It was an absolute definition.
Shinra Tensei and Preta Path—even the defensive measures of the Heroic Spirits.
A turbulent flow of pure magical energy, overwhelming all of those, sent me hurtling high into the sky.
"Don't... screw with me!"
Quickly regaining my balance with Shinra Tensei, I levitated in the air and hurried back toward the Argo.
If even a single opening presented itself, that monster would instantly lay waste to the Argo, and if that happened, everything would be over.
"Romani! Romani, can you hear me? Dammit, is there no one available at Chaldea for communication!"
[…Barely alive. Ugh, dammit. Everyone in the control room has been knocked unconscious!]
"Dammit, at least Roman is still up. Get Shiki and Aoko to the control room right now!"
[Understood. It's a bit early, but I assume you're planning to use the 'Insurance'?]
"Yeah, I'm counting on you!"
In that instant, something resembling a colossal eye manifested in the void. Without any discernible magical circuit or the hand signs and movements I usually employ to assist with resource allocation, something gargantuan floated above the empty air.
"…Ah, damn it all."
With a thunderous roar, an astronomical amount of magical bombardment began to rain down.
Blocking it with Preta Path, parrying with Rule Breaker, or receiving it through Noble Phantasms—it was like trying to stop a tidal wave with a single hand.
The magical artillery demonstrated a scale of power that was on a completely different level from any Singularity, battle, or war I had experienced thus far. It was more than enough to reduce Teach's Queen Anne's Revenge to rags in an instant. If the Argonauts and the other Servants hadn't been inside the ship, Teach likely would have been desummoned long ago.
…Even so, I can endure this.
Borrowing the power of 'The Boundary' and the 'Princess of the Root.' I had intended to save those two Root-based powers as insurance or a last resort, but if I can't use them now, all this effort goes down the drain. Regardless, our plan requires reaching that wretched Temple of Time if we're to find even a glimmer of victory.
I have to hold on, even if I have to strain every—
"Cough...!"
"Atalante!!!"
In that moment, an unbelievable sight entered my field of vision.
A quiver at her waist, a massive longbow in her left hand. I didn't know where she found the strength, but she had been firing arrows with tears of blood, relying on the Archer class's innate nature to grow stronger when cornered—until she suddenly vomited blood and collapsed.
[Truly foolish.]
"You... how dare you do that to my friend!"
Even though she likely guessed his identity, Medea's eyes were bloodshot as she screamed in rage.
[Even against insignificant pests like you, there is no reason to be careless. Why should I hold back when my means are inexhaustible?]
"The Tenth Curse of Tetragrammaton..."
Upon entering the Atlantis sector where the altar was located, I could clearly see hail beginning to fall.
According to the original plan, we should have broken through and destroyed the altar, or even in the face of interference, unleashed our Noble Phantasms immediately to destroy it... but because of Goetia's appearance, we missed our chance.
That chance, which was essentially our last...
[Next is your turn, Karma Kirigaya.]
The moment the King of Demon Gods pointed his finger at me, my eyes—capable of seeing the movement of all 'Prana'—caught sight of a faint, blurred silhouette.
It was a formula I had never heard of, one I couldn't even begin to fathom, and yet I knew exactly what it was.
The last of the Ten Plagues, the embodiment of the death of all firstborn—the Angel of Death.
[No... you can't dodge that. Why, why is that calamity appearing now of all times...]
"…It seems it was a calculation error, Romani. Who would have imagined that the calamities would have manifested at the altar's location in advance?"
The situation was so absurd it was almost laughable.
That thing was a curse, an incarnation of the Angel of Death.
It was impossible to block with Preta Path. One touch meant certain death... quite literally, it was the embodiment of the 'Concept of Death.' One could say that thing's very existence was equivalent to the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
[It has been a fairly long road, but this is the conclusion. There is no need to delay... Die.]
Death approached.
A massive death in the shape of an angel was closing in on me, wielding a colossal blade. There was no way to avoid it—
"There's a way to win, isn't there! Tell me I'm right!!!"
"Jason!"
"Dammit, I heard everything you said. You have an insurance policy! In that case, you are the one who is more important here, not me!"
In the Bible, there is a passage about smearing the blood of a pure lamb on the doorposts. Like a lamb being slaughtered, Jason collapsed right there. Blood spilled from his entire body, and he was instantly desummoned in a shroud of light.
