Kali Yuga/A Revolving World

Fou, fooou!

Master, get back!

There are two Servants I've never seen before, and...

...

I guess that other Nezha was on the enemy's side after all...

We already know how strong she is. Be very careful not to let your guard down, Master.

Whoa there, slow down, girlie. We're not here to fight.

!?

Tch... You guys piss me off! First you make me come all this way to see what's up, then you just show up anyway!?

So they are Aśvatthāman's allies. But, why would so many Servants band together like this...?

Anger: Unnecessary. We need only obey him.

We haven't sensed Indian gods here in a long time. I don't blame him for being interested, even if it's pointless.

Uh, why're they looking at me like that? I haven't done anything wrong aside from eating like a piuh, elephant.

Fujimaru, are you seeing this? Or rather, not seeing it?

？！

Yup! I think we might've just accomplished our initial goal of keeping this town safe, so that's cause for celebration.

Though maybe not too much, since we've now got new, much more difficult obstacles instead.

If you aren't here to fight, then why are you here?

Didn't we mention it? We're accompanying him. He told us to come along, so we did. That's all there is to it.

This "him" you speak of... Is he your Master?

...

Hmm, something like that. Or close enough, anyway.

Either way, it's only natural we'd obey him.

After all, he's the only god here. The one, final god.

Look, here he comes!

This reading...! Actually, I'm sure you can all see this as well.

Look up in the sky!

Yeah, I think you Indian heroes might just recognize that. We know what it is too.

Though the only time we saw someone riding it, it was the decidedly non-Indian King of Heroes.

It's both a flying chariot, and a ship. A floating palace that serves as transport for the gods that's said to even be capable of ascending into space...

...A white Vimana!?

Who's that riding it? ...Is that...?

He looks different, but I still recognize his face. I would never mistake him for anyone else.

So, I can say with certainty...

That is Arjuna.

？！

Not the one recorded in Chaldea, of course. He must have an altogether different Spirit Origin here...

...No.

Once...I may have been known...as Arjuna... But now...

I am a god.

What's going on!? It feels like...my hair is standing on end!

Y-yeah, I feel it too... I-I don't know what's up with that, but I'm getting chills...

B-but I do know that no good guy would ever go around introducing himself as a god!

With the obvious exception of Ganesha, since he's the real deal!

So, beings with...divine power...have come from the outside. An avatar of Vishnu, a child of Pārvatī, and...

...

...Karna, son of Surya... So that is all of you.

？！

That's right. The Master of Chaldea and his Servant are here as well.

Fou, fou!

Ha. He usually wouldn't even look at you if you're not gods.

But you guys are idiots. So idiotic it's infuriating. Thanks to that, now he's noticed you, too.

Which means you guys are done for.

Well, now that you've come all this way to see them for yourself, what do you think?

...Nothing.

Huh?

This ended up being...no more than a fleeting diversion.

I thought...I might feel something... But...there was nothing.

To me, as I am now...all these...foreign elements I see below me...

...are equally defective, immature, and worthless.

...!

They do not belong in a perfect world... In that sense...they are evil.

God has witnessed defective beings. God has witnessed evil...

They have no place...in the next yuga...

Welp, there he goes. I guess he's not going to give us any orders then?

Conclusion: Impossible. Futile. Meaningless. Nothing and no one can break his concentration. We'll just have to wait.

Man, this really was a waste of time. I knew I should've just ignored all this and kept going with my research.

...Yeah, yeah, I know that means I'd be gone in the next yuga. I just wanted to vent.

？！

Crap, crap, crap! Arjuna's gathering an unbelievable amount of energy around him!

Indeed. The sheer energy for this Noble Phantasmif it can even be called thatis like nothing I have ever seen.

In fact, several of our sensors have been overloaded while trying to measure it...!

Wh-wh-what!? That can't possibly be good! Hurry up and do something!

Hear me, Arjuna. You think I'm defective? Immature? Worthless?

...

Look at me. Look me in the eye, take up your arms, and pay attention, Arjuna.

Otherwise this spear will be put to a cowardly use, and I don't want that.

...

Even after all that, you would still ignore me, Arjuna!?

Karna, I understand you two have a lot of history. And I'm sure there are rules you are bound to as warriors of Kuru.

But neither of those is true for me. As far as I'm concerned, he's already started this fight.

And as I'm sure you know, when I decide to do something, I do it, whether my enemies are paying attention to me or not.

Master! I'm going to use everything I've got to stop him. Requesting permission to release my Noble Phantasm!

？！

Brahmastra!!!

