Chapter 56: Goetia Was About to Cry
South America.
This vast continent, located in the southern hemisphere, faces the vast Atlantic Ocean to the east and the deep Pacific Ocean to the west. To the north, it is closely connected to the North American continent via the narrow isthmus known as the Panama Canal. South America is also home to the Andes, the world's longest mountain range. It is like the backbone of the Earth, cradling the Amazon Rainforest—the largest cradle of life on the planet, commonly known as the lungs of the Earth.
However, at this very moment, this vibrant oasis faces a true crisis.
When Tiamat unleashed the full power of Nega-Genesis, symbolizing new life for the world, within just a few hours, even the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Panama isthmus itself—which served as a land bridge—were mercilessly swallowed by the boiling black swamp.
The purplish-black Sea of Life did not stop after consuming the North American continent. Like a broken dam, it surged across the map of South America.
Conventional biological weapons and defense lines could not stop it. The black mud, which defied all physical laws, violently penetrated deep into the Amazon Rainforest.
Towering ancient trees, moist soil, hard rock, and even the faint traces of magecraft drifting in the air were forcibly stripped of their existing forms the instant they touched the Sea of Life, returning to primordial ether.
Before the overwhelming power of this Goddess of Creation, it seemed there was no obstacle on Earth capable of stopping her even slightly.
And then… this vast Sea of Life completely surged into the deepest, untouched regions of the Amazon Rainforest.
If the dangerous Amazon itself was already forbidden ground for humanity, then this isolated region at its very center was a death trap that even the strongest magus would avoid.
In contrast to the vibrant life on the outskirts of the Amazon Rainforest, as one ventured deeper inland, everything around began to be enveloped in a chilling silence.
Those towering ancient trees had long since lost their vitality; even their branches and leaves had turned into transparent crystals. The soil beneath one's feet, the river water, and even the air itself had been forcibly distorted by some power, transforming into crystals emitting a mysterious blue light.
This place… is known as the Crystal Valley.
Once, the Fifth of the Twenty-Seven Dead Apostles had been extremely arrogant and plotted to conquer the monsters dwelling deep within this crystal land. As a result, that arrogant and overbearing Dead Apostles was effortlessly killed, as if it were nothing more than a light snack.
And even after that monster naturally inherited the position of the Fifth Dead Apostle Ancestor, it continued to sleep soundly upon the alien crystals it had created.
…This monster was not a product of Earth. It was the Ultimate Lifeform (Ultimate One) from Mercury—a colossal spider-like being known as ORT—which had fallen to Earth in the distant past and remained in a dormant state ever since…
At this very moment, these seemingly beautiful alien crystals emitted a terrifying power like a spider's web, radiating a brilliance that made even the planet's will tremble.
And when Tiamat's Sea of Life flowed in and touched the crystals—
Click.
Two completely different ultimate laws collided in this moment in an unprecedented manner!
Immediately after, an extremely faint cracking sound—yet one that seemed capable of silencing the clamor of the entire world—quietly spread.
Before this alien lifeform that did not even possess the concept of death, the proud return power of the Sea of Life… failed for the first time in history!
As if it had almost sensed this sound emanating from the Earth itself, the massive object that had slept for thousands of years in the deepest part of this Crystal Valley began to move… very slowly.
The Sea of Life, which had been continuing its advance, seemed to sense something. It paused for a moment, as if scrutinizing the identity of its opponent.
…
…Meanwhile, deep within the underground command center in Snowfield City…
In the deathly silent hall, everyone's gaze was fixed on the main screen before them.
What was displayed was footage from the edge of the Amazon Rainforest, desperately captured by the military using backup satellites.
"The Sea of Life… has stopped…?"
Seeing the black mud, which had been surging forward like an apocalyptic disaster, strangely cease its erosion at an invisible boundary line, everyone present stared in shock.
Then, they all let out a sigh of relief.
No one knew exactly what had happened deep within the rainforest, but everyone had witnessed how despairing that black mud was. If there was something in the Amazon Rainforest capable of actually stopping the Sea of Life from eroding the Earth… accepting it wouldn't be that difficult.
