บท 475: C475
The corrupted gods focused on Shirou as if he were a priceless treasure. Though their eyes were obscured by dark, muddy faces, their expressions were undeniably manic. They seemed captivated, as if they couldn't look away.
Ignoring the gods, he lifted his head to look at Zelretch and said evenly, "I want to run an experiment."
The old man looked incredulous. "Are you out of your mind? You're the target! Don't you get what this thing really is? It's after you, the vessel it needs!"
"I've been aware of that for quite some time."
"You know nothing!" the old man fired back. "This thing lacks a physical form and can't interfere with the real world directly. The only reason it's here is because it found a suitable opportunity and ambushed me when I was fixing the dimensional boundaries. What it's done so far is all it can do, given its limitations. But if it fully consumes you, it'll break down your soul and your will. Then, using you as a vessel, it'll launch its invasion!"
"Do you get it now? You can't let this thing consume you, not under any circumstances!" Zelretch warned.
"Do you think so?"
"What?" Zelretch looked genuinely surprised.
Just then, one of the corrupted gods broke through the defenses and lunged at him.
Its muddied, faceless visage suddenly cracked into a twisted, greedy smile.
"Vessel, vessel, vessel—!!!"
The chilling, otherworldly cries sent Zelretch into a full-on panic. But facing this corrupted god, Shirou just smiled and said, "Old man, you're wrong. I'm not the one being devoured here. I'm the one doing the devouring."
The corrupted god lunged at him, morphing into a pure black mud that seeped into his very being. Within him, All the World's Evil and Vampiric Evil churned and roiled, resisting the new mud.
—Vessel, vessel... My vessel... Obtained... Obtained...
A voice tinged with malice echoed in his mind.
Gilgamesh sensed something was off. His red eyes narrowed, looking at him with a mix of surprise and suspicion. "Fujimaru Shirou, when I asked if 'Mortal Awakening' was your trump card, you said nothing. Could it be that your real trump card is..."
Shirou smiled. "So you want to devour me? Maybe you could easily consume others, but you're dealing with me now. You're in my territory, my body. From this point on, you're under my control!" His voice boomed as he made his proclamation, "The time for coronation has come! I am the Eternal King—!"
With a powerful shout, he fully unleashed his second Noble Phantasm.
This was a Noble Phantasm that transcended conventional classification and ranks, a type of Noble Phantasm that elevated him into a realm of rule beyond even the gods.
Whether it was the All-Seeing Eye that pierced through all truths or the records of his subordinates that he often used, these were merely secondary effects of this second Noble Phantasm. And now, he had fully activated its main ability.
He used his own body as the cornerstone of his kingship, crowning himself as the sovereign. Mana surged extravagantly, and the light on his body grew even more dazzling and magnificent.
Above his head, a web of endless light wove itself into a golden crown, a symbol of ultimate kingship. Slowly, it descended onto his head.
In that moment, the malevolent voices that had been ceaselessly echoing in his heart vanished.
The malice wasn't eradicated; it was subdued, brought under his control!
The God's Evil couldn't overpower the domain established by his second Noble Phantasm. Instead, it found itself dominated by him.
And as the evil was subdued, the consumed aspect of the god was released, rejoining its main form in the sky.
Within him, a third seed of evil had found its place.
The God's Evil... was devoured!
This turn of events left everyone stunned. The other corrupted gods, who had been incessantly howling "vessel, vessel," seemed to snap to awareness, freezing in place as if petrified.
"I can't believe... it actually... got devoured..." Zelretch's face was a picture of disbelief.
The invader's corruption was most evident in those it had consumed. However, after being devoured, he had managed to retain his consciousness, albeit under the entity's control. That's why he had fought against the Demon God Pillars.
Of course, when he attacked Gilgamesh earlier, there were some personal motivations at play.
But now, when one of the corrupted gods tried to invade Shirou, the tables were turned. Not only did it fail to corrupt him, but it was actually the one to get consumed by him!
Wearing the golden crown symbolizing supreme kingship on his head, he turned to the old man with a confident smile, "You see, as I told you, It was—"
But he was interrupted by a wave of nausea, suddenly doubling over to vomit. What came out wasn't saliva or blood, but rather a black mud seething with malice.
"Fujimaru Shirou!" Gilgamesh's face tightened into a frown.
