Boom—
Even after suffering an unprecedented blow,
Goetia's body reformed in an instant.
Step by step, he advanced once more.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—
Countless magic circles manifested around him, firing bizarre spells at the group.
Bang!!
A purple magical barrier unfolded before Tiamat, blocking every attack.
Then, with overwhelming physical strength, she struck at Goetia.
Boom—
The two forces collided, and the shockwave swept across several kilometers of open ground.
"He's actually fine?"
Ishtar frowned.
Crackling spells flew from her hands in rapid succession—naturally, they did no damage whatsoever.
Gudako continued piloting Strelizia, joining the others in surrounding Goetia.
In terms of sheer power and size, they held an absolute advantage.
In her draconic form, Tiamat's physical strength far surpassed even Goetia's.
Strelizia's power and speed were no less than his.
With each strike, some spells were nullified by him, while the remaining damage was rapidly regenerated.
Even when struck head-on by Noble Phantasms, he remained completely unharmed.
Boom—
Rumble!!—
"What the hell is wrong with this guy...?"
After several rounds of attacks, Ishtar sensed something was off.
Whether it was the Lion King's Holy Lance, or the Noble Phantasms of the others, none could truly harm Goetia.
"His Spirit Origin is... Anti-Human, with EX-ranked Anti-Summon."
"...That is the power and authority of a Beast."
Roman answered in a low voice.
"Just as Tiamat lacks the concept of death, Goetia can nullify all attacks from Heroic Spirits."
"No matter how many attacks or Noble Phantasms you unleash, they mean nothing to him. Even if he cannot destroy your summoning rituals... his rank is simply too high."
"You've finally realized? You can never defeat me."
Goetia distanced himself from the group and snorted.
"It is meaningless. Everything you do is meaningless."
"I admit, Tiamat has caused me considerable trouble—but only that. I cannot defeat her, and you cannot possibly defeat me."
He looked toward Tiamat.
Even if those goddesses and the Lion King combined their strength, they would not be his match.
Only Tiamat was the exception.
He had no effective way to deal with her, and she could not kill him either.
"As expected, we need a weapon of higher rank."
Gudako clicked her tongue.
Heroic Spirits or goddesses alike were one tier below Goetia—their attacks had no effect.
Tiamat was a Beast of equal standing and could suppress him with brute force, yet she still could not completely kill him.
The weapons mounted on Strelizia also seemed slightly lacking. The mech's armament system simply was not powerful enough.
If she did not use power from beyond the world, Goetia had only one fixed solution—King Solomon's First Noble Phantasm.
Bzzzz—
A low hum echoed across the sky.
Looking up, a ring of light larger than a planet enveloped the space behind Goetia.
The radiant band shone brilliantly within the void of cosmic darkness, slowly rotating like the accretion disk of a black hole.
The power contained within it was enough to make one's heart tremble.
"It is about time to end this farce."
Goetia slowly tilted his head back.
"Third Noble Phantasm—calculation complete."
"!!!"
Beep—beep—
Every detection system in Chaldea began screaming in alarm.
"Confirmed—the Third Noble Phantasm is a convergence of light and energy!! Preliminary judgment: each beam possesses destructive power equivalent to Excalibur!! Output classification: Anti-City Noble Phantasm!!"
"Quantity... in the hundreds of millions."
The staff descended into panic.
This Noble Phantasm converted thousands of years of human history into heat. The sheer scale of its energy was enough to accomplish a temporal reversal spanning eons.
Each beam equaled the King of Knights' Noble Phantasm. Gathered together, it amounted to billions—perhaps even tens of billions—of Excaliburs.
Enough to reduce Chaldea to molecular dust.
"Ritsuka Fujimaru, your capabilities far exceed my expectations. Therefore, I will grant you one final opportunity."
Standing beneath the ring of light, Goetia gazed at the group in the distance.
From the very beginning, his goal had been to complete the calculation of the Third Noble Phantasm. Their battle was not the crucial factor.
Tiamat might survive beneath the Noble Phantasm, but that did not matter. Humanity and the other Heroic Spirits had no chance of withstanding it.
Once the Master was killed, the battle should end.
"The future is dull. Humanity is dull."
"Even if it is only one person, I hope someone will understand my great work. If that wish is granted, our plan shall become unshakable."
Goetia looked toward the red-and-white mech floating in the air.
