Chapter 75. The Storm of Reality—How Do Nations Eliminate Heroic Spirits?
"Eh, no… this is a parallel world, not my place. It can't hit me anyway."
Kazuma suddenly came to his senses and chuckled, "Hehe."
He had been so absorbed watching through the Celestial Curtain, he almost forgot this was a parallel world—not something appearing in reality.
Kazuma optimistically took a refreshing gulp of cold Coca.
While humming a song, he went to the toilet to change his underwear.
So, everything was fine.
...
With the end of the Celestial Curtain broadcast—
The world fell silent for a moment.
And then…
The entire internet exploded!
Netizens from around the world, who had been holding their breath, suppressing the fiery emotions in their hearts, all erupted simultaneously, screaming madly and unleashing the intense excitement burning inside them.
"Holy shit, it's finally over!!"
"I was so fucking scared I didn't even dare to breathe!"
"It just kept getting more intense—seriously!"
Countless people gasped.
Facing that pitch-black Celestial Curtain, their hearts were still pounding, a stifled tightness lingering in their chests.
Dude, can't you seriously air just a little more?
After snapping back to reality, everyone felt a bit frustrated and dissatisfied.
Clearly, the Holy Grail War had reached its climax—every puppet master behind the scenes was beginning to emerge, undercurrents were surging, factions were taking shape, all gearing up for a showdown between the strongest.
And yet…
It's over?
Who knows when the next broadcast will be...
Sword Saint Kojirou,
Magus from the Age of the Gods Medea,
Snake-Hair Monster Medusa,
Mighty Demi-God Heracles,
Child of Light Cu Chulainn,
Future Heroic Spirit Yukino...
Recalling the massive mountain blasted into flat land by Heroic Spirits, the blood-colored dragon-like spear roaring through the sky, visible across the entire city, the spiral sword like a pair of scissors ripping the night sky in half for thousands of meters, the golden chains binding divinity...
Many couldn't help but feel their blood boil, furiously hammering their keyboards, crazed and exhilarated as they cheered for their favorite Heroic Spirit.
"Medea mama is so damn beautiful, she's my waifu now!"
"Heroic Spirit Yukino, guhehe... my Heroic Spirit Yukino, so cool and powerful!"
"Junko's figure is the best—curvy nun with a deadly seductive body, plus that crazy personality, pure villain vibes. Just thinking about her whipping me like a dog gets me high as fuck."
"Bro above, are you a masochist or something?"
"So what if I am?"
"I say big sis Medusa's body is the best, and that blindfold—tsk… drop-dead gorgeous!"
"I'm a fangirl of Raku-sama, hehehehehe~."
"Kojirou-sama's Tsubame Gaeshi was so goddamn cool, seriously, elegant and stylish!"
"I'm actually a fan of the Heroes King. Yeah, his personality sucks, but that overwhelming, dignified aura—undisputed ruler of the world—holy shit, it's badass as hell!"
Very quickly,
Someone couldn't help but seek attention.
"Gilgamesh, he's worthy of being called the Oldest King? He's just a petty king from Mesopotamian civilization. There were way older figures than him. He was only the fifth king of Uruk."
But was instantly slammed by the online community:
"Did you not watch properly, dumbass? They said it clearly—Gilgamesh is the oldest King of Heroes, both a king and the first hero from the dawn of human history."
"Factually speaking, the Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest known epic, and it's about Gilgamesh himself."
"On clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform, he blew the horn of defiance against the gods."
"He is the oldest King of Heroes!"
That guy instantly shut up, tail between his legs.
The topic then shifted to the historical legends behind each Heroic Spirit.
Some netizens began researching ancient Greek mythology and couldn't help but marvel:
"No wonder Heracles was so absurdly strong in this Holy Grail War. Turns out in the original myth he's the son of Zeus, met Athena at birth, even drank Hera's milk—the Queen of Heaven. Talk about unmatched luck."
"Then he completed twelve impossible labors, ascended from Demi-God to God, and rose to Olympus."
Now that's a real god!
Based on the power he shows in mythology, becoming a Servant might actually make him weaker.
After a while...
The topic shifted to a discussion about Medusa.
