Chapter 100: Forging Complete – Golden Sword of the Victorious!
The duel between Shirou and Kali, between man and god, had reached its most intense phase. Under the restrictions of their levels, both sides were already utterly exhausted.
Kali's left hand and right leg had been pierced by Shirou's arrows, rendering them unusable.
Even so, she maintained a fighting posture with just one leg and one arm, displaying astonishing combat ability that made it impossible for Shirou to defeat her.
At the same time, Shirou's body was nearing its limit.
If the battle dragged on, and both sides were pushed to the brink of exhaustion, it would be impossible to tell who would win.
At this stage, the battle had become one of pure willpower. Only the one who refused to give up until the very last moment would emerge victorious in this divine combat!
However, just as everyone thought this battle would end with both sides pushing their skills and strength to the utmost, in pursuit of victory, something unexpected happened— Shirou suddenly stepped away from the incapacitated Kali and walked toward the edge of the arena.
On the way, he picked up scattered weapon fragments from the ground—remnants of divine weapons—and gathered them together, throwing them into the divine flames burning around the arena.
"What… what is Emiya doing?"
From the stands, the gods Freya, Ishtar, and the other spectators showed confused expressions.
They had never expected Shirou, at such a critical point in the duel, to suddenly give up fighting Kali and start doing something that seemed utterly meaningless.
Among the crowd, only Bell and Yamato Mikoto realized Shirou's intent—but even they were in disbelief.
"Shirou-Nii… is he trying to forge something?" Bell said incredulously. "In an environment like this, he still wants to forge a new weapon?!"
"Is that even possible?" Yamato Mikoto also looked doubtful. "Even if Lord Emiya's forging skills are beyond imagination, to complete a forging under these circumstances… it's just too difficult!"
Even the two who were most familiar with Shirou's forging ability were skeptical of what he was attempting.
The rest of the spectators, naturally, couldn't imagine Shirou would even think of forging a weapon in the middle of a battle with a god.
Who would even consider forging a weapon mid-duel with a divine being?! Even imagining such a thing defied the limits of imagination.
.
.
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In the Arena:
Shirou ignored the confused and chaotic stares from the audience. After preparing the necessary materials, a hammer, and the blazing divine flames, he blocked out the world and focused entirely on the forging before him.
BOOM!
The divine fire, originally just a decorative feature of the arena, flared up with intense heat. When Shirou threw the weapon fragments into the flames, the divine fire, as if offended by being used by a mortal, let out a sharp roar.
But Shirou paid no attention to its reaction.
He threw all the fragments into the fire and began melting them—different materials merging under divine flame—fusing into a single whole.
Because the fragments were originally made from divine power, they began to merge toward a unified form under the divine flame's tempering.
Shirou then used his advanced forging skills to begin shaping the purified metal into a distinct sword embryo!
"You're actually using my stage for a life-and-death duel as your forge? Emiya Shirou… you've truly enraged me!"
Not far away, Kali's eyes burned with fury as she watched.
Naturally so—the gladiatorial arena was a manifestation of her divine authority as the god of battle.
It was a place born of her will.
To Kali, the arena had one sole purpose: to allow her to fight unrestrained duels with those she deemed worthy.
Only endless slaughter and battle, blood-soaked rage, could please this deity who had created such a space.
And yet, Shirou had ignored Kali, his opponent, and instead started using the arena itself to forge a weapon— An act that violated the very essence of the arena and defied the will of the god who created it.
Such blasphemy would naturally incur divine wrath and punishment!
"Do you think losing an arm and a leg means I'm helpless and can't do anything to you?!"
Kali stared coldly at the focused Shirou. Balancing on one leg, she picked up a dagger with one hand, twisting her body into a bow-like shape, and—
Threw the blade!
"Pshhk!"
The dagger arced cleanly through the air and flew straight at Shirou.
Although Shirou was fully focused on forging, as if he had grown a third eye, he used his sixth sense—his "mind's eye"—to dodge the dagger at the last possible moment.
CLANG!
The divine fire roared angrily, unwilling to be used as a mere tool by a mortal.
But no matter how it raged, the gradually forming sword embryo proved the truth: A dazzlingly radiant weapon was being born!
"You… really have angered me."
Seeing Shirou completely immersed in forging, seemingly forgetting she even existed, Kali's expression turned colder than ever.
The god of battle had clearly been insulted on a level she'd never experienced.
She made up her mind: no matter the cost, she would make this man called Emiya Shirou understand what it meant to defy a god's will!
