Chapter 417: It's Another World
At this moment, Artoria was wielding the Invisible Sword of Promised Victory, a sword forged from stardust capable of cutting through steel and granting eternal youth to its wielder. As a reinforced composite version that had once obtained the power of other split identities, she was undoubtedly the strongest among the Artoria-types. As a "Saber Killer," the stronger those Sabers became, the stronger she would become as well.
A-chan was using a Force Sword covered in a layer of red energy. The Force concentrated energy into the crystal inside the hilt, then released highly concentrated plasma energy. This plasma was bound within a pre-set magnetic field in the hilt, forming the shape of a blade.
The Force Sword was the ultimate manifestation of the Force's strongest energy gathered at a single point. Once it touched other matter, the magnetic field would pass through it at extremely high temperatures, severing it. Theoretically, aside from another Force Sword constructed of similar plasma, the Force Sword could cut through anything. Countless warriors had been pierced, had their calves slashed off, or their arms sheared away by such light blades, including generations of Jedi and Sith.
The Force Sword was a weapon of cruelty. While it granted immense power, it also eroded every user, pulling them toward the Dark Side. As the future Galactic Emperor and the final Dark Knight nurtured by the Dark Round Table, the red light saber tightly gripped in A-chan's hand exploded with Dark Side energy. Its lethality surged, and she swung it toward her rival, Galactic Emperor Gil, without hesitation.
However, at this very moment, Galactic Emperor Gil spread his arms, allowing the two girls to swing their sharp blades toward him. The glowing gold Invisible Sword and the red light saber both struck in front of Galactic Emperor Gil. The blades collided with the golden armor, sparking intensely and producing a sharp, screeching sound as they slid against the plating.
"What!? It can't even be cut?" Artoria said in surprise. She pulled A-chan back, quickly retreating to put distance between them and the enemy.
"Little child, you are truly hot-headed. But I forgive you. Put down your weapons and submit to my jurisdiction, and I shall teach you the true way to utilize the Dark Side of the Force," Galactic Emperor Gil spread his arms, looking down at A-chan with red eyes as he laughed.
It was he who had invested in the Dark Knights behind the scenes, covertly obstructing the Galactic Police's investigation, which gave Agravain of the Dark Round Table the time to cultivate A-chan into a talent. It was just that the Dark Knights had never genuinely intended to cooperate with him from the start. Agravain had deceived him, concealing his tracks at the last minute; otherwise, he would have seized the girl before she could escape. Now, the Dark Round Table was left with only the girl; it existed in name only.
Galactic Emperor Gil was ambitious and, of course, did not want to create a rival for control of the universe, but he did want capable subordinates—hence his secret support for the Dark Knights. In a sense, without Gil, A-chan's achievements today would indeed not have existed.
"No!" A-chan denied him decisively; she couldn't even be bothered to explain.
"Hahahaha! I don't hate such personality! Very well, let me show you my strength! Girl, your understanding of the Dark Force is still far from sufficient. Take this! Force Lightning!!!" Galactic Emperor Gil laughed loudly, suddenly raising both hands to emit purple lightning flying toward Artoria.
A-chan had been prepared; she vigilantly raised her arms and emitted red lightning in response. The purple and red lightning collided in mid-air, crackling with noise before finally dissipating.
"Hraaa!!! How about this!!!"
At that moment, Artoria instantly arrived in front of Gil, pulled out another black sword, and activated her Noble Phantasm. With black and white twin swords, she unleashed an unprecedented series of strikes against the Galactic Emperor. This time, the golden armor did not protect Gil. While he was not critically injured, his armor was battered, dented, and gouged by Artoria's strikes, rendering it unusable.
"Enough, enough!!! Since you refuse to repent, then go to hell to confess! Confess your disrespect toward me! Confess how foolish you are!" Galactic Emperor Gil shed his tattered armor and pulled out a red spiral-shaped weapon, similar to a sword but without an edge, featuring a raised button on the hilt.
When Galactic Emperor Gil raised this spiral weapon, the golden spacecraft mothership above the sky reacted. The front of the ship triggered some mechanism, transforming and unfolding to the left and right like doors. From the hole in the center, a spiral-shaped, red, spire-like turret gradually emerged. This peculiar muzzle was several times larger than the largest golden giant cannon on the mothership.
The ahoge (hair antennas) on the heads of Artoria and A-chan stood straight up. Their ancestral intuition made them feel a certain fatal danger.
