Shirou had already prepared himself to release the "Fairy Domain."
Although he was at an absolute disadvantage, one against three, there was no fear on his face.
It had been a long time since he had felt a fight fall into place like this.
Thinking back on it, when he was still in the Fairy Kingdom, he had always been better at fighting "one against many" than "one-on-one."
Even before Shirou could stand on his own as a warrior, he had been skilled at fighting fairies stronger than himself.
So it was fine. He could win…!
Shirou took a deep breath.
Just as he was about to chant the incantation capable of corroding the world.
"...I surrender."
A lazy male voice rang out.
"Hm?"
Shirou frowned and looked over.
It was Ziz, the Wandering Sea Magus who had been watching from the sidelines until now, and Ye Sizhen's master.
"Ziz, you idiot. What are you deciding on my behalf without permission?"
Wuzhiqi's brow twitched.
"Face reality, Wuzhiqi. Shirou Amamiya's power has exceeded both your expectations and mine. You know that too, don't you? If he gets serious, then you, in your Yang God (Divided Spirit) state, will end up just like the Heroic Spirits from the Fourth Holy Grail War."
"You're saying I would lose…?"
The divine aura coiling around Wuzhiqi began to boil.
Ignoring her anger, Ziz raised both hands in surrender and turned listlessly toward Shirou.
"Sigh, what you said was right. As things stand, even if the three of us attacked together, all we could do at most is make things a little more troublesome for you. We can't win if we keep fighting. Our odds are too poor. Even if we got lucky and won, we still wouldn't be able to accomplish our goal… One of a Magus's greatest strengths is that we never waste time on meaningless expenditure. That's the sort of thing only a Magician would do. Shirou Amamiya, the moment our identities were exposed to you, we had already lost… If I had to put it into words, we lost to that sense of justice that wouldn't let you stand by and watch my disciple die."
Ziz admitted defeat with a calm expression and surprising frankness.
Wuzhiqi gave a cold snort, while Latio bit down on her lip.
"And you expect me to believe you're surrendering willingly?"
Shirou narrowed his eyes slightly.
His hands never left the hilt of his sword.
Ziz said, "True. Even if we say we'll give up, you probably won't believe us. In that case, is there any possibility of cooperation instead?"
"You want me to cooperate with you?" Shirou asked suspiciously.
"That's right, cooperation. Not now, but in the distant future."
The Magus of the Wandering Sea said, "After all, we've already waited two thousand years. Waiting another century or two hardly matters. During that time, you can take your time thinking it over, and we'll obediently leave Japan. As for my disciple… I'll cut ties with her, and I won't trouble her again in the future. If that doesn't reassure you, we can sign a contract… State whatever conditions you have. I'll satisfy them as much as I can."
"..."
Shirou said nothing.
He could choose to fight them to the bitter end here, but…
The "Mystic Eyes of the End" told Shirou that every one of the three people before him was the kind of freak who would be pointless to kill.
The strongest among them was Wuzhiqi…
This woman was absurdly powerful, yet she was not even the main body. She was a Divided Spirit with a physical body.
Her true body was still sealed away, so how was she moving around freely?
Even if he killed the Wuzhiqi in front of him, another one would probably spawn before long. She was practically Touko Aozaki Plus.
After thinking for a moment, Shirou decided that the most urgent matter right now was treating the gravely injured Ye Sizhen, so they would call a temporary truce.
Shirou walked over to Ye Sizhen and crouched beside her.
"I'm sorry, Shirou… I!"
The Thought Magus pressed a hand to her chest, her face full of shame.
Shirou shook his head to tell her not to worry, then used a healing magecraft on her.
As he treated her, he looked across at the others and said, "First, tell me your goal. Why go this far to find me? What exactly do you want?"
Shirou had figured it out.
Although all three of them were targeting him, they each seemed to have different objectives.
Unless he cleared that up, there was no way Shirou could trust them.
At that point, the alchemist with blue wavy hair, Latio, was the first to speak.
