IBHJ 1220

"Well, that explains everything," Manaka snarled. "No wonder you have that same disgusting aura about you. That sneaky glasses-wearing jerk transformed himself to look like Ayaka and stabbed me in the back when I wasn't paying attention. Since you're his sister, you can be the sacrifice for the restoration of the Eternal Camelot!"

Her eyes flashed with rage as endless waves of mud rose up like a tsunami, rushing toward Ritsuka to drown and consume her.

Without flinching, Ritsuka clasped her hands together. The air around them filled with strange glowing particles, and suddenly, countless massive otherworldly trees burst from the ground, creating a barrier that slowed and stabilized the surging mud flow.

Suddenly, strange eyes opened all over those bizarre giant trees. With a thunderous boom, they fired countless beams of light directly at Manaka.

But before the beams could even get close to her, there was a soft popping sound, and they simply vanished into nothing.

"You two need to get out of here," Ritsuka said, glancing back at Ayaka and Xuanzang. "I'll keep her busy while you escape."

Ayaka gave her a worried look. "We should all retreat right now. I don't think you can actually kill her."

"I know she's powerful, but the power I got from my friend won't be so easily—" Ritsuka didn't get to finish her sentence.

"Burning Holy City!" Manaka shouted.

Ritsuka spun around just in time to see endless black flames pouring out from nowhere, erupting from thin air as if a gate to hell had been opened. The flames moved with unnatural hunger, instantly engulfing the entire forest of trees she had created. The protective enchantments sizzled and failed as the dark fire consumed them. Within seconds, her massive defensive barrier that had stood like an impenetrable fortress had been transformed into a sea of black flames and was completely destroyed!

"Holy City's Fall!" Manaka shouted as she brought her hands together. Between her palms formed a black orb, pulsating with destructive energy that seemed to absorb all surrounding light. The orb grew rapidly, drawing in shadows and light alike until it resembled a miniature black hole. Just as she was about to hurl it at Ritsuka and the others, her body suddenly jerked. Something seemed to take control of her body from within. She froze mid-motion, her muscles straining against an invisible force. Her face contorted in a mixture of rage and confusion before she threw the black ball in a completely different direction, her aim suddenly and forcefully diverted by whatever had seized control of her movements.

There was just a soft pop sound. No explosion, no shockwave. Then everything—mountains, rocks, soil, even light itself—simply vanished. All that remained was a perfectly round, pitch-black hole about a hundred meters wide.

As black as Manaka Sajyou's heart.

"Holy City's Fall..." Ayaka felt her scalp tingle as she stared at the perfectly black void. Whatever her sister had just created had punched a clean hole straight through the planet's surface.

It wasn't a black hole or a wormhole—those weird optical phenomena of real or imaginary matter. This was something else entirely: a pure hole. Like someone had simply punched through a piece of white paper.

While Ayaka and the others stared in terror, Manaka looked down at her own hand, confused. She seemed puzzled about why she'd thrown her attack in the wrong direction.

"That Manaka... that Manaka is still in there!" Ritsuka said with complete confidence. "The other Manaka is stopping this one from hurting Ayaka!"

"That Manaka...?" Ayaka froze, suddenly remembering the Manaka who had cried earlier when she spoke to her. She shook her head. "Since she's awakened, that fake version must be gone by now."

"No, she's still in there!"

"She's gone! And there's no point in—"

Before Ayaka could finish, Ritsuka looked her straight in the eyes. "Do you really want her to disappear? When you compare them, do you actually want the Manaka who protected you to disappear? Do you really prefer this terrible version over the one from before?"

Ayaka pressed her lips together and said quietly, "I don't think it'll make any difference."

"It will!" Ritsuka insisted, staring at Manaka who stood on the dark mud tide. "We just need to defeat her and wake up that other Manaka. That'll fix everything!"

"You want to defeat my sist... this monster?" Ayaka's eyes went wide as she shook her head frantically. "That's impossible. We can't win. You definitely can't."

