Chapter 217: The Charm of Stats
What could Emiya Shirou possibly do to solve the problems that [Pandora's Box] had brought to the world of Miyu Edelfelt?
Use the method of the "Emperor of Heaven"?
The uncertainty was too great.
In the original Prisma Illya story, besides Illya, who was kept in the dark, the others—such as Gilgamesh and Ruby, who lured Illya into participating in this plan—were all pessimistic about it.
That Illya could succeed was entirely an accident.
Therefore, Emiya Shirou, possessing the memories of his past life, chose to utilize the Stand ability of [Pseudo-Atum].
As long as he could make [Pandora's Box] harbor a thought of defeat, [Pseudo-Atum] would be able to activate its Stand ability to seize and master the soul of [Pandora's Box].
To this end, Emiya Shirou, who had traveled to the Jujutsu Kaisen world through the system, implanted a Cursed Spirit-manifestation DISC into [Pandora's Box], allowing it to transform into a Cursed Spirit.
Then, through [Unlimited Void] and the combat damage inflicted by the Noble Phantasm attacks of Saber and the others, he forcibly bombarded the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit with a massive amount of information asserting that it would be injured and defeated...
Had it been an ordinary enemy, under this series of maneuvers by Emiya Shirou, it would have long been drowned by this information of failure and had its soul captured by [Pseudo-Atum].
But the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit was a world.
Even if it was now born in the form of a Cursed Spirit, in a state similar to the Counter Force, it remained a world.
It was a world that, under the particularities of the cursed energy system in the Jujutsu Kaisen world, had the inner world of [Pandora's Box] inscribed upon it. It was a world that was difficult for humanity to overcome!
Even though Emiya Shirou had done the best he could, he had only exploited the loopholes created by Darius in the beginning to seize a portion of the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit's soul via an imperfect sense of defeat.
He was still far from truly seizing the soul of the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit and truly defeating it.
Conversely, the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit, feeling the pain of its soul being pulled, would become determined to kill Emiya Shirou and his companions at any cost!
By any account, Emiya Shirou's plan seemed to have failed.
However, in reality, the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit now only wanted to escape!
To run as far away as possible!
"ROOOAR!!!"
"Do you want to play a game of tag? Sure..."
Though the previous sentence was spoken from behind, by the time the next sentence resounded, Emiya Shirou's figure had already arrived before the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit. Wielding [Pseudo-Anubis], he aimed at the legs of the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit and slashed down: "However, you need to run a little faster."
"If you run too slowly, you will easily be caught by me, and this game will end quickly."
The colossal body of the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit, which was like the world itself?
At this moment, it was like a joke.
Once again, it was easily sliced and severed by the [Pseudo-Anubis] in Emiya Shirou's hand.
THUD!!
Having lost its legs for support, the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit, still maintaining its forward-rushing posture, could not help but fall heavily to the ground.
This tremor was so intense that even Saber and the others in the distance felt as if their bodies were being jolted into the air, creating a sensation of floating with unsteady footing.
It also allowed Saber and the others, who were still in a state of shock, to finally regain their senses.
They looked at Emiya Shirou as if they had seen a ghost.
How did Emiya Shirou manage to do this?!
Although they did not truly ask it out loud, their expressions were undoubtedly saying as much.
Is such a thing truly something a human can do?
"Didn't I say before? Just leave the rest to me."
Ignoring the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit, which was still trying to struggle as its legs began to recover through the accumulation of massive amounts of curses, Emiya Shirou seemed to sense the curious gazes from behind.
He calmly turned his head and smiled at Saber and the others: "...No, I should say, it is thanks to your efforts, Saber and everyone, that I had the opportunity to use this cheating method to obtain this power."
Yes, cheating.
Back to the original question.
How was Emiya Shirou to solve [Pandora's Box]?
Besides the aforementioned methods, which were a bit circuitous, there was actually one simplest method—as long as he sacrificed [Pseudo-Anubis] and re-projected it.
Then, Emiya Shirou would naturally obtain a new [Pseudo-Anubis] that could raise his own stats to be on par with the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit.
However, to project a [Pseudo-Anubis] upgraded to this degree, Emiya Shirou's magical energy could not support it at all.
Even adding the magical energy of the Greater Grail would not be enough.
It was only after borrowing the Stand ability of [Pseudo-Atum], just as he had borrowed the magical energy of the Greater Grail, that he was able to divert the magical energy inside [Pandora's Box] for his own use, and this new [Pseudo-Anubis] was finally truly projected by Emiya Shirou.
Otherwise, why would Emiya Shirou have previously used [Pseudo-Anubis] as a fusion material for his Reverse Cursed Technique?
He fused it with the [Six Eyes] because the [Limitless Cursed Technique] had to be used in conjunction with the [Six Eyes], but the [Six Eyes] that Emiya Shirou projected were only the eyeballs.
If he were to truly use them, Emiya Shirou would have to act like the Sharingan users in Naruto—first gouge out his own eyes before he could install and use the [Six Eyes].
Adding [Pseudo-Anubis] as a fusion material served a purpose: once Emiya Shirou failed to subdue the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit with the [Limitless Cursed Technique], the [Pseudo-Anubis], which had recorded this state of defeat, would activate its Stand ability during the new projection, achieving yet another round of evolution.
It would bring Emiya Shirou stats comparable to the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit!
"Then, it is time to end this, [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit."
After becoming slightly familiar with the new power brought by [Pseudo-Anubis], Emiya Shirou injected the positive energy of the Reverse Cursed Technique generated within his body into the blade.
The moment these words fell, he disappeared once again and instantly appeared on top of the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit.
Having already driven [Pseudo-Anubis] into it, he poured the positive energy—enhanced by the stats of [Pseudo-Anubis]—into the body of the [Pandora's Box] Cursed Spirit.
"The curse that has not been opened for six thousand years, it is time for you to return to the original trajectory of history."
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