IBHJ 1346

Mordred’s eyes locked onto the scrap of Shirou’s cloth. Her expression tightened. She shoved it into her pocket and broke into a run with Kiara, following the source of that overwhelming aura.

Their destination was Chaldea’s control chamber, the heart of the entire facility. Inside, a massive photonic sphere hovered above the ground—the Simulated Global Environment Model, CHALDEAS. It used to glow with a calm blue light, a symbol of humanity’s survival. But now, it was burning red, like magma ready to burst. Sirens wailed in every corner.

In front of it, a young man in formal British attire walked slowly across the floor. He carried a white-haired girl, fast asleep in his arms.

Kiara froze. Her eyes widened in alarm. “Professor Lev…?”

Lev Lainur Flauros. Assistant to Director Marisbury. Once respected, once kind. But now... a follower of the Lord of Salvation. Whatever trust they once had in him was long gone.

He turned toward them with a calm smile. “Ah, so it’s you two. I thought some little mice had slipped into Chaldea… but no, it’s just Kiara and Mordred.”

Mordred’s gaze sharpened. “Where is the Lord of Salvation? And where’s my father?”

Lev’s smile didn’t waver. “You’ve already seen it, haven’t you? They’ve gone to a place you can’t reach.”

He adjusted his hold on the girl and continued, almost casually, “Before my Master left, he gave me one last task.”

Kiara’s eyes dropped to the girl. Her brows knit together. “That child… who is she?”

Lev looked down at the girl as if she were something fragile and unfortunate. “Marisbury’s legacy. The last heir of the Animusphere bloodline, cursed as it is.”

Then, without warning, he hurled the girl straight at CHALDEAS.

“Hey—!” Mordred shouted as she hurled her sword.

Kiara gasped and raised her hand, quickly activating her skill to stop the girl midair.

A sharp crack split the air as Mordred’s blade tore through Lev’s torso. But Kiara… wasn’t fast enough.

The girl struck CHALDEAS.

The glowing sphere, now burning like a miniature sun, swallowed her whole. Her body, her soul—everything—was gone in an instant.

“Damn it!” Kiara slammed her fist against the wall, teeth clenched hard enough to hurt. Her voice trembled. “You’re human, Lev! Flesh and blood! Why!? Why would you help him—why!?”

Lev let out a soft laugh, low and bitter. His face twisted, not with pain, but with something deeper.

“Do you know what it’s like, Kiara? To spend your whole life chasing a dream, only to realize it was a lie?” he said quietly. “I gave everything to my ideals. Every sleepless night, every ounce of effort. People called me a prodigy. I thought I’d carry on my family legacy. I believed in it. I believed in myself.”

He gave a weary smile. “But the truth was… there was never a legacy. Just a name. Just empty expectations. My family was a joke. And so was I.”

His gaze softened as he looked at her.

“You get it, don’t you? You were chosen to be a vessel. And I was one too. No matter what we build, no matter what we protect... under the right conditions, we stop being people. We become tools. That’s what we were made to be.”

“I suffered,” Lev said quietly. “For years. Until I heard His voice.”

His tone was almost peaceful now, as if recounting a dream.

“And only then did I understand. My ideals… my beliefs about good and evil… they were meaningless. Childish. In the face of true good, they’re nothing. The end of magic, the end of science, the end of civilization itself—that’s what it means to be righteous. True good… is the True Lord.”

Mordred stared at him with disgust. “What a sick joke.”

“Say what you like,” Lev replied, unfazed. “But you’ll understand one day. When the final moment comes, you’ll see. The ultimate good, the final evolution, the One—we’ll all become part of it, whether we want to or not.”

Behind him, CHALDEAS flared brighter, its glow deepening into a searing red, like the last sun of a dying world. That hellish light reflected off Lev’s face, stretching his smile wide.

And then, the heat took him. His body cracked, burned, and finally crumbled into dust.

Silence.

Then it came.

A pulse of raw, overwhelming power erupted from CHALDEAS, sweeping through the chamber like a tidal wave.

The aura of a Beast.

The scent of the end.

Mordred’s expression tightened. She didn’t need Kiara to explain. CHALDEAS wasn’t just a visual model of Earth—it was a replica of the planet’s soul, condensed into a Mystic Code of terrifying scale. The energy it held couldn’t be measured. If it exploded, it would wipe out everything. Not just the room. Not just Chaldea. The whole planet would suffer. Dozens of hydrogen bombs couldn’t compare.

And that wasn’t even the worst part.

Its destruction would tear the planet’s environmental systems apart, possibly forever.

That was why she hadn’t struck it. Not directly. Not yet.

But now…

Now there was no choice.

CHALDEAS hadn’t exploded. But it was no longer dormant.

Something stirred within it—a presence, massive and unnatural. A Beast had awakened, forming inside the core, drawing in its data, absorbing everything, and growing by the second.

Kiara’s voice came out quietly. “Was it… that girl?”

Mordred’s eyes stayed fixed on the swirling light. “Yeah. I think that girl was the real host of Beast VII. The one Ritsuka warned us about.”

She clenched her fists. “Olga Marie Animusphere…”

Then she glanced at Kiara. “Stay sharp. We’re taking this one down.”

Kiara nodded once, her expression hardening. “Got it, Master.”

Mordred activated the Grail.

In a flash, her body shifted. Armor darkened, power surged—and she transformed into the Grail Demon.

Beside her, Kiara expanded her field. The surrounding space twisted, reshaping itself into a warped dimension similar to Paranirmitavaśavartin. It was a skill she had only awakened after parting ways with Demonic Bodhisattva.

Now, with Mordred fully ascended and Kiara controlling the battlefield, they had a real chance. Even if they couldn’t destroy the Beast, they could at least trap it.

But then, inside CHALDEAS, the girl stirred.

Olga Marie’s eyes opened slowly.

A moment later, light surged from her body, wrapping around her like a cocoon. It pulsed once, then collapsed into a single point at her chest.

For a split second, everything froze.

Then the light erupted.

A massive beam shot straight upward, engulfing her completely. The pillar of light punched through Kiara’s twisted space like it wasn’t even there, tore through the clouds, and kept going—racing up, higher and higher—until it vanished into the Vortex hanging above the world.

Just like that… Olga Marie Animusphere was gone.

Kiara froze. “What…? My barrier’s still intact. How did she get through!?”

“She didn’t,” Mordred muttered, lifting her eyes to the sky to follow the fading trail of light. Then she looked back down, scanning the earth—

And saw it.

Beneath the blue oceans. In the leylines of the planet. Crimson pulses were beginning to flicker, deep and slow, like a heartbeat counting down to ruin.

A chill ran down her spine. “Don’t tell me this is—”

“Yes,” the Grail answered calmly. “I saw your father perform this ritual once—in the original timeline, when he tried to summon the Enlightened One.”

There was a pause. Then the Grail added, grimly, “But this time… it’s different. Bigger. It’s not just this world. It’s drawing power from the whole planet and every potential world the Council ever connected to.”