[ Romani Archaman ] 1-Star Caster Attack Power 500
"That cake, I almost forgot about it!" Seeing the familiar frosting on the cake, Gudako suddenly exclaimed in surprise. "Doctor, spit it out quickly! Mash spent a whole week making this, but we forgot about it because some things happened. You'll get a stomachache if you eat it like this!"
"What a waste it would be to throw it away..." Romani was about to complain that Chaldea was short on supplies, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jiang You watching the scene from the side. He then remembered that there was a guy who could move across multiple parallel worlds here, so supplies were actually no longer a problem. "More importantly, this place is..."
The Temple of Time where Goetia was located was originally Solomon's territory, so it was impossible for him not to recognize it. "Wait a minute... haven't we still not set up the rayshift? It's supposed to take another half a month or so. We haven't even made the preparations..."
The sudden thrust into the finale scene left Romani a bit lost. He had been preparing to release the first Noble Phantasm all this time. In his view, even for someone like Jiang You, as long as he was a Servant, he was destined to be helpless against Goetia. The Nega-Summon Authority prevented all Servants from exercising their true power.
"So it was you all along!!" Goetia had only just realized that the lazy fellow before him was his original Master, Solomon, the useless King who had seen the future yet did nothing, watching everything happen with his own eyes! "Fujimaru Ritsuka, are you trying to make me laugh? You actually found a guy like this to deal with me? A piece of trash who always hides when things get tough?"
Goetia's words were laced with a hint of disappointment. He felt that having served such a guy all this time could only be described as humiliating. "You're still as useless as ever! You can't even do one simple thing right. Watch closely, this is the final end for a Human Master. And then, you're next! I'll send you to the Underworld using your own Noble Phantasm! Come, embrace your defeat!"
"I feel like this isn't how it was supposed to go." He felt like this wasn't the right time to say this, but he had prepared for so long, it would be impossible not to say it. "I will be destroyed by my own Noble Phantasm, by..."
"We won't fail!" Hearing Goetia belittle the Doctor, Gudako couldn't hold back and spoke up directly, "We're the ones who will win! Self-destruct, Romani! I'm activating the effect of [ Romani Archaman ]!"
"Don't call that Noble Phantasm a self-destruct!!!!" Romani, who had carefully built up the atmosphere, almost lost his composure. Why did the solemn mood turn so strange coming from Gudako's mouth? He didn't want to become some comic relief character. "And besides, isn't this something the person themselves is supposed to shout!"
"Don't sweat the details! Effect activated, add one [ The Time of Farewell Has Come, With This, Abandon the World ] from the Deck to the Hand!"
"What is that?!" Goetia instinctively felt something was wrong. He realized he had no idea what this was. He was supposed to have inherited all of Solomon's Noble Phantasms and knowledge, and the format of this Card was clearly that of one of Solomon's Noble Phantasms, yet he knew absolutely nothing about it. He understood that this was what the missing ring of this body contained, the Noble Phantasm that Solomon had deliberately taken away.
"Goetia. Let me teach you the final spell." Romani slowly took off his gloves, and an ancient ring appeared before everyone's eyes. "To you, who knew that 'King Solomon still has one Noble Phantasm' but failed to learn its True Name, no, to you, who could never have known its True Name."
"O God, I return to You the blessings You have bestowed upon me. Omnipotence is too distant for mortals, and my work shall be confined to the human realm. The time of farewell has come. With this, I abandon the world. —Ars Nova"
Then, nothing happened.
Romani "..."
Goetia "..."
A strange silence fell over the surroundings.
"Wait, Ritsuka, you should have activated the Spell Card's effect!" Romani felt like he was about to break down. He was probably unable to escape his fate of becoming comic relief.
"I saw you were so invested, I didn't want to interrupt..." Gudako scratched her head sheepishly, for she had been watching the Doctor so intently that she never spoke up. "Its effect: can only be activated when[ Solomon ]is on our side of the field. Tributing this card, send all cards related to it from both sides' Decks, Hands, Field, Graveyard, and Banished Zone to a Different Dimension!!"
"Hold on, isn't the concept of a 'Different Dimension' not written in the rules?" Gudako suddenly felt that Jiang You's Noble Phantasm might be a bit unreliable. Whatever happened to the promised absolutely fair competition?
In any case, Romani finally began to glow as he had wished. In a soft golden light that was the complete opposite of the devastating beam that brought about the Incineration of Humanity, all of Goetia's cards vanished without a single one remaining. As a collective of Demon God Pillars, almost everything it possessed had been bestowed by Solomon, and Solomon's departure took all of these things with him.
"A Different Dimension?" The concept of something outside the rules caused Goetia to crash. Could Romani's broken effect even have any impact other than against Solomon? This duel was a lost cause for him from the start. Why even bother dueling, this is just rigged for the champion to win! "This is the fruit of my thousands of years of effort! After seeing that future, did Solomon do anything? I did everything, I cannot accept this! You are the ones who should go to the Different Dimension, I will send you to the Different Dimension!!!"
Unfortunately, the protest was futile. Even with a different method, Goetia still couldn't escape his fate of defeat.
"I end my turn!" As the Doctor was tributed, Gudako's hand on the field was also completely empty, but it didn't matter. Goetia's Deck had also been cleared. The moment his turn started, he would lose due to having no cards to draw.
Faced with his ending, Goetia tried to rebel against the rules of the duel. But even as powerful as he was, he had no room to resist in front of the rules. A black palm pressed him to the ground, forcing him to complete the final draw.
Goetia LP 4000 → 0
"Guaaaaaahhhhhh!!!" Goetia's massive body let out a scream of defeat like a common minion.
The journey to save Human Order (1.0) came to an end here.
"By the way, did you forget to state the conditions of the Shadow Game?" As the Duel concluded, Jiang You finally remembered that the two of them hadn't specified the stakes. Since he could already control the rules at will, the default soul-stealing penalty had not been activated. "Fine, I'll add a condition for you: he must unconditionally agree to the winner's demands. As the victor, Gudako, what do you plan to do? Make him strangle himself?"
"Huh?" The victorious Gudako didn't seem to realize all the problems had been solved. She blinked her watery eyes, looking completely dazed. But she quickly snapped out of it. "Dying like this would be too easy for him, wouldn't it? Since I get to decide, then for every person who died because of him, he must save that many people to be redeemed!"
"You say such terrifying things so casually." Jiang You actually agreed. Considering Goetia's actions, working for a lifetime wouldn't be enough. He had murdered all of humanity, and the number of people he needed to save was just a drop in the bucket.