"How do you know we can't win if we don't even try?" Ritsuka paused, eyeing Manaka with worry. "But that barrier around her is a real problem... it can block even those tree attacks. If we can't get through that barrier, we're stuck. Man, I wish we had some kind of divine weapon that could break through her defense..."

"If you need a divine weapon, you can use this," Xuanzang said, holding out her nine-ringed staff to her. "This staff was given to me by a Bodhisattva. Shirou actually used it once to break out of the Empire's prison. It should be able to cut through that black mud."

"My brother used this..." Ritsuka nodded as she took the nine-ringed staff.

She fixed her gaze on Manaka and something changed. A strange light began to radiate from her body. The Beast's regalia materialized around her, her pupils turned a steely gray, and her expression gradually hardened into something cold and fierce.

"Ritsuka, you're..." Xuanzang stared at her in shock, then covered her mouth, unable to finish her sentence.

Beast transformation.

This was what happened when someone embraced their Beast nature. Manaka had embraced Beast VI and completely transformed into the Queen of Evil. Demonic Bodhisattva had emerged after embracing Beast III. And now, Ritsuka had completed her own transformation.

'Just one more time, friend. Let me borrow your power. I can't let Manaka end up like you did. And honestly, I'm kinda glad Mash isn't here to see me like this.' With those final thoughts, Ritsuka cut away the last threads of her humanity and fully embraced Beast VII, becoming the Beast of the End.

Everyone knows what it means when the Beast of the End appears—it's supposed to be game over for Human Order.

But what nobody knows is that the real Beast of the End was actually defeated years ago, before Chaldea even tackled the first connection point!

Ritsuka's cold eyes locked onto Manaka. Then she slammed her foot down and charged forward like a ghost, heading straight for her.

"The Enlightened One's weapon?" Manaka's eyes locked onto the nine-ringed staff in Ritsuka's hand, and her face went pale. She had been defeated by the Enlightened One before—she'd never forget that distinctive aura.

"Don't you dare!" she screamed. The black mud tide surged upward, forming a massive hand that grabbed Ritsuka by the ankle and yanked her down into the black mud.

Manaka let out a small sigh of relief. She was terrified of anything connected to the Enlightened One, but if that staff couldn't even reach her, it obviously couldn't break through her mud.

But just as she was starting to relax, a dark shadow burst forward from the mud pool, exploding upward in a fountain of black droplets. Suddenly Ritsuka was right in front of her, completely covered in mud but still clutching the nine-ringed staff with determination. The staff glowed with a golden light even as mud dripped from Ritsuka's body.

"No! Stay back!"

But it was way too late. The mud-covered Ritsuka raised the staff high above her head and brought it crashing down onto Manaka's mud barrier. There was a sharp crack, and the supposedly unbreakable barrier shattered like glass.

Manaka's face tightened as she clasped her hands together. "Holy City..."

But before she could gather enough magical energy, a massive black shadow came crashing toward her. She looked up to see an enormous tree barreling straight at her, filling her entire vision.

"AAAHHHHH!" Ritsuka screamed, carrying the giant tree like a battering ram aimed at Manaka's face.

When the tree slammed into her, though, it just started dissolving section by section, like foam hitting a flame. The wood blackened and disintegrated upon contact with her, crumbling away into nothing before it could do her any harm. She stood unmoving as the massive weapon was reduced to ash around her.

Manaka's eyes narrowed, flashing with dark energy as the black mud covering the ground began to churn violently. It transformed into dozens of black hands all reaching for Ritsuka.

"Mud can be stopped by tree roots! That's literally kindergarten knowledge—pay attention!" Ritsuka shouted.

Suddenly, an intricate network of tree roots erupted from beneath the surface, spreading throughout the entire mud tide with explosive force. The roots hardened instantly as they made contact with the dark substance, completely freezing the surging black mud in place. The hands stopped mid-grab, all immobilized within the wooden cage that now imprisoned them.

Manaka was surprised. She hadn't expected that at all.