"I invite you to join me. Come to the extremity and witness the rebirth of humanity and civilization."
"This is your last chance."
"..."
Gudako paused for a moment.
She maneuvered Strelizia and gave him a thumbs-down, concise and direct.
"Get lost."
"Is that so?"
Goetia's brows furrowed slightly.
"How regrettable. Then you shall burn to ashes along with this era."
He raised both hands. The ring of light above began to converge like a vortex.
A violent tide of energy surged between heaven and earth.
"Third Noble Phantasm, deploy."
"Burn away like worthless refuse."
Goetia spread his arms.
[The Time of Birth Has Come, He Is the One Who Masters All.]
"Ars Almadel Salomonis."
For an instant, heaven and earth seemed to freeze.
BOOM!!—
A blinding torrent of energy erupted from the ring of light. Rampaging power incinerated everything within the Temple of Time.
Compared to it, the group's previous combined attacks were on an entirely different level.
Everything upon the ground was reduced to powder beneath the overwhelming energy.
The Heroic Spirits gathered in Chaldea were struck with shock.
"Master, step back. I... will do my utmost to ensure your safety."
Several ahoge stood before Setsuna in battle-ready stances.
"Relax."
Setsuna smiled, raising a barrier over the storm-tossed Chaldea to block the energy bombardment.
Before the Lion King or Ereshkigal could react—
Whoosh—
Tiamat shielded them in her draconic form.
"Ah!! I know how to beat him now!"
Gudako refused Tiamat's protection.
Piloting Strelizia, she adjusted her equipment and charged straight into the beam.
BOOM!!—
The energy shield overloaded and shattered in an instant.
Crack—
Even the specially forged alloy frame began to fracture under the torrent of energy, on the verge of collapse.
Strelizia integrated the most advanced Gundam technology of the Starsea Empire. Since she had begun using it in expeditions, attacks capable of breaking its defense through brute force were exceedingly rare.
"Ooooooh!!—"
"So this is... the Third Noble Phantasm?"
"Ritsuka Fujimaru acknowledges you as the strongest!!!"
...
"Foolish!"
Goetia watched her charge at him like a moth into flame.
He did not believe Ritsuka Fujimaru possessed any means left to harm him. Even when everyone had unleashed their Noble Phantasms earlier, it had achieved nothing.
Within seconds, that peculiar mech—and Chaldea's final Master—would be annihilated in the radiance of the Third Noble Phantasm.
There was no point in running. Within the Temple of Time, escape from its range was impossible.
Goetia neither dodged nor retreated. His expression of victory lasted only an instant.
Suddenly—
Within his vision, something utterly grotesque rushed toward him.
Its entire body was clad in black armor. Spiked ornaments adorned its head and shoulders. The armor plates bore numerous jointed, arthropod-like designs.
A dim, eerie glow emanated from its chest, somber and aberrant—completely different from the bright form of Strelizia.
"Aha!!—"
"This thing really is stronger than Strelizia!! Ugh—though my sanity's already dropping."
Gudako piloted the EVA, drawing from its back an even more grotesque greatsword and slashing down.
The blade was dark red, of unknown material. Across its surface writhed what seemed like countless tentacles, jointed limbs, and eyeball-like forms.
It was the Blasphemous Holy Sword, equipment paired with the Outer God EVA—crafted jointly by Setsuna and Nyarko.
Goetia even thought he heard faint wailing from within the blade. He hurriedly raised a hand to block.
BOOM!!!—
His arm was severed cleanly. A faint black mist lingered around the wound.
Shhk—shhk—
Countless indescribable tentacles burst from the stump, twisting and writhing wildly.
"What the hell is this???"
Goetia was horrified. It was the first time he had seen something so heretical.
He felt an indescribable force pouring into his body—assimilating him.
Could even the Demon God King be assimilated? He could not comprehend it.
Even his perception and vision began to warp.
The mech in his eyes started to distort, transforming into a massive, unknown horror shrouded in black mist.
His magic nullification was utterly useless before it.
Gudako's figure flickered in his vision—at times becoming a colossal, indescribable monster cloaked in darkness, at times hallucinating into a petite silver-haired, golden-eyed girl with an absurdly long ahoge.
In the next blink, the girl became a monster again, his sanity plummeting.
"What is this... magecraft? No..."
"This is an Outer God—Nyarlathotep sends you greetings!!"