Uh, Rama? I think your NP might be bugging out, 'cause it looked like it didn't work on him at all!

What!? That can't be! That blade even destroyed the great rakshasa, Ravana! How could it have!?

I understand your shock and confusion, but since we must rely on accurate information, let me be clear.

Your Noble Phantasm did not so much as scratch him.

Furthermore, he did not take any sort of defensive action against it. It simply failed to do anything to him.

That lines up with what I saw, too. Though I still can't believe it!

At first I thought it might be an effect of the enormous amount of power he's concentrating near him, but that doesn't appear to be the case either.

Which would mean he possesses some sort of anti-interference ability that not even Rama's Noble Phantasm can penetrate.

But how is that possible...?

Be that as it may, we kings are notoriously stubborn. I could never hope to find Sita if I were to give up now.

I'm going to try again, and I won't hesitate to use anything or anyone. Help me, son of Surya!

？！

...If that is your order, Master.

Hurry it up! Whatever's going on there, the pressure's still building! Now get a move on before it's too late!

？！

Oh for... Can you really not see what's going on here?

Forget it! It won't work!

Don't take this the wrong way, but neither Ramie's nor Karnie's Noble Phantasms will have a chance against him!

Trust me, he outclasses you guys in every way. After all...

...he's every Indian god rolled into one single superbeing!

Fou!?

Peperoncino!?

Well, here we aretogether again, and much sooner than I expected!

I was going to just sit back and watch, but I just HAD to say something after seeing how utterly dense you are.

We can talk more later, though. Right now, you need to skedaddle. Chop, chop!

What!? You're our enemy too! Why should we listen to anything you have to

Well, what if I told you that I was only up in those mountains because I was running from Nezha?

And that Nezha only stopped fighting you guys because tracking me down was a higher priority?

What I mean is that they are my enemies as much as yours!

I see... So if that Arjuna is the Master of all those Servants, including Nezha...

...then our young Scandinavia Peperoncino can be the Master of none.

There appears to be no evidence to the contrary, either...

I really don't have time to lay it all out for you right now... (Sigh) I guess I'll have to try the direct approach.

Yes, I am a Crypter, and I know we're on opposing sides...but I promise you, I'm not lying.

If you don't get out of here right now, it will be the end of everything.

...!

？！

It's okay. You don't have to worry about them.

The ones who are fine are well and truly fine, and the ones who aren't, well...you can't help them now, anyway.

The one thing I can say for sure is that there's a very good reason why you all need to get out of here as fast as you possibly can.

If that's still not enough to convince you, then I'll have to resort to clichés instead of logic.

The truth is...right now, that's the only weapon I've got.

Ready? ...Here goes.

I hope you'll trust me on this.

Peperoncino...

Nn... What do we do?

？！

Same! Peperoncino is a good person! I can't imagine he would ever try to deceive anyone!

A good person, huh. From my perspective, you seem to be...

What? A show-off?

...No. If nothing else, I agree that you aren't lying. I have no objections to Master's decision.

Wh-what!? You believe him!?

Field decisions trump everything, Mr. Goredolf! Get used to it! All right then, hurry up and make your way out of

Oh. Well hello, Aśvatthāman. Long time no see.

I guess so. Pisses me the hell off to see you here, ex-Master.

!?

My contract with you's been completely overwritten. Any connection we had is long gone.

Aww, well that's too bad. I don't suppose you'd let me go to celebrate us no longer being Master and Servant, would you?

Hell no. I can't just let you guys walk out of here.

Now that the big boss has decided he wants you gone, it's my job as one of his Lōkapāla to see it done.

Hmm, well that puts me in a pretty pickle. Would you say all the others feel the same way?

How should I know? But I'd guess they wouldn't do anything unless they were directly ordered to. Pisses me off.

Hehe. Yeah, pretty much.

Oh, but don't get me wrong, it's not because I don't care about my job. I'm just confident that you're more than capable of handling this alone, Aśvatthāman.

Confidence is hugely important, you know. It's just like hunting. It's a bad idea to work too hard when you're confident in your position.

If you go around hunting down mountain animals when you don't need to, the mountain'll end up dead.

Is your position the only reason you're standing in our way, Aśvatthāman?

Nah, there's more to it than just that.

I know if I stop you guys from getting away now, it'll get us one step closer to his perfect world.

And you know what? I want to see his perfect world! I admit it!

Which means I got no choice but to stop you.

So I'm gonna beat all your asses down...

...and then, I'm gonna kick back and watch as you all get sucked into the dissolution!