After all, things couldn't get any worse than the current situation.
The female secretary, who had been staring at the black mud temporarily shown on the screen, unconsciously let out a sigh of relief.
She then immediately turned to Faldeus and asked in a low voice, "Lord Faldeus, what should we do now?"
Faldeus did not answer immediately. He stared fixedly at the eerily silent rainforest on the screen.
"I don't know exactly what happened there… but without a doubt, we've been given a chance to catch our breath."
Faldeus spoke in a hoarse voice. "Regarding the assassination of Matou Yuu, it was my misjudgment."
For the first time in history, this usually arrogant high-ranking American politician openly admitted his mistake.
After all, who could have predicted that simply eliminating one Master from the Holy Grail War would cause the foundation of this planet's ecosystem to collapse?
"Now, there is only one way to end this."
He took a deep breath, forcibly calmed himself, and slowly said, "Do you remember that Dead Apostle, Jester Karture?"
"Previously, I made a secret agreement with him. He intended to use the Servant summoned by Tsubaki Kugaoka—the Pale Rider symbolizing plague and death—to drag Matou Yuu and Tiamat into the dream bounded field."
"It is obvious that for Tiamat, the true form of the Mother Goddess of Creation, the Pale Rider's mere dream could not even capture her, let alone touch her."
Faldeus turned his gaze to the female secretary beside him and quietly said, "But... where is Matou Yuu?"
The female secretary's eyes wavered slightly. She immediately understood something. She unconsciously said, "In other words... Matou Yuu might not be dead, but before the explosion, he was captured midway by the Pale Rider and forcibly dragged into that dream without a physical body?!"
"However, when we returned to the Snowfield Reservation, Alcides' godlike arrow precisely pierced his heart, and afterward, we detonated the thermobaric bomb…"
"Did you not notice this biggest flaw?"
Faldeus stared at the screen before him and interrupted in a low voice. "The leyline beneath Snowfield City has always been under our control. Even if the death of a first-rate magus caused the remnants of his magical energy or the traces of his soul to completely vanish, the leyline network should still produce faint ripples."
"The terrifying heat of the thermobaric bomb and the arrow created by a god can certainly easily erase a human carbon-based body. But... where did the soul go? Our underground leyline monitoring system received no feedback regarding the soul's return."
"Could it be…?"
"That boy might not have completely died—he might have simply disappeared physically. After all… even if there's only a one in ten thousand chance, we should try," Faldeus stated firmly.
The female secretary wisely chose to remain silent.
After a brief silence, the female secretary immediately nodded obediently. "Understood. I will immediately dispatch a special operations team to seize Tsubaki Kugaoka's body and contact Jester to release Matou Yuu from the dream… if he is truly there."
Faldeus did not reply.
He passed by the secretary, who was about to leave in a hurry, and fixed his gaze on the screen before him.
The vast Sea of Life, capable of swallowing continental plates, was now eerily stagnant at the edge of the Amazon Rainforest, like a dead puddle.
Finally, he turned his gaze to the main screen and looked at the footage floating above Snowfield City. Tiamat, standing in the sky, radiated an overwhelming aura of power.
Had it truly… ended?
For some reason, Faldeus felt a vague sense of unease.
It was too quiet.
The something that had been obstructing the Sea of Life's advance in the rainforest was abnormally quiet.
And then...
Looking up at the Mother Goddess of Creation floating in the sky, completely enraged by sorrow and anger, Faldeus suddenly had an extremely terrifying thought.
Tiamat possessed such a terrifying concept, and her black mud could easily erase even modern laws and principles wherever it went—nothing could stop it.
So the question arose: What could possibly stop assimilation at this level from that unknown existence lurking deep within the Amazon Rainforest?
In the end…
Could those who could stop the monsters truly be called allies?
…
…"Did it really… stop?"
Meanwhile, in an extremely deep Underworld.
Feeling that the sea of life spreading across the surface—surging violently like a catastrophic tsunami—had suddenly fallen silent, Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash instinctively looked at each other, their faces filled with surprise and confusion.
