Chapter 134: Using the Authority of Nightmare to Create the Gospel of Ru'en City!
That day, the Labyrinth City Orario fell into unprecedented chaos.
The incident began one afternoon.
"Clang!" "Clang!" "Clang!"
Alarm bells rang out from the Guild Headquarters in Orario.
It was a warning to the entire Labyrinth City — a declaration of a state of emergency.
The piercing, deafening alarm made everyone in Orario tense up, realizing that something catastrophic must have happened.
"—Emergency alert! Emergency alert!
Abnormal monster activity has been discovered in the middle levels of the Dungeon!
Just now, the town of Rivira on the 18th floor was destroyed by heavily armed monsters! At the same time, these monsters are moving toward the surface in an attempt to break through to the ground!"
"Therefore, all Familia affiliated with Orario must follow Guild instructions!
Citizens and adventurers are forbidden from entering the Dungeon! All Familia are to remain on standby at their bases until further notice from the Guild!"
"Once again—"
The Guild's large magic stone-powered loudspeakers clearly broadcasted this critical information to the entire city of Orario.
Upon hearing the announcement, citizens and adventurers, despite the panic, decisively followed the directive and returned to their homes to wait.
However, a very small number of clever individuals noticed something odd about the Guild's announcement.
Given that there was already a monster riot on the 18th floor, the best response should have been to send powerful Familia into the Dungeon to suppress it as quickly as possible. Yet, the announcement stated that all Familia were to remain at their bases, and that adventurers were strictly forbidden from entering the Dungeon.
The contradiction between the reality of the situation and the issued orders was hard to comprehend.
Simultaneously, a few Familia also noticed something unusual about one specific group — the Ganesha Familia.
While most Familia were forbidden from entering the Dungeon, the Ganesha Familia had received special permission to enter.
This anomaly made a few keen observers suspect the scent of conspiracy.
But regardless of whether a conspiracy existed, these were still official orders from the Guild — and in Orario, no one dared oppose the Guild.
Thus, despite the chaos, most Familia could only sit and wait for the Guild's next directive.
.
.
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At the same time, within the Guild Headquarters of Orario—
In the deepest part of the Guild was a large and unique room known as the "Chamber of Prayer."
This was where the supreme leader of the Guild, the god Ouranos, offered prayers alone to soothe the Dungeon's wrath.
As soon as the chaos broke out in the Dungeon, Guild administrator Royman rushed to the Chamber of Prayer to report to the god Ouranos.
"Calm yourself, Royman. If this really were a massive surface invasion, the monsters would've already stormed Babel along with the townspeople,"
Faced with the panicked fat elf Royman, Ouranos responded with a cold expression.
"Besides, my 'prayer' has not been broken."
"I see!"
Hearing Ouranos's words was like taking a calming pill — Royman finally regained his composure.
Ouranos, the god who founded Orario, offered constant, near-unbroken prayers at the altar day and night, using his divine authority to keep the Dungeon's activation and potential mass monster migrations suppressed.
This godly power had kept the Dungeon in check for nearly a thousand years without fail.
So, a divine guarantee from Ouranos himself was far more convincing than a thousand words.
Ouranos continued:
"Also, regarding the chaos in the Dungeon, I've already dispatched the Ganesha Familia and a group of special exterminators. There will be no issues."
"Understood!"
"I will give further instructions later. You may go."
"Yes, sir!"
Reassured by the god himself, Royman turned and left.
But the moment he departed, Ouranos's expression twisted into something terrifying.
He raised his voice and shouted into the shadows of the Chamber of Prayer:
"Would you care to tell me exactly what you're trying to do, Hermes?! If you can't give me a satisfactory explanation, I'll show you what it means to incur the wrath of a god!"
"Oh my, oh my, I have no idea what you mean."
From the shadows emerged the god Hermes, wearing a carefree and flippant expression, as if he were an innocent lamb.
However, Ouranos was clearly not fooled by this poor performance.
The god coldly spoke:
"Stop pretending, Hermes. There's only one power I can think of that could incite a mass monster riot in the Dungeon — your authority! Why would you cause such chaos now?!"
"Heh, me causing chaos...? Why don't you ask yourself that question, great god Ouranos?" Hermes shot back. "If it wasn't for your command, why would my Familia go after Shirou Emiya?
Why else would my entire Familia be annihilated by him? You were so decisive when giving the order back then — and now you blame me?"
"Your Familia's issue... that's my mistake… I didn't expect that man to destroy an entire Familia by himself..."
Ouranos's tone softened somewhat at Hermes's words but remained cold.
"But that's a separate matter. Eliminating Shirou Emiya was a decision we made together."
"'Together'? That was your decision," Hermes waved dismissively. "To me, having Shirou alive is far more valuable than him being dead. He could become the perfect Heroic Vanguard!"
"Heroic Vanguard? He's a plague to Orario!" Ouranos denied Shirou's value. "Besides, he's most likely dead already. There's no need to concern ourselves with a corpse."
