The Last Occultist

Hm, fascinating. I'll keep an eye on this.

Ciela Celestinia The first thing that Ciela realized when she was riding alongside Edrick was, of all things, his smell. Was this how all villagers smell like? Well... it wasn't as bad as CIela originally expected, but it was still very notable. Ha... the musk of a villager. She really had to get Edrick to take a bath one of these days, even if she had to be the one to bathe him. The bathtub was a gift from him, anyway. Might as well try and get him to also use it. But ah, she got distracted. "Well, my dear Edrick, it's simple! I have a plan, after all." Ciela said as the two went around the town atop of Remy. Well, if anything, Edrick did know his way around a horse, so she felt like she could trust him with Remy. Though, not now. Edrick was right that they need to catch up to Link, so she should get on with actually telling him her plan. "See, Catriona certainly wouldn't settle on a hut much like the one we were in earlier, right?" After all, Ciela would have to sleep alongside Cat, so of course Cat would've most likely chosen the fanciest place in town. "Well, honestly her going off on her own without telling everyone else is very worrying considering that we were supposed to protect her, but more importantly! My plan is simple. We look around for the fanciest houses around, and start from there. Well, minus the mayor's house that is. I don't think he'd allow any of us there after I raided his cupb- I mean, after our little investigation." Ciela looked smug as she explained her plan to Edrick. This was the perfect plan. Obviously, she didn't overlook anything, and this would open a clear path towards Cat so she could begin yelling at her as usual. "So, Ed-boy, what do you think?"

Ciela Celestinia As Ciela approached the dingy and cramped house, she noticed an Isaurian man hurried leaving. Huh. She wondered who that was. Ah, people sure came and went quite easily these days. Well, she decided to not think too much of him for now, and excused herself to go inside of the house, feeling annoyed at how cramped and isolated it was. It barely even had any windows! She hoped that she didn't have to sleep there, at least. "One hell of a nap that was." Ciela answered as she looked inside of the room. She saw Edrick there, looking pretty injured, and of course Penelope was there. The wyvern rider from that morning was also there. And of course, there was also Alois, who was about as delighted to see Ciela as she was in seeing him. By that, well, not very, if at all. "Licorice sure kept leaving to do mysterious business lately, I wonder why..." Ciela mused, though her thought then went to what was next. "...Wait, am I going to have to sleep alongside Link too?" That was unexpected. Still... something about this felt off. Mainly that Cat didn't tell her anything first about any changes in sleeping arrangements. If this was decided behind her back... well, then Ciela had some stern talking needed to do with Cat once she got to her. As the wyvern rider began to tell the group about herself, Ciela decided to check on Edrick for a moment. His injuries were significant, but he was quite stable at this point, so Ciela decided that she could get away with just one line of prayer and a cast of her heal to get him into a better shape than before. "Good call there. Would've done the same if I were in your shoes." However, before Ciela could peacefully leave and try finding Cat on her own, Edrick also decided that he should leave to follow Link. Well, things will surely be crowded, wherever Cat ended up sleeping. Ciela groaned, but she didn't stop Edrick as he left, and instead, she hurriedly followed him. "You know, Edrick, I do also need to talk about something very important to Cat, so why don't we go together? I'll let you on Remy too, I guess. Maybe we can catch up to Link this way."

Ciela Celestinia For so long, it felt like she had been running, chasing something. What it was, it felt like it had faded from her memory, yet her limbs continued to move regardless. Part of her thought that she simply wished to experience what it felt to be able to chase something, anything. However, every time she glimpsed at what she pursued, even if she couldn't actually understood what it was, she knew that it was always her ultimate goal. But, it felt so far away. Long years had passed, and even now, it was still out of reach. --- As Ciela groggily opened her eyes, what greeted her was the warmth of light conversation... well, nearby. She was still outside, rested on top of Remy for Goddess knew how long. She could barely remember what happened before, but other than a few sore on her muscle, she felt weirdly fine, somehow. This sleeping posture couldn't be healthy at all for her, but, well, she wasn't really too bugged up about it. But wait, where was this anyway? Rubbing her eyes, Ciela began to look around, wondering if she could still remember where was this. It didn't take long for her to notice the architecture of the town, and she immediately frowned. So, she was still in this town. This cursed, damned town... Right, she also remembered that the last thing she did was more or less climbing on top of a berserk Licorice to calm her down when they were all fighting that damned statue. She probably fell stupidly while doing that, huh. Well, another thing for her to mark as a failure then. Part of her wondered where Licorice was and whether she was alright, but judging by the fact that the others were inside, currently talking with each other, she assumed that they did beat that damned statue. Though, huh. Peeking inside, while Licorice wasn't there, she didn't notice Catriona either. Somehow, Catriona going off on her own always was something that Ciela felt like a bad omen, but well, if the others were as merry as this, Ciela didn't feel that worried. Although, still, she probably would go look around for her. She really didn't trust Catriona alone as much as she didn't trust herself alone. Climbing down from Remy, she gave her lifelong companion a sweet cube of sugar from her pocket before rubbing his head and excusing herself, entering the nearby house without even knocking first. "Oi, what's going on now? Is everyone alive? Where is Cat and Licorice anyway?" Ciela said so as she sauntered in, with all the grace of a drunken thug. Being stuck unconscious atop of Remy for so long really did a number on her coordination. "...And actually, did we ever learn on what the hell's up with this town?"

Rin Hinanai-Pendragon The blue-haired girl paused as the guardian of the ending, the Avatar Resolution, spoke of what was necessary here. As doubt seeped on those present here, she thought that perhaps, she should volunteer herself, but as it, and later MachGaogamon, explained in depth on what was needed, on what sort of sacrifice was necessary here, she too, was filled with doubt. This existence of hers had been only around for such a short time. Her name, her identity, was a gift that she wanted to cherish for as long as her form could last. Although the idea of the ultimate sacrifice, perhaps, was something that Arthuria would approve of, right now Rin felt that, for the first time in her life, that she truly wanted to be selfish. Yet at the same time, she knew it was wrong. She looked at her companions. To Reimu, to Kazuya, and to Koishi, who looked like she was still unconscious. None of them looked sure on what they wanted to do here. To not move forward as a sacrifice would be the end for her too. As an existence entirely tied to the Origin War, resetting everything would mean that she would cease to exist. Thinking about it that way, right now there wasn't much option left for her. No one else would be willing to make the sacrifice. And for her, the path ahead would only lead to a death of identity, one way or another. She couldn't accept this outcome, but yet... at the same time... Rin was filled with doubt. She felt a maelstrom of emotions inside of her, unwilling to accept her end. But... someone had to do it. Her hand, feeling despair at the lack of choice she had at the very end of her journey, began to- "I... I will volunteer myself." Another voice spoke out before she could. Another person had raised her hand at MachGaogamon's prompt. "I... will use the Key of Origin." --- Koishi Komeiji Komeiji Koishi had been awake all along. And she had been listening. Deep within, Koishi knew that the tragedy of her world was unavoidable. It was not the distortions in the multiverse that caused all of the mess to happen to her world. It was not Isamy, who led to the end of the world she loved, of the family she had made. Standing at the very end of existence, after tapping into the collective unconsciousness of her world through the fight against IZANAMI, Koishi knew. And Koishi knew that she had made a lot of mistakes along the way. The moment she carried the entire memory of her world with her, she had thought of what she wanted to do once she returned. Using her true form, she thought that she could attach herself to the moon itself, and forcibly used all of the world's memory within her to overwrite the Moon Descent Plan, and return everything to normal, at her own expense. It was only her that could do that, and it was only her that would be willing to do such a thing. Because in the end, Koishi loved the world. And throughout this journey, she understood something. Pain and suffering, in the end, was part of life too. It was unavoidable, but happiness meant something because pain and suffering existed, and people could only move forward because of it. The Moon Descent Plan... Isamy... the world they created would be far, far different than the one she loved. And so, for the first time, as the embodiment of the moon itself, as the collective memory of a world, and... as a young girl that loves everyone and everything, Koishi made her decision. She raised up her hand as a volunteer. "I... I'll take it. I'll take everything into me." Koishi spoke, her tone that first was unsure, began to be more firm as she went. "I will become the memory of the entirety of existence, if that was what it takes to resolve this. To give Yukari the happy ending she deserves, to have all of you move forward... I'll sacrifice myself." Koishi paused to take a breath. It wasn't even necessary on her end, as a parasite puppeteering a host body. Perhaps the memory of those within her had already made her forgot what sort of existence she was for a second. "Koishi, you can't-!" Reimu raised her voice, looking at her in disbelief. She was not the Reimu she knew, and she too, would understand that she was not the Koishi she knew. At the same time, her time so far... ah. It felt nice, to have someone worry about her, after so long. But she already made her decision. She wanted this Reimu to see a future beyond what her Reimu ended up dying for. "Are you really sure about this?!" Kazuya followed. Koishi didn't have to read his mind to know that, for a moment, he was almost going to be the one to volunteer despite his doubts. But... Koishi read through his memory already too. He still had friends to return to. He still had a future for himself. He too, deserved to move forward. And then, Koishi's eyes went towards the blue-haired girl. Rin, the name that had been bestowed upon her. She could see within her, that despite all the doubts she had, her heart loudly said: "You don't have to do this! I'll... take your place instead!" Yet, Rin couldn't bring herself to say that. The girl had truly understood selfishness after a long while. Koishi couldn't blame her. After all, her decision here was a selfish one too. "I will remain on this choice." Koishi said with a smile. Her Third Eye, split in the middle between pink and blue, a sign of her union with her beloved sister, floated in front of her body. It would become a very long and lonely eternity. But perhaps, this way, she could finally, truly connect with everyone.

Rin patiently awaited the rest of her group to wake up, still cherishing the gift that had just been given to her. That all three managed to survive the final barrage of IZANAMI without a single scratch was a miracle, though, seeing the twitch of a hand, Rin realized the reason. "Thank you, Reimu. I see you're awake all along." "Haah, and I thought I can play dead while you enjoy your glory." Reimu snickered, before pushing herself to sit up from her position. "Well, always got a hunch you'd end up lasting the longest between us." "It's all thanks to you all, that I can even stand here now." Rin said. "It's our glory." "Whatever you say." Reimu said as she checked on the condition of Kazuya and Koishi. Rin, in the meantime, used her analysis to see their current state. She couldn't see any trace of Yukari anymore within Reimu, and Kazuya seemed to be nothing more than a normal human now, losing any trace of his heritage as a demon lord, nor his powers inherited through his COMP. And Koishi... Surprisingly, she was the one least changed by the battle's aftermath. "You sure looked happy, you know." Reimu said as she sat next to Rin. "Never saw you look that genuinely bright before." "Someone gave me a gift, earlier. It's kind of only between us, though, so that's all I will say here." Rin said, gesturing in a teasing manner at Reimu, who only sigh in response. As the two watched, Kazuya soon woke up, looking exhausted and confused. "Wake up, sleeping prince." Reimu knocked Kazuya's head with her gohei, somehow still unharmed. "What do you think you're doing? Giving up all your authority like that, are you trying to impress us or something?" "Uh... not really?" Kazuya frowned at Reimu's words. "I suppose that was at least a pretty good speech you had there." Reimu giggled. Rin only looked at the two in confusion, as she was too locked in her analysis to notice what happened. "You sure love making fun of me, aren't you?" Kazuya rose from where he was before sitting across Reimu, grumbling. "But nevermind. What's important is that we win." "Say, Rin. How did you even beat IZANAMI, anyway?" Reimu turned to Rin as she asked that, However, before Rin could really answer that, light would consume the platform that they were in, before they realized that they had been transported once more. It was a white space, and at the very center of it was, unmistakably, a giant Door-like structure. The Door of Origin. Before they had time to react to it, though, a loud voice blared. "Well, this sure is a festive greeting." Kazuya responded. "I suppose all we can do is to relax now, and see what will happen. The key aren't with us, after all." And so, the three warriors began chatting more and more, as if they had been fire-forged friends for years despite having only meeting each other in this journey of a single day.

