DanMachi: Heroic Epic of Emiya the Great Hero

At the moment of contact, due to the two's extreme-speed slashes, both table knives snapped instantly, silver metal fragments flashing a trace of cold light in the dim cellar.

The Vouivre's movements were unexpectedly proficient. Seeing her posture, Ais's heart trembled violently.

This movement… looked so familiar.

At that moment, her thoughts momentarily froze.

On the other side, the Vouivre also seemed to have the same feeling.

Ais glanced at the broken table knife in her hand and immediately threw it down. Using her hand as a sword, she stabbed at the Vouivre.

The Vouivre instinctively reacted in the same way, substituting fingers for the blade, countering with the same posture.

At the moment they clashed, a shocked thought surged in Ais's heart, 'This is... 'Master's' sword technique.'

In the Vouivre's eyes also flashed a trace of disbelief, 'This is... 'Father's' sword technique.'

At that moment—

"Ais, Wiene, what are you doing?", Emiya's voice came from the cellar entrance.

Ais and the Vouivre, who was also Wiene, simultaneously stopped, turning to look at Emiya.

"Master, there's a monster here. Quickly project a weapon—", Ais had originally wanted to shout that.

"'Father'!", But Wiene was one step ahead and shouted it out first.

Little Ais only had time to call out the words "Master," and the rest of her speech instantly got stuck in her throat.

Ais had many things she wanted to say.

She wanted to say, "Monsters are enemies of humanity," to say, "Many of our companions have died because of monsters," to say, "Monsters are destined to harm humans," and so on.

But these words circled around in her mind again and again and ultimately remained unsaid, because these words felt too flimsy.

These reasons, these words, couldn't compare to the weight of Wiene's single word, "Father."

Ais felt a violent shake in her heart.

She took a deep breath, forced herself to calm down, and began to think carefully, not considering for now why a monster could speak, why it would have emotions like a human.

Just from the simplest possibility alone. Iif a newly born life, due to some reason, mistook the person it first saw as "father", such a possibility did exist.

Ais thought about it and felt this seemed like a reasonable explanation.

But just as this thought surfaced, she quickly denied it herself.

'Because that's Master, [Female Hunter].'

'Ah!'

'With Master's overwhelming strength, a mere Vouivre should be easy to take down, right?'

'After all, even the terrifying Riveria, scarier than monsters, was captured by Master.'

Her blind trust in Emiya's strength plunged Ais into deep shock.

"Besides, she really does use Master's sword technique…", The more she thought about it, the more Ais felt this was the truth.

'Wiene's sword technique and Master's sword moves are identical, this can't be coincidence.'

Ais looked at Wiene. She had originally thought that, being a half-elf, half-human, she was already an extremely unique existence, 'Who exactly are you?'

Emiya explained, "I don't know why this child calls me 'Father' either. I'm also unclear about what kind of existence she really is… but I truly can't just ignore her."

Looking at Emiya's gaze, Ais felt a wave of complicated emotions rise in her heart.

She opened her mouth, as if wanting to say something, but in the end, only softly replied, "Master, you don't need to explain. I… I understand."

Emiya: 'Do you really understand?'

Ais tightly clenched her hands, her heart full of contradictions and complex emotions. Wiene might be a hybrid of monster and human… this idea kept circling in her mind.

As a half-elf herself, at that moment she felt a faint sense of shared fate.

"Ugh… my hand hurts…", Ais gritted her teeth, showing a pained expression on her face.

Just now in the barehanded fight with Wiene, she had undoubtedly lost.

Not because her swordsmanship wasn't exquisite enough, but because her physical strength was far inferior.

And that was even when Wiene's arms weren't covered in dragon scales, the physical gap was still so obvious.

Just as she was feeling annoyed, Wiene suddenly leaned in and gently took her hand.

Ais instinctively widened her eyes in alert, staring at Wiene's every move.

However, Wiene only held Ais's hand and blew on her injured finger.

"You called 'Father'... 'Master'…", Wiene didn't understand the specific meaning of "Master," guessing perhaps it was similar to "Father."

She asked: "So, you are… Sister?"

Ais's heart, already strongly shaken, became even more confused.

———

The crystal sky of the 18th floor was transitioning from "night" to "daylight."

Countless white crystals growing from the center of the ceiling began to emit a soft glow, while the surrounding blue crystals gradually increased in brightness. The warm white light falling onto the forests and grasslands became more and more abundant, and the entire floor brightened accordingly.

"Rivira Town" was about to be bathed in dawn's glow.

Emiya, Ais, and Wiene, the two humans and one dragon, had not slept all night and were now hiding in Emiya's room.

At the moment, Emiya felt a bit awkward, while Ais's emotions were even more complicated. She simply didn't know how to face Wiene.

Indeed, Ais had extreme hatred toward monsters, especially dragon-type monsters. This was beyond doubt.

This deep hatred stemmed from the tragedy of her childhood. A one-eyed jet-black dragon destroyed her family and killed her parents.