Meanwhile, Emiya Alter frowned. "Could it be that there is still a force on the surface capable of forcibly stopping the Mother Goddess…?"
But what exactly did that mean?
The only person in the world capable of containing Tiamat had been confirmed dead just days ago.
Unless Matou Yuu returned, no one on this planet could stop the enraged Humanity's Evil… especially since she was the Goddess of Creation.
"Could it be that Matou-san came back?" Fujimaru Ritsuka suddenly looked up at the ground, her voice filled with irrepressible hope.
"Could it be... that Lady Ereshkigal couldn't find his soul in the Underworld because Matou-san wasn't dead in the first place?" Mash continued with her own speculation.
However, Ereshkigal had remained silent from the beginning.
The Mistress of the Underworld slightly furrowed her brows, bit her lip, and muttered to herself, "That can't be... I felt like Matou Yuu's soul aura had completely vanished... Was it just my imagination?"
"In any case, it's fortunate that the disaster has temporarily subsided. We must seize this opportunity and formulate plans and strategies for the next phase as soon as possible."
Fujimaru Ritsuka immediately turned to Emiya Alter. "Emiya-san, could you investigate the current situation outside?"
Emiya Alter nodded lightly. "Understood. Leave it to me."
Just as Emiya Alter was about to leave, Romani's voice, mixed with surprise and anxiety, suddenly came through the spiritual communication device.
"This is strange… Mash, Ritsuka, something seems off on the surface."
Due to the barrier of the Underworld, Romani's voice was slightly noisy.
Fujimaru Ritsuka, who had finally understood what he was saying, hesitantly asked, "Doctor, what do you mean by 'strange'?"
Romani did not answer immediately. He stared fixedly at the spiritual projection map before him.
Currently, the entire North American continent was completely covered by what was represented as black mud on the map.
This meant that the Sea of Life had completely swallowed the North American continent and had even spread into the two oceans.
He swallowed hard and quietly said, "Logically speaking, the fact that the Beast II activated her Nega-Genesis means that Tiamat has completely abandoned reason and has no intention of leaving any room for action."
"But for some reason, she stopped when she touched South America."
Fujimaru Ritsuka was slightly surprised and said in a low voice, "Could it be that she regained her sanity and gave up on returning?"
"No…" Romani shook his head. "It was just confirmed that Tiamat attempted to mobilize an even larger Sea of Life to purify that region. However, according to the observation data… the Sea of Life seems unable to assimilate that region."
"Unable to assimilate? You're joking!"
Hearing the conversation between the two, Ereshkigal couldn't help but retort. "That is the primordial sea, symbolizing the origin of life! Nothing on this planet—not even the gods—can resist its return. Are you trying to say that an alien lifeform not belonging to Earth is lurking in that rainforest?!"
"It's still unclear… Just wait. I am currently forcibly bypassing the U.S. satellite blockade, maximizing the magnification of Sheba's near-future observation, and trying to decipher the spiritual wavelength of the Amazon region in South America."
Following Romani's instructions, the projected image of the spiritual form began to rapidly expand and contract.
Beep beep beep!
However, the moment the analysis was completed, alarms rang throughout the entire Chaldea control room, and all the lighting instantly turned to an extremely dangerous deep crimson!
"Doctor, what happened?!" Fujimaru Ritsuka's heart tightened as she asked anxiously.
However, Romani and Leonardo da Vinci seemed to have lost their words the moment they saw that lifeform.
On the screen, amid a warning message flashing violently with "ERROR (UNRESOLVABLE)," Chaldea's lens barely pierced through the spatial distortion wall, revealing a blurry yet chilling silhouette.
It was a massive, unnatural construct, like a higher-dimensional metal disk. Surrounding its main body, which emitted an inorganic light, were dozens of long, sharp, gigantic legs made of unknown alien crystals... It looked like a colossal star spider perched upon a globe.