SUBJECTS OF NINANAI vs SLOTH IZANAMI Origin Cosmos [The Final Battle] "CHILDREN OF ORIGIN... FOOLS WHO LIVE ONLY IN DREAMS… IZANAMI, THE EMBODIMENT OF SLOTH, SHALL DELIVER YOUR SWEET DEATH!" The six fragmented platforms had all broken off, hurtling deeper and deeper into the Origin Cosmos as they abandoned the main platform, itself enclosed by a forcefield of distortions. There, IZANAMI stood opposed to the multiple Subjects of Ninanai, where the nameless girl, Reimu, Kazuya, and Koishi were all that remained on the main platform. Despite being separated from the others and despite all the odds against them, this was the last enemy stopping them from their epilogue. Even if it meant putting their lives on the line… It was time to fight one last time. A mile past IZANAMI’s position, the faint white outline of the Door of Origin could be made. If by chance this IZANAMI was the original, the one with the Key of Origin, then there was a chance they could even end it all right here, right now. Although, such hopes were quickly extinguished. "VOID INCLUSION:" "YAKUMO YUKARI!" IZANAMI, without shame, invoked the name of the legendary Youkai of Boundaries. Its meaning was self-evident: The godlike power to manipulate boundaries was now within her possession. Beyond that, her hair coiled up inside a mob cap on her head, her body was enrobed in a trigram-decorated Taoist dress of purple and pale pink, and the scythe in her hands morphed into a pink parasol. Yukari, an entity so insanely dangerous that even without most of her powers, she singlehandedly ruined the plot of the Counter Guardians and fought head-to-head with Arturia Pendragon through sheer craftiness alone - her existence had now become one with the final boss. Her body briefly convulsed as it struggled to maintain this power, just as it had with the Renegade Joker, but she was ultimately able to suppress the incompatibility along with any potential influence from Yukari herself. The Herald of Chaos and Entropy observed her opponents, well aware of how extremely troublesome they could be. Not because of their power, but because of their unpredictability. Kazuya and the nameless girl were certainly worth attention, but in her mind, the most dangerous threat was Koishi. Koishi, who’d taken down Arturia and had the capacity to do so much more; if she could throw her off using Yukari’s Inclusion long enough to get rid of her, or even better, if she could use her as a Void Inclusion, this battle would be as good as over. The eldritch ‘youkai’ floated back, materializing a gap below her before her huge form proceeded to calmly sit down on it. A grin formed across the rainbow surface that was her face, as though daring them to make the first move. "HEY, HEY~ WANNA PLAY WITH IZANAMI~?" This was it, the final battle. Four heroes stood against her on the main platform, each examining this situation through their own personal perspectives. The nameless girl gazed at the threat before her. So many things had happened, and so many had been sacrificed. And just for this final battle, everyone had grown too. But, would it be enough? She was the one to now wield the memories and the dreams of Arturia Pendragon within herself. And within the golden blade that she held was her Origin made manifest - Nothingness. A being born in this Origin War, she had no place to call home, and no future to reclaim. This nothingness had become something that she weaponized to terrifying effect. Her very nature as an aberration in this conflict had allowed her to go so far, and now she faced the last opponent that stood between her and a chance for herself to exist as [someone]. That possibility terrified her, yet she, an empty existence, had to move forward, no matter what. Next to her was Kazuya, fully accepting his rightful heritage as Abel, the King of Bel itself, while refusing to give up his life as Kazuya too. An ethereal golden light permeated through his body, giving off an air of divinity to him. Yet, his form was still that of a human. Despite the turmoil within him, he had chosen to eventually take an active role to protect his world from both the forces of Law and Chaos. By doing so, he acknowledged that he would give up his identity as Kazuya as soon as this final enemy was defeated. But was that what he really wanted? Meanwhile, floating above them was Hakurei Reimu. The Shrine Maiden of Paradise was now in her most brilliant form - for once, she was showcasing a strong desire to fight. A strong desire to achieve something, so strong that it stabilized her very existence from disappearing due to her own powers. The other Yukari, the one coming from Reimu’s world, had chosen to give up her essence for the maiden. It was the least that she could do after causing so much of the mess that Reimu had to deal with now. Reimu, who had always possessed an affinity to control boundaries, now became a true successor of the ancient youkai. And the last one was Koishi Komeiji. The Moon Princess herself. Her eyes were that of blue and crimson, wielding both her own powers and of her older sister’s. Both of their hearts continued beating within her body. Her elaborate black dress signified her determination to finally act on her own volition. Koishi was always a girl that loved the world so much, but this was the first time that she made the decision to save it. The only survivor of her world, whose world lived on within herself, as memories, as recollections. She was an unlikely messiah, one who once spent most of her time locking herself deep within her own heart, but now, with those closest to her gone, she rose up to the challenge. Her heart-throbbing adventure had led her here, and with this newborn determination, she intend on finishing it. "I cannot do that anymore. I will not stay in my dream world and hide. That Koishi is no longer here." Koishi’s locked her gaze on IZANAMI, the entity that now had taken over the form of her dearest Yukari. "I… I will not hesitate anymore, even if you took Yukari’s form. She lives on in my heart, in my memories. My sister… Yukari… everyone, I will no longer disappoint them. Izanami… we will end your dream here." And with that, a war was declared. "Vague Recollection - Explosion Sign: Peta Flare!" Koishi manifested a card in front of her, moments before crushing it. The faint sight of a hell raven formed around her for a few seconds - followed by warning sirens as nuclear-powered blasts began to spread throughout the arena, all aimed at IZANAMI. The memories of Utsuho burned away from her mind, and Koishi could only reminiscence sadly before it fully disappeared. Ah, if only she spent more time with her sister's pets. She would've been able to... Nuclear explosion after nuclear explosion filled the air. The destructive power of the attack was unquestionable, but Koishi didn't worry about such attack giving her allies radiation poisoning. For something as familiar as this, she could selectively recreate the attack. IZANAMI watched on as the sky was filled with explosions, unmoving, seemingly unconcerned as she continued to twirl her umbrella with an amused smile. Koishi’s spirit was certainly commendable, but just how far would those words take her? As the blasts advanced towards IZANAMI, the giant leaned backwards－right before disappearing into the gap she’d been sitting on, letting the nuclear fire blaze across nothingness. At the exact same time, another gap had been waiting elsewhere in the sky. In sync with her disappearance, IZANAMI descended from this second gap, now directly above the combatants. Even though the Included individual’s existence had been so unstable, so limited, her own form as an Omnibound Immortal was more than enough to compensate. Anything and everything that held the old Yukari Yakumo back was something she would simply force her way through. "IS THAT SO…? HEHE. THEN LET IZANAMI TEST THAT CONVICTION!" ~ necrofantasia ~ As the previous two gaps dissipated, IZANAMI willed another pair of gaps to open up. One right in front of the travelling blast, and another right in front of her. It needn’t be described what happened next, as Koishi’s attack passed through one path and ended up being redirected in the other, now being fired downwards－straight at the one floating between her and the other warriors, Reimu! The shrine maiden, however, was prepared. "I’m not the sort that generally likes to appreciate any sort of Yukari, but that one was so much more of a better person than you, as much as she doesn’t look like it." Reimu began to chant under her breath. "I won’t let your lame use of her powers defile such a person any further." Eyes formed on the sphere orbiting Reimu as Reimu made a non-verbal spell declaration. Moments before the blasts would swallow her, a great barrier formed between herself and the attack, and from it, a giant gap opened itself. The gap swallowed the attack as if it was nothing, and its darkness left nothing behind afterwards. "LAME? HOW MEAN OF YOU." For a split second the Omnibound Immortal froze in shock, confused as to why gaps other than her own her had just appeared, as to how exactly Reimu seemed to have control over them, but there wasn’t enough time to question it. Because Reimu was not done. With a hand gesture, gaps begin to form all throughout IZANAMI’s form. Each part of its own body was seemingly segmented with various gaps of different sizes. It was like seeing lines being drawn on her body. And, just with a swipe from her hand, all those gaps collapsed into itself at once. As her own opening move, Reimu held nothing back. A technique that even Yukari herself rarely used - utilizing gaps as a method to sever two things from each other. The sharpest blade that could cut anything. Against anything else, this would easily be an instant-kill attack. Yet, faced with the fate of being torn to pieces, IZANAMI was able to think of one method to answer this sudden assault. Before her form could collapse, she brought forth her own gaps parallel to that of Reimu’s and immediately thrust them outwards. The result being that the multitude of gaps slammed into one another, being consumed by one another, and just like that, they’d cancelled one another out. It was almost as though these pockets in space had just cannibalized one another. As it ended, her form remained no worse for wear compared to how she started. And the attack had given her ample opportunity to fire back at her opponents. "FANTASY NEST: FLYING GLOW WORMS' NEST!" IZANAMI thrust out her free hand and pulled out a spell card from the void. Almost immediately afterwards, just like what happened to her earlier, a vast quantity of gaps materialized all around Reimu. At first it seemed like danmaku would be fired outwards, but instead, it was followed quite promptly afterwards with what appeared to be heavy gummy worms, cannoned at the girl from all directions. Suffice to say, Reimu was not amused. "That’s not how the spell- damn it!" But the absurdity of the attack’s form betrayed the danger they posed, and Reimu understood it, thanks to her Intuition. The proximity of the gaps meant that she wouldn’t be able to use her own gaps to dodge them. With the projectiles being only mere inches from where she was, Reimu activated her Fantasy Nature at the last moment, turning intangible as she slipped past the gaps. However, she couldn’t maintain it for long enough. Right as the technique ended, the gaps turned around to fire the worms at her at a speed that caught Reimu off-guard. The premature ending of Fantasy Nature and the speed at which the gaps turned made it impossible for her to fully dodge the attack, however… "Luminosite Eternelle!" A barrier of light formed as the image of a flag-bearing saint appeared for a moment. Reimu was at first confused, but she soon noticed that Kazuya was floating not far from her, his form clearly showing that he was the one to summon the saint. "Go! The others are relying on you, Miss Reimu!" Reimu nodded. And with that, with the bright light of the saint distracted IZANAMI temporarily, she disappeared into a gap of her own. But this action only made Kazuya the prime target of IZANAMI’s spell card. As the Saint’s barrier disappeared, all the gaps were now aimed at him, and the onslaught of projectiles soon commenced. Kazuya saw it, and focused his mind. Divine light formed on his palms as energy gathered there, and without even declaring the name of the attack, with a gesture of crushing the light, lasers scattered from his palms, striking the projectiles one by one before he would move to dodge the rest. However, not even that was enough. Some of the worms struck him, and much to his surprise, they would begin eating through his skin at an alarming pace. Even grazing one caused a large gash to form on his body. He fired another one of his own barrage and used Salvation to heal himself. These worms reminded him of Beelzebub’s flies. He entertained the thought of using that himself, but quashed the thought aside. Instead, as IZANAMI’s barrage intensified, Kazuya invoked Beldr into himself, turning his skin temporarily impenetrable so that he tanked through the entirety of IZANAMI’s attack. "Is that all you got, Izanami? Is that all your dream amounts to?" And Kazuya served as the perfect distraction. Right as IZANAMI was taken hold by Kazuya’s taunting, Reimu chose it at the moment to strike, appearing from a gap right in front of her. Not giving her any chance to react, she delivered a strong kick at the giant. At first, the false Gap Youkai seemed to be ready for this, giggling in a distorted voice, responding quickly as she started to materialize a gap in the exact spot Reimu was about to hit. However... "EH－－?!" The gap didn’t actually materialize. Rather, it was as if her body had frozen in place the very instant she attempted it, had been held in place by some internal force for just the briefest second. IZANAMI didn’t understand how or why it occurred, or where it came from, or whose will it was. There was only one explanation that she knew of, but such a thing couldn’t possibly happen in a Void Inclusion, could it?! Regardless, it was far too late. That window was all it took. Just like that, the shrine maiden’s assault planted itself onto the Omnibound Immortal, forcing her back slightly, and that wasn’t about to be the end of it. "Hi-yah!" The moment that Reimu’s kick struck true, the real extent of her plan materialized itself. Reimu’s body immediately dissolved into a storm of talisman, surrounding and binding IZANAMI with a force capable of even restraining deities. "WHAWHAWAITWHAT?!" IZANAMI writhed in place, her playful facade dropping to a burst of frustration as she poured as much of her herculean strength as possible to try to break free from the talismans. As far as she was concerned, gaps couldn’t help here. The sheer level of force keeping her together was both sudden and unexpected, and even if eventually she should be able to break through the paralysis by sheer strength alone, right now the mighty Omnibound Immortal was truly struggling. Her gaze locked with that of her combatants, and although that smile stayed on her face, her eyes were burning with a hint of hatred. "It’s my turn now!" Utilizing the opening that Reimu had given her, just as the talisman erupted, the nameless girl already rushed towards IZANAMI. And at this exact moment, a gap formed right behind her. The heat of Koishi’s nuclear blast was released at full force, propelling the girl forward like a rocket. However, that was not all. The golden sword on her hand was shining more and more brightly as she moved closer and closer. It took all the excess energy from this impromptu rocket into itself, gradually turning itself into a mass of pure energy. "Divine sword, blaze on! EXCALIBUR OVERLOAD!" Rather than a blast of condensed light that the holy sword was known for, the attack was instead done through a simple slash. It was a technique taken from the memories of the King of Knights, the signature attack of a certain knight of the lake. The moment the slash would connect, all of that energy that the sword stored, all the momentum from the nameless girl’s charge, all would be poured in directly into the internal systems of IZANAMI, obliterating her from within. "HOW DARE YOU NO NO NO NO－" And it connected. The very moment IZANAMI managed to tear herself out from the talismans, it was too late. She was unable to move fast enough to counteract the assault, nor she was reactive enough to summon a gap to deal with it. It was too sudden. Propelled by this insane energy, the nameless girl successfully reached the fifty-foot giant and slashed out with her imitation holy sword. The assault tore into the Omnibound Immortal’s essence, landing a critical, potentially even lethal blow directly across her form. Although it hadn’t sliced her apart, the innards of her body were revealed as a strange, glowing spatial matter. The entity’s cry was cut short and, for a moment, whilst suspended in the sky, their enemy fell silent. IZANAMI fell still. ... ... A sense of unease spread among the warriors. "It’s… there’s no way it’s already over, right?" The nameless girl stepped backwards from IZANAMI after making her cut, creating a safe distance. Reimu materialized not too far away from her while Koishi remained to watch what was left of IZANAMI vigilantly. Kazuya, in the meantime, seemed to be busy chanting something. No one said anything. They knew the answer to that question, naturally, but no one wanted to be the one to say it out loud. There was an invisible tension between the four of them, at least until Kazuya finally spoke. "Of course not. She said it herself - this was simply one Void Inclusion she used." Without breaking his focus, Kazuya answered. From his palm, light began to gather both around him and around the residue of light from the nameless girl’s earlier attack. "While I'm glad we can deal with Yukari's Inclusion this fast, I believe it to be more important that we finish her off before she would take an even more problematic Inclusion." "Well if that is what you want to-" Before Reimu could finish, the light Kazuya summoned became brighter and brighter as he finished his chanting and feathers began to fall onto IZANAMI’s remaining form. "Megidoladyne!" The light from him reached a critical mass, and the almighty attack consumed where the 50-foot giant used to be. The light from the attack, even if it was its first use, was so brilliant, that the others had to shield their eyes from it to not get blinded. With the force from the attack, IZANAMI’s form wasn’t even noticeable anymore, as the giant was thoroughly consumed by the almighty light. As the light faded away, it was clear that the Giant’s form had been reduced to nothing but dust. For a moment, although they had their doubts, it almost looked as though they’d managed to safely obliterate their enemy. ... However, such thoughts would merely be a sign of naivety. "HEH" Needless to say, it simply wasn’t over yet. In fact, it may be far from over. From the barrier at the top of the Origin Cosmos’s platform, yet another gap materialized, and the false Gap Youkai reemerged upside-down, still gripping onto her umbrella. Her previous panic was gone, and now, she was gazing down at the various combatants with a look of glee. Visibly, the Yukari dress was still torn, and the wound that Nanashi had inflicted was still there; it simply hadn’t killed her. Or rather, did it even manage to wound her at all? As if time was rewound, that wound too disappeared, and the dress fixed itself. It was as if IZANAMI had been reborn anew. "HEH HEH HEH. IZANAMI MUST APOLOGISE. SHE DID NOT REALIZE THE EXTENT OF YUKARI’S REACH UNTIL JUST NOW…" Her distorted voice echoed across the platform, as she gradually made her descent, preparing to enter into a second bout of combat with her opponents. "SO IT IS TRUE－EVERYTHING DOES HAVE A BOUNDARY THAT SHE COULD GRASP. EVEN... DEATH." The moment the holy blade had connected with her and tore into her life, she’d tasted that exact feeling - that exact moment of death. It didn’t just brutally tear into her, it practically killed the Yukari Yakumo within her. Or at least it should’ve. Unfortunately, everything had a boundary. As a matter of fact, that includes the boundary between existence and nonexistence. Between reality and the void. Between Life and Death. "IZANAMI HAD TO SPEND ONE VOID INCLUSION TO LEARN THIS, BUT NO MATTER. THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL DISCOVERY! TRULY BEAUTIFUL! TRULY, TRULY!" Could her opponents decipher her words? To IZANAMI, it didn’t matter. She was simply overcome with delight at the discovery, at the slothful potential this meant. The moment Yukari’s existence was supposed to fall back into the void, to become unusable, she’d simply manipulate the boundary such that it would re-enter herself again, granting the Yukari inclusion a second life at the cost of filling in her second Void Inclusion slot. In other words... "Spend…?" Kazuya watched the reborn IZANAMI with a questioning look. But IZANAMI did not need to answer. Just looking at her was enough. Kazuya felt a chill on his spine as he gradually realized what IZANAMI meant, and how did she even manage to survive the nameless girl’s attack earlier. And from the look of it, his comrades all shared that same realization. "OH BOY! LET IZANAMI SHARE HER DISCOVERY…" The Omnibound Immortal outstretched her arms. "THANKS TO YUKARI, IT DOESN’T MATTER IF IZANAMI DIES! IZANAMI CAN SIMPLY REUSE YUKARI AS A VOID INCLUSION! YOU MUST… THAT’S RIGHT! KILL IZANAMI TWO MORE TIMES! UNTIL THEN, SHE IS IMMORTAL! AHAHAHAHAH~" IZANAMI gloated, and gloating was what she truly did. Her laughter echoed through the expanse of her arena, her pride at the heroes’ inability to slay her as clear as her confidence to crush them with little effort. But, one of her adversaries had already stood behind her. "You… please, don’t talk anymore. A… monster like you don’t deserve to say her name." Right before Koishi, another card materialized and shattered. The shape of a woman in a blue kimono materialized behind her. Butterflies began to manifest around her, and with a swing from her fan, the symbol of a black butterfly manifested on IZANAMI’s chest. "I don’t want to do this, I really don’t. I understand what you feel but… I can’t let you use Yukari’s body any further.’ So please, die for me." It was not an offer that could be refused. With Koishi’s words, the power that the Netherworld’s Mistress had over Death manifested. A giant ornate fan manifested behind Koishi as her right hand outstretched. "Saigyouji Parinirvana." The power over death manifested in the form of a singular butterfly. Without any fancy tricks, without any excessive show of light, the singular butterfly flew towards IZANAMI. "COME NOW, ABSOLUTE DEATH? THAT’S NO FUN!" Something within IZANAMI’s chest seemed to stir at the sight of that female in the blue kimono, of Yuyuko the departed spirit princess. However, more importantly, a state of utter death was about to be inflicted upon her. The butterfly’s arrival was absolute. No matter the attack, no matter how much power was used to stop it, the butterfly would continue its advance, and that would spell an absolute end. Not wanting to use up another one of her Void Inclusions quite so soon, the only way to deal with it was to employ a non-straightforward answer. IZANAMI instead reached out to the very boundary of the imposed Death, right as the butterfly made contact with her. She detached it from herself as quickly as possible before it could take her life, severing the connection. It was not a physical separation, but a conceptual one. While the others would see it as a gap being ejected out of her chest, Koishi was able to understand that Izanami had isolated the concept of absolute death away from her, right as Yuyuko’s memories were burned away from her mind. "KOISHI, YOU SHOULD RESPECT THE MEMORIES OF THE DEAD MORE~ HAHA!" Despite her display of confidence, it hadn’t exactly been easy to counter Yuyuko’s manipulation of death; the very act drained quite a bit even from her near-infinite pool of mana, taking its toll on IZANAMI’s stability. Yukari wasn’t the most stable of Void Inclusions either. Even if she was the most appropriate enemy for everyone here - IZANAMI certainly had to watch out for the other three, but out of all the warriors currently facing her, Koishi Komeiji might be the most dangerous wildcard here with how far she’d be able to force more of Yukari’s abilities. "NOW! WHY SHRINE MAIDEN, DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH GAPS FOR THIS?" IZANAMI took out another spellcard, eyeing the warriors on the ground with a faint trace of excitement in her eyes. As she did so, her appearance seemed to morph, becoming more and more humanlike, until- "YUKARI’S ARCANUM: DANMAKU BOUNDED FIELD!" At her declaration, a multitude of explosive magical bullets came into existence - although ‘multitude’ was certainly an understatement. Perhaps it may be more accurate to say that an uncountable number of such blasts started filling up the entirety of the Origin Cosmos platform’s air, surrounding the warriors all within the barrier. With every bullet under her control, they all advanced, playfully but constantly closing in on the ground’s center before moving out－cutting off all escape, zooming back and forth in an effort to blast their targets. It was something even those familiar with danmaku Yukari’s tactics would struggle with, so was there even room for anything other than certain death for the one who wasn’t? After all, this IZANAMI was the embodiment of Sloth. The laziest way to attain victory was the best. The logic was simple: If IZANAMI’s opponents had ways to counter her, be it Koishi with her unpredictable power simulations or Reimu with her own familiarity of gap manipulation, then she would simply try overwhelming them with pure, pure numbers and see if that worked. Thus, the battlefield degenerated into pure chaos. Not even Reimu, who lived her entire life as someone who had in depth experience in dodging projectiles, could safely move around within this bounded field. She attempted to reach its edges to dismantle the spell, but the movement of each bullet, which seemingly had a mind on their own, made it impossible for her to do so. "Fantasy Nature!" She declared as she floated away from reality once more, only to find a slightly better position for herself. This time, she couldn’t even maintain the state for more than a few seconds. And so, pulling out amulets from her gaps, she instead made a barrier of her own to push back the barrage, giving her time to think and analyze the bounded field Izanami trapped them in. Meanwhile, Kazuya so far survived utilizing shields made out of Jezebel’s roses to protect himself while also shooting down anything too big for him to handle, but he realized that he couldn’t last forever this way. He attempted to find IZANAMI and utilize his heavenly bindings on her, but he could barely even move without risking being blown apart by IZANAMI’s high-powered and super dense bullets. Once more, he summoned Jeanne, but the speed of the bullets prevented her from even being able to activate her Noble Phantasm. Not even Nanashi’s speed was able to safely dodge the projectiles, and she was the one worst off amidst this attack. She attempted to use her body to absorb the bullets, but there were way too many going at her at the same time. Parts of her body had been blown apart again and again, and even if she was able to restore herself, her energy reserves were at risk of running thin. And in the midst of all this was Koishi. Barriers of roses formed as fast as they were dismantled by the barrage. They would not last forever against the intensity of Izanami’s attack. However, that was fine by Koishi. She just needed a little bit of time. Time. Time. Time... One name crossed Koishi's mind as she thought so, and another card manifested right before her. "Oh time, please stop! The World!" As the card shattered, the world came into a halt. IZANAMI, the other three, and the bullets attacking them, all were frozen in place. Koishi weaved through them with ease, as if she was swimming in the sea of bullets. Sakuya’s power had given her the time to figure out what to do next. Soon, her power and memories would be burned away from Koishi’s mind. And she couldn’t stay in this stopped time forever. But, using this power had given her the opportunity to dig once more into her pool of memories, and she pulled out another card. The silhouette of Flandre Scarlet revealed itself behind her. Ah, Flandre. Bits of memories entered Koishi’s mind as her form manifested. Vague memories of the time the two fought, and the horrible things Koishi did to her passed her mind. The two of them were very similar, but… Flandre couldn’t really find love from her sister. She didn’t have someone who doted on her like how Satori doted on Koishi. It was such a shame, so so much of a shame, and Flandre had to die and lose herself, thinking that her sister absolutely hated her. Once this was all over, would she have a chance to apologize for attacking her? Koishi thought before the final trace of her memories of Flandre disappeared from her mind. A sphere formed on the Flandre’s projection’s palm. The core of the Bounded Field had been identified. As Flandre crushed the sphere on her arm, Koishi could feel that reality around her cracked. And so, time resumed to normal. With it, cracks formed on the emptiness of the Cosmos. As Flandre’s form disappeared, IZANAMI’s Bounded Field shattered, ending the spell card prematurely, and with that, the endless sea of bullets vanished into nothingness. Outside of the Bounded Field, IZANAMI’s form was as clear as day, watching over them judgingly. Koishi had saved them from IZANAMI’s deadly spell, but the strain of using such powerful memories one after the other was still too much for this body of hers. Without Satori stabilizing herself, Koishi was sure she would have her mind crash from the strain. Exhausted as she was, however, she still shot IZANAMI a defiant glare. "I’m not just...going to let you do whatever you like…" "HM." The Omnibound Immortal’s eyes were trained directly upon the tired Koishi, having been following her for the whole ‘duration’. Even if she hadn’t been able to move, the continuity granted by Time Sense allowed her to see exactly what that girl just managed to accomplish. This was more than a little inconceivable - between all the evidence she’d been provided thus far, did that girl seriously embody the powers of all these beings from Gensokyo? To what heights had that girl reached? Around her, gaps started to materialize once more. Or rather, they weren’t just around her - they were materializing all around the platform of the Origin Cosmos, growing more and more numerous. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem as though she was about to give the warriors a break anytime soon, especially not the girl who’d just saved them all. "WELL. WELL, WELL, WELL. NOW IZANAMI REALLY WANTS YOU DEAD. AND WHEN YOU DIE, HORRIBLY AND PAINFULLY－IZANAMI WILL USE YOUR EXISTENCE TO HAVE EVEN MORE FUN!!!" The countless number of the gaps warped, positioning themselves so that they were aiming straight at Koishi. "HEHE…" And this time… "HEHEHE…" ...what emerged from the gaps WASN’T any kind of energy attack. "EHEHEHEHEHEHHEH!!!" Rather, what emerged were things which were once thought lost. Things entirely inconceivable. The objects emerging from the gaps appeared to be entirely random at first. Unknown swords imbued with legendary auras, strangely-shaped relics and antiques from unfamiliar cultures, bizarre mechanical devices, even severed body parts here and there which contained magical energy - all of which were artifacts which had, once upon a time, served a greater purpose to their home universe. Indeed. They were the STOLEN ARTIFACTS FROM THE MULTIVERSE. "DON’T BE SO SURPRISED! AFTER ALL… THE VAULT WAS ISABELLA’S VERY OWN REALITY MARBLE, YOU KNOW?" Perhaps they shouldn’t have been surprised. Perhaps it was only natural that she would have access to them, especially while she had access to Yukari’s powers. But regardless, it was an undeniable truth they would have no choice but to fight, on TOP of everything they already knew about the Omnibound. "SO－" The drain was instant, and the pain was instant, with IZANAMI’s body visibly twitching as the legendary artifacts were summoned into this reality. Naturally, this act was a double-edged sword. Every object she brought out of ‘Isamy’s Vault’ and into existence required spending an equivalent amount of mana to do so, and in addition, one of the worst case scenarios was someone else somehow making it into the vault. However, neither of those mattered right now. What mattered was the idea, and the FACT, and the DELIGHT, that she was about to inflict SOUL-CRUSHING SUFFERING upon all those who DARED OPPOSE HER! "ABANDONED VAULT: AIMLESS JOURNEY TO THE ABANDONED CROSSOVER!!!" Precious artifacts, godlike artifacts, technological artifacts, legendary artifacts, abstract artifacts. Just like that… they all fired. ~ more necrofantasia ~ It wasn’t like IZANAMI remembered what any of them were actually capable of individually. Far too much time had passed for her to remember such miniscule details - all she was concerned about was using them as projectiles. As long as they were within IZANAMI’s power to materialize, they materialized, and they actually fired. That is, all homing in on none other than the position of the youkai satori, Koishi Komeiji. But a barrier formed between her and the attack. It was a powerful barrier, yet it was still not enough to stop an attack of such a varied and abstract nature. The artifacts came racing towards it at blinding speeds, smashing into it without remorse, without reason, without any memory of what they once stood for?－while there were some worthless items like flashdrives and straw hats which burst on impact, other objects appeared to contain enough insane power to brutally damage, if not outright shatter the barrier on their own. However, the barrier rose, again and again. Koishi thought at first that it was Reimu that had saved her, but it would soon dawn on her that instead, it was Kazuya. As he carried the power and divinity of the King of Bel, he was the least exhausted of the four warriors, and even if he had little opportunity to utilize a stronger barrier utilizing his summons, more and more barriers continued to be created around Koishi. But yet that alone was not enough. No matter how powerful his barriers were, the projectiles, the artifacts collected throughout the multiverse were too varied for any one barrier to stop in its lonesome. "I can’t let you fall here. We’ll see through all this until the very end." If being on the defensive was not enough, then… "Megidolaon!" Bursts of almighty light crashed through the treasures, taking many out. More and more, Kazuya continued to fire Megidolaon after Megidolaon, thinning the rain of artifacts even if IZANAMI would continuously replace them with more and more from the vault. "Scarlet Sky Rapture!" Just as Kazuya missed some of the artifacts, Nanashi was able to clear a path through the rain with her beam of scarlet. With the exhausted Koishi huddled near her, Nanashi would stand back to back with Kazuya, looking at the relentless assault that soon would hit them. "So, do you have any plans?" Kazuya asked as he would form more barriers protecting the three of them, as the nameless girl would take over handling the offensive now. "Naturally. Go use Gae Bolg to throw me right onto her face." The nameless girl answered nonchalantly, provoking a bewildered reaction from Kazuya. "What? No! What will that even accomplish?" Kazuya found it difficult to keep his composure. The two of them saw a giant sphere of pure magic falling towards them like a meteor, and without saying anything, a combination of scarlet and golden light tore through the sphere, causing a large explosion above them that Kazuya shielded them from. "Trust me, it’ll work." Again, the nameless girl tried to convince Kazuya, while her tone didn’t show whether she actually thought about her plan properly or not. "I mean, didn’t you try the same with Reimu back then?" "That time was different! It also doesn’t work as well as we hoped." "But see, I’m not Reimu. I’m made to be thrown around!" "...You’re seriously not making any sense." Ancient letters formed in front of Kazuya as he shook his head. He decided to do his own thing instead. As the incantation was complete, Ishtar once more came forth from the aether, settling on his side. She gave an exasperated look seeing Kazuya and the nameless girl, she couldn’t express her own snide take on his situation as she noticed the barrage around them. She knew what to do in this situation, and so, once more she prepared her Noble Phantasm. "Needing my help once more eh, Abel?" She laughed with the pride befitting of a divinity like her. She haughtily gestured in front of Kazuya and the nameless girl as she turned to face IZANAMI, sneering at the Omni. "Well then… since you're hopeless without me, then I'll oblige. I'll show you a spectacle no one else can provide. Gate Open!" A great gate to space made of light manifested above her. From it, the gigantic form of Venus, or more accurately, an image of it gradually descended, its size alone blocking some of the fired artifacts. Even as an image, however, the gravity was overwhelming, yet with full confidence, Ishtar turned all that image to a small sphere carrying its essence, of which she loaded into her Maana as an arrow. Kazuya could only look in wonder. Was his connection to Babylon and their proximity to Origin had allowed Ishtar to finally fire off the true extent of this attack? "Watch and be amazed, mortals! From the Great Heavens to the world below, this is my full throttle attack! An Gal Ta Kigal She, Full Burst! " Radiating power that exceeded what to be expected of even an ancient goddess, Ishtar fired her arrow at the barrage. Yet, rather than a singular, overpowering blast that could destroy mountains, Ishtar’s attack split apart into an uncountable amount of beams of light instead, blasting through the many different artifacts one by one. All these artifacts, so important in their original worlds, were systematically destroyed by Ishtar’s display of her full power. And yet, more and more were still coming Racing at one another, the lasers and the artifacts connected with one another, practically smashing into one another－some of the beams of light found themselves overwhelmed, only weakening the artifacts’ approach before they smashed right back into Kazuya’s barrier. Others managed to overpower the weaker-launched artifacts, tearing through them with great bursts and firing onwards, only to be cancelled out by the next flurry of artifacts. It was pure chaos, just as it was a display of ultimate power. Even though there were artifacts which were clearly not designed to be launched, the sheer number of them meant there were bound to be those which were capable of matching the arrows. In any other world, a single one of these objects could very well serve as the entire beacon to a long story plot… but here they were being thrown about like utter trash. Then, as one of Ishtar’s blasts managed to break through the constant assault of IZANAMI, to the point that it was rapidly approaching her person, her eyes widened for a moment. She needed to cancel it out straightaway. The next artifact had to be something which undoubtedly had that level of power. But what? Instinctively, IZANAMI opened a giant gap and launched one of the few things she was indeed familiar with, and a supermassive heart was suddenly fired outwards- Indeed－right before Ishtar’s arrow could meet her person, the Omnibound, quite literally, thrust a goddamned Kingdom Hearts into it. Kingdom Hearts, an object which individuals had dedicated whole lifetimes to obtaining, had just been launched like some sort of plaything. The mountain-shattering arrow tore into the Kingdom Hearts, and in turn was ripped asunder by the spirit’s sheer power, causing a cascade of endless, living hearts to explode out and scatter everywhere - and without a container, all those thousands of hearts faded into the oblivion surrounding them. Unknown lives came to an end without even being aware of it. "EHEHEHEHEH! HOW MUCH LONGER DO YOU THINK YOU CAN KEEP THIS UP?!" After witnessing that ridiculous spectacle, the unbroken IZANAMI chose to declare such an arrogant taunt. Internally to the boss, bringing that out drained her much more than expected, but it was worth it if it assured her safety. Naturally, after such a display of power, Ishtar would disapper once more, however, what shocked Kazuya was how exhausted he himself had become as soon as Ishtar fully dematerialized. It seemed that the overwhelming power Ishtar fired off earlier was only possible due to her taking it directly from his reserves. He was still able to keep the barrier up due to his own regeneration, but his breathing had become heavier. "Kazuya! Don’t lose focus yet!" A clone formed next to Nanashi, which soon fired her signature scarlet beam towards the onslaught of artifacts. The beam swept through IZANAMI’s attack, but it only managed to delete some of the weaker artifacts thrown by her. A large sphere with a constantly shifting surface in particular failed to even budge from the attack, and the distortion of magic around it only made it more worrisome. Both Kazuya and Nanashi opted to just dodge that one, wary of its nature. Such remnants of different stories were thrown around, with nobody on the battlefield having the chance of knowing, of understanding the vast memories each of them carried. To them those were just obstacles, dangerous junk to eliminate, to avoid. At the end of narrative among narratives, both to IZANAMI and to the warriors fighting her, none of these artifacts meant anything. It was a tragedy of tragedies, and everyone present were none the wiser about it. Amidst this chaos, Koishi continued to watch. Pieces of memories came to her mind as each items shot from IZANAMi came and went. Yet, she could barely even comprehend the memories of each world that those items carried. Carrying the burden of an entire world’s memory was hard enough for Koishi, understanding those other worlds' would be an impossibility. But, amidst all these memories, one important memory, one important mind was missing. "Where’s… Reimu?" She weakly asked. "She’s… I couldn’t sense her anymore." Hearing that, Kazuya and the nameless girl turned around to face her, as confused as she was. Both just realized that Reimu had been missing all this time. At first, they feared for the worst, but then... "eHEHHheeheH…... EH?!" Their attention was taken by the incomprehensible noise that IZANAMI made. The three of them looked above, and much to their amazement, somehow, all of the projectiles’ trajectory were now reversed by something. It was as if something rewound them, and now, all of them were coming directly straight at IZANAMI’s direction. "Sorry for taking so long." As that happened, Reimu appeared not too far away from them. On her hand, she carried an ornate scepter adorned with blue lights and an intricate design. It was nothing like what Koishi had ever seen before. "Trying to find anything I could actually use amidst that sea of junk was a pain, but this one seemed to work nicely." "W- WHERE DID YOU COME FROM? AND HOW DID YOU GET SUCH A WEAPON?!" "Ha, why don't you figure it out yourself?!" Reimu, even through her exhaustion, laughed at IZANAMI’s misery. "It's not my fault that you’re so blind to everything!" The truth was, right as IZANAMI activated her spell card, Reimu used her gap to travel directly to the Reality Marble that was the Vault. Without such a pre-existing connection, it would be impossible for Reimu to go there. And thus, as the other three were on the defensive, Reimu thought of finding something that could help them win the fight. With a victorious expression, Reimu went towards Koishi and carried her on her back. Ironically enough, there wasn’t enough time for the Omnibound Immortal to figure out how something so insane could’ve transpired. When the artifacts suddenly reversed back on IZANAMI, the nearest several immediately blasted her Yukari-shaped body. To escape the rest, she promptly ceased her assault, thrust herself into a gap, and reappeared elsewhere on the battlefield, watching as dozens and dozens of reversed artifacts fired into the barrier surrounding them. Indeed, IZANAMI did not look too good after that sudden reversal. Blood dripped from multiple wounds on her body, an adorned sword was lodged into her left shoulder, and her right leg appeared to have gone missing. And yet, despite all this insane damage, the false Border Youkai still clung onto life. "IZANAMI IS… IZANAMI IS PISSED! THAT’S CHEATING! CHEATING CHEATING CHEATING! HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!" Rather than decipher what had just happened, IZANAMI chose instead to give into sloth and throw a tantrum. Her eyes locked onto Reimu, who seemed to be holding some sort of scepter. It seemed, well, somewhat familiar? But then again, she’d seen so many scepters in her life that it could have come from just about anywhere. "FINE THEN! LET’S SEE YOU REVERSE THIS, WARRIORS!!!" Once again, the Omnibound Immortal opened up countless gaps. Only this time they proceeded to manifest in circles all around the warriors, building up more and more until a dome of gaps had formed, at which point she clicked her fingers, letting even more artifacts fire out. Just how many had she even collected prior to the Origin War? Was there ever going to be an end to these artifacts? A swipe from the scepter forced a good amount of the artifacts back to where they came, but the firing rate and the proximity between the portals and the warriors were too much. Reimu then attempted to gap everyone out of the firing zone, but the moment they emerged, IZANAMI’s own gaps had formed around them already, ready to fire the next volley. "Come on, is that all you can do?" Reimu irritatedly looked at the scepter. This was supposedly an artifact powerful enough to define a world, so there must be more that it could do. Or at least, that was what Reimu thought. She ultimately was not someone with the proper experience to use that artifact. "...Let me try something." Koishi weakly said from her back. The satori youkai would hold onto the scepter, and through utilizing any remaining memories from its past usage, Koishi fired off a blast that ended up slowing time around the group. Reimu looked at Koishi with amazement, but the youkai gestured for her and the others to move out instead while they had the chance. With that, Reimu and Koishi continued to use the scepter to help them avoid all of IZANAMI’s endless bombardment on them. Kazuya in the meantime, fired off various attacks towards the ones that the group couldn’t easily avoid. It seemed that while they couldn’t find a way to attack IZANAMI right now, they would be able to stand on their ground. Yet, the nameless girl noticed that the scepter was breaking apart, bit by bit as Koishi swung it around. Perhaps it was due to a lack of maintenance? Whatever the truth was, Nanashi knew that she needed to find a way to end this fast. But how? Nanashi looked at the various holes IZANAMI made around them. While the stream of artifacts coming from them were nearly endless, there perhaps was... Getting an idea, she tapped Reimu on her shoulders and told her of what she would do. Reimu was less amused hearing it, but ultimately agreed to help her. And so, as iZANAMI’s barrage only intensified in nature, unknown to her, the nameless girl had disappeared from the group. ... Then, out of nowhere, Nanashi appeared right behind IZANAMI, lunging at her with her blade of Nothingness in hand, causing the final boss to briefly turn towards her in surprise. To think someone dared to engage her in direct combat! IZANAMI withdrew one of the weapons lodged into her own shoulder and used it to deflect the sword before it could reach her, relying on Isamy’s battle instincts and pure strength as she proceeded to push Nanashi back across the sky. However, Nanashi soon disappeared into a gap. "HEHE, IZANAMI SEES YOU’RE GETTING DESPERATE! YOU THINK YOU CAN LAND A HIT? JUST TRY IT!" With a grin, IZANAMI held that sword in one hand and her umbrella in the other. Even though she was still bleeding badly from the surprise reversal earlier, the entity faced Nanashi without retreating - for a brief minute, the assault on the other warriors seemed to lessen a bit, becoming somewhat more aimless as the controller’s mind was distracted by something else. Then, the nameless girl appeared from another gap, only for IZANAMI to parry her attack once more. She disappeared as fast as she emerged, and at first, IZANAMI found it odd, her guess going towards Reimu. However, she soon realized that how Nanashi managed to sneak at her was because she had utilized her gaps, just as she was firing. Once again, IZANAMI had been taken off guard by such a simple trick. But this time, she would not let them exploit it any further. "IF THIS IS THE GAME YOU WISH TO PLAY, THEN LET’S PLAY IT. IF YOU DARE TO FACE IZANAMI IN PERSON, THEN BE PREPARED... TO FACE THE CONSEQUENCES!" Suddenly, just as the nameless girl was about to fire out of yet another gap, what she was met with instead was the image of Omnibound Immortal IZANAMI charging directly towards her⸺and into that very gap! -The Vault- An expansive spatial space, stretching on as far as the eye can see with endless artifacts. That was the vault of Isamy Maximus, an area only a handful had held the privilege of seeing firsthand. Upon entering, a singular new gap materialized, and the Omni promptly grabbed the weapon that emerged from it. Among the uncountable treasures that had been gathered in the Vault, this was among one that even in her current state, IZANAMI was still perfectly aware of its nature. Then, it was in that space IZANAMI physically rushed towards Nanashi, appearing not to use any gaps for this close-combat scuffle as she maneuvered to slash right into the girl with all the force an Omnibound Immortal possessed. As sword clashed with sword, it was only then that the nameless girl recognized the sword in IZANAMI’s hands. How could she not? How could anyone not? After all, that was none other than the Sword of Promised Victory… Arturia’s very own ‘Excalibur’. ~ EMIYA Remix ~ In the skies of the Vault, IZANAMI proceeded to focus all of her efforts on demolishing this singular enemy. The Omni possessed none of the grace nor the skill that the king who wielded the weapon once upon a time would have showcased, however, the brutal force she swung around the holy weapon was more than enough to cover for it. There were no gaps for the nameless girl to escape into, and try as she might, she was unable to get anywhere close to the ground, unable to make use of even a single one of the Vault’s artifacts. On the other hand, sword after sword were broken by IZANAMI’s relentless assault, and the nameless girl was only able to keep up as she was able to recreate her own golden sword as soon as it was broken. However, even that had its own limit. IZANAMI saw the pattern to her movement, and she, befitting of Sloth, made the decision to carve through the nameless girl in the simplest, easiest way she could. Shifting her target and using the overwhelming force she was capable of, IZANAMI made a single, strong slash that cut off the nameless girl’s arms in one go. She gloated seeing that, and with the opening presented, went right towards her heart. "This is only a flesh wound!" Before the holy blade would pierce through her, however, the nameless girl managed to parry it using her own leg. No, on a closer look, she had turned her own leg into a golden blade. IZANAMI still managed to shatter the blade in one go, but then, another trick was revealed by the nameless girl. The shard of the blade that was once her feet suddenly shattered before forming chains that bound the holy blade in place. As that happened, the nameless girl took the time to regrow her limbs before focusing her mind on the sword. It was the sword of Artoria. With all the memories belonging to the King of Knights stored within her, she banked on her analysis ability to understand its nature and break it. Her hand reached for the sword as she dug for memories of its structure to understand it. "Holy Sword Excalibur, shatter!" She declared loudly, as scarlet light bathed the sword and IZANAMI. … … And yet, nothing happened. IZANAMI broke free from the chains easily, and went forward for another attack. The nameless girl hastily blocked it at the cost of her arm, all while looking at the sword in horror. It was far different from Caliburn, the Sword of Selection. This sword’s existence extended far beyond Artoria’s life and memories. Its structure was far too alien for her to analyze using the king’s memories. And so, she returned to square one. IZANAMI took delight in cutting off her limbs one by one, enjoying this little sword fight they had more and more after each swing of her blade. Meanwhile, with each torn off limb on the nameless girl’s end, another quickly replaced it, ready with another sword to block another of IZANAMI’s slashes. But this was a certain deadlock. Izanami would never tire from doing her frenzied onslaught, while the nameless girl would eventually tire out, as each regrown limb took a chunk of her reserves. Not even the reserves provided by Tenshi’s alternate selves would last long at this rate. She couldn't stay on the defensive forever. A chance of winning, however small, must be grasped by her own two hands. Using Reinforcement magic to strengthen her golden blades, she blocked IZANAMI’s next swing with both of her arms, and with the time it gave her, she aimed her leg forward, where another golden sword would form and be fired towards IZANAMI with the speed of a bullet. "LAZY! LAZY, LAZY, LAZY-" That, however, didn’t faze IZANAMI. Her eyes tracked Nanashi’s assault, lunging towards the opening in her attacks. Rather than bothering to respond physically, she opted to create a gap in the very space Nanashi was about to hit, and proceeded to- "H- HM?" However, much to the Omnibound Immortal’s surprise, no such gap manifested. Was there still some flaw in the Void Inclusion, or limitation, she was unaware of? Or perhaps, could it be- No, there was no time to think about that. Quickly changing course, the stubborn final boss unleashed a burst of radiating energy from her body, hoping to blast back the crude counterattack! The burst came rushing towards the nameless girl… and yet, it would not connect. Before she was taken by the blast, another gap materialized and pulled the nameless girl right out. Replacing her was a clone made of explosive amulets, which soon set the skies