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🕑 Added 2024-10-23 02:15:02 +0000 UTCThe black light pillar tore open an infinite dimensional rift, slowly swallowing the moons like quicksand. Then a voice boomed from the darkness: "—Fujimaru..."
The sound defied description - simultaneously male and female, a chorus of countless voices speaking as one. It was both deeply disturbing and divinely beautiful.
Earth's core pulsed like a heart. The crust quaked with terrifying "thump, thump, thump" sounds, as if the planet tensed in fear.
Everyone staggered, fighting to keep their footing on the violently shifting ground. Noble Phantasms flickered and faded. Ancient miracles and ambient mana destabilized and scattered.
The unconscious Mordred rolled across the ground as a rock smacked into her forehead. The sharp pain jolted her awake.
She stared bewildered at the trembling sky, air, her own shaking body, and that horrifyingly familiar presence. "Am I back at the Throne of Heroes?"
She hadn't fainted from the gravitational waves - Arcueid had hugged her until she passed out from lack of air.
Standing up, she looked at the dimensional void overhead. Her face went rigid.
Saber and Gilgamesh's faces turned grave. They felt an immense presence breaking through the world's layers.
"Fujimaru— Fujimaru—" The obsessive voice echoed like ancient wronged spirits.
Saber's face twisted in recognition. "It's Manaka!"
Crack crack crack! Reality splintered like a sheet of glass struck by a hammer. A massive dragon burst through the dimensional rift. In an instant, the world transformed into white paper stained with darkness, the sky swallowed by shadow.
Winds howled. Earth convulsed. The sky split with dimensional cracks.
"How awful... Gaia would weep to see this," Arcueid murmured, creasing her brows.
"The destroyer of humanity," Gilgamesh's voice was heavy. "Evil of Humanity, Beast VI!"
His sharp eyes recognized what Ayaka had warned of - humanity's true enemy from the past, the hound of the Lord of Salvation, the Beast of Revelation from biblical prophecy.
Above the dragon, disturbing mud took shape, forming a black figure that gazed down at them.
Its eyes were cold and corrupt, like a demon judging humanity, but lingered on Saber and Fujimaru.
"Arthur— Fujimaru—" The voice was both woman and man. An existence beyond language and thought, transcending mortal philosophy.
"Manaka..." Arthur gripped his holy sword, face twisted with complex emotions.
Fujimaru's scalp prickled. Without being told, he knew - this was Manaka Sajyou.
Mordred's backstab hadn't killed her - it had merely helped her shed her human shell. This Manaka had completely abandoned her humanity, revealing her true nature.
More brilliant than hope, deeper than despair - that was love.
This was chaos incarnate - a divine woman tainted by human corruption. The current Manaka was now immortal - she was Beast VI, and Beast VI was her.
"Release..." Arthur raised his Holy Sword. Pure light flickered within the blade, growing stronger with each passing second. The air hummed with building power.
Twelve phantoms materialized in a circle around him - the gathered spirits of his fallen knights.
This was Excalibur's true nature - no single hero, no matter how mighty, could decide its use alone. A sword with power to destroy planetary threats carried too much responsibility for personal judgment. It existed only to save the world. Arthur and his twelve knights had forged these strict rules, binding the Holy Sword's power behind unbreakable seals.
That was the seal's purpose, concealing the blade's true strength. Thirteen Restraints. Each one a chain limiting the holy sword's power, only to be released for the most worthy of causes. Seven knights needed to grant their approval for full release.
Though Arthur and his knights had long since passed from Earth, the Restraints remained. When the sword's wielder called for release, the Round Table's judgment activated automatically, each spirit weighing the gravity of the threat.
Arthur's voice rang out: "This is a battle to save the world."
Kay declared: "The battle must be for survival."
Bedivere added: "The enemy must be more powerful than oneself."
...
One by one, the knights spoke their verdicts. With each broken Restraint, power flowed into Excalibur. When the thirteenth seal broke, planetary mana flooded in like sunlight piercing endless night. The sword shone as bright as the sun itself.
