Chapter 129: Shirou Trapped Underground, Mystic Eyes Kill the Curse!
A hollow, empty underground. The sound of dripping water echoed all around.
Accompanied by a clear and very rhythmic sound, Shirou gradually regained consciousness and slowly regained control of his body.
"Where is this...?"
Faced with the fact that he was still alive, Shirou felt a spontaneous sense of relief. Although being alive did not mean his situation was good, as long as he was not dead, there was still hope.
He calmed his constantly pounding heart and immediately looked around, trying to understand his situation, but because of extreme fatigue, he could barely make any movement.
Fortunately, perhaps due to the passage of time, the divine power that had been affecting his body began to fade. Shirou's severe, nearly unbearable high fever finally abated.
But even so, the exhaustion in his body was still intense. No amount of rest could restore his energy, as if some kind of curse was affecting him.
Sensing that something was wrong, Shirou tried moving his body, only to find that his body seemed bound, unable to move at all.
"Am I trapped?"
After realizing he was likely restrained by some kind of binding method, Shirou became aware that his situation was definitely not good.
Now, he was merely not dead yet — but death was very close.
To find a way to survive, Shirou had to first figure out where exactly he was and who had brought him here.
His first thought was that he had been captured by the Ikelos Familia.
After all, the one who had fought him was Dix, the captain of the Ikelos Familia.
But he quickly discarded that idea.
Because if it had been Dix, he could have just killed Shirou directly — there would be no need to restrain him in such a manner.
Therefore, it must have been someone who took him away from Dix, and for some purpose, brought him here and locked him up.
"Who could it be...?"
Just as Shirou was pondering this, a faint light suddenly appeared in the pitch-black environment.
It was the faint glow of elven magic. Having had contact with Lefiya several times, Shirou was already familiar with the warmth of this kind of magic.
When his heart instinctively felt a longing for the image of the elven girl Lefiya, he instead noticed another elven girl — one with a completely different presence — slowly entering through the door.
The girl had long, flowing hair like a waterfall, wearing a pure white, dress-like outfit.
Her red pupils held no trace of emotion, similar to the Sword Princess Ais, but unlike Ais, who showed coldness mostly due to her taciturn nature, this black-haired elf was clearly truly as harsh and icy as an iceberg.
Most importantly, this black-haired elven girl was obviously the same masked person from before.
She had merely removed her mask, but aside from that, her aura was clearly unchanged.
"You're the one who brought me here?" Shirou asked the elf sharply, "Why did you do this? What is your purpose?"
The black-haired elf did not respond to Shirou's words. She simply looked at him with cold, indifferent eyes, like she was watching a helpless prey about to be slaughtered.
"It seems you are my enemy."
From the black-haired elf's attitude, Shirou already sensed that she had no intention of helping him by bringing him here.
If not out of goodwill, then it must be out of malice. She brought him here for some purpose harmful to him, and had bound his body with shackles.
However, in this sense, it was actually a good thing for Shirou. Because she had no plan to kill him immediately—otherwise, she would have acted already. This meant Shirou still had time to struggle for survival and even think about ways to escape this prison.
He then looked around the surroundings and found that this place seemed to be a secluded area deep inside a dungeon. Judging by the color of the soil, Shirou roughly estimated it to be at a deep level, at least thirty floors down.
In this deep underground environment, given Shirou's physical condition after being subdued, even if he managed to escape the abundant power source, he would have no way to fight against the mysterious monsters lurking here.
Therefore, it was best to comply with this dark-haired elf girl as much as possible and, under her protection, restore his strength first.
But before that, he needed to figure out the elf girl's purpose. At the very least, he had to understand why she brought him here and why she had not killed him. These two points were crucial.
While Shirou was thinking, another figure was brought in from the direction of the cave entrance. By the glow of the elf's magic, Shirou clearly saw the figure — a blonde man dressed in a purple formal suit, giving off an aura of grandeur.
Most importantly, the man emitted a clear divine aura, meaning he was a god! Connecting the dots with the existence of the masked men, Shirou guessed the identity of the man.
"Enyo, are you the evil god Enyo?" Shirou looked at the blonde god before him and made his judgment.
"You guessed correctly, Emiya Shirou," the blonde god smiled and nodded, "But recently this name is just my disguise. My true identity is..."
"Dionysus?"
Hearing this name, Shirou had some impression.
He remembered that Dionysus was a god of order, who once helped the Loki Familia investigate the Phantom Men, and had been mentioned specially to Shirou by Loki.
Shirou also recalled that the leader of Dionysus's Familia was an elf girl with colorful long hair, named Filvis Challia.