Since then, this hatred had been deeply rooted in her heart, impossible to erase.

But on the other hand, Ais also deeply respected Emiya.

Emiya had always treated her kindly, offering meticulous care and guidance.

Moreover, part of her feelings for Emiya was also a projection of her feelings toward Lefiya.

In reality, Riveria was the one who had accompanied her for the longest time in her life, almost like her most important family member.

Therefore, when she faced Wiene, this Vouivre who Emiya refused to harm, who called Emiya "Father" and even called her "Sister", Ais felt a flood of complex emotions.

Ais glanced at Wiene, and an unbidden question emerged in her mind, 'When my wounds heal and mh strength recovers, will I be her match?'

Not long ago, Wiene had been seriously injured, especially with a wound carrying a "incurable" curse. Emiya had to project [Pain Breaker] to heal her wounds.

Moreover, she had exhausted her physical strength in the previous battle and even seemed to have used some special technique, causing severe depletion. She was currently in a weakened state.

Even so, Wiene still displayed astonishing strength.

Her highly resilient body, her unbelievably tough dragon scales, her dragon wings capable of high-speed flight… all of these declared the dragon race's power as the pinnacle of monsters.

What shocked Ais even more was that Wiene also knew swordsmanship.

Although the techniques she currently used were few and somewhat monotonous.

However, the sword moves were modeled after Emiya's techniques, world-class skills. And more than that, Wiene possessed learning capability.

'If she were in perfect condition, how strong would she be? If she continued to grow, what heights would she reach…', This thought circled endlessly in Ais's mind, until she suddenly realized one thing, 'Eliminating her now… will be too wasteful.'

Ais's heart became clear.

Such a powerful monster was without a doubt a worthy foe of heroic achievement level, suitable as a future target when she reached higher levels.

'When I ascend to Lv.6, maybe even Lv.7, then I'll kill her. That's the better choice,' So thought the girl.

Ais's gaze once again fell upon Wiene, 'That's right… as my future heroic deed, for now, I'll spare her life.'

Wiene sat wrapped in a blanket at the side, looking at Ais with a bit of confusion and curiosity in her eyes.

She picked up an apple from a porcelain plate and handed it to Ais, "'Sister,' this is for you."

Ais looked at the apple in Wiene's hand, paused for a moment, then shook her head without taking it.

Emiya lightly coughed and asked, "Wiene, who were you fighting with earlier? Was it… human adventurers?"

Hearing this, Ais also looked up, eyes fixed tightly on Wiene.

Wiene thought for a moment and tried her best to answer in human language, "One… red hair… and one… wore a mask… They… weren't human."

Emiya: "Red hair? Masked? Not human?"

Wiene nodded and continued, "Mm… they eat beast hearts… not human… very strong."

The Vouivre tried hard to speak, while Emiya and Ais listened half-comprehendingly.

She seemed to be saying that those "non-human" beings were conducting some kind of evil activities deep in the dungeon, and Wiene had destroyed their base.

The Vouivre had even stolen something important, which was why she was being hunted down.

Emiya: "You're being hunted because you stole something, right?"

Wiene thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "At… the place just now…"

As she spoke, she tried to stand up and run outside, seemingly to lead them to find the item.

"Wait a moment!", Emiya immediately reached out to hold her down, signaling her to calm down.

He turned and looked at Ais, "Ais, please watch over her. I'll go to the cellar to look."

Ais nodded and watched Emiya leave the room, her heart once again filled with unease and contradiction.

After Emiya left, only Ais and Wiene remained in the room. The two looked at each other, big eyes staring at small ones.

Ais instinctively placed her hand on the sword hilt at her waist, fingers gently tapping the sheath, staying alert.

Not long after, Emiya returned to the room, holding a cloth bundle in his hand, "Is this it?"

Wiene's eyes lit up upon seeing it and immediately nodded.

Emiya's gaze calm, he thought for a moment and asked, "Can I open it and take a look?"

Wiene nodded again, clearly full of trust in Emiya.

Emiya slowly opened the cloth bundle, revealing a slightly smaller pouch with a tightly bound mouth, looking rather old.

He opened the pouch and took out a round, bulging object.

It was a sphere about the size of two hands joined together, its surface gleaming with a strange luster.

It was a green jewel, wrapped in a transparent membrane with liquid inside, and within the liquid, there was actually a strange fetus.

Seeing this, Ais's pupils suddenly contracted. The fetus's body was small and round, yet it had disproportionately large eyes, gazing up at them from within.

Hair symbolizing femininity grew from the fetus's head, stretching from the top of its skull to the front of its spine, outlining a strange curve.

Although it sat there quietly, unmoving, faint heartbeat sounds, thump, thump, could be heard coming from the orb.

They carefully examined this mysterious embryo, their hearts filled with doubt.

What exactly was this? A dropped item? Or some new type of monster in the dungeon?

Ais also stared intently at the orb. Her intuition told her this thing was anything but ordinary, but she couldn't understand what it truly represented.

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