Everyone began to question: why was the Snake Monster Medusa from Greek mythology so weak?
After all, King Arthur being weak could still be explained—there was a problem with the summoning ritual, it couldn't supply mana properly, so not only were all her stats reduced, but even her Noble Phantasm couldn't be activated.
But Rider was a different case. Even though Matou Makoto was a piece of shit, he himself was a super genius, and the mana supply was perfectly normal.
Why did she get her ass handed to her in every fight?
This really didn't match her global level of fame at all, did it?
Very quickly, a scholar specializing in ancient Greek mythology stepped up and seriously explained online the reason why Medusa seemed so weak.
"The so-called Servant is a manifestation of the legend of the Heroic Spirit, and this one clearly leans toward Medusa's Gorgon aspect, which is why she has the Mystic Eyes of Petrification."
"In some ancient depictions in Greek mythology, the Gorgon Medusa sticks out her tongue and bares her teeth, her head full of venomous snakes, with a fierce and terrifying face—warriors often painted her image on their shields to frighten enemies."
"However, in classical-era art, more beautified depictions of Medusa's face began to appear."
"Also, the classical poet Pindar once called Medusa 'the one with the beautiful cheeks'."
"The beautiful Medusa we see now is a figure shaped by later generations, not the ancient and far more powerful aspect—if she were summoned in her Gorgon form, she would undoubtedly be an incredibly powerful Servant!"
"Who knows, even Gilgamesh and Heracles might have to treat her seriously, and there's even a chance she could kill them!"
"..."
The netizens across various countries fell silent for a moment.
Holy shit, that actually sounds super convincing!
So the Gorgon that Enoshima Junko wanted to summon was the original ancient Medusa—that was her most terrifying aspect, when she was a demonic entity, venomous snakes erupting—absolutely horrifying!
"But I don't agree with the final point that guy made. Medusa is a goddess, already extremely powerful. Even if the Gorgon form is stronger, there's no way she could beat Gilgamesh with his hundreds of thousands of Noble Phantasms."
"Yeah, I agree. Berserker has twelve lives, and one of them revives in just half a day—how do you even kill that?"
...
While the internet was in a frenzy, the high-level authorities in various nations remained fairly calm.
In Japan, at the Intelligence Analysis Bureau.
"Have the calculations been completed?"
The agent with the codename "Pangolin" stared at the researcher in a white lab coat, his gaze heavy.
All around them were high-level officials, gathered close, some uneasy, others visibly excited.
"They've been completed..."
Yamamoto Koji's voice trembled slightly as he handed out a stack of photocopied white papers to everyone, then began operating the projector, continuously cross-referencing with data charts.
The video also simulated combat scenarios with the Servant.
On the left was the Japanese side: countless armored units on the ground, squadrons of fighter jets in the sky, and rows upon rows of missile launchers—demonstrating pure military might.
The fighter jets were all the latest supersonic models—F35 Lightning II, each worth 211.6 million USD, equipped with a multitude of guided missiles, total value equivalent to 180 billion dollars. The production cost was astronomical.
Four modern air-ground battle formations, combined with beyond-visual-range strike capabilities, represented the pinnacle of human warfare—unless nuclear weapons were involved.
The Servant side, however, consisted of just a single giant, muscle-bound figure, wearing the Armor of Fafnir, wielding a Stone Axe.
Then, the screen began to move.
Japan's high-ranking officials looked on with high expectations.
This was their pride—an army not only with seamless coordination but also advanced combat awareness, among the world's elite.
In just the blink of an eye.
Tanks opened fire simultaneously, thousands of cannons roaring, hundreds of F35 Lightning II jets accelerating into attack, as if they could pierce the heavens. Countless Tomahawk missiles, massive MOAB fuel bombs, white phosphorus bombs all rained down—carpet bombing with overwhelming firepower, the missiles leveling everything on the ground!
"BOOM BOOM BOOM…!!"
The land over several kilometers was torn apart, cratered and rugged, shrouded in smoke and dust.
The breathtaking scene made hearts tremble uncontrollably.
Just as the Japanese brass were celebrating—
The giant walked out from the explosion cloud completely unscathed, looking up coldly.
