IBHJ 1292

Shirou returned to reality and immediately saw two enormous figures battling in front of Badon Fortress. Gaia appeared beside him and quickly explained everything that had happened while he was gone.

Still holding Mordred, he watched as Adam was getting brutally beaten by the Machine God-Camelot. Despite the chaos, he remained calm.

"We need to support Adam," he said. "And get some of our troops to fall back right away!"

With Manaka's help, he managed to push back Machine God-Camelot long enough for everyone to escape to Tír na nÓg. Unfortunately, the witch who had been fighting with Apostle Pendragon was nowhere to be found. They could only hope she was safe.

But more than her disappearance, he couldn't stop thinking about what he'd seen with the Incarnation.

False Emperor, Counter Force... he felt certain there were deeper secrets about her origins that remained hidden. So when they reached Tír na nÓg, instead of helping the troops get settled or comforting Mordred who was grieving over Galahad's sacrifice, he went straight to find Ambrosius.

"That False Emperor... no, I should call her the Counter Force of the Eternal Kingdom. What's really going on with her?" Shirou asked.

"Why are you asking me?" Ambrosius replied with a smile. "You already said it yourself—she's the Counter Force of the Eternal Kingdom."

"I saw something," Shirou said, staring intensely at Ambrosius. "Before Mordred ever found the Holy Grail and made a wish, someone else did it first. And that person was Morgan's father, King Uther!"

"..."

Ambrosius fell silent.

When Merlin heard about King Uther, he looked confused. "What are you talking about, Shirou? How could Uther have made a wish on the Holy Grail? He never found Tír na nÓg."

Shirou didn't answer him. Instead, he kept his intense gaze fixed on Ambrosius.

After a long silence, seeing Merlin's bewildered expression, Ambrosius finally sighed. "Yes, he did make a wish on the Holy Grail."

"That's impossible!" Merlin exclaimed, clearly shocked. "He couldn't have entered Tír na nÓg!"

"He didn't need to enter Tír na nÓg. He just needed to call me out."

"How could he possibly summon you?" Merlin asked in disbelief.

Ambrosius just gave Merlin a knowing look without answering.

Back then, Merlin had served as the court mage for King Uther and was considered his closest friend. But what Merlin never realized was that Ambrosius had been watching him from the shadows all along—including during those adventures they had with Uther and Vortigern before the Roman Empire fell into chaos.

Neither Merlin nor Vortigern ever detected Ambrosius's presence, but Uther did. So when times grew turbulent and Uther eventually broke ties with Vortigern, he sought out Ambrosius and asked to see the Holy Grail. And Ambrosius granted his request.

"Uther's wish on the Holy Grail was for an Ideal King, wasn't it?" Shirou asked.

Ambrosius nodded. "Yes, that's right."

"That can't be true!" Merlin stared at Ambrosius. "Uther's plan for an Ideal King... was supposed to be me raising Artoria to become that Ideal King!"

"To be more precise, she was meant to be the vessel for an Ideal King," Ambrosius corrected him. "Deliberately implanting the concept of dragon into her, giving her a magical energy core to sustain her. Having you shape Artoria's speech and behavior, sealing away her human emotions, teaching her to sacrifice herself for the greater good. Everything was being prepared to create the Ideal King."

"Are you saying that the Ideal King..."

"Yes," Ambrosius turned to look at Arthur and Saber. "That is the form that all versions of Arthur and Artoria would eventually become. Possessing incomparable power, guided by principles that seem to serve the greater good, the absolute ruler with ultimate authority—the Ideal King!"

The revelation hit like a thunderbolt.

All the secrets about the Incarnation finally became clear. The Incarnation's true identity was the form that Artoria would eventually become—the Ideal King!

Arthur and Saber looked at each other in confusion, then turned to Ambrosius. "It's true that we were created to be vessels for the Ideal King, but as far as we know, none of us—not even other possible versions of Arthur—have actually become the Ideal King!"

"That's because Uther's plan for an Ideal King failed in every possible world," Ambrosius explained.

"Why?" Arthur and Saber asked simultaneously.

Ambrosius just smiled without answering.

"It was Morgan le Fay," Shirou said gravely.

"Exactly," Ambrosius nodded. "Because creating the Ideal King required both Morgan le Fay's power of the Isle and Artoria's body as a vessel."

"Uther's plan was thoughtful in its way. Though he created Arthur, he truly loved both his children. He wanted Morgan and Arthur to share power and rule Camelot together, ensuring its survival."

"But in almost every timeline, Arthur always ends up as the sole ruler of Camelot, which eventually leads to its destruction because of Morgan's jealousy. The Eternal Kingdom timeline is the only exception."

Ambrosius turned to look at Shirou. "The Heir of the Vortex traveled back to the past, disrupted the Human Order Foundation, rejected the Ideal King plan, managed to control both Morgan and Artoria, and became the Eternal King himself. So when the Eternal King was born, the Ideal King was also created."

"But that Ideal King is actually a Counter Force!" Merlin said.

"In Uther's original plan, the Ideal King would be both human and Red Dragon, and most importantly, a Counter Force! Only this would guarantee Camelot's continued existence!" Ambrosius explained.

Merlin looked stunned. He had never imagined that Uther's plan for an Ideal King would be so extreme, so completely outside the bounds of common sense!

"Unfortunately, Uther was defeated by Vortigern and died before his plan could fully develop. Otherwise, history would have been completely different. What he never expected was that someday, someone would reject the Ideal King while simultaneously allowing that Ideal King to be born." Ambrosius looked directly at Shirou as he spoke.

"So that's really how it was..." Shirou sighed.

When he had seen that vortex within the Incarnation, he'd already begun to suspect. But he never imagined the truth would be like this!

The Incarnation was both the Counter Force and, more importantly, the Ideal King!

And with this, the full story of the Eternal Kingdom—that sealed history—finally became clear. Vortigern, frustrated by the inaction of kings like Uther, had transformed himself into the Last God White Dragon in an attempt to bring back the Age of Gods. What he never realized was that Uther had already set his own plan in motion. Vortigern's scheme to revive the Age of Gods was already insane, but Uther's plan was even more extreme—yet somehow more logical.

The Ideal King—

If the universe intended to wipe out the people of Camelot, then create a Counter Force, a king, to ensure the people of Camelot would continue to exist! This was the true nature of the Ideal King plan!

Unfortunately, this plan was so dangerous it could never be revealed to anyone. If word got out, it would attract the attention of the Counter Force, and the Guardians would descend to stop it. So Uther buried this secret deep in his heart, which led to misunderstandings with Vortigern. These misunderstandings eventually forced him into a deadly battle with his best friend, and Uther died taking the secret with him.

Now, after all these years, this secret that history had buried has emerged as the source of the world's chaos. At last, all the mysteries have come to light.