of the Vault ablaze. Reimu finally managed to locate her and pulled her away using a gap. It was only then did the nameless girl realize just how exhausted had IZANAMI left her. Kazuya noticed this, and casted Mediarahan to heal the group, as well as offering some of his energy for her to use. She looked at the group’s current state at the time. Koishi was floating on the ground, seemingly fully drained out of her energy. Reimu was only slightly better off, and there was no trace of the scepter she used earlier. Kazuya was the only one that looked remotely fresh among them, yet even his breathing had become unsteady. The nameless girl made a short gesture to thank him, however, her mind immediately went back to what happened inside of the Vault. "Something was odd earlier." Nanashi said to the others as she caught her breath. "This thing’s so-called Inclusions… they started malfunctioning earlier." "Malfunctioning?" Kazuya raised an eyebrow to what she said. "She was trying to block one of my attacks with a gap, but it somehow fizzled. It was as if she was losing control of Yukari’s powers." As she said that, the nameless girl began to think. "No, actually… No...I figured it out! The secret is boundaries all along!" Nanashi suddenly exclaimed. "Hm? Did she mess with your head back there or something?" Reimu wondered, however before she was able to say more, Nanashi began to elaborate on her point for once. "Ultimately, Yukari’s power is merely an inclusion inside of IZANAMI. It was not an innate part of her, and we can see her struggle to fully utilize it. There is a clear boundary between IZANAMI and Yukari." She described her train of thought. "Multiple elements in one being without a glue for cohesiveness means that it’s a glaring structural weakness. If I get the opportunity to analyze this fully, I should be able to land the decisive strike, exploiting such a huge structural weakness. This way, I can fully separate IZANAMI from Yukari's inclusion, so even if she said that she had two more uses of the Inclusion, I can bypass that and end this." "...Hm, that is a good point." Kazuya said. "We cannot last forever against her, so a decisive strike is our best hope. I assume you’ll stay back for now, then?" "Yeah." Nanashi nodded, however, she admitted that with a heavy heart. "Usually I could figure this out on the fly, but she’s a difficult one to decipher. Reimu, Kazuya…" Nanashi bowed in front of the two of them. "Please, buy me some time! This is our only hope now!" "Hmph." Reimu turned around grumpily, but as her eyes cut off contact with Nanashi’s, she was smiling. "Are you doubting me? I’m Reimu Hakurei! The best and only Shrine Maiden of Gensokyo, and a genius in barrier-making. If it’s just giving you a few moments to breathe, it’s child’s play for me!" "And I shall do my best too." Kazuya said, nodding to Reimu’s fired up declaration. "We’ll buy you all the time in the world if we have to." "GAPS, GAPS, GAPS, WHY?! THIS IS WEIRD!" Just like that, a new, gigantic gap materialized back on the battlefield. IZANAMI materialized, seeming to have recovered from her malfunction earlier, and relatively unharmed by Reimu’s explosive clone. No, it appeared as if she was unwounded completely - not even the reversal done by Reimu earlier left any trace on her. Seeing her return, both Reimu and Kazuya spent no time to idle and flew upwards, quickly bombarding her with a combination of Kazuya’s almighty attacks and an uncountable amount of amulets from Reimu. The amulets and almighty barrage launched outwards at her target, and at first, the entity simply watched in confusion as they approached. Reaching into the foremost reaches of her own essence, IZANAMI grasped hold of the space and boundaries surrounding her, and finally succeeded in forcing more gaps to tear open. With that, once again, random mysterious artifacts from Isamy’s Vault launched outwards, blasting into each and every amulet and laser beams, attempting to cancel out each and every one. Fine. Fine, fine, fine, if Yukari’s Void Inclusion was refusing to cooperate, then she would force it to! AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE! However, not every gap actually succeeded. After a few minutes of bombardment, much to Sloth IZANAMI’s surprise, she found herself hit by an amulet. And then another amulet. And then another! Where gaps should have materialized to cancel out the amulets, a few amongst the many were refusing to materialize, like every 1 in 100 gaps. Finally, IZANAMI decided to investigate just why this was happening, sharing her consciousness with the other six- Ah. It appeared that, somewhere else on the battlefield, other warriors had somehow succeeded in cutting them off from further Void Inclusions. In addition to barricading them from future Void Inclusions, it also interfered with the connection with the inclusions they currently held. How frustrating, how hopeless, how terrible… But also, how futile! "DISAPPOINTING… BUT NOT THE END!" Proceeding to move swiftly, the Omnibound turned her attention to Nanashi. They couldn’t be allowed to decipher any of this, or come up with a counterattack. She’d simply take care of Reimu and Kazuya, then deal with the wildcards. As the rain of artifacts, lasers, and amulets continued to cancel one another out, Omnibound Immortal IZANAMI readied the Excalibur in her hands, holding it up as she locked eyes with Reimu and Kazuya. If she needed to beamspam this thing, then she would absolutely do that, as the most slothful and direct answer. "YOUR STORY ENDS HERE." While grasped in IZANAMI’s hands, the blade started to turn black. Rapidly gathering energy from the surrounding Origin Cosmos, rapidly building up its legendarily terrible power, which they’ve born witness to only a few times before- "EXCALIBUR!!!" And thus, the giant entity unleashed a hypermassive beam, blasting across the rain of amulets and shooting directly towards Reimu and Kazuya. It was nothing short of raw power. The sheer, overwhelming mass of the final boss’s mana supply, transformed into a holy light of destruction. The very light that ends dreams. And only two people stood against that display of absolute power. Divine light clashed against divine light, as Reimu and Kazuya both casted their strongest protection against the overwhelming light of Excalibur powered by the Omni’s near-limitless power. Too powerful to be redirected, too overwhelming to simply be fought with another attack, yet the two of them remained defiant, standing side by side facing the light head on. The analysis of IZANAMI is currently at 80% "It would be a shame if this ends here and now, don’t you think? We've come so far already..." Taking in more and more of his personal reserves, once more Kazuya summoned Jeanne D’Arc for her to use her banner to grant them protection. But it was still not enough. Cracks formed on the saint’s supposedly impenetrable protection. Kazuya quickly reacted, casting his own barriers to stop the wall from giving in. "Of course it’d be a shame. We actually have a chance of winning for once here. No way in hell I’ll let that go to waste!" Reimu yelled out. She refused to have this journey end here. Tapping deep within herself, taking in all that Yukari knew of barriers, and using every single last scrap of her power, Reimu extended her hand forward. A spell card formed on her hand for a moment before disintegrating as a magic circle replaced it. "Boundary World: Eightfold Fence of the Land of Phantasm!" Using Yukari’s knowledge and powers given to her coupled with her own knowledge about barriers, Reimu recreated the absolute strongest barrier that she knew of. The Great Hakurei Barrier. An aurora-like wall of light began to create a circle around them all, standing mightily against the endless light of Excalibur. The Great Hakurei Barrier was normally meant more as a boundary line to separate, rather than to act as a true "barrier". However, it was as simple as changing a few details in its creation to turn it into something that could shield worlds against an apocalypse. The analysis of IZANAMI is currently at 83% However, doing so took most of Reimu’s energy. She was barely able to stand up and had to use Kazuya to support herself. Through sheer force of will, she forced herself to remain awake, because she knew. Once the Hakurei maiden lost consciousness, the barrier’s end would soon follow. Seeing that display reinvigorated Kazuya. After healing Reimu, enough to give her a few more moments of awareness, Kazuya focused all he could towards the combined barrier the two had established so far. He felt himself unconsciously summoned various demons through his hand, each who gave up their essence to reinforce the barrier. "Right. I will not fall. This light… it will not overcome us!" But, even with that, he knew that the reinforcement done to the barrier was still not enough. Reimu could pass out anytime soon, and once Reimu fell, so would their chance of victory. There was no Koishi to pull out a miracle, and the nameless girl had to focus, so she couldn’t give out any of her zany plans anymore. It was all up to him now. Among them four, he was the one with the most reserve left. Even if it was quickly draining despite how fast it normally regenerated, he still would last the longest. And, if he had to, to save his own energy, he could assume Beldr’s power for himself, and power through the blast on his own. Kazuya shook his head at the thought, however. He wouldn’t be able to do this on his own. Even if he could survive that way, he would be left all alone. Even with the power of the King of Bel, he wouldn’t be able to win on his own. And his conscience wouldn’t let him sacrifice the others just for his own future. As that resolution formed in his mind, he could feel Beldr’s power escaping through his fingers, the barrier before him taking in all of the demon’s essence to strengthen itself. It was just in time, as soon after, one layer of Reimu’s barrier disappeared. The analysis of IZANAMI is currently at 87% "IS THAT ALL, CHILDREN OF ORIGIN? HOW SLOTHFUL!" But there was no sign of IZANAMI’s light stopping anytime soon Another layer of Reimu’s barrier soon disappeared, as Reimu grew weaker and weaker despite Kazuya’s efforts to keep her awake. Was this it? While Beldr’s layer of the barrier stood tall, cracks already formed everywhere else. Even Luminosite Eternelle had almost fully disappeared by now. Kazuya desperately patched in holes after holes that formed, but would that be enough? He had given up Beldr’s power. The option to let himself survive at others’ expense was no longer present. As more and more holes formed, as even Beldr’s layer began to crack, another emotion filled him. Despair. He wasn’t enough. He would always come short. He couldn’t even protect those he cared about, at his strongest. Even in this Origin War, he couldn’t make himself count. And now, he was all alone. There was no way someone like him could win this fight. More and more cracks formed on the barrier. Kazuya couldn’t keep up with them. He wondered if he should even try. Perhaps it was best to give up now, so that the other warriors… perhaps they could succeed where Kazuya and the other three failed. But, suddenly he felt someone punch him from behind. It was Reimu. She was still awake, and she, somehow, still could find it within herself to reinforce the barrier as Kazuya’s will waned. Kazuya looked at her in disbelief. Are you seriously going to lose here? Reimu couldn’t even manage anything other than a whisper, but that was not the tone of someone who had given up. No, Reimu was right. Kazuya hadn’t yet put his all to this. There was still a chance for them to win. Pushing all of himself to strengthen the barrier, Kazuya gave up Belial and Jezebel’s essences, forming more and more layers for the barrier. And with that, he gradually realized what he had done. He remembered his thoughts on the past, the resolution he made against Isamy. He remembered saying that he wanted to become the world’s protector against the constant war of Law and Chaos. Because he was the human-like King of Bel, he thought that it was the best thing for him to do. Yet, here he was, slowly giving up parts of his authority as the King of Bel. At the end of this all, he wouldn’t have the power to serve the role that he wanted to serve. However, Kazuya accepted this as an outcome. He laughed at that thought as he simply put more and more of himself into the barrier. "In the end, being a god or a demon doesn’t suit me, huh." Kazuya said, as he saw that even the addition to the barrier was still not enough, each layer being torn bit by bit by Excalibur’s light. "I am just a mortal, a mayfly compared to the infinite vastness of the multiverse. Trying to force my way as an arbiter, a protector of the world… that sounds absurd now. Life is fleeting, so why should I force it to be eternal?" The primary barrier cracked. However, Kazuya was more resolute than ever now. The analysis of IZANAMI is currently at 91% "Order will always go against chaos. Such conflict is part of life’s many conflicts. Stopping it would only lead to a stagnant existence." Kazuya smiled, even if a little of Excalibur’s light escaped the barrier, showing that it would not hold for long. In response, he gave up Beelzebub’s essence, covering the entire barrier surrounding them with an uncountable amount of demonic flies. "Conflicts, imperfection, hardships, it helps us define what truly mattered for us, to cherish it and understand its importance. Without pain, we wouldn’t understand the value of comfort. Without sadness, we wouldn’t understand how much happiness means to us. While you can say that in the grand scheme of things, all of this is meaningless, but none of us mortals live in such a grand scheme. All these meaningless things? It meant the world for us." He didn’t say these words to anyone in particular. IZANAMI was too mad, too lost to even be communicated to. Whatever was left of Isamy within her would not recognize any of his words. But he was alright with it. These words meant something for himself. These words were his strength, his will given voice. Even as his body gradually gave in, his heart was still resolute. At this point, Reimu had passed out, and the rest of the Hakurei barrier was gone with her. It was only him now. He simply responded by giving up Belberith’s essence. The conglomeration of gods and demons that was him formed a layer of divine flesh around them all, momentarily buying more time for them. "I stand here to protect that insignificant thing for the people that I know. If that is an act of selfishness in the grand scheme of things, so be it. I might be the King of Bel, but ultimately, my name is Kazuya Minegishi. And as a mortal, as a human, I deny you the right to choose my future." The analysis of IZANAMI is currently at 95% And with those words, Kazuya gave in the last trace of his authority as the King of Bel - The "Demon Summoning Server" Babel, who lived on within him as much as it existed outside as an entity of its own. No, it was more than that. His brother, Naoya, utilized the gathered emotions of the entirety of the human race using the Internet to bring it forth. Thus, Babel was born from the collective consciousness of his world. As he did so, he could feel an uncountable amount of hands holding back the barrier against Excalibur’s surge. Hands of those who put their wishes on his shoulders, those who wanted him to reign over them. Those who trusted him. Following them all, even now without any of his powers left, Kazuya put his hand on the barrier. The wishes of an entire world stood against IZANAMI. "AHAHA…" And yet… it was still not enough. "AHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!! WHO SAID YOU HAD A CHOICE, HUH?! TIME TO WAKE UP FROM YOUR DREAM, KING OF BEL!" Despite absolutely everything they had done, what met them in response was nothing but a pure burst of laughter from the Excalibur-wielding IZANAMI. Just like that, as if she were turning up a dial, even more of the Omnibound’s energy started getting poured into the beam, intensifying it, more and more, and more, to the point that it would quickly become impossible to contain. Then, after withstanding the attack for so long, after Kazuya lost all that he could use to reinforce it, the barrier inevitably gave in. In the face of the overwhelming brilliance of Izanami’s final Excalibur, the powerless Kazuya stood. He had done all he could. If this was the end, then he would gladly- "Recollection." It was as if everything stopped as a small voice said that single word. A voice that would have been drowned otherwise by the overwhelming magnificence of the Sword of the Promised Victory, yet everyone was able to hear it loud and clear. That Kazuya had lasted this long had given time, not only to the nameless girl, whose focus remained unbroken. His persistence gave light unto one Komeiji Koishi, who put all of her to stand up, inspired by him. With one word, she brought upon one last memory, one last Recollection with all that she had left within her. "A foreign land, the end of time. Even so, this final hope is within mine breast. All matter of destruction shall not reach us. Gather! Guardians of the Round Table!" Another light went against the overwhelming torrent of energy. It seemed to be small and insignificant at first, yet… The image of a young, red-haired man producing a sheath passed through her mind. The image of that man and a blonde-haired king, fighting together. The image of that young man, ended by the blade of his most trusted ally. Right before Koishi, the sheathe manifested. More and more memories began to overload her mind as she took in every single drop of memory belonging to King Arthur to perfectly recreate the form. All the regret, all the pain, and yet… all the determination to move forward. Even if these were the memories of the person who had killed her Yukari, who allowed her essence to be toyed with by IZANAMI... At this brief moment, Koishi felt like she understood this person. To go to such length for one's own ideals, it was admirable, even. Koishi held the hope within her heart that she could be as resolute as her, one day. The form of the scabbard dissipated into an uncountable amount of light, becoming an impenetrable shield as Koishi screamed out the True Name of her Recollection. "The Everdistant Utopia: Avalon!" With that declaration, an impossibility had been recreated. The light of complete isolation covered the four of them as Excalibur continued on its path, annihilating anything else in the empty world. The barrier of the fairyland, the distant, unreachable dream that protects from any harm. More than the Spear of the End of the World, this should have been something that even Koishi’s recreation couldn’t fully replicate. While the spear was an anchor of the Otherside, the sheath was as if she recreated an entire world out of memory, and superimposing it into reality itself. However, the existence of the Holy Sword itself and the life memories of its owner, held within Nameless, congregated into one and allowed Koishi to bring a miracle. Such a recollection left Koishi on her knees, as she saw Kazuya finally falling over, unconscious, following after Reimu who had expended all she had before. Was it a meaningless gesture? Would the time bought this way achieve anything? Koishi had no idea. But she had made the decision to fight, even if it would not mean anything. And so, Koishi too, lost her consciousness, falling victim to exhaustion. With her fall, the nameless girl was the only person left to finish the fight. The analysis of IZANAMI is currently at 97% "WHA… HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY ⸺?!" Sloth IZANAMI screamed this out, as the shock of this utter, incomprehensible impossibility materialized before her. And so it was that her Excaliblast had been met with its own natural, absolute counter. The sheath of the Everdistant Utopia took in the blast, absorbing it in, practically invalidating its existence. For a moment, the Omnibound Immortal could only stare at her opponents, at the unconscious Kazuya and exhausted Reimu, and no-doubt. And she was simply baffled that this could have happened. Baffled that, even with all of Origin’s miracles, that something like Avalon had managed to have been recreated. Just how far would they have had to go to…? However, after observing and analyzing them for just a second, her shock simply transformed into a mildly annoyed, distasteful look. Whatever they were attempting to delay her for, it simply would not be enough time. "NOT BAD. IZANAMI IS IMPRESSED. UNFORTUNATELY… YOU EXHAUSTED YOURSELVES FOR NOTHING." Even if the blast was cancelled out once, the fact remained that they could have only pulled off that miracle once. Meanwhile, the Sword of Promised Victory, Excalibur, remained in her hands, and she raised it up with nothing but pure malice in her expression. The weapon remained perfectly usable. Perfectly spammable. Perfectly…! "NOW DIE." WIthout anyone else remaining standing, it was the end for these four warriors. Their fate was sealed with the swing of IZANAMI's sword. And so, their story ends here, consumed by Excalibur's infinite light. ... ... ... ... However, Out of the abyss, the origin. Another miracle happened. "I wonder how Viviane reacted… when you pried a king’s right from her lake?" "WH-" From the blast upon which Excalibur and Avalon collided, as if materializing out of thin air, she suddenly launched out. A party no one could have possibly anticipated, or expected, or even hoped for- ~ Saber ~ "Why, I do imagine… it’s quite like the look on your face right now!" A burst of wind, a missile of wind, a display of ultimate knighthood. A golden gust appearing out of nowhere, striking before anyone could realize what had happened. There she was, a gallant array with blonde hair and shimmering aura of charisma, seizing the blade Excalibur straight out of the hands of IZANAMI in a singular swift movement. Or perhaps it was more like a magnet discovering another magnet, the rightful sword tearing itself out from the immortal’s grip to be possessed once more by the one true king. Regardless of the truth, there was no doubt about it. It was her... The King of Knights herself. IZANAMI’s expression immediately dropped to shock, confusion, if not outright horror at this turn of events. Before the Omnibound Immortal could even process this information, the knight swung her blade, and the massive energy already charged into it was unleashed in a single go. In a panicked attempt at survival, the Omni quickly opened up another gap and disappeared into it, before appearing a little further away. "WHAT?! HOW CAN THIS- HOW CAN YOU EVEN BE HERE?!" "You underestimated them. It’s as simple as that, Herald." Like a spirit only just forming into existence, her dress proceeded to complete itself as she assumed a fighting pose, standing directly in front of the exhausted warriors. "To recreate Avalon, one must also recreate the rightful king. Equally, to unite Avalon with Excalibur is to call upon the king. Therefore… this should come as no surprise. As long as we’re in Origin, it doesn’t matter whether it’s reality or memories, it’s simply another boundary we can cross. Koishi’s Recollection merely gave me the opportunity to do so." "Perhaps you should think of me as a simple Heroic Spirit answering a summoning." And just like that, with a swing of her blade, she looked behind herself. Her eyes briefly met with that of the nameless girl. "Now then. Please give me an order—Master." ... The Analysis of IZANAMI- And so, the nameless girl was forcefully dragged back into reality. The sight of her king before her left her speechless. What sort of omen was this? How did she even... "My king..." It was all that her voice managed to express. Before her was the king that Nanashi had pledged her loyalty to, once upon a time. The leader of the Counter Corps, the one whose vision she once idolized. Even if now, she had carved a path of her own, carrying her own vision, the feeling of respect she had to her remained. And that sight filled her with a maelstrom of emotions. Of course, she couldn't deny that she felt happy to be reunited with Artoria. But at the same time... just looking at her right now, filled her own heart with pain. Her firm expression, her voice, her bearing, it was all the same as always. Through her memories, she understood the person behind the bitter hero who betrayed the rest of the Counter Corps. She understood the heart of the king, oft said to be the perfect ruler that did not understand the heart of people. Nanashi understood all that, and yet… She understood those pieces as fragments, and yet… she was unable to form a full image of the king using those pieces of puzzle. Even if she was side by side with her now, the nameless girl saw Artoria simultaneously as someone so farmiliar and a complete stranger. She saw the King extended her hand to her. The nameless girl shook her head, and took that hand. "Saber... no, nevermind that." A memory came across her mind as she spoke, but she couldn't bring herself to keep referring her as such. For such an impersonal name, she felt like it was, somehow, too intimate for her to use. However, this was not a time to be distracted any further. Pushing away everything that wasn't connected to her goal now, the nameless girl addressed her king, no, her Servant. Her tone became firmer and her hold on the King's hand became tighter. "King Artoria Pendragon. As your Master, I command you…" The Analysis of IZANAMI has been concluded. The nameless girl pulled out a golden blade of her own, and stood next to her king. The king, whose memories now live within herself. The king, who the nameless girl understood almost as well as her own self, yet at the same time had barely known yet. "I command you to fight on my side, until our very end." No, she couldn’t let herself be torn over that now. If she wanted to truly understand her, then perhaps fighting on her side was the best way to achieve that. She had the key of victory within her. She couldn’t let this opportunity go to waste. The maelstrom that was her feelings would have to wait until everything was over. To that, the King of Knights gazed back at her briefly. "Then..." Before finally giving a nod of understanding. "From this time forth, my sword shall be with you, and your fate shall be with me... Now, our contract is complete." There was no need to question it, no discourse to be talked about, no regrets to be voiced. The two individuals simply had a mutual understanding and roles to fulfill ﹣ and now, once more, the time had come for her to fight on someone else’s behalf. With that, brandishing her still-blackened blade, the King turned towards the nearby IZANAMI. "HOW… HOW… HOW…" Meanwhile, the Omnibound Immortal could clearly tell that the tides had somehow shifted. Even though most of her opponents had been thoroughly exhausted, she herself had been cut off from future Void Inclusions, and as far as she was concerned, only had a limited amount of time left with Yukari’s. If she hoped to crush them, no, in order to thoroughly destroy any hope they had, she would need to be swift. Strike with all her power. "MEH! LIKE THAT MATTERS! WHAT CAN A LOST EXISTENCE AND USELESS EXISTENCE DO ANYWAY, HUH? IZANAMI IS THE ONE GIVING YOUR LIVES MEANING, AND YET HERE YOU ARE REFUSING IT ALL!" Forcing her Void Inclusion to continue, gripping hold of Yukari’s existence, IZANAMI’s appearance started to morph, darken, even melt somewhat. Gaps began to materialize into existence behind her, expanding to form a sea of eyes as their very surroundings distorted into a crimson red. As this happened, the nameless girl gave a final glance towards her downed allies. Using some of her life force, she gathered them together and formed a small barrier around them, before pushing them away from where she stood. It was the least she could do. She couldn’t afford to lose any more energy. With the link that she had established, the innate understanding that she had achieved, the only option was to go forward. The King of Knights was with her now. Many miracles had been achieved, many sacrifices had been made for this one, singular moment to be possible. All that miracles… now it was her job to make them mean something. It’s her job to end this, once and for all. "THIS TIME, YOU CAN FACE IT ALL… EVERY LAST ARTIFACT OF MAXIMUS!" "ABANDONED VAULT: AIMLESS DESTRUCTION OF THE ABANDONED CROSSOVER!!!" With that ominous declaration, the contents of the vault were once again blindly fired forth. Precious artifacts, godlike artifacts, technological artifacts, legendary artifacts, abstract artifacts. The embodiments of plots, the victory of heroes, the source of endless stories and strife, a collection of the multiverse simply launched forward as if they were nothing more than disposable trash. Their original purposes overwritten, stampeded upon with the singular mission of destruction. This time trained on, firing directly at the respective positions of the Warriors of Origin, Nanashi and Artoria... her only remaining threats! ~ Paradigm ~ Fulfilling her duty, the King of Knights stepped forward first in front of the nameless girl and gripped Excalibur tightly. Even in the face of the overwhelmingly horrendous odds against them, she remained steadfast. "I shall delay the assault. I’ll leave the planning to you... Master!" The nameless girl nodded as she gripped her own sword. Despite having established a direct connection to Izanami, that Izanami utilized the force of the Vault’s treasures had dampened the effectiveness of such a would-be advantage. But, she refused to be deterred by such a fact. "Then I will not disappoint you." Her expression changed into a more vehement look as with a gesture, the nameless girl utilized all the scattered temperaments in the empty world to form numerous clones of herself, each wielding the same exact golden sword as the real one. There was no moment to elaborate on the exacts of the plan, however. The rain had begun to fall on the two warriors. Once-important objects, priceless artifacts worth killing worlds over, but now serving as nothing more than just nameless debris, fired at high speed towards them. The clones were the first to act. They would seek out magical artifacts from the uncountable amount being fired, and utilizing their abilities, scarlet light bombarded the target artifacts. One by one, these artifacts caused a chain reaction, blowing up many others as they exploded from the force of the bombardment. Many of the clones perished. Demolished, torn apart, reduced to nothingness. The various artifacts crashed into them, and one by one, even with their best attempts, they were simply not strong enough. Still, their combined efforts were just enough to somewhat minimize the bombardment, getting rid of some of the more dangerous artifacts amongst the torrent of the vault. Then, as the remainder fired onwards, aiming for their intended targets, they ended up being sliced apart, knocked down, or outright kicked aside by a singular force. The King of Knights stood her ground as the ultimate shield. The decrease in the number of artifacts was making it just manageable for Artoria Pendragon, although it was clear that she was straining herself, pushing her instincts to the limits as her skills were practically entirely consumed on being on the defensive. A wild array of objects fired at a blinding pace - Artoria focused less on the harmless ones like random pieces of paper, tiny devices, and flashdrives, funnelling them off-course with Invisible Air, whereas the far more dangerous artifacts - those without magic - that made it past the clones were met with powerful Mana Burst strikes. Blades, monuments, a giant mecha and, quite alarmingly, even a literal space station at one point. That one she poured all of her strength into stopping in place, using it as a temporary shield before it, too, was decimated in the bombardment. Far too many of the projectiles were singlehandedly worthy of attention, and it needn’t be said that this most certainly couldn’t be kept up forever. Slowly but surely, more and more bruises and cuts were showing on the king as she stretched herself to her limits. Then, what appeared to be an entire gigantic spaceship fired out of the portal, seeming unaffected by the clones’ bombardment tactics. Unbeknownst to them, it was a Star Destroyer with its own functional forcefield, closing the distance between IZANAMI’s gap and them- "EX… CALIBUR!" The king’s holy blade glowed, and she launched a powerful blast of light, obliterating the cruiser and a large number of artifacts around it in a single strike⸺yet still not enough to reach IZANAMI, losing energy shortly before it could even make it to her. Based on her remaining mana supply, it wasn’t something she could use more than five or six times. Her tactic here was obvious - to save each every use of her Noble Phantasm for the absolute most dangerous of artifacts. Between the clones and the knight, they were just barely managing to hold their own, and with each lost clone and depleting mana supply, they came that much closer to certain defeat. Was a counterattack even possible against such ridiculousness…? Amidst the chaos, the nameless girl continued to focus. For each lost clone, another would replace it, even if it was more and more imperfect than the previous one. Each clone was made from the lingering temperaments in the battlefield, none came from the nameless girl herself. Right now, she needed an opportunity. The clones, gradually became more and more unable to properly utilize the golden sword, was instead born as suicide missiles this time. One by one, they launched themselves to various debris, with the aim of each of their own demise causing as much destruction as possible. It was an unsightly tactic. And the nameless girl watched through it all. Seeing her own face blowing up, over and over again, hoping for the one small chance that an opening could be made. "WHAT’S WRONG? WHAT’S WRONG, WHAT’S WRONG, WHAT’S WRONG, ARE YOU SLOWING DOWN? GIVING UP? THAT’S NO GOOD! IF YOU DIE HERE, THAT JUST MEANS IZANAMI’S DREAMS WERE MEANT TO BE!" Meanwhile, IZANAMI’s initial fear had long since dissipated into nothing but a delightful, entertaining insanity, mocking them with her booming voice. Watching over her opponents as they slowly but surely succumb to the sheer torrential rain of her vault. By this point, the Omnibound Immortal had moved her own body back behind a gap, as if simply to ensure she’s protected from any stray Excalibur blasts⸺leaving naught but an exposed, widened eye in the sky solely for the sake of observation. This also served the purpose of hiding the fact that she was still racing against time herself. The Yukari Void Inclusion was slowly becoming more and more unstable, harder to control, and it showed as her body melted, and as the number of gaps firing upon everyone very slowly… oh so slowly… started to decrease. However, the difference was still incremental, and at this rate, there was no doubt it’d only take a few more minutes to utterly crush the resistance put up by the clones and King of Knights. "EXCALIBUR!" Once again, for the fifth time, the King was forced to unleash their Noble Phantasm upon the approach of yet another inanely difficult artifact, just barely managing to obliterate it before being immediately forced back on the defensive. This brought their total mana supply down to just one or two, if even that. IZANAMI gazed upon this attempt with frustrated hatred and malicious enjoyment, a far cry from the hero Isamy Maximus once attempted to be. Her singular eye gazed at the opposition she was dealing with. "AND NOW IT’S ALL GOING TO COME TO AN END. PLEASE ALLOW YOUR DREAMS TO DIE… SO THAT IZANAMI’S MAY REIGN SUPREME IN THIS PUTRID REALITY!" As Sloth IZANAMI declared this, the so-called "Abandoned Vault: Aimless Destruction of the Abandoned Crossover" showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. The two warriors were at an overwhelming disadvantage. The number of clones decreased faster than the number of gaps firing away all the various artifacts. Izanami painted upon itself a large target to strike at, but the relentless rain of projectiles proved that even reaching that was exceedingly difficult for either. Yet, slowly but surely, the number of gaps did decrease. And while the rate of fire of these individual gaps were impressive, the two warriors were more agile and reactive than Izanami, as it had been established with the battles before this. An opportunity, however small, must be forced into the situation. As she thought about this, most of her clones had disappeared. She held her own golden sword straight towards the giant eye in the sky, and declared an attack. "Scarlet Sky Rapture!" A massive beam of hypercondensed bullets were fired from the tip of her sword, destroying most in its path. Yet, as mighty as the attack was, Izanami simply utilized her gaps to bring out various larger and larger artifacts to break down the attack before it could reach her. But this, however, presented an opening. This was the point where to deal with such an attack, there would be a small, but significant enough opening that could be utilized. That beam, while impressive, was nothing more than a distraction. Arturia would be able to understand that. And she, naturally, would understand too, the meaning of the one that approached her. "It’s your turn now. We still can win this." "Brilliant. Then let us seize victory at once—!" To that, Arturia nodded in understanding as she used the brief, momentary, invaluably short space of time to raise her holy sword high. The sheer level of the bombardment had been such that she’d now drained the vast majority of her mana in six Excaliblasts. Therefore, this may very well be the last time she can do this. But for the sake of survival, for the sake of victory, and for the sake of everyone, she wouldn’t even hesitate. Then, locking eyes with the IZANAMI in the sky, eyeing the small opening created by Scarlet Sky Rapture… "EX…" The Servant Saber proceeded to unleash her Sword of Promised Victory one final time. "CAALLLLLIIIBBUUURRRRRRRRR!!!" It was the force, the cry, the roar of the once and forever King of Britain. Upon the declaration of its sacred name, a blast of ultimate holy light was unleashed from her sword, utterly obliterating everything in its path as it made its way towards that very opening. Pouring more energy into it than usual, the platform they stood upon began to shake and tremble as the mighty beam plunged in the sky, defying what artifacts were in its path as it finally made its way towards IZANAMI. Closer, closer, closer, the light of destruction approached a certain gap in the sky, targeting her exposed eyes. "WH- WHAT’S THIS, A LAST-DITCH ATTACK?!" At first, IZANAMI was taken off-guard by the oncoming blast. However, it very quickly registered in her mind that it was racing towards her at unimaginable speeds, having taken advantage of the previous attack as a decoy. At this rate, it may very well reach her before she could close the gap. With that being the case... shouldn’t her only natural response be to crush any hopes or dreams they might’ve had in ever reaching her?! "AS IF… IZANAMI SIMPLY NEEDS TO MOVE, DOESN’T SHE? HAH!" Then, just as the beam was about to connect with her, the Sloth Immortal’s gap suddenly started to move horizontally along its suspended space. It raced far from the Excalibur’s giant beam of destruction, taking the image of Yukari’s giant eye along with it - until finally the gap stopped just outside of its blast radius. With that, the Excalibur beam continued onwards into the sky of the Origin Cosmos, disappearing and thundering far into the distance. And therefore, leaving its intended target completely unharmed. The gap containing IZANAMI rotated in line with the beam, watching as it disappeared further and further into the distance, as if ensuring it wouldn’t suddenly turn around or reveal itself to be a tracking beam. Then finally... "YOU WASTED YOUR FINAL NOBLE PHANTASM ON THAT?" This was her victory. She smugly mocked her opponents, moving her gap back down to face them. Indeed, Arturia Pendragon had almost entirely exhausted herself, having depleted too much of her mana supply to activate Excalibur any more times. And as for Nanashi- Wait. Where did they go? The one that fired the rapture earlier, and the one who spoke to Arturia were both gone now. Were both merely some of her clones? But in that case… A tiny speck hung on the edge of the gap. Against the massive eye and the size of the gap itself, the figure was insignificant, yet somehow, it had managed to reach that point, hanging around for its dear life as the gap moved around. Izanami was right. The Excalibur was a last ditch attack. It would be easily dodged. Arturia would not have the mana to fire off another. The blast radius was exactly like what everyone saw. However, there was something that she did not count on. That the Excalibur might be a decoy for something else. That perhaps, rather than to blast her with it, the Excalibur was used in another way. Such as, for example, being a propellant for the true last-ditch attack. "THAT’S⸺" By the time the Omnibound Immortal realized, it was already far too late. It was something she couldn’t have ever expected. An act of trickery, an act the original Arturia would never have done, and yet- … … Putting all of her into it, Nanashi used a burst of energy from her feet as Izanami gloated to jet forth, and spent no time to spin around, her sword in hand, and stab the gigantic Omni right on her eye. It successfully made contact with the giant replica of Yukari’s own eye, plunging inwards, piercing directly into that gap. Or rather, perhaps what it was really piercing was the very inclusion of Yukari itself. And with that, as the golden blade was soaked by the blood of the Omni, everything was complete. The connection, the fruit of her analysis, they had been fully completed. "HOW… COULD YOU… YOU- YOU USELESS, MEANINGLESS, NAMELESS EXISTEEENNNCCEEEEE⸺!" Just like that, just as Sloth IZANAMI gazed at the opponent who’d bested her with every ounce of hatred, just as the boss moved, as if to perform one final action of defiance…all the gaps across the platform burst into a radiance of pure bright light. Light expanded and exploded, enveloping everything like a victorious embrace of energy, overwhelming Nanashi alongside the entire battlefield. The warrior found herself blown into the sky by the sheer force of what must have been an explosion of some kind, blinded from the infinitely bright energy. And then, for a moment, Just for a moment, as white overtook it all, everything fell still. . . . . . . . . . . . When Nanashi opened her eyes again, she found herself on the floor of the Origin Cosmos’s platform. There were no longer any signs of the gaps. Nor any of the debris or scattered artifacts from Isamy’s Vault. Nor, for that matter, any sign of the Omnibound Immortal IZANAMI herself. Only the calmness of the platform. And the serenity of a rainbow cosmos, surrounding everything. It… It was finally over? 【東方Piano】 Sleeping in Bhavaagra ~ Wonderful Dream 「Marasy」 The others were still unconscious nearby, soon to wake. Kazuya, Koishi, Reimu... And there, standing before her, was the blonde-haired King. "You fought well, Master." Arturia Pendragon greeted her calmly with closed eyes. "It seems the enemy’s Void Inclusion was successfully eliminated, forcing this aspect of her to finally vanish." The knight was bruised and cut, her wounds only slowly regenerating, and yet her stance remained pure. By then, it seemed the Excalibur in her hands had reverted back to its original golden, illustrious state. "To think you would use the divine blade meant to protect kingdoms, for the sole purpose of a propellant… My, I daresay few would come up with such an inane strategy. Regardless, it appears to have worked. We have stopped the assault from the Vault. We have survived, and we have emerged after the defeat of our opponent. This is, certainly, your victory." "It would be an impossible victory without you. Without everyone else. All I can do is to disregard common sense, and do what my heart told me to do." Nanashi replied. "All my gratitude is for you, King Artoria." They had won. Such a fact was something that the nameless girl could barely grasp. It felt like such an unrealistic dream, yet there the two of them were, with no signs of the Omni anywhere. Only… one other thing quickly became apparent. The fact that Artoria was gradually disappearing. Dissipating back into mana. As that happened, Nanashi couldn’t muster the strength to rise up. She was laying flat on her back, her eyes gazing at the stars above. She couldn’t bring herself to look at her king’s form, not at this state. Her arm reached upwards, futilely reaching for the stars above. "This is the end, huh." She said, weakly. "This journey of a few days… it finally has ended. I felt like… I had lived through many lifetimes with this single adventure, even if I was born yesterday. Time truly is strange, isn’t it? And yet…" Without realizing it, tears welled up from her open eyes. "I wish I could still have more time. I still couldn’t find it within myself to truly understand you. And now, you’ll be gone before I can spend any time with you." She grasped upon that light, but it was still too far away from her. She had met and be separated from Artoria times and times again, yet it was this time where it truly dawned on her, that it would be the end. That from here on, they would walk a completely different path from each other. And at this final moment, her frustrations, her worries, they came into the surface all at once. As Artoria Pendragon’s form dissipated, all she could do was to watch, helpless to do anything to stop her disappearance. She wanted so much more, there were so many things she wanted Artoria to guide her to, so many things she wanted to do with her, so many questions she wanted to ask, But all that she could do was to talk. "Even if this very body lived and breathed the entirety of your life’s memory, even after we fought together here… I still cannot reach the light you radiated." The nameless girl giggled as tears continued to fall from her eyes. "Why did someone like you choose the path that you ended up choosing? Why, despite everything, did you keep fighting? I’ve always admired you, my king, but right now I couldn’t even be sure why." "..." To those words, the fading king briefly looked out at the cosmos. "Hmm… That is certainly a difficult inquiry. If I confess, I would be lying if I stated I knew what the correct answer would be." As if pondering what the correct truth was herself. "There are many reasons for why I chose the path I did, and why I followed it with an unwavering will. From the time Merlin informed me I would be King of Britain, to the time I took on the quest of the Holy Grail, to my attempts to save my kingdom and my subsequent atonement as a Counter Guardian… " Then, she looked back towards the nameless girl. "However, if you desire a definitive answer, then I can think of one. And only one." "My name was Arturia Pendragon. It's as simple as that." The king stated those words, as though it were obvious as anything else. "Because I had such a name, because I was blessed with this name… No, because I chose this name the moment I withdrew the sword in the stone... I had the duty to uphold it with every inch of my existence. Beyond all of my ideals, my responsibilities, my people and my mistakes… Because it was something ‘Arturia Pendragon’ would do, it was something I performed to the best of my ability. Indeed. In the end, that is all there is to it. To my story, the story of King Arthur." "...I see." The nameless girl closed her eyes, taking in and pondered about what Artoria had said. "And what of you… Master?" Arturia Pendragon, or what was left of her, smiled slightly. "I admit, I do not believe I ever had the privilege of hearing your name once in this Origin War. In addition, I learned from an old friend that not everyone wishes to be called ‘Master’." And their eyes met. "Being that the case… may I ask what your name is?" "I don’t have one." It was a brief answer. She was no longer in denial about her lack of identity, but something about saying that out loud like this put a weight upon her heart. It was as if, her heart yearned for something. "I suppose you can call me Nanashi, but I held little attachment to that, as descriptive as it is. In the end, I am simply a phantom too stubborn to disappear, with nothing in my existence other than latching onto those my heart fancied." She paused, as her words made her think more of what Artoria said before. Just what was her life, so far? Artoria, being who she was, had something to define herself. What she wanted to do, what future did she expect for herself. It was natural for the girl to not understand why Artoria could figure out so much about herself. Artoria was Artoria, and she was herself. Bit by bit, the nameless girl understood what Artoria meant. Perfectly understanding others, even someone like Koishi wouldn’t be able to achieve something so ridiculous. It was alright for her to not understand Artoria’s nobility. It was alright for her to not understand why Tenshi did all that she did. But… what was important was perhaps that she tried. "I thought that there was something broken within myself. I couldn’t bring myself to understand you, nor I could understand the girl who gave her life to me. I thought that it is simply because of the nature of my existence." Through looking at the king’s firm expression, various memories passed within the nameless girl’s mind. "I radically changed myself over and over, attaching myself to an idea before discarding it as easily, all because deep inside, I accepted that idea. That I was empty." But she now knew, at least. Even if she couldn’t crystallize her own existence into a singular name, even if there was nothing going on within herself… "Is that so." The former Counter Guardian closed her eyes again, as though wondering about something herself. At this point, more and more of her body was beginning to fade away. It was obvious to the both of them, that this Heroic Spirit had no more than a few minutes left in the realm. "Then, if you are a phantom with nothing to your existence… Would you be opposed if I granted you something to keep?" "...?" The nameless girl’s eyes widened, she was left speechless. Artoria’s offer caught her by surprise, and she was unable to answer her properly. Just what did she mean by it? A gift? Would it really shape her into something? Every single fiber of her being was skeptical of the meaning of what Artoria had for her, yet she couldn’t find it in herself to refuse it. "Very well." While the nameless girl remained in a state of confusion, the regal knight turned directly towards her, "I invoke all my royal authority as Arthur, King of Britain, and all the authority allowed to me as a Counter Guardian of the Multiverse, to issue a gift." And started walking closer and closer "This gift shall be in the form of a decree." And brandished her royal sword high, "And therefore, I hereby grant this subject of mine the name⸺" And with that… "⸺Rin." ~ Rin's Melody / Ocean of Memories ~ ...the nameless girl was no more. She experienced the sensation of a warm steel blade tapping her shoulder. It was the single, brief, infinitesimally simple action of a tap, carrying no spell, no magical energy, no actual power. And yet it may very well have carried with it an unusual weight to this once-nameless individual. "Cast it aside if you wish." Arturia mentioned, withdrawing her sword with a slightly apologetic smile. "I merely thought it might be a shame...if history did not know you by a name. And when I see your strength, I could think of no name more appropriate." "I…" With the display of respect that Artoria presented, even if her muscles refused to budge, the girl forced herself to kneel before the king. Many thoughts overwhelmed her mind. Such a name was something that she ever, or even could, ever thought of. A name without any ties to who she was from, or who she had lived her life with so far. A new name, free from any attachment, filled with possibilities. It was terrifying. Just thinking about it made her shiver. She didn’t have a home, nor she knew what the future that name will bring to her. But… "I… I will accept this gift you have bestowed upon me, my liege." She spoke those words, casting aside any of the remaining doubt and hesitation within her heart. "This gift of a name, it is truly something precious. I shall live on with this name until the moment I draw my last breath." Not because it was a gift from the king. Not because she wanted to emulate the king, or Tenshi. She had believed so far that she was empty, but that was nonsense. She was alive. She had done many things, things that nobody else would do. This naivety, this lack of common sense, this flame of determination that burned within her, it was all hers. She moved forward because she existed. And as long as she existed, she would continue moving forward, no matter how scary the future would be. She existed as herself, and by accepting this name, she made her final affirmation. "Then I am glad." With a pleased, satisfied nod, Arturia Pendragon turned away. "If I could have you pass on one message, once this is over... Please tell Alexander ‘Thank you. I will be just fine.’ It is due to him that I may part with you all, knowing peace in my heart. The others will be fine without me." Her very form was disintegrating into golden wisps. "I do not know what awaits your future from this point forth, but I believe you hold the determination to face it. Your identity is your own, your strength is your own. And should you ever find yourself in doubt… Let your name guide you." And so, no longer prolonged, the end arrived at long last. "Now then, it appears this is it. I bid you good luck in the journeys to come." "It has been an honour serving by your side… Rin." . . . . . And in the next moment, the King of Knights was gone. "And thank you, for granting me life." By that point, only she was able to hear those words. But it was alright. She was done crying. Pushed by the flames within herself, she forced herself to stand. Her allies were showing signs of waking up. She would need to be there, to show her gratitude to them, to tell them that they had won. There were so many things that she couldn’t understand well yet. Love, hate, respect, adoration, sadness… what separated them from one another? But, she was fine not knowing for now. She had a lifetime to figure out their meaning for herself. After all, the end of this story would not be the end for her. No, this was her beginning. Wiping out any tears left from her eyes, Rin approached her allies with the widest smile she could manage. --- ---

