"Everyone... will die?"
Hearing Rudeus, who claimed to have come from the future using time magic, say this, Shirou's first reaction was, of course, disbelief.
After all, putting aside everything else, time magic was too unreal. Just imagining it made it hard to believe. If such a convenient ability existed, the whole world would be in endless chaos due to various time paradoxes.
The old man who called himself Rudeus seemed to know Shirou's doubts, and he quietly said, "Time magic is something I spent my whole life chasing after. Using this magic isn't without a price, or rather, the price is very heavy. It requires an unimaginable amount of magic power. Even with my magic power, I couldn't easily complete this magic and was forced to pay a huge price for it."
"A huge price... what do you mean?"
"I don't have much time left."
The old man said bitterly, touching his stomach, and narrowed his eyes with emotion, revealing a self-deprecating smile.
Shirou also noticed that the old man's life force had weakened to a state near its end. In this state, he was almost the same as a dead man. Common healing methods couldn't cure him. Only revival magic could bring him back to life.
But revival itself was as vague as time magic.
The old man was destined to die here.
Because of this situation, Shirou somewhat believed that the old man had really traveled back from the future using time magic, but he still couldn't believe what the old man had just said.
"You said I would be killed by Hitogami, and everyone in the Greyrat family would die? Is that really true? Why would Hitogami do that?"
Worried that the old man didn't have much time, Shirou asked the questions he cared about most.
Old Rudeus was silent for a few seconds and then said, "That's right, by this time, Hitogami has completed all his plans. He just needs to add a little more fire, and he will fully launch his plot, causing you, Shirou, to die a terrible death. Then, no one in the Greyrat family will survive. As for Hitogami's purpose, even fifty years after that tragedy, I still don't fully understand it, but in the end, it should be that Hitogami has always been wary of you, Shirou."
"Hitogami is wary of me?"
"Yes, the thing Hitogami fears most is his own destruction. Generally, no one can touch Hitogami's true body. Even if they do, it's hard to defeat him head-on, but you, Shirou, may have that ability, to truly destroy Hitogami, so he will do anything to set up a deadly trap for you."
Old Rudeus seemed to feel that time was limited and said a lot in one breath.
Faced with so much information, Shirou couldn't fully accept it all at once. He didn't know whether to believe this sudden appearance.
Was this person really Rudeus?
Even if he was really Rudeus from the future, should he believe him?
It was all so sudden that Shirou couldn't make a decision right away.
But through the old man's eyes, he still saw some familiar things. At least he was gradually able to confirm that the old man in front of him was probably Rudeus from the future.
The only problem was what he had said, about Hitogami wanting to kill him.
Was all of this really true?
"I know you can't believe me right away, so I will tell you everything I know. In the next few days, you can check everything to prove my judgment."
"What exactly happened in the future?"
Shirou became more and more curious about the experiences of the old Rudeus in front of him, and his eyes were fixed on him.
Old Rudeus quickly said, "It all started when I dreamed of Hitogami."
"You said... Hitogami?"
"Yes, and even before this point, no, since the Great Transfer, I've been dreaming of Hitogami from time to time."
"What?"
Old Rudeus revealed information that made Shirou's eyes widen in disbelief.
If what he said was true, then Rudeus had also been in contact with Hitogami in his dreams?
Was he perhaps Hitogami's apostle?
"Hitogami can only have three apostles at a time, that's something I confirmed in the future."
Old Rudeus said with a complicated expression, "So after the Great Transfer, he contacted me. The other apostles at the time were you, Shirou, and another person I don't know. But during the Begaritt Continent period, Hitogami cut off contact with both you and me, replacing us with the Water God Reida and Darius."
"I don't know what happened after you, Shirou, contacted Hitogami, but after Hitogami contacted me, he really gave me a lot of help, so much so that I gradually became less wary, mistakenly thinking he was a pure god, not a liar."
Old Rudeus said this with bright eyes.
In the depths of his pupils, there was something dark hidden.
To put it bluntly, it was anger. Deep down, he had an uncontrollable anger toward Hitogami, an anger that wanted to tear him to pieces.
The last time Shirou saw someone with such a look was on the Dragon God Orsted.
Yes, Shirou saw the same look on Old Rudeus as he did on Orsted.
This made him even more certain that everything the old man said might be true...
"In short, Hitogami can definitely bring benefits to people because he has a special ability called Future Sight, which allows him to see the future. But this ability can only work on three people at a time, so he can only have three apostles at a time."
"Hitogami uses the power of Future Sight to guide his apostles. At first, he will give correct guidance, allowing people to taste the sweetness. But all of this is just bait he throws out to eventually reap the rewards. Once the apostles really start to believe him and blindly trust his advice, they will completely fall into the trap."
"I was so foolish to easily believe Hitogami, so I did something that I will regret for the rest of my life. Even using time magic to travel back can't make up for the mistake I made!"
Old Rudeus's words were like a brand, deeply engraved on him. The blazing flames burning in his pupils showed that.
Shirou didn't hesitate to ask, "What did you do?"
"Three days from now, the Asura Kingdom will be caught in the most terrifying magic tide in history. About one-third of the kingdom's population will die, and the kingdom will be completely destroyed."
"What?"
"The cause of everything is the Greyrat family's younger sister, Aisha Greyrat. Due to Hitogami's plot, the reborn soul of the Demon God Laplace is attached to her. Because it was Hitogami's secret plan, no one knew about it, not even Aisha herself knew the true identity of the soul on her."
