Kurumi Tokisaki's Planar Journey - Chapter 506
“Kurumi!”
Artoria bit her teeth and called out the name of this “goddess.”
Her hands tightly gripped the hilt of her sword. Despite her excellent feelings toward Kurumi, she had no choice but to be cautious.
The cold, golden eyes lost their light momentarily, then slowly refocused, a spark of intelligence adding a touch of mortal warmth to the goddess’s demeanour.
Kurumi looked up at the phantom of the inverted tree composed of divine radiance. Under an inexplicable force, her subjective consciousness quickly took control of her deified body.
Just like when she first arrived in the Fate/Zero world, though her deification was far less intense back then.
The divine seed in her body was constantly eroding this spirit body.
Her small head turned towards Saber; the gentle divine radiance almost made her want to abandon her combat intent. However, she quickly adjusted, her face becoming serious, like a little lion preparing to attack.
“Oh my, oh my~ Look who it is? Has the little lion of Britain missed me?”
Artoria’s eye twitched slightly. This divine Kurumi was speaking in a manner reminiscent of her black-haired state!
Why…
Raising her sword, with its blade tilted downwards, Artoria’s expression grew solemn, her voice steady, “Kurumi, if I’m not mistaken, I’m the last Servant left, aren’t I?”
The deified Kurumi narrowed her golden eyes. The goddess, already exuding holy grace, now added a hint of allure—an astonishing combination of two contradictory qualities.
“That’s right, the Holy Grail War is over. You are the final victor,” she said, her golden eyes narrowing into crescent moons with her smile. “I’ve sent all the other Servants back to the Throne of Heroes. Don’t you want to thank me?”
Artoria anchored herself, feeling the overwhelming pressure from the shadow of the inverted tree. Even though Kurumi seemed indifferent, the divine radiance’s imposing presence was tangible.
“Next, it’ll be my turn, won’t it?”
Kurumi’s face twisted into a strange expression, “Didn’t we agree? I’ll purify the Holy Grail first, then hand over this all-powerful wish-granting device to you.”
Artoria fell silent. Her Master, Kiritsugu Emiya, was already near the Holy Grail. Who knew what he was up to?
If the Grail was indeed tainted by ‘All the World’s Evils’ as Kurumi claimed, Kiritsugu was likely in grave danger!
As the divine radiance moved slightly forward, Artoria immediately tensed, carefully watching Kurumi.
“But before purifying the Grail, I need your cooperation, Artoria.”
Her brows furrowed slightly, “What do you need?”
Kurumi pointed at her, and alarms went off in Artoria’s mind. Her magical energy surged, ready to channel into Excalibur!
Artoria maintained her sword-raising posture, frozen as if time had stopped.
Countless memories flooded in, too many images flashing by, many overlapping with her own.
‘What’s happening?’ Artoria felt a chill run through her, covering her head with her hands. The sudden influx of memories, even with her Servant body, gave her a severe headache.
She saw a blood-soaked girl beside a mountain of corpses, with dishevelled golden hair, signing a contract with a “divinity.”
Artoria’s soul floated, watching from a third-person perspective but unable to act.
On the battlefield, remnants of various supernatural forces lingered amidst seas of blood, and the nation’s flag was tattered and covered in battle scars.
Now, the great flag lay in a pool of blood, surrounded by dozens of corpses. The wooden pole had broken in the middle, and black-red blood splattered everywhere!
The blood had already coagulated in many places. In her soul state, Artoria felt an overwhelming heaviness in her chest. This battlefield was all too familiar.
But why… had she returned here?
And the figure signing a contract with the “divinity,” wasn’t that herself?
What was going on?
Wasn’t she in the middle of the Holy Grail War?
In her confusion, Artoria thought of Kurumi, of Diarmuid.
Could it be… another timeline of herself signing a contract with a deity and then…
Floating in the air in her soul state, Artoria dismissed all other guesses, accepting only this possibility.
The dark yellow sky, the blood-red earth, the air filled with rampant, masterless energy.
No one could survive on this land!
Artoria blinked and found that the “herself” within the light and shadow had suddenly disappeared!
But she felt as though another consciousness had joined hers, observing everything.
“Buzz!~”
A humming sound reached her ears, space distorted, time-reversed, and she vaguely heard the cheers of people around her.
Artoria’s eyes slowly refocused, and she felt a weight on her head as if she were wearing something.
Reaching up, she touched something cold and looked forward, seeing hundreds of nobles in medieval attire reflected in her eyes.
This scene was incredibly familiar—wasn’t this the Kingdom of Camelot?
This… was her coronation ceremony!
———
Kurumi manipulated the dream, using the ‘rules’ granted by the two inhibitions to weave the dream into a real “world.”
Perhaps this dream world created by the ‘rules’ would become an independent timeline, but Kurumi needed more time to support it.
In the dream, the flow of time was exaggeratedly accelerated. Within the dream, Kurumi was the master, the deity! Using the ‘rules’ merely made the dream more real.
Artoria, kept in the dark, believed she had genuinely returned to her era!
Whether it was Kurumi or the Holy Grail, it no longer mattered. What mattered was that her wish was finally coming true!
With her thorough understanding of modern governance, Artoria began her reign as a monarch!
With imperial protection, the situation in Camelot was stable. Artoria looked at the sword in her hand, and a bitter smile tugged at her lips.
Given a chance to fulfil her wish, she would lead Camelot to prosperity!
It’s hard to imagine the profound impact Artoria, with her modern governance knowledge, would have on the medieval Dark Ages.
As Artoria took action, Camelot’s growth was astonishing! Outside the dream, Kurumi had to increase her divine power transmission to sustain the dream’s consumption.
Without the ‘rules,’ constructing such a complete and vast world would be a Herculean task.
Kurumi turned her attention to the Holy Grail, observing Kiritsugu Emiya’s consciousness entering the Great Grail. Soon, he would discover the truth.
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