Type-Moon, What Do You Mean You summoned Tiamat?!

The precise mechanical sounds echoed hollowly through the dimly lit basement. Accompanied by a violent surge of static, the image on the main screen turned into snow crystals indicating signal loss.

The small surveillance cameras once installed throughout every corner of the city had already corroded and dissolved into the Sea of Life. Even the military-grade backup monitoring equipment had long since completely shut down.

How could such a massive disaster occur?

Faldeus slumped into the leather office chair, staring at the communication device on the desk and couldn't help but rub his temples. An unprecedented wave of fatigue swept through his entire body.

Just three minutes ago, he had received the final message from his subordinate who had risked his life to send it back…

The Sea of Life of the goddess Tiamat, which had once been unstoppable, had miraculously slowed its advance.

And on the front lines of that battlefield, the heroic spirits crowned with the highest defense mechanism of Alaya had completely vanished.

In the blurry afterimage sent just before communications were completely cut off, Faldeus could vaguely make out a slender figure.

That was the Clock Tower disciple who should have been eliminated from this Holy Grail War according to his meticulous plan…

There were only a few trees scattered around.

But he didn't know exactly what had happened… At least according to the surveillance data, this nearly uncontrollable desperate situation was gradually stabilizing.

Thunk.

Suddenly, the sharp sound of high heels striking the floor echoed, pulling Faldeus out of his heavy thoughts and back to reality.

"Lord Faldeus, I've confirmed it with the reserve drones..."

The female secretary, dressed in a neat uniform, walked over gracefully. Fatigue was visible in her eyes, with dark circles beneath them. It was obvious she hadn't slept well, yet she still forced herself to report the situation.

"'Snowfield Valley' has been completely submerged by the Sea of Life. The hidden 'Great Holy Grail' itself, and even the pure magical energy originally stored within the system... It's highly likely that irreversible and severe contamination has already occurred."

Faldeus's body stiffened slightly, but he quickly relaxed.

Snowfield Valley was the altar that concealed the "Great Holy Grail technique," a "great forest" forcibly created at the edge of the city through magical means.

Unlike a normal Holy Grail War, the structure of the Great Holy Grail in Snowfield City was extremely complex. The Grail's spells were deliberately divided and buried in three areas of Snowfield City, powered by the city's massive power supply system and leyline magic.

However, when Tiamat arrived, the entire power grid of Snowfield City instantly collapsed, forcing the Great Grail system to shut down.

In this world covered by black mud, it was impossible to send anyone into the valley for on-site investigation.

But even without investigating, Faldeus could easily infer the result from the previously analyzed data on the Sea of Life... With black mud that could instantly swallow even the city's high-rise buildings, how could the Great Holy Grail possibly escape disaster?

According to magical common sense, the so-called "Great Holy Grail" was essentially a massive vessel for souls and a reservoir of magical energy.

It took decades to absorb pure magical energy from the leyline and gather the "heroic souls" defeated in the Holy Grail War as fuel. Only then could it release the immense energy powerful enough to pierce the "source."

However... The essence of the Sea of Life was the clay of creation, symbolizing the "reformation of the Age of Gods."

That being the case, the moment it flowed into the valley, it must have forcibly filled the Great Holy Grail, right?

Faldeus could never have imagined that the "artificial magical furnace" that was supposed to be the core of this false Holy Grail War would be completely filled — and even burst — by the Sea of Life, symbolizing both creation and destruction...

What exactly would happen?

"And... I intercepted information about magical fluctuations."

The female secretary lowered her head slightly and lowered her voice further. "Saber and his Master, Ayaka Sajyou, were forced to separate due to the tsunami caused by the Sea of Life... And the girl's current magical coordinates were near the submerged 'Snowfield Valley.'"

"Ayaka Sajyou... Eh?"

Faldeus slowly opened his eyes. Deep fatigue was hidden in his usually calm gaze.

"That girl was brought to this city by Francesca. Her very existence is a variable."

He waved his hand and said, "But... I no longer have the luxury of concerning myself with Masters who were 'accidentally summoned.' She was unlucky, so just leave her be. The sooner she's assimilated by the black mud, the fewer troublesome situations there will be."