If the god before him was indeed the wine god Dionysus, then the masked men around him were undoubtedly elves like Filvis.
But Shirou remembered that Filvis, the leader of Dionysus's Familia, was only a v3, while the masked men before him was L7. Could their hidden strength be concealed to such an extent?
As Dionysus revealed his identity, a flood of thoughts surged into Shirou's mind. At the same time, he confirmed one fact: it was highly unlikely that he could leave this place easily.
Because Dionysus had told him such an important secret, it clearly showed he was confident Shirou would not reveal it.
In fact, it was exactly like that. After arriving before Shirou, Dionysus had no intention of removing his restraints and coldly smiled:
"I have heard many rumors about you, Emiya Shirou. A god slayer who has defeated several gods in succession, even including the death god Thanatos. There is only one who can accomplish such a miracle, and that is you..."
"I have also heard rumors about you, Enyo," Shirou calmly responded to Dionysus's cold expression, "I heard you are the evil god who intends to destroy Orario, a destroyer who brings chaos and death to the world."
"That's right, just as you say," Dionysus nodded without hesitation to Shirou's judgment, "I am indeed a destroyer of cities, an evil god who brings chaos and death to this world.
Unlike Thanatos's soft compromises or the reckless actions of the Ikelos Familia's wild disciples, I hold a pure belief: I try to bring a grand funeral to this world through a massive disaster."
"So, you are not rebelling against Ouranos, nor are you realizing any military ideology, you simply want to see countless humans die."
"Exactly."
Dionysus accepted Shirou's statement with a smile.
Shirou, deeply realizing that the person before him was a true evil god, couldn't help but ask, "Since you are an evil god trying to destroy the world, why bring me here? To you, I may not be a companion, but I am not a major obstacle either."
Shirou's current goal was to oppose Ouranos.
And Ouranos, as the creator of Oralee, was undoubtedly an enemy of Dionysus. Shirou's actions would not bring trouble to Dionysus but rather solve problems for him. There was no need for hostility between them.
To Shirou's words, Dionysus smiled and said, "You are right. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't care about you, neither would I be your enemy nor your ally. But unfortunately, there is a reason on you that draws my attention."
"A reason that draws your attention?"
"Emiya Shirou, you killed the monster Revis in the underground artificial zone, didn't you?"
Unexpectedly, Dionysus brought up this topic, and Shirou immediately fell silent.
Although his battle with Rewis had not been witnessed by others, since only Shirou disappeared together with Rewis, anyone who thought about it briefly would definitely suspect Shirou.
Shirou also understood why Dionysus had singled him out.
"I don't know how you killed Revis, but the aura you carry shows that you absorbed Revis's divine magic stone."
Dionysus stared at Shirou, "Moreover, just now when you fainted, I examined your blessings and found something shocking — you have never truly received the Falna of any god."
"No, I have indeed received the Falna of Hestia."
"Hmph, that is only superficial. In reality, the Falna you have is like a thin layer of paper pasted on a window — just an empty shell without any real power."
Dionysus looked at Shirou's upper face, "Compared to an Adventurer, you are more like Revis, who devoured divine power by other means. Recently, the only person I know who fits this description is the Sword Demon! Emiya Shirou, your true identity is the Sword Demon!!"
Faced with Dionysus's cold sneer and his changed appearance, Shirou did not respond.
Because he really had no way to continue disguising himself—once a god sees through the false blessing behind him, they would inevitably associate him with the cursed spirit, and that was unavoidable.
So he quietly spoke, "So what if you know? Do you want to kill me? If so, you should have done it long ago."
"Heh, killing you won't make up for Revsi's death," Dionysus said coldly as he looked down on Shirou. "Right now, you have only two choices: either take Revis's place and become my subordinate, serving me, the destroyer of cities, Enyo, or be taken by Filvis deep underground, killed, and then transformed into a fiend. That way, you will physically become one of us."
"Transformed into a fiend..."
"Yes, Revi, Filvis—they were all once human, all adventurers.
But when they died in the dungeon, their bodies were corrupted by the power of the Corrupt Spirit essence. The magic stones formed from that essence became their very nature.
Though they have human appearances, in truth, they are no different from dungeon monsters. This is the concept of a fiend," Dionysus said, smiling as he looked at Shirou. "You, Shirou Emiya, have no blessing, but you obtained power just like a fiend. That's why you have been able to absorb Spirit essence magic stones repeatedly, integrating that power into your own body."
"If you say I'm no different from a fiend, then why haven't I been transformed yet?"
"Because, although you have the nature of a fiend, you have not established a connection with the consciousness of the Corrupt Spirit essence.
