IBHJ 1032

With Manaka gone, the first of the five trials within the Resurrection Pyramid was finally complete.

Inside the trial world, the steel and concrete skyscrapers dissolved like quicksand, the entire landscape collapsing like a toppled sandcastle. After a flash of bright light, Shirou and the others found themselves back in the cyclical plaza, a space that felt strangely disjointed from reality.

"So, they made it here," a voice suddenly said. Shirou turned to see Tethys circling the plaza.

"You really can cross over from the plane of memories," he was surprised.

"Of course. Who do you think I am?" she rolled her eyes. "However, in the future, I'm dead. Being able to appear here is only possible because I'm using the vortex to create a temporary copy. So, you could say I am Tethys, but I'm also not. I'm just Tethys's consciousness, existing briefly before I disappear."

She was using the backup records within the formless vortex in Shirou's soul to create this copy of herself. This wasn't truly Tethys, but a memory construct - a ghost of the past, destined to fade away.

"I see," he nodded.

"Huh? Arcueid-neesan is gone?" Kiara looked around. She saw a despondent Mordred lying on the ground, but Arcueid was nowhere to be found.

"Little Crimson Moon was summoned here by the Grand Summoning Circle Shirou used in the past," Tethys explained. "When the trial ended and the summoning connection was severed, she returned to her original summoned location."

Feeling the planet's pressure on her body disappear and hearing that Arcueid had returned to her original place, Mordred practically sprang back to life.

"This is wonderful! Truly wonderful!" She shouted, clapping her hands with a smile. She had developed a healthy fear of Arcueid.

"I didn't expect they would come here." Tethys looked around, her gaze settling on the four walls still glowing with light. "Five suns... and Gandhara. It brings back memories."

"It sounds like you're familiar with the Gandharans," he said.

"Of course. I was the one who guided them to South America," she said with a smile. She turned to look at the other four walls. "The five suns actually refer to the five human eras that flourished after our extinction. From your perspective, that would be prehistoric times."

"The First Sun Era was destroyed by the flood that the Lord of Salvation and I caused. The Second Sun Era was swallowed by hurricanes caused by the solar cycle. The Third Sun Era surpassed current technology, but they ultimately destroyed themselves with nuclear weapons. The Fourth Sun Era fell to mythological wars and escalating conflicts, finally disappearing when the gods dropped ancient nuclear weapons. And then there's the Fifth Sun Era, which is the beginning of your era."

"So, the missing continent was destroyed because of a fight between you and the Lord of Salvation? And the Vortex God worshipped in Gandhara village… that was you, wasn't it?" he asked.

She shook her head. "It was me, it was the Lord of Salvation, and it was also them."

Everyone looked stunned for a moment, except for Shirou. "Just as I thought," he said.

"You already knew?" Tethys was surprised.

"I met the Gandharans once. They were being hunted by magi from the Age of Gods. I saw their eyes were connected to the Lord of Salvation, so I had my suspicions. What you're saying now confirms it."

"I see. You're even sharper than you used to be, Shirou." Tethys smiled. "The Gandharans… they were the prototype of fairies. They had abilities that are unimaginable now. In some ways, they were similar to Manaka—natural magical experts..."

The Gandharans, it turned out, were the ancestors of fairies. Their Mystic Eyes gave them incredible supernatural abilities; they were born masters of supernatural. You could even call them a magical civilization.

But they had an insatiable curiosity about the world and its origins. This led their most powerful members to seek out the Lord of Salvation. When they saw it, their souls were tainted, and they betrayed their people and tried to break the seal and free the Lord of Salvation.

The Lord of Salvation, however, wanted to consume everything. Its return would mean the end of all life, the end of the world, so this was opposed by those at the bottom.

The conflict between the two factions intensified until it erupted into a vortex war that shattered their continent and destroyed their civilization millions of years ago. The surviving Gandharans fled in all directions. Some went to Asia, some to Europe. But the largest group, led by Tethys, went to South America, where they laid the foundation for a new civilization.

The stone statue in the Gandharan village was an object of worship for the people. It represented Tethys, the Lord of Salvation, and the Gandharans' own thirst for knowledge. It was a spiritual relic of that bygone era.

Just then, the walls depicting the four Sun Eras began to change.

The eastern wall showed images of surging floods. The western wall showed howling hurricanes. The southern wall revealed fire raining down from the sky. And the northern wall showed the earth splitting apart.

Meanwhile, on the ceiling, the central wall showed a black vortex consuming everything.

All five Sun Eras had been cleared. A path leading to resurrection appeared on the shore of the four-dimensional space.

"Looks like the other adventurers passed the trials. Let's go." Shirou pointed to the path.

"Shouldn't we wait for them?" Kiara asked.

He glanced at the two adventurers who were still unconscious on the ground. They had been corrupted by Manaka, and even though the future Manaka had purified them, they hadn't woken up yet.

Shirou shook his head. "We're just passing through. We have our own mission."

He walked over to Mordred and offered her his hand. "Let's go, Mordred."

"I can walk myself," she said, turning away.

"But your legs are still weak, aren't they?" he asked with a smile.

"They are not!"

Mordred tried to stand up, but her legs wobbled, and she couldn't keep her balance. It wasn't because of Arcueid's suffocating hug; it was the aftereffect of pushing past her limits twice.