"Yes, understood."

The secretary bowed deeply and turned around. With the clear sound of her high heels, she quickly disappeared into the shadows of the basement.

Faldeus returned his gaze to the monitoring screen flashing with red alarms and muttered quietly.

"This farce... Is it finally about to end?"

...

The Sea of Life raged indiscriminately, and the pitch-black sea spread violently to every corner of the planet like a destructive tsunami.

However, amid the Old Man of the Mountain's voice resonating like an evening bell deep in the soul, everyone who had been protecting the position until death suddenly realized one thing.

If the oppressive feeling from the "Return Beast" had been a mixture of creative pressure and the suffocating despair and sorrow of losing a child,

Then at this moment, this colossal creature that was violently rampaging was like a puppet whose soul had been sucked out, moving blindly on the instincts of the "Beast shell" alone.

"Eresh-san, now's the time!"

Fujimaru Ritsuka, who understood what was happening, immediately shouted from deep underground.

"Understood, understood! I told you not to speak to me in that commanding tone like you're ordering a Servant... Honestly, no matter which team I'm on, I'm always being exploited by humans! Leave everything to me, a Goddess!"

The proud complaint faded.

Rumble——!

The ground of Snowfield City began to shake more violently than ever before.

The leyline magic hidden deep underground was forcibly extracted and reversed like boiling lava.

"Kur Kigal Irkalla——!!"

Unlike ordinary Noble Phantasms, this was a special power that forcibly materialized the Underworld on the surface. It could ignore the physical laws of the present world and forcibly carve open the domain of the Goddess of the Underworld.

The very next moment, the ground within dozens of miles collapsed with a thunderous roar!

What was exposed to the air was a bottomless Underworld.

A colossal muzzle-like structure jutted out like fangs, suddenly appearing in view.

This was the Mesopotamian Underworld — the land of the dead, forbidden to the living!

In the deepest part of the Underworld, the golden-haired goddess wielding a spear raised her head and shouted upward.

"Hey! That man with the staff and the people of Chaldea — while this empty monster is still unprepared, hurry up and destroy it!

"Hmph... She clearly said she hated being ordered around, but when she tried to order me, she acted just like the Goddess of the Underworld, as if it was the right thing to do."

Zelretch sneered, but his wrinkled, aged face remained calm.

"However... I already made a promise with that kid, and I don't want to be told that I 'broke my promise,' so I'll keep it for now."

Finally, Zelretch slowly raised the seemingly ordinary wooden staff in his hand.

——! Boom

The surrounding magical energy was instantly sucked away, the air twisted violently, and the violently shaking true ether compressed into a dazzling sphere of light in front of Zelretch's staff.

Immediately after, a high-purity ether beam of overwhelming terrifying power violently slammed into the side of the colossal beast's carapace!

BOOM!

With an unprecedentedly violent impact, the newly awakened "Return Beast" clearly did not react.

No — rather, after Tiamat's true soul was extracted, the defense mechanism and sense of balance of that shell had weakened more than ever before.

The collapsing colossal body finally lost its balance and fell toward the bottomless Underworld like a meteor.

However, just as its body was about to be completely suppressed by the laws of the Underworld... A sudden mutation occurred!

Driven by survival instinct, the back of the "Return Beast" suddenly writhed strangely.

The very next moment, colossal wings of light large enough to cover the sky suddenly spread open.

It was actually trying to stop its fall and forcibly return to the surface!

"Tch... What the hell is going on?! Is it the same as before?!"

Ereshkigal clicked her tongue secretly at the bottom of the Underworld and suddenly raised her face to shout. "Everyone, absolutely do not let it fly outside the range of the Underworld! Hurry up and find a way to shoot it down from the sky!"

Otherwise, everything will be for nothing!

Hearing this anxious shout, Zelretch, who was standing at the edge of the ruins, slightly furrowed his brows and quietly sighed.

"Really, using this battered, aged, broken body to do such physically demanding labor... Ever since that death match with the King of the Moon, his body had been turned into a Dead Apostle by the opponent.

