Kamen Rider Date A Live

To become the perfect monarch, to embody the ideal, she was willing to sacrifice her body and abandon her personal feelings. The life of the girl named Artoria was completely changed the moment she pulled that sword from the rock. From that moment on, she became synonymous with an undefeated legend, a hymn of praise, and a dream.

There has been pain, there has been trouble, but within it lies the glory of victory. An unwavering belief still supports her arm as she wields the sword.

"Conqueror King, someone as self-centered as you would never understand my beliefs. You're just a tyrant blinded by lust!"

Saber shouted sharply. Rider, who was being reprimanded, immediately widened her eyes.

"A king without a crown is no better than a vase!!!"

Rider's furious roar, coupled with his enormous size, made him even more terrifying.

“Saber, you just said ‘sacrifice for an ideal.’ Indeed, you used to be an incorruptible saint, so pure that no one could match you. But who would want to be martyred for an ideal? And who would yearn day and night for a so-called saint who can only comfort the people but cannot guide them? Only by displaying the ultimate glory and praising the highest splendor can the country and its people be led onto the right path.”

After finishing his drink, the Conqueror King corrected him.

"To be a king, one must possess a stronger will than anyone else, be more unrestrained than anyone else, and be more easily angered than anyone else. He should be a more authentic human being than anyone else, encompassing both purity and impurity. Only in this way can his subjects be subdued by him, and only then will the people yearn for him, thinking, 'If only I were the king!'"

"Where is justice in this kind of governance?"

"No. The way of the king has no concept of justice, and therefore no regrets."

"..."

His assertion was so decisive that Saber was already furious.

Both men considered the happiness of the people as their fundamental principle, but their ideas differed greatly.

On one hand, there is the prayer for peace.

On one hand, there is the hope for prosperity.

The ideals of a king who suppresses chaos and a king who ignites war are naturally different.

Rider smiled and spoke cheerfully.

"King who bears the name of a knight, your justice and ideals may have saved the country and the people for a time, which is why your name has been passed down to this day. However, you must know what fate awaited those who were saved."

"What did you say?"

Blood stained the hill at sunset.

That scene resurfaced in Saber's mind.

"You only 'save' your subjects, but never 'guide' them. They don't know what 'the king's will' is. You abandoned your lost subjects, yet you alone, in a sacred posture, revel in your own petty ideals."

"So you're not a qualified king. You're just a little girl who wants to be a 'king' who cares about the people, trapped in her own self-imposed constraints to become that kind of idol."

Rider's words made Saber's eyes begin to glaze over, recalling the carnage and rivers of blood in Jinlan Bay. But at that moment, Archer, who had been leisurely drinking for some time, spoke up.

"You lackey, you've been silent all this time. What are you thinking? Why don't you give your opinion on this best clown? This is a favor from the king."

Chapter 156 The King's Feast (Part 5)

Chapter 156 The King's Feast (Part 5)

"...Why are you asking me? Let me make it clear beforehand, I'm not a king, and before this, I was just an ordinary student."

Archer's question made Shido, who had been acting as a third wheel since the discussion began with the Three Kings, silently raise his head, his brown eyes looking at Archer with a questioning expression.

In response to Shido's questioning attitude, Archer, unusually, did not make any mocking expression. Instead, he simply sipped his drink leisurely and said calmly.

“You lackey, I heard what you were saying just now. And although you have been silent all this time, I can tell that you have something to say to Saber. I am also very interested. What exactly do you want to say to Saber?”

Upon hearing Archer's words, Shido remained silent for a moment before sighing, putting down his wine glass and grilled meat, and finally speaking after another sigh.

“Saber…no, Lia. Are you really not wavering at all about your decision to change history? Are you sure that what you truly want is for history to change?”

"!"

Faced with this question, Saber wanted to refute it as before, but the words wouldn't come out, as if something was stuck in her throat. Shido's last words, "What you really want," truly struck Saber's heart, or rather, made her remember something she had forgotten.

Seeing Saber's current silence, Shido silently shook his head and continued.

"Can't answer now... then let's ask another question, Lia. If you could really go back in time and change history, what would you choose?"

Although Saber was still troubled by the question from earlier, she answered Shido's extremely simple question without hesitation.