Adel "This thing... where in the nine cursed hells is its weakness?" Adel moved forward as Shiro was able to restraint it with his tongue, however Edrick was one that managed to respond to that opening first. Yet, the attack instead harmlessly bounced off the statue. The statue then followed it up with a devastating dive, and the situation inside of the chapel ended up becoming more and more chaotic. However, it seemed that from here, Shiro noticed something. "There is a symbol... on the back of its head!" As Shiro said it, Adel looked at the direction that Shiro pointed out and noticed that symbol. Right. Something like this was born out of foul magic, and naturally if whatever was powering it was dealt with, then this thing would just die on its tracks. She noticed that Shiro was leaping upwards, perhaps in an attempt to strike at the weak point, and following his example, Adel began to make her move. As soon as Shiro made a confirmed landing and struck at the statue, Adel would follow it up with her own strike. --- Ciela "Licorice, calm down! The hell's getting into your head this time?!" She couldn't open the door, so all that Ciela could do was to yell at Licorice as the fox desperately attempted to break the door in front of her to no avail. There was a growling voice coming from outside. Was it another enemy? No, the growling was... wasn't it the strange new person's wyvern? But in that case... Within seconds, the weakened door was obliterated by the wyvern. It revealed the other person that had been trying to get inside, but more than that, Ciela wasn't able to think about anything else other than the protean that was next to her right now. In moments, she would run away. This experienced soldier, who had spent most of this trip feeling cautious and fearful, was now going to run away because of something. This was clearly not just a form of superstition from Licorice's part. Something really wicked was going on. And Licorice knew whatever it was. Fueled by both worry and frustration and Licorice's secretive nature, Ciela did the only thing she could think of at the time. She grasped at Licorice and climbed on top of her back. Even if she'd get dragged on the ground due to this, she wouldn't let her go.

