Chapter 226: Jumping from "Fate/Apocrypha" to "FGO"
Time to rewind a little.
Before Mordred and the others sensed another Servant approaching. Just as Shirou Emiya and the others had crossed over into this parallel world...
"Shirou, where is this?"
Thanks to the convenience of magecraft.
Therefore, even though Shirou Emiya and his party did not have passports for this parallel world, they were still able to travel between countries using modern transportation like airplanes.
However, when Saber really got off the plane with Shirou Emiya.
She was clearly dumbfounded by the surrounding environment and said, "This is not Romania, is it?"
That the Holy Grail War of this parallel world did not take place in Fuyuki City, Japan, but in Romania.
Shirou Emiya had already told her when they boarded the plane.
But the place they arrived at was not Romania, either.
Don't ask why Saber, a Servant summoned from ancient times to the modern era, could recognize that this was not Romania.
Because Saber had actually been to this place before.
Not in her lifetime, not in the era she came from.
But ten years ago, during the Fourth Holy Grail War in their original world, she had responded to the summoning as the Servant Saber and had been brought down to this very place.
Brought down to Germany!
Saber could never misidentify the scenery of this place.
And this direction...
"It seems the location provided by my ability was not wrong."
Shaking the photograph in his hand, Shirou Emiya compared it with the map derived from the mental imaging before adding, "Since even you, Saber, recognize this place, it proves that I indeed did not find the wrong location."
"This direction is indeed the way to the Einzbern family's workshop."
Yes, before Shirou Emiya could bring Saber to Romania to stage the "father-kind and child-filial" reunion plot with Mordred (who had two mothers), he had brought Saber to Germany—a country separated from Romania by at least two other nations.
It wasn't that Shirou Emiya didn't know the way.
Nor was it that Romania lacked airports for civil airliners to land at.
And it was certainly not that Shirou Emiya had forgotten the plot, thinking that the Holy Grail War in this parallel world also had something to do with the Einzbern family, and planning to snatch the important item known as the Lesser Grail first.
It was to stop someone.
A crisis that only a Shirou Emiya who possessed memories of his previous life—and whose memories of the Type-Moon world extended beyond just the plot of Fate/Apocrypha—could understand.
"Although I still don't understand why I came to this parallel world with Saber?
And why did Saber, who clearly wished to return to the past, end up being brought to this modern era that doesn't fit the late 5th-century Britain at all by the power of the Greater Grail?
But one thing is certain: I am becoming quite unwelcome to the Counter Force.
After all, I destroyed the world inside the [Pandora's Box], which is on the same level as Earth, right in front of the Counter Force's eyes while still on Earth."
If, according to the memories of his previous life, that "meme-worthy" scene—the picture of him practicing high jump at school—was what attracted the attention of both Tohsaka Rin and Matou Sakura. And it was even possible that it attracted the attention of Kirei Kotomine, Gilgamesh, Matou Zouken, and Luviagelita Edelfelt (who just happened to come to Fuyuki City)... whose status as "real people" was uncertain.
If being noticed by humanity is equivalent to being noticed by [Alaya], the symbol of humanity's collective unconscious, thereby predetermining his status as a "worker" for [Alaya] in the future...
Then what Shirou Emiya did in the world of Miyu Edelfelt.
Was completely opposite to that interest and appreciation.
It was something that would make the Counter Force vigilant and fearful.
Just as humans wouldn't live in the same cage as a tiger that could very well kill them.
Even if Shirou Emiya had no thoughts of destroying the world.
Once the Counter Force felt Shirou Emiya had such ability, they would only perform the same operation as the Emperor Blade from the neighboring Kamen Rider series: beating the Pink Devil to death while shouting, "Get out of this world."
One can imagine how bad his reputation must be with the Counter Force.
"Yet, a 'me' like this was able to successfully arrive in this parallel world?
Is it because the Counter Force of this parallel world doesn't know of my existence yet?
Or is it because, compared to the threat I bring, this parallel world itself is brewing a crisis capable of destroying the world?"
Logically speaking, this should be impossible.
Even the true final boss in Fate/Apocrypha, Shirou Kotomine (Amakusa Shirou Tokisada).
If his wish were actually fulfilled, at most, he would only drain the leylines of the Earth, not truly destroy humanity.
As for what Jeanne d'Arc said—that after all of humanity is sublimated into immortal beings via the Third Magic, they would lose joy forever at the same time they lose pain—that is even more nonsensical.
The Third Magic: Materialization of the Soul. This magic, pursued by the Einzbern family for generations, is a mystery that transcends all magecraft and exists in a different dimension from it.
It is a great feat that cannot be realized by science or magecraft, no matter how much time or budget is consumed.
If the Third Magic's way of achieving immortality caused humans to gradually lose the emotions inherent to them as humans, then it wouldn't be magic.
It would be the Insect Magecraft and Replacement Magecraft created by Zouken Matou and Darius for the sake of longevity.
Therefore, the only thing that would stop Amakusa Shirou Tokisada from completing this salvation of humanity would be [Gaia], the Counter Force.
Not someone like Shirou Emiya, who would be jointly expelled by [Gaia] and [Alaya].
"Unless this isn't something happening within the scope of Fate/Apocrypha.
But rather a crisis born under a historical development different from the traditional Holy Grail War..."
With these thoughts flashing through his mind, Shirou Emiya muttered a name: "...Marisbury Animusphere."
If there is anyone in the Type-Moon world who would be involved in the Holy Grail War, and who would be more qualified to pose a threat to the Counter Force than him—the breaker of worlds who is rejected by the Counter Force—it would be this mage, who is traditional to a fault and whose every action seems to refresh the baseline of human morality.
Why do the Protectors and Correctors of Human Order fight? Why do you need to discard your limits to help you? Why must Chaldeas wait for the opening ceremony to replace the Earth as the true Human History? He is the greatest Lostbelt!
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