Chapter 040 [Inverted V] 40

"Ah... you mean the strongest?"

"Although most of the guys who can be called the strongest can be considered the protagonists... However, those guys will undoubtedly have a growth process."

"Well, as you know, Abe was not famous as a talented Onmyoji in her youth. Becoming the most powerful Onmyoji that everyone trusted was something that happened in her later years - although she didn't live to see that day. However, that's not what you should know now."

"King Gilgamesh has been at the top since birth, but can you say - is he the strongest as a hero king, or as a wise king?"

"No answer? I think so."

"But there is no doubt that the strongest in the universal sense is when all their strengths are exposed at the same time - thus achieving a situation where they suppress everyone. And King Gilgamesh never put all his chips on the table - as the Hero King, he sealed his clairvoyance, and as the Wise King, he gave up some of the things he had as the Hero King in the past."

"Of course, he also gained other things - but in short, King Gilgamesh has never been in a complete state, so he is naturally excluded from the category of the strongest in the universal sense."

"The king was once foolish and unjust. Because of this, he is the one who stands at the top of magicians and the protagonist of a certain story in the past, 'history'."

"But Mr. Merlin is different. He has always been in the audience. Even though you cannot deny that he is at the top among many magicians, he has never been the protagonist. I think you should be very clear about this fact, right? He can be a court magician, a guide, or a companion, but he can never be the real protagonist."

"Haha, you ask why I mentioned Teacher Merlin?"

"I just want to tell you that the strongest person may not be the real protagonist, but the protagonist will definitely be the strongest in the story he is in."

"Well, even if he is very weak at the beginning, in the end, he will definitely become the strongest that everyone looks up to."

Fujimaru Ritsuka stood up, let out a long breath, stopped his overly divergent memories, and began to use the process of elimination to determine who the real protagonist was in the information he had memorized.

On the time screen not far away, the time was slowly approaching 20:31 - at the intersection below, just as it had developed in Fujimaru Ritsuka's memory, a bloody figure gradually emerged in the center of the intersection, and through the blood mist that enveloped the entire Shibuya, one could vaguely see that the man had four arms growing on his body.

——The origin of Shibuya’s anomaly was a trap set by a certain existence to target Gojo Satoru, the strongest sorcerer.

——Then, since it’s a trap, the enemy will definitely not be able to kill him…

"Gojo Satoru is not dead - so this guy is not the protagonist we are looking for." Fujimaru Ritsuka closed his eyes fiercely, turned his back to the three servants, "It is likely that he was sealed before the singularity began - this singularity was formed after Gojo Satoru was sealed."

"That is to say, this peculiarity was created by the Alaya consciousness of this world in order to save itself."

"Master, are you sure?" Abe Haruaki looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka seriously, "How could Alaya create a special point that threatens its own existence!?"

"Ah... cough, sorry, I didn't explain it clearly." Fujimaru Ritsuka turned around, cleared his throat, and explained his speculation to the three servants, "The original anomaly was not created by Alaya voluntarily - that is, there was indeed a Holy Grail that appeared here accidentally, and was taken away by someone, creating this anomaly."

"What I mean is that the cycle was added by Alaya who induced the person holding the Holy Grail to add this peculiarity - but He definitely did not expect that the situation after the cycle would become even more terrible."

"I think Alaya's original intention was probably just to hope that the protagonists could rescue the strongest Gojo Satoru in the cycle." Fujimaru Ritsuka spread his hands helplessly, "Maybe it's the time when a story has just begun - in short, the protagonist of this story has not yet reached the point where he can defeat that existence, so Alaya will think that Gojo Satoru's existence is necessary."

"This world's Alaya needs Gojo Satoru to protect its protagonist."

"But I didn't expect that during the cycle, the protagonists were killed by the enemy... Is that right?" Okita Souji continued to think based on Fujimaru Ritsuka's inference with an unpleasant face, "And the cycle of the anomaly did not stop, because Alaya's own existence was no longer stable, so He no longer had the energy to eliminate the temptation left behind before."

"That's probably the direction we're heading." Abe nods. "Finally, Chaldea has detected this anomaly. We'll enter this anomaly and begin human restoration."

The lively Halloween parade when entering the Shibuya anomaly and the sea of ​​blood and corpses after 20:31 appeared alternately in Fujimaru Ritsuka's mind, reminding him that there are still clues that he has not yet organized and speculated - and, Gojo Satoru has been sealed, why did that existence create an anomaly after obtaining the Holy Grail?

"It will take at most another twenty minutes..." Fujimaru Ritsuka poured the rune stones onto the rooftop and quickly began to arrange the scattered rune stones into the shape she needed. "First of all, there are three forces in this anomaly, excluding us, the guide we met in the first cycle, and the tourists."

