IBHJ 1076

Shirou turned to face the black tree. "ORT, Gaia—whatever you want to call it. It's time we woke them up."

Heaven's Corpse's brow furrowed. "But Emperor Conquest Guild still has most of ORT's fragments..."

"Don't worry about that," Arcueid said. "That ATM had two fragments that were just absorbed. As for the others... they're all with me." She pulled out the ORT fragments with a flourish.

Shirou glanced at them. "So even Gilgamesh's fragment was in your possession."

"Yeah. Said this would be where it all goes down, and that you'd show up on the Moon before the UOs made their judgment. He had some business to handle, so he left these with me to pass on when you arrived." Arcueid paused, studying him. "But you don't look surprised at all... Hold on. Didn't Gilgamesh try to hunt you down on lower land? I don't think he would have told you any of this."

"That's true," he nodded. "But when he failed, I knew that detestable man would give me the fragments I needed at the last minute. I wasn't worried about getting them."

"Eh… what is this?" Arcueid looked bewildered. "A bond that goes beyond a spiritual connection? Was Artoria defeated by Gilgamesh?"

"Don't be ridiculous." He shook his head. "After dealing with each other for so long, you become familiar with their personality. You naturally know how to get along." Gilgamesh had been his first Servant, after all.

At that moment, countless black hands erupted from the crown of the black tree, blanketing the sky like a black sea as they surged toward Shirou and the others.

—Come, come. Return to my side.

Chaotic, delusional voices echoed in everyone's minds.

Without a word, Manaka leaped away, quickly retreating to a safe distance.

She was the Lord of Salvation's vessel, and after Gandharan's destruction, she was his primary target. She had to put distance between them.

Everyone understood this. They weren't afraid, simply watching Manaka retreat while calculating how to infiltrate the black tree. They would use their fragments to awaken ORT, achieving their final goal from both inside and outside.

As they were thinking this, the sky-reaching black tentacles suddenly swerved, changing direction to charge at Shirou.

"Hm!?" He froze, then his eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the oncoming tentacles.

Wait…

How had he become the first target?

Manaka was also stunned.

Yeah, how did Fujimaru Shirou become the first target? Wasn't I supposed to be the vessel, the body that the Lord of Salvation wanted the most?

"Wait…!"

Manaka suddenly realized something. If Fujimaru Shirou was the first target, why had she begged him earlier? Shouldn't it have been the other way around?

Damn it! I got totally ripped off!

...

The entire moon trembled with a thunderous boom. The flat ground shattered, sending endless fragments of rock into the sky. Clouds of dust filled the air, swirling upwards.

Amidst the dust clouds, Shirou suddenly burst through space, flying away with incredible speed. The dust clouds stretched out behind him like a long, smoky snake.

Countless black arms erupted from the dust, soaring through the air in pursuit.

"I'm the first vessel he's after…is this some kind of mistake?"

Shirou's high-speed flight ended with an impact that cracked the boulder beneath his feet. He spun around with brutal force, his blade carving an arc that released a wave of crimson energy cutting through space like a bolt of red lightning.

The sword wave spread out like a ribbon, but with a sickening squelching sound, it failed to cut through the black hands. Instead, they seemed to absorb it, splitting and doubling in number as they surged towards him.

Assimilation…

Shirou clicked his tongue in annoyance, pushed off the boulder, and flew away.

The black arms landed on the massive rocks. But instead of a destructive impact, they merged with the rocks as if hydrogen were combining with oxygen.

After assimilating the rocks, the black arms continued their pursuit.

"If destruction doesn't work, let's try throwing them into another dimension." Arcueid's eyes flashed, and she waved her hand towards the advancing arms, manifesting a proton hole.

However, when the black arms charged into the hole, they weren't banished. Instead, they assimilated it and continued pursuing Shirou.

"This—this is way too unfair!" Arcueid stared at the black arms in disbelief. She could sense neither authority nor anything like UO's law from them. It was as if they naturally penetrated the proton hole and assimilated everything in their path.

In that moment, Arcueid understood why her siblings feared the Lord of Salvation so much. They had deceived themselves and others, claiming they needed to destroy Earth to prevent his manifestation.

"The Lord of Salvation is a monster of Akashic Records," Manaka said. "In some ways, he is the Akashic Records. Since everything in existence is a manifestation of Akashic Records, your attacks have no effect on it. Just focus and keep attacking."

"Yeah, I get it..." Arcueid nodded. She hated having to take advice from that witch Manaka, but right now they didn't have a choice.

"But why would he target Fujimaru Shirou first?" Manaka wondered aloud. "Shouldn't I be the most compatible vessel?" She hovered in midair, looking back at the swaying black tree, confusion in her eyes.

Regardless, they had to help Shirou overcome this crisis. If he was assimilated or ran out of magical energy, she would perish as well.

Manaka was furious. Not only had Shirou taken advantage of her, but now she had to help him survive. Given the emergency, though, she had no choice.

She manifested countless black hands to fight the black arms. The two forces clashed in midair with a boom. Manaka's black hands were instantly knocked back, nearly assimilated.

She quickly brought out her Beast III authority, releasing countless flashing hands of desire. These combined with her black hands to drag the black arms into a whirlpool of desire.

However, the hands of desire, which could erode all wisdom and reason, failed to affect the black arms. Instead, they were partially assimilated.

"The Origin of All Things really does control everything," Manaka spat out. "Even I can't escape it. How is that fair?"

To avoid having her Beast authority completely assimilated, she withdrew it. She used the Evil Queen's somewhat similar properties to resist the Lord of Salvation's assimilation.

However, it was clear that she was no match for the Lord of Salvation's power. Her black hands were losing.

"Moonfall—"

Arcueid called out softly, and a massive miniature moon materialized, flying towards the black tree. It appeared in the sky like a mountain, pressing down on everything below. Arcueid didn't care if it affected anyone else; she slammed it directly towards the black tree.

Countless black arms shot upwards from the tree's crown, catching the miniature moon. In an instant, Arcueid watched as her creation turned completely black and was assimilated.

Mentally prepared for this, she wasn't frustrated. She continued manifesting miniature moons, crashing them towards the black tree.

Using Moonfall consumed a vast amount of magical energy, but the battlefield was on her moon. As the Moon UO, she received support from its core. Both her magical energy reserves and her recovery speed were immense, allowing her to endlessly manifest miniature moons for her attack.

Arcueid's infinite Moonfall, an ability capable of destroying planets, was being countered. The black tree, empowered by the Akashic Records monster, forcefully assimilated and erased her attacks.

The speed of assimilation was faster than her manifestation speed. It looked like she was suppressing the black tree, but in reality, she was the one being suppressed.

That monster was suppressing her while simultaneously suppressing Shirou and Manaka.

What a monster…

Arcueid could hardly imagine how, in that distant era, this monster's true form—the Lord of Salvation—had been sealed. She was fortunate, unlike her siblings, to have never faced him and experienced that despair.