IBHJ 1048

Inside the Great Pyramid...

"Artoria's group has drawn Archbishop's attention," Morrigan glanced at Shirou.

"Good." he nodded.

They knew about the God King Plan and were getting ready to save Altera and disrupt Archimedes's and Archbishop's plan. But Daji had sold the Seed of Yggdrasil to Archimedes. They didn't know what he planned to do with it, but Shirou had seen Yggdrasil's power in the Norse connection point and wasn't going to take any chances. So they split into two groups. Artoria and the others would distract Archbishop while Shirou, Morrigan, and Kiara infiltrated the pyramid to save Altera.

Archbishop was using God King Plan to deal with UOs, but Archimedes was a member of the Council. If his plan succeeded, it would make the Council stronger, and that wasn't good for them. That's why they couldn't let Archbishop's plan succeed.

Now with Manaka increasing her Beast collection in the shadows, a stronger Council would be too dangerous, even with powerful trump card like Eternal Emperor on his side. Shirou knew they couldn't take that risk.

The Great Pyramid looked ordinary from the outside, and they couldn't find any entrance. But magecraft and spells exists to break common sense.

Morrigan created a ground-penetrating Bounded Field, allowing them to bypass any conventional entrance and enter directly underground. With a shimmer of light, they descended into the space below the Great Pyramid.

"Oh... oh my god... what is that?" Kiara gasped, her eyes widening in disbelief.

Shirou and Morrigan were also taken aback. Instead of a dungeon, village, or city, they found themselves facing a massive, damaged starship!

Near the starship were steel structures holding rows of unfinished white God Warriors. This starship was clearly the factory where they were being produced.

The factory had a complex network of assembly lines. The three of them watched as various bioforms moved resources around the starship, like ants in a colony, working tirelessly.

"Velber 02..." Shirou murmured.

This had to be what Daji was talking about, the fragment of the Umbral Star Vanguard's ship—Velber 02—that Archimedes had obtained from the Council.

He and his companions made their way inside Velber.

Even though it was just a fragment, broken and incomplete, the entire structure emitted a faint starlight, as if it were alive, with the light pulsing as though breathing.

Around Velber, strange, lifelike beings were busy transporting resources—soil, stones, wood, and many strange materials—along the production line into the factory that manufactured the Titan soldiers.

"What are those?" Kiara asked, staring at the creatures.

Shirou used Evil Blossom to absorb [Mad Enhancement] Class Skill from his Berserker Saint Graph, reactivating his disabled second Noble Phantasm, All-Seeing Eyes. He focused his gaze, which could pierce through all creation, on the creatures, but he still couldn't understand their nature.

"These are extraterrestrial beings," Shirou said, frowning. "Velber created them using Gandharan corpses, along with monsters from connection points and adventurers."

His second Noble Phantasm, All-Seeing Eyes, worked like Gilgamesh's Sha Naqba Imuru. It allowed him to see the true nature of anything created on Earth, even Beasts. But these creatures were different. He couldn't see through them, which meant they weren't from this world.

He'd always relied on his own judgment and deductions more than that omniscient ability. So with a bit of thought, he'd figured out what these creatures really were.

Velber was a tool for Planet Eater, a being that devoured planets and civilizations. It harvested advanced civilizations across the universe, recycling their remains to create Titan vanguards. That was their true purpose – and it meant Altera was both an invader and a synthetic being made from the remnants of a fallen civilization.

Archimedes must have recreated that function of Velber after obtaining its remnants. He'd worked with the Archbishop, turning the slaughtered Gandharans and unsuspecting adventurers into these extraterrestrial beings. Of course, they weren't Planet Eater itself, so they couldn't create those civilization-destroying Titan vanguards. But they were able to imitate the process to some degree, manufacturing Titan soldiers through other means.

"Let's go in," he said.

Morrigan nodded and began softly chanting spells. She used fairy arts to conceal their auras, while Shirou used Evil Blossom to completely hide everyone's presence.

Velber had been shot down by the UOs fourteen thousand years ago. Two ships were completely destroyed, and Altera's ship was shattered and fell to the moon, where it was contained by the Mooncell. Still, it was an alien creation with unknown powers. They needed to be careful.

The group slipped into Velber. The inside was a vast space, filled with scattered steel instruments and technology that looked like something out of science fiction.

The group continued deeper into Velber until they reached the bottom chamber. Shirou frowned as they entered. Rows of containers lined the walls, each holding a corpse preserved in blue nutrient fluid.

The corpses were both male and female, but they all shared one disturbing feature: an empty eye socket in the middle of their foreheads.

"These are Gandharans," he said grimly.

"How...how cruel." Kiara clasped her hands together. "May these souls be free from suffering... May they find peace in the pure lands and break free from the cycle of samsara."

"They actually dug out their eyes...what a waste!" Morrigan exclaimed, despite knowing it was inappropriate.

Gandharan eyes were so difficult to obtain, yet Archimedes and Archbishop were squandering them like this.

Morrigan immediately regretted her outburst. She covered her mouth and glanced nervously at Shirou. Seeing no reaction from him, she relaxed slightly.

Shirou frowned as he looked at the corpses. "They've removed all the third eyes. Why keep the bodies?"

"They must be used to create the Titan soldiers."

He turned to her. "What do you mean?"

"These corpses have the same aura as the Titan soldiers," she explained. "Archimedes and the Archbishop must have processed them to create those soldiers."

"Not even sparing the corpses." Shirou raised an eyebrow. "They're certainly thorough."

"If the Titan soldiers are made from processed Gandharan corpses," Kiara asked worriedly, "then wouldn't the Titan King be made from Altera's body?"

"That shouldn't matter," Morrigan said. "Altera is a Servant. When she dies, she'll return to the Throne of...oh wait, you mean her original body."

"I'm still worried," Kiara said anxiously. "Morrigan-senpai, Mr. Shirou, let's hurry and find Altera."

He nodded.

The three of them continued deeper into the chamber, past rows of containers and corpses. It felt like walking through a morgue, but none of them were ordinary people. They didn't feel particularly nervous.

Even Kiara showed no signs of tension or fear. She had grown.

Whether her path would lead her to become a Demonic Bodhisattva or something entirely new remained to be seen. Perhaps even Demonic Bodhisattva was curious about that.

Deep inside the chamber's vast space, a sleeping young girl rested within a huge container.

Kiara's eyes widened. "A-Altera...!"

The girl in the container was Altera. She wore white clothes and curled up with closed eyes in the nutrient fluid.

Kiara instinctively moved toward Altera, but stopped short, her eyes scanning their surroundings. She was no longer a naive girl. It was far too easy; finding Altera, the core of the God King plan, like this. There had to be more to it.

"Come out," Shirou said calmly. "This simple trap won't work on us, Archimedes."

While Kiara remained on guard, Morrigan seemed relaxed and unconcerned.

A moment of silence passed, then applause broke from the shadows. A young man stepped out from behind the container, smiling at them. "Good afternoon, Your Highness... the legendary Eternal King." He gave a slight bow, "Archimedes, at your service."

"It seems you anticipated our arrival. I imagine our easy entrance was your doing," he asked casually, "I wonder... just how much do you know about me?"

Archimedes chuckled. "Oh, quite a bit! Some say you lack any semblance of royal dignity and have a rather... enthusiastic fondness for sneak attacks. I admit, I didn't quite believe it, but now I see the truth with my own eyes." He gestured towards his abdomen with a flourish.

Kiara followed his gaze and gasped. A mud sword protruded from Archimedes's stomach, blood blooming around the wound.