Ciela As expected, the group's natural affinity on facing against the weirdest sort of situation finally reared its head for real, literally, as a statue that the group was examining began to roar and dive forward at Edrick. And so, in seconds, chaos erupted within the building that they had somehow found themselves in. However, something distracted Ciela from the actual commotion happening thanks to the statue. It was Licorice. Perhaps it was because of the events of the day before as she waited for Licorice to shake off the influence from her aphrodisiac, as well as her wondering about what was her friend (?) up to with her, but Ciela had been paying more attention to the presence of the black fox, and furthermore, how she had been more and more hesitant on continuing the investigation of the village. And now, she suddenly panicked and attempted to run away, despite being one of the most experienced soldiers the group had. Even Sienna stood her ground. Something was clearly amiss, and so Ciela for now ignored the fight against the beast itself in favor of following Licorice who attempted to run to the back of the church. However as she did so, she also heard the voice of someone calling out from outside. "I don't know how to open it, damn it!" --- Adel Chaos erupted inside of the room. The statue that the group was checking had somehow turned alive, and it was now attempting to attack Edrick. This group really was a magnet of weirdness, Adel thought as she prepared her lance and moving herself into position. There was only one enemy right now, however, it was not clear yet what it was able to do or what else might happen about it. With the chaotic ball that was everyone's attempt to react to it, Adel focused on moving herself around to get into a position that had not yet been covered by the others. For something made out of stone like it, Adel guessed that something like Fire magic would be more useful than weapons of iron. Which would mean that Sienna should be the one attacking it. However, she herself had readied herself. If the opportunity presented itself after the dust settled and the results of everyone's attacks became clear, then naturally Adel would launch a fast strike on it...or at least the best she could manage with her current condition.

