As he entered the icy, withered forest, Shirou felt somewhat uneasy, as if an invisible force had enveloped his body, suppressing him. He continued ahead while discreetly using the black mud internally to test his condition.
"This feeling..." Salter also felt a little uncomfortable and shifted her body.
"Please, rest assured. This is Asgard's bounded field. Fighting and flying are prohibited here, there are no other effects," Thrud called back, explaining to the slightly uncomfortable Salter.
It's probably more than that! Shirou thought to himself.
When he examined himself using the black mud, his senses were infinitely amplified. He clearly perceived something like radio waves passing over his body, as if some scanning device was detecting his physical form and Saint Graph.
It really feels more and more like I've come to a sci-fi world, he thought helplessly.
As Shirou's group passed through the withered forest, they arrived before the towering World Tree.
Stationed here, at the heart of Midgard, was a squad of Valkyries guarding the gateway to Asgard. Seeing Thrud, they greeted her cheerfully, one after another, calling her "big sister."
The captain of the Valkyrie squad was a red-haired Valkyrie named Hildr. She wasn't a clone like the others.
Catching sight of Hildr, Thrud couldn't help but break into a smile. "We're back, Hildr."
Seeing her sister, Hildr's normally stern face also softened into a smile. "Welcome back, Thrud."
She glanced at the Valkyries beside Thrud, and her smile started to fade. "Only...eight came back."
Thrud's smile also faded. After a moment, she said, "Open the Bifrost. We're taking them back to Asgard."
"I understand, but..." Hildr turned slightly, her gaze landing on Shirou and Salter standing behind her sister, especially eyeing the basket in Salter's hands filled with blueberries. She paused, frowning. "Who are they?"
"Allies from Chaldea."
"If they're from Chaldea, shouldn't they be going to the Muspelheim Gate?" Hildr's frown deepened.
Thrud hesitated, glancing away awkwardly. "Well... uh, they got separated from their Master during the summoning. Ortlinde told them to come to Asgard first."
"I see..." Hildr nodded to show she understood the situation. Then her expression hardened as she said seriously, "Please pardon me for refusing to open the Bifrost, Sister Thrud, but I can't allow two people of unknown identity giving off cursed miasma into sacred Asgard."
"But they're from Chaldea, not evil beings summoned by Hel or Surtr," Thrud explained. "Although His Majesty and Lady Artoria were summoned as Alters, I can prove they aren't a threat. They were invited here by Sister Ortlinde."
"Asgard cannot afford to lose another gods' blessings. It is my duty not to let anyone bearing cursed miasma enter, even if it's Sister Thrud or Sister Ortlinde," she stated firmly.
"Hildr..." Thrud looked at her somewhat helplessly. Hildr was the most stubborn and strict among the Valkyries, which was why she had been assigned to replace Heimdall's duty of guarding the Bifrost.
Thrud had originally assumed Ortlinde would have already persuaded Hildr about letting Shirou enter when she invited him. But it seemed she hadn't said anything at all!
Not adept at persuasion herself, Thrud was at a bit of a loss.
Salter glanced at the unmoving Hildr before looking to Shirou. "This warrior is quite unyielding. It seems we cannot enter Asgard."
"You might not be able to, but I can," he said with a smile.
Salter frowned, "What do you mean?"
Shirou just smiled mysteriously at her before walking up to Hildr. "Is it that I cannot enter Asgard, or that Alters cannot enter Asgard?"
Hildr turned to him. "I'm not targeting you specifically. My duty is not to allow anyone or anything carrying cursed miasma into Asgard. I hope you understand."
"Of course," he said, faintly smiling. "Someone diligently performing their duty should be commended, not punished."
Hildr's expression remained calm. Clearly believing Shirou was just like Thrud, she presumed he would end up criticizing her stubbornness in the end.
"But since it isn't targeted specifically at me..." He snapped his fingers, and the black mud within him began to stir.
"Wha-What's happening?" Thrud looked at him in surprise.
Not just Thrud - even Hildr and Salter were stunned.
They watched as the jet-black dragon armor covering Shirou slowly retreated, transforming into a pale, silvery-white set of dragon armor instead. A sacred silver halo also emerged around him, radiating a dazzling brilliance resembling the sun.
Shirou was using the black mud to devour all the cursed miasma tainting his Saint Graph - reversing himself back to his original state.
Gone was the gloominess and sinister look in his eyes, now replaced with a warmth resembling the sun.
"Yo-Your Majesty, you can actually reverse your Saint Graph?!" Salter looked at him in disbelief.
"What's so strange about that? Of course I can," he said matter-of-factly.
Hearing this, Salter couldn't help but twitch her mouth.
What was so strange about being able to reverse one's Saint Graph? Such a justified, casual tone...
But wasn't being able to reverse one's Saint Graph what was truly baffling here?!
Salter was rendered speechless.
Oh well, he was Eternal King after all. He could surely accomplish what others couldn't.
But still...
"If you can reverse your Saint Graph, why didn't you do it sooner?" Salter couldn't help but ask loudly.
"I was saving my mana, of course. You don't know how much I normally use up. I had to conserve it whenever possible, or I'd run out at the worst time."
Salter: "..."
She really didn't know how to talk to him anymore... Most Heroic Spirits detested their Alter forms, like herself - though she retained her core essence after being Altered, she disliked the feeling.
But what about him? He was completely comfortable being an Alter... No, he was treating his mana like money and Alterization like a savings account!
What a weirdo!
Oh, wait...
Salter finally realized why he was the only one who managed to save Britain. It wasn't that she, as King Arthur, was incompetent, but that he was just too eccentric!
Salter was speechless. She also hadn't seen Shirou freely switching between his blackened and normal states back in Romania, which added to her shock now.
But it was understandable for Salter to have such thoughts. After all, among thousands of Heroic Spirits, only Shirou could easily blacken or purify himself.
Shirou turned to Hildr with a smile. "Is this better?"
"Y-Yes, it's fine now," she stuttered a bit facing his brightly blazing eyes.
It wasn't that she was captivated by him, but like Salter, his ability to shift so freely between states stunned her.
She had never met this kind of freak before.
As Hildr observed the radiant Shirou, she activated the Bifrost.
A rainbow brilliance descended from the sky, enveloping Shirou, Thrud and the others.
"Oh? So this is Bifrost," Shirou examined the rainbow radiance enveloping him and shifted his body, immediately feeling an attractive force pulling him upwards. "I thought it was a bridge, I didn't expect it to be an elevator," he remarked with interest.
"An elevator? What's that?" Thrud was puzzled.
"A facility in Chaldea, its mechanism is similar to Bifrost," he explained briefly, knowing a detailed explanation would take quite a while.
Salter also wanted to enter the Bifrost, but Hildr refused due to her Alter Saint Graph.
Shirou, standing within the rainbow radiance, smiled at Salter. "Saber, just wait here. I'll go up to Asgard first."
Salter looked at him enveloped in the Bifrost, then back at Hildr blocking her way. She was frustrated but nodded silently. She found a spot to sit and sullenly nibbled on blueberries.
Shirou plucked a berry from the basket. "Not bad," he remarked, popping it in his mouth.
He then used the black mud to reverse his Saint Graph again.
Seeing his alteration, Thrud was taken aback. "If you can be normal, why change back?"
"To conserve mana, of course."
"But with how much mana you already have, do you really need to conserve it?" she couldn't resist asking.
Shirou just smiled instead of answering.
Of course she would ask that - she'd never experienced lacking mana before. But for him, it was different. He was used to always being low on mana, so conserving it had become a habit.
And when it came to mana...well, more was always better.