IBHJ 1299

"A savage from a parallel world? Hmph, nothing but an outdated toy. Die!" Agravain sneered, commanding the Machine God-Camelot to charge straight at Zeus.

Astraea, who was piloting a crimson mech nearby, called out urgently: "Watch out, Zeus! That Machine God is built from our original Orichalcum steel, and it's equipped with Galahad's counter!"

"Can a mere imitation ever match the real thing?" Machine God King-Zeus scoffed. He caught Machine God-Camelot's punch with one hand, then delivered a thunderous counterattack directly to its body.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The devastating thunder—powerful enough to reduce anything to nothingness—struck the Machine God-Camelot. But instead of damaging it, the attack reflected back like it had hit a mirror, rebounding completely onto Machine God King-Zeus!

With a deafening explosion, Zeus's right arm was blown apart.

"Just scrap metal," Agravain said coldly. He raised his other fist, ready to smash Zeus's head—when suddenly, in a flash of white light, Adam appeared before him. Using his one remaining arm, he caught Camelot's fist mid-strike.

"Let's fight together, Zeus!" Adam called out.

"I am the Supreme God King. Why would I need help from a mortal?" Zeus replied haughtily. After a pause, he added, "However, since you're a handsome man, I suppose I can reluctantly assist you."

Even when desperately needing help, a god's pride cannot be diminished.

That's just how gods are.

The three giants engaged in a colossal battle with Camelot as their battlefield. On the ground below, Imperial soldiers clashed fiercely with the arriving steel mechs and army of Heroic Spirits. No one could afford to retreat—behind each fighter stood the world they had sworn to protect!

To save one thing often means destroying another. This was a resolve these people had carried since the beginning—from the moment they became heroes, from the moment they became soldiers.

…

With a thunderous crash, Adam's severed arm finally landed on the Imperial City. Shirou and the others had made it at last. They found themselves on a floating island where spring seemed eternal, the landscape blanketed with flowers everywhere they looked. As Shirou climbed down from Adam's arm, he scanned his surroundings before fixing his gaze on the tallest palace atop the floating island. Without question, that had to be the Imperial Palace where the Ideal King resided.

"Let’s go, we can't let Adam's sacrifice be for nothing," he called to the others. "We need to destroy the Holy Grail!"

Arthur gripped the Holy Sword tightly, while Tiamat held the Sword of Rupture. Beside them stood Kama, Abigail, and Vivian—all nodding in agreement. In this desperate struggle to reclaim their rightful history, even the Beasts and those with ties to the Outer Gods had joined forces with Pan Human History.

Despite the Ideal King's transcendent power, the Imperial City was still heavily guarded by countless sentries. Worse yet, Shirou quickly realized that this floating island had strange spatial-temporal properties. No matter which direction they traveled, they couldn't seem to reach their destination—they were caught in some kind of loop.

This was one of the cosmic powers the Ideal King controlled: Space and Time itself. She knew these forces alone couldn't stop Shirou and Shiki, who were connected to the Root, but they could easily trap everyone else. Even Shiki couldn't see the lines of the Root here. That was because of another fundamental force the Ideal King commanded—Reality—which altered the Root itself, preventing even Shiki from perceiving its lines.

"Shirou!" A voice suddenly called out to him.

"This way! Follow my voice!"

The voice sounded familiar. Shirou followed its guidance, and soon found himself emerging through a gap in the distorted space-time field. Standing before him was Arcueid.

"Arcueid! So you were here all along!" After exchanging a few words with her, he learned that she had been imprisoned in the Imperial Palace by the Ideal King from the beginning. She also told him about records of the Eternal Kingdom and Eternal Empire that the Ideal King had taken from the Throne of Heroes.

But something didn't add up.

"Wait a minute," he asked. "If you've been imprisoned by the Ideal King this whole time, how did you manage to come here and guide us through that space-time maze?"

Arcueid, who had been so happy to see him, was completely stumped by his question. She paused, her expression going blank.

"I... I don't really know either," she admitted. "Before, there was this barrier keeping me trapped—I could only move around inside the palace. Just now, I sensed you nearby and ran out without even thinking about it... That's weird, isn't it? How could I suddenly leave this time?" Her face was filled with genuine confusion.

At that moment, the soldiers surrounding them suddenly moved aside, as if responding to some unheard command from above. A clear path to the Palace appeared before them—no obstacles, no traps, nothing blocking their way.

"Is this some kind of empty fort strategy?" Kama said suspiciously. "No—be careful, brother. Something this straightforward has to be a trap." If it had been her, she would have lined every inch of the path with deadly traps.

When she heard Kama's warning, Arcueid pouted defensively. "You're being way too negative about her, Sakura. Brigid would never set traps for people!"

"Brigid? Is that what that Counter Force calls herself? Whatever—it doesn't matter anymore," Kama shot back. "If you're so sure, then tell me what she's thinking right now."

Despite not having seen each other for ages, there was no awkwardness between them—just the easy, familiar pattern of people who know exactly how to get under each other's skin.

"Well..." Arcueid couldn't actually answer that question. She just had this feeling that the Ideal King wouldn't resort to underhanded tactics. At least, not against people from the Eternal Kingdom.

"She's confident that even all of us together are no match for her," Shiki said, looking around at the guards before closing her eyes. "And honestly... she's probably right."

"Let's go." Shirou said with determination.

If the Ideal King was this confident, they couldn't afford to hesitate now. He and the others marched toward the palace. The guards they passed glared at them with clenched jaws but obeyed their orders and didn't attack. Instead, they turned and headed down toward the lower realm.

Soon, they reached the Imperial Palace. Shirou had never seen it before. It was absolutely magnificent—a truly grand structure worthy of housing an Emperor. But despite its vast size, the palace was completely empty. Not a single person in sight.

No, that wasn't quite right. There was one person. A small figure sitting on the supreme imperial throne.

It was the Ideal King using Mordred's body.

"So you've made it all the way here, Shirou," the Ideal King said, looking down at him and the others who had broken into her sanctuary.

He looked up at her. "You really didn't set up any defenses at all, did you... Brigid?"

"Why are you calling me that too?" The Ideal King shook her head slightly. "No, it doesn't matter. Names are meaningless now."

She studied him carefully before continuing. "Any defense would have been pointless against you anyway. You and Shiki, together with Mordred's record, can kill eternity itself. Sending my guards against you would just be throwing away their lives for nothing."

"But you actually... let me out," Arcueid said, her voice tinged with confusion.

The Ideal King turned her gaze toward Arcueid. "Even if I hadn't released you, you probably would have found a way to help Shirou and the others eventually. And if you couldn't help them, you'd be filled with regrets when my new history comes into being." Her voice softened slightly. "Isn't it better if I defeat all of you thoroughly? That way, when you're replaced by the new versions of yourselves in the new history, you won't have any regrets."

Arcueid opened her mouth to respond but found she had no words. She hadn't expected Brigid to think this way. She was right—Arcueid would have tried to help them in the end. But why did hearing this truth from Brigid's lips sound so incredibly sad?