IBHJ 1019

"Huh?"

Kiara turned to see a huge, black, cocoon-like thing stuck in the steep cliff face.

With her sharp eyes, she even saw Ayaka walking along the cliff edge, looking like she might fall into the huge black cocoon.

Demonic Bodhisattva quickly said, "Something's controlling her mind. If she falls into that Beast egg, she'll be a sacrifice for the Beast to appear. Go stop her, quick!"

Kiara nodded and was about to run after Ayaka when two Heroic Spirits appeared in front of her.

They were Hassan of Serenity and Henry Jekyll, with countless black monsters coming out of the mud.

They blocked Kiara's way.

Kiara turned her head, looking hopefully at Demonic Bodhisattva.

She patted Kiara's shoulder, "I'll clear the way for you. Go stop your friend."

"Mm-hmm."

Kiara nodded and chased after Ayaka, but the mud monsters swarmed around her.

Demonic Bodhisattva opened the black hole, stretching out countless hands, grabbing the mud monsters and pulling them into the black hole.

"I'm right behind you. Just keep running."

Kiara nodded and ran fast.

She was scared of Demonic Bodhisattva, but right now, she also trusted her.

In their short time together, under that always scary dark cloud, she felt a bit safe.

The other me will protect me.

— She believed it completely.

And sure enough, Demonic Bodhisattva knocked away and killed the monsters coming at her one by one.

The Beast egg seemed to sense Demonic Bodhisattva — this other Beast. It flashed with black light, as if warning about something.

"Sorry, but you're not my senpai now," Demonic Bodhisattva said with a smile. "Your true form was destroyed by Saver, so you can't share thoughts with the future. You can't hold me responsible later. Oh? Are you threatening me? Too bad. If we're serious, do you think you can beat me, or I beat you? Besides, I just have a deal with her. I won't mess with your plan for Manaka Sajyou."

"You ask how I know? Oh my. You're underestimating me. Even if we're in different worlds, you and I are both things the Human Order rejects. We're the same kind."

Demonic Bodhisattva smiled, that same mysterious smile no one could understand.

She let out countless hands, easily holding back the mud monsters and the two immortal Heroic Spirits. Then she turned to look at Kiara, seeing her chasing desperately after Ayaka. Maybe this silly girl didn't know that for Demonic Bodhisattva, nothing was hard to handle. It was just a matter of whether she wanted to or not.

"Yes. Run. Run fast, Kiara. You don't want to lose your only friend, right? Run, run quickly. I'll hold them back. You just need to run fast."

While easily keeping the monsters and immortal Heroic Spirits at bay, Demonic Bodhisattva urged Kiara to run faster.

Kiara ran desperately. She didn't want to lose her only friend, and even her usually selfish and self-indulgent other self was cheering her on. Surely even her other self must understand how she felt?

So, how could she not give it her all?

Kiara chased after Ayaka as fast as she could.

But she was still a step too late. The mind-controlled Ayaka missed her footing at the cliff edge and fell from the height.

"Ayaka—"

Without thinking, Kiara jumped down, grabbing Ayaka, while summoning a hand to grip the cliff, leaving the two of them hanging in mid-air.

Kiara held onto the struggling Ayaka while slowly pulling herself up.

Just then, Kiara saw Demonic Bodhisattva appear next to her hand gripping the cliff. Her eyes lit up, and she called out, "Other me, give me a hand!"

"Of course."

Demonic Bodhisattva smiled, then stepped on Kiara's hand, breaking her grip.

"Eh—!?"

Kiara was shocked.

"Too bad, my senpai made a better offer. Our deal's off, Kiara," Demonic Bodhisattva said with a smile.

"How could you..." Kiara looked at her with a hurt expression.

Demonic Bodhisattva watched coldly as Kiara and Ayaka fell into the stirring Beast egg.

She glanced sideways and smiled, "Hm? You're asking when we made a deal? Don't worry about it. That was just my deal with the past."

Her smile then faded. "And let me tell you one last thing: I hate fireworks festival more than anything."

She turned to leave, her movement smooth and flowing like water, showing her decisiveness. But just before leaving, she couldn't help looking back at the egg one more time.