Then, with a casual swing of his axe, all the fighter jets in the sky exploded like fireworks.
What the hell is this?
The smiles on the faces of the Japanese high-ranking officials froze.
In the blink of an eye, the next simulation appeared on screen.
Sasaki Kojirou moved at lightning speed—by the time the missile exploded, he was already several kilometers away, brushing past a line of tanks, calmly sheathing his sword. Behind him, the tanks stood motionless… then simultaneously exploded.
Medea didn't even need explaining—she went toe to toe with the human military in artillery combat, single-handedly suppressing the entire force with overwhelming firepower.
Following that were scenes of Cu Chulainn, Medusa, and five other Servants crushing entire legions…
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the result of my simulation..."
The researcher was scared to the extreme, feeling the suffocatingly heavy atmosphere.
A group of high-ranking leaders stayed silent. Then, the agent with the codename "Pangolin" suddenly burst into loud laughter and placed a bowl of steaming hot chicken soup on the researcher's table, saying, "Good work, Yamamoto-kun. This bowl of chicken soup is for you."
"Thank you, sir!"
The researcher received it with a face full of gratitude, nearly moved to tears.
There are still good people in the world.
When the simulation results came out...
He had already anticipated this scene of total silence from the upper leadership.
There was no other way—this was the limit of what a non-nuclear nation could possibly do.
Many people misunderstood Japan's military strength as being very weak, but it all depends on who you're comparing to. Aside from superpowers like America, Russia, and India, few can confidently surpass Japan in terms of military might.
But even then, the entire military strength of Japan was still wiped out by individual units.
The researcher sighed, looked at the steaming hot chicken soup in front of him, and downed it in one gulp.
...
At the same time, in America.
At the Heroic Spirit Countermeasures Bureau, countless lab coat-wearing staff were bustling about. The supercomputers were almost overheating and melting from the intensity, glowing red, churning out countless models, simulating thousands, tens of thousands, even millions of possible outcomes.
As the world's strongest nation, they proudly assumed a scenario where they faced eight Servants as the enemy.
And yet...
It didn't take long before these researchers were horrified to discover that, even regardless of cost or sacrifice, they could only manage to destroy at most four to five Servants. As for nuclear weapons, they had to hit within a few hundred meters of the blast center to actually damage a Servant.
And that would require cooperation from multiple major nations, building psychological models of the characters, etc…
Predict their behavior, and then cleanse the battlefield with nukes.
Only then would it be possible to kill them.
Assassin, Rider, Saber, Berserker, and Archer could still somewhat be dealt with.
But facing Lancer or Gilgamesh, hope was nearly nonexistent.
Cu Chulainn, with Protection from Arrows, was a complete counter to modern civilization.
And the biggest threat to modern civilization—first, was the King of Heroes Gilgamesh. In his Treasury existed countless original Noble Phantasms, and there might very well be ones capable of destroying the entire world.
For example, 『Enki』—a sword that could unleash a Great Flood.
Second, was Medea. Against Servants, she didn't hold overwhelming advantage, but against modern civilization, a single curse from her could paralyze entire modern systems.
Her strength didn't lie in direct combat, but in her strategy, intelligence, and various complex magecraft capable of directly breaking down modern civilization.
She wouldn't even need to face things head-on to collapse human society.
In terms of destructive force, modern civilization might be stronger, but in terms of mobility, it was completely outmatched.
Under normal circumstances, a nuclear bomb couldn't even hit a Servant. Even the Tsar Bomba, with its absolute destruction radius, only covered a few hundred square meters and required several seconds to reach maximum output.
Those few seconds were enough for a Servant to run thousands of meters away.
...
In Japan, at the Yukinoshita residence in Chiba City.
"Is this an inevitable defeat?"
Yukino looked at the comments online, whispering to herself, staring blankly at the bright moon hanging in the sky outside the window.
She had nearly become immersed in the Celestial Curtain, because she herself was one of the main characters in Fate/stay night, which made her immersion even deeper. She felt as though the version of herself in that parallel world was truly her—fighting side by side with Raku-kun, struggling for her life alongside the Servants.