Da Vinci stared fixedly at the lifeform on the screen with eyes full of doubt and disbelief, cold sweat forming on her forehead. "This thing... something's wrong? Chaldea's system can't analyze its Saint Graph scale at all—no... even the life sign assessment is returning an error?!"
Romani did not answer. He stared fixedly at the unbelievably strange alien creation before him, his eyes shining.
Then, his pupils suddenly widened greatly, and a chill ran down his spine as if he had fallen into an ice cave—goosebumps covered his entire body.
As if realizing something, he suddenly raised his head and muttered with a trembling voice, "No… No! Mash, Ritsuka! Tiamat didn't stop her return herself, but this lifeform buried underground is about to awaken… You must absolutely not let it touch that lifeform! If the Sea of Life spreads any further south, it won't just be humanity's responsibility anymore…"
"If that thing awakens, this planet will——"
BOOM!
Before he could finish speaking, a deafening roar, as if shattering the Earth itself, suddenly echoed from deep within the Amazon Rainforest far to the south.
"Ah, this is bad… It's really waking up!"
Romani's voice was filled with unprecedented panic. "…It's too late! Mash, Ritsuka, you two must retreat immediately——"
However, his warning ended abruptly before it could fully subside.
Because, at that very next moment, an unprecedented pressure pierced through the clouds over South America within Chaldea's Sheba observation network!
High above the completely distorted sky, a terrifying, all-encompassing phantom was displayed.
…ORT!
"AAAAAAAAA——!!!"
Tiamat, almost simultaneously sensing the appearance of this higher-dimensional existence, let out a heartbreaking cry filled with intense rage.
Under the control of the Mother Goddess of Creation, the Sea of Life—which had originally been stagnant—completely went berserk and surged violently toward the phantom of ORT.
"No! We have to stop her from touching it!" Artoria cried out in a desperate voice.
She didn't know exactly what the alien lifeform that had appeared in South America was... but Tiamat alone had already neutralized everyone. If that black mud completely awakened another monster... the consequences would be unimaginable.
However, the instant she drew the Star Sword, the golden beam carrying sacred pressure was instantly swallowed and assimilated by the boiling Sea of Life.
"Stop right there!"
Super Orion roared as he drew his massive bow to its limit.
With a deafening roar, an arrow forged by the gods—capable of shooting down even gods—rained down like a storm upon the source of the black mud.
However, even an attack powerful enough to pierce mountains had its concept of destruction forcibly stripped away by the Sea of Life and completely erased.
Romulus raised his spear and, in the name of the gods, forcibly erected a wall of light upon this land, attempting to block the intrusion of the black mud.
However, under the overwhelming power of Tiamat's Nega-Genesis, the light barrier collapsed in mere seconds.
All attacks were… ineffective.
The Sea of Life surged toward the phantom of the alien lifeform sleeping in South America like an unstoppable torrent!
"Damn it… Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!!!"
At this moment, before any of the Grand Servants present could open their mouths, some were already so enraged that they looked ready to curse on the spot.
If one were to ask who among those present was the most anxious, it would certainly not be Chaldea, far away in Antarctica, nor Merlin, who wished to stay in the Tower of Avalon observing human affairs and passing the time, nor even these descended Grand Servants.
Rather, it was... Solomon, who had been coldly observing as a bystander.
There was no other reason.
Goetia had spent three thousand years preparing the grand plan of Humanity's Incineration.
The core condition was to use all the civilization and history humanity had produced over the past three thousand years as firewood to activate the Noble Phantasm's immense magical energy.
However, Tiamat's Nega-Genesis aimed to forcibly return the Earth to a sacred era without humanity.
And that thing in South America was a cosmic monster that, once awakened, would completely crystallize the entire Earth.
He had simply wanted to leave and continue executing his plan in the shadows.
But… given the current situation, further concealment was no longer possible.
He could not allow the situation to become any more unmanageable… even if it meant revealing his true identity.
Solomon took a deep breath and took a step forward. He glanced at Super Orion blocking his path and said in an extremely low voice, "Move."
