An atmosphere of despair hung over the entirety of Chernobog.
Standing amid the raging storm, Shirou could clearly hear the voices around him.
"I do not want to die!"
"AAAAAH—!"
"It is hopeless! It is hopeless! There is no way anyone can survive a Catastrophe of this scale! Hahahahaha!"
"..."
At this moment, his exceptional hearing had become the sharpest of blades, stabbing mercilessly into his heart.
Looking at the Chernobog being ravaged by the Catastrophe before him, Shirou had reached the limits of what he could do.
After enduring multiple battles and rescue operations, he was already utterly exhausted.
Then he had spent a massive amount of magical energy projecting a Caladbolg.
The only reason he had not collapsed yet was sheer willpower.
His exhausted body, combined with the cries for help and screams that pierced him like swords, left him feeling dizzy and disoriented.
At the same time, the scene before his eyes began to change repeatedly.
First came a sea of flames.
Then a city swallowed by black mud.
Then present-day Chernobog.
The three scenes flickered back and forth endlessly.
Their only common feature was the overwhelming sense of helpless despair they carried.
"Urgh..."
A sudden burst of pain in his head snapped Shirou out of his daze.
The black bow in his hand dissolved into particles of magical light and vanished.
Now, only Shirou and the recently arrived Frostnova stood upon the school's rooftop.
"Come inside and get out of the rain."
Frostnova walked through the downpour to his side, reached out, and hauled him upright, intending to drag him back into the building.
"No... I am fine."
Suppressing the pain in his head, Shirou refused her offer.
He did not know what else he could still accomplish.
But he knew one thing.
If he left now, he would regret it for the rest of his life.
He might even come back after death just to beat himself up for it.
"Fine my Ursus profanity! Do you even realize how high your body temperature is right now!? Your temperature is this high in weather this cold, and you are still saying you are fine?"
Unlike others, Frostnova was not the type to simply let Shirou do whatever he wanted.
After pulling him to his feet, she forcefully dragged him toward the rooftop entrance.
She was telling the truth.
Shirou's condition was noticeably worse than before.
Perhaps it was the cost of using that enormous explosive attack earlier.
She did not know.
What she did know was that a body temperature this high during a storm like this was absolutely abnormal.
It was hot enough that even she found it warm.
Ever since Oripathy had worsened, Frostnova had long since stopped feeling the warmth of another person's body.
Yet feeling it now brought her not the slightest bit of comfort.
Ordinary fevers were nowhere near this severe.
Yet it was undeniably happening to Shirou.
That meant his body temperature had already exceeded anything she could imagine.
"...!"
Dragged along against his will, Shirou could not break free.
His body felt incredibly heavy.
Combined with the constant stabbing pain in his head, he could barely muster any strength at all.
Yet most of his attention remained fixed upon the Catastrophe raging outside.
Both his eyes and ears were focused on it.
The cries for help and screams had begun to diminish.
In their place came curses.
Curses directed at the Catastrophe.
At the Reunion rioters.
At Ursus itself.
Then Shirou felt something.
He raised his head and looked upward.
A meteorite was falling directly toward them.
In that instant, countless solutions flashed through his mind.
Caladbolg—
No.
He no longer possessed enough magical energy to project another Noble Phantasm powerful enough to destroy that meteorite.
Nameless's Noble Phantasm—
Also impossible.
There was not enough time to project that ammunition, and the bullet Nameless had left behind was not on his person.
As for Unlimited Blade Works...
That was even less realistic.
So what was left?
The answer was already clear.
"This body... is made of swords—"
Drawing upon sheer willpower, Shirou straightened himself and raised his free left hand toward the sky.
The infection-monitoring device on his wrist continued to function.
Perhaps because his physical condition was deteriorating, the device was now flashing continuously.
Shirou paid it no attention.
Instead, he forced his already overworked Magic Circuits to give him more.
"You are...!"
The moment Frostnova heard him speak, she felt the temperature of the hand she was holding rise even further.
