Chapter 148: The Nine Hell Princess Seals the Sea Demon in Ice, Shirou Forges the Oathbound Sword of Victory!
Under the shroud of night, the massive Sea Demon slowly advanced from a distant horizon.
Its gigantic body and boundless tentacles nearly touched the ground, and the furthest of its appendages were already close enough to strike the walls of Orario, capable of utterly demolishing them.
Faced with such madness, Orario's adventurers were undoubtedly filled with immense fear. An indescribable sense of despair loomed over everyone's hearts, crushing them with oppressive dread.
Yet even in this hopeless situation, there were still brave souls who chose to stand up, daring to clash with this seemingly invincible monster.
The first to act was Freya Familia — the strongest in terms of individual combat power in all of Orario. They charged alone to the edge of the coastline and engaged the Sea Demon on the front lines.
Although the Sea Demon's true body was colossal beyond comprehension, the tentacles reaching toward the ground were still within a range humans could deal with.
Through Ottar's fierce frontal assault, coupled with heavy support from mages in the rear, all tentacles that invaded the ground were wiped out immediately.
At the same time, Loki Familia and the Xenos served as a special strike force, launching a direct assault on the Sea Demon's main body from the other end of the coast.
Magic, magic swords, special skills— Under Finn's command, every attack method that could be used against the Sea Demon's core was unleashed all at once.
"Everyone—attack together!!"
Finn's voice rang out clear and sharp.
Behind him, Riveria, Lefiya, and a large number of other mages gathered mana and released long-range magical attacks.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Like a rain of fireworks, the sea's surface lit up. Countless magical blasts and barrages of arrows rained down upon the Sea Demon, blasting open a massive wound in its body.
However—before anyone could even feel a moment of triumph, the Sea Demon's flesh began to squirm grotesquely.
In the blink of an eye, the monster's gigantic body had already regenerated, restored to perfect condition.
"What a monster..."
Seeing this, everyone present sank further into despair.
All their attacks were in vain— No, at the very least, they'd managed to slow down the Sea Demon's advance.
But when thinking about the inevitable ending still looming, even that felt like nothing more than the desperate flailing of a dying man.
"If only Ais was here…"
Finn furrowed his brow, feeling a deep sense of dependence on the Sword Princess.
After all, as the possessor of the skill [Avenger], Ais held the strongest anti-monster combat power in the entire Loki Familia.
But unfortunately, Ais had left the main force to track down the Sword Demon's whereabouts. The Sea Demon's sudden emergence had left Loki Familia with no time to search for her, and now it was impossible to spare anyone for such a task.
Even without Ais Wallenstein, they had to stop this invasion!
BOOM!
Finn shook off his hesitation and continued to command the mage units to attack. But no matter how much they bombarded the Sea Demon, they still couldn't deal it any lasting damage.
The magic would tear it apart—but if all the wounds regenerated instantly, what was the point?
Finn came to a harsh realization: The only way to defeat this monster was to obliterate it in a single strike, leaving not a single scrap of flesh behind.
To do that, even Level 6 or Level 7 spells weren't enough.
They needed a higher-tier spell—something closer to transcendent magic—to destroy this abomination.
But for the adventurers of Orario, such power was essentially unattainable.
Even the strongest magic users in the city—Riveria of Loki Familia and Heith of Freya Familia—had already unleashed their most powerful magic. And still, they hadn't been able to make the Sea Demon flinch.
Anyone capable of surpassing Riveria and Heith's power in magic simply did not exist in Orario—at least not now.
"Riveria, we can't keep this up. Let's retreat for now."
Finn bit his thumb, realizing they had no viable path forward. He chose a temporary retreat to regroup and search for a breakthrough.
But his suggestion was flatly rejected by Riveria.
As the strongest mage in Loki Familia—and perhaps all of Orario—Riveria immediately grasped the terror this Sea Demon represented. She knew full well the catastrophic consequences if the monster ever reached land.
For the first time, she disobeyed Finn's command.
"No. At the very least, I cannot leave. We must stop that thing right here!"
"…"
Finn understood her decision—but he couldn't accept it.
In his eyes, Riveria's life was more important than a hundred—no, a thousand—innocent civilians.
Yes, letting the Sea Demon reach land would be devastating.
But if they lost Riveria—Orario's strongest mage—here and now, they would have no hope of defeating the monster later.
Still, Finn knew just how stubborn Riveria could be.
He sighed heavily, then gritted his teeth and shouted:
"Everyone—support Riveria! Don't take even a single step back!"
"Yes, sir!"
His order was met with a chorus of agreement. Though afraid of the Sea Demon, none of the Loki Familia members would ever abandon their comrade.