Finally, she turned and walked away, her body vanishing into the darkness.

"Goodbye, Kiara Sessyoin."

...

Holding Ayaka, Kiara fell from the cliff into the egg of the Beast.

Inside the egg was endless darkness, with a hazy miasma gently falling, snuffing out the breath of life.

Kiara gritted her teeth, using her hands to keep the scary miasma away.

"Other me..."

In this hellish place, Kiara looked up, staring at the world outside the egg.

She couldn't see Demonic Bodhisattva anymore, but the image of being pushed down was still fresh in her mind.

Pain, sadness... her heart was churning with the bitterness of betrayal.

Maybe it should have been this way. Demonic Bodhisattva wasn't her friend, but an enemy who wanted to kill her. So betraying her at such a crucial moment was normal.

What she should be sad about, what she should be angry about, wasn't that Demonic Bodhisattva pushed her down. It was her own foolishness and naivety in trusting her.

This kind of thing...

—No, that's not right.

Kiara answered herself this way.

The rising sorrow in her heart was pulling her towards that self-destructive whirlpool. But Kiara told herself this was wrong.

But what exactly was wrong?

Sorrow and betrayal questioned her like this.

Questioning her naivety.

Kiara couldn't answer, but she still said this was wrong.

Ayaka had already passed out, lying in Kiara's arms.

Kiara held the unconscious Ayaka with one arm, looking up at the slowly closing egg.

"We have to get out of here before the entrance closes!"

Kiara put the unconscious Ayaka on her back and walked towards the closing exit.

The miasma around them fell gently, creating a pitch-black darkness where she couldn't see her hand in front of her face.

...

Shirou stared intently at Tethys, this doll who was the source of his power.

Tethys shook her head. "I can't answer you."

"Why not?"

She smiled and opened her mouth, seeming to say something, but he couldn't hear anything.

"Knowledge I can't hear..." he murmured thoughtfully.

She nodded.

"Fine, let's not talk about that. Tell me, how do we beat it?"

"The Lord of Salvation... can't be defeated."

"What did you say?" he was shocked, looking at her in disbelief. He came looking for a way to defeat his enemy, not to hear it was hopeless.

"It can't be defeated. Not by the Enlightened One, and not even by those outer space Evil Gods who crave human emotions... none of them can beat it."

She shook her head, then seeing his disappointed face, she added: "But, it can disappear."

He leaned forward eagerly, "How do we make it disappear?"

She didn't answer. Instead, she asked, "You've been to what you call the 'connection point', and you've learned about who I am and civilizations beyond Earth, right?"

He nodded.

"You know we used alien technology to fight a cosmic war with foreign civilizations, and we won..." she paused, studying his face. "But do you know how we won?"

"Heaven Corpse and Tiamat told me you turned yourselves into information life forms to fight the cosmic war."

"I see, so they told you." Tethys's lips curved into a subtle smile. "Then, here's a question. Countless warships, long space trips, and intense cosmic battles need a huge amount of energy. Even if Earth, the whole solar system were converted into energy, it wouldn't be enough." Her voice dropped slightly. "So, where did our endless energy come from?"

"This..." He hesitated, realizing he hadn't thought about this before.

Indeed, even modern civilizations struggle with energy on Earth, often leading to energy wars. So how did the ancient civilization fight cosmic wars?

Where did their energy come from?

Could it be...

He thought of something, his eyes suddenly narrowing.

Tethys's voice grew heavy with regret. "Let me tell you, we did something terribly wrong on a cosmic scale. We rewrote reality."

Her gaze turned distant and sorrowful. "To survive, we created Cosmic Alaya. And using what you now call the Throne of Heroes, along with the technology of the Second Law, we rewrote reality."

"History is like a long thread, with each bead on the thread representing a moment that shapes the reality we live in. When one of these beads changes, it creates a new thread - a different version of reality. This new thread of history is what is called a 'world line.'"

He frowned, "You played with world lines?"

She nodded, "Yes, we played with world lines. Making new world lines, then destroying them, burning them for energy. That's how we won, and that was our sin."