Chapter 129: Reality Marble (✘) Death 13 (✔)
A mental world. A mental landscape.
To put it plainly, it is a dream within a person's heart. It is the final fruit crystallized from their experiences, their thoughts, their Origin, and their wishes after bathing in blood on the battlefield of life. Therefore, even for the same person, the Reality Marble constructed by their mental landscape will differ.
The most classic example is none other than Emiya Shirou. Whether it is the future Emiya Shirou (Archer), the Emiya Shirou from Fate/stay night, or the one from Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya—aside from the fact that countless Noble Phantasms they have projected stand tall within their boundaries—not a single one of their internal landscapes is alike.
A dim sky, a bright sky, a pitch-black snowy field... each corresponds to their respective experiences and dreams.
...This was information Emiya Shirou, possessing memories of his past life, had known for a long time. But what he hadn't expected was that this "dream" was quite literally a dream.
"So, that's why Rin would dream of this wasteland filled with infinite swords through her magical connection with her Servant, and why Waver Velvet would dream of that desert where Rider once led his vast army through that same link.
It turns out it wasn't just because the Reality Marble is related to their experiences, but because it is the most profound dream in the depths of their hearts. That is why the dream itself constitutes their Reality Marble."
Shirou marveled. Something so simple—why hadn't he thought of it before?
But thinking of it now... isn't too late!
Swish, swish, swish—!!!
This was the tearing sound of blades slicing through the air. It was also the roar produced by countless blades piercing the atmosphere in unison. Yet this overwhelming power—which should have made anyone seeing or hearing it instinctively shudder—could not mask a single sound. It was the sound of a finger snapping, quietly echoing from Emiya Shirou's right hand as he stood aimed at by those Noble Phantasm blades.
Snap—!!
And then.
Before the eyes of Archer, who was personally controlling them to strike, the infinite blades and countless Noble Phantasms all transformed into brilliant flower petals, drifting in the wind before Emiya Shirou.
The scene was dreamlike. It was also terrifying. At the very least, Archer, who felt his projected Noble Phantasms completely slip from his control at that moment—only to turn into
harmless petals—felt a sense of incomprehension. It was like seeing someone who, while everyone else licks the wooden stick of a popsicle, actually refuses to do so.
"...Wh-what."
Even his voice couldn't help but carry a trace of fear that he himself barely noticed. "What... what did you do!?"
"Didn't I say it? This is just a dream," Emiya Shirou said, walking toward Archer. "The so-called Reality Marble is the dream in our hearts.
It's just that your Reality Marble is currently covered by this dim [Sky], and by those [Gears]—the ones that make you believe what you do is just a 'job' and that you are just a tearless, bloodless machine."
As he spoke, Shirou reached his right hand toward the sky and swept it downward. The dim sky and the gears that had appeared within this Reality Marble along with the previous Noble Phantasms—these things "called out" by Shirou—disappeared together, following in the footsteps of the countless blades.
Clear skies, green grass, and fresh flowers appeared within Archer's Reality Marble for the very first time.
"How is this possible... is it an erosion of one Reality Marble by another? ...No, that's not right!?"
Incomprehensible. Archer, who had never anticipated such a thing, found his footsteps instinctively retreating several paces as Shirou strode forward.
True, Reality Marbles can be eroded. Especially since Emiya Shirou, pulled into his Reality Marble, also possessed one. But this was fundamentally not an erosion between two Reality Marbles!
Because he used a Reality Marble himself, and because as a Guardian of the Counter Force he often performed various "jobs" at its command, Archer had encountered enemies with Reality Marbles before. The erosion or confrontation between them is usually a struggle for control over the world. Generally, the result is either one side overwhelming the other, or the two Reality Marbles splitting the world between them—half showing one landscape, half the other.
But now? It wasn't that his Reality Marble was being eroded by Shirou's. In terms of sensation, Archer could feel that this transformed world was still his Reality Marble. It was just that he had lost all control over it.
How could such a thing happen...!?
"This looks much better."
Stopping ten meters away from Archer, Shirou nodded, deeply satisfied with the change he had wrought.
"I'm sure you think so too, don't you?
Compared to that lifeless dream of yours, isn't this dream much more pleasant to look at? Or would you prefer to see the night sky we once gazed at with Kiritsugu?"
Without answering Archer's confusion directly, Shirou just spoke to himself. As his words fell, the scenery within [Unlimited Blade Works] changed once again, replaced by the night sky and the environment of the Emiya estate.
"...!?" Archer stared at the change in renewed shock.
Shirou spoke with a face full of nostalgia. "How nostalgic. This is where we inherited the dream of becoming a Hero of Justice from Kiritsugu.
Though, if there's one thing that's different...
It's probably that when we, like Kiritsugu, intended to give up on that dream of being a Hero of Justice, there wasn't a younger 'self' to take over the dream we abandoned."
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