This body once held magical energy from countless parallel worlds, but it had long since been corroded by curses and the passage of time, becoming full of holes. Even the slightest intense movement or just a rainy day would make his joints ache unbearably like those of an ordinary eighty-year-old man.

If I had known this would happen, I should have just kept slacking off at the Clock Tower... Why did I suddenly get dragged into this mess?"

While internally complaining like an old villain, he finally recalled the promise he had made with that young man and relaxed his guard, his gaze turning completely cold.

"Enough. If that's the case, let me show him…"

As he finished speaking,

Suddenly, water-like twisted ripples spread through the void.

Immediately after, a strange short sword carved from prism crystal landed in his palm.

This was the ultimate proof of a magus — the Jewel Sword!

BOOM——!!!

The moment the Jewel Sword fell into his palm, magical energy from countless parallel worlds violently poured into Zelretch's body.

The very next moment, he powerfully swung down the Jewel Sword in his hand.

"——Infinite Magical Ether Cannon!!"

This was the strongest killing technique the Old Man of the Jewels had used at his peak, the one that had directly repelled the Moon's Ultimate One, Crimson Moon, head-on.

A magical cannon with a diameter exceeding several hundred meters fell violently from the sky like a divine spear of judgment piercing heaven and earth!

Even now, due to extreme physical weakness, even if it was the final push that forcibly slammed the soulless shell underground... Old Man of the Jewels believed he could just barely manage it.

BOOM BOOM!

Under the merciless bombardment of the Infinite Magical Ether Cannon, the Return Beast floating above the Underworld finally lost its balance, and its colossal body shook violently.

At the same time, a deep shadow quietly appeared in the void behind Tiamat.

The Old Man of the Mountain was like a god of death emerging from the valley of death, with blue soul flames flickering in the fierce wind beneath his skull mask.

"...The time has come. The evening bell has already revealed the final stage."

He slowly drew his pitch-black great sword of decapitation.

This sword was not a divine weapon, but an ordinary iron sword.

However, after an almost despairingly long period of time, this old man had developed extremely devout faith, wielding it countless times and severing the heads of countless heretics and villains.

Over a thousand years, this sword had been deeply stained with unparalleled "faith" and "blood."

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the very existence of the Old Man of the Mountain was the proxy of "Azrael" in the present world.

"No... Magical reading anomaly! Ritsuka, quickly have the Assassin evacuate first! Tiamat's Sea of Life has completely fallen into bottomless rampage——"

Suddenly, Romani's urgent warning came through the wrist-mounted spiritual communication device.

Fujimaru Ritsuka's chest tightened sharply. Instinctively stepping forward, she was about to shout.

However, the words caught in her throat.

Because she was shocked to see the colossal figure soaring high in the sky — standing like a lonely peak — make a decisive resolution that surprised everyone.

——Abandoning the Grand Rank.

Facing the Creation Beast many times larger than himself, the old man slowly raised his great sword high.

In his ghostly blue flame-like eyes, the will to sever karma blazed.

"The title of the Grand is not something I need. Entrusting the strongest proof to this single blade is enough."

His voice was low and solemn, like thunder rumbling across the sky. "Even if you have fallen to the mark of the Beast, you are still the Mother of all life."

"Therefore, I must declare my name——"

"I am the Old Man of the Mountain, Hassan-i Sabbah."

"Hear me — the evening bell has revealed your true name. If you follow fate, I shall strip away your wings!"

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Three dull, desolate evening bell sounds rang out in succession, drowning out the roar of the Sea of Life and echoing long across the collapsing world.

The very next moment, the strongest sword from the dark valley — imbued with the concept of "death" that severs fate from fate — was swung down with a thunderous roar!

——[Azrael]!

With the flash of the jet-black sword, Tiamat's colossal wings on her back were completely sealed.

The unbalanced colossal body crashed into the abyss of the Underworld.

However, the instant she was violently slammed into the depths of the Underworld, the endless pitch-black Sea of Life surged forward with even more frenzied intensity.