Forming a bond with King Arthur, and even having to witness the betrayal of her own ideals in the future.
She murmured, shook off the thought, lay down on the soft, warm bed, and drifted off to sleep under the gentle moonlight.
Into the dreamscape.
In her dream, Yukino blankly looked up, gazing at the sky dome where countless gears spun. In a land of yellow-brown sand stood countless broken swords with no end in sight, resembling a desolate graveyard of blades, carrying a faint sense of ruin and finality.
She walked through this lifeless world.
Felt a loneliness as if she had lived her entire life in a desert.
A noble ideal had decayed into mere obligation.
She sensed the regret of Servant Yukino.
Understood the ideology of Servant Yukino.
She didn't know how much time had passed.
Suddenly, the Sword Graveyard twisted and warped, and a brilliant five-colored light appeared.
Yukino stood frozen, staring at the familiar house before her.
She hesitated, unsure if she should step inside…
"Yukino, your Reinforcement Magecraft has improved a lot, and your sword stance looks super cool. You even managed to catch the timing to slice through my arrow!"
"It's just okay… Kaguya, you're managing the Shinomiya household really well, and your archery is still as amazing as ever… super impressive!"
"Hmph, no matter how well I manage it, onii-chan still won't give me a word of praise…"
"Maybe he's afraid you'll get conceited…?"
"Tch~."
Listening to the conversation before her, Yukino quietly remained silent.
She realized she was peeking into Servant Yukino's past.
In Servant Yukino's timeline, it seemed she and Kaguya had met earlier and were close friends, regularly training together.
What happened afterward?
Scenes of daily life flashed by. She discovered that the trio of Servant Yukino, Kaguya, and Raku Sou shared a deep, almost unbelievable bond. Both Servant Yukino and Kaguya had silently fallen in love with Raku Sou.
It formed the most stable kind of love triangle.
Though emotional rivalry wasn't absent, the relationship between Kaguya and Servant Yukino only grew closer.
If only things could have stayed that way forever…
Yukino thought absentmindedly, feeling the atmosphere was so beautiful that it felt almost wrong to disturb it.
The scenery continued to shift, transitioning to the grand Fifth Holy Grail War.
Familiar scenes flashed—Purge King leading Heracles in an attack, Medusa suppressing Artoria, Medea sneering as she took Artoria away, and herself trembling helplessly on the ground…
Seemingly unchanged, and yet very different.
Compared to her own role in Fate, Servant Yukino's experience was even more painful.
She couldn't do anything and was saved time and again by the young master in white robes at the cost of his life.
Even more useless than her version in the Celestial Curtain.
The Holy Grail War suddenly ended.
No one knew what happened. Once again, she became a solitary figure.
She quietly left Fuyuki City.
Set off alone on the path of salvation.
To fulfill the ideal of becoming an ally of justice, she appeared in countless lands of suffering.
Under the overpass, a homeless man was covered with a warm quilt. A disabled beggar had a bowl of hot rice. Children in mountain villages received gentle teachings. In the broken-down homes of lonely elders, a new heater appeared…
Servant Yukino continued to walk, as if on a journey with no end.
Doing her best to help others in any way she could.
Until…
...
Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant.
"RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE…!!"
An unexpected earthquake shook the entire island, with countless colossal structures collapsing one after another.
Inside lay massive quantities of nuclear waste and radioactive materials—if they sank into the ocean, the losses would be immeasurable. Hundreds of thousands of people would die in agony. The surrounding marine life would mutate.
Servant Yukino, now with white hair, silently watched it all unfold.
A bit of regret, and a bit of relief.
She didn't have enough power to save anyone—dying with Fukushima wouldn't be so bad.
Suddenly—
A cold voice echoed beside her ear.
"Yukinoshita Yukino, if you form a contract with me, you can save all of this."
"..."
Servant Yukino was stunned. After a brief moment of thought, her gaze turned resolute and unwavering.
She nodded slightly.
In an instant, endless light poured into her body.
She formed a pact with the Counter Force, becoming a Heroic Spirit.
Gaining the power to save everyone.
...
And so, the dream ended.
In her sleep, Yukino unconsciously drifted into even deeper slumber.