IBHJ 1257

After Agravain left, a strange presence stirred from deep within the imperial palace.

"You've already met with the King, haven't you? He refused your offer, didn't he?" the presence said.

"I truly don't understand. Your lives are in complete disarray, yet you refuse to start over," the Empire's Incarnation replied.

"You understand and respect the Eternal King well enough, but you only know him as the Eternal King, as Shirou Pendragon. You don't know everything about who he was as Fujimaru Shirou."

"I have no need to understand Fujimaru Shirou," she said dismissively. "That's enough. If you're trying to change my mind, you can stop now, King of Knights. You should just rest in the [Eternal Coffin]. When you wake up again, I promise the kingdom from your dreams will be restored."

The Empire's Incarnation tapped her foot, transformed into a beam of light, and departed from Earth into the vastness of space.

She floated there, looking at the wall of light that surrounded the entire solar system—the true form of the empire's barrier, her barrier, known as the Emperor's Arm. Across this layer of light encircling the solar system, countless beams extended outward like chains, binding all the planets together, forming what was essentially a planetary prison!

The Incarnation used this system to sever the connection between the planet's awareness and the UOs, effectively banishing those UOs to the South America connection point.

She gazed at the blazing sun while memories of someone called Shirou Pendragon flashed through her mind.

"Fujimaru Shirou... That name means nothing to me."

She closed her eyes slowly and extended her hands slightly. With minimal effort, holy light began to shimmer between her palms. At the same moment, the British Isles on Earth started emitting a brilliant light that spread outward in all directions.

Something extraordinary happened wherever this light touched: buildings vanished, replaced by primitive plains like those from ancient times.

History was regressing and moving backward... Or more accurately, the planet was being overwritten with a new history!

This was what the Empire's Incarnation had been doing all along—synchronizing with Pan-Human History!

As long as she completed the synchronization, everything would be restored—the ancient kingdom that had disappeared, all that had been lost. She didn't need to worry about resistance from Pan-Human History; she only needed to focus on creating the world of her dreams.

She closed her eyes and concentrated.

...

"Good, she's finally gone!"

The voice sounded through the empty imperial palace.

A blonde girl stepped out from behind a doorway.

It was Manaka Sajyou.

While the Empire's Incarnation had been dealing with the situation in Londinium, she had managed to sneak into the palace undetected.

She glanced around the grand hall. "She must be sealed away somewhere in here."

Manaka moved carefully through the palace, concealing both her physical presence and aura.

Since [Manaka Sajyou] had been knocked out by Ritsuka, she had temporarily gone quiet, which meant the false Manaka's condition had finally started to improve. At this point, if Demonic Bodhisattva tried to hunt her again, Manaka would likely be the one to come out victorious.

But after recovering, she hadn't sought out Demonic Bodhisattva for revenge. Instead, she had hidden herself and secretly followed Xuanzang into the palace.

She had witnessed the Arrow of Akasha effortlessly pierce through Xuanzang's defense. Intimidated by the Incarnation’s power, she had remained hidden along the path to the Root, waiting for the right moment.

Manaka had her own connection to the Root, which normally made her completely undetectable to ordinary people. The Empire's Incarnation, however, was far from ordinary.

Fortunately, the Incarnation had given up her status as the Counter Force and had been mentally shaken after fighting Shirou, whom she admired deeply. With her thoughts scattered to the point of having nightmares, she had failed to notice Manaka's presence.

While this was fortunate, it still left Manaka feeling somewhat depressed. In a way, she owed Shirou a favor. Though Ritsuka had denied they were friends, Manaka actually quite liked her. But when it came to Shirou, she only felt disgust. After all, even as a false personality created from Ayaka's wish, she was still Manaka Sajyou. She had inherited all the humiliation, anger, and hatred from being killed by Shirou.

Despite this, she didn't truly hate Shirou. Her feelings toward him were primarily disgust, with just a small hint of hidden admiration. This complicated emotional mix was what allowed her to work with him at all.

"Where could it be?" she moved carefully through the palace. Although the Empire's Incarnation had left, if she were to return and notice Manaka's presence, she would be doomed. After all, The Incarnation only showed mercy to those connected to the Eternal Kingdom.

Manaka had come to the palace because she knew the leader of the [Council], another vessel connected to the Root like herself, had been defeated by the Empire's Incarnation and was being held somewhere in the imperial palace.

She could sense the vessel's unique signature, but the palace was enormous with winding, confusing pathways that made searching extremely difficult. She had no choice but to check each area methodically.

Just then, she noticed two guards dressed in gold and silver armor emerging from a dimensional gate nearby. She quickly hid herself.

"Have you checked all the coffins?" one asked.

"Yes, I have," replied the other.

"The human prisoner hasn't done anything suspicious, right?"

"No, I've been watching carefully."

"Good. The Emperor specifically ordered us to keep that one under strict surveillance."

The two guards nodded and were about to leave when one suddenly raised his divine spear, pointing it toward what appeared to be empty space.

"Who's there?" he demanded.

He had detected something unusual—like the faint ripple from a leaf falling onto a still lake. Though subtle, it didn't belong here.

"..."

Nothing but silence followed.

"Must be my imagination," the guard said with a frown before leaving with his companion.

After they left, Manaka emerged from a ripple in space, watching them walk away. She could have assimilated those guards and accessed their memories, but she decided against it. Since the Empire's Incarnation was the individual form of a collective consciousness, forcibly taking over the guards might alert her, which was too risky.

"Someone the Emperor ordered to be kept under strict watch?" she thought, raising an eyebrow. "Could that be the vessel I'm looking for? Worth checking out."

She believed that on this entire planet, the only ones who would receive special attention from the Empire's Incarnation were the three vessels—including herself and Shirou—and no one else.

She needed to pass through the dimensional gate, but it had an identity recognition seal. This posed no real obstacle for her, though. She extended her hand toward it, and black mud flowed onto the seal. With a sizzling sound, the mud absorbed the seal and the gate opened.

There was no alarm, no magical warning system triggered. Either the Empire's Incarnation hadn't considered someone would break in specifically to rescue a prisoner, or she was simply confident no one could operate right under her nose. Manaka, however, was exactly that kind of exceptional case.

As she stepped through the dimensional gate, she found herself completely speechless at what lay before her.

"This is...!"

She couldn't finish her thought.

Stretching out in front of her was a vast, endless white space.

No beginning. No end.

Nothing but infinite whiteness.

But within this boundless white expanse were row upon row of pure white coffins.

Tens of millions of them, arranged so densely that anyone with a fear of clustered patterns would be absolutely terrified!

Even for someone without such a phobia, the sight was enough to leave anyone frozen in shock and send chills down their spine.

This place was nothing less than an enormous burial ground!