Tiamat's consciousness had calmed, and she had voluntarily discarded this Beast-like shell.

However, this empty shell, born from 4.6 billion years of resentment, would not disappear so easily because of that.

It sensed the arrival of "death" and unleashed the ultimate counterattack belonging to [Beast II].

"Ah——!!!!"

That sorrowful song seemed to shake the entire world.

"Eh?! Wait! Why is there such strong rejection? We agreed that Mother's consciousness had already softened. Why has the scale of the Sea of Life expanded more than tenfold——?!"

From the depths of the Underworld came Ereshkigal's incredulous shout.

The plan had originally been perfect... First, the Return Beast would fall into the Underworld, then the Old Man of the Mountain would personally sever its wings and grant it the concept of death.

They had definitely succeeded.

However, no one had expected that after being forcibly given the concept of "death," this colossal, empty shell — having lost its reason — would awaken through extremely terrifying instinctive obsession.

Rumble... Rumble...

Within the boiling black mud, it was as if billions of wills were sharply overlapping and intertwining, emitting a cold, turbid sound.

"Pain... It hurts so much..."

"Return... Reorganize... Everything... Melt into one..."

It was the instinctive cry of 4.6 billion years of life disappearing — a torrent of evil lacking human reason.

BOOM!

The very next moment, countless pitch-black Seas of Life surged upward from the bottom of the Underworld.

The Sea of Life rose violently, as if trying to instantly fill this land of death.

"Already made this much... In the end, it was still a little short, wasn't it..."

Fujimaru Ritsuka instinctively clenched her fists, digging her nails into her palms, but could only watch this despairing scene helplessly.

The Sea of Life centered on the Return Beast flowed at an exponential speed, enough to cover the entire Underworld in an instant.

Suddenly, a pitch-black tsunami descended from the sky. Ereshkigal, standing at the bottom of the Underworld, could not avoid it. Looking up, she could only helplessly watch as the Sea of Life — capable of melting everything — rushed toward her like a tsunami.

Her eyes slowly widened, but her body, tense under the terrifying pressure, gradually relaxed.

Ah... I was mocking that boring Ishtar, yet in the end, this goddess is going to leave in such a humiliating way?

If she knew, she would definitely laugh at me, right?

Ereshkigal closed her eyes.

However, just as the black sea was about to completely swallow her, a familiar, calm young man's voice suddenly came from behind.

"Ereshkigal-san, please move a little to the right."

As if possessed, without thinking, Ereshkigal instinctively leaned toward the direction of the voice and slightly turned her body sideways.

At the same time, a dazzling golden light erupted from behind!

BOOM——!

That golden light tore through the night like dawn, instantly splitting the vast black tsunami!

When the golden light cannon lit up, everyone on the surface defensive line almost simultaneously turned their gaze toward the depths of the Underworld.

As if they had finally seen dawn after an endless night, Fujimaru Ritsuka's eyes suddenly brightened.

Deep within the Underworld washed by black mud, a battered young man was standing there before anyone realized it.

Ereshkigal, standing beside him, reflexively turned her face. Upon seeing who it was, an expression of surprise appeared on her beautiful face.

"...Matou Yuu?"

Yes... It was none other than Matou Yuu. He had just successfully extracted the Mother Goddess's soul from the depths of Tiamat's consciousness.

And in his hand, for some reason, he was already holding a sword.

A golden holy sword radiating the brilliance of the planet's Inner Sea.

"Leave the rest to me, Ereshkigal-san."

Matou slowly raised his head and looked up at the colossal empty shell spreading across the sky. He whispered quietly, "It's time to awaken from this long nightmare, Tiamat."

The instant he finished speaking, it was as if the ancient sacred sound of the Round Table's restraints had been released from deep within the blade of the Star Holy Sword.

"——Is this battle being fought to save the world?"

And a second voice was heard. "——Is this battle really...?"

"This battle... This battle... This battle..."

However, the very next moment, that mechanical confirmation voice suddenly rang out.

Immediately after, the blade of the Star Holy Sword skipped all judgment procedures and unleashed an unprecedentedly magnificent brilliance without warning!