"Crudelis has only one objective, a means to avert the destruction of the world."
Shirou remembered what he had heard from Makiri.
It was the sole and ultimate endpoint pursued by every alchemist of the Atlas Institute without exception.
To avert every destruction proven by the first head of the Atlas Institute, countless people had fallen to their knees in despair.
Makiri had also said it was a meaningless wish… though Shirou felt Makiri had no right to judge anyone else.
Everything the Atlas Institute did was futile.
Because a means to avert the destruction of the world could easily become a means to bring about the destruction of the world.
A method for preventing a planetary collision could also be misused, becoming a method to make a planet violently collide with Earth.
"However, that is merely the conclusion reached from humanity's narrow perspective."
Latio spoke in a cold tone.
"If a means to avert destruction would bring about destruction, then we need only use unmatched wisdom that no one else can misappropriate to create a means of preventing the world's destruction."
"???"
Shirou was filled with question marks.
Latio gritted her teeth and said, "Shirou Amamiya… the power you possess could become the key to changing humanity's fate of extinction."
The red-haired boy smiled. "You're seriously overestimating me."
Shirou thought she had just told a ridiculous joke, but for some reason, neither Wuzhiqi nor Ziz laughed.
No way… You two think that too?
Shirou couldn't help wondering if he had been targeted by a bunch of idiots.
Latio shook her head. "Magecraft… was originally a technology humans created to imitate the 'Authority' of gods. However, even a technology personally bestowed upon humanity by gods, Age of Gods Magecraft, ultimately has limits depending on the user. But Shirou Amamiya, your 'Projection Magecraft' is different… It is a memory that even Age of Gods Magecraft cannot reproduce. With nothing but your eyesight, touch, and intuition, you can completely analyze a weapon. Ignoring the decline of Mystery that time inflicts on all things, you trace its origins back from the 'present.' From the skill of the craftsman who forged it to the style of the hero who wielded the sword, you can picture it all in your mind."
"Well… yeah, that's true. So what?"
Shirou tilted his head.
As far as he was concerned, Projection Magecraft, like Reinforcement Magecraft, was one of the basics for a Magus.
Imagine the structure of an object and pass the necessary Mana through it.
He just happened to be a little special when it came to those two basic abilities.
Latio sucked in a sharp breath, her face full of frustration at his lack of understanding. "You don't understand at all how far beyond the ordinary that is. Although your 'Projection Magecraft' is extremely limited in type, it is still a power beyond human intellect… equivalent to Authority. If your ability were handed over to the Atlas Institute, to Crudelis, to be used, modified, and optimized… we could create the 'Ultimate Calculating Mechanism' that would solve extinction once and for all."
"So that's your goal…"
When Shirou asked, Latio quietly nodded.
"This is the obsession Crudelis has held onto for two thousand three hundred years."
She cast a complicated look at Shirou.
Can you assist Latio? Her violet eyes seemed to be asking him that.
But Shirou ignored her.
Because of his past experiences, he had no good impression of a Magus's obsessions.
"Next. What's your goal?"
Shirou looked at Wuzhiqi and asked, "Leaving that guy aside for now, I'm not about to believe someone like you wants to save the world."
"Ah… of course I don't."
Wuzhiqi clapped her hands happily.
"Compared to those other two, I'm much simpler… No, now that I say it out loud, it's rather embarrassing. To think I can still feel shame at this age. Perhaps there is some meaning in living so long after all."
The Xian who had existed for three thousand years gave a bewitching smile. "I want to devour you."
"Ugh…!"
"Sizhen! Calm down! Your wound is going to open again!"
Shirou hurriedly stroked Ye Sizhen's back to soothe her. She bit her lip and glared fiercely at Wuzhiqi.
"Are you after my 'Projection Magecraft' too?" Shirou asked.
"Hm? I have no interest in something so dull."
"Then why?"
"How long are you going to play dumb?"
Wuzhiqi stared straight at Shirou, lightly twirling her finger as she spoke.
