Xingyue, is Xiaokai also considered Kai?

184: The Purified Hero King

The next morning, Novia went to the Central Hospital of Snowfield City alone.

Although Melsin and Altrouge both wanted to come along, he thought that since they were only going to help the Pale Knight Master, Tsubaki Kanaoka, who had become a vegetable due to her parents' experiments, it wouldn't be good to bring a bunch of people.

Novia had originally planned to meet all the Servants who participated in the battle yesterday, but things didn't go as planned. So she decided to deal with Tsubaki's problem first, since she was quite pitiful to have parents who perfectly fit the concept of a 'magician'.

Therefore, he found a place for her and sent her to Reien Girls' Academy in Japan. It is a fully residential academy where many students stay even during winter and summer vacations. It is almost impossible for them to go out freely or communicate with the outside world. Even if a phone call comes in from outside, it must first be filtered by the dormitory supervisor.

Moreover, that was church territory, and the dean was a woman who had retired from the Inquisition Knights, so she was capable of teaching children with magical talent.

In Novia's view, although the Church had improved somewhat since the fifth century, the current high-ranking members were mostly corrupt individuals from a past perspective, including a cardinal who had made a deal with the Dead Apostles to obtain the means to immortality...

However, it is enough for the grassroots level to maintain its current level as always.

"Yes, it's confirmed. The hospital has spoken with Mr. and Mrs. Kuanqiu and they agree... Excuse me, may I ask again, what are your names?"

"At the Central Hospital," a staff member behind the window asked.

"粿秋春."

"What about your age?"

"10 is old."

"Please sign here, thank you."

The staff handed over a form from under the window and pointed to several places where signatures were required.

"Kuangqiu Chun is in a vegetative state for unknown reasons... Is it really certain that he should be discharged from the hospital?"

"Ah."

Upon hearing this, the staff member stamped the seal and solemnly asked:

"I don't know if I should say this, but are the Kuangqiu couple really alright? Ah, no, I don't mean anything specific, I just think they're very strange. It's rare to see parents who are willing to raise their children treat them like that... Sometimes I think about calling the police, because it's really strange that they don't care about anything else but want their children to retain their fertility, but they are parents after all, and there are no signs of abuse... Ah, sorry, sorry, I'm just rambling, please don't mind me..."

The employee cursed himself inwardly for speaking out his thoughts. If other colleagues heard him, he might get into trouble... So he subconsciously looked around and found that his colleagues seemed to have the same expression as him.

However, the staff also felt strange, because when they saw the silver-haired young man they were seeing for the first time, they felt a sense of familiarity, and they trusted that what Qian said to him would definitely be resolved properly.

"Yes, I know. Don't worry, she will be well taken care of from now on."

After saying that, Novia walked toward the ward where Tsubaki Kugaoka was.

In reality, the Pale Knight had been waiting for his arrival, so the black mist that had filled the hospital to protect Master Tsubaki had long since dissipated.

So without any effort or hindrance, Novia pushed open the door to the ward.

After his body was bathed in the sterilizing gas and ultraviolet light, the door opened in the opposite direction from where he had come in, and he looked at a hospital bed in front of him.

Lying in the hospital bed is a young girl who is receiving an IV drip; this is Tsubaki Kumagai.

Although Kugaoka Tsubaki appeared to be merely asleep, her face was helpless and gaunt, and she showed no sign of regaining consciousness.

Novia nodded to the 'black figure' beside the sleeping Kuangqiu Chun, also known as the Pale Knight, and scanned the room, finding that there was no one else besides herself and Kuangqiu Chun.

Soon, he walked to the bedside, placed his hand on Kuangqiu Chun's forehead, and then asked the Pale Knight to soothe Kuangqiu Chun, who was in the spiritual world.

In an instant, Novia found himself in a boundless, pitch-black world, illuminated by pale blue lights. Having visited the Temple of the Old Man in the Mountain, he immediately recognized his location as a place akin to the underworld. Before him lay countless intertwined, writhing threads, and he began to organize the chaos into order.

In just a few dozen seconds, the South American bacteria that the Kuiu couple had been arbitrarily using for their experiments were perfectly integrated.

What others considered insurmountable distances simply did not exist for Novia; he didn't even need to do anything, the finish line would come to him on its own.

The azure light shone ever brighter in the darkness, and that light also triggered a reaction from something in the underworld, causing it to slowly approach.

It was a golden light that, though not human-shaped, was exceptionally dazzling.

As if guided by the azure lamplight, the golden light strode majestically through the darkness, finally arriving before Novia.

Then, Jin Guang gazed at Novia and uttered a single sentence:

"Nice to meet you, or rather, 'nice to meet you.' If I had awakened like a Spirit Origin before, I doubt I could have such a friendly exchange. As for a Wise King, that's another story, but the Hero King doesn't accept the possibility of being at a disadvantage."

