Fate: I Will Eventually Become the Hero of Justice

Jeanne lifted her sword with resolve in her eyes. "It seems we have to use my Noble Phantasm."

Shirou was speechless.

Why did she want to self-destruct so much?

He said, "Jeanne, the Command Spell."

She shook her head. "That won't work. The seals...they have no power over it now."

"Not on it. On me."

"Huh?" she was taken aback.

Shudde M'ell continued its maddened assault, unable to shatter Mash's stalwart defense. But her brow was beaded with strain, the effort taking its toll.

Mash didn't fully comprehend her shield, but she knew it was linked to her spirit and will. As long as those didn't waver, it could withstand any attack.

In other words, her defense was her own determination given form.

Jeanne nodded, understanding Shirou's intent if not his full plan.

"By the Command Spell, black Assassin, recover your strength!"

He felt the Seal's mana flow into him, partly restoring his powers.

But glancing at his Awakening progress, he saw the bar unchanged. Clearly, the Seal's energy couldn't fuel that growth.

"Again!"

"I understand!" she quickly granted him another Seal.

Shirou felt his mana surge yet again.

The might of two Seals made him feel invincible, if only for a moment.

But he soon realized the Seal's energy was fleeting - it would fade fast. No wonder it couldn't fill his progress bar.

Yet with this rush of power, Shirou felt like his old self again.

He channeled it into his "Evil".

In an instant, it manifested a giant of mud, over two hundred meters tall, with him at its core.

Not only that, he also summoned "Vampiric Evil," covering the titan in red skin, making it look like a true Ultraman from the Land of Light.

It shone brightly, radiating power.

"Again?" François Prelati looked utterly baffled.

Could this be some kind of mistake?

He had summoned the monstrous Shudde M'ell with the arcane power of R'lyeh, creating a beast over two hundred meters tall. He thought he had the firm advantage, but now, Assassin had transformed into a giant of equal size...

It was like a replay of their recent battle in the city.

Shirou's mud titan glowed with light and eight additional arms sprouted from the titan's back. Each of the arms wielded a colossal, sixty-meter sword Ig-Alima. It looked as if Ultraman had come to battle Cthulhu.

Shudde M'ell's hide was resistant to magical attack, but vulnerable to physical force.

With eight arms swinging, he smashed the Ig-Alimas into it, making the beast howl in pain.

It spewed acid that could corrode the giant's form, but Jeanne stood atop the titan, using "Luminosité Eternelle" to shield its upper half, while Mash protected the lower with her shield.

Left with no openings, Shudde M'ell tried to burrow underground again. But the titan reached out and grabbed its head, wrenching it back into the open.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss—" it shrieked in strange noises.

The hidden body of Shudde M'ell surged within the earth, but Shirou condensed his black mud, morphing into a smaller giant underground to attack them.

His mud titan grappled with Shudde M'ell, then pushed its head flat to the ground, pinning it there. The eight Ig-Alimas struck as one.

"Boom!"

Shudde M'ell howled in agony, writhing to break free, but he held it fast.

It raised its head, spewing acid at the titan's head. But Jeanne, ever vigilant, used "Luminosité Eternelle" to block it once more.

Still atop the prone Shudde M'ell, the mud titan wielded four Ig-Alimas to strike it, while four more hands wrenched its jaws open, revealing jagged teeth.

Peering down its gaping maw, he projected twelve Rhongomyniads and aimed them into the beast's gullet, firing a focused beam of light.

"Boom!" Its insides flickered with light.

"Hiss, hiss!" Shudde M'ell thrashed in torment, but he kept it pinned as he forced its jaws wide again.

This time, he manifested twelve more Rhongomyniads and twelve Caliburns, along with twenty-four black arms. He plunged the weapons into Shudde M'ell's body and discharged them.

"BOOM!"

Spiderweb cracks appeared across its sturdy hide.

However, it still didn't explode.

The mana from the Command Seal was quickly fading away.

After careful consideration, he exerted great effort to project Excalibur, the Sword of Promised Victory. Replicating a divine construct was no easy feat, but he was no ordinary man. Still, he was no Artoria, either, so his version of Excalibur held considerably less power and consumed immense amounts of mana.

But mimicking Excalibur's traits was enough. To Earth, Shudde M'ell and other eldritch horrors were invaders.

When he projected the blade, it emitted a faint starlight.

Using the black hands, he plunged the sword deep into Shudde M'ell's body and unleashed Excalibur's power.

"BOOM!"