The pure lamb, the sacrifice of the innocent...
[What a useless sacrifice. Do you insects truly believe you can change fate with such struggles? You never had the right to choose in the first place.]
"Don't give me that crap! Even if we lived our whole lives under a shitty fate, we can still choose when and how we die!"
"We won't be taken down by trash like you!"
The King of Demon Gods' curse was swift, and the Servants moved to match it.
Medea, Caenis, and Hector fell one after another... until finally, only I, Drake, and Altera remained.
Looking annoyed, the King of Demon Gods unleashed the curse once more, sending it toward me, and Altera instinctively stepped in front of me to block it.
[First a useless sacrifice, and now a doll that isn't even alive? What an absurd farce. Do you think an undead thing that isn't even living can block the judgment that governs life and death? It's not even funny; it's utterly pathetic. Pests have died like pests. It's an insignificant act that doesn't even deserve the name 'sacrifice'!]
"…Don't look down on them. They are heroes, King of Demon Gods. And you're the one playing an absurd game… No carelessness? Dealing with us thoroughly? Fine, I suppose I should thank you for that this time."
Squelch—
Sound, light, smell. Undetectable by any of these, the 'Death' that should have enshrouded the Master, Karma Kirigaya, was suddenly severed.
The King of Demon Gods, knowing better than anyone who could perform such a feat, instantly surged his prana—and soon, he could see for himself.
"Oh my, it was merely a greeting… were you a bit surprised?"
[You... No, impossible. There's no way the Master of Chaldea would use the means to call for you!]
"Indeed. It was quite the bewildering gamble for me as well... I never imagined 'Miss Blue' would 'use' me in such a manner."
"Aoko-neesan... nice timing."
An elegant impression with an oriental beauty. A soft smile that seemed slightly cold yet gentle at the same time.
'The Boundary'—sleeping within the human known as Shiki Ryougi—spoke with nonchalant ease.
[I see... because there was a possibility of me causing an Evils of Humanity to run wild, she brought forth the possibility of the 'Future' Boundary-Shiki awakening and forced an Independent Manifestation...]
"So you realize it immediately."
That's why this was a trick that couldn't be used twice. By utilizing Aoko-neesan's Fifth Magic to calculate the various futures Shiki Ryougi possessed and forcibly overwriting one of them. Boundary-Shiki, who possessed transcendent abilities as the Root, would instinctively 'understand' Aoko's Fifth Magic, and while in that state, she was transitioned to this Singularity using the Independent Manifestation skill inherent to the Root... a speculative, gamble-like maneuver that relied heavily on luck.
Naturally, the King of Demon Gods, with his vision that transcended space-time, would be wary of this method the moment it was used once, and would surely counter it in any way possible.
"However, I have already been summoned here, and I have sufficient power to stop you."
[You intend to compete with me in that state? You don't truly think you can be my opponent while merely wielding a trifling portion of the Root's power, do you?]
"Well... I already know that even if I defeat you here, you will simply be reborn in your Temple. For one thing, the power of the Root doesn't work particularly well against you... and if I were to get hurt fighting here, it would be a terrible thing to do to that girl."
Nevertheless, Ryougi adjusted her grip on her katana, flicking it once as if to flaunt her readiness for battle, and cautiously aimed it toward him.
"Hehe..."
[What are you plotting?]
"I was summoned today merely with the intention of saying, 'Let's stop here.'"
[…A temporary truce… Surely you don't think I would accept such a clumsy threat?]
"Of course, I don't expect you to accept it so easily. However, it seems there are things even you do not know."
The moment Ryougi finished speaking, a cup glowing with golden light began to form within the Preta Path realm situated right beside me.
[...You were carrying the Holy Grail with you directly.]
"Indeed. Moreover, it is the Holy Grail into which you yourself poured your resources. Though I have severed all traces of the Demon God Pillars, the prana remains intact."
[What of it? Do you think you've found the confidence to face me... with a mere handful of resources contained in a Grail?]
Following the King of Demon Gods' words, ominous magical energy began to writhe and surge once more...
"Not at all. We aren't that stupid."
I answered in Ryougi's stead.
"Ah, you're right, King of Demon Gods. Humans are foolish and make many truly stupid mistakes... but I can guarantee you, their mistakes have dignity, and human life is an existence that learns something from those errors."