The golden light slowly transformed back into the figure of a young man as he spoke. The young man stood up and bowed respectfully.

His behavior showed no disdain or obsequiousness; one could feel his heartfelt respect for Novia. His nature was fundamentally different from that of the King of Heroes.

"Although I am extremely sorry for visiting without permission, because the 'Demon King' that I, as a 'Hero,' should have destroyed no longer exists, and therefore should not have appeared, I cannot suppress my excitement at the thought of such a being descending into the world, therefore—"

The boy smiled slightly, as if gazing at the distant sky, and quietly reached his hand into the darkness.

"Please allow me to introduce myself. Although the name is the same, my current spirit origin is merely an imposter. My true nature is a very special category in this world. You may call me—"

There was no sarcasm or malice in the boy's words, only pure goodwill. Novia understood that this goodwill was just that—goodwill, not the command that the Hero King loved to utter, but a pure wish.

"As a result of what has been accomplished, the purified alterego, I eagerly anticipate our real meeting, with you who, like me, desire to elevate humanity to a higher position."

185: The Dark History That Qihuang Couldn't Accept (4k)

Gilgamesh, of the Alterego class, is the King of Uruk purified as a human. In other words, he is a hero who has completely excluded the flesh and blood of the gods from his heart and body. He is a pure human being, an ending that Enkidu could not have predicted.

At the same time, he is the Golden King who has never met Enkidu, who is determined to part ways with the gods, who has traveled all the way alone, who is the 'Gold' who only prays to mankind to complete, and who is also the device that wants to push mankind itself onto the throne of the gods.

The most important reason for his appearance in FSF is that the divinity in his spirit origin was completely stripped away by the goddess Ishtar, and he was fed half a bottle of immortality elixir by his master Tini, which is why he appeared in the world in the form of a boy.

The most obvious characteristic is that the magic that once permeated the ages of humans and gods when it was first summoned has completely disappeared. Instead, it is nothing in the world, exuding the aura of an infinitely pure "human" who seems to have grown up without being corrupted.

If the former Hero King was imbued with domineering aura, the current AE Flash evokes a deep longing that wells up from the very depths of one's being.

"You just want to see me, don't you?"

Novia knew that the human flash was theoretically meant to deal with the bull sea. According to FSF, the bull sea was the 'demon king', while the human flash was the 'hero'. As for Hebrew, who was initially sent by the human reason, he was the counterpart to the enemy sea.

It's also possible that Hikari saw that Hippo was unlikely to be a match for Ushimi, which is why he sent someone to appear in the world.

The previous conversation confirmed Novia's guess: Ae Flash was originally intended as a backup plan to deal with the Bull Sea, but now that the Bull of Heaven has been destroyed by Typhon, the Sea of ​​Vengeance can no longer devour the Bull of Heaven to become the Bull Sea.

So even if the King of Heroes himself unfortunately leaves the stage, AE Flash shouldn't have appeared. But AE Flash really wanted to see Novia, which led to the scene and conversation we just had... As for the goddess who was extremely unhappy with Ishtar, perhaps she felt that Ishtar was already dead and therefore didn't need to come out.

Ultimately, the underworld created by the Pale Knight can be considered a public place, where any pantheon, as long as it is related to death, can come and take a stroll.

"Yes, we pay tribute to the great."

The boyish appearance of AE Flash, combined with Novia's voice, quietly weaves together language.

Centered on him, in the dark underworld, countless Noble Phantasms and their original texts struggled, combined with each other, and began to move in groups.

Originally a sword, it was once a bow, once a spear, once a hidden weapon, once a shield, once a ring, once a shackle, something from a book, something poisonous, something used as medicine, something taken for granted...

This shows that many people in the kingdom offered sacrifices.

Those were offerings from the people of Uruk, not from anyone else, for the future, and also a great prayer to the Golden King.

Countless prototypes converge and return to a form.

"As evidence, we want to challenge you together, who are similar to me but intend to elevate humanity to a completely different level."

AE flashed out his hands, and at the same time, two "hands" emerged from the gap that appeared behind him in the pitch-black underworld.

Generally speaking, when people think of hands, images of "creation" and "destruction" come to mind. Hands, which create countless weapons and tools, hunt prey, create pottery and agricultural implements, and constantly improve life, can be said to be a symbol of human history.

However, Novia knew that the hand was, in some ways, a more important sense than the eyes and nose, and that the hand was also a special place in the human body where nerves were highly concentrated.

According to some sources, the hand is a symbol of evolution.

Although there are various theories of evolution, the idea that humans occupy a special place among primates is precisely because of the shape of their hand is deeply ingrained.