"Caster, I understand your anxiety right now…" Super Orion gritted his teeth, desperately resisting the pressure of the black mud, and shouted without turning around. "But in this situation, even with your Noble Phantasm, you cannot stop this black mud that returns everything to nothing."
"Or... do you think you can stop the expansion of the Sea of Life alone?"
"Do you think I cannot stop it?"
The moment Orion finished speaking, Solomon suddenly let out an extremely intense, cold laugh.
The gentle eyes that had always seemed to pity all living things instantly shed their hypocritical facade, revealing beast-like coldness and madness.
He merely slightly raised his head, and from the ten golden rings fitted on his fingers, a dazzling heat capable of melting even space began to emanate.
The man spoke slowly in an arrogant, haughty voice that seemed like seventy-two syllables overlapping. "Heroic Spirit granted the grand rank by the Counter Force... Who do you think you're talking to?"
The next instant, the man slowly raised his right hand.
The nine golden rings fitted on those ten fingers suddenly emitted a dazzling, terrifyingly hot light.
Accompanied by this terrifying heat, countless cracks began to appear on the surface of the King of Magecraft's human body.
It was as if something massive and terrifying was about to burst out from this small human disguise.
Click!
Amid the terror of everyone present, Solomon's face, limbs, and torso began to peel away and crumble one by one, like burnt wood ash.
Beneath that human skin lay terrifying magical energy—a mixture of dark gold and jet black, possessing a power that suffocated all who saw it.
"We are the collective will of the seventy-two Demon Gods."
The voice that had originally belonged to a single person named Solomon instantly overlapped and distorted at this moment.
It transformed into seventy-two grand plural voices—woven from men, women, and children—filled with enthusiasm, hatred, and extreme pity.
That sound did not even need to travel through the air; it felt as if a heavy hammer was striking directly into the depths of everyone's souls.
BOOM—!!!
And when the human outer shell completely burned away, an immeasurable amount of Saint Graph was forcibly crammed into this world!
"We are the Beast of Mercy, standing here to overcome death and eradicate all sorrow."
Humanity's Evil, Beast I... Goetia had finally discarded his mask and descended!
Goetia's abyssal dark-golden magecraft reacted directly to the Sea of Life that had been trying to touch and awaken ORT.
High in the sky, a massive band of light woven from hundreds of millions of beams instantly fused within extreme distortion.
Although the grand enterprise of incinerating humanity had not yet officially begun and the complete Third Noble Phantasm had not yet formed, even if it meant forcibly drawing out the vast magical energy secretly refined over the past three thousand years, they had to stop Tiamat!
DOON!...
Extreme heat symbolizing the concept of burning transformed into dark-golden magical beams with the power to pierce heaven and earth, crashing mercilessly into the purplish-black Sea of Life.
Two extremely severe calamities, both belonging to the category of Humanity's Evil, violently collided in midair!
However, even the heat capable of melting the universe could not evaporate the primordial sea symbolizing the origin of life in a short time due to Tiamat's Nega-Genesis power.
The black mud boiled, and the beams groaned.
Realizing the difficulty of the Sea of Life, Goetia secretly gritted his teeth. His massive spiritual foundation let out a fierce roar, and the overlapping seventy-two voices revealed unprecedented intensity.
This merciful Beast, at any cost, unleashed even more terrifying heat!
As vast space collapsed, the dark-golden torrent finally overwhelmed the regeneration speed of the black mud and barely succeeded in evaporating the Sea of Life that had been about to surge into the South American deep sea.
Amid the rising smoke and the stunned gazes of the Grand Heroic Spirits, a mountain-like golden beast quietly appeared within the band of burning light. Its body seemed as if cast from dark gold, covered in countless crimson eyes.
Beneath the horns on the massive beast's head, countless eyes simultaneously looked down upon the crowd like ants.
Artoria stood frozen in shock at the sudden event before her, while Taigong Wang narrowed his eyes. Even he, who possessed the immortal eye capable of seeing through illusions, had misjudged the situation.
No—rather, who could have imagined that the Grand Caster standing at the pinnacle of magecraft, after discarding his hypocritical mask, was actually the ultimate calamity descending as a Beast (Humanity's Evil)?