[Sophistry.]
"You might think so. But once you see this, even you might change your mind?"
I carefully handed the Holy Grail to Ryougi, and she gave a faint smile before beginning to manipulate the magical energy within the Grail...
In that instant, the world began to warp.
[…What is this.]
The situation was not something that even the King of Demon Gods could simply laugh off.
The distortion of the world, the forced release of the Singularity... no, the deterioration of the Singularity.
This wasn't merely the Singularity being resolved and normalized; it was completely escaping his control...
[A Lostbelt...? This is preposterous...!]
"Ah, King of Demon Gods. I told you, we learn from our failures... That was the same tactic you used to ensnare me, wasn't it? If we didn't prepare Chaldea for the Restoration of the Human Order, you'd turn the Human Order to ash—an utterly simple threat! We're simply making a threat of our own..."
Humanity was already destroyed, and if the King of Demon Gods wouldn't let us go in this state, defeat was effectively certain.
"If we transform the Singularity into a Lostbelt, you'll have no choice but to leave behind the resources you poured into this Singularity... and let the Okeanos era, which has been torn away, drift. Your 'Incineration of the Human Order' has a time limit, after all. The invasion from the outer world, the Alien God... isn't that right?"
[…For a mere insect, you've dismantled it well.]
Taking the King of Demon Gods' answer as affirmation, I slowly cleared my throat and began to speak.
"This is a trade, King of Demon Gods. You return to your Temple, and we resolve this Singularity as is and return. If you refuse to let us go, I will work with Ryougi to turn this Singularity into a Lostbelt and migrate Chaldea here entirely. If we do that, just like the Rhongomyniad of the 'past' you saw, we will at least succeed in preserving a sample of humanity itself."
A deal, a threat. From the King of Demon Gods' perspective, it was an unacceptable outrage, but he couldn't simply ignore it either.
If he had to embrace such a headache while he hadn't even properly dealt with the threat of the Alien God, it would be no different from his painstaking Incineration of the Human Order turning into the greatest blunder of the age. Furthermore, even leaving behind a sample of humanity was an absurdity to the King of Demon Gods. From his standpoint, needing to erase every speck of human trace, the existence of a Lostbelt was a counter-punch that directly negated his plan...
[Fine. You would never have been able to overcome the Singularities anyway... I shall withdraw for now.]
Without any further words or curses, Solomon vanished from the spot like a phantom. 'The Boundary,' inhabiting Ryougi's body, also smiled and spoke.
"I didn't expect to be called upon so early. According to your deductions, wouldn't it have been the Fourth Singularity?"
"It just means the King of Demon Gods changed his patterns in his own way..."
Edward Teach's ship had vanished at some point, and everyone was huddled together, floating atop a small summoned creature.
Goetia had returned to his temple, but the altar still remained, spewing curses. The only two 'humans' remaining in this place—Drake and I—slowly began walking toward the altar.
"…You look pale."
"Well... I didn't think that Teach fellow would act like that."
Goetia had intended to kill not just me, but Drake as well, and surprisingly, the one who had protected her was none other than her arch-rival, Edward Teach.
"Perhaps he really didn't want his rival to be killed by someone other than himself."
"…Was that guy really like that?"
"I wouldn't know. What's certain... is that this really is the end of this Singularity."
Ryougi smiled and shattered the altar, extracting the Ark located inside without even touching it.
"I haven't looked inside directly, but as expected, he sacrificed the flesh of a god. One anointed by God, one chosen as a God's vessel, and a God's flesh that has met death once... the three resonated to manifest the Curse of the Divine Tetragrammaton."
[…I see, if he put a god directly into the Ark, it makes sense for a curse to manifest. And customizing that for himself was the curse of this Singularity.]
"Roman, you've worked hard."
[Miss Blue worked harder than I did... By the way, what are you going to do about the Fourth Singularity?]
"…For now, I'll just have to challenge it somehow."
The Fourth Singularity. The place where Goetia first appears wearing the skin of the King of Magic.
I had originally saved the plan of summoning Ryougi via the Fifth Magic to prepare for Goetia's appearance in that Singularity, but because that bastard left such a mess in the Third Singularity, I had no choice but to use it.
"Even so, it has to be done. There's no other way."
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