Satsuki's Tenseigan never failed to perceive the flow of energy around her—especially the infinite band of light overhead.
"So this is your Noble Phantasm…" She raised her gaze, sensing the immeasurable heat radiating within—heat of the Mahā Infinite scale. A faint smile curved her lips. "I hope it proves as worthy as your fists, and does not disappoint me."
"Māra, you are one of the strongest foes I have ever faced. From the very beginning, I knew my conclusion was already written…"
The Demon God King Goetia radiated overwhelming mana. It condensed into a unique signal, feeding into the heavenly band of light. The rotating band began to release energy capable of destroying stars and erasing worlds.
"But still… I want to try."
The mana pouring from his body swelled further, resonating with the entire temple. The atmosphere itself pressed heavily against Satsuki, striving to pin her down for the incoming annihilating radiance.
"Bear witness to my grand work, my ideal, the true meaning of my birth! Even if this temple collapses again! Even if the Ark sinks once more…"
As Goetia invoked the True Name of his Noble Phantasm, the band of light twisted into shapes like gnarled branches, coiling infinitely around a black celestial body. From its center, radiant violet beams began to bloom.
From the nature of the energy, Satsuki immediately recognized it. This was the very device that, during their earlier clash, had intercepted her Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion.
"Remember my name—Goetia! Human Order Incineration Ritual: Demon God King Goetia!"
"My third Noble Phantasm, unleashed—[The Time of Birth Has Come, He Is the One Who Masters All]! Demon Buddha Māra, receive my final strike—Ars Almadel Salomonis!"
With the chant complete, the heavenly band became a cosmic weapon of infinite yield. It fired a beam of violet light vast enough to erase the world, thundering with lightning and erasing time and space as it struck against Māra's golden body.
The entire Temple of Time was engulfed in blinding white light.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—!
A cataclysm on par with planetary detonation erupted within this Singularity, divorced from the normal frames of time.
The already fractured ground of the Temple of Time was obliterated completely. No place to stand remained anywhere within the domain.
As the dazzling brilliance faded, a dreamlike figure still stood there, unscathed, as calm and poised as ever.
A black robe flowing. Black hair drifting. Eyes tilted in cold indifference. A faintly raised smile.
Demon Buddha Māra. Even under the full strike of Goetia's strongest Noble Phantasm—she remained unharmed.
Though he had expected as much, seeing it with his own eyes filled Goetia with despair unlike any he had ever felt.
"It seems your Noble Phantasm requires time to recharge after releasing such an attack…" Satsuki's voice was light as she glanced at the still-turning band of light. "Then that means… that strike just now was already your full power?"
Disappointment flickered in her tone, though it was tempered by calm acceptance. Her seemingly effortless defense had in truth relied on the Vipralopa Truth-Seeking Orbs forming a barrier.
This was the first time she had assumed a defensive posture in this world—not because she doubted the endurance of her Demon Buddha body, but out of respect for her opponent's attack.
Yet the defense wrought from Vipralopa was flawless. It blocked the beam from beyond the void completely. Even her Dead Line Boundary had not been touched.
"Māra, your Vipralopa power holds absolute dominance over this world built upon fantasy and legend. No wonder the Counter Force labored so desperately to summon us against you."
Goetia's fighting spirit dissolved. After his strongest Noble Phantasm had been resisted without injury, battle was meaningless.
He was an absolute rational being. Even in fury, he remained rational.
"So, you've given up?" Satsuki extended her hand. A black wheel of dead lines bloomed within her palm. "Then one final question…"
Satsuki closed her eyes, quietly attuning herself to the connection between her foe and the temple, then spoke: "When I first saw you in this temple, there was a sword scar across your chest. The underworld flames upon it seemed familiar. I presume it was the work of the Assassin from this Holy Grail War?"
"Ah, yes." Goetia replied. "That one too was summoned by the Counter Force as their trump card against you. But it seems he chose to strike down me first—the Beast of Pity."
"How strong is he?"
As she asked, Satsuki hurled the black holy wheel in her hand into the sky. As though transcending time and space itself, the wheel wrapped around the heavenly band of light above. In an instant, the colossal heat that could have incinerated all of human history was devoured entirely.
"I do not know. I never saw his full strength. But he possesses a certain authority over death." Perhaps because he was once more about to face annihilation, Goetia's expression was calm, almost serene. To die like this might be preferable, more fitting to his will, than to survive as the Counter Force's enforcer and emerge victorious.
"I see."
Their exchange ended.
The wheel in the sky expanded without limit, reversing to engulf the entire Temple of Time. Whatever its power touched was erased, without exception, from the very concept of [existence].
"Such a technique, such might… Truly worthy of one who could descend under the class of [Saver]."
Goetia understood. His immortality could no longer be maintained.
For his undying nature was bound to the Temple of Time itself. As long as the temple endured, so would he. Within this place, the concepts of destruction and non-destruction coexisted in quantum superposition—that was the true source of his immortality.
But her technique struck at the root, erasing existence itself. The Temple of Time was obliterated from the level of [concept].
"A domain woven from dead lines can envelop the entire [Singularity]. Within this space, any matter with initial velocity moves faster than light. And once it exceeds light-speed, its length of reality is infinitely shortened, approaching zero. Within this field of dead lines, all things vanish completely—erased from the concept of [existence]."
Satsuki's form faded from the temple. Only her faint voice lingered, echoing through the void.
This technique embodied her insight as Demon Buddha Māra into the doctrine of dependent origination and emptiness—a most merciless expression of Buddhist truth, an attack without solution.