"It's not necessarily a power, but there are three general positions." Fujimaru Ritsuka drew a statistical chart of a pie divided into three equal parts with chalk, "The sorcerer side, and the other two sides are the sorcerer's enemies - one of them is led by the person holding the Holy Grail underground, and I'm not sure how many people there are... But it doesn't matter. Anyway, if nothing unexpected happens, the locals of this anomaly should be the Guide and Gojo Satoru alive."

"Yes, that's right. The cursed spirits are probably all dead."

The other party is naturally the bloody figure that appeared at the Shibuya intersection - if nothing unexpected happens, the vast majority of the deaths in the Shibuya anomaly were killed by him.

——Yes, this also includes some cursed spirits.

The mission of the sorcerer is to exorcise the cursed spirits - which is similar to the guardian of Alaya. As long as they protect the people, it doesn't matter how many people die in the process. But the protagonist naturally has a different perspective from the others... no, a different starting point from the others. Since he is the protagonist, then...

In Fujimaru Ritsuka's memory, Lancer Mello once said to her in the observatory with a smile:

"As for the protagonist, most of them will become good kids who help ordinary people."

——Yes, that’s right. The protagonist’s actions are different from others. He will make protecting ordinary people his top priority.

——Instead of giving priority to exorcising the cursed spirits.

"Saving people is much harder than killing them..." Emiya glanced at Okita Souji who was sitting on the ground, then thought of his other black self and sighed in a low voice.

——So the protagonist died on the way to save people.

"I got the answer." Fujimaru Ritsuka tried to calm himself down by taking a deep breath, while supplementing his servants with the last few pieces of the puzzle that he had deduced about this special feature. "The two parties that are hostile to the sorcerer are not partners. The guy at the crossroads is most likely a lunatic who kills for fun... pervert? Never mind, he should be considered Chaos Evil anyway."

The existence underground had been trying to make the anomaly appear normal at first, because -

"This is a trap for the 'strongest.'" Fujimaru Ritsuka announced the answer firmly, "And the strongest is only the strongest when he is alone - the existence underground relies on ordinary people to restrict Gojo Satoru in order to achieve the conditions that are sufficient to successfully seal Gojo Satoru. So that guy must keep this special point with a large number of ordinary people alive!!!"

—And cycles occur for the same reason.

——Alaya deceived that being, making that being think that Gojo Satoru was not successfully sealed; and when that being used the Holy Grail to turn back time to 20:00, the loop of this anomaly was closed; and based on the existence of the loop and the basic rule that the dead cannot be resurrected...

——It can be concluded that the protagonist of this world died on the way to save people.

——In countless cycles, he ran on the way to save people, and finally died on the way to save people.

"This cycle is about to end." Fujimaru Ritsuka raised his hand and pointed to the screen showing the time not far away, "So I don't plan to take you underground - that's the task of the next cycle; in this cycle, our task is to deal with the guy at the crossroads."

"This time, we must make this family die. I'm afraid that the proof of our existence will soon become invalid. We must solve most of the problems before that, and at least reconnect with Chaldea. In other words, we must stabilize the existence of Alaya in this world in the next cycle at the latest."

"Ms. Okita, Mr. Emiya, the mission to kill that guy is now left to you - you have to kill him with one blow, can you do it?" Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at Okita Souji and Emiya with a firm gaze, "Leave the strengthening and protection to me and Lord Haruaki - oh, right, the memories of this cycle!"

"I will be responsible for using the new suggestion magic to make the Master remember these contents." Abe Haruaki squinted his eyes and smiled, using his folding fan to block in front of him. "I think you should have a complete solution to this special point - then we just need to act according to your orders."

The glowing blue Kikyo Seal penetrated into the bodies of Okita Souji and Emiya, providing them with the protection of Onmyoji.

"One step beyond the sound, two steps without gaps, three steps to the ultimate sword..."

"I am the bone of my sword. So as I pray."

"Three Steps of Ignorance!!"

『Unlimited Blade Works.』

As the flames of the explosion brought by the Noble Phantasm dissipated, the only figure standing in the center of the intersection was the sakura-haired Saber who sheathed her sword - the blood mist that enveloped the entire Shibuya and the blood that almost reached her ankles disappeared as the bloody figure fell.

“…Huh?”

When Okita Souji was about to go back to the rooftop to look for Fujimaru Ritsuka, he found a blood-stained student ID card next to the corpse - only the photo area was not covered by blood, and there was a photo of a boy with a black sea urchin head printed there.

Souji Okita picked up the student ID card and held it in his palm to read the contents covered in blood.

"Tokyo Metropolitan… Jujutsu High School?"