Logically speaking, for the Star Holy Sword (Excalibur) to unleash its true power, the troublesome "Thirteen Restraints" must be broken.

However, the previous battle with Crimson Moon had already taught Artoria and Matou a lesson — the rules were dead, but the planet was alive.

There was no need to strictly release the Thirteen Restraints. As long as "Gaia" agreed, the Star Holy Sword could unleash its primordial brilliance that cleaved the stars.

According to Gaia's underlying logic, the Star Holy Sword was not something to be drawn against the life-nurturing "Tiamat."

However, if it was for the sake of this Beast II — from which the Mother Goddess had been stripped away, leaving only pure destructive instinct... Then the Star Holy Sword could remove the hindrance to its ultimate complete release.

As the Beast's carapace rose high, covering the sky, Matou slowly raised the holy sword in his hand.

Unlike ordinary Noble Phantasms that consumed the Master's mana, this sword did not need to draw mana from Matou Yuu's body at this moment — because its magical energy came from the earth itself.

Or perhaps... from "Gaia."

For this decisive moment, Gaia had begun a long plan six years ago.

Drawing Matou Yuu into the Holy Grail War, using him as a medium, and having Tiamat descend into this world through extraordinary means... These seemingly coincidental chaos were actually a trap set for this very moment.

Therefore, Gaia would naturally generously grant Matou Yuu the highest-level permission for the holy sword at this moment.

Unlike any other celestial body, Earth was an extremely special planet.

It nurtured an excessively large and complex lifeform, causing the planet's will to split into "Gaia" — symbolizing the planet itself — and "Alaya" — symbolizing the primates.

Because of the opposition and split between these two wills, Earth could not form a unified whole, and therefore could not nurture an Ultimate Lifeform symbolizing the planet's highest defense mechanism — that is, Earth's Ultimate One— like other planets.

Faced with the greedy outer cosmos, Gaia made an extremely insane decision to save itself.

It sent the foreigner Matou Yuu — who did not belong to this world — as a furnace and artificially completed the "Earth UO" creation plan.

And Tiamat was precisely the "material" that Gaia deemed valuable.

With Matou Yuu's help, she could completely shatter the shell of the "Return Beast" symbolizing human evil and be reborn as the purest form of the Mother Goddess of Creation.

By then... The manufacturing of Earth's UO would officially take its first step.

Because Matou Yuu possessed the noble status of [Foreigner], his body was not only a vessel capable of containing the King of the Moon, but also a "seal" that sealed him.

All of this seemed to be part of Gaia's perfect calculation.

However, as Goetia once mocked... The suppression plan was always full of flaws and bugs.

No one had expected that the "Portable Hot Bed" mutated by Marble Phantasm would cause the variable Matou Yuu to unexpectedly seal the alien spider from South America inside his body.

But... This grand plan was ultimately proceeding in an orderly manner.

When Matou Yuu raised the "Star-Forged Holy Sword" symbolizing the star's defense mechanism, a golden pillar of light piercing heaven and earth roared toward the dome of the Underworld!

Countless golden points of light rose from every direction across the Earth.

And they madly rushed toward the holy sword.

That was the brilliance of life, and also the breath of the Earth.

—Star Holy Sword, fully released!

"Ex——"

He violently swung the sword toward the Return Beast covering the sky.

"Calibur!!"

BOOM!

A dazzling golden sword light rained down from the sky!

The colossal shell of the Return Beast, formed from 4.6 billion years of resentment, let out a deep roar, but under Tiamat's "restraint," the spiritual foundation representing [Human Evil] was finally completely pierced by the golden holy sword.

Bang!

With the final muffled sound, the Beast's shell that had confined the Mother Goddess of Creation for many hours finally completely shattered.

At the center of the falling feathers of light was a breathtaking figure with long blue hair that had just cascaded down, curled up quietly in the warm light hugging her knees.

Every time she breathed, one could feel the true ether of the Age of Gods circulating through the air.

Matou Yuu seemed to have lost his strength and collapsed to his knees in exhaustion.