"'Most likely'? I didn't expect such vague language from you."
"He was wrapped in two divine authorities. There's no way he could've survived. And you activated your power, didn't you? You handed him over to the Ikelos Familia."
"Well, I didn't witness it personally, but yes, it happened as you say." Hermes nodded silently.
"So why did you start a monster riot this time?" Ouranos demanded. "If the Xenos are exposed, it'll be a disaster!"
"Heh. That would only be your disaster, wouldn't it?" Hermes sneered. "I don't care about your little plans. To me, only the birth of a hero matters."
"The birth of a hero… this is the stage you prepared?"
"That's right. It's been far, far too long. This world has been without heroes for far too long!
This time, I'll make sure that hero — the one not yet fully awakened — steps onto the stage and becomes the brightest star!
That is my only wish. It's why I agreed to work with you in the first place." Hermes narrowed his eyes and glared at Ouranos. "So don't even think about stopping me. To vent my rage over losing an entire Familia, I'm willing to do anything."
"Hmph. Then do as you please."
Ouranos, realizing he couldn't stop Hermes, sighed helplessly and showed a look of resignation.
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Dungeon, 18th Floor.
As the Xenos, affected by Hermes's authority, began surging toward the surface, Shirou quickly located the entrance to the artificial labyrinth and came face to face with the evil god Ikelos.
"So you've finally arrived, Shirou Emiya."
"I'm here, Ikelos."
Shirou looked at the disheveled god standing in the middle of the artificial labyrinth, eyes closed, as if he were sensing something.
Noting Ikelos's strange demeanor, Shirou calmly said:
"Hand over the Xenos you captured. We must end this chaotic war immediately."
"Oh? You think that just by getting the captured Xenos back, you can stop this war?"
Ikelos countered with a faint, ambiguous smile.
"...That probably won't work."
Shirou shook his head, rejecting the idea that simply recovering the Xenos would halt the Xenos uprising.
Because this riot was not merely caused by the crimes of the Ikelos Familia — it was instigated by a god's authority.
Even if Shirou rescued all the captured Xenos, as long as the god behind the scenes wasn't eliminated, countless future crises would still occur.
"Heh, looks like you've already figured out the conspiracy behind this. Want me to tell you who's pulling the strings?"
"The mastermind is Hermes, isn't it?"
"Correct."
Ikelos wasn't surprised by Shirou's answer. He seemed fully confident that someone of Shirou Emiya's caliber would see through the enemy's identity.
He then asked:
"Then can you guess what Hermes's authority is?"
"...Probably the power to manipulate emotions — or perhaps, to instill obsession."
Based on his prior encounters with Hermes's authority, Shirou gave a rough answer.
Upon hearing his reply, Ikelos showed a surprised expression and muttered, "You've already gotten this close? Your judgment is truly not to be underestimated."
To this, Shirou responded calmly, "After interacting with you gods enough, I naturally learned how to discern your nature. Take you, Ikelos, for example.
Your divine power isn't what you claim it to be—controlling fear.
It's actually creating nightmares.
You drag people into dreamlike worlds and awaken the deepest fears within their hearts. When we first met, you communicated with me by constructing a nightmare, didn't you?"
Shirou's words left Ikelos in silence. The evil god seemed completely stunned by the man in front of him.
After a long while, the god of nightmares, Ikelos, finally muttered, "Alright, I admit it—I underestimated you, Emiya Shirou.
You've defeated so many gods, even Thanatos fell to you. It's clearly not luck.
You're the most outstanding human I've ever seen."
"Let's skip the meaningless flattery." Shirou had no interest in polite small talk. "You previously said you'd tell me who the real enemy is, and how to deal with them. Was that true?"
"Of course," Ikelos nodded silently. "Although the Ikelos Familia has been working for Ouranos, I've never submitted to him. In fact, not just me—Hermes, Freya, and others have never truly been his lapdogs either. As fellow deities, our relationship is one of mutual exploitation, nothing more."
"Freya is in on it with you all?"
"She doesn't know much, but yes—she is indeed part of Ouranos's faction," Ikelos said with a light, amused smile. "So you can rest assured about my intentions. I've never been loyal to Ouranos."
"Then why are you helping me?" Shirou questioned Ikelos. "I don't see what benefit you gain from switching sides."
"Each god desires something different. For an evil god like me, only chaos is what I seek," Ikelos said with a laugh. "In this city controlled by Ouranos, it's far too difficult for anyone to create chaos.
Under the gaze of a heavenly god, nothing stirs. But you, Emiya Shirou—you might be able to bring unprecedented chaos to this city. Set everything ablaze in roaring fire."
"You really are a genuine evil god."
"Thank you for the compliment," Ikelos shrugged. "So, are you willing to trust me? From my perspective, you shine brighter than all the gods combined.
I want to see how brightly that light can blaze.
That's why I'm willing to help you fight against Ouranos—and even against all the gods."
