Chapter 317: Heracles: I Haven't Been Nerfed Yet!
Hiroyama might like sneaking in his own "personal touches" when writing storylines, but when it comes to handling fetish bait, he's nothing short of a professional.
So professional, in fact, that when Shinji adapted Magical Illya's script, more than half the changes he made were just tweaking the fanservice-heavy scenes so they could actually pass censorship in a live-action version.
And yet, even with all those edits, there were still plenty of moments that flirted shamelessly with the review board's red line.
Take, for instance, the bathhouse scene. Even without the splashing and skinship, just watching Irisviel hugging Illya close and rubbing her lovingly was already enough to make thin-skinned viewers blush furiously.
Unfortunately for those expecting the "mother-daughter route" to advance further, Irisviel stopped right there, withdrawing her teasing hand from her daughter.
If Hiroyama was a professional at milking fetishes, then Shinji was a professional at gaming the censorship system.
He always slammed the brakes at the very last second—just before the screen truly crossed the line—ensuring Magical Illya wouldn't end up blacklisted from Saturday morning kids' TV.
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"Damn it, so close. Just a little further!"
Fujita cursed under his breath, utterly unsatisfied with Shinji's impeccable braking skills.
Of course, saying things like that instantly made him public enemy number one among the girls in the room. But Fujita? He'd long since evolved into the kind of shameless guy who wasn't afraid of boiling water.
What were scornful glares and disgusted remarks to him? A light drizzle at most.
After all, it's not like these girls were going to end up together with him. So why should he feel guilty?
Too bad his best partner-in-crime, good old Shibamatsu, had been sent out to buy toys. Left all alone, Fujita realized, much to his dismay, that he didn't even have a buddy to talk about girls with.
"Hurry up and get back already, you bastard…"
"Ah—choo!"
Braving the autumn wind while stuck in line, Shibamatsu sneezed yet again.
Back on the TV screen, after finishing her little game with her daughter, Irisviel's expression suddenly turned serious. She began questioning Illya about her new friend, Miyu.
Meanwhile, Miyu, Rin, and Luvia finally encountered their final enemy in the last Mirror World—
Berserker: Heracles!
In the Fate franchise, if there's one guy who serves as the universal standard of raw power, it's Heracles.
Everyone knows: the baseline combat level for an ordinary Servant is "Lancer-tier."
But for the sake of drama—and to give the protagonist squad a sense of danger—most enemies in the story are actually above that standard.
In Fate/Stay Night and Zero, it was Gilgamesh.
In Extra, it was the Cosmic Superweapon Velber.
By the time we reach Strange Fake and Fate/Grand Order, it's nothing but gods and monsters throwing down left and right.
In this era of battle power inflation—where god-tiers are everywhere and "Lancer-tier" is basically cannon fodder—Heracles has stepped up to replace Lancer as the new measuring stick.
Not that Heracles has been reduced to small fry. Far from it. He's become the line of demarcation.
His role is kind of like Cheng Yaojin from Heroes in Sui and Tang Dynasties, the guy famous for only having "three axe strikes."
In that story, anyone who could trade blows with Cheng Yaojin was qualified to be called a character. Those who couldn't? Just nameless fodder.
Heracles fills the same niche.
If you can fight him head-on, you're at least a monster—or even a full-blown boss.
But if you can't even beat Heracles, then at best, you're just an elite mob.
Just like Cheng Yaojin, Heracles also had his so-called "Three Axe Strikes"—ridiculously high base stats, savage close-combat mastery, and of course, those infamous twelve lives.
Of course, what we're talking about here is Berserker-class Heracles. Not to be confused with the cheat-tier Archer Heracles from Strange Fake. Totally different beasts.
Honestly, Shinji never really got it. If the Einzberns were dead-set on summoning Heracles, why did they go with the Berserker class instead of Archer?
Berserker-Heracles might have monstrous raw stats and those twelve health bars, but compared to Archer-Heracles, the difference was night and day.
The clearest example? Facing Gilgamesh.
A Berserker-class Heracles and an Archer-class Heracles are basically two entirely different boss fights.
After all, Narita created Archer-Heracles specifically to be someone who could go toe-to-toe with Gilgamesh.
From this, it's painfully obvious that the Einzbern family has never really understood combat.
Every time they roll the gacha for a Servant, they pull from the wrong damn banner.
And worst of all?
Not only are they weak, they're addicted, arrogant, and have tempers that could crack steel.
Noses perpetually pointed at the sky, looking down on everyone else like, "I'm always right. You're all trash. Do as I say."
Is it any wonder the Einzberns never get the Grail?
But back to the point.
By the time Fate/Grand Order rolled around, Heracles had been downgraded to the "combat passing grade."
Yet here, in Magical Illya's early stages, he was still pretty much an invincible monster.