They held the front line—even at the cost of their lives.
Then, Finn turned to Riveria and asked:
"If we give you enough time—can you unleash a spell that surpasses your current tier? Something that can actually destroy that monster?"
Riveria's expression was grim as she answered:
"I don't know if it can destroy it completely. But if I'm given enough time to prepare, I might be able to temporarily seal its movements."
"Temporarily seal it… that's not good enough."
Finn frowned.
"If we can't deal real damage, we'll only waste your magic—and if you're left too drained to fight, we still won't be able to kill that thing."
"…"
Riveria had no rebuttal. She didn't believe even she could unleash a spell strong enough to annihilate a mountain-sized monstrosity.
Even as the [Nine Demon Princess], the strongest mage in Orario— There were things she simply could not do.
At that moment of deadlock for Loki Familia, a black-haired twin-tailed goddess suddenly rushed up to the top of the city wall.
She was panting hard, as if carrying a message of great urgency. She looked up at the gods atop the wall and cried out:
"Can I ask you all to hold that thing back—just for a little while?!"
"Hestia?!"
Loki and Freya were stunned by her sudden arrival.
They hadn't expected her to come to the battlefield—or to make such an unusual request.
Unlike the confused expressions of most gods, Loki's eyes sharpened. She quickly realized what was going on and looked straight at Hestia.
"Did Emiya Shirou send you to deliver a message?"
"Yes."
Hestia nodded.
It was precisely because of Shirou's request that she had come to the front lines without hesitation—to relay his words.
Even though Hestia didn't understand why Shirou had created a monster like the Sea Demon with his own hands—or why he wanted Orario's familias to buy him time— She chose to trust him. To believe in her familia.
And as for her request: perhaps most gods would have doubted it.
But Loki didn't hesitate for a second.
She nodded decisively.
During the war with Thanatos Familia, Shirou had completely gained Loki's trust. As a result, she quickly conveyed her will to her own familia.
"Looks like… there's hope now."
Upon receiving word from Shirou's side asking them to stall the Sea Demon for a while, Finn immediately realized that Shirou must be preparing some kind of ultimate method to destroy it.
So he and the other members of Loki Familia did not hesitate in the slightest. They agreed to the request at once, and the expression of hope returned to their faces.
After all, everyone in Loki Familia now believed in Shirou—believed that he wouldn't betray their expectations!
"Everyone—buy me time!"
Riveria took a deep breath and began her long and drawn-out chant, invoking the most powerful magic she could possibly unleash.
"—O harbinger of the end, O pure white snow." "As twilight approaches, stir up the storm—seal the light, freeze the land, and summon a blizzard to blanket the world—Threefold Winter!" "—I am Alf!"
As Riveria's highest-tier magic activated, a surge of overwhelming frost and cold wind swept forth, charging ahead with unprecedented power.
In an instant, not only the Sea Demon, but even the sea beneath it was being frozen solid by the overwhelming cold.
The freezing aura surged forward endlessly— as if it intended to reach the very ends of the sky!
CRACK!
Finally, Riveria's grand magic successfully froze the Sea Demon.
This astonishing spectacle caused all of Orario to erupt in cheers and celebration.
However— The truly strong and experienced individuals understood: Riveria's attack had only temporarily stalled the Sea Demon's advance. It hadn't inflicted any real, lasting damage.
And in exchange, Riveria's own mana was more than half drained. She could no longer cast another magic of this level again.
If, during the time the Sea Demon was frozen, Orario couldn't figure out a way to defeat the monster, then all they could do was await the end of the world.
.
.
.
Inside Orario.
Although the Sea Demon had yet to make landfall, the aura of pressure it exuded was already enough for the entire city to feel it clearly.
That oppressive chill—it felt like it was freezing the soul itself. And the moment she laid eyes on the dark silhouette looming at the distant horizon, Ais finally understood the horrifying reality now facing the city.
She had thought, since Shirou told her he wanted her to become a hero, he would surely take her to face the Sea Demon.
But instead, he brought her to the Hephaestus Familia's workshop.
"Why did you bring me here?"
Ais looked at Shirou in confusion. She couldn't understand why, at a time of such urgency, he had brought her to a weapon forge.
But Shirou didn't offer an explanation.
He went to find the only adventurer in Hephaestus Familia and requested a private forging room.
However, his request wasn't granted immediately.
Because of the appearance of the Sea Demon, all the blacksmiths across Orario were under the mobilization of Loki Familia and Freya Familia, working at full capacity to forge weapons and equipment—to reinforce the frontlines.
As a result, all the forges in Hephaestus Familia were already occupied.