This is not only because human hands created refined heterogeneous stone tools and bows and arrows, nor simply because, apart from dexterous humans, others disappeared under the pressure of natural selection.

Rather, it means that the information inputted into people through the pressure exerted on the hand and the natural coordination of the fingers has had some influence on evolution.

According to El-Melloi II in the Type-Moon universe, for a god, the image of the hand probably represents 'reaching all corners of the universe'.

Throughout Asia, the Thousand-Armed Guanyin, who appears as a savior, is symbolized by her countless arms.

Conversely, for war gods like Asura, it is a symbol of destruction.

Therefore, if one possesses the hand of God, one can access information that was originally inaccessible to humans.

In other words, it achieved an evolution that was impossible for humans.

If you take this into account, you can understand why AE Flash uses 'hands' as a weapon.

"However, that will have to wait until you've dealt with the fallen heroes of the Western Lands. It's a real pity that they're so obsessed with revenge that even their primal aspirations have been distorted... No, revenge is their primal, grand ambition. After all, the values ​​of the Olympian gods of the Western Lands are an unavoidable, deeply toxic poison for humanity, even for noble heroes."

"There's nothing we can do about it, after all, they are gods."

It's not surprising that Novia and Ishtar share the same opinion about the Olympian gods. After all, the Olympian gods are alien machine gods. Although they later lost their machines and love humanity in a broader sense, their values ​​are poison to individual 'humans'.

Perhaps it is for this reason that Juno, the Romanized Hera, wanted Novia to bring Alcides to her. However, in the present world, it is still quite difficult for a god to descend to earth; at most, one can possess someone like Ishtar.

"Neither god nor beast. It is said that the poison and medicine called 'human' are troublesome to deal with, but I suppose you have already figured out a solution, not just destruction."

The boy spoke cheerfully, his words reminiscent of pure white and golden flowers, before bowing respectfully once more.

"Then, we will await your arrival at the end of the Holy Grail War."

Novia silently watched the gradually dissipating Aesthetic Flash, then suddenly asked:

"By the way, aren't you planning to meet Enkidu?"

“That’s the King of Heroes’ friend, not ‘my’ friend.”

"I think he would be very sad to see you like this."

"That's only natural, because Enkidu is a trustworthy friend to the King of Heroes. But if we met, after the sadness, he might call me that—'a false journey, a non-existent 'gold'.

At this point, AE Flash seemed to remember something, turned around to face Novia, clasped his hands together in front of his chest as if in prayer, and bowed his head, saying:

"This is a request I am making. I hope you can take good care of Tini, who is my Master."

Finally, in Novia's view, after AE Flash left, the original underworld was gradually being painted over in the colors of the ward.

This is to be expected, since the South American bacteria on Tsubaki Kumagai have been dealt with. Presumably, she can be considered a successor of the bacteria, and her magical abilities will be similar to those of Bazett, who is also a successor of the bacteria.

The silver-haired youth sat by the hospital bed, watching as the gaunt-faced Kugaoka Tsubaki slowly regained her color. It seemed she would wake up from her vegetative state soon. Of course, there was a reason why he was still lingering.

"Aren't you coming out yet?"

The silver-haired youth spoke calmly to the door of the ward.

In the vast, pristine white hospital room, at first glance, there was nothing but Novia, Kugai Tsubaki, and the pale knight crouching in the corner.

Even after he finished speaking, there was no sound from inside the room.

“Actually, the Pale Knight already told me that someone has been taking care of its Master, a person who calls himself Qihuang.”

silence.

A long silence.

Under the glaring lights, the straight wall at the entrance to the ward looked as if it had been broken.

It bent down little by little.

After a long while, a calm voice responded.

"Hello, I am Hiel Qihuang, a representative sent by the Holy Church. This is my identification."

Knowing she could no longer suppress her emotions, the black-haired girl spoke with utmost calmness.

"...Shouldn't it be Sesshouin? Or Kichijoin? Why is it Shier?"

"No, I'm sorry, I haven't heard of it."

"Yeah."

Novia was genuinely surprised when she learned from the Pale Knight that even Qi Huang had appeared and helped Kuang Qiu Chun.

But upon further reflection, in a normal world, Qi Huang's actions truly conform to the world's view of a saint, so it becomes understandable.

When they finally met, Novia's only thought was that she hadn't expected Qihuang to be like this. She had thought he would be like someone who had already graduated from university. But actually, it didn't matter which way he looked, as long as he kept his true nature.

Novia looked at the black-haired girl and suddenly said:

"I forgive you for the fact that you killed me."

At this moment, he recalled what the one true God had said to him during the Roman era:

I forgive you for your actions, no matter how many times. I forgive you for everything.