Suddenly, Kali twisted into an unnatural posture and laid on her back. She opened her mouth wide and began to inhale air frantically.
For a normal person, inhaling that much air at once would rupture their organs.
But as a god of battle, Kali's body was far more durable than any mortal's. She withstood the massive intake of air, cycled it through her body—and then:
"BOOM!" "BOOM!" "BOOM!"
She expelled visible air bullets from her mouth.
These air bullets burst forth at incredible speed and density, hurtling straight toward Shirou at unavoidable velocity.
The crowd was stunned into numbness—Kali had done so many unbelievable things, they no longer even bothered questioning what was possible for a god.
!!!
Because of the sheer scale and density of the air bullets, there was no way Shirou could dodge them while focused on forging.
To avoid them, he would have to stop forging and return to combat.
Which, of course, was exactly Kali's goal.
She could not tolerate someone ignoring battle in her arena and indulging in unrelated acts.
At this moment, both Kali and the crowd believed: Shirou would definitely be forced to stop forging and find another way to defeat her.
But— No one could have predicted what happened next.
Shirou didn't dodge. He didn't even flinch. He completely ignored the incoming air bullets, allowing them to strike him.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
One after another, the bullets pounded into his body.
Though his outer appearance seemed unscathed, Shirou's trembling form and pale face proved Kali's attack was effective.
Even as waves of pain surged through his entire body, even as sweat streamed down his cheeks, Shirou never moved away from the divine flames.
Because divine flames burned far hotter than ordinary fire, the metal—which would normally take hours to refine—had already nearly completed its purification in mere minutes.
Shirou seized the opportunity.
With no tongs or tools, he reached into the divine flame and— With his bare hands— pulled out the fully heated metal block.
The scorching flames had nearly rendered Shirou's right hand completely useless, but by forcefully activating his magic circuits, he endured the searing pain that pierced into his brain through sheer willpower.
He placed the piece of metal—now red and glowing like a piece of molten candy—onto the clearing near the divine fire and began the next stage of forging: hammering and shaping!
Shirou gripped the hammer with both hands, focusing all his attention on the hammer and the metal block, holding his breath.
All sound disappeared.
The passage of time seemed to dissolve into nothing.
In his eyes, there was only one thing to do—strike the metal!
Clang—!
Clang—!
The chunk of glowing red metal, under the blows of the hammer, radiated blazing light, dyeing the entire coliseum in a crimson hue!
"He's really… forging a weapon now?"
As the forging fully began, everyone in the stands was utterly shaken.
Everyone had come to the full realization that Shirou truly intended to forge a brand-new weapon right here, on a battlefield of gods!
"You bastard… you really plan to humiliate me until the very end!"
Seeing this unbelievable sight, Kali couldn't help but moan in disbelief.
She could no longer tolerate Shirou's humiliation and began to inhale deeply, spitting out bursts of compressed air from her mouth, launching air bullets at Shirou's body.
Thus, a fierce tug-of-war began.
Kali continually spewed air bullets at Shirou, attacking his body and draining his already limited stamina.
Shirou, on the other hand, used all his remaining strength to withstand Kali's assault, while throwing his entire being into the act of forging.
Fiery sparks flew in all directions, the sound of metal clashing rang out ceaselessly.
Each time the hammer struck the metal, it was as if the hearts of everyone present skipped a beat.
What should have been a sacred battleground for a man-god duel had now transformed into a stage for one man's forging ritual.
The foolish clang of hammer and metal resounded endlessly, as though it were the echo of Shirou's will, symbolizing the reality that he would never be bound by the will of gods!
Clang—!
Clang—!
Clang—!
He struck, again and again.
With each hammer blow, it seemed as if even the divine flames around the coliseum were being stirred by this human's will, dancing in rhythm with his strikes.
Some of the divine fire even began to flow into the weapon that Shirou was forging!
A weapon shaped by divine power.
A blade tempered by divine fire.
In that moment, everyone realized just how extraordinary this weapon would be once completed!
This was destined to be no ordinary magical sword—it would be a supreme creation that would shock all of Orario's blacksmiths!
However, the divine-forged sword had yet to be born.
Because Kali, as a god, would never allow such a weapon to come into existence.
Kali, seemingly abandoning the slow-paced air bullets, resorted to her ultimate move, ready to decide the battle with one final strike!
"With my blood—I forge this blade!"