"I will choose to be king again! I will pull the sword from the stone! I will lead the nation to victory! And afterwards, I will rule correctly..."

Saber abruptly stopped speaking in her arrogant tone, as if she had realized something, and her eyes began to look lifeless.

As if he had expected this, Shido smiled wryly, drank the wine in his glass in one gulp, and then refilled the glass.

“It seems you’ve figured it out, Leah. Even if you really go back to the past, all you’ll choose is to live it all over again—it’s hard for you to realize this when you’re bound by ‘right’ and ideals.”

"Me! Me!..."

Saber's face contorted in pain. Even with her unwavering adherence to conventional wisdom on the matter, she realized her own thoughts—remained unchanged. No matter how much she tried to prevent it, no matter how much she guarded against the collapse of the nation, it seemed the same ending would still occur… Could it be that I really…

Saber's face showed despair. Her convictions, her beliefs, might be shattered again because of her! If this was truly the outcome, she wouldn't need to go back to the past! Not even once…

Seeing Saber's expression, both Rider and Archer were astonished. Even Archer, who had made the suggestion, hadn't expected Shido to be so eloquent, and that it would be so effective.

However, as the culprit who caused Saber to be in this state, upon seeing Saber's current appearance, he merely sighed softly and said...

"Lia, calm down, I haven't finished speaking yet. Let me make it clear beforehand that I have no intention of denying your tragic wish. Because I... have seen another tragic wish similar to yours."

"!?"

Upon hearing Shido's words, Saber's despair lessened somewhat, and the light in her eyes began to return as she looked at Shido.

Rider and Archer, hearing Shido's words, also became interested and cast intrigued glances at him. Shido, feeling a chill run down his spine under their gazes, sighed helplessly at their stares and said...

"Don't look at me like that, it's disgusting, you know—but since you're interested, I don't mind telling you."

Shido paused for a moment, took a sip of wine to moisten his throat, and said with a sense of nostalgia.

"Thirty years ago in my world, a catastrophe that shocked the entire world occurred—a disaster that spanned two continents, the Eurasian Great Space Disaster. Roughly estimated, at least 150 million people died. The disaster that occurred is called a spacequake—that is, an earthquake in space. But these are only the surface phenomena."

"Oh?"

The crowd raised questions, and even Yan Ye, who was sitting far away at the edge of the courtyard and almost forgotten, perked up his ears to listen with curiosity.

"Special Disaster Designated Life Form"—abbreviated as Elf. This is the name for Elf in Minecraft.

"Special disaster... Hey! Shido, that spacequake couldn't be..."

Shido didn't give the answer directly, but instead suddenly said something. Everyone was taken aback by this, but they quickly understood what Shido meant. Rider was the first to react and the first to reply.

In response to Rider's words, Shido nodded and continued.

“Rider is right. Spacequakes are caused by the Elves. Where we are, the Elves exist in the Neighborhood, another world. But for some reason, since the first Elves arrived in our world thirty years ago, although there was a period of calm, spacequakes have continued to occur for the past thirty years. This has added another spacequake evasion drill to textbooks all over the world.”

"course?"

"Ah, the course is just teaching you how to quickly escape to the nearest air-raid shelter, since even the smallest space shock is as powerful as dozens of missiles."

"Haha, that's incredibly powerful! Even if we unleashed our Noble Phantasms, we'd need something at the level of an anti-city to have that kind of power! Shido, who do you think is stronger, the Spirits or us?"

Rider was amazed by the elf's power, and his curiosity was piqued, so he couldn't help but ask a question.

"Hmm... there's no comparison. The elves are overwhelmingly strong, and it wouldn't take them much effort to deal with you. After all, although everyone is powerful, an elf who truly unleashes their power can easily cause destruction on the scale of a city—but it will vary depending on the elves' abilities."

"Wow! I didn't expect it to be so powerful. I'm afraid only the real body could fight against it. I really hope we can spar sometime!"

Rider sighed, downed the drink in his glass in one gulp, and said something that left Shido somewhat helpless.

"Hehe, we'll see when the opportunity arises."