The Star Holy Sword in his palm transformed into golden light and quietly disappeared into the wind.

When he looked up, the blue-haired goddess in the air had awakened from her long, despairing 4.6-billion-year dream and slowly opened her clear cross-shaped eyes.

At this sight, everyone present was completely relieved.

Fujimaru Ritsuka collapsed to the ground and let out a sigh of relief. "Finally... It's all over. Human Order... Is it safe?"

"That's great... Senpai, Matou-san really did it!"

Mash finally loosened her grip on the shield, her voice choked with emotion as if she had survived a disaster.

"The Sea of Life's numerical values are rapidly declining, and the goddess Tiamat's spiritual foundation reaction has returned to a calm state. The calamity... has truly been eliminated!"

While immersed in joy, the two of them failed to notice that the spiritual particle communication device on their wrists had remained silent since that sword strike.

In Chaldea's central control room, Romani stared intently at the oscilloscope before him. The red "fatal" alarm was desperately flashing, and he didn't utter a single word.

Yes, after defeating the Return Beast, Tiamat had been reborn as the noble "Mother Goddess of Creation," and the crisis of humanity's moral collapse had been resolved.

Without a doubt, this was a perfect turnaround victory.

But... The Age of Gods had completely gone extinct thousands of years ago. Today was an era where the planet's surface was completely dominated by "humans."

If Tiamat descended upon the present world as the complete "Mother Goddess of Creation," then — regardless of whether she wished it or not — her vast spiritual foundation of the Age of Gods and authority over life would instantly forcibly cover this land with the ecosystem of the sacred era.

As the unconscious collective of the primates, would Alaya... really allow an ancient creator goddess capable of reviving Earth's ecosystem to appear in the modern world?

...

Golden points of light spread through the air, covering this completely ruined world.

As if the apocalypse had finally reached redemption, the surrounding atmosphere felt more peaceful and harmonious than ever before.

Matou Yuu looked up at the blue-haired goddess floating in the air.

The instant their eyes met, a relieved, gentle smile appeared on his blood-stained, exhausted face.

He slowly extended his hand toward the Mother Goddess of Creation who had been "reborn" from the Beast's shell.

The instant their fingertips touched, Tiamat lightly descended from the sky and obediently landed before him like a light, weightless wind.

"It's true... We took quite a big detour."

Matou Yuu quietly sighed.

There was also a trace of softness in Tiamat's clear, transparent red eyes.

Yes... It really was a big detour.

But... Everything had already been decided.

From now on, she could finally stay by his side with full authority.

They could hold hands and experience all the beautiful things in the world as promised at the beginning.

Not far away, watching this harmonious scene, Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash exchanged glances, and genuine satisfaction appeared in each other's eyes.

Seeing this, even the usually cold Emiya Alter's face softened into a faint smile.

He turned around, intending to leave as a spiritual particle to hide his achievements and reputation.

However, just as everyone unconsciously let their guard down in this astonishing moment, they saw Matou Sakura — who had been standing behind the defensive line — suddenly move.

"Looks like you finally got what you wanted... Onii-sama~"

A gentle voice echoed in the quiet air, like dripping water.

Only then did Matou Yuu return to reality and instinctively look toward the approaching girl.

Her smooth purple hair swayed freely in the ruins' wind, and her pure white dress added a touch of adorable innocence.

Her skin was so white it seemed to squeeze out water, and the most striking thing was the faint melancholy that somehow evoked pity.

Matou Yuu seemed to have noticed nothing and quietly said, "Sakura, you worked hard this time too."

"I never thought you'd come all the way from the Fuyuki——"

However, his words suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

Suddenly, a doubt welled up deep in his heart.

It was important to know that Fuyuki City was in Japan, while Snowfield City was far away in Nevada, North America — nearly ten thousand kilometers apart, separated by one Pacific Ocean.

Sakura was just an ordinary Magus... So exactly when and by what method did she appear in Snowfield City?

At this moment, Matou Sakura's weak yet clear voice continued to echo across the quiet battlefield.

