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Akio had already decided he was going to save this world and deal with Umbrella.But hey—if there was something to be milked out of the deal, he sure as hell wasn't going to leave it on the table.
"Fine, I'll cooperate," he said with a smile. "But what exactly is Alya planning to offer me in return?"
Emiya's eyes went wide. "???"
Seriously? Did this guy even hear himself? I came to invite him to save humanity, and he was asking for benefits like it was some kind of business transaction?
Akio kept that easy grin. "Come on, you've already noticed, right? I'm not human. Even if humanity gets wiped out, it doesn't actually threaten me."
"If Alya wants me to save the world and humanity, I can do it. But I'm not about to work for free."
Emiya frowned, glancing briefly at Saeko Busujima before replying. "Maybe you're not human… but if mankind is destroyed, that doesn't help you either, does it?"
Akio nodded calmly. "That's true. But if it came to that, I could just save a handful of survivors and use them to start a brand-new civilization."
His eyes narrowed. "Would Alya be satisfied with that result?"
Hell no. If Alya could accept that outcome, he wouldn't have been sent here in the first place.
Emiya's thoughts spun in silence for a long moment before he finally nodded. "I get it. I'll relay your demands to Alya."
After all, it was Alya footing the bill here. Emiya was just the errand boy—none of this was really his problem.
Akio saw that Emiya understood the situation and gave an approving nod.
"Good. When you get back, pass along exactly what I said. If Alya wants me to get involved, then I want a few Heroic Spirits in return. I'll choose them myself. Clear?"
Emiya nodded again, firmly.He would absolutely tell Alya every last word of this.
Because he honestly couldn't wait to see the look on Alya's face when it heard the news.
Always squeezing me dry, huh? Always pushing me around?Well, now someone finally showed up who could squeeze you.
Oh, the satisfaction—no, the righteous fury—he felt!
With that, Emiya departed.
Saeko watched his back vanish into the distance before asking softly, "My lord… who exactly was that man just now?"
"A Heroic Spirit."
"Heroic… Spirit?"
"That's right. Heroic Spirits are legendary heroes whose deeds were so great they became immortalized as myths, faith, and symbols after death. Figures like King Arthur, Richard the Lionheart, Newton, Einstein, Washington, Miyamoto Musashi, Guan Yu, Zhao Yun… all of them are Heroic Spirits."
Akio's tone turned faintly reverent. "After death, they enter the Throne of Heroes, where they become Alya's trophies."
Saeko's eyes widened. "So that man earlier… he was one of history's heroes? Then who was he, really?"
"His name is Shirou Emiya."
Saeko blinked, stunned. She had never heard of any famous hero in history with that name.
Seeing her confusion, Akio reached out and smoothed the faint wrinkle on her brow. His voice softened. "Don't overthink it. He's not from ancient history. The Throne of Heroes exists outside of time—it's unaffected by past or future."
"That means Heroic Spirits aren't only drawn from the past. Some are heroes from the future."
"Right now, Shirou Emiya is still alive."
"The man you just saw was the Emiya Shirou of the future—after his death, he became a Heroic Spirit. Then Alya dragged him out of the Throne and sent him back here to do a job."
Saeko: …
Good grief. This world is deeper than I thought.
An independent realm outside of the timeline, heroes from the future sent back to the present…
And yet, even with that, Umbrella still wasn't stopped in the first timeline?
Damn. That company must be insanely powerful.
Umbrella really was humanity's greatest enemy. She could only hope Alya reached an agreement with Lord Akio soon and wiped that cursed corporation off the map.
Taking a deep breath, Saeko raised her head. "Then, my lord… what should we do next?"
Akio chuckled. "Go home. Sleep."
Saeko: …
"Staying up late ruins a woman's skin, Saeko. It's your true enemy."
Saeko: …
Well, you're not wrong… I just don't know how to argue with that.
And so, the two of them went home and went to sleep.
No misunderstandings—it was each to their own home.Akio had only just met Saeko today; he wasn't nearly desperate enough to make a move on her.
He wasn't some lust-crazed beast.
But what Akio didn't expect was that later that night, after he fell asleep, Alya itself sent him a request for communication.
He was a little surprised… though not entirely.He hadn't expected Alya to be so impatient, but whatever. He agreed.
In an instant, a powerful consciousness surged into his dream.
"Sit."
With a gesture, Akio shaped the dream into a vast palace. He seated himself upon the throne at its heart, overlooking the formidable presence that had just entered.
The Counter Force of humanity—Alya.
When Alya stepped into Akio's dream, it took on the form of a cute little girl.
That wasn't its true form, of course. Alya didn't have a true form—it was simply a force, not a being. The little-girl image was just Akio's subconscious filling in the blank.
He'd read enough fanfics to see Alya depicted as a loli countless times. And so, here in his dream, that's exactly how it manifested.
But if you looked carefully, the illusion warped: sometimes an old man, sometimes a child, sometimes a saint, sometimes a prisoner.Yet no matter how much it shifted, it was always that same little girl.
Strange and unsettling.
Alya looked up at him with emotionless, mechanical eyes—eyes that belonged more to a machine than any living being.
"Nice to meet you, Alya," Akio said, lips curling into a sly smile.
"I've heard your demands from Emiya," Alya replied flatly. "As long as you help me eliminate Umbrella, I'll grant you several Heroic Spirits."
"How many?"
"Three."
"Too few." Akio didn't even hesitate. "I want ten."
"Too many," Alya countered. "At most… four."
And so, a dimensional demon god and the Counter Force of humanity sat there in Akio's dream, haggling like street vendors at a market over the price of Heroic Spirits.
After a long bout of arguing, pushing, and compromise, they finally struck a deal.
Akio would crush Umbrella, wipe out the viruses, and save humanity.
In return, Alya would hand over five Heroic Spirits.
And once given, those Spirits would no longer answer to Alya's command.
"..."
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