"Its name is—Mahākāla's World-Annihilating Holy Wheel."
...
When Satsuki reappeared, she was already outside the Temple of Time.
She floated high above the forest, waiting for Mahākāla's World-Annihilating Holy Wheel to completely consume the Temple of Time's information. This would aid her in constructing her own [Buddha-Kingdom].
Yet within her Tenseigan, she noticed an interesting scene.
Below, in the forest, Chaldea's group stood together with Irisviel and another short-haired, capable-looking woman.
Opposite them stood Kirei Kotomine, Executor of the Holy Church.
Their Servants, bound by prior agreements with the Church, did not manifest physically to intervene. Instead, they seemed occupied with searching for distortions of the Singularity.
"Strange. I clearly sensed that Caster's mana reaction in this area before—why has it suddenly vanished?"
By Irisviel's side, the Knight King of Britain remained concealed. She had only been accompanying Irisviel on a stroll near the castle, but at the forest's edge she had sensed the twisted mana of Caster.
As a vessel of the Lesser Grail, Irisviel was especially sensitive to such power. The two discussed briefly and decided to investigate.
There they encountered the Executor of the Holy Church—the man her husband, Kiritsugu Emiya, had once called the most dangerous participant in this war.
Irisviel and her bodyguard, the short-haired woman known as Maiya Hisau, exchanged a few blows with him. Though restrained due to the presence of Servants, the skirmish revealed just how inhumanly strong the emotionless Church Executor was in martial skill.
When the two women fell into disadvantage, Chaldea's party—banished by Satsuki from Caster's Singularity—arrived on the scene. Seeing the situation, they instinctively sided with the women. Of course, it was a conscious choice as well.
"The Executor of the Holy Church, Kirei Kotomine… also the Master of Assassin in this Holy Grail War…"
Even while troubled by the events of the Singularity, Lord El-Melloi II's mind turned swiftly to the present situation.
"If I recall, your Holy Church claims to act as neutral overseers of the Holy Grail War. Yet here, it seems you've abandoned that stance. Are you saying the Clock Tower means nothing to you?"
"Quite the opposite."
Kirei's expression remained as empty as his heart. His gaze shifted toward Irisviel and Maiya. "I am here under the joint commission of both the Clock Tower and the Holy Church: to eliminate the irregularity within this Holy Grail War—namely, the magus killer Kiritsugu Emiya. Those two women, for reasons unknown, sought to obstruct my mission. Nothing more."
"This… impossible."
"I have no need to lie. You carry the mana of a magus yourself—you should know that representatives of the Clock Tower are also present in this war."
Kirei's eyes turned toward the distant castle. "Kiritsugu Emiya used methods unworthy even of magi in his attempt to eliminate that Clock Tower representative. Given his past deeds, both factions have decided jointly to erase him."
Finally, he spoke with chilling calm: "Kiritsugu Emiya's actions have angered not only the Clock Tower, but also the Holy Church."
"Kirei Kotomine, you are the greatest threat to Kiritsugu in this war. Our reason for being here is simple—we stand against you, not as Masters, but as Kiritsugu's family."
Irisviel did not hide her purpose. The conflict was now unavoidable.
Her declaration left El-Melloi II momentarily at a loss. What surprised him even more was not simply Kirei's reasoning, but his claim: that he acted under joint orders from both the Clock Tower and the Holy Church.
And in the original Holy Grail War, the one Kiritsugu had crushed most severely—and who was also tied to the Clock Tower—was none other than his former mentor, Kayneth.
"That ever-arrogant Kayneth actually went so far as to seek aid from the Holy Church… how absurd this worldline must have become."
Meanwhile, as Chaldea's final Master, Ritsuka Fujimaru considered the situation from another angle.
To him, these internal disputes of the world mattered little. So long as they did not escalate to the level of a Singularity or Lostbelt—requiring Chaldea's direct attention and intervention—he would not interfere.
After traversing so many worlds, he had long since accepted the law of "survival of the fittest."
But should a factor arise that threatened the entire "ecological structure," his sense of duty would compel him to act without hesitation.
At present, due to the Church Overseer Kotomine Risei's sudden announcement of altered rules: all Masters, save for Caster, were to temporarily cease hostilities, only resuming the Holy Grail War after eliminating Caster together.
Kirei Kotomine, by virtue of his dual identity, could act as Executor of the Holy Church. So long as he refrained from unleashing his Servant, none could object.
Kiritsugu Emiya, however, was an exception—having earned the wrath of both the Clock Tower and the Holy Church. If he were "accidentally" eliminated, neither faction would shed a tear.
For this was reality—not some naive world where the powerful would voluntarily bind themselves with rules.
Still, for Servants, standing idly by while their Masters faced mortal peril was unthinkable.
Though she disdained Kiritsugu's methods, the Knight King nonetheless lent him a portion of her Noble Phantasm's blessing, while she herself stood guard over Irisviel.
After all, Irisviel was her true source of mana—and her grace and bearing aligned with the king's ideal image of a Master.
In such a tangled situation, Fujimaru's stance as an outsider carried decisive weight.
He was not bound by the Church's rules, yet his power was more than enough to sway the balance.
Thus, when he resolved to have Mash enter the fray, all eyes immediately shifted to him.
Looking between both sides, Fujimaru raised his Command Spell and declared: "Enough! The Holy Grail War is no longer the priority. Our true enemy is Caster—Goetia, summoned in the Caster class, is the greatest threat we face now!"
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