"Sakura isn't tired at all... For Onii-sama, no matter how far or how scary it is, Sakura will do it. After all, we are——"

Matou Yuu suddenly felt an ominous premonition in his chest, and his smile instantly froze. "Sakura, wait——"

However, before he could finish speaking, the purple-haired girl suddenly quickened her pace and rushed toward him like a bird returning to its nest.

At that instant, under Tiamat's surprised gaze, Matou Sakura's graceful, seductive body unhesitatingly clung tightly to the young man's neck, carrying a strong declaration of sovereignty.

Finally... I finally get to see you, Onii-sama.

She buried herself deeply in the young man's arms, greedily inhaling his scent, and with her shoulders slightly trembling, she softly murmured, "Sakura really thought you were already... gone and left me behind."

Finally, she raised her face again, and a gentle smile bloomed on her tear-streaked beautiful cheeks. "But now that everything has calmed down, that's enough... As long as I know Onii-sama is safe, Sakura is relieved."

While watching this extremely intimate and sometimes dazzling scene, the once-clear red eyes seemed to lose their light for a moment.

The surrounding temperature seemed to drop visibly and rapidly.

However, she immediately tried her best to maintain the tolerance and dignity expected of the "Mother Creator," but there was an almost imperceptible hardness in her voice. "You are a very... big person."

"Ah, did I forget to introduce myself?"

Matou Sakura seemed to notice belatedly, and under Tiamat's gradually sharpening gaze, she very politely lowered her head.

"Matou Sakura... I grew up with Onii-sama, and besides——"

She smiled gently. "I am his fiancée, Tiamat."

...

Meanwhile, deep within the snow-covered valley.

The once-dense primeval forest had been completely covered by the pitch-black, sticky "Sea of Life," becoming a lifeless swamp.

However, in this abyss of despair where even heroic spirits could be easily melted, a golden-haired girl walked alone, completely unharmed.

About an hour ago, when Tiamat's Sea of Life went berserk, a black mud tsunami had completely separated her from her Servant.

But strangely, the Sea of Life — which should have been able to "assimilate" everything — instinctively avoided the girl upon touching her.

She seemed to possess a special power. In an invisible world, this primordial swamp not only did not harm her, but rather seemed to "accept" her...

As she ventured deeper into the valley, a deep, muffled rumbling sound came from the darkness ahead, as if a heart was beating violently.

Thump—— Thump——

Knock knock... Knock knock...

The black mud that had not yet completely disappeared symbolized the "primordial era of the gods" and was desperately flowing toward the Great Holy Grail altar deep in the forest.

Sajou Ayaka instinctively swallowed and felt her heartbeat about to burst out of her chest. In the end, she gritted her teeth and mustered her courage.

She headed toward the edge of the forest.

What appeared before her eyes was a post-apocalyptic scroll capable of instantly erasing any human's sanity.

On the ruins of the altar that should have housed the "Great Holy Grail," an indescribably colossal existence lay.

It was an existence that had madly transformed from "Imaginary" to "physical existence."

Its colossal body was woven from calamity and curses, with seven eerie heads faintly cracking on its neck.

Seven golden crowns — symbolizing the ultimate "evil" — were condensed on those seven dragon heads. They symbolized "domination and blasphemy."

However, what froze Sajou Ayaka even more and made her feel as if her breath had stopped was not this world-ending red dragon... Instead, beside the red dragon, a young girl was quietly leaning against him.

She was like a sleeping beauty, sleeping peacefully in a warm bed, wearing a pure and perfect dress, her white feet bare, and her short golden hair still shining in the deep black mud.

An unbelievably beautiful and ethereal face with an angelically pure and sweet sleeping expression.

Almost at that instant, memories that should not have belonged to "Sajou Ayaka" began to violently fill her heart.

She pressed her forehead in pain, and it was only after some time that the resonance of memories finally stopped.

Sajou Ayaka slowly raised her face and looked at the girl before her. Her pupils had widened to their limit, and her legs lost strength from fear.

She collapsed to the floor and muttered with a trembling voice.

"...Sister?"

…

…

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