Chapter 216: Shall I Avoid Its Sharp Edge?
And once Darius began to suffer, the rate of corruption for other life forms within the inner world of [Pandora's Box] would only accelerate further.
Under the displacement magecraft that Darius had set up early on—both for his original plan and so that he could replace the Counter Force of the [Pandora's Box] inner world afterward—he had long since established connections with these life forms.
As a result, when Darius fell into his current state of being mentally confused and battered by thoughts of failure, this state of his, combined with the targeted information bombardment of [Unlimited Void], acted as a double pincer attack on the other life forms within the inner world of [Pandora's Box].
It caused these life forms inside [Pandora's Box], which already possessed little intelligence, to turn—every last one of them—into repeaters filled only with thoughts of failure!
"Counter Force includes both the [Gaia] Counter Force, which symbolizes the consciousness of the planet itself, and the [Alaya] Counter Force, which symbolizes the primates living on the planet and is composed of their collective unconsciousness."
"Of course, an ordinary planet will only give birth to the former and not the latter. Even if the planet gives birth to life, it will only produce the planet's strongest individual—a UO (Ultimate One)—who is taken in by the Counter Force as an agent."
"The fact that Earth has [Alaya], that it has humans—a race that is not composed of the strongest individuals but instead became the strongest on the planet through a plurality of lives—is entirely a coincidental accident."
This is not as simple as just a wrong path.
It is like a country that only has centralized power, allowing the whole nation to speak with one voice in order to concentrate resources and accomplish major tasks.
Once a country develops two political systems, and the interests between these two systems are inconsistent, viewing each other as mortal enemies for their own respective benefits—even if this country is a world hegemon, it will continue to decline amidst this internal friction.
The [Gaia] and [Alaya] within the Earth of the Type-Moon world are undoubtedly the latter situation.
Except for a few matters where they can reach a consensus, at other times, they are a pair of two-faced foxes, two sharks warily guarding against and opposing each other.
Undoubtedly, Darius must have understood the nuances of this quite well.
His goal was not to snatch the position of the world's consciousness Counter Force from the inner world of [Pandora's Box].
Instead, while this world consciousness was still in a dim and weak stage, he imitated the process of [Alaya]'s birth to cultivate and create a bunch of entirely new races similar to headless giants, becoming the king who ruled over this headless giant ethnic group, and becoming a new Counter Force representing the collective consciousness of primates.
After all, through constant displacement, Darius's purpose had long since changed from his original intent of liberating Pandora's "Death" from [Pandora's Box].
It turned into the belief that, compared to Earth, the new world—the inner world of [Pandora's Box]—was undoubtedly more robust and more suitable for human survival.
He would become the God of the Bible mythology, recreating "humans" who could survive in this new world, and beginning a mythology that belonged to him.
"Although the reason the Earth in this parallel world turned out the way it is now is entirely because Darius forgot his original purpose during this displacement."
"But it is precisely because of this altered purpose, and the various things he did to achieve this new goal, that you, the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit, were created with such a weakness."
"And only then did I have this opportunity to complete my true plan!"
Seeing this scene through the perspective of [Pseudo-Atum], and feeling that the palm of [Pseudo-Atum] was already able to touch the soul of the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit, Emiya Shirou laughed heartily: "[Alaya] is also a Counter Force. Even if the goals are different and the things protected are different, for a world, [Gaia] and [Alaya] are one and the same."
"And as long as the thought of defeat or surrender is generated, it does not matter if this thought was generated by deception, by cheating, or if it is only temporary."
"As long as it is generated by you, that is enough!"
"Screeeeeeeeeeeeech—!!!"
Thanks to the fact that the new life forms in the inner world of [Pandora's Box] were a race resembling headless giants, after becoming a Cursed Spirit, it also used this as a template to change from its square-box shape into the appearance of a giant covered in black mud, while the head remained in the shape of [Pandora's Box].
It seemed to have noticed that something was wrong now.
It was looking intently at Emiya Shirou with that [Pandora's Box] head.
Then, ignoring the erosion of the Reality Marble and the damage caused by Saber and the others' Noble Phantasms, it roared wildly and rushed toward Emiya Shirou's direction!
"Shirou!?"
Saber and the others, who did not have the perspective of a Stand User, were not yet clear about what Emiya Shirou had actually done.
But they were very clear about the power of the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit.
That heaviness, equivalent to being the enemy of an entire world.
What kind of power would it have once it shifted from defense to attack?
Even if she had not yet adapted to the status of being a Servant and thought this was still her life before death, when she could rely on the massive magical energy brought by her Dragon Reactor Core and the two perfectly balanced Noble Phantasms of [Excalibur] and [Avalon]—Saber, who was usually very reckless, could not help but shout anxiously at Emiya Shirou.
She wanted Emiya Shirou to avoid the sharp edge for a moment.
Squelch...!
The arm that the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit had stretched forward—the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit, which previously had at most a few invisible wounds under the fierce attacks of Saber and the others—now had its entire arm severed by Emiya Shirou in an instant!?
He should avoid the sharp edge of the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit?
This sharpness was not enough!
"Screee... screech... screech?!"
"W-what... !?"
It goes without saying that Saber and the others, upon seeing Emiya Shirou—who refused to listen to reason—not only charging forward against the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit's attack but actually severing its arm, could not help but stare in shock.
Even the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit.
Its intelligence, which was already not quite sufficient, felt the pain coming from its severed arm.
Its roar, which had previously felt like its soul was under threat, seemed to become docile; it looked at its severed arm in confusion and bewilderment.
Then it looked at Emiya Shirou, who was holding [Pseudo-Anubis].
One could hear Emiya Shirou continue: "Darius was right about one thing: the inner world of [Pandora's Box] is indeed very useful."
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