Chapter 531: The Young Girl, Tao Baibai, and So-Called Justice

Emiya Kiritsugu watched in despair as the Black Mud spread, and the great fire began to engulf everything.

Although Fuyuki City had already been completely reduced to ruins in the previous unknown battle, not all of those people were dead.

At a time like this, once these things spread completely.

Today, Fuyuki City would likely witness the most terrifying massacre in human history.

This event would be recorded in human history and passed down forever.

"Go!"

Emiya Kiritsugu, having experienced the sickness caused by the Black Mud's corruption, grabbed his adopted son with one hand and ran quickly toward his biological daughter, reaching out to pick up Ilya.

But the young girl only looked at him coldly; her hair fell, transforming into silver-white sharp swords and familiars.

Ilya wanted to kill Emiya Kiritsugu, and it was not just because of a family mission...

"Ilya, you..."

Boom!

A terrifying explosion suddenly occurred behind them, and the next moment, the Black Mud began to surge backward.

The man standing at the center of the explosion was already completely covered by the Black Mud.

A massive amount of Magic Power and terrifying malice continuously eroded everything in the vicinity.

And that man, acting like a black hole, continuously absorbed 【All the World's Evils】 into his body.

This action caused Emiya Kiritsugu's expression to freeze.

"Assassin..."

Ilya's expression shifted in shock, revealing a look of worry; she now understood everything completely—Assassin said he would take away her only mission in this world, and that was likely this powerful, cruel Servant's own alternative form of "gentleness."

She did not care what purpose Assassin himself had, or what "conspiracy" he might be harboring.

There were too many things like that; from the moment she was born, everyone around her had various motives and harbored countless conspiracies.

Whether they were good to her or not, it all pointed toward their own goals.

Even if Assassin was like that, so what?

Just like Berserker—although every time he drained her Magic Power, it caused her excruciating pain, so what? She had value to Berserker, and in return, Berserker responded to her expectations.

Only those who are needed have value.

Assassin had taken away her mission of existing as the "Lesser Grail," but he had let her live.

It was precisely because Berserker understood Assassin's purpose that he had chosen to die.

The two most cruel Servants in this Holy Grail War had given her the greatest gentleness.

Ilya raised her arms high, her Magic Circuits lighting up all over her body; she even wanted to search for her Mystic Code, but because of the previous assassination attempt and the apartment being blown up, she could not find it at all.

She could only use the greatest effort she was capable of at this moment to keep Assassin alive.

As the Lesser Grail, Ilya stood on the land of Fuyuki City and could naturally draw Magic Power from the leylines.

But at this very moment, the Greater Grail had manifested, and the leylines had also been largely destroyed by the previous battle between Bai Cangshu and the white-faced one.

Therefore, Ilya felt that her Magic Power was not as inexhaustible as it had been in the past.

She raised her other hand, and the Command Spell within her body also lit up completely.

"Assassin! Live!"

One Command Spell vanished instantly, and at the same time, a massive amount of Magic Power was drained.

Ilya seemed to see hope and used a Command Spell again.

"Assassin, I command you to live!"

The young girl's crisp voice echoed through the empty city; the churning Black Mud and the great fire were just a few hundred meters in front of her, and once they swept over, there was no possibility of the girl escaping.

Emiya Kiritsugu stood a few meters away from Ilya, and Emiya Shirou, whom he had been holding, struggled to the ground.

Emiya Kiritsugu looked at the gun in his hand.

He could not subdue his own daughter; was he supposed to shoot his own daughter and then forcibly take her away...

In Emiya Kiritsugu's mind, the choices of his life seemed to flash by again: because his father conducted Dead Apostle experiments, the girl he loved turned into a Monster; he had hidden the girl's tracks because he wanted her to live, which led to everyone on the island being infected and eventually everyone being wiped out;

To prevent his father from continuing to run away and conduct Dead Apostle experiments, he chose to kill his father with his own hands...

Choice after choice, every time he had a perfectly good reason to tell himself that doing so was the best way, the one most in line with "Justice"!

But in the end, he only lost things over and over again.

He lost the girl he loved in his naive youth, lost his father, lost...

Clang!

Emiya Shirou's Projection Magecraft was unleashed again between his hands, and an overly long Tachi had already appeared; it was Sasaki Kojiro's 【Monohoshizao】.

"Shirou, you..."

A terrifying image appeared in Emiya Kiritsugu's mind; he subconsciously raised his gun to aim at his adopted son, but Emiya Shirou had already turned and run in front of Ilya.

He gripped the Tachi, which was far too long for him, with both hands.

"Ilya, right? I will protect you!"

The red-haired boy looked at the Black Mud and flames that seemed capable of swallowing everything; his voice trembled slightly, but it remained firm.

Even if the person in that Black Mud was his "enemy," the terrifying guy who had assassinated Tohsaka Rin and Matou Sakura and had killed Saber in battle.

But since the girl was his adoptive father's daughter, and since the girl simply wanted to save others, he also wanted to save this girl.

Because... this was the simple Justice in his heart.

The gun Emiya Kiritsugu had subconsciously aimed at his adopted son suddenly dropped to the ground.

He covered his face and sat down in dejection.

Emiya Kiritsugu seemed to recall a courtyard under the moon where he told Shirou that he once dreamed of becoming an ally of Justice.

But that was just a young boy's delusion; he had grown up, so he had given it up.

But the red-haired boy told him that because he was still a child, he would be the one to realize that dream.

As if a dream were reflecting reality, at this very moment, the boy's body burned with a radiance that made Emiya Kiritsugu feel ashamed of his own inferiority.

This is fine, this is good...

Emiya Kiritsugu suddenly lifted his feet and took the initiative to walk forward.

"Shirou, take good care of Ilya for me... no..."

"Ilya, please take good care of Shirou for me from now on, after all, he is your younger brother..."

Emiya Kiritsugu was extremely skilled at psychological warfare; in the past, he used this ability to target and assassinate those Magicians.

But today, he used this point to deliberately "force" his daughter to live on.

He could sense that Ilya possessed a tendency toward self-destruction; therefore, to make her live, he said Emiya Shirou was a younger brother who needed care, wanting Ilya to carry the responsibility to live on.

The girl, who held her hands high to release Magic Power and Command Spells, and the boy, who held a sharp sword and trembled slightly, were both stunned; the next moment, they saw Emiya Kiritsugu running and charging into that Black Mud and flames.

【Based on the Assassin class, you have gained an additional enhancement to your Command Spells】

【You have suffered the erosion of All the World's Evils, physical functions are declining】

These two types of notifications kept popping up like system bugs, but Bai Cangshu couldn't be bothered to look at them at all.

He simply spread his arms, feeling that illusory malice constantly washing over his nerves; in contrast, a more magnificent power was constantly washing over his Soul and consciousness.

His physical body had long been eroded into a thousand holes, and amidst the constant High-Speed Healing, various changes were occurring.

【You have endured the baptism of All the World's Evils, Immortality: Intermediate has been upgraded, current: Immortality: Advanced】

Finally, a notification appeared, and Bai Cangshu felt as if some kind of shackle within his body had shattered.

Immediately following, the 【Super Limit Spiral】, which had not shown any movement for a long time, intensified its rotation once again.

Along with Noble Phantasm-ization: Heart Vortex, it began to spin frantically.

Like monstrous tentacles, it reached straight toward that crimson moon in the sky, or perhaps that pitch-black Empty void.

(End of chapter)