IBHJ 1216

"Master Xuanzang, what are you doing here?" Ayaka asked with a slight frown. The last thing she wanted was for someone else to know about her complicated history with Manaka.

"Well..." Xuanzang rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "I saw some soldiers chasing after you and wanted to warn you, but by then you'd already disappeared. So I ducked into this cave to hide, and just a little while later, both of you showed up."

"Then why didn't you say something when we came in?" Ayaka pressed.

"Well..." she hesitated, pointing uncertainly toward Manaka. "I sensed this powerful demonic energy coming from her, and I got scared to reveal myself. So I just stayed hidden and ended up hearing everything you two were saying." She lowered her voice. "Including the part about her being your older sister. I swear I wasn't trying to stick my nose in your business."

Xuanzang's face was full of apology.

"It's fine that you heard it," Manaka said, quickly wiping away her tears and giving Xuanzang a neutral look. "It's not something I'm ashamed of anyway."

"Amitabha," Xuanzang bowed slightly with her palms pressed together. "I appreciate your understanding, benefactor."

"Wait, so eavesdropping is okay?" a new voice chimed in from behind another stone pillar. Manaka turned to see a familiar orange-haired figure she couldn't stand poking her head out. "In that case, I guess I can also come out."

Manaka's face immediately soured. "You're also here?"

"Yup, ran into some trouble with a bunch of soldiers," she explained with a casual shrug. "They couldn't actually hurt me, but Krista and I got separated, so I ducked in here to lay low." Ritsuka tilted her head thoughtfully, a smile spreading across her face. "Kind of weird though, right? All of us ending up in the exact same cave? It must be some kind of fate."

Sensing the tension, Xuanzang jumped in to break the ice. "You know, back where I'm from, we have this saying: 'People who are meant to meet will find each other even if they're a thousand miles apart.' I guess that explains all of us ending up here, right?" She laughed nervously.

Neither Manaka nor Ayaka responded, leaving the cave filled with uncomfortable silence.

After taking a deep breath, Manaka finally turned to Ritsuka with a composed expression. "Listen, Ritsuka. Aya—" She caught herself when she noticed Ayaka's look of disgust. "This woman here is from Tír na nÓg, which is where your sister Sakura is currently staying. She can take you there to find her, so you don't need me to escort you anymore."

"Ah, right. You can also find your brother there," she added.

Ritsuka's brow furrowed in confusion. "My brother? I already told you he died years ago."

"Yes, you did tell me that," Manaka replied calmly. "But what I didn't tell you is that your brother Shirou is actually still alive—he's also in Tír na nÓg right now. You and I are heading in different directions, so you should go with her and reunite with your family as soon as possible."

"My brother is... alive?" Ritsuka was completely frozen, struggling to process what she'd just heard.

Manaka turned away and dragged herself deeper into the cave, eventually curling up in a dark corner where she could look out at the world through hollow eyes. Thin beams of light filtered through cracks in the stone ceiling, casting colorful reflections across the stalactites—beautiful, yet somehow haunting. Like glimpsing heaven from hell—you could see the light but never actually touch it.

Ayaka had asked why she hadn't just disappeared. Truthfully, Manaka had been asking herself an even more fundamental question: why was she even born in the first place?

This doubt had been gnawing at her ever since the end of the Shinjuku Holy Grail War, when she and the original Manaka Sajyou had become trapped together inside Ayaka's body.

It was this uncertainty about her own existence that had given Gaia the opening to convince her to fight against the Lord of Salvation.

She understood clearly that she existed only because of Ayaka's wish—she was born from her sister's weakness.

She was Manaka Sajyou from before she'd met Arthur—just a collection of memories and roles she'd played as a human, daughter, and sister.

In other words, even the foundation of her fake personality was itself a fabrication. That's why Ayaka's words cut so deeply.

She couldn't even tell whether her own emotions, that love she felt, that stubborn persistence—were genuine feelings or just another performance she was putting on.

Just like she had no real idea who the actual Manaka Sajyou was at her core.

It was the strangest contradiction: somehow knowing everything about the world with perfect clarity, yet being completely unable to understand herself. Nothing could be more ironic than that.

Manaka let out a heavy sigh. Not that any of it mattered anymore.

She lowered her gaze to look at her palm. The cracks spreading across her arm were growing wider now, with dense black mist seeping out from the fractures.

She knew exactly what this meant—her existence was on the verge of collapse. The real Manaka Sajyou was waking up.

And that's where it came from—the power that could destroy the empire's eternity. From the Queen of Evil herself, the vessel of all wickedness, the Root Princess.

How much longer could she hold on? She had no idea, but she knew she'd reached the end of the road.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to just give up right here—to let the real Manaka Sajyou tear her apart, to close her eyes and let go. At least then all this pain and mental anguish would finally stop.

But every time she was about to surrender, she remembered what would happen if the real Manaka woke up—the first thing she'd do would be to destroy Ayaka. So she'd force herself to keep fighting, silently and desperately trying to piece her crumbling self back together.

It was just like earlier when Demonic Bodhisattva attacked her—she'd frantically reassembled the shattered fragments of her mind, refusing to let go.

But despite all her efforts, the cracks covering her body were only getting worse, not better.

Maybe this was the most painful thing in life—struggling so hard when it all seemed pointless anyway.

Still, there was some comfort in how things had worked out. Ritsuka had found Ayaka, and they would return to Tír na nÓg together. She might not have personally escorted them back as planned, but in the end, she'd repaid her debt to Ritsuka.

So this was it—she could just sit here peacefully and wait for her own destruction.

A fitting end for someone who was never real to begin with.

Of course, once the real Manaka Sajyou awakened, she'd become Gaia's problem again. But now that the Emperor controlled Pan-Human History, that clever Shirou would almost certainly find a way to use Manaka Sajyou against the Emperor.

Looking at it that way, her disappearance would actually help Gaia in the long run.

So in the end, she'd managed to repay her debt to Gaia too.

"Huh?"

Manaka's eyes snapped open at the sound of approaching footsteps. She looked up to see Ritsuka making her way down the rocky path toward her.

"Finally found you, Manaka!" Ritsuka said with a smile.