"Little brat… You may not compare to me, but you've lived for quite a long time too, haven't you?"
Shirou: "..."
Was that the ability of the "Golden Eye"?
This woman had realized that although Shirou's body was only in its teens, his soul had passed through hundreds of times that span.
Wuzhiqi licked her lips with her tongue.
"I've seen plenty of old monsters in my time, but you're the first freak like this I've ever encountered. The gods that have existed on this planet are as numerous as the stars in the sky. Across all of history, Magi with unique traits and abilities have been as countless as grains of sand at the bottom of the Yellow River. I have no interest in any of that, but you are different. You did not make your own time come to a relative standstill like a god or a Xian. As a living modern human, you became a crystallization of Mystery carrying thousands of years of time… Ha, even the Peach of Immortality couldn't compare to such a delicacy!"
Shirou breathed a sigh of relief. Wuzhiqi wanted to devour his soul, not his body.
He had been wondering what he would do if her "devour" meant it in a sexual sense.
"Well? Have you decided to let me devour you?"
Wuzhiqi pinched her delicate chin and said, "Use that spirit of self-sacrifice of yours to satisfy my appetite."
"I refuse."
Shirou rejected her coldly. "My soul has already been claimed by someone else. Even after I die, I can't hand it over to you."
Wuzhiqi frowned. "...What?"
Shirou quickly finished treating Ye Sizhen's wounds, then looked toward the last person.
"Now then… let me hear your goal. What exactly were you plotting by having Sizhen get close to me? Don't tell me you want to devour me too, Magus."
Ziz paused for a beat before speaking. "My goal is similar to Crudelis's."
"So you really are after my 'Projection Magecraft.'"
Shirou looked at his own right arm and murmured.
Ziz neither confirmed nor denied it, and instead changed the subject.
"Shirou Amamiya, let me ask you this as a Magus. Why do you think humanity became what it is today?"
His words suddenly took on a far grander scale.
"Humanity?"
"Science may have other views, but from the standpoint of Magecraft, this era is far too worthless, wouldn't you say?"
"You really are arrogant, Magus from the Age of Gods."
Shirou scoffed, and Ziz continued.
"Once, both the gods who stood as the lords of all creation and the humans who served them had missions. Whether they walked the proper path or strayed down a wicked one, no one ever doubted their own mission. But those noble convictions were all but lost by the end of the Age of Gods. And now, we humans can only crawl so hideously across the ground."
Shirou frowned. "What's the point of saying that now? If you want to lament humanity's sins and stupidity, go say it to something that isn't human."
Ziz looked at the boy and said, "That is evasion, Shirou Amamiya. In the end, we humans had already been fixed in place from the moment the direction of our lives was determined, whether in lifespan, genes, or anything else. From the very beginning, we were designed to envy, to resent, to hate, and to waste. Condemning us for it was meaningless from the start."
Determinism.
A theory whose basic idea was that human behavior had been completely decided from the very beginning.
No matter how miraculous something seemed, it was like an unimaginably complex and drawn-out game of billiards. From the moment the first ball struck, the fate of everything had already been set.
What the Magus of the Wandering Sea was saying was similar to that.
Even if there were some deviations, the general focus had already been decided from the moment humanity appeared on this Earth.
Then…
"Then the ones who failed were not humans. The blame should fall on the parents."
"…Parents?"
Shirou frowned in surprise.
Before long, he understood a certain fact, and his eyes widened.
"You bastard… Don't tell me…"
"It's the planet, the parent, that is at fault, isn't it?"
Ziz laughed sarcastically, then tapped the floor with the tip of his foot with a thud.
"So what we should change is neither humanity nor the gods. Both sides are merely creations of this planet. Humans and gods are equal victims. Since every fault began with the planet, what we should create is our own planet."
Ziz, the Magus of the Wandering Sea, revealed his true goal.
To become the parent of the Primates.
The Blue Planet.
In other words.
Using Shirou Amamiya's ability to "Project" a new Earth.