Seeing her struggle, Shirou smiled gently, took her hand, and lifted her onto his back. Then he started walking towards the path.

"I-I can walk myself!" Mordred stammered, flustered.

"Mm-hmm."

"I really can! I mean it!" she insisted.

"I believe you," Shirou said softly.

She buried her face in his back, mumbling, "I can… I can always take care of myself…"

"That's really impressive. But it must be hard sometimes, right?" he asked gently.

Mordred fell silent. Tears welled up in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks, soaking his clothes.

"Mr. Shirou—" Kiara and Ayaka exchanged glances and hurried after them.

"Shh!" He turned, put a finger to his lips, and nodded towards Mordred. "She's asleep. Don't wake her."

Huh—!?

Kiara and Ayaka stared at him, stunned. Had she really fallen asleep so quickly?

Shirou's face softened. "She's never really slept before," he explained gently. "Let her rest."

Kiara quickly covered her mouth with her hand. Seeing Ayaka hadn't reacted, she whispered, "You too, Ayaka! You'll wake her up!"

"Oh… oh…" Ayaka stiffly copied Kiara, covering her mouth.

"Thank you." he smiled at them, turned, and continued walking towards the path with Mordred asleep on his back.

Kiara and Ayaka followed close behind.

Tethys watched them go, a smile on her face. "I wish you could see this too, little Shirou," she murmured.

The challenges ahead were undeniable, but even in the darkest of times, there was always light to be found if you only looked for it.

"I still have things to do. That's why I'm here."

Tethys looked up, her gaze piercing through the walls of the resurrection pyramid to the raging, cross-shaped UO in the sky above.

...

"EX—Calibur!"

A brilliant light erupted from the earth, sweeping away all the monsters in its path. It surged skyward, a beacon of hope against the desolate darkness.

But when the light reached three thousand meters, it hit an invisible barrier. The abnormal rainbow light covering the sky blocked its ascent.

—A futile resistance.

Saturn looked down coldly at the struggles of the beings below.

It was the strongest UO in the planetary sphere, the leader of its kind, and in this game-like gamble, it also played the role of Emperor Frieza.

Its body, shaped like a cross and three thousand meters long, was formed from luminous minerals, smooth and unblemished. It possessed unimaginable power, capable of shattering continents and overturning planets. It was truly the strongest UO in the solar system.

And now, it stood as Earth's enemy.

"—Mooncell's operational resources have been stolen, creating a massive leak. It can no longer maintain this gamble. The game is over… I apologize, Gaia."

Saturn looked down coldly at the futile resistance below.

Nothing was more important to Saturn than maintaining order in the solar system.

Like an older brother, it had protected the solar system since ancient times, shielding it from invaders from outer space. The other UOs trusted it and had elected it as their leader.

To survive in the vast darkness of the universe, the eight planets had formed a close bond. To protect themselves from external threats, they pooled their resources and created powerful weapons that embodied their will.

These were the UOs.

Saturn was the strongest of the UOs, and the one who cared most deeply for the solar system. That was why it was their leader.

After Mercury and Crimson Moon were created, Saturn was no longer the strongest. But it didn't mind. In fact, it was happy. They were all siblings, after all. The stronger they were, the safer the solar system would be.

This was proven true during the galactic war and the establishment of the Galactic Interstellar Law.

But great power could also bring great disaster.

—The Lord of Salvation.

Saturn had witnessed firsthand the horror of that catastrophe that had swept across the entire galaxy.

The ancient civilization, which had worked with peaceful forces from across the universe to nurture life, had been utterly destroyed.

Saturn knew the power of the Lord of Salvation better than any other UO. While the others had focused on protecting their own planets from being assimilated, Saturn alone had tried to confront it.

The result of that attempt was undeniable despair. Otherwise, Saturn wouldn't be so determined to destroy Gaia.

Its love was a love for the entire solar system, a love for the whole.

And such love inevitably meant coldness toward individual parts.

So when the Lord of Salvation's influence began to seep into reality, Saturn resolved to destroy Gaia. It was the only way to preserve its other siblings.

This would prevent the Lord of Salvation from reaching true reality. It would only be able to access the incomplete worldlines—connection points—where the ancient people were being consumed as energy sources.

Sacrifice one to save many. That was the principle.

But Saturn also understood that this was a betrayal of Gaia, a betrayal of their ancient bond. Normally, as a UO, it wouldn't have such feelings. It would only be guided by instinct. But by taking on a human personality to participate in this gamble, it had broken free from instinct and developed consciousness. And with consciousness came guilt.

And so, it had also become him.

He followed Arcueid's script, playing the role of Emperor Frieza, and strived to disguise himself with Frieza's coldness and ambition. But now that he had developed consciousness, even the temperament of a fictional character couldn't completely mask his true nature.

That was why he hesitated to destroy Gaia.

He tolerated Arcueid's betrayal, tacitly approved of Heaven's Corpse's actions, and even turned a blind eye to the Emperor's Conquest Guild defeating Uranus and Mars.

After all, they were siblings who had been together for over four billion years. Now that they had simulated personalities and gained consciousness, how could they truly harden their hearts against each other?

Gaia had used the threat of orbital disruption to force the gamble. But had she considered that it was her siblings' hesitation that truly allowed her to succeed?

Except for Mercury, who openly sided with Gaia, and Venus, who had her own agenda, the other UOs had shown leniency, allowing themselves to be defeated.