IBHJ 1023

Wait a second. My future self... pulls people's hair?

What kind of creepy, messed-up fetish is that?

A throbbing pain began to build behind his eyes. This was giving him a massive headache.

Moreover...

Arcueid ran away from him?

"Knight of the Round, Arcueid Brunestud. He is Fujimaru Shirou, " Mordred announced, walking toward Fujimaru as her Noble Phantasm faded.

Knight of the Round, Arcueid Brunestud? Fujimaru's mind reeled. Had he heard that right? Was there something wrong with his ears?

"Oh? You know about my old days." Arcueid turned to Mordred with a smile that instantly froze. She crumpled to the ground, trembling. "A-Artoria...!"

"No, honored Knight. I am Mordred. Artoria is my mother," Mordred replied with deep respect.

All Knights of the Round commanded her respect, but Scathach and Arcueid even more so. They were the only ones she'd never met, known only through stories of their close bonds with her teacher Guinevere and mother Artoria.

"Artoria is your mother? Then you're Shirou's..."

"Yes, Eternal King is my father," Mordred confirmed with a calm nod.

It's... it's that child!

Arcueid stared at the girl who looked so much like Artoria, her scalp tingling. Bitterness, guilt, shame... emotions crashed through her heart like a tidal wave.

Over fifteen hundred years ago in Eternal Kingdom, they'd all been close friends - Shirou, Arcueid, Scathach, Guinevere, Artoria, Morgan le Fay, and many other Knights.

But she was the one who shattered that friendship.

In her carefree kindness, she couldn't stand seeing Artoria trapped by mental restraints. So she'd used her Mystic Eyes to break those chains, releasing Artoria's true self.

That's when everything fell apart.

Morgan le Fay, blinded by the "throne," missed her true feelings and became obsessed with pursuing Shirou. Artoria, freed from her restraints, fell from innocence into a web of misunderstandings.

All of it had been Crimson Moon's revenge, buried deep in Shirou's heart.

But she had been wrong. Her gentle, well-meaning attempt to help Artoria had sent everything spiraling out of control.

Arcueid carried that guilt toward Artoria and Shirou... but her deepest remorse was for this child - one she'd only heard of but never met.

Mordred.

So.

This is that child.

Arcueid gazed at Mordred, her eyes heavy with guilt.

Mordred tilted her head at Arcueid's guilt-ridden gaze, then realized what it meant. "Ah, you know my story. Please don't look at me like that, Lady Arcueid. This was my karma. Mordred's karma."

She stood tall and strong. Yes, her background was painful, her childhood broken, her upbringing destructive, her death tragic. But none of that could dim the joy she'd found under Artoria's care.

That past, those memories - they were her life's treasures. That's why she'd never truly wanted the Grail.

Arcueid stared at Mordred, dazed. In her, she saw traces of both parents. A perfect blend of Shirou and Artoria.

Shirou's strength and Artoria's pure heart.

After a moment's silence, Arcueid burst into laughter and grabbed Mordred's wrist.

"Eh?"

Before Mordred could react, dragon-crushing strength yanked her into a tight embrace. Arcueid rubbed their cheeks together.

"Ehhhh???"

"I'm so happy, so happy! Mordred, I finally met you! So happy, so happy!"

"It- it hurts... please, Lady Arcueid... can't breathe... mmph..."

At last, Mordred understood her parents' despair.

"From now on, you're one of my party too!" Arcueid declared joyfully. Within a minute, Mordred's eyes had glazed over with complete despair.

Who knew Lady Arcueid was like this?

Suddenly—

"BOOM!"

The ground shook violently.

"What's that?" Arcueid asked, releasing her grip.

"There!" Fujimaru pointed at the Beast's egg.

The egg pulsed with dark light, unleashing terrifying mana and unimaginable destructive power.

"This sad mana..." Arcueid frowned. "What is it?"

"It's Beast! Beast is awakening!" Fujimaru's face paled. He turned to Arcueid. "Can you handle it?"

"Of course. Something this sad needs destroying. It'll ruin my mood. I don't like being sad," she nodded.

"Then hurry, use your power!" he urged anxiously.

According to Ayaka, that Beast was one of the reasons why he was trapped in endless loops.