"In our world, in the year the elves appeared, we humans acquired a forbidden technology thirty years ago—the Manifestation Device. It reproduces the calculations on a computer in the real world, completely distorting the laws of reality. It is known as a device that achieves 'magic' through scientific and technological means. It can be called almost omnipotent, with uses in various fields such as combat, medical treatment, repair and enhancement. However, this technology is unknown to most people, after all, it is forbidden, and there are not many people who are qualified to use it."

"And what I'm going to talk about now is that in the past thirty years, humanity has used the power of the manifestation device to create three organizations with different attitudes toward elves."

Chapter 159 The King's Feast (Part 8)

Chapter 159 The King's Feast (Part 8)

Before we begin, we must mention the different abilities of each of Tohka's characters.

"Tohka is a sword spirit, but she doesn't have any special abilities. All she has is the immense destructive power she can generate with just a greatsword. The purple form and the greatsword I used last time were both Tohka's power, but I couldn't even unleash half of it. Yoshino is a water and cold spirit, and her ability is to manipulate cold and water. If Yoshino's power were fully unleashed, it would be very easy for her to make it rain heavily in a city. Moreover, in a sense, Yoshino's attack and defense are much stronger than Tohka's."

"Kurumi's ability is the most special. Perhaps her combat ability is not very strong in a single round, but with Kurumi's ability, she can easily kill enemies who are much stronger than her. The reason is simple: Kurumi is a time spirit, and her ability is to manipulate time. Theoretically, she can also go back to the past."

"!!!"

Everyone fell silent. Even kings like Archer and Rider stopped tasting their wine and quietly digested Shido's words.

Not only were the heroic spirits present stunned, but even those behind the scenes and the masters listening nearby were speechless.

If you were talking about stopping, accelerating, or decelerating time, people would be surprised, but it wouldn't be like this. Even magic can interfere with one's own time. But going back in time falls into the realm of "magic."

Saber's dream is to go back in time and change the history of her country's destruction. However, even magic cannot make her go back in time, which is why Saber desires the Holy Grail, the legendary 'Cave of Miracles' that can grant any wish.

But what am I hearing now? Someone possesses the power to travel back in time! If only Kurumi Tokisaki could come here and use her power to travel back in time…

Thinking of this, Saber's heart began to burn with passion, and at the same time, she became even more eager to understand Tokisaki Kurumi from Shido's words.

That's right, that's the charm of being able to go back to the past.

The unchangeable past becomes the possibility of change.

The possibility of starting over from the past.

This sweetness can easily penetrate people's hearts and erode their psyche like an anesthetic. Even if people are aware of it, they still can't help but pursue it.

— Saber must have a very deep understanding of this.

However, it's probably not just Saber; Archer's expression and eyes also held a hint of nostalgia and melancholy, suggesting that something in the past had happened that he wanted to undo—but unlike Saber, Archer appeared quite carefree, without any desire to return to the past. He simply reminisced briefly before letting go. This composure, it must be said, makes Archer truly worthy of being a king.

However, after admiring Archer in his heart, Shido saw the different expressions in everyone's eyes, gave a helpless bitter smile, and said.

"Hey! Snap out of it! Let me finish what I'm saying before you think about it."

Shido's words brought everyone back to their senses, and their gazes returned to him.

"Think about it, is there no price to pay for going back to the past? Don't even mention that you need the immense magical power of six Heroic Spirits to make the Holy Grail grant your wish. How could Kurumi possibly go back to the past without paying a price?"

Shido's wry smile brought everyone back to their senses, and seeing that they had calmed down a bit, he spoke again.

"Are you more awake now? Let me make this clearer: Kurumi has to pay a huge price to use her power. Well, in other words, it's a so-called equivalent exchange."

At this point, Shido narrowed his eyes, a complex emotion that was impossible to describe flashed in his gaze.

"If Kurumi wants to use her time-manipulation ability, she has to pay the price with her own time. To put it simply, Kurumi has to use her life to activate her ability."

"However, with such a severe price to pay, Kurumi also possesses a complementary ability. Although I don't know its name or the exact nature of the ability, based on past information, it should be an ability to devour the time and power of living beings. Otherwise, Kurumi wouldn't have set her sights on my life."

Shido chuckled self-deprecatingly, and seeing the interested looks on everyone's faces, he continued.