Kali picked up a spear from the ground and, without hesitation, stabbed it into her already unusable right arm, letting her blood wrap around the weapon!
To the blacksmiths of this world, the blood of a god was an extremely special material.
It was said that Hephaestus, the god of forging, had once used her own blood to craft divine weapons beyond mortal imagination.
After all, divine blood held unique power.
To temper a weapon with it was to grant it god-like qualities and special effects.
And since this method didn't technically involve using divine power directly—much like activating an authority—it didn't violate the rule prohibiting gods from using their powers.
Although Kali was not a blacksmith, by pouring a large amount of divine blood into a weapon, she could still grant it special properties no ordinary weapon possessed!
BOOM!!!
Dazzling divine blood wrapped around the spear in Kali's hand.
The tip of the spear became sinister and otherworldly, like a demonic weapon.
At this moment, Kali's divine power granted the spear an ability: guaranteed hit.
Like the Noble Phantasm of the Heroic Spirit Cú Chulainn from Shirou's weapon archive—the Gae Bolg—though it didn't reverse causality, Kali's weapon had indeed acquired the concept of an inescapable strike!
"This one strike—will end everything!"
Kali slowly raised her spear.
Despite her massive blood loss and barely being able to stand, she no longer cared. She was determined to finish this battle with her final blow!
"Pierce him!"
As Kali hurled the spear with sudden force, every gaze fixed on the blood-drenched divine spear tip!
In that instant, it felt as if even their heartbeats were audible—shaken by the overwhelming momentum of that strike.
On the other side, Shirou seemed completely unaware of Kali's actions.
He was utterly lost in the continuous act of forging.
Because forging required total concentration, Shirou's consciousness had unknowingly been swallowed by the whirlpool of creation.
He forgot the time, forgot the place, forgot even why he was here.
He forgot what kind of weapon he was even trying to forge.
Amid this chaotic stillness, Shirou's awareness of the outside world completely vanished. All that remained in his vision was the weapon he was shaping.
In his muddled mind, one thought alone emerged—to forge the sword that would end everything!
And for that, it had to be the strongest sword Shirou could possibly imagine!
Acting on pure instinct, the weapon in Shirou's hands gradually began to take shape.
It was a longsword seemingly cast in gold, shaped like a Western two-handed sword—a symbol of royal authority, and the pinnacle of sacred swords!
In Emiya Shirou's memory, when it came to the strongest sword, he instinctively thought of the weapon wielded by the Heroic Spirit Saber, summoned during the Fifth Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City—Excalibur, the Sword of Promised Victory!
However, that sword's nature was far too unique. Even with the most vivid imagination, Shirou could not replicate its true form.
Thus, he chose the next best thing: another weapon said to be wielded by the legendary King Arthur.
This one was known as the Sword in the Stone.
Its True Name: Caliburn - Golden Sword of the Victorious.
As the sword that selected the king, its specs were on par with Excalibur.
The only flaw was that it was somewhat more fragile, as it was a ceremonial sword of selection rather than one of destruction.
But to Shirou, the weapon's nature no longer mattered. All he needed was a sword capable of ending it all—to finish this fight!
BOOM!!!
Suddenly, at the climax of Shirou's transcendent forging, the sword embryo before him burst into blinding brilliance, swallowing everything in its glow!
…
BOOM!
Back in reality, the blinding crimson blood-spear was already upon him.
"Dodge it!!"
Seeing such a lethal strike, cries erupted from the audience!
HSSSSHHH!!
Empowered by divine blood, the blood-soaked magical spear exuded a terrifying pressure strong enough to shake the earth itself.
Even the air shrieked in despair!
And at that very moment, the sound of Shirou hammering the metal suddenly ceased.
With the silence of the forging came the vanishing of all perception from everyone present!
BOOM!
Then came the blinding light.
Everyone's sight was consumed by infinite, radiant brilliance.
"Th-that is…"
Under this extreme light, most couldn't even keep their eyes open—only a few, including some gods, could discern the true nature of the light.
It was a golden longsword, as if the sword itself was a torrent of light—or perhaps light itself surged forth from its blade.
Even though no one had yet gripped the newly forged sword, the searing energy it radiated could no longer be contained, threatening to tear everything nearby apart!
CRACK!
And in the moment Shirou's hand gripped the hilt—
All those who could see the true essence of that light vanished.
In everyone else's eyes, all that remained was a flood of radiance capable of devouring the world—a brilliant light engulfing everything, slicing the coliseum in half, utterly annihilating it!
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