Arthur swung the blade. The light shot toward Beast VI, pushing back the Beast that hadn't fully entered this world yet.
"Why... why are you doing this to me, Arthur!?" Manaka cried. Love and hate twisted together - a girl's first innocent love.
"This world rejects you, Manaka!" Arthur didn't waver. He knew what her love meant, but that didn't excuse what she'd done. This Manaka would destroy everything. As the one who held the Holy Sword, he had to protect the world.
"Damn you, Holy Sword user!" Sun King lunged at Arthur but Gilgamesh intercepted. The immortal Sun King could fight all three at once, but that didn't make him stronger - they were on the same rank. Just as he could block Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh could block him.
"So that's the holy sword's true nature." Gilgamesh watched that light, eyebrow raised. "If I'd used the Sword of the End before seeing this, I would have failed. No wonder that guy never let me use it against Saber."
His gaze fell on the young man. "Foreign soul, blank Foreigner... hmph!"
Arcueid glanced between Arthur's sword and her Mk II. "Mine's cooler. Why was Crimson Moon so scared of that one?"
She didn't know her Demonic Sword was the Moon's instrument made to defeat the Holy Sword.
The light of salvation severed Beast VI's dragon head. Manaka vanished in endless, scorching light.
It was over.
Fujimaru sighed with relief. "As expected of the Holy Sword... though that was faster and less hopeless than Ayaka warned."
"Still..." Looking at the destroyed Beast VI, he sighed and muttered, "I hope in your next life, you can be a normal girl. I hope you can find your true love."
The abnormal connection made Manaka an anomaly. And Root anomalies like her weren't meant to live or understand human hearts. Her love became warped because of it.
Twisted love, twisted values, with reality-breaking power - once turned evil, she became the most terrifying monster. She destroyed countless families, countless children, with all that was beautiful gone in an instant.
So she had to be destroyed.
That's what Arthur meant when he said the world rejected her.
A ghost walking among the living - by the time she found her humanity and felt truly alive, she was already rejected.
Rejected by the world.
Rejected by humanity.
Her gift gave her these things, along with the Lord of Salvation trapped in the Root, always trying to break into reality.
She was a vessel - the Lord of Salvation's vessel.
Fujimaru knew it had to end this way; it was inevitable. But after seeing so much darkness and death, all he could do was hope for her peace in another life.
Hoping for someone's happiness in the next life while accepting their end in this one - maybe that made no sense.
But that was just how Fujimaru was.
Strong in his stance, soft in his heart.
Maybe even all-knowing Manaka never guessed that when she became everyone's enemy, when everyone hated her and wanted her dead, someone would still wish her well in her next life.
Simple kindness, maybe naive kindness.
But—
"Arthur."
A chilling voice came from the dimensional void.
Everyone froze.
Sun King's eyes lit up: "My Master isn't finished yet!"
The huge dragon head burst from the dark shore again, but Manaka on top wasn't human anymore - just a writhing mass of mud.
Arthur's blade of salvation had snuffed out the last spark of light, the last trace of joy in her heart.
"Ah- ah- ah!" Her voice melted away, merging with Beast VI.
The massive dragon head outside the dimensional void solidified, its passage spinning like a vortex.
She was no longer a combination of good and evil anymore, but a pure monster - worse than Evil of Humanity.
The perfect vessel for Absolute Evil!
The Lord of Salvation got what it wanted.
Brighter than hope, darker than despair - that was love.
Pure white love twisted by evil's seed. The pure heart became a blend of good and evil. When the good finally died, evil took over.
Nobody can connect to the Root, no matter how hard magi pursue it. Those who enter the Root cannot return, so new Laws will not appear in the domain of Law.
But Manaka was different - she'd been connected to the Root from the beginning.
Nothing comes free in this world, so how was this possible?
Because from the start, she was made by the Lord of Salvation, a vessel connected to the Root.
And now, that vessel was finally complete!
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