Ciela Celestinia "...Another dead end, seriously?" Ciela groaned. They had progressed so much... but ultimately all it led to was to another dead end. There did exist another panel for the next passcode, but right now it seemed like nobody had really anything in mind of what it might be. She couldn't help but to agree with what Sienna said - for such a simple house, the security measures here had been ridiculous so far. All the more making everything suspicious, but even so an overkill was still an overkill. In the end, Ciela wasn't really one to do anything right now, and decided to wait for Tsetseg and the others who decided to check on the ladder while hoping that whatever the passcode for the next section was, the group would be able to find it sooner or later. She felt that it might be dangerous if by nightfall they hadn't made any significant progress. Adelaide Sigrdifa Meanwhile, Adel's mind was busy thinking about the clues she found upstairs. The Dragon Breath wine was naturally the focus of her attention, especially after finding such a strange recipe for it there. More than it was an actual recipe, it was like a rite of worship instead. With everything shady that had been pointed out about the town, Adel felt wary about it. ANd so, she decided to showcase that recipe to Catriona. "My liege. were there any Dragon's Breath wine during your search downstairs? I have found the recipe for it, and its contents were... well, it was quite concerning. It is best that you read it by yourself." That was all that she was able to do right now. As the group were in another dead end, Adel decided to not do much and wait until new things pop out instead.

