Chapter 1298: Eiji's Resurrection
"That boy did an excellent job. He already forced Goetia to reveal all his abilities. Now he should rest well, and leave Goetia to us."
After saying this, Tiamat turned to leave.
"Wait a moment, who do you mean by 'us'?"
Merlin quickly stepped forward and pressed for an answer.
"Like you, many among the gods don't want to see the Beast become the UO. I'm one of them, so we will do our utmost to stop the Beast."
After answering this question, Tiamat left.
In other words, Tiamat actually came representing those gods, for the purpose of exchanging opinions with them.
In the current Type-Moon World, due to experiencing Sefar's great massacre 14,000 years ago, the number of Natural Gods had long dropped to an astonishingly low level. Though 14,000 years had passed and there were many rising stars like Taigong Wang who cultivated themselves into Natural Gods, for the entire Earth, the number of Natural Gods was still far too small!
What Earth had more of were Conceptual Gods!
The existence of Conceptual Gods was bound to concepts. Their life forms would change along with conceptual shifts, and once concepts disappeared, they would die as well.
Such gods could no longer be called deities, but had fallen to become Divine Spirits, similar to fairies and elves.
For example, Nuada, the divine ancestor of Celtic mythology, fell to become a Divine Spirit and was dealt with by Fionn mac Cumhaill in the myths.
It was precisely because the Type-Moon World distinguished between Gods (Natural Gods) and Divine Spirits (Conceptual Gods) that Fionn, the peak of humanity in Celtic mythology, became someone who could only be mentioned in the same breath as Cú Chulainn in the Type-Moon World.
But I digress.
In any case, humanity absolutely must not go extinct!
Because concepts are born from the development of human history. Once humanity goes extinct, concepts will also cease to exist!
"This explains why the gods don't want to see the Beast become the UO."
Merlin sighed with emotion.
Once the Beast becomes the UO, humanity goes extinct from Earth, and concepts completely disappear, who knows how many Divine Spirits would die.
In this UO competition, the Beast really has the feeling of being universally condemned.
Learning that it wasn't just himself who didn't want the Beast to become the UO, Merlin felt somewhat relieved.
"Let's go back."
Scáthach wrote teleportation runes and stepped through while holding Eiji's soul.
Merlin also nodded helplessly and followed.
With Eiji, the core of their Beast-hunting operation, in such a state, the two of them could only temporarily withdraw. With the gods taking the front lines anyway, their current pressure wasn't too great.
For now, figuring out how to restore Eiji was the most urgent matter!
...
His consciousness was perfectly clear.
Though he had lost his body, Eiji's soul was powerful enough that he could maintain clear self-awareness and personality through his soul alone.
If there was one drawback, it was that his perception of reality had become somewhat unclear, as if separated by a thin membrane. The voices of people outside became indistinct and hard to make out.
"Is this what it's like when people die?"
Eiji wondered to himself.
No one could give him an answer.
A soul, once separated from its body as a vessel and exposed to the air, constantly consumes soul energy. Once it's depleted, even the strongest soul is nothing but dead.
Eiji certainly didn't want to die.
So, he channeled all his strength, trying to create a new body.
"Ah... so lazy, don't want to move... why is the inertia so strong today?"
Eiji didn't quite understand.
But he felt his soul was unusually sluggish, like those childhood days when he lay in bed, unable to move.
"Hilarious! Who can't overcome such a little inertia!"
Making a motion akin to gritting his teeth in reality, Eiji ruthlessly whipped his spirit.
Like an adrenaline rush, he completely ignored the inertia, moans, and cries from his soul, pushing himself harder than anyone, with iron determination.
"Huh? Nutrients!"
Suddenly, Eiji jolted.
It felt as if something had been poured over his head from outside, invigorating his spirit.
The inertia quickly vanished, replaced by an intense craving!
More!
Even more!
Hey! Give it all to me!
Immersed in the pleasure brought by the nutrients, Eiji excitedly embraced it.
However, the nutrients changed several times in between, each with slightly different compositions.
"...!"
Eiji suddenly sensed something and instantly opened his eyes.
Light scattered before his eyes, and soon, his vision fully recovered.
What greeted him was the familiar sight of his own home.
"Brother, you're finally alive again!"
Okita Souji sat on the sofa opposite, tearfully looking over.
"Souji? Everyone, this is..."
Eiji's gaze swept across the room.
The cramped house had, of course, been stretched long ago.
Morgan, Castoria, Melusine, and Baobhan Sith lay together in one area; in another were Aozaki Touko, Aozaki Aoko, along with Gudako and Mash, among others; and on a third side were two Lancer Artorias and three Artorias.
Everyone was sprawled on the floor, all looking exhausted and listless.
"Eiji, it's so good that you're okay..."
Then, a weak voice suddenly came from his arms.
Eiji looked down.
"Arcueid, you..."
The usually lively golden-haired girl now lay weakly in his embrace, her vitality greatly diminished.
"I see, you all gave me quite a bit of blood, didn't you?"
Eiji sighed with a complicated expression.
His body had fully recovered, no different from before his death.
The condition was that everyone, including Arcueid, had paid a significant amount of blood.
"First, it was Sister Morgan, then Castoria and Melusine, but who knew you'd get more and more excited, brother? The three of them couldn't hold on, so Sister Artoria and the others stepped in, followed by the ones from Chaldea... and finally, Sister Arcueid, she alone lasted until now."
Souji looked at Eiji with a resentful expression.
There was a faint bite mark on her neck too, indicating she had also been drained of quite a bit of blood.
Eiji's revival had consumed a massive amount of blood.
And more than half of it was provided by Arcueid alone.
The others simply couldn't supply that much blood; she had shouldered over half the burden by herself!
Morgan lay there silently, her gaze toward Arcueid no longer able to maintain its sharpness.
"Where's Raikou?"
"She donated so much blood for you that she fainted and was taken to her room to rest."
Everyone was simply resting from exhaustion—the blood they'd given was within safe limits.
Only Raikou had lost so much blood that she collapsed.
"...At this moment, even a normal thank you feels too petty for words."
Eiji sighed, feeling both helpless and deeply moved.
Just imagining it was enough to reconstruct the scene.
After learning of Eiji's death, Morgan had been the first to rush forward and offer her blood. When she could no longer continue, Caster took over, followed by the others in turn. It was only after receiving such massive blood transfusions that he finally revived.
Especially Arcueid and Minamoto no Raikou—both had given him blood without any regard for the consequences.
With this thought, he held Arcueid in his arms even tighter.