IBHJ 1250

"Gods under the royal name—this is the law of the kingdom." The Incarnation glanced at Shirou, then shifted her gaze to Tiamat standing behind the crowd. "Your resistance is pointless."

“I'm well aware this resistance means nothing," Tiamat replied calmly. "But I've already accomplished my goal."

Everyone turned to Tiamat in surprise. Even knowing her creation power was useless against Akasha Arrow, she had gone through with it anyway. Could it be that she had a secret strategy against the seemingly invincible Akasha Arrow?

"Tiamat, you didn't..." Gaia stared at her in disbelief.

"AAAGHHH!"

A scream of agony suddenly rang out. Shirou spun around to see Zeus clutching his head, howling in pain. His divine thunder crackled out of control, dancing wildly around him as a terrifying wave of energy—with mass far exceeding Jupiter—erupted from his body.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The sky, sealed by the Empire's barrier, suddenly shattered like glass. An enormous hole appeared, and through it flickered a crimson light that promised absolute destruction. An immense eye—impossibly huge—gazed down at them from beyond the breach.

"What the hell is that?" Everyone was dumbfounded.

A colossal entity—like some ancient cosmic god—gazed down at them from a distant star system on the verge of collapse. It was an immense structure with a star at its core, resembling a Dyson sphere transformed into a cosmic mothership!

It was magnificent. Absolutely sublime.

All of them—gods and Heroic Spirits alike—suddenly seemed insignificant compared to this enormous eye peering across the vastness of space.

"No... it can't be..." Shirou's eyes twitched violently as scorching heat washed over him, like standing on the surface of the sun itself. To think the situation had escalated to this point. He knew what this Dyson sphere-like elder god truly was... It was…

"Ch-Chaos...!" Zeus gripped his head in agony, cold sweat pouring down his face as he fought against some overwhelming mental erosion.

Kirschtaria frowned. "I see... so this terrifying power surge is actually coming from this elder god called 'Chaos'?"

"Target locked. According to the Interstellar Migration Law, 37% of this planet's mass will be collected as a migration tax," Chaos announced.

Chaos's voice echoed around them, and everyone's faces changed drastically when they heard it.

"Migration tax? What the hell is that?" someone asked.

Shirou's brow furrowed as he stared at Chaos. The cosmic law that had been created by this planet's ancient civilization to maintain order had now become a disaster for the entire world.

BOOM!

The giant eye unleashed a stellar storm powerful enough to destroy everything. Endless red light flooded the world, making it writhe and convulse as if in violent death throes. Everyone turned deathly pale, as if they were facing some kind of higher-dimensional light.

They couldn't withstand this.

They absolutely could not withstand this!

This was the conclusion reached by everyone—Beast, Grand Servant, Magician, and Vanguard alike.

"So this was your plan all along," the Incarnation said, glancing at Tiamat who was still holding the Sword of Rupture.

The Empire's barrier had been weakened after simultaneous attacks from the Council, the Hope Alliance, Adam, and Pan-Human History. It wasn't flawless anymore. Tiamat had spotted this vulnerability and used Abzu to tear open the dimension, allowing this elder god to peer through from another reality.

The Incarnation didn't really care why this elder god had suddenly taken an interest in their planet. What mattered was that Tiamat had cleverly identified her weakness. This planet was incredibly important to the Incarnation. She didn't want to rule the world—she wanted the Eternal Kingdom to be revived and merge with the Eternal Empire, existing forever on this planet. Therefore this planet absolutely could not be destroyed.

Now that Chaos had set its sights on Earth, it would collect nearly 40% of the planet's mass according to some interstellar law. This would turn Earth into nothing but a dead star. How could her kingdom continue to exist after that? If she insisted on destroying Pan-Human History first, Chaos would seize the opportunity to harvest Earth.

What choice did she have? This had all been predetermined from the moment the Incarnation was born.

But then—

"None of this matters to me," the Incarnation said. She reached out, her fingers trailing holy light, and forcibly transformed Skadi's Gungnir in her hand. The legendary spear writhed and reshaped itself into a glowing divine bow, then she placed Akasha Arrow on it. Instantly, flowing light and colors blazed brilliantly, and even Chaos's massive storm seemed dim compared to the sheer power radiating from this arrow.

"She's doing it! She's actually going to fire that arrow!" Everyone watched nervously as she took aim with Akasha Arrow.

The Incarnation pointed the bow directly at Chaos's giant eye, then let the bowstring slip from her fingers.

With a whoosh, the small golden arrow effortlessly cut through the world-ending red light of the stellar storm. It streaked toward the void hole, heading straight for that Dyson sphere mothership in the distant alien star system—a structure with mass greater than the sun itself!

"There's no way she can win... she'll never defeat Chaos... the mothership is completely invincible!" Zeus grimaced in pain. As one of the machine gods created by Chaos, he understood better than anyone just how terrifying it truly was.

Even Zeus, who had absorbed the divinity of twelve machine gods and could match an Umbral Vanguard, couldn't withstand a single glance from Chaos.

Chaos was essentially an interstellar Dyson sphere that consumed entire stars!

But the moment Akasha Arrow streaked toward it, this enormous elder god transmitted a wave of information that could only be described as fear.

There was no dramatic explosion or terrifying display. Just as Akasha Arrow struck Chaos, its eye visibly twisted into a vortex and disappeared.

Chaos could feel itself being erased by Akasha Arrow. Without any hesitation, it ruthlessly cut off its own eye and sealed the void hole it had been looking through.

In the split second after making this desperate move, its eye—larger than the entire Earth—was completely erased by Akasha Arrow.

Zeus felt the mental pressure from Chaos suddenly disappear. There was no doubt that Chaos had completely stopped observing their planet. He stared at the Incarnation in disbelief. For the first time, he realized that even Chaos—even an entity as powerful as Chaos—feared something.

And that something was Akasha Arrow!

The Incarnation retrieved Akasha Arrow and drew it again, this time pointing it directly at the group.

Everyone panicked and scrambled backward. How could any of them possibly withstand an arrow that even Chaos had run from?

She aimed the arrow straight at Mordred, pulling back the bowstring. Out of everyone present, she hated Mordred the most—the one who had destroyed the Eternal Kingdom!

Mordred watched helplessly as the arrow sped toward her, finding herself completely unable to dodge.

Everyone stood frozen, silently watching as Mordred faced Akasha Arrow. No one could move a muscle, let alone do anything to help.

It was partly fear, partly pure instinct.

Who could possibly escape the primal terror controlled by the Root itself?

Just then, a hand that wasn’t particularly large or strong reached out from the side and pushed Mordred away.

Mordred watched in horror as Shirou was engulfed by Akasha Arrow. Her eyes grew wide with shock, and she couldn't stop herself from crying out:

"Father!"