IBHJ 1071

Koyanskaya smiled. "Master, after everything we've been through, there's no need for such formality. We have a contract, after all." she added, her eyes gleaming, "Besides... when the universe itself is trying to kill you, survival becomes a compelling motivation."

"You're really different from other Beasts," Ayaka said.

"Oh? That's a dangerous assumption, Master." Koyanskaya chuckled. "Tiamat, Demonic Bodhisattva... we're all cut from the same cloth. I just wear it with more style."

She smiled, her form shifting and growing until she stood before them as a giant fox. She lowered her back, allowing Ayaka and Altera to climb on. "Let's go, Master, Altera."

"Together!" Ayaka and Altera gripped Koyanskaya's fur tightly.

Koyanskaya's eyes flashed red, and her body became a crimson streak shooting towards Velber's main starship.

"Damn it!" Archimedes watched them go, grinding his teeth. He reached into his chest and pulled out a bloody eyeball. It was the last one he had looted from those massacred villages, ripped from the eye socket of a boy who had once traveled with Shirou.

"I was going to return to my main body and use Altera to create the Titan God King," he muttered, his voice tight with frustration. "But now... this will have to do. Damn it all! Damn you worthless savages, damn you traitors!"

He plunged his fingers into his forehead, ripping it open to reveal an empty pineal gland. He shoved the eye inside.

The moment the eye was in place, it connected with his neural network. A vision burst into his mind, transcending time and space.

He saw infinite darkness, a swirling vortex.

"Appear now, Titan God King!" he roared.

His eyes burned red as a horrifying black light poured from the bloody eye. Fragments of the surrounding starship surged towards him.

The Gandhara civilization, once rulers of the planets, had destroyed themselves seeking the power of the Lord of Salvation. But their eyes, like Shirou's mud and Manaka, held a fragment of that very power.

The Lord of Salvation's power, the Umbral Star's technology, and the Gandharan mysteries converged. With his body as the core and the starship fragments as its shell, a giant figure of silver-white materialized.

If the titans made from Gandharan corpses were God Warriors, then Archimedes was now a Titan God King!

Manaka's gaze stayed on the transformed Archimedes. "Gandharan civilization didn't disappear for nothing."

"That's the fate that awaits you too, Manaka, if you persist on this path," Shirou warned. "To be consumed by power until nothing remains but a monster."

"A monster?" She shrugged. "If becoming a monster lets me replace the Lord of Salvation, then so be it. I was never human anyway."

"ALTERA!"

Archimedes bellowed, piloting the Titan God King towards Altera and the others.

Koyanskaya glanced back at the approaching titan. "That ship's AI has completely lost it," she said. "I'll hold him off. You two go destroy that ship."

With a powerful sweep of her tail, she launched Ayaka and Altera towards Velber 02. Then she turned to face the Titan, her fur bristling.

Altera held Ayaka in her tiny arms as they sailed through the air, landing smoothly on the ground. She set Ayaka down. "We need to move."

"Wait." Ayaka looked back at Koyanskaya. She raised her hand and said. "By my Command Seal, I order you, Beast V! You must win!"

Ayaka used all her Command Seals on Koyanskaya. Then she turned to Altera. "That's all I can do. Let's go, Altera!"

"Yes!"

Altera scooped up Ayaka despite her small frame, and they raced toward the starship.

Koyanskaya transformed into a five-tailed fox spirit. With a snarl, she lashed out at the Titan, her tails wrapping around its limbs. She raked at its face with her claws.

The Titan roared, shaking off her tails and blocking her blows. Its eyes, however, were fixed on Altera as she ran towards the starship.

"Sefar, you traitor!"

Altera, with Ayaka in her arms, leaped into the starship.

"Hold on tight, Ayaka. I'm going to go faster."

Ayaka nodded. "Mm!"

Altera sped through the corridors of the starship. She knew exactly where she was going, heading straight for the control room.

The Umbral Star's ships were divided into two parts. First, there were the vanguards, weapons of invasion and destruction like Altera—or rather, Sefar. Second, there were the starships that carried the vanguards to their target planets, like Velber 02.

These starships weren't controlled by a crew, but by an artificial intelligence that managed all of its functions. The vanguards and the AI had clear roles, each compensating for the other's weaknesses. However, because accidents could happen during interstellar travel, the starship also had a manual control system as a backup. This was how Altera planned to destroy Velber 02.

She rushed into the control room and set Ayaka down. As she reached for the manual controls, the starship suddenly shook violently.

"What's happening?"

"Look—"

Altera pointed towards the window. Ayaka looked up and saw the Titan pinning down the giant fox. It was charging a beam, aimed directly at the control room.

"Ayaka!"

Altera instinctively shielded Ayaka with her own body.

The beam subsided and surprisingly they were unharmed. Just as they were about to look outside, the control room window shattered with a loud crack. A figure tumbled in.

It was Archimedes!

Altera reacted instantly, stepping in front of Ayaka.

"Se-Sefar—!" He struggled to his feet, covered in blood and looking utterly disheveled. But his bloodshot eyes were fixed on Altera. "Sefar, how far do you intend to betray our mother?"

"Velber..." Altera drew the Sword of Mars, watching him vigilantly.

"It's not too late to turn back," he pleaded, his hand outstretched towards Altera. "Destroy Mother's enemies with me. Help me harvest Earth's civilization. I won't tell Mother about any of this, Sefar."

Altera looked at his extended hand, then shook her head. "I refuse. I am no longer Mother's sword, Velber. I never will be again."

"Why? WHY?" His words dissolved into raw, guttural shrieks. "Mother created you! Mother gave you power! How can you turn against her?"

"But Mother also destroyed my homeland," Altera countered. "She built me from the ashes of my own civilization. Created me from what she destroyed."

"Then why betray me?" His voice cracked with desperation. "I am your starship, your shelter, your home! I exist because of you... If it wasn't for your betrayal fourteen thousand years ago, that Holy Sword user could never have killed us. Why, Sefar? Why did you betray me?"

"So you knew..." Altera said quietly. "I'm sorry, Velber. But here, I must make a final break with you and Umbral Star. I am not Sefar. I am Altera."

His breath hitched. Then his face twisted with rage, the third eye in his forehead burning with an angry light. He raised his hand, and a rainbow sword, nearly identical to Altera's, materialized in his grasp.

"Traitor!" he roared, lunging at Altera.

Altera tightened her grip on the Sword of Mars, took a deep breath, and charged to meet his attack.

This is where it ends, she thought as their blades screamed toward each other. Here, I bid farewell to the Umbral Star and Velber – not as Sefar, but as the Heroic Spirit Altera.

...

Meanwhile, at the South American Connection Point...

High above the continent, the timer representing the UOs's judgment ticked down, grain by grain. Tension filled the air, and even Enkidu's face was slick with sweat.

"The moon might be dangerous," Kiara said through clenched teeth, her fingers curling into fists at her sides. "But I think we should help them. There's nothing we can do from here."

"Trust the old man."

"Huh?" Kiara whirled around to face Mordred, her eyes widening.

"What? Don't look at me like that." Mordred snapped, Kiara's annoying gaze making her increasingly agitated.

"Well... it's just surprising to hear you say that, Master Mordred. Especially since, three months ago, you were quite distant from Mr. Shirou. But now you seem so close to him."

"Close? With that old man?" Mordred's face flushed red. "You're imagining things!"

"You are close! I'm sure of it!" Kiara insisted.

"Shut up! You're just a Sessyoin. Don't talk back to me!" Mordred stood on her toes and rapped Kiara on the head.

"Oww..." Kiara covered her head and retreated.