A rumble tore through the air—

Starlight surged through Shudde M'ell, shattering it from within.

Amongst the shattered remains, there was a golden bridge of starlight.

"It's...beautiful," Mash breathed.

Hidden within Shudde M'ell, François Prelati could not escape his fate this time. The starlight shattered him, dissipating his body like spiritual particles. Yet his unwilling voice lingered in the air, "To die in such a miserable state...but don't be pleased. The Lord's arrival is inevitable... Can you hear it? The voice of the Lord. Hum, hum, hum..."

Leaving behind the mad mutterings, he faded away completely.

Jeanne was troubled by Prelati's words, but the surrounding city had already begun dissipating.

Nothing was worth caring about anymore.

"Let's get out of here first; this place is collapsing," Shirou said.

"Yes," Mash and Jeanne agreed, departing together.

As they left the city's depths, Shirou instinctively turned back, freezing as he saw that the Old One had opened his eyes to gaze upon him.

Gradually, the city dissolved into spiritual particles, François Prelati's Reality Marble vanishing entirely.

However, he couldn't forget the last look Cthulhu gave him.

That pure, unspeakable fear which penetrated beyond human malice.

...

After leaving the city of R'lyeh, Shirou and his companions continued their underground patrol, searching for any lingering creatures summoned by François Prelati.

However, Shirou seemed distracted during their sweep. He couldn't stop thinking about Cthulhu's ominous gaze before the creature vanished with its city. But with R'lyeh gone, so too was Cthulhu, and he tried to put it out of his mind.

In the Type-Moon Universe, the Heroic Spirits of the Cthulhu Mythos have their place, much like the Outer Gods. These cosmic entities exist outside normal space and time, only able to descend when summoned.

Many Cthulhu Mythos Heroic Spirits connect to the Outer Gods through pacts or possession, gaining some of their form and power. These spirits are classified as Foreigners, like Abigail and Yang Guifei.

Prelati's Noble Phantasm, Textbook of the Sunken Spiral Castle, had warped the world's principles. Through that distortion, the impossible city R'lyeh manifested - a realm of horrors. Now that Prelati was dead and his conjuring undone, the channel was closed. But the threat had been real enough.

Prelati's Phantasm was formidable, as evidenced by a whole city arising through its power. Its strength comparable to Semiramis's Hanging Gardens. R'lyeh's creatures, mechanisms, even its architecture were imbued with eldritch might. Had Jeanne braved its depths alone, she may well have needed to sacrifice herself to escape.

In the end, though, Prelati had chosen the wrong opponent.

Shirou's black mud made him especially effective against these monsters, directly consuming them for energy. With a projected Excalibur, he easily killed Prelati. But crude force was inferior to more elegant solutions - had Gilgamesh used Ea instead, its primordial vortex would have effortlessly destroyed the space sustaining R'lyeh.

Upon circling the city, the group discovered lingering small monsters left by Prelati in the tunnels. Before Mash and Jeanne could engage them, he quickly devoured the creatures, absorbing their magical energy.

Once the tunnels were cleared, the group returned to the surface. As Savior of France, Jeanne stayed behind to aid the brainwashed residents. Shirou and Mash departed without her.

They had learned nothing new about the connection points, which was disappointing. But Prelati's defeat was still a success. Now they needed Gray's help to proceed. But simply waiting and doing nothing felt too passive to him.

And...

"Master, you seem quite disappointed. What's wrong?" He asked Mash, noticing her dejected expression as if something weighed heavily on her mind.

"No, it's nothing, Mr. Fujimaru," she shook her head and said somewhat dejectedly. "I just feel like I didn't help at all back there. I even caused more trouble. I couldn't even use my Noble Phantasm."

He looked confused. "Weren't you doing fine though?"

"N-no, I..." she stammered.

Shirou reached out to pat her head reassuringly, but stopped himself and put a hand on her shoulder instead. "Don't be so hard on yourself. These things take time. You can't expect to become the person you idealize overnight - that's unrealistic. You still have a long way to go, and you'll gradually grow stronger."

Mash felt touched initially by his motivational words. But then he continued, "Besides, if you were totally reliable already, how could I highlight my own mature dependability?"

She went silent, unsure how to respond. Was it really necessary to elevate himself by putting others down like that?

"Mr. Fujimaru...!" she started to protest.

But he just laughed and walked away, calling back, "Let's go, I'm hungry!"

Mash stood there, not sure what expression to make. She felt a bit helpless dealing with her eccentric Servant sometimes. With a resigned sigh, she stepped forward to follow after him.