IBHJ 1027

Arthur watched in equal bewilderment.

Only Arcueid and Tethys seemed to understand what they saw, their expressions turning thoughtful. "A Boundary Heroic Spirit."

"Boundary?" Arthur frowned. "Lady Tethys, what does that mean?"

"You don't even know about this?" Gilgamesh's lips curled into a sneer. "As expected of a third-rate Heroic Spirit."

He turned to Arthur and said, "Heroic Spirits fall into five main categories - what we call Hidden Attributes. Heaven belongs to those connected to the gods. Earth belongs to heroes whose tales are bound to specific lands and their legends. Human is for those who shaped history after the Common Era. Star represents those born from humanity's collective hopes. And Beast..." He paused. "Beast holds the Evils of Man - the Seven Sins of Humanity."

"All Heroic Spirits fit these categories. Even I do. But there's one more—Boundary." His expression grew serious. "Until now, I only knew of one Boundary Spirit, and that was Saver, the Heroic Spirit the boy kept wanting to summon."

Arthur's eyes widened. "Enlightened One... Are you saying Fujimaru Shirou has reached enlightenment? Has he become something similar to him?"

"No," Gilgamesh shook his head. "His class is Ruler, not Saver. But there's no mistake - he's a Boundary Heroic Spirit. He found some way to become one..." He stopped suddenly. "Wait. Could it be the Tablet of Destiny?"

He turned to Tethys, but she was focused entirely on Shirou, speaking softly to herself. "This light, this karma... it accepts everything - magical beasts, phantasmal beasts, humans, fairies, good and evil, even the Beasts themselves. It lets go of all divisions - between races, between self and other, between good and evil. It's like watching a flame burn from somewhere beyond everything."

"Shirou..." Arcueid studied him, feeling something familiar in his presence. "Have you crossed over to my side of the world?"

Eternal Emperor Shirou shook his head. "I have the same authority as UO, but I'm not one of your kind. I'm still a Heroic Spirit."

This was his answer - to become Eternal Emperor, one who surpassed even the Emperor of the Moon. He had become light itself, shaped by countless trials. Through the Tablet of Destiny, he had become the connection between all hopes.

He was a Ruler, the ultimate, strongest Ruler!

Before Eternal Emperor, everything had lost its meaning. He was a Heroic Spirit created for salvation, the one who connected past and present as one.

If Heroic Spirits are born from humanity's hopes and prayers, then Eternal Emperor was something more - the ultimate Heroic Spirit born from the hopes of higher beings. Looking at it this way, Arcueid wasn't wrong when she called Eternal Emperor a sibling from her side of the world.

"Grrrooooaaarrrr!!" Beast VI's massive form blotted out the sky as it let out a deafening roar.

Eternal Emperor lifted his head to look at Beast VI thrashing and roaring above him. He felt a strange sense of detachment, as if Beast VI was insignificant.

This feeling came from the perspective of Eternal Emperor, yet the thought itself belonged to the human named Shirou.

While Eternal Emperor was Shirou, Shirou wasn't Eternal Emperor. Eternal Emperor was the physical embodiment of Shirou's deepest wishes and hopes.

"Grrrooooaaarrrr!!" Beast VI roared again, disturbed by what it sensed in Eternal Emperor - a power sharing its origin but standing far above it.

That power was the Vortex.

The Vortex force that brought Eternal Emperor into being had now grown stronger than the Vortex power Beast VI possessed, surpassing it in both rank and strength.

—I am rejected by this world, and so I shall reject this world!

Beast VI's roar shook reality itself as more dragon heads emerged from the dimensional void. Their massive jaws gaped open, radiating waves of black destruction.

Gilgamesh and the others stiffened at the sight. Even Arcueid's usual smile vanished.

"That authority... it will erase the very foundation of Human Order," Perseus said, his voice tight with dread. "We have to stop it before it descends. One blast is all it would take to destroy everything!"

Gilgamesh and Arthur saw it too - the black light of Revelation. It was the Lord of Salvation's true power, capable of erasing human civilization down to its deepest foundations, its very laws of existence.

But—

"Why do you look so worried?" Tethys remained calm as she gazed at Eternal Emperor. "That Heroic Spirit... nothing can defeat him."

The others turned to her in surprise.

"That Heroic Spirit, that Eternal King... no, that Eternal Emperor - is he really that powerful?" Fujimaru couldn't help asking.

"This isn't about strength. It's about rank," Tethys said, gesturing toward Eternal Emperor. "Look at that light. Do you still doubt what you see, Shirou?"

Fujimaru turned to watch Eternal Emperor and the light surrounding him, deep in thought.

Those feelings stirring in him, that vision his soul perceived...

Eternal Emperor was the wish carried through time - from past to present.

At this moment, Eternal Emperor raised his hand.

His finger traced a line through the air.

"I hear it - that song again," someone whispered.

"A Noble Phantasm," Tethys explained. "An Anti-World Noble Phantasm. A Purification Noble Phantasm - the Song of Stars."

Like a soft touch, the song drifted past them. And just like that, the devastating black light that tried to destroy their world... disappeared.

Everyone was stunned, unable to believe their eyes.

"Grrrooooaaarrrr!" Beast VI writhed and roared, but couldn't hide its terror.

That raw fear of Eternal Emperor - fear of the ultimate Heroic Spirit that transcended Grand Servants.