Shirou casually waved his hand. "It's fine. If the cup is too full, it's bound to spill over at some point."
Zelretch chimed in, "You've bitten off more than you can chew, Eternal King. Anyone with a shred of wisdom, be it Merlin or anyone else, would tell you that you've reached your limit in terms of the 'evil' you can bear. You can't take on any more—certainly not the evil of the gods! You should be fleeing!"
Wiping his mouth, Shirou countered, "Why should I run? There's no need. I stand here both as Fujimaru Shirou and, more importantly, as the Eternal King. In my land, the king's light outshines even the sun. I don't have to run. All I need to do is fill my kingdom with my light. Be they gods or evil, anyone who basks in the light of my rule will fall under my dominion!"
The room fell silent. The weight of his words hung in the air, unchallenged. Perhaps they might have been difficult to understand for ordinary people accustomed to peace and normalcy, but no one here was ordinary. These were individuals who had borne the burdens of nations, peoples, and eras. They were rulers and leaders.
The point Shirou—no, the Eternal King—had made was crystal clear. Anything anyone could say now would just be an affront to the king's authority.
He had been mentally preparing for this all along. The [Mortal Awakening - Emperor] was never his trump card against this invader. His real trump card was his second Noble Phantasm, which was essentially himself!
He knew full well that his body was already at its limit for harboring evils. Taking on any more could easily transform him into a Beast, a creature of pure, mindless destruction—a fate he'd always worked to avoid.
At first, he'd been genuinely frightened of this invader too. His fear wasn't about its power, but the concern that, once consumed by it, the evil within the entity would overpower his own sense of self, leading him down a path of destruction.
But after testing the waters with his second Noble Phantasm, Shirou found that he could actually bring the God's Evil under his control, thereby preserving his sense of self.
So, what was left to fear?
Going beyond his capacity to contain evil wasn't his real concern. Losing himself was what he truly feared.
As long as he could hold onto who he was, then he'd still be himself!
He gazed at the corrupted gods, his arms extended as though to beckon them. "Come, step into your king's domain and bathe in his radiance!"
His open arms were a gesture of invitation, much like a decade ago when he had taken in All the World's Evil and Vampiric Evil. This time, though, the corrupted gods seemed to snap to some kind of self-awareness and halted in their tracks.
"No... not a vessel," muttered one of the gods, as if wrestling with its own doubts.
The other gods started muttering one by one.
"Not a vessel... not a vessel..."
Their voices stacked upon one another, turning into a jumble of sound that felt like the hum of a crowded market.
Behind Zelretch, an eerie humanoid holding a black cup suddenly said. "This is not good..."
"What's the matter, Pandora?" Zelretch asked.
The mud-like figure referred to as Pandora responded, "...The vessel has turned the tables... its purpose is now contradictory... the residual power from the gods... it's going berserk..."
As Pandora's words fell, the dark cup it held erupted with a deep, black light. Unlike before, where the light felt like it could swallow people whole, this time it gave off a rather frenzied feeling.
"It's not a vessel... not a vessel..."
The corrupted gods muttered the words over and over, as if they were spellcasters locked in some unsettling chant.
What was truly chilling was the way their powers started spiraling out of control.
It was as if a computer AI, programmed to find antivirus software, discovered that the antivirus was actually malware. This contradiction led the AI to crash.
Shirou raised an eyebrow, "So, after all this, you're the ones going haywire? How ironic."
Gilgamesh let out a derisive snort. "That's fine by me. It spares me from having to deal with you turning into a catastrophic Beast later on. And I won't have to lift a finger to bring you down when that time comes!"
Gilgamesh summoned an array of magical staves, shaping them into a formidable energy cannon. With a deafening roar, he unleashed it at the frenzied, corrupted gods.
The energy cannon, formed from countless staves, was already a force to be reckoned with. Add to that the triple-layer [God Slayer C] buff that Shirou had previously granted, and the unleashed power was nothing short of horrifying.
But the berserk powers of the corrupted gods converged into something resembling a divine shield, clashing head-on with the force of the magical energy cannon.
Boom!!
"Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah—"
The corrupted gods began to disintegrate, transforming into a mud-like substance that flowed with a sloshing sound. They merged into a single entity, taking on the nightmarish form of a monstrous humanoid creature.
...
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