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IBHJ Chapter 621
🕑 Added 2023-12-15 07:25:24 +0000 UTCThe subway train zoomed past. The objects around Shirou started morphing into something illusory—or rather, they'd been illusory all along.
Standing at the end of the car, he stared out the window into the distance at the city, which seemed to dissolve gradually into haze.
He just stood there, eyes fixed on the utopian metropolis sprawled before him. As the train barreled forth into some unknown future, endless white light blasted from behind, swallowing everything around until even the last fading glimpse of the city vanished.
Still he stood, gazing, watching the mirage of the city crumble until nothing was left of it. Then, he left that illusion of a world behind.
"It's over now."
Beast III gazed at Shirou and Mordred who had fallen. As Beast III, her Noble Phantasm [All the World’s Desires] seduced the most genuine longings from the human heart.
What was paradise?
The Buddha said it was infinite light, with precious gems making up the land. From the empty sky above to everything on earth, all was luminous radiance.
Yet Beast III believed paradise was simply a world without worries - where desires could swell and shrink freely.
All misery arose from the desires within one's heart. As long as those desires were fulfilled, there would be no more misery. And in the paradise that she created, there was no distress, no worries, for every wish could be met openly, so all that remained was happiness.
"Well then, I've finished spreading happiness here. I suppose Assassin and that girl have already found their happiness in paradise," Beast III revealed a compassionate smile.
"It's time I took my leave to continue sharing happiness across this land."
Beast III wore a compassionate and gentle smile as she turned to depart from this place.
Yet in that world of pure white light, a voice suddenly rang out: "And where do you think you're going?”
"Oh?"
Beast III let out a soft cry of surprise, stopping in her tracks as she turned back around.
Tap, tap, tap....Out from that pure white light, Shirou slowly walked out, that beguiling sacred brilliance slipping away from him like shards of sunlight.
"M-Mr. Assassin?" she looked at him in utter bewilderment.
She was genuinely shocked still. Someone had walked out from her paradise. That was simply impossible!
The paradise she created was even more real than the illusory worlds of [All the World’s Evils]. It was inescapable, constructed entirely from the genuine innermost longings of the victims.
No one could break free, because it was the world the hypnotized most ardently yearned for.
Once, there was someone who awakened from the mortal world, reaching the truth of the world. A person like that couldn't be enraptured by Beast III’s paradise.
That was the Enlightened One - a truly awakened individual.
Other than someone like that, no one else should have been able to walk out.
Not even Gilgamesh, King Solomon, Merlin, or Jeanne d'Arc who heard God’s voice could have escaped.
Yet, there was this ordinary person, with normal human desires, who had walked out nonetheless.
That was no enlightened being, nor a Bodhisattva Buddha, but merely a normal human - a human still shackled by desire.
This, this was simply impossible! It completely upended Beast III’s own understanding of herself.
Beast III was a [Beast] formed from Kiara Sessyoin's alteration. Ever since childhood, Kiara suffered from an incurable illness that gave her only a few more years left to live. As believers around her only pitied her and didn't extend a helping hand, she concluded that "people will not save other people," even doubting whether the "humans" described in books existed outside of herself.
And in the events that followed, she gradually proved this to be true. The so-called “humans” only consisted of herself - everyone else was a beast wearing human skin, overflowing with desire.
Therefore, she believed feeling “happy” was virtuous. And paradise was constructed upon this idea.
In other words, this so-called paradise was a representation of Beast III's understanding of the world.
Yet he had walked right out from the midst of it, defying that understanding completely.
Why? How was he able to escape?
Even Arthur, God's holy maiden, Rome's emperor, and that previously trapped priest who attracted the consciousness of evil gods...they had all fallen into paradise.
So why could he walk out?
Beast III was baffled.
"Isn't the answer simple?" Shirou smiled bitterly and said, "No matter how wonderful the illusion, it was fake in the end. The only one feeling happy while indulging in it is me - it does nothing to alleviate the suffering of reality. I can't allow myself to fall captive there, because there are still people waiting for my return in the real world."
Beast III froze, speechless.
For the first time, she discarded the saintly, Bodhisattva-like compassion on her face, revealing a rare human-like gaze of scrutiny as she examined Shirou closely.
"I see, so that's how it is! Now I understand, Mr. Assassin. I know who you are, and why you hold no malice toward me." Beast III exclaimed excitedly, an expression of utmost delight appearing on her face. "Keep going, keep walking forward. You will become a savior just like me."
"Maybe so," Shirou replied indifferently with a slight smile.
He stretched out his arms as his entire body emanated a faint silvery glow that even Beast III's holy light couldn't outshine.
Shirou stared directly at the glittering aura of Beast III's holy light. The moment he broke free from paradise, he sensed that he wasn't the only one who had been dragged into it.
"Hear me, all those who still linger in this land of illusion!"
He shouted loudly. Under the effects of [Mortal Awakening], the light around his body swirled chaotically like a vortex, reflecting the disorder yet impenetrability within his heart.
And his voice pierced directly through the entire sea of light, reaching the people still trapped inside the fantasy worlds.
In the unruined Camelot, dressed in maiden's garb while wandering through flower beds, Saber froze in place, gazing up at the sky while murmuring:
"Assassin's voice..."
In the Cathedral of Orleans, where she had shed her armor to tend to the fields, as Jeanne d'Arc was praying for the people, she stared at the visage of the Holy Mother before her in confusion and alarm.
"Eternal...King?"
In the packed Golden Theater, as Nero indulged in her own world, freely displaying her musical talents, she abruptly halted her performance.
"The voice of Eternal King..."
And...
In that narrow room brimming with happiness and warmth.
"What's the matter, Mordred? Why haven't you blown out the candles yet?" the man gently asked.
"I...I..." Mordred clenched her fists tightly.
Shirou didn't notice these changes as he continued:
"Finding happiness in an illusion helps no one but yourself. You might be content, but those you failed remain failed. Those you owe apologies remain owed. Suffering continues to exist. Will you keep chasing false joy, or face the troubles of reality and look to the future? The choice is yours alone."
Beast III, however, made no moves to stop him. She simply watched with interest and asked, "Do you really think that will help?"
He briefly glanced back at her. "Whether it works or not, we'll only know after trying."
Beast III still wore that compassionate smile on her face. But bearing that smile now, it seemed to convey mockery more than anything.
Yet at that moment, an extremely feeble voice rang out from within her body.
"M-Mr. Assassin..."
Beast III's compassionate smile instantly froze. As if sensing something inconceivable, her eyes constricted sharply.
Comments
JeanMartin Freites
Now this is something I'm interested in watching.
