite the exhaustion all over his face, he projected a sword and shot it towards the heroic spirit in front of him.

"Clang!"

As expected, the sword was easily cut in half by the heroic spirit. Shirou gasped weakly, attempting to project another sword, but she stopped him.

"Do you still want to fight?" she asked.

"Of course! If I give up on myself, that would be true defeat!" Shirou said with a smile.

Arcueid stared at him with a blank expression before replying in a serious tone, "I'll make sure you live through this, no matter what." She then took hold of Shirou's hand.

"What are you doing?" Shirou asked, bewildered.

Arcueid didn't answer, but instead leaned in and kissed Shirou's bloodied arm. A warm, moist sensation spread across his skin as her soft tongue gently licked his wound.

Shirou barely had time to process the romantic sensation before he asked in shock, "Are you...drinking my blood?"

"Do you...want to unleash your vampiric impulse?" Shirou started to ask, but before he could finish, an overwhelmingly terrifying frenzy burst forth from Arcueid's body.

Arcueid lifted her head slowly, and her previously red eyes now gleamed gold. Her gaze was cold and greedy, fixed upon Shirou as if he were nothing more than a piece of food.

It was clear that this was the true form of Arcueid, the princess of the True Ancestors, as she unleashed her vampiric impulse, revealing the full extent of her power.

Arcueid struggled to maintain control of her reason and forced a smile as she addressed Shirou. "I'm sorry for chasing you like you were Roa. Next time we meet, I promise to apologize properly,"

Shirou asked, "Do you want to fight alone?" But she remained silent, having already transformed into her True Ancestor form. Her vampiric impulse had been fully unleashed, causing her to resemble Crimson Moon in power.

Despite the constant torment of her terrifying impulse, which urged her to treat Shirou like a blood bag and drain him completely, Arcueid managed to resist its pull. Instead, she directed her hostility towards the army of heroic spirits and monsters of Gaia that lay before her.

With Shirou in her grip, she let out a deafening shout and charged forward, her movements reminiscent of a demon king seeking to obliterate the world. Her claws were sharp as swords, slicing through the air with a flash of crimson light.

Arcueid moved effortlessly through her surroundings, swiftly dispatching any Gaia monsters or heroic spirits that dared to cross her path. And when faced with an army of heroic spirits in the distance, swarming like ants, she called forth a shrunken moon and hurled it towards them. This was Arcueid's strongest inherited attack from Crimson Moon - a miniature version of the Moonfall.

The shrunken moon fell upon the army of heroic spirits, crushing them like small satellites and obliterating any heroic spirits or Gaia monsters that stood in its path.

This was the true terror of Arcueid, standing atop the Nasuverse. She was capable of punching gods and kicking islands with a level of destructive power that approached the UO level.

But this was only a fraction of her true strength as Gaia had refused to support her. If she were able to access her Princess Arc mode, she would truly become the strongest form. Even so, Arcueid was already among the most powerful beings in existence.

Unfortunately, she could not sustain this level of power for too long, lest she be consumed by her vampiric impulses and become nothing more than a vessel for Crimson Moon.

To prevent this, Arcueid limited herself to using only thirty percent of her power, while the remaining seventy percent was used to suppress her impulses. However, in order to help Shirou escape, she was forced to unlock her vampiric impulses, unleashing a barrage of attacks with a deafening impact.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!!!"

Arcueid, with what remained of her sanity, led Shirou towards the escape route and forcibly shoved him into the fissure.

"You're coming in too, Arcueid!" Shirou cried out in desperation.

The fissure in the real world continued to shrink as if attempting to repair itself and vanish at any moment. Arcueid struggled to suppress her vampiric urges and follow Shirou, but she was suddenly knocked down by a monster.

Shirou struggled to climb out of the fissure, but a hand pushed him back down.

"Next time we meet, you have to teach me how to play Go!" the girl's candid yet silly voice echoed in Shirou's ears as she went berserk and charged toward the monster group.

Shirou was completely pushed out of the hole.

...

The rain beat down heavily upon the forest as Shirou was hurled out of the void's hole and landed on the muddy ground below.

"Crack, crack, crack -"

The void's hole was restored as if nothing had occurred in the first place.

Shirou crawled forward, his clothes drenched from the rainfall and the muddy terrain. Three claw marks from Gaia monsters had left black and red blood oozing from his back, trickling down his skin and staining the muddy ground below.

"Drip, drip."

The black mud swirled near the wound as if attempting to repair it but the scarce amount of magical energy left in Shirou's body was insufficient to activate the mud's power.

Escaping from the Root was already an immense stroke of luck, and running out of magical energy can be viewed as the lightest of costs. Yet, this came at the expense of Arcueid's sacrifice.

It seemed that nothing had truly changed.

When compared to the real world, he was still a weakling! What could a weakling possibly achieve?

No!

Even a weakling can achieve something and bring about change!

At the very least, he couldn't die here!

The significance of the battle lay not solely in its outcome, but to be able to smile once more and reunite with those who mattered most!

Stay alive!

Stay alive!

Then, he must find her and return home to his family!

He still had his birthday to celebrate!

So-

Shirou strained to lift his head, his ears picking up the sound of footsteps.

Blood flowed from the wound on his forehead and dripped into his eyes, but he could still make out a figure approaching him.

It was a girl with long black hair, accompanied by her entourage. She seemed to be saying something in a language he couldn't comprehend. But he could absorb Evil from these people.

The Evil Flower continued to activate, and sensing the malevolence within the humans, the black mud began to absorb it. With little magical energy remaining in his body, Shirou felt the black mud start to mend his wounds.

"Thank you," Shirou muttered before losing consciousness.

...

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