Turning around, she saw what Shirou was doing.
Following his gaze, Frostnova also saw the meteorite descending from the heavens.
Based on its trajectory, size, and scale, if that meteorite struck, more than half of the school would likely be destroyed.
And she and her people were all inside that school.
Even if they somehow survived through sheer luck, they would lose their shelter from the wind and rain.
For a short while that might be manageable.
But given enough time, they would all eventually die in this Catastrophe.
They would die from Oripathy.
Frostnova immediately understood the situation.
She released Shirou's arm and raised both hands toward the sky, gathering a massive shield of ice overhead.
The shield would be little more than paper in front of a meteorite.
But there was no other choice.
If she did not struggle...
She could not accept such an ending.
She refused to.
"—Rho Aias!"
At the same time, Shirou, relentlessly squeezing every last drop from his Magic Circuits, finally succeeded in projecting the Noble Phantasm he needed.
The strongest defensive Noble Phantasm they possessed.
Although it was somewhat smaller than usual due to insufficient magical energy and the urgency of the situation, it remained fully usable.
After all, Shirou had never intended to stop the meteorite head-on.
With a thunderous crash, the meteorite first slammed into Frostnova's ice shield.
"Hold... together!"
Frostnova desperately tried to maintain the barrier.
But after only a few seconds, the ice shield finally shattered beneath the meteorite's impact.
The meteorite then collided with the projected Rho Aias.
The tremendous force caused Shirou's arms to tremble violently.
And that was after Frostnova's shield had already reduced much of the impact.
Otherwise, the hastily assembled Rho Aias he had projected might have cracked apart first.
Not because Rho Aias itself could not withstand a meteorite.
Rather, because this projection was already at the absolute limit of Shirou's abilities.
"HRAAAAH—!"
Controlling the translucent purple shield above him, Shirou tilted it to one side.
The meteorite followed the altered angle and slid away from its original course.
From the very beginning, Shirou had never intended to stop it directly.
His goal had been to deflect it.
The open space in front of the school was fairly large.
Having a giant rock there as decoration would not be so bad.
If only it did not carry an infection risk.
Unfortunately, the area was now filled with far more Originium dust than before.
If anyone inside the school opened a window to get some fresh air, they might become Infected almost immediately.
Still, nobody was likely to open a window during weather like this.
So the problem was not too severe.
It would be even better if the Catastrophe ended soon.
"Ugh..."
Having exhausted the very last traces of both magical energy and physical strength, Shirou felt as though something were drilling into his skull.
His exhausted body and overwhelming pain caused his vision to go dark.
Just as he was about to make intimate contact with the floor, Frostnova reached out and caught him.
Supporting his weight, she quickly pulled him back inside the building.
"That was way too close."
Now sheltered indoors, Frostnova could only pray that a second meteorite would not fall directly on top of them.
She could not stop one herself.
And Shirou certainly did not look capable of using Rho Aias a second time.
Though the shield differed somewhat from how she remembered it, its unique appearance and abilities were unmistakable.
After catching her breath, Frostnova wiped the rainwater from her face.
Then she did the same for Shirou.
"It has completely dried..."
While wiping his face, she noticed that the blood covering his body had completely hardened.
Compared to before, there was less of it.
Still, rather than simply drying naturally, it looked as though the blood had been baked into stubborn stains by extreme heat.
Thinking about heat reminded Frostnova of something.
She reached out and touched Shirou's forehead.
It felt warm.
Given the state of her Oripathy, she knew that this temperature was already extremely high.
She herself was practically a walking block of ice.
Merely existing caused cold air to radiate from her body.
In the past, Frostnova had hated that aspect of herself.
She could not touch other people.
She could not properly enjoy delicious food.
For any ordinary person, that would be a painful way to live.
"I do not know whether this will work, but there is only one way to find out."
Yet now she was grateful for her Arts.
Otherwise, she would be completely helpless.
Frostnova carefully activated her Arts within a limited area, attempting to lower Shirou's body temperature.
