Chapter 133: The Xenos Go Mad, Shirou Faces the Evil God Ikelos!
"That's right, I am Ouranos's lapdog, a vicious hound raised by a heavenly god!" Dix stared wide-eyed at Shirou, speaking in a tone of self-abandonment. "My purpose is to hunt down these talking monsters of the Dungeon for him.
By handing over the captured monsters, I gain power, wealth, and status! It was also he who taught me the method to break the Daedalus family curse — and how to control monsters!"
"Just as I thought," Shirou said.
Dix's confession completely confirmed Shirou's suspicions. With this, everything about the Xenos now had a logical explanation.
A thousand years ago, Ouranos had obtained the records of the death god Thanatos.
For some unknown reason, he used that information to create rational, sentient monsters within the Dungeon — the Xenos.
Since then, Ouranos had been trying to gain something from the Xenos. But as a dignified heavenly god, he couldn't openly commit the evil act of hunting sentient monsters.
So he chose to use the Ikelos Familia — having them hunt the Xenos under the guise of monster trafficking, then deliver them to Ouranos.
In this entire process, with Ouranos covering for them, the Ikelos Familia's monster trafficking operations faced no punishment from the order-faction Familias — not even a single warning. That allowed them to freely hunt the Xenos in the gray areas of the labyrinth city.
This, it seemed, was the true nature of everything.
Unfortunately, even though Shirou had learned all of this, he still couldn't find a convincing reason for why Ouranos wanted to create and capture the Xenos in the first place.
As Shirou pondered, Dix seemed to have abandoned any hope of survival. With a face full of indifference, he said:
"I know what you're trying to do, Emiya Shirou. You're trying to uncover the truth of this city — trying to destroy the root of the world's darkness!
But do you really think you can do that?
This world's darkness goes far beyond what you can imagine. Its ugliness is not something you can endure!
No matter what moral banner you carry, you'll never be able to sweep away all evil and clarify the darkness! Because the essence of this world is filth — black, muddy, devoid of justice, devoid of
fairness! Only the strong survive, and the weak die — that is the only truth that exists!
Accept reality! Insignificant humans can't defy the will of the gods. Fragile justice can't shatter the shadows and bring clarity to the world! Because what determines everything is heaven — it is the heavens that doomed us to fight, to torment one another! It is the heavens that made it inevitable for us to either fall... or be destroyed!
I'm telling you — it's not just one Emiya Shirou — even if there were ten, a hundred of you, you still couldn't uphold some stupid idea of justice in this Dungeon city of Orario!
Because in the face of true power, true strength — you are nothing! But I won't stop you. Because I'm looking forward to the despair you'll inevitably face at the end of your journey, once you uncover everything!" "Hahaha! Hahahahahaha!"
Laughing madly, Dix raised the spear in his hand and stabbed it straight into his heart. He moved so fast that Shirou didn't even have time to react — he could only watch as Dix took his own life before his eyes.
"...Maybe you're right, Dix." Seeing Dix's death, with fangs still bared and madness still on his face, Shirou quietly shook his head. "But I'm not like you. Unlike you, who drowned in desire and delusion — I will walk the path I choose.
Even if it costs countless sacrifices, even if it completely destroys this fragile body, I will never stop walking toward the future I want to reach."
"Hmph... Then let me see your so-called resolve. I'll be watching you from hell, Emiya Shirou!"
Even as he died, Dix's gaze remained locked on Shirou's figure — eyes burning, as if determined to watch the man who sought justice to the very end.
"..."
Shirou said nothing in response to Dix's death. He felt neither hatred nor sympathy toward him. To Shirou, Dix was merely a god's pawn — a dagger so pitiful that it couldn't even choose its own path.
Unable to select his road, Dix had fallen into the temptations right before him — until the moment of his own destruction.
It was Dix's mistake — but not entirely his alone. At the root of it all was the hand that manipulated him — the divine hand that gripped him like a blade and wielded him at will.
"Ouranos... One day, I'll settle accounts with you."
Taking a deep breath, Shirou once again steeled his resolve — to challenge the highest of the gods.
Next, he planned to deal with the corpses of the Ikelos Familia members and regroup with the nearby Xenos.
But before he could act, Shirou suddenly noticed a mist slowly rising from Dix's corpse. The smoke soon took human form — transforming into a man who looked utterly haggard and disheveled.
"!!!"
Faced with such a bizarre phenomenon, Shirou instinctively assumed a defensive stance.
However, the slouched man made no hostile moves. Instead, he looked in Shirou's direction and chuckled:
"So, Dix is dead, huh... I knew this day would come eventually — but I didn't think it would happen so suddenly."
"Who are you?!"
Shirou asked instinctively — but even before the words left his mouth, he realized the question was unnecessary.
