IBHJ 1342

As the room finally quieted down, Gaia spoke again, her voice turning serious. “Brothers, sisters. I trust you all understand why I called this council.”

Shirou glanced her way. Earlier, she had joked that the meeting was Uranus’s fault—because Uranus had complained about him—but it was clear now this had been Gaia’s intention from the start.

“We understand, Gaia. But are you certain this being comes from the future of our star system?” Saturn asked. “The spirit particle balance here is stable. No fluctuations. No signs of temporal distortion.”

Gaia let out a soft chuckle. “Before I get to that, I owe Shirou an apology.”

Shirou raised an eyebrow.

She looked directly at him. “To be honest, I had my doubts. I thought you might be the Golden Emperor in disguise… or maybe a spy sent to analyze the structure of our star region. So I had Tethys pretend to cooperate while secretly monitoring you, and I dug deeper on my own.”

She snapped her fingers.

The constellation beneath their feet shifted, stars rearranging to form a vast galactic map stretching into the dark. At its center, the solar system pulsed gently—Gaia’s homeworld.

“This is where Shirou appeared. He bypassed Alaya’s defenses and entered directly into our core sector. That alone was enough to trigger every alarm. But that’s not the most important part.”

She pointed to the map. The others turned toward the highlighted entry point, where a faintly glowing star gate hovered.

Shirou’s eyes narrowed. That’s… a Gate?

“What is that?” Saturn asked, frowning.

Gaia answered calmly, “We don’t know. But that’s the portal Shirou used to reach us. It let him slip past Alaya like she wasn’t even there.”

She paused, gaze darkening slightly. “The real issue is, neither I nor Alaya can access it. We can’t even see what’s on the other side. But something—no, many things—are watching us through it.”

The air felt heavier as she continued.

“Old friends. Bodhisattvas from Sukhavati. Eldritch gods from the Chaotic Cosmos. Even future versions of me and your UOs.”

She turned to face the group, her expression solemn. “That’s why both Alaya and I have confirmed it. Shirou really is from the future. A future that’s already been severed from our current timeline… one where we’ve all been destroyed.”

A heavy silence fell over the room. The council members exchanged glances, each of them processing the weight of those words.

“If any of you are still unsure,” Gaia continued, “then see for yourselves. Shirou still carries the Star Blessings each of you once gave him.”

Their gazes shifted to Shirou. In that instant, the blessings hidden within his body came alive. Light surged across his back, and star-shaped sigils shimmered into view—faint silhouettes of celestial spirits flickering one after another.

“That’s mine!” Mercury blurted, pointing at the symbol of Ort.

“Mine too!”

“Wait… even the Moon King’s?”

“Venus’s mark is right there—but… where’s Uranus’s?”

Everyone turned toward Uranus in confusion.

He crossed his arms with a huff. “Nice. If my future self actually gave him a blessing, I’m definitely heading to the future just to smack myself for it.”

A few stifled chuckles rippled through the room, easing the tension.

“Well,” Gaia said with a small smile, “it seems there are no more doubts about who Shirou is.”

She turned back to him. “Shirou, if you would—share everything again. About the Lord of Salvation. Your theories. And what you’ve learned about the threat from the Lord of Salvation.”

Shirou gave a quiet nod. Then he began, walking them through everything—the rise of the Lord of Salvation, the fall of their star system, and the creeping shadow tied to the Root.

“The Lord of Salvation… Never heard of them.”

“Akasha Record? What’s that supposed to be?”

They were confused. In Shirou’s time, those terms were common knowledge, burned into the collective memory after countless tragedies. But here, in this untouched era, none of them had faced the crisis that gave those names meaning. Some of the council members even started to question if he was making things up—until he summoned the Arrow of Akasha.

The moment the arrow appeared, the atmosphere shifted. Everyone in the chamber froze. That presence—raw and absolute—pressed down on them like a divine judgment. It was a threat even more terrifying than Cosmic Alaya herself.

Shirou had once theorized that the Golden Emperor might destroy Gaia’s Star Brain, triggering a massive war between her region and the Golden Universe. Back then, it had been just a guess. But now… it felt inevitable.

“The Golden Emperor might seem reasonable now,” Gaia said quietly, “but that’s only because he’s still locked in conflict with the Void Overlord. Once that threat is gone, we’ll be next.”

Her words clicked into place in Shirou’s mind. Just like Future Gaia and Tiamat had explained to him before—Uranus and the others were originally born from the Golden Universe. But inner conflict within that realm had given them a chance to break away, to form their own territory and claim independence.

The Golden Universe had always been ruled by two powers. On one side, the universe-crushing Golden Emperor. On the other, the all-consuming Void Overlord. Piece by piece, the truth of the Origin Era began to form in Shirou’s mind.

At some point, the Golden Emperor tried to eliminate Gaia’s sector quickly. But the lifeforms here had already evolved—becoming quantum-level entities, far beyond what he’d expected. When brute force failed, he pulled back and made a temporary peace, choosing instead to focus on defeating the Void Overlord.

Once victorious, he returned… and launched a full-scale war against the Gaia Sector.

That growing clash between two cosmic powers, pushed further with every strike and counterstrike, eventually reached a breaking point. And from that escalation… the Lord of Salvation was born.

“I believe Shirou’s theory is sound,” Gaia said. “If the Golden Emperor defeats the Void Overlord, we’re next. And if the Golden Universe decides to wage full-scale war against us… we won’t stand a chance.”

The council exchanged glances.

“We’re not that weak,” one of them said after a moment. “Why would he even want to pick a fight with us?”

Gaia gave a small shrug, almost like she didn’t want to answer. “Who knows. Maybe he won’t. Maybe it never comes to that. But we’d be fools to count on that. The Golden Emperor… and the universe backing him… they’re not some distant threat. They’re real. And they’re watching.”

A pause settled in the room.

“So what are you saying?”

“I’m saying…” Gaia’s voice softened, but there was no kindness in it. Only certainty. “We have to erase the Golden Universe. All of it. Before it’s too late.”

The words hit like a drop in still water.

No one moved.

No one argued.

Her siblings sat in silence, the weight of her words sinking in.