On the opposite side of the ruins, the great Lancer Romulus Quirinus and the great Archer Super Orion also unconsciously gripped their weapons, staring at the ancient will that had revealed its true form.
"This guy is…" Super Orion immediately frowned. "This abhorrent magecraft… Is this really a Heroic Spirit?"
Tezcatlipoca, who had been not far away, now in the class of Grand Berserker, was similarly silent.
After a period of silence, the cold-blooded god slowly grinned, a dangerous light appearing in his eyes hidden behind his sunglasses. "It seems... the Holy Grail War in Snowfield City has gathered quite a number of terrifying monsters."
No matter how one looked at it, the lifeform before them did not appear to be a Grand Servant... Rather, it resembled a lifeform he knew—one identical to Tiamat.
Humanity's Evil... No, rather, the Evil of Beasts.
Did this mean the Counter Force was unreliable... or... that this lifeform before them was even deceiving the Counter Force?
…
…In the underground command center, Faldeus stared blankly at the scene displayed on the screen.
Seeing the lifeform that had forcibly pushed back the Sea of Life with intense heat, he felt that his brain could not process the current situation at all—his thinking ability had completely collapsed.
A deathly silence hung over the command center.
Gulp.
After an unknown amount of time, the man finally unconsciously swallowed and collapsed into his chair.
…
…Faldeus was not the only one shocked... Far away in Chaldea at the South Pole, an eerie silence enveloped the area.
Staring at the ancient lifeform on the screen radiating an aura of despair, Leonardo da Vinci pondered for a long time before finally muttering in disbelief, "What is that…?"
Had another Beast appeared in Snowfield City?!
Furthermore... This suddenly appearing Beast—was it actually suppressing the Sea of Life?
Did that mean... it was helping the Human Order?!
Among everyone present, only one person had remained completely silent throughout.
…Romani Archaman.
He stared fixedly at the massive lifeform displayed on the screen with an unbelievably complex gaze. That lifeform had been forced to reveal its true form.
Its ferocious, terrifying, yet somehow sacred posture was like a mirror.
It was the greatest magical creation he had left behind—distorted into the ultimate perpetrator that had destroyed humanity.
At this moment, the dam of memories burst.
Once, after the Holy Grail War in Fuyuki ended, the King of Magecraft Solomon made a wish to the Holy Grail: "I want to become an ordinary human."
Just before his wish was granted, and in the single instant before his immense power and omniscient sight were about to vanish, he glimpsed an extremely terrifying future scene—the complete end of human civilization.
However, he had only seen the devastation of destruction, not the process of destruction, nor the culprit behind it.
Because after that single glimpse, he had become a powerless, weak, ordinary man—"Romani Archaman."
The reason he had desperately studied modern knowledge, worked desperately, and continued to stay at Chaldea for the past ten years was because he knew clearly... that the end of the world was approaching.
Even Solomon, who had once been omniscient and omnipotent, after losing his power, could not guess who was trying to destroy humanity or what means they would use to bring about the calamity.
He could only grope forward cautiously in the darkness, searching for any possibility of saving the world.
However, upon seeing the ancient lifeform that had appeared before him, the man finally understood everything.
During his reign as King Solomon, Romani had commanded seventy-two demons.
But for him, these demons were nothing more than familiars used to govern the country—a cold magical programming system.
Even Romani himself could never have imagined that after his death, the seventy-two demons, pitying humanity's short lifespan and imperfection, would awaken a collective consciousness with independent thinking ability.
It had eventually... taken over his body.
Romani unconsciously raised his right hand and gently stroked the ring hidden beneath his glove with his fingertips.
At that moment, the ring that had been dormant for ten years sensed the presence of the lifeform on the screen and emitted a faint yet intense warm resonance.
Without a doubt, the true culprit behind humanity's destruction—the monster before him—was... something he himself had left behind.
It was... the combined form of the seventy-two Demon Pillars——
The Beast I, Goetia!
….
…
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