Old Rudeus spoke with a terrifying expression, "Under Laplace's guidance, Aisha will open the ancient seal located under the royal capital, fully activating the transfer magic circle that Laplace once used to transfer the demon army from the Demon Continent to the Central Continent. Of course, Aisha's current body can't do that, so Hitogami suggested that I help Aisha open the magic circle."
"Hitogami won't say his true purpose directly. He just uses the excuse that doing so will benefit the Greyrat family and asks me to cooperate. Because I completely believed Hitogami's words at the time, I did it without suspicion."
"The consequence was the occurrence of that huge magic tide. The Asura Kingdom will be destroyed, Princess Ariel will be unable to withstand the stress, get caught up in political turmoil, and die tragically. The Boreas family will take on the responsibility of defending the country, fight on the battlefield, and no one will survive..."
Hearing the old man, Shirou's expression became serious.
Although he didn't fully believe him yet, he could imagine how hopeless that future would be just by hearing what he said.
But he was also curious and couldn't help asking, "What about me? What did I do?"
"..."
Hearing Shirou's words, Old Rudeus was silent for a moment, and then slowly said: "You didn't know anything at first, but were just protecting everyone in the Greyrat family during the magic tide, taking us to the Magic Three Kingdoms. Later, you returned to the Asura Kingdom, trying to stop the magic tide, but you couldn't save everyone."
"At this time, Aisha was being influenced by the Demon God Laplace more and more deeply. She was almost about to become Laplace himself. That's when you, Shirou, realized that she was possessed by the Demon God and learned that all the tragedies were mistakes made by me and Aisha. But you didn't blame me or Aisha. Instead, you said that you would do everything you could to protect us and find a way to separate the Demon God from Aisha."
"At this time, information about Aisha being the Demon God Laplace was leaked. I don't know who did it. The most likely person is still Hitogami. In short, everyone in the world knew that Aisha was the Demon God Laplace. The Greyrat family became the target of public criticism. Various countries sent a large number of strong and skilled people to assassinate her, treating Aisha's death as a major goal."
"Even so, you, Shirou, didn't give up on Aisha. You fought against the strong of various countries, fought them one by one, and defeated them all. At this time, the Dragon King Perugius arrived. Because of the Dragon King's hatred for Laplace, he forced you to hand over Aisha and kill her, but you, Shirou, chose to protect Aisha and fought against the Dragon King... I don't know what happened in that battle, only that the entire Sky City was destroyed in the battle, and every part of the castle was shattered into ruins."
"After the battle, you, Shirou, successfully defeated the Dragon King, but you were also seriously injured. Before you could recover, another powerful enemy arrived, the Dragon God Orsted. He also came to kill the Demon God Laplace and to destroy you, Shirou, who was suspected of becoming an apostle of Hitogami."
"..."
Hearing Old Rudeus's description, Shirou could almost imagine the scene of that future.
If everything really developed to that point, he might really do something like fighting against the whole world to protect his family.
In that situation, Hitogami would no longer be important. He would kill all the opponents in front of him in order to protect his important family.
And all of this was undoubtedly completely falling for Hitogami's trap.
Old Rudeus also clenched his fists tightly because of extreme anger.
"You really tried hard, Shirou. You sought help from the Water God, the Sword God, and the North God, raised your strength to the extreme, and prepared everything for that battle, dragging the situation to the most favorable state for you. Finally, using your special forging ability, you forged a weapon that could contend with the Dragon God's god sword. You almost achieved the feat of defeating the Dragon God."
"Almost achieved, which means I didn't make it..."
"That's right, the person who killed you in the end was Aisha. She was completely controlled by the Demon God Laplace, stimulated by that Demon God's will, and launched a final sneak attack on you. I... couldn't do anything, I just watched the battle happen and end."
The old man lowered his head with a sad expression.
"Since you died, Aisha has disappeared without a trace. The Dragon God left chasing after Aisha, and has never appeared again. Paul was extremely sad because of your death and Aisha's disappearance. He drank every day and became completely depraved. But in the end, he regained his senses and chose to fight to save Zenith. He went to challenge a certain labyrinth, wanting to find clues to cure Zenith, but died in the process of conquering the labyrinth."
"After Paul died, the Greyrat family's situation became even more difficult. Because of Aisha, we were seen as the instigators of the Asura disaster. No country was willing to accept us. I took Lilia, Zenith, and Norn everywhere to hide. Roxy also helped from the side, but one day we were found by the Temple Knights. They were finally killed by the Temple Knights. Only I survived."
"When everything I had disappeared, leaving only me, I was finally able to calmly think about everything that had happened and suddenly realized that everything was Hitogami's fault. Everything was his plot, his selfish desire. That guy was the root of all evil, the culprit of everything."
"Everything he did had a purpose. Not a single word that guy says can be believed! And that bastard even admitted everything to me personally when we last met. He said to me, 'It's thanks to you being an idiot that things went the way I wanted... Damn it!'"
The old man said, his anger completely uncontrollable, his expression full of madness.
That was undoubtedly the extreme unwillingness that could only be accumulated after experiencing extreme torment and endless pain.
Shirou was even more confident in what the other person was saying, believing his descriptions of the near-hopeless reality the Rudeus from the future was describing.