For someone to appear immediately after Dix's death in such a strange form — there could only be one answer.
It was the god of the Ikelos Familia — Ikelos himself.
"Heh, seems you figured it out." Ikelos looked at Shirou with a scrutinizing expression. "Interesting. You really are just as fascinating as the rumors say, Emiya Shirou."
"You know me?"
"I don't know you — but I can sense your presence through your fear."
"My fear?"
"All humans are born with fear. Mortals are naturally terrified of the unknown — even the so-called strong ones among you are no exception. No matter how powerful a human becomes, they will always fear what they cannot understand."
Ikelos grinned at Shirou. "And my divine authority is precisely this: I can see into and manipulate human fear — feeding on it as my sustenance."
"Manipulation of fear..."
Though surprised at Ikelos's self-declared divine power, Shirou didn't doubt it. He had indeed felt a dark, oppressive aura emanating from Ikelos — most likely the very concept of "fear" itself.
"Emiya Shirou, you truly are the most special human I've ever encountered." Ikelos sniffed the air around Shirou. "For most people in Orario, fear accounts for more than half their entire being. Even the strongest warrior in Orario — Ottar— is composed of nearly one-third fear."
"The root of his fear must be that day he was cast aside by the goddess Freya...
But you're different. Emiya Shirou, the fear within you is negligible — only the faintest trace. So... is it because you've become so brave that fear can no longer take hold of you?
Or is it because your body is no longer even human — and thus no longer susceptible to the fear all humans inherently possess?"
Ikelos giggled — apparently deeply intrigued by analyzing Emiya Shirou as a human being.
But Shirou clearly had no intention of playing along.
In a cold voice, he said:
"Ikelos, why did you come here? If you're here to spy on me for Ouranos, then I won't let you leave easily!"
As he spoke, Shirou pulled out the Chains of Heaven.
Even though his opponent was a god, Shirou had no intention of backing down. Rather than allow Ikelos to report to Ouranos, he would rather gamble everything to try and keep the god here.
"Hehehe... You really plan to kill a god?" Ikelos looked at Shirou and burst out laughing — not in mockery, but in genuine delight.
"Very good, very good! You have the qualities that delight me! Your madness is far sweeter than Dix's ever was!
Don't worry. I'm not Ouranos's ally. I won't report anything about you to that heavenly god. On the contrary — I'm far more interested in you. I want to understand you even better!"
"You understand me?"
"As they say, to truly understand someone, you must first bare your heart to them.
I imagine you're quite eager to know information about Ouranos's faction, aren't you?
I can tell you everything you want to know — even the characteristics and weaknesses of certain gods. I can tell you how to defeat a god."
"And why should I trust you?"
Shirou stared coldly at Ikelos, showing no signs of trusting the clearly deranged evil god before him.
But Ikelos just smiled and replied,
"Oh, you will trust me. You'll have no choice but to trust me. Very soon, you'll come to understand what kind of opponent you're truly facing. And when that time comes, you'll realize that I am the only ally you can rely on right now. So I won't waste any more words. I'll wait patiently — wait until you're ready to come meet me. Until then, I'll be waiting for you in the man-made maze 'Labyrinth' on the 18th floor of the Dungeon. If you're willing, come see me there, Emiya Shirou!"
Ikelos spoke as if delivering a prophecy. Then, in the blink of an eye, his figure vanished completely — as if he had never appeared at all, dissipating into thin air.
"...?!"
Stunned by Ikelos's sudden appearance and disappearance, Shirou showed a rare look of surprise. He couldn't comprehend the mechanism behind how the god had come and gone so mysteriously.
At that moment, he suddenly snapped back to awareness — and noticed the spider-girl Ranye had appeared by his side.
"Shirou! What's going on with you? I called your name so many times, and you didn't respond!"
"I guess I was spacing out," Shirou replied calmly to Ranye's concern, pretending that nothing had happened.
But thanks to Ranye's words, Shirou quickly deduced the likely reason behind Ikelos's sudden appearance and understood the nature of his divine power.
As for Ikelos's claim that Shirou would eventually come to find him...
Shirou chose to withhold judgment for now.
At present, he had absolutely no intention of engaging with an evil god any more than necessary. For all he knew, Ikelos might have allied with Ouranos and laid a trap for him in the man-made maze.
Shirou had now openly broken ties with the gods — and every step he took was like treading on thin ice. He had to exercise extreme caution if he hoped to find even the slightest chance of survival.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, the Xenos led by the harpy Ray had survived, thanks to Shirou's rescue. Ray was deeply grateful for Shirou's help and thanked him repeatedly.