"I won't trust you. I won't trust someone who seeks amusement through deception." Shirou rejected Ikelos's words bluntly, but then shifted his tone and said coldly, "But, as you said, the situation now no longer allows me to be choosy. If this is just a relationship of mutual exploitation—I can accept that."
"Heh, that suits me just fine." Ikelos smiled and nodded.
After establishing their initial cooperation, Shirou took the lead and asked: "Now, back to my earlier question—what exactly is Hermes' divine power?"
"To put it simply, Hermes' divine power is called Script."
"Script?"
"Everything in this world is either a story that has already happened or one that is yet to unfold.
As long as a story is reasonably constructed, it becomes a script.
Hermes' power is the ability to write a logical and complete story, and turn reality into a play. From there, everyone acts like a character in that script."
Ikelos continued, "You, Shirou, were sick and wanted to go to the apothecary district.
The Xenos now want to charge to the surface out of rage toward humans.
These thoughts already existed in your minds, but normally, such thoughts wouldn't erupt into action.
People are rational beings, after all—they don't so easily become consumed by obsession."
"But once Hermes activates the power of the script, everything changes.
Every character within Hermes' story is overwhelmed by intense self-awareness, consumed by inner impulses, and ends up acting like a puppet on the stage.
A story needs characters with strong motivations to proceed. The more dramatic the story, the stronger the characters' obsessions must be."
"Hermes can use his divine power to unleash your deepest desires and force everyone to act according to the script he has written in advance.
Unless one possesses incredibly strong willpower—or is a god not affected by the script—there's no escaping the influence of this power."
"I see."
Upon hearing Ikelos's explanation, Shirou finally understood everything that had happened. He understood why he had felt impulses that shouldn't have existed.
And through this, he also came to understand the true cause of the Xenos uprising.
"Then why did Hermes cause such chaos?" Shirou asked. "Ouranos surely wouldn't want the existence of the Xenos to be exposed to the outside world, would he?"
"That's exactly what I mentioned earlier. There's no hierarchy among the gods. Every god has their own will," Ikelos chuckled. "Hermes has his own intentions—he won't waver just because of Ouranos' orders. Releasing all the Xenos to attack the surface likely serves some goal of his own."
Clearly, even Ikelos didn't know what Hermes' true objective was. This wasn't a surprise to Shirou.
So he turned his attention to how to resolve the crisis Hermes had brought upon the city.
"Do you have any way to counter Hermes' power?" Shirou asked Ikelos.
"Unfortunately, my divine power is useless against Hermes," Ikelos waved his hand. "The range of my nightmare ability is limited—I can't blanket the entire Orario like he can.
At most, I can affect one or two individuals, dragging them into nightmares.
Other than that, I can briefly pull things from the nightmare into reality—creating temporary nightmare artifacts."
"Nightmare artifacts?"
"Yep, that's how my power works," Ikelos explained.
After understanding everything, Shirou fell into deep thought. He was trying to figure out how to resolve this chaotic crisis.
First, Hermes' Script power was simply too special. It wasn't a force that could be broken through brute strength. One would have to find a loophole in the very story Hermes created.
But Hermes, being the god who writes the script, would never allow such a flaw to exist.
And killing Hermes directly was clearly impossible—no matter how weak a god appeared, once they used divine power, they became a terrifying beast.
So, there was only one thing Shirou could do: Tear apart the script directly. Destroy the stage Hermes had built. Wreck the very logic of the story from the ground up!
And there was only one method Shirou could think of to do that.
"Ikelos, you said you can bring something from a nightmare into reality temporarily." Shirou looked at Ikelos. "To what extent can you create? How long can it exist in the real world?"
"As long as it's a nightmare artifact, I can bring it out. The number I can bring depends on its level and size. If it's too dangerous, I can only bring one," Ikelos explained. "Nightmare artifacts last at most three days, but again, stronger or larger ones will last a shorter time."
"Three days… that's enough."
Shirou nodded.
He then requested Ikelos to bring out one particular artifact from his nightmare—Prelati's Spellbook: Textbook of the Sunken Spiral Castle. (SPOILER : The Book of the Caster of Fate/Zero Gilles de Rais)
Ikelos, and indeed anyone in this world, would have no idea what kind of artifact this was or what it could do.
Only Shirou himself knew—this was a catastrophe-level artifact capable of bringing destruction to an entire world.
As something born from a nightmare, its very existence was a top-tier nightmare. It could swallow the realities of countless people.
Under normal circumstances, Shirou would never do something so insane—he would never create a world-ending artifact.
But now, facing the gods' cheat-like divine powers, he had no other choice. He had to counter them with an equally cheat-level artifact.
If his opponent was the perfect Script of a god— Then he would use a "Deus ex Machina" that transcended all human logic to obliterate it completely.
As something unknowable, the pinnacle of chaos— The Prelati's Spellbook would surely make even Hermes, and Ouranos, understand what it meant when even gods could not fathom true madness.
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