Helpless, Shirou went to see Hephaestus herself— and found her together with the blacksmith Welf.
Hephaestus seemed to be trying to convince Welf to forge magic swords, but his deep-seated hatred for such weapons made it hard for him to agree.
Shirou ignored that exchange and directly said:
"Can you give me a forging room?"
"Emiya?"
Surprised to see Shirou appear after being missing for so long, Hephaestus was first shocked—then gave a slightly complex nod.
She clearly didn't understand why Shirou would want to forge a weapon at a time like this. And even more puzzling was why he'd brought the Sword Princess Ais with him.
Driven by curiosity, she followed Shirou, bringing Welf along as well.
Led by Hephaestus, the group arrived at an empty forging chamber.
Shirou didn't waste any time—he immediately began preparing for the forging process.
But seeing all this, Ais' confusion finally exploded.
"Shirou, why are you forging weapons now?! That monster is almost here, isn't it?!"
"Ais—do you really think Orario, with its current strength, can defeat that thing?"
Shirou asked her calmly in return.
Ais was silent for a moment. Then, with a helpless look, she shook her head.
Even without fighting it herself, she could feel the terror the Sea Demon radiated. Its colossal size alone was something Orario could not hope to destroy.
Still, she didn't understand—why forge a weapon now?
Recalling what Shirou had said before, about making her a hero, Ais suddenly had a bold, almost absurd thought.
"Don't tell me… you're trying to forge a weapon that can destroy that monster?"
"Exactly."
Seeing that Ais had finally grasped his purpose, Shirou nodded silently.
"Can you really forge such a weapon?" Hephaestus couldn't help but ask. "Even the strongest blacksmith in Genkai couldn't possibly make such a thing."
"Indeed, human strength has its limits," Shirou nodded. "If it's just a mortal weapon, there's no way it could break through that final threshold."
"But… what if I forged a weapon that surpasses humanity? One that reaches a higher realm?"
"A weapon that reaches a higher realm?"
Hearing Shirou's words, not only Hephaestus, but even Welf was stunned.
"Can a mortal really forge such a weapon?"
"A mortal alone probably can't." Shirou shook his head. "I've felt like I was so close to breaking that barrier countless times… yet every time, I was rejected—unable to surpass that limit."
"Then how…"
"But now—I finally know the reason I couldn't break through."
Shirou's expression turned resolute.
"Mortals can't forge divine weapons not because of lack of skill or dedication.
Even Hephaestus, after descending to Genkai, can't make divine artifacts anymore. That proves that skill isn't the limiting factor."
"If it's not skill, then what is?"
"Divine power."
Shirou spoke in a calm tone, conveying the insight he gained after the battle with the artificial angel:
"The biggest difference between mortals and gods… is the ability to use divine power. The reason mortals can't forge divine weapons is simple: They have no divine power within them."
"Without access to a higher-dimensional force, how can they create something that exists on that level? That is the true reason mortals are unable to forge divine artifacts."
His words left everyone in the room speechless.
Even Hephaestus had to silently admit—he was right. The inability to wield divine power was exactly why mortals couldn't create divine weapons.
"But if that's the case, how could a mortal ever forge such a weapon?" Hephaestus asked quietly. "Even gods can't use divine power in Genkai. So doesn't that mean it's impossible?"
"Under normal circumstances—yes, it's impossible." Shirou nodded in agreement.
"But just now, I received an important piece of information— It turns out the gods once conducted extensive divine power experiments in Genkai. The so-called 'Spirit Blood' -is actually the product of these divine experiments, where gods infused their divine power into lower-world beings."
"Spirit Blood… is a product of divine experiments?"
This revelation left everyone completely shaken.
Even Hephaestus was stunned by the implications.
But Shirou didn't explain further—he had no intention of involving Ais or Hephaestus in the darker truths of the gods' experiments.
"In short, if this information is true—then the so-called 'Spirit Power' or 'Spirit Bloodline' carries the influence of divine power.
The descendants of Spirits should have blood infused with divine power, just like their ancestors."
"If I can use that divine-infused blood… and channel it into a weapon— Then maybe I can truly forge a divine weapon. A god-made artifact!"
Everyone was shaken by Shirou's conclusion.
Even Hephaestus had never thought of such a method for forging divine artifacts in Genkai.
Even so— Could he really succeed?
While the others still harbored doubts, Shirou didn't hesitate in the slightest. As soon as everything was ready, he began forging the weapon—at maximum speed.
He began crafting the divine weapon that would defeat the Sea Demon:
The Oathbound Sword of Victory.
Yes— Forging the Oathbound Sword of Victory was Shirou's method for defeating the Sea Demon!
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