Naturally, Shirou didn't make a big deal of it. After all, it was thanks to Ray and the Xenos that he had recovered his body in the first place — so to him, this was merely returning the favor.
At the same time, Ray soon received troubling news: Apparently, their group wasn't the only one attacked — the Ikelos Familia had launched simultaneous raids on numerous Xenos bases.
Though Ray's tribe had been saved by Shirou's intervention, many other Xenos had been captured by the Ikelos Familia's schemes and taken to the surface.
This result triggered outrage among the Xenos as a whole.
Several other Level 5 Xenos tribe leaders, besides Ray, were completely consumed by fury. They swore to exterminate the Ikelos Familia and rescue their captured comrades.
Their hatred even began to extend to humanity as a whole.
Radicals among the Xenos claimed that only by charging to the surface and slaughtering every human in the city could the Xenos ever have a true future.
Such extreme ideas were, of course, rejected by many Xenos.
Especially Ray — she couldn't accept a war between Xenos and humans.
However, Ray soon realized that she had no power to stop her fellow Xenos. No matter how much she tried to persuade them, many had already made up their minds to attack the surface.
This chaos weighed heavily on Ray and the Xenos under her leadership. Many of those who had been saved by Shirou were especially confused —
they didn't believe all humans were enemies, and couldn't understand the origins of their comrades' rage.
But a small number of rational voices couldn't change the tide. They could only watch helplessly as war approached.
"Those Xenos' eyes…" Shirou, hidden in the shadows, observed the arguments between Ray and the other Xenos leaders.
On the surface, it looked like a simple ideological clash — the radicals believing that fighting to the death was the only way to survive.
But Shirou's keen perception picked up on something strange.
The key was in their eyes — from their expressions, Shirou sensed a strangely familiar feeling.
Back during his confrontation with the Hermes Familia, Shirou had suddenly been gripped by an inexplicable urge to go to Apothecary Street.
That emotion had seemed reasonable — since he was ill at the time, it made sense he'd want treatment. But the emotion had come too abruptly.
Even if he were irrational, there was no reason he would dash off alone in the middle of the night, ending up in a secret confrontation with the entire Hermes Familia.
Back then, Shirou had vaguely suspected that he had been affected by a god's power — but he hadn't understood how.
Now, seeing the Xenos' sudden, blazing fury, he immediately understood:
They were just like he had been. Their emotions were being amplified by divine authority.
Some deep-seated feeling within them had been amplified to an uncontrollable obsession by a god's power.
Yes — Shirou was certain: The enemy's divine ability was emotional amplification.
Back then, it had influenced his judgment and led him to act irrationally. Now, it was being used to manipulate the Xenos.
But the real question was: What god was doing this — and why?
Shirou didn't believe this was the work of Ouranos. After all, Ouranos had always tried to keep the Xenos hidden from the outside world. A large-scale Xenos uprising would go completely against Ouranos's wishes.
But if not Ouranos — then who?
At that moment, Shirou remembered what Ikelos had said to him.
If he wanted to stop the Xenos uprising, the only way was to rescue the captured Xenos from the Ikelos Familia.
Was this why Ikelos had been so sure Shirou would come to find him?
Or… was there some deeper motive?
Shirou didn't have time to dwell on it further — his thoughts were soon interrupted by the outbreak of violence.
The Xenos, consumed by hatred for humanity, had lost all reason. Some of them even began to turn on Shirou, despite him being among them — clashing with the tribe led by Ray.
Faced with such a situation, Shirou knew he had only one course of action.
Taking a deep breath, he turned to the overwhelmed Ray and said:
"Let me go and rescue the captured Xenos. If I can free them, maybe the others will calm down — and we can stop this war before it starts."
"…Are you really willing to go that far, Shirou?"
Ray hesitated, clearly reluctant to let Shirou get dragged into their conflict any further.
But Shirou simply waved a hand and said:
"This isn't just about repaying a debt — it's about preventing a disaster. So don't worry. No matter what, I will stop a war between Xenos and humans from breaking out."
"…Thank you."
Ray's voice trembled with emotion.
"I'll go with you!"
Ranye quickly spoke up, eager to accompany Shirou.
But Shirou shook his head and stopped her:
"The Ikelos Familia's base might be filled with traps. I'll be safer going alone."
Though unhappy about being treated as a burden, Ranye couldn't argue. After witnessing Shirou's overwhelming strength, no one could doubt him.
"RAAAAAHHH!!"
Meanwhile, more Xenos had already begun to riot — preparing to launch an assault on the surface.
Ray and the others rushed to stop them, but with little effect.
Shirou knew: Only by rescuing the captured Xenos could he hope to stop the outbreak of war.
So, without hesitation, he sprinted straight for the 18th floor's man-made maze — to confront the evil god Ikelos.
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