At this time, taking advantage of the lack of obstacles, the purple-haired girl silently arrived at Shirou's side. When the spiral cannon appeared, BB-chan also felt the danger, so she said to Shirou, "Let's leave quickly, Senpai. Otherwise, we'll get caught up in the battle of these monster-like guys."
At the muzzle of the galactic mothership, lightning began to crackle. The red spire rotated rapidly, and massive amounts of energy gathered toward the muzzle. This was the Galactic Cannon—a piece of "black technology" created by Galactic Emperor Gil to solidify his rule and one of the weapons with the greatest destructive power in this universe. When fired, the威力 (power) was great enough to split the heavens and shatter the earth, tear through space,
and even blast apart a smaller planet. It could fire missiles equipped with particle-splitting warheads, and those missiles could use hyper-space engines to travel from the Galactic Core to the frontier regions. No matter where one hid, they would be found; ordinary defensive means were entirely meaningless.
When he pressed the button on the spiral sword, the energy cannon inside the Galactic Cannon would fire instantly. The terrifying thing about that shell wasn't just that it would automatically attack the chosen planet after exiting hyperspace; it also carried weaponry including automatic laser turrets to deal with interceptors, as well as advanced armor and shields capable of defending against pressurized lasers and ion cannons.
At this moment, in the room where Shirou was located, Shirou put on a jacket from the Galactic Police branch and made a decision.
"Senpai! Where are you going?" BB-chan looked at Shirou, who was running in the opposite direction, and asked in confusion.
"BB, you take Fran and the others and hide first. I'm going to bring Artoria back," Shirou said while running.
"Senpai... you're really cool, but also a real idiot," the purple-haired girl left behind whispered, gazing at the boy's retreating back.
At this time, Galactic Emperor Gil, who controlled everything, floated into the air, coldly watching Artoria and A-chan below, and spoke: "I'll give you one last chance. Submit to my feet now, and it wouldn't be impossible for me to take you both as my concubines!"
"Dream on!" Artoria held her Invisible Sword of Promised Victory high and said.
"Physiologically, I can't accept it. It's like salty konpeito; I don't even want to look at it," A-chan said ruthlessly.
"I see... in that case, go die!" The Galactic Emperor said as he prepared to press the button.
"Wait!!!" Shirou shouted loudly.
"Hero King... no, Galactic Emperor Gil, stop your atrocities." Shirou thought he must not let him notice his presence; otherwise, it was hard to say what this reckless and brutal king might do.
"Mongrel, do you think you have the qualifications to have a dialogue with me on the same stage?!" Gil smiled coldly.
"Shut up! Shirou is ten thousand times better than you!" Artoria said, displeased. A-chan, on the side, also nodded silently.
"Compared to me, do you actually prefer to be with this kind of guy?" Gil felt he had been insulted, pointed at Shirou, and asked angrily.
"That's right!!" x2 The girls replied. How unhesitating, how matter-of-fact.
"How dare you say that! You really did it! I shall commend your stubbornness, and then grant you the honor of being buried with me!!!"
At the very end, Galactic Emperor Gil pressed the button in a frenzy. If he were to become a prisoner, he would rather die here!
The Galactic Cannon above in the sky rotated its barrel, emitted lightning, and then the entire world was enveloped in the intense light of an explosion. In the final moment, Shirou pulled Artoria and A-chan into his arms, hoping to use his back to shield them from the Galactic Cannon's blast. The two girls looked up, opening their mouths as if shouting something anxiously.
But Shirou could no longer hear them. Amidst the white light, he closed his eyes and lost consciousness entirely.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"
Shirou screamed, waving his hands and sitting up from the bed.
"Seriously! What's the matter? Jumping and shouting—did you have a nightmare?" A young woman's voice came from not far away.
Shirou blinked in a daze, then turned his neck suspiciously to look around. He was currently in a room filled with a domestic atmosphere. Through the mosquito net, he could see a woman with her back to him at the vanity, combing her long hair.
What on earth is going on? He was clearly just caught in that idiot king's suicidal bombardment. Why does his body feel completely fine? Shirou flipped his palm over, looking at it, then saw his arm—it wasn't black. Then he looked at the solid biceps of his upper arm; they were healthy and strong. Hmm? When did I take my clothes off? Why is my upper body bare?
Shirou hurriedly felt below—it was chilly. He lifted the blanket to check, and lifted his head in shock.