"Already on it. By the way, is one moon enough?" Arcueid asked casually.

"Huh?" He and Mordred froze, baffled.

"Guess not." Arcueid snapped her fingers with a pop.

"What did you just do?" he had to ask.

"Dropped two moons," she smiled, as casually as if commenting on the weather.

Moons?

Fujimaru's mind still couldn't process it, while on the surface, Arthur, Gilgamesh, Perseus, and Ozymandias stood frozen, all dumbfounded.

"What... what is this?" Misaya's voice cracked. She stared skyward, her face draining of color until it was ghost-white. Her thoughts ground to a halt as her brain refused to accept what her eyes were seeing.

Endless darkness blotted out the sky. Not fog, not mana, not miasma - but something massive enough to crush Earth—

Planets!

Moons!

Two of them!

Slowly descending from above!

"The world... is ending..." Misaya mumbled, her empty gaze fixed on the colossal masses looming overhead. Her legs gave out beneath her as she collapsed to her knees.

Earth's closest neighbor, the Moon - one-fourth Earth's diameter, one-eighty-first its mass, surface area of 38 million square kilometers. One moon falling would doom Earth.

And now there were two!

Gilgamesh glanced at the descending moons, then turned to Arthur. "Saber, can you shoot these moons down?"

"I can..." Arthur's voice was grim. "But the explosion's energy would destroy Earth anyway. The debris would wipe out human civilization."

"Who has time to worry about that? Hahaha— Die under my might!"

The Sun King Ozymandias roared with laughter, summoning black Sphinx to attack.

"Tch." Gilgamesh drew his sword with a click of his tongue.

Arthur's eyes locked onto the Sun King. "Sun King, couldn't you hold back for now? Let us handle this world-ending threat before resuming our fight?"

"I would agree, but my Master refuses. Besides, look, Guardians of Human Order - that gray darkness isn't heavenly fire from above, but obsession rising from below." Sun King replied calmly.

The moment he finished, "BOOM!" The earth shook. The clash of terrifying mana knocked both Gilgamesh and Arthur off balance.

"What's happening?" Misaya's voice trembled.

"Hahaha—" Sun King laughed from his pharaonic throne, looking down at them with contempt. "Oh Holy Sword user, Oh King of Heroes, Oh demigod hero - bow before the true manifestation of Ra!"

"Crack crack crack—" The ground split open. A pillar of black light shot upward toward the two moons.

Arthur's eyes widened as the terrifying realization struck him. "We can't destroy those moons!" His grip tightened on Excalibur until his knuckles went white. "The aftermath would obliterate everything!" Even a successful defense would rain moon fragments across the planet, ending all life.

"Look closer, Saber. That's not destructive mana - it's a ritual!" Gilgamesh's voice turned serious.

A ritual? Saber's brow furrowed as he looked up. Black points were forming where the light touched the moons.

Then— "Crack crack crack!" The sound of reality itself giving way filled the air. Space fractured like a mirror, hairline cracks spreading outward from a central point. With a sound that defied description, reality shattered like glass. The fragments of space-time peeled away, revealing a massive black hole that yawned open above them. Its gravitational pull was immense, irresistible. Both moons, those civilization-ending threats, were pulled into its maw. They twisted, stretched, and vanished into the void, swallowed whole by the black hole.

Everyone stood stunned at the earth-shattering sight.

"Cough cough cough..." Arcueid emerged from the destroyed tunnel, dragging out dust-covered Fujimaru and Mordred.

Gilgamesh started toward the young man but froze when he spotted Arcueid. "Ultimate One...!"

Fujimaru coughed out dust. "What were you thinking? Who just throws planets around?"

Arcueid's double Moon Fall had created massive gravitational waves between the celestial bodies, warping Earth's physical laws. Worse, since Arcueid was both caster and Moon's UO, those waves hadn't spread out - they'd exploded around her instead.

Mordred had passed out, and the immortality herb Gilgamesh had given him had worn off.

"How was I supposed to know you were all so weak..." Arcueid pouted.

Fujimaru: "....."

He fell silent. He just... gave up.

But this was classic Arcueid - impossibly powerful yet lacking any awareness of it. Like a willful, emotional child who loved to sulk.