Unlike the previous boss, Saber, who spammed Noble Phantasms like a maniac, Heracles' true nightmare lay in his insane base stats and absurd HP pool.
That meant no matter if you tried one-hit kill tactics or slow attrition battles, Heracles could handle it without breaking a sweat.
And to make things worse, this Mirror World battlefield was a high-rise building.
The cramped space meant Miyu had zero room to dodge Heracles' Ferrari-speed charges, backed by bulldozer-level strength.
Which in turn bumped the boss difficulty straight up another tier.
Sure, Miyu was already a qualified magical girl—but against a monster like this, she didn't even know where to begin.
How to describe her current predicament?
It was like she had just finished the Fate/Grand Order tutorial… only to have the very first real mission throw her into NeroFest's 12-consecutive Heracles battles!
At that moment, Miyu's inner thoughts, if translated into vulgar slang, were basically:
"I'm supposed to carry you guys? Seriously? Me?! Carry?! You?! Bastards?!"
In sharp contrast to Miyu's despair, the drama's narration cut back to Illya's voiceover.
When Irisviel asked her what kind of person Miyu was, Illya launched into glowing praise:
"Miyu's always number one in both studies and sports. No one can beat her."
"She always tries to handle everything on her own. Even when I was unreliable, when I tried to run away, she never blamed me."
"If it's Miyu, then she'll definitely be fine, even all by herself."
And as if to prove Illya's giant death-flag true, the Miyu in the Mirror World drove her spear straight through Heracles' heart.
Everything looked perfect.
Reliable Miyu had defeated Heracles and successfully secured the card—
—Yeah, right.
Every Fate veteran knows that defeating Heracles isn't that easy.
Trading blows to kill him once? That's no big deal.
The real difficulty is killing him twelve different ways.
Sure, thanks to a certain red-headed protagonist, the rules were later tweaked so that if a single attack exceeded Heracles' HP cap, you could shave off multiple lives at once.
But that was pure plot armor, nothing to do with our E Luck Cu Chulainn.
And Miyu, inheriting that same cursed luck while wielding the Cu Chulainn's Noble Phantasm?
Yeah, not happening.
BAM!
The very instant after Miyu pierced Heracles' heart, his massive stone axe came crashing down, swatting her away like a rag doll.
Slammed into the wall, Miyu coughed up blood—her injuries clearly internal this time.
Meanwhile, at the Emiya Household…
As though connected by some strange telepathy, Irisviel suddenly posed to Illya the core question of the manga's first season:
"Illya-chan, you're actually very worried about that girl, aren't you?"
"…Well, I guess so…"
"Then why not lend her a hand? Why don't you?"
Her gaze sharpened as she stared into her daughter's eyes, an inexplicable gleam flickering in them.
"Or is it… you're afraid of your own power?"
"Eh—?"
The moment her mother asked that utterly baffling question, Illya's face drained of color.
She was supposed to be just an ordinary elementary school girl. So why on earth would her mom know something like that?
Right then and there, Illya was struck by a wave of pure shock.
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"Wait, are we about to uncover Illya's secret origins!?"
At the Young Magus Club, Aoko and the others all sat bolt upright, terrified of missing even a single hint.
Anyone familiar with Fate/Stay Night knew Illya's power had to be tied to the Holy Grail.
But how exactly this version would spin that setting—that was what piqued everyone's curiosity, including Aoko and even Alice.
After all, one of Shinji's trademarks as a writer was extrapolating from actual magical theory. Nobody knew what kind of new trick he'd pull out this time.
If it just so happened to align with their own magecraft research, they'd hit the jackpot.
But just like with his perfectly timed "brake-slamming" skills, Shinji also knew exactly how to string an audience along.
Right after Irisviel raised the question, he didn't give an answer—instead, the camera cut right back to Miyu's battlefield.
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"■■■■——!"
Heracles roared, a sound so thunderous it shook the entire building.
The gaping wound in his chest was closing at a rate visible to the naked eye.
Faced with such an overwhelming, nigh-invincible foe, Rin instantly made the call. She smashed through a wall to open an escape route, letting Luvia carry Miyu to safety.
"This kind of cramped terrain… fighting a Berserker here is the worst possible scenario."
Aoko muttered with a trace of sympathy.
"Shinji must've deliberately designed the final stage to be this brutal, huh?"
"Not entirely, actually~"
Fujita wagged a finger, his tone dripping with conspiracy-theorist flair.
"You see, Shinji's a very petty man. He intentionally set this battle here for one reason."
"Oh? And why's that?" Aoko asked, intrigued.
Hook, line, sinker. Fujita puffed out his chest and unveiled his grand theory.
"Because Shinji himself once died here. So, out of spite, he decided to have the beautiful girls suffer in this same spot—just to vent his own frustration!"
"And that mindset is beyond inhuman!"
Fujita nodded gravely, summarizing with full conviction:
"That's why Shinji Matou… is a complete pervert."
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