Why? Why! What on earth is happening? Why am I not wearing anything underneath?!!! Shirou roared in his mind, feeling turbulent waves of shock.
At this moment, a fair, slender hand lifted the mosquito net. Walking in was a beautiful, mature woman dressed only in sexy pajamas; she looked somewhat familiar.
"Why haven't you replied even though I've been talking to you? And lifting the blanket to look at your 'brother'—what's this? Alright, Big Sister will make it up to you next time. Just go home for today, chu~!" The beautiful mature woman said, reaching out to cup Shirou's face and leaning forward to kiss him.
"Although I'd like to have you stay the night, Big Sister..." The beautiful mature woman's hand wandered over Shirou's chest as she continued: "...my husband will be home in an hour, so be a good boy and go home this time. Next time, I'll make it up to you properly."
"Haaaah? You have a husband?" Shirou, having heard this, didn't even have time to feel the lingering warmth on his face before he received an even greater shock. He looked at the beautiful woman, stunned, and asked. He recognized the woman's identity by now; though perhaps due to the lighting or different makeup, her temperament seemed different, she was absolutely the shop manager of the store where he had his suits tailored—there was no mistake.
"You're silly~! Are you jealous? But no means no~!" Upon hearing Shirou's words, the shop manager laughed even more sweetly. She flipped over the pillow, took out an envelope placed underneath, grabbed a stylish pink bag from the nightstand, took out five Fukuzawa Yukichi bills (10,000 yen notes), and stuffed them into the envelope. "Here, this is a small token of my appreciation. Take it and buy something you like~!"
Shirou was sent to the elevator. The beautiful woman waved her hand with a brilliant smile, "I'll bring you over to play again if there's a chance next time~!"
Before Shirou could reply, as he reached the ground floor, he happened to see a middle-aged man who looked very much like a company president. The two met eyes and nodded; Shirou walked out of the elevator, and the middle-aged man walked in.
Shirou walked out of the luxury apartment in a daze. It seemed he had returned to the familiar Wako (Japan), and he understood he should be in a parallel world, but he had no idea where his home was. Shirou checked his phone's address book and social software, only to find there were no family numbers. Finally, he found a few of his own business cards, on which an address was written.
And so, Shirou flagged down a taxi and decided to go check that place first.
When the taxi arrived at the destination, Shirou discovered that this was Shinjuku's famous red-light district.
"Ah, welcome back, Shirou." Upon entering the bar, a familiar voice drifted over from the counter.
"Mer... Merlin~!?" Shirou looked at the man in surprise. The silver-haired man at the bar, wearing a black vest and pure white shirt like a waiter, was the one who had spoken. At this moment, Merlin had actually cut his long hair, leaving it in a currently popular, elegant side-swept style. He held a cocktail shaker, shaking it elegantly until frost formed on the lid.
"What's wrong with you? Why do you have such a blank expression? Though it's quite cute, as the top-ranking host of our 'Dream Round Table,' isn't your persona supposed to be that of a partner of justice, a true man whose gentleness goes right to the bone?"
"Where is this? Why are you here?" Shirou asked, confused.
"Because this is a host club that serves ladies," Merlin said strangely.
"Then why are you here?" Shirou felt even more bewildered.
"Working, of course. I haven't been slacking off to play on the computer today, have I? Didn't you just see me mixing drinks?" Merlin explained. He always felt like he was smiling particularly suspiciously at this moment.
Shirou raised a hand to Merlin, rubbed his furrowed brow with the other, and contemplated: "Wait? Let me get my thoughts in order... this is a host club, and, I am the... top-ranking host of this shop? So... why is a guy like you here?"
"What do you mean 'a guy like me'? Because this is a shop I opened," Merlin replied righteously.
Although he moonlighted as a bartender at the counter, that only happened when a beauty who interested him was sitting there. Usually, the waiters who took orders and delivered drinks were other people. After all, the Great Mage Merlin was still accustomed to being the mastermind who kept people running in circles.
"Eh... eh? Haaah?" Shirou's eyes widened in surprise; he felt his brain was completely overwhelmed.
"Hahaha, surely you haven't been playing too hard with the girls and gotten your memories confused? I didn't expect that designer—she looked so elegant—to be unexpectedly wild. It doesn't matter~! It's normal to have a bit of memory loss, get carried away, and have your head get a little scrambled," Merlin laughed, patting Shirou on the shoulder.
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