Adel "I wonder what did that boy find..." Done with looking around under the bed, Adel moved into other places, checking the desk and around once more before going to where earlier she found the big locked box. Alois' discovery, whatever it was, seemed to be something substantial, but she felt like she was still missing something too as far as missing pieces go. She knew that she was closer to figuring out the situation than before, but it was not enough. Anything suspicious, pieces of papers, anything really, she was sure that there might still be something left up here. Whether that was the case or not remained to be seen, but especially with how downstairs sounded like a ruckus still, Adel had no intention to go down and give up on her search. --- Ciela Country bumpkins sure can be a pain sometimes... As the argument continued, Ciela could only watch while sighing. Ultimately, Catriona resolved this one in a better way compared to similar past argument, so that was a good point, at least. The judgment had been cast, and even with the tension remaining within the rest of the group, at least the group was not being on a risk of collapsing at a moment's notice, so soon before they would be able to get to the bottom of this mess too. "I agree with Ms. Fruit here. Alois looks like he found something real interesting earlier. Kinda scary seeing him actually excited over something." Right yeah. This was a good direction to go with. Whether everyone else agreed with the idea or not, Ciela already turned around and followed Alois down. As the path became dark, she used her staff's soft light to slightly illuminate the way.

The Center's Limelight Hiroko Kirigami https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YZxIqYjDFgIC7VxvE3PyWn5IBKt6jRxoTm6nyL-gzOQ/edit Custom cards coming soon.