Eternal Emperor gazed up at Beast VI calmly. "Why can't you find peace in your heart?"

—I suffer because they cast me aside. I suffer because they left me behind. I suffer because they betrayed me. I am Beast VI, and I despise humans, despise this world!

"No. You are Manaka Sajyou, and you don't hate humans," he said softly.

—Yes... I am Manaka Sajyou. I should have stayed as a living dead, but then I felt love. I wanted to embrace it, but I couldn't reach it. They betrayed me, killed me, hated me... and I grew to hate too. But what I really hated was myself. Why? Why am I the only one left with nothing? The only one who can never have anything? Then let it all disappear... let everything disappear with me!

Beast VI's roar shook the air as countless black dragons emerged from its body. A wave of pure destruction rained down from above.

"You're mistaken. You have so much, yet you keep wanting more. That's why you can't see what's already yours. The world never turned its back on you - you turned your back on yourself."

Eternal Emperor lifted his hand as vast waves of mana gathered around him.

This is it!

The thought flashed through everyone's mind at once.

Eternal Emperor murmured something, and between his hands formed a tiny planet.

"Could that be Moon Fall?" Arcueid frowned, then caught herself. "No... this isn't Moon Fall. This is... an authority!"

Though smaller than Moon Fall, this planet held something Moon Fall never did. This was the ultimate Noble Phantasm - an Anti-World Noble Phantasm, a Purification Noble Phantasm: [Endless Waves, Infinite Future]!

It contained everything, from the ancient past to the endless future, the present that both carries on and moves forward. It was Shirou's heart made manifest, displaying the world and Human Order as they truly were - always moving forward, always growing.

"BOOM—"

The tiny planet erupted from Eternal Emperor's hands, impossibly small yet containing infinite potential. It streaked forward like a comet of pure possibility, ripping through Beast VI's black wave as if the world-ending darkness was nothing but smoke. The miniature world blazed with inner light as it shot into the dimensional void, carrying with it the combined hopes of countless civilizations. When it struck Beast VI, the impact wasn't just physical - reality itself seemed to shudder. The Beast's form began to unravel, not just destroyed but completely obliterated from existence.

Beast VI was destruction incarnate - the very concept of apocalypse given form, the End Times described in Revelation made manifest. Its power was absolute, final, the period at the end of humanity's story. But [Endless Waves, Infinite Future] represented something far greater: it was the power of life itself, the endless cycle of inheriting wisdom and pioneering new paths. It contained humanity's capacity to grow beyond limitations, to develop past every obstacle. It was tomorrow's promise given form - not just one tomorrow, but an infinite series of them stretching endlessly forward, each building upon the last.

From the moment of collision, the outcome was inevitable. No Noble Phantasm, no matter how ancient or powerful, could stand against [Endless Waves, Infinite Future]. It wasn't just a weapon or a tool - it was the conceptual opposite of endings, the embodiment of endless beginnings. Where Beast VI sought to end all stories, this power wrote new chapters without end. The tiny planet continued to shine as it erased all trace of the Beast, replacing apocalyptic darkness with the light of infinite possibility.

"I... my other self... he won...!" Fujimaru said in a daze.

Indeed, Eternal Emperor had won.

He had destroyed Beast VI - something even Arcueid at her full power as a UO couldn't manage.

The dark clouds parted above them. Past and present joined as one. Victory was theirs.

Everyone burst into celebration.

But Mordred saw the grim look on Eternal Emperor's face.

"Don't get ahead of yourselves," Tethys warned. "The real mastermind is still out there."

"The real... mastermind?" Fujimaru froze.

"The one who created this past plane," Tethys clarified, "The true mastermind behind everything!"

Everyone was stunned.

Eternal Emperor stared into the lingering dimensional void. "I see you, Manaka Sajyou... or should I say, King of Evil. You can't hide from me."

A chill ran down everyone's spines.

Manaka... Manaka Sajyou...?

Was it really not over?

Or was this just the beginning?

Silence hung in the air.

Then darkness poured out of the dimensional void, spreading across the rainbow sky and swallowing up all the flowers below.

Divine spirits, human, and fairies scattered in fear.

The black mist spread until it covered half the world, then stopped - blocked by the Eternal Emperor's domain.

"You've grown stronger, Shirou."

A woman's voice, smooth and refined, drifted from the void like silk on the wind. The black mist pulled together, taking the shape of a woman—tall, golden-haired, with bright eyes and flawless features. She was beautiful in a way that bypassed natural law, as if reality itself bent to accommodate her perfection.

Seeing this mature woman, Fujimaru and Arthur's expressions changed drastically.

It was her.

Manaka Sajyou!

"What should I call you?" Eternal Emperor asked. "King of Evil? Monster of Absolute Evil? Or Manaka Sajyou?"

"Whatever you like, you're the winner after all," Manaka replied with a smile, glancing at her hand. "Though, I should thank you for killing that Beast. Weakening my past self made it much easier for me to use the past to come back to life."

"No... this can't be happening!" Tethys stared at the grown-up Manaka Sajyou in disbelief, her voice shaking.

"What's wrong, Tethys?" Fujimaru asked, alarmed by her reaction.

"We... We might have lost."

"What are you talking about? My future self already beat the Beast! We won!"

"It looks like we won," Tethys said, "but we actually lost. 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.