IBHJ 1028

"It looks like we won." Tethys shook her head. "But the results tell a different story. We've been played this whole time! By Manaka—by the Manaka from the future!"

Hearing this, Fujimaru was stunned. He didn't understand what she was talking about.

"We were wrong about Manaka's death," Tethys said. "When Beast VI was purified by Enlightened One, she didn't die - she hid inside Ayaka's mind and stayed there. She lived on through Ayaka into the future! This past plane... it wasn't created from your future self's memories. It came from future Manaka!"

Fujimaru's eyes widened as the truth sank in.

Everything made sense now.

The past plane belonged to Manaka Sajyou, not Shirou or Ayaka. She had survived by hiding in Ayaka's mind, then used her to manipulate Kiara. They came to the South American Connection Point together - all to reach the pyramid, all to achieve resurrection.

When the Archbishop spoke of an adventurer occupying the Resurrection Pyramid, it had been Manaka controlling Ayaka's body. She had created this past plane on one of the Pyramid's trials, planning to use her past self to resurrect in the future. But she faced a problem: she was too powerful.

Even her past self held too much power. She couldn't risk making any moves. If her past self noticed something wrong, the past version could turn against her.

So she found another way. She used Arthur, Fujimaru, Shirou, and the others to weaken and kill her past self. By doing this, she could steal her own past and use it to achieve resurrection.

"When Ayaka grabbed me earlier..." Tethys clenched her jaw. "That wasn't the past Manaka controlling her. It was the future Manaka!"

What infuriated Tethys wasn't being used. No - what truly disturbed her was Manaka's new form of existence.

It was terrifying.

She had become something beyond Beast VI - an absolute monster.

Arthur stared at the mature Manaka with a complex expression.

Even compared to Crimson Moon and the Council, no one brought such despair as Manaka Sajyou.

The strongest magi. The strongest Master. And now, the strongest vessel.

"Long time no see, Arthur." Manaka, now looking about twenty-four, tilted her head with a queen's grace. But nothing could hide the malice rolling off her, the pure destructive force. Every Heroic Spirit felt it - the crushing pressure of her presence. This was no mere Beast VI. This was something far beyond - this was the mature Manaka Sajyou.

They still had Eternal Emperor on their side, at least.

But even Eternal Emperor couldn't remain as calm as before.

Shirou sensed it - she was a monster equal to Eternal Emperor.

A being beyond [Beast], an absolute evil and vessel, the ultimate darkness, the Queen of Evil herself!

And this feeling...

"You were behind Fuyuki invasion, weren't you, Manaka?" Shirou asked.

"I suppose there's no point hiding it. Yes, that was me," Manaka said with a smile.

After Beast VI was destroyed by Enlightened One, Manaka's soul should have disappeared. Instead, she had hidden within Ayaka's mind. To survive, she protected Ayaka from the loop by retreating into a damaged worldline - the parallel world Miyu had crossed over from.

Enlightened One must have known what Manaka was doing. But given his nature, it made sense that he chose not to interfere.

After crossing into Miyu's worldline, Manaka's power finally ran out. She fell into a deep sleep inside Ayaka's body, only to end up in the hands of Sixth Seat. She became his bargaining tool.

And when Sixth Seat tried to recover Manaka, Zeus detected them and discovered the truth about the Lord of Salvation.

The Machine Gods moved to counter both the Lord of Salvation and Sixth Seat, who had been operating in secret.

In Eternal Kingdom worldline, Zelretch drew a massive amount of mana from parallel worlds to stop Crimson Moon's Moon Fall. This caught Zeus's attention, and that's how he discovered Eternal Kingdom worldline - the main Pan-Human History line that Enlightened One had been protecting. Seeing an opportunity, Zeus created a parallel passage and used it to enter Eternal Kingdom during King Galahad's reign.

He took the Holy Grail from King Galahad and used it to create a trump card. With this, he convinced other regional pantheons at the end of the Age of Gods to merge their divinity to stand against the Lord of Salvation.

But Sixth Seat noticed what he was doing and saw it as a threat.

To ruin Zeus's plan while making use of Manaka's powers, they threw Ayaka - who carried Manaka's soul - into the trump card on the day it was created.

That's when it started to change.

The Machine Gods saw the mutation happening but couldn't stop or destroy it. They had no choice but to create Pandora to contain their failure. After that, both the Machine Gods and the Age of Gods disappeared.

But Pandora lived on with help from the Ainsworth family, and that's how the Class Card conflict began.

In Miyu's worldline, Ainsworth was one of the three big Families. Pandora, which was connected to the Lesser Grail, held both Ayaka and Manaka Sajyou inside it. When Manaka's soul acted up, it made the Fourth Holy Grail War go completely out of control, leading to huge disasters.

Zachary, Julian Ainsworth's father, and his sister Angelica died during this war. Overwhelmed by grief, Julian's mind and soul were taken over by his ancestor, Darius Ainsworth. He decided to restart the Holy Grail War to create a miracle, even if he had to do it alone.

In this worldline, Kiritsugu discovered Miyu during that disaster and realized how special she was. This marked the beginning of the Fifth Holy Grail War of the Class Cards.

Time moved differently between worldlines, flowing at different speeds.

When Shirou Emiya claimed the Class Card of Heroic Spirit EMIYA and won the Holy Grail War, he made a wish for Miyu - who had only known suffering - to find a peaceful world. The Third Magic responded by sending her through Zeus's parallel passage to a different worldline. She arrived in the Pan-Human History world where Shirou lived, the one protected by Enlightened One. There, Zelretch, who was traveling between parallel worlds, found her.