Definitely interested. Gonna definitely put Hiroko here too (though with tweaks and stuff) and still considering Alais.

Ciela Were she was not in a positive mood after healing Link, Ciela would've gone off at Cora already for how she was reacting here. It felt reminiscent to something that had happened too in the past, with Edrick if she remembered it right. What's with people being unreasonable about this topic anyway? Everyone else had been addressing this more properly anyway so Ciela was content in being silent but she still made an expression to showcase that she was feeling displeased about this turn of events. "While we're stuck in this pointless chatter, whoever did all this is still free. Can we just get on with it and start making plans or something?" That was all that Ciela said, worded in quite an unpleasant tone. --- Adel "This is strange..." Adel reread the journal pages a few times so far. It didn't seem like it revealed anything new other than the mention of a certain old way as well as a mention of a 5-words password, but she still needed more context about it. She decided to take the chief's journal with her as she continued her search around the room. If just stumbling around could get her something to this effect, perhaps now that she was looking specifically for anything paper information, this case could be resolved a lot faster. She gazed at the tables she had looked up around some more views. She saw the bottom of the mayor's bed. Details, details, she needed all of them. There was seemingly ruckus goin gon downstairs but Adel didn't really care about it. Probably it was just a debate over soemting bad anyway

Ciela "Sure thing. What good would I be if I can't fix someone's broken limb with ease?" As she casted the spell to begin healing Link, her thought traveled too, regarding of the current situation that all of them were currently in. It sure was seemingly getting more and more sensible now, but at the same time, it was still very concerning and worrying too. When Gunther asked whether it was from an attempt to break in or not, Ciela only shrugged her shoulders. She felt that rather than that whatever danger thsi village was facing would be inside of the town hall itself, so naturally it would besomething more emblematic for it to be perhaps, she guessed, protecting something inside, or perhaps it was soemthing else entirely. However, her attention was taken just moments after she finished her healing. as a commition brewed on the table from Cora and Citron. Right, despite this whole mess in this village, naturally the two wuldn't be intimate either wiht yarkes light. It seemed that both recognized Edrick's amulet an d nmanaed to conjure their feelings into it was quite... well, Ciela couldn't be bothered to set things straight. She felt like without at least having 2 servant, the image of Ilya and Beerserial fight scene. Adelaide Adelaide in the meantime, looked around on where she had looked at earlier, to first making sure that she didn't make angy mistakes. There were certainly places that she hadn't checked yet, but if she missed something due to overlooking things itgmight be bestn strategic Myrrh drop would manage to resolve the situation. Adelaide wondered what was the best thing to look out for. Was it the letters? What sort of mystery would that have anyway, wassuming it wasjsja;;k And so, Adelaide kept on searching and searching, hoping that she could find soemthing that would become the final piece to her puzzle. It was a nice bed though, Adelaide wondered how would it feel.