IBHJ 1318

Shirou flipped open the witch’s notebook, his eyes scanning the handwritten pages.

[Day 1 of travel: I finally broke free from Avalon. Hahaha! The grand adventure of the righteous Witch, Artoria Pendragon, begins now!]

[Day 34 of travel: Had the most amazing grilled fish today. God! I feel like I'm truly living again! Also met this food genius named Fujimaru Shirou. Got mistaken for a thief and took a beating, but you know what they say—fighting brings people together. Taking a few hits to meet someone who can cook like that? Totally worth it! Looks like my teacher was right about those special travel encounters! I'm so happy I need to document this. Yeah, definitely marking this as a happy day.]

[Day 36 of travel: Can't believe Fujimaru Shirou turned out to be an enemy! Ugh, playing with my feelings like that. All that mouthwatering food must've been part of his scheme! Gotta stay sharp from now on. Marking this one as an angry day.]

[Day 39 of travel: That jerk Fujimaru Shirou and his daughter actually smacked me on the head! I won't forget this. This is going in the books as grudge day.]

[Day 54 of travel: Down with a fever. My body feels like lead, but surprisingly, that jerk didn't mock me—he took care of me instead. Honestly, when he gets serious, he's not so annoying.]

...

Shirou closed the notebook with a smile.

It was finished. Everything had come to an end.

This journey had its sweet moments and bitter ones too, but now it was complete. The Foundation of Human Order was restored, and the Sixth Seat had faded into nothing.

He could already see the light of tomorrow breaking through.

Just then, Kiara and the others who'd gone to battle the Demon King came back.

"It seems we're late to the party and missed the final battle," Skadi and Scáthach said, smiling.

Shirou glanced around but couldn't see Manaka. She must have slipped away quietly.

Shiki's connection to the Root had already been sealed by the Witch, but Manaka's hadn't yet. Still, with Sixth Seat completely gone, perhaps everything truly was over now—not necessarily a bad outcome.

"Mr. Shirou, I need to tell you something—something really important!" Kiara blurted out, anxiety lacing her voice.

"What's going on?" he asked, brow furrowing.

"It's about who the Lord of Salvation really is!" she said seriously.

At those words, his eyes sharpened.

He led Kiara deep into a secluded forest where she told him everything Beast III had revealed to her.

"Are you sure about this?" He stared at her, disbelief written across his face. "What if Beast III is feeding you lies?"

"No way! My other self would never lie to me!" she insisted, her words tumbling out. "Not to mention my other self saw this with her own eyes when she transformed into the Demon King. It has to be true! We've—we've been played from the start!" Her hands trembled as she spoke.

"If that's the case... then everything is connected..." he murmured, then looked Kiara straight in the eyes. "Kiara, about this—the true identity of the Lord of Salvation—don't breathe a word of this to anyone!"

"But—"

"Please!"

"I understand..." She gave a reluctant nod.

He clutched the Arrow of Akasha tightly in his hand.

So, the real enemy isn't the Council, but...

—Chaldea!

...

Life stands as the greatest miracle in existence. The four sides plus above and below create what we call space. Though space exists all around us, it can't be pinned to any specific location. From ancient eras to now is what we call time. Though time grows endlessly, nobody knows when it began.

Throughout our vast universe, beneath countless stars, many scientists once thought Earth might be the only place harboring life. But in today's age of interstellar travel, those "truths" from past eras have revealed themselves as nothing but ancient fantasies.

The endless black of space. A sleek silver-white spaceship cuts through the darkness like a streak of quicksilver, racing through the void. Behind it, several golden vessels give chase, weapons blazing.

"Boom—Boom—"

Streams of light pour out, blasting apart the meteor obstacles one after another, shattering them into cosmic dust.

Inside the silver-white spaceship, a girl frantically worked the control panel, her hands flying across switches as she dodged incoming fire. The console mirror caught her reflection—blue academy uniform with tight shorts, a matching blue hat perched on her head. Golden hair framed her face, now slick with sweat, her emerald green eyes wide with fear.

"Help—Help—Chocolate Sauce, help me!"

The girl sent distress signal after distress signal, her voice cracking as she fought back tears. "Space Gilgamesh's stupid minions are on my tail... Come on, Chocolate Sauce! Save your favorite deskmate already!"

Nothing came back from the other end—just dead air. The only responses were the continued blasts from her relentless hunters.

"Boom—"

A searing light beam tore through the ship's left wing. The vessel lurched violently, warning lights bathing the cockpit in crimson as alarms screamed. The girl gripped the control panel with white knuckles, the only thing keeping her from being thrown across the room.

"Chocolate Sauce, Chocolate Sauce, say something—anything!" She cried out.

But the communicator stayed silent except for the hollow "beep" of a dead connection.

The girl pulled a metal 'T' nameplate from inside her uniform and pressed it against her chest, closing her eyes.

"Help me, please help me, T!" she whispered.

It wasn't a distress beacon or communication device—just a simple metal nameplate. The space legend had circulated for who knows how long. When someone faced cosmic anomalies or stood at death's door against an outer god, a mysterious savior would appear. No one knew this person's origins or identity—they were shrouded in questions. The only consistent detail was the 'T' mark on their face each time they manifested. That's why everyone simply called them T.

Like most, the girl had always dismissed this as just another baseless space myth. But now, staring death in the face, she found herself desperately hoping the legend was real.

But nothing happened.

The Golden Great Emperor's forces kept hammering her ship with relentless fire. Hull integrity dropped past forty percent damage.

"No way—I'm not dying here! I need to save myself!" The girl's jaw clenched tight.

She scanned the star chart and realized with horror that her evasive maneuvers had accidentally brought her into a sector where an outer god rested.

"If I cross that sector, I might not wake the Outer God... but if I don't, those golden ships will definitely blow me to pieces..." The girl made her choice in a second, eyes hardening with resolve as she yanked the controls and sent her ship flying into the forbidden zone where the Outer God slept.

Just as she'd gambled, the Golden Emperor's goons halted their pursuit at the boundary. The girl let out a breath, a smug grin spreading across her face. "Some 'elite forces' these are! Total chickens!"

Her moment of triumph was cut short when the golden ships fired a massive star-destroying cannon from a safe distance. She jerked the controls, narrowly avoiding the blast—but before she could celebrate, a bone-chilling rumble echoed through the stellar depths.

The blood drained from her face. "No—that cannon just woke the Outer God!"

The Golden Emperor's lackeys clearly realized it too, immediately tearing open a wormhole and vanishing into safety.

The girl spun her ship around to flee, but it was already too late. Endless darkness billowed from the core of the stellar region as an impossible gravitational force dragged her backward.

"Help—someone help me, Chocolate Sauce—!" she screamed into the comm, but silence answered her pleas.

The awakening Outer God warped the very fabric of space-time around her. Reality bent and twisted as crushing pressure squeezed her ship from all sides, threatening to flatten both vessel and pilot into cosmic dust.