IBHJ Chapter 941

"How rude! That wasn't me; it was the will of our siblings! I was forced by them!"

"And who could have imagined that creatures with such weak life energy would create such terrible weapons?" Venus buried her head in Aqua's shoulder, saying pitifully, "Uuu... I need comfort."

"You're hurting me, Miss Venus," Aqua replied calmly.

"That's just how civilizations work. You measure strength and weakness by power, but civilizations measure it by their level of advancement. By the way, I also played a part in taking her down back then," Tiamat said, pointing at Venus.

"You too?" he was surprised.

"Yes." Tiamat nodded. "My true form is one of the interstellar warships created by that civilization, and one of my favorite cannons gave Venus a pretty hard time."

"You're joking, right?"

Everyone stared at Tiamat in shock.

Illya swallowed and asked in disbelief, "But aren't you a god?"

"From the perspective of the next generation civilizations, that's true, since my main function later changed from destruction to carrying the spark of civilization," Tiamat nodded.

"W-wait, wait! I'm getting dizzy!" Illya clutched her head, feeling overwhelmed.

It's completely mind-boggling - the goddess of creation from mythology claiming to be an interstellar warship, alongside mentions of the spark of civilization, ancient times, and UOs...

For Shirou, these concepts were relatively easy to grasp, but for Illya, it was like a medieval scholar suddenly finding themselves in the modern world - confusing, incomprehensible, and overwhelming.

The difference lay in their access to information. Shirou already knew about UOs and ancient times, having been shocked by them before, so he found it easier to accept and understand.

"So, does this mean that the Invisible Vortex, Rune of Wisdom, and the Dark Vortex... are all products of that civilization created by Gaia?" he asked, looking at Tiamat.

"That's right."

Tiamat nodded, then turned to look at Venus, who was nuzzling the God Brain, and said, "After Venus was spared by Gaia, she became much more docile. After that great UO war, Gaia's civilization fully entered the interstellar age, hoping to expand into space. However, while it could grow and develop smoothly on Earth thanks to Gaia's help, the universe isn't Gaia and won't favor any civilization. Therefore, it decided to create a will similar to Gaia's to ensure its development in the space."

"Because it was created out of their own needs to ensure their development, this will would view the continuation of civilization as the best option. That will is the prototype of the Counter Force you see now—an artificial Counter Force known as the Alaya Project."

"Alaya Project..."

Illya's struggle to accept this reality went without saying, and even Shirou and Artoria felt deeply unsettled. They knew this discomfort stemmed from the unknown, where reality clashed with their understanding.

Alaya...

This Counter Force had tempted Shirou over 1,500 years ago, trying to make him become a Guardian like Heroic Spirit EMIYA. It had also tempted Artoria, sealing her main body in an absolute dimension where time and space had stopped.

The common belief was that the Counter Force was born from humanity's desire not to perish, but according to Tiamat, it was a system created by Earth's first civilization to ensure their development in space.

"At that time, Gaia's civilization had absorbed all the alien technology and transformed it into its own unique system, developing even further on this basis. 4.6 billion years ago, it was a remarkably advanced civilization. To create the 'Alaya' system, they extracted data from the birth of eight UOs, including Gaia, and conducted two experiments using the same method."

"The first experiment happened on Mercury, the planet closest to the sun," Tiamat explained. "That's where the Mercury's UO we know today came from. The second experiment created the Crimson Moon."

"Crimson Moon," he raised an eyebrow.

"Because Mercury's birth was due to that civilization, it cares deeply about Gaia. She is like its mother. So when Gaia sensed the threat from humans and sent out a call, Mercury rushed to Earth without hesitation. It went into hibernation in South America to avoid disrupting Earth's ecosystem," Venus said while poking Aqua's face.

"And little Crimson Moon was the last one born. That civillization's technology was fully developed by then, so even though he was the weakest in power, he was the most perfect overall. That's why he couldn't handle having his main body hollowed out at birth, being incomplete from the start... But surprisingly, he became obsessed with Gaia, even though Gaia trusted him the most."

Shirou glanced at Artoria, who seemed to be remembering something unpleasant. He turned back to Tiamat. "Crimson Moon's story is in the past. I'm just curious, how did that civilization end?"

"How it ended..." Tiamat's head lowered slightly, a shadow passing over her eyes. "That story starts with a cosmic war."

"A cosmic war?" he frowned.

Illya had already left, unable to cope with this mind-boggling reality. Mordred wasn't interested in the story either and had joined Venus, watching her poke Aqua's cheeks with fascination.

"Is it really that squishy, Auntie?"

"Try it yourself," Venus said with a smile.

Mordred reached out and poked Aqua's face, her eyes lighting up instantly. "This is so much fun!" she exclaimed.

"I'm not a toy..." Aqua retorted calmly, but it was clearly pointless.

Tiamat glanced at the two teasing the God Brain, then looked at Shirou. "The alien forces that first visited this solar system and created the UOs were one of the most advanced civilizations of that era. Advanced civilizations believe they have the right to control primitive ones, and there was a split within those aliens. One side wanted to unify the universe, while the other wanted to guide the development of other civilizations. Their internal conflict eventually tore them into two factions during their civil war. This is how the rise of Gaia's civilization began."

"The larger faction decided to conquer and dominate weaker civilizations, while the smaller faction opposed them. Because the Mooncell had observed the birth and development of Gaia's civilization, the dominant faction knew about Gaia and her civilization and decided to invade and plunder its systemic achievements, data, and resources. That's how the war started."

Tiamat closed her eyes, the memory of that war's brutality flashing through her mind.

"Compared to the divine wars humans imagine and fear, that cosmic war was the true mythical war."

"And then, Gaia's civilization was destroyed?" he asked.

"No," Tiamat shook her head. "We won. With the support of other civilizations who also believed in peace and progress, and even the minority faction within the alien forces themselves, we ultimately won that war."

He couldn't imagine what that cosmic war must have been like. But... they won? So how did Gaia's civilization fall? What other powerful interstellar force did they meet?

"As the victors, we wanted to create rules to prevent advanced civilizations from dominating weaker ones. With the help of our allies, we asked for suggestions from other known spacefaring civilizations and created customary interstellar laws. This included rules about interstellar migration, like being able to use 37% of the resources of planets you pass by as fuel to continue your journey if you're running low on energy," Tiamat explained.

Chaos... Shirou's eye twitched violently. Was she talking about Chaos, the Machine God?

"After establishing the interstellar laws, we decided to join forces with several allies to resist any attempts at interstellar domination. Together, we would guide the development of weaker civilizations and invite them into our alliance. But before this grand plan could be put into action, we were destroyed. And I was transformed into a starship, carrying the spark of our civilization on a long journey through the stars. Eventually, I returned to Earth and became the goddess of beginnings," Tiamat said calmly.

"The thing that destroyed that ancient civilization... it couldn't be..."

"Yes, it's the same Dark Vortex you're fighting against," Tiamat confirmed.

Shirou's hand fell limply to his side. He finally understood. Why he was trapped in an endless cycle of resets, why they were so powerless against the Dark Vortex. They weren't even on the same playing field!

His hand on his leg clenched slightly, but then he felt a warm hand holding his. He turned his head to see Artoria looking at him.

He took a couple of deep breaths to steady himself, then turned back to Tiamat. "What exactly is that Vortex?" he asked.