IBHJ 1236

"That's it over there." Astraea pointed toward a steel fortress in the distance, where a pillar of light connected to the sky.

As Shirou gazed at the fortress, he felt the planetary voice calling to him, sending a wave of emotion through his body.

He'd been convinced the planetary voice was guiding him back to Tír na nÓg, but instead it had led him straight to Alaya's headquarters. Clearly these two Counter Forces were secretly working together behind the scenes.

When they entered the steel fortress, he was amazed to see dozens of fully automated super factories inside. Steel mechs were delivering iron, which was rapidly transformed into steel shells resembling mechs and Tiger tanks.

Then, something incredible happened—souls descended through the pillar of light from the sky and entered these steel shells. The moment they made contact, the shells came alive, becoming steel mechs that immediately joined the production line.

"So that's how these steel mechs are born," he said, watching in fascination.

"Exactly," she replied. "They use modern industrial automated assembly lines combined with Atlas Academy's alchemy to recreate our Greek machine god technology. The Greek machine gods serve as templates for creating standardized steel shells, and then humans are deployed into them through Mana, who's connected to Alaya. And just like that—steel warriors are born."

He looked around in confusion. "Wait, what about all this metal? Where's it coming from? Europe doesn't have these kinds of metals, does it?"

"You're right," she nodded. "Originally, these foreign metals weren't found in Europe or anywhere else in the world. But after the Emperor synchronized with Pan-Human History, the terrain changed globally. Pretty much the entire planet became covered with these foreign metals. We believe it's the Empire's terrain overlapping with Pan-Human History."

"That's impossible!" the witch exclaimed. "Our Eternal Empire has nothing but eternal spring, singing birds, and beautiful flowers blooming everywhere. There's no way it would have such lifeless, ashen lands!"

Shirou turned to the witch with a thoughtful expression. "Have you forgotten why the Empire invaded our Pan-Human History in the first place?"

The witch fell silent as she remembered what Agravain had told them—that the Empire had invaded Pan-Human History because the Holy Grail's power had reached its limit, and their world had begun to wither away.

She frowned deeply, the realization dawning on her face. "Are you suggesting that this apocalyptic wasteland is actually... part of the Empire's territory? That both the people and the landscape have withered and turned into this... this wasteland?"

"Perhaps," he said quietly.

The witch couldn't accept it. Her heart was in turmoil again as she confronted this uncomfortable truth.

This was why the Empire had invaded Pan-Human History in the first place—the Holy Grail's power that sustained their world was running out. To survive, invasion was their only option.

And what about justice? For people in Pan-Human History, defending their home was justice. For the Empire, eliManating those who stood in the way of their survival was also justice.

One side's justice was the other side's evil.

Justice isn't some rigid set of rules—it's made up of conscience and principles that shift depending on where you stand. And when core conflicts intensify enough, strength becomes the only justice that matters.

Everywhere you look, you find different versions of what's "right."

If you wanted to hate someone for all this, who would you blame? The world itself is inherently unfair and twisted, yet at the same time, it follows clear rules and holds its own kind of beauty.

Of course, pure-hearted people like Adam, Astolfo, and Bedivere would ask why peaceful coexistence wasn't possible. They'd advocate for finding a way to live together without conflict.

But Agravain and the Apostles had already answered that question.

The planet only has so much to go around. Pan-Human History already has about 7.5 billion people pushing those limits.

Resources are incredibly scarce as it is—roughly 3 billion people constantly struggle with hunger and poverty. With 230 countries already fighting tooth and nail over limited resources, and half of the world embroiled in chaos, how could they possibly make room for residents from another world?

Even if Pan-Human History and the Empire somehow managed to establish peaceful coexistence, practical questions remained: which country would give up their land? Where would these newcomers actually live?

So invasion becomes inevitable, and defense becomes necessary.

A true leader creates a space for all their people to exist and guides them toward a future. Those who can't provide this will naturally lose the people's support and be removed from power.

That's what happened to the previous Emperor, which is why a new Emperor emerged.

What Shirou couldn't figure out was whether the Emperor currently controlling the Empire was an entirely different person, or simply another fragment that had split off from the original Emperor.

After all, he had already seen this kind of self-splitting before with Beast III and Kiara Sessyoin.

He glanced around the empty space and turned to Astraea. "Are you and Mana the only people living here?"

"No, there's also an excellent alchemist from Atlas Academy," she replied. "Without her incredible knowledge and technical skills, we wouldn't be able to mine or process any of these foreign metals from the Empire."

Just then, Astraea spotted someone darting through the factory. She waved her hand and called out, "Lady Sion!"

He turned to look. A girl with a purple cylindrical hat, purple twin-tails, and black-framed glasses stopped in her tracks and glanced in their direction.

She was wearing an Atlas Academy uniform with a white mini skirt. When she noticed Astraea waving, she headed over to where they stood.

"You're back, Goddess Astraea.”

"Yes," she nodded, then gestured toward the girl. "Shirou, this is the excellent alchemist from Atlas Academy I was just telling you about—Sion Eltnam Sokaris."

Shirou nodded, though he couldn't hide his surprise. An alchemist who could bypass the cognition barrier and directly process foreign metals from the Empire was incredibly rare, even at Atlas Academy—and this woman was one of those exceptional few.

"This is—" Astraea began, about to introduce Shirou.

But Sion cut her off, gesturing at him with a smile. "I know who you are. You're Fujimaru Shirou!"

"You know me?"

"Of course I do," Sion replied with a friendly smile. "My father had quite a few encounters with you back in the day."

He nodded, smiling as he made the connection. Sion's adoptive father was Night of Wallachia. In 1994, it was Night of Wallachia and Forest of Einnashe who had attacked Fuyuki City, setting Shirou on the path to becoming the Eternal King.

According to Dr. Heartless, Night of Wallachia had later seen the Emperor's true form in Pan-Human History and attempted to capture him using Atlas Academy's seven superweapons. Instead, he ended up being purified by the Emperor.

This was actually why Sion had managed to escape both the Human Order destruction caused by the Council and the subsequent world synchronization by the Emperor.

Night of Wallachia had slaughtered most of the Atlas Academy alchemists who tried to stop him from taking the seven superweapons.

The attack left Atlas Academy in ruins, and afterward, Sion stepped up to become its director.

To rebuild what was lost and recreate the seven superweapons, she reached out to the Clock Tower and other hidden world organizations for help. She even approached forces in the surface world, offering Atlas Academy's technical expertise to help establish Chaldea in exchange for the massive funding needed to restore Atlas Academy.

Eventually, she relocated to the Wandering Sea to work on recreating the seven superweapons. This decision turned out to be incredibly fortunate, as it allowed her to escape both catastrophes of Human Order and the Empire's synchronization. Since the Wandering Sea existed in its own separate realm, the massive fluctuations in Pan-Human History couldn't reach her there.