Normally, when a fiend obtains the essence's power, they merge with its consciousness, becoming a collective existence.
But you have not done that; you only took the power unilaterally and did not carry out the essence's mission. Don't you think that's selfish?"
"Not at all," Shirou said, unfazed by Dionysus's words.
Even if he had obtained the Corrupt Spirit's power, that didn't mean he had to become their pawn and serve the Corrupt Spirit.
Moreover, Shirou doubted whether the Corrupt Spirit even truly possessed a consciousness—or if it was being controlled by someone.
No matter how he thought about it, the Corrupt Spirit cooperating with Enyo to destroy the city was a very strange matter.
"Hmph, you're quite stubborn, Emiya," Dionysus seemed displeased by Shirou's calm attitude. "So, do you intend to reject my offer and refuse to become my servant?"
"I have no interest in serving a mad god who only wants to bring chaos and death," Shirou rejected Dionysus's request outright.
This action undoubtedly angered Dionysus. At the same time, "You do have backbone, just as the rumors say," Dionysus said with a laugh, rubbing his forehead. "Since that's the case, then there's only one ending waiting for you. I will make you like Revis and Filvis, a member of the Corrupt Spirit Fiend, transformed into an avatar of the deep."
After saying this, Dionysus turned and left directly. Filvis also did not linger but followed Dionysus's footsteps and walked away.
The pitch-black environment fell silent again, but Shirou's mind was clearer than ever before.
Originally, his biggest worry was not understanding the opponent's purpose—what kind of goal did the person who captured him have? But now that he knew the mastermind was Dionysus and the purpose was to use him, he felt more relaxed.
Because this meant Shirou only needed to find a way to break free from Dionysus's control.
As a god of wine, Dionysus's power, like Soma's, was the ability to brew alcohol. This ability was not strong and could even be called weak.
Because alcohol only takes effect if you drink it.
Even if Shirou drank the divine wine, he was confident he could resist its temptation.
So, the real thing Shirou needed to worry about was the fairy fiend Filvis.
Her strength had been demonstrated once in the battle with Thanatos and was definitely at v.7 level.
If Shirou were at full strength, he could easily defeat her, but in his current weakened state, he simply did not have that ability.
Still, Shirou could never accept Dionysus's terms to become his servant.
Shirou had a strong feeling that Dionysus was a terrible serpent—every word the god said was just a lure.
Any seeming chance of survival was only a trap Dionysus set to manipulate him.
"I must recover my strength as soon as possible... just enough to perform projection magic..."
Shirou quietly accumulated his power.
Even in such desperate circumstances, he had no intention of giving up. Instead, he would do everything possible to find a way out and survive.
But Shirou soon noticed that his physical recovery was extremely slow—not only his stamina but also his magic power and life force had all dropped to a certain low level.
He realized this was the effect of a curse.
Looking around, the most likely source of the curse was the chain wrapped around his body.
That chain was probably inscribed with some kind of curse spell, preventing him from recovering and keeping him in a state of continuous weakness.
Normally, Shirou would be helpless against this condition.
Without the ability to use projection magic and with all his weapons far away, he couldn't break the binding curse.
However, Shirou still possessed one very special method.
During his direct confrontation with the death god Thanatos, while nearly dying, he had grasped a special technique—
The Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
Though Shirou only caught a glimpse of death's essence for a moment, anyone who has experienced death's domain gains the ability to cross death.
This power can alter reality and achieve miraculous feats.
"Death perception... the power that brings death..."
Shirou's hand slowly brushed over the entire chain.
He carefully studied the curse spell inscribed on the chain and felt the ancient, inherent nature of the curse itself.
Finally, he took a deep breath and used the last bit of strength left in his body to project a small dagger.
This could be called Shirou's last hope.
If he could not use this projection dagger to cut the curse, he would have no power to resist at all.
The curse would completely suppress his magic power and stamina recovery.
If that happened, he was truly doomed.
At this moment, his only way out was one—cut the curse and give the curse death!
"Die!"
Shirou muttered softly, as if performing some kind of chant.
At the same time, he turned his hand and slashed the dagger across the chain.
Although the chain itself was not cut, the curse power contained within it was erased under the influence of a certain concept.
At the instant the curse vanished, Shirou clearly felt his stamina and magic power beginning to recover at a normal rate.
At this rate, it would take about a day or two for him to recover enough to fight again.
By then, he should be able to defeat Filvis and leave this place.
With that thought, Shirou closed his eyes deeply.
He ignored the dangerous environment around him and focused his consciousness on emptiness to maximize his physical recovery and quickly master the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
Read ahead (60 chapters) by supporting me on buymeacoffee / VarieTL