The effect was immediate.
His expression visibly relaxed.
The cold stimulation also helped him regain some clarity, reminding him of their current situation.
"It looks like... this is not going to stop anytime soon."
Listening to the wind and rain battering the doors outside, Shirou knew one thing with certainty.
At the absolute minimum, this Catastrophe still had another thirty minutes left to run.
That was already the most optimistic estimate.
But no matter how one looked at it now, there was no way this Catastrophe would end within another thirty minutes.
If anything, as more meteorites continued to fall, the wind and rain seemed to be growing even stronger.
"It is perfectly normal for this type of Catastrophe to last half a day or more. You should close your eyes and get some rest. Do you need water?"
Still maintaining her Arts, Frostnova replied calmly.
After hearing her words, Shirou closed his eyes and began to think.
Even though his head felt as though it were about to split apart, he still had to figure out a way to deal with the situation.
Half a day...
If they simply waited for the Catastrophe to end on its own, most of Chernobog would probably be destroyed.
At this point, Shirou felt as though his head were buzzing endlessly.
As if a hundred Exusiai and Croissants were all arguing at the same time.
The will was there.
The strength was not.
No phrase could better describe his current state.
With his Magic Circuits overloaded, even turning over was difficult.
Stopping a Catastrophe was completely out of the question.
Heh.
Had anything really changed at all?
He had thought he had finally gained the power to save someone.
Yet reality was showing him that he was still the same powerless child standing amidst that inferno.
In the face of a Catastrophe, human strength was simply too insignificant.
Whether it was something caused by the Holy Grail or by Originium, the result was the same.
He had known that for a very long time.
There were simply too many things in this world that humans could never accomplish.
A miracle...
What a distant concept.
Surviving that fire had already been a miracle.
Meeting Saber on that night and participating in the Holy Grail War had been even more miraculous.
"...Saber?"
Countless memories flashed through his mind.
And among them, Shirou seized upon a single possibility.
If it was that sword...
Could it perhaps break the deadlock before him?
The problem, however, was magical energy.
Even at his peak condition, Shirou could not guarantee that he could successfully project that sword.
Yet once the idea appeared, his thoughts naturally began moving in that direction.
First, he needed to solve the issue of magical energy.
Lie here for half a day and wait for his reserves to recover?
By then, the Catastrophe would already have devastated most of the city.
Time was precisely what he lacked.
Find someone to provide magical energy?
Draw it from Frostnova or the other Infected...
No.
That was not right.
Was there not a better source available?
The people of this land possessed no Magic Circuits, nor magical energy, nor magecraft.
But they did have Originium and Originium Arts.
That person had said it before.
Originium could be used as a magical energy source.
The problem was that magical energy converted from Originium functioned like a slow-acting poison.
That aspect did not concern Shirou.
After all, the side effects were already present on his body.
Those strange red markings.
Although the available data was limited, and Doctor Kal'tsit had specifically advised him not to cross that threshold, there was no better option right now.
Struggling to his feet, Shirou once again headed outside.
Frostnova had gone downstairs to get water.
If she were here, she would probably drag him back immediately.
Perhaps it was better that she was not.
That way he did not need to waste what little strength and concentration he had left explaining what he intended to do.
For some reason, his Mystic Code had not disappeared despite his magical energy being completely exhausted.
Then again, if this Mystic Code had truly been left behind by that person, nothing about it was surprising anymore.
And the Holy Shroud Mystic Code had helped him tremendously.
Just like now.
Although Shirou felt as though his body were about to fall apart, the Mystic Code still provided exceptional protection.
Enough that he could leap directly from the school's rooftop and land without injury.
His destination was clear.
The meteorite that had nearly crashed into the school.
A massive Originium crystal.
Leaving it here would only transform the surrounding area into another source of infection.
Using it as a source of magical energy seemed perfectly reasonable.
Approaching the gigantic Originium mass, Shirou placed a hand upon it.
Taking a deep breath, he began his chant.
"Trace, on—"