And so began the prelude to the war from thirteen years ago.

Thirteen years ago, Shirou had just returned from Britain when he visited Zelretch at the Clock Tower about the Class Cards in Fuyuki City. That's when Zelretch told him about the parallel world passages Zeus had left behind, and entrusted Miyu to his care.

Meanwhile, the repeated Holy Grail Wars had been stirring Manaka's sleeping soul. When Miyu crossed over to Shirou's worldline, Manaka caught his scent - and that finally woke her up.

Driven by hatred for Shirou, Manaka's consciousness destroyed the Ainsworths and broke through the worldline barriers to invade Shirou's world. But Gaia and Alaya stopped her, and in 2003, Shirou, Solomon, Gilgamesh, and the others finally defeated her invading head.

When Shirou tried to contain and absorb the black cup, Manaka instantly countered and imprisoned him.

That's why he had major doubts.

"Why didn't you kill me?" Eternal Emperor asked. During his imprisonment, Manaka had every chance to end his life.

"Your contract with Saver hadn't ended yet. If I'd killed you then, he might have appeared. But more than killing you, I wanted you to enter my world. I wanted you to take my place, to become the ultimate evil," Manaka said with a smile, running her tongue across her lips.

Her beautiful face had a touch of maturity now. Every move she made showed both grace and allure.

She had planned everything from the moment she'd woken up.

Fuyuki Invasion was meant to be his breaking point. She'd planned to use it to corrupt Shirou, to twist him into a dark reflection of himself. But when Arcueid left, something unexpected stirred in him. Old memories surfaced - the drive that had first set him on his path, the burning need to protect Fuyuki and its people. He'd found his strength again, disappointing her plans.

Later, another possibility had tempted her. She'd considered trapping Shirou in the dimensional rift, leaving him there until isolation and darkness corrupted him beyond any hope of salvation. The idea had been deliciously appealing.

But she didn't go through with it.

Because...

"Gaia offered me a deal, so I set you free," Manaka said with a charming smile.

She kept quiet about Gaia's role in what she'd become.

Shirou studied Manaka carefully. This Manaka was nothing like before - her appearance, her magical energy, her very rank... she had grown incredibly powerful.

She wasn't just Beast VI anymore, but something far greater - a being that matched Eternal Emperor himself.

"What's the matter? Ready to fight me now? You used quite a bit of mana against my past self - can your vortex handle it?" Manaka smiled.

She didn't doubt Eternal Emperor's ability to fight her; it was the perfect, ultimate Heroic Spirit. But she saw through this Heroic Spirit's flaw at a glance.

"What about you? How long can your vortex let the past keep you here?" Shirou countered.

Just as she had seen his flaw, he had seen hers. Even with the illusion of the past bringing her back, how long could a spirit from the future last?

They fell quiet for a moment. Then Manaka smiled. "Why don't we call it even? I've obtained what I wanted, and you've found what you wanted. Besides old conflicts and hatred, we have no real reason to fight anymore." She covered her mouth with a delicate hand and laughed. "Of course, if you're eager to die, I'd be happy to help."

"Being stubborn won't help us negotiate. But you wouldn't be giving in like this unless you were desperate," he said evenly.

"Just like a Fujimaru - as stubborn as ever. But you're right - fighting or stalling won't help either of us." She raised one corner of her lips, eyes glinting. "Come to think of it, that form must be draining you by now. And while I have nothing to lose, you have a family to think about."

When his expression hardened at that, Manaka worried he might attack. Neither of them could afford to waste time, so she smiled and said, "All right, since you beat my past self, I'll back down. Call it your win. I left your spoils of war in the workshop. And Arthur..."

Arthur tightened his grip on his sword as Manaka turned to him, but she just smiled warmly. "Thank you for meeting me. Thank you for betraying me. And most of all, thank you for that sword strike..."

Her form began to fade until she disappeared completely.

"What did she mean by that?" Arthur asked, baffled.

Gilgamesh crossed his arms. "You're not very bright, are you? And you went and set off something dangerous."

Arthur just looked more confused. "????"

Gilgamesh sighed and patted his shoulder. "With your brain, don't get involved with too many women, especially women like Ishtar."

That only confused Arthur more.

"You're still the most dangerous indeed..."

...

As Manaka disappeared, Shirou let out a long breath. The strange distortions around them faded with her.

Eternal Emperor also disappeared, leaving Shirou in his original form.

"It's finally over..."

His tired whisper matched his exhausted face.

Eternal Emperor might have been Shirou's strongest form, but it drained him far more than Moon Emperor ever had.

At least it was over now.

He'd done it - beaten Manaka's past self, destroyed the Beast VI that had caused so much pain, and even pushed back the fully-grown Manaka.

They were safe now.

He turned to see Mordred in the distance and opened his arms. "Come here, Mordred. Let mom give you a hug."

He was tired and drained, but his precious child was unhurt.

Right now, all he wanted was to hold Mordred - that's what mattered the most.

But...

Mordred stared at him, face falling in disbelief.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "Don't you want a hug from mom?"

Mordred: "..."

Boss, even if you're pretending to be mom, could you at least check if you're back in your own body first?

Mordred covered her face, mortified.

So Eternal King was actually just a complete airhead!