IBHJ 1248

"If we can't help take down their leader, we might as well deal with these imperial soldiers!" Gilgamesh shouted. “Kill those mongrels!”

The other Heroic Spirits nodded in agreement, quickly splitting their forces to intercept the incoming imperial troops led by Apostle Pendragon.

The situation grew even more chaotic as Astraea led the steel army to counter-surround the imperial forces.

Present and eternity collided in an instant, with the entire battlefield engulfed in flames of war. But all eyes were drawn to the center of the conflict. Shirou, once again embracing [Evil], couldn't stand by any longer and joined the fight. Though this branch of [Evil] had been reclaimed from Ritsuka, it had evolved significantly after it absorbed both the Dark Vortex and fragments of Manaka Sajyou's vortex. This gave [Evil] the power of erosion and assimilation from the Lord of Salvation. Most importantly, Shirou noticed something crucial—the Incarnation couldn't fully resist the erosive damage from his Evil.

Everyone there was perceptive enough to quickly spot this weakness. Zeus and the others began protecting Shirou, creating openings for him to strike while the Incarnation became increasingly focused on him. But she couldn't bring herself to seriously harm Shirou. Whenever she managed to break free from everyone else and was about to land a crushing blow to his head, memories would flash before her—images of Shirou's struggle and dedication in building the kingdom. Each time, her fist would inevitably soften at the last moment, giving Zeus and the others the chance to jump back in and engage her again.

She realized what was happening—the collective thoughts of the kingdom's people were holding her back. Though some of the departed souls had begun to hate Shirou, far more of them still adored their king, the one who had allowed them to keep existing and had brought them glory. Despite Shirou now standing against the kingdom, they were still waiting, hoping he would return to them someday. But Shirou could only answer their trust and hope with silence and more attacks.

The Incarnation understood her limitation—until the collective consciousness that formed her own individual being completely lost faith in the Eternal King, she wouldn't be able to kill Shirou. Changing tactics, she swung toward Kama instead, only to have her fist connect with a protective barrier.

She turned, her gaze landing on the witch casting the spell. "I never opened my heart to someone before... I thought we could have become friends."

"You're nothing but a false emperor trying to use the Empire to revive your eternal kingdom," the witch shot back through clenched teeth. "You even killed His Majesty the Emperor... how could I possibly be your friend?"

"That's too bad. Then please disappear." She shook off Ritsuka with ease. Just then, a dark blue sword sliced through space, aiming straight for her abdomen.

She caught it with one hand and looked at Mordred, who had tried to ambush her. "You've already killed me once. Now you want to do it again?"

Mordred fell silent for a moment. "Sorry," she finally whispered.

The Incarnation crushed Mordred's sword in her grip, then glanced at everyone—at the silent Shirou, the excited Scáthach, the sorrowful Vivian, and the ashamed Mordred.

She stopped moving and closed her eyes.

"Now's our chance!"

Everyone's eyes lit up as they all charged at the Incarnation with everything they had.

In the midst of complete silence, the Incarnation simply reached her hand into the void and pulled out a golden cup. The cup instantly began to shine with brilliant light, and with a soft "pop," it completely neutralized all their attacks. Even [Evil], with its power to assimilate everything, was completely purified by this light.

With a deafening "boom," everyone was sent flying.

"What is this?" Zeus stared in amazement at the cup in her hand. "This power... it's more magnificent than Chaos..."

"That's not the Holy Grail!" Mordred exclaimed, looking at the cup with wide eyes. Having been connected to the Grail and with Satan's support, she could sense it better than anyone. "Whatever that is, it's not a Holy Grail or definitely not Holy Spirit’s power!"

"Impossible... how can this be?" Tiamat was visibly shaken, her body actually trembling as she stared at the cup. "Is it that arrow? No, it can't be! Such a thing... it's impossible! That thing... it should have disappeared long ago!"

Gilgamesh looked at her with confusion. "Primordial Goddess, what are you talking about? What is that thing?"

Tiamat didn't answer him. She just kept staring at the cup in the Incarnation's hand, her face frozen in shock and disbelief.

"No way... that arrow... still exists?" Gaia stared at the cup in the Incarnation's hand with complete disbelief. "If it still exists... why wouldn't the planet know about it?"

The Incarnation gazed calmly at everyone as the cup in her hand transformed amid endless light, becoming a golden arrow.

It looked like an ordinary arrow, but one glance at it made everyone feel like their souls and consciousness might disappear into it at any moment!

All eyes were now fixed on the golden arrow in her hand.

"How is it still here... the Akasha Arrow..." Tiamat whispered, pressing her lips together.

"Akasha Arrow? What's that?" Enkidu was confused.

"It's the iron proof of 'our' sin," Tiamat replied. "It is the Root itself!"

"The R-Root?" Everyone froze in shock.

Gaia spoke through clenched teeth: "That arrow once ended cosmic hegemony and sealed away the Absolute Evil. In front of that arrow, any existence becomes practically nothing... Damn it! That arrow should have been destroyed after sealing that guy! If that arrow still exists, we have absolutely no chance of winning...!"

"Using this arrow to send you away is my final show of respect," the Incarnation said with an eerily calm voice.

Everyone stared at the Akasha Arrow in her hand with absolute terror. Though they didn't fully understand what Akasha Arrow truly was, just looking at it gave them the horrifying sensation of losing themselves—of being unmade from individual beings back into pure [Nothingness].

One thought ran through everyone's mind at once: We cannot let her fire that arrow!

Without needing to communicate, they all instinctively reached the same conclusion.

Altera and the others surrounding the Incarnation attacked with renewed desperation. But it didn't matter what they threw at her—Zelretch's multiple-world ether cannon, Excalibur's blast, Altera's Teardrop Photon Ray, even Beast VII's power—as they approached her, they simply vanished under the rippling light of Akasha Arrow.

Not just destroyed—they became absolute nothingness.

Not even particles remained. No quantum traces. Not even information itself survived—just pure, empty void.

"To think something like this exists on our planet... it's the ultimate denial of existence itself!" Altera said with a frown.

That was exactly the power of the Akasha Arrow. It embodied the Root—simultaneously the greatest affirmation of existence and its most absolute negation.

Nothing could maintain its form before Akasha Arrow—not [Evil], not Beasts, not information, not energy. No form of matter or information could survive in its presence. This was because even nothingness, at a conceptual level, was still a form of existence. And Akasha Arrow could directly negate and void any existence whatsoever.

Put simply, neither existence nor void as concepts could fully describe the Akasha Arrow. It was the root of everything, the physical manifestation of the [Akashic Records], the fundamental law that gave birth to science, the source of all thought, the ultimate philosophy.

Only a select few could even begin to withstand it. Apart from transcendent beings who had moved beyond the mortal realm, nothing could resist the power of the Akasha Arrow. And even those transcendent beings could only resist it, never destroy it—because in the end, all things are [Akasha].