The dissolution...? What do you mean?

Hmph... So the time for words is over, huh. Then I guess I'd better get ready to respond in kind.

If nothing else, I can understand him a lot better than the being way up there. Let's take him down and secure a way out of here, Master!

(So you still refuse to look my way, Arjuna...!)

(...No. Right now, I have another role to fulfill.)

Awaiting your orders, Master. Let's make our way through!

Rrrgh! Stand still, dammit!

Pepe's using magecraft to help us! He's not doing any damage, but he's moving so fast that the enemy can't focus on us. Now's our chance!

Hmm, can't say I've seen a spell to speed you up quite like that. It looks like it just lets you move around really quickly, plain and simple.

Hehe, want to know how it works?

Well, like its name suggests...I use the power of love to bend space around me!

Oh for...! He's obviously lying, but we'll just have to leave it at that for the moment! The important thing is, the enemy's vulnerable now!

There're no life-forms nearby, and you're a good distance away from the town now, so don't worry about holding back!

Vasavi Shakti!!!

It's a direct hit! That should do

...What!?

Rrgh, rrrgh, rrrghhh...!

What was that, Karna!? It's gonna take a hell of a lot more than that to kill me!

The attack did hurt him, that much is certain. But he's recovering from the damage at an alarming rate!

...I see you've changed since I last saw you, Aśvatthāman.

Ha! What'd you expect? You're the one who died first...

Losing to Arjuna, of all people...!

...I did. I won't deny it.

Hey now, slow your roll there, people. You don't have to finish him off just yet, okay?

The important thing is, he's hurt enough for us to get past him now! So come on, hurry!

？！

Dammit! Get back here...!

Fou, fou fou!

(Huff, huff) J-just so you guys know...!

Since I'm Ganesha and all, I can actually run faster than you'd think. Way faster than any ordinary human.

I don't even get tired that easily.

But I do FEEL tired, and for a NEET like me, that is the worst thing of all!

There's no one else in the whole world who hates running as much as we do!

Complaining about it won't make it any easier. Just be quiet and keep running.

I only said that because I was hoping you'd take the hint and carry me!

I can't. I would be crushed under your weight. Perhaps that is owed to the weight of Ganesha's divine power?

Hey, I'm not THAT heavy!

By the way, why are you running away with us? I thought you were our enemy.

I have my reasons!

Arjuna didn't see me as an enemy before now, so I was fine as long as I was just laying low...

But since Nezha found me in the mountains, and especially now that I've helped all of you...

...I'm pretty sure he's decided I don't have a place in this world!

Basically, now I'm qualified to be collateral damage!

Um, Pepe, I'm still not sure what that mea

Sorry, Mashie, but you really need to focus on moving those legs, not your mouth. We need to HURRY, honey!

If we don't get away in time, it's curtains for all of us!

？！

You're kidding me! You really don't even know that!?

All right, fine. I'll just have to explain as we run.

Arjuna there is about to destroy and remake everything in this Lostbelt.

Dissolution and rebirth... Destruction and reconstruction... Cataclysm and genesis... As the last god of this world, all of that is within his capability.

...Huh?

The reason he's taking so long to charge up is because he needs time to gather the ridiculous amount of energy he needs to pull all that off.

And if any of us get caught in the destruction and rebirth of this world, we'll end up disappearing completely.

One hundred percent, absolutely guaranteed. No recourse, no way out...nothing.

That's quite difficult to believe.

But, if that enormous mass of energy were to keep growing at an accelerated rate...I suppose it's not impossible...

But then, if that's true, what happens to the world after it's been recreated? What about the life-forms?

I'll fill you in on that later!

Right now, I'm just answering Fujimaru's question of how far we need to run!

So now that you know, I'm sure you can figure out what you have to do to avoid a massive Noble Phantasm capable of destroying the entire world, right?

You're the only ones with an evasive measure that can get around that. I'm counting on it to save my skin, too...

？！

Exactly! I'm glad you worked it out!

Naturally, I figured that might be the case, so I've got the engine all warmed up and ready to go☆

Let's figure out where to rendezvous, and we'll head there right now and come pick you guys up!

I'll admit, it's still risky. I'm not sure what will happen if Arjuna becomes aware of the Border too...

But right now, it's the only hope we have!

Hold it, hold it! Just a damn minute!

You want us to let a Crypter onto the Border? And let him experience a Zero Sail on top of that!?

Preposterous! Absolutely out of the question!

I know we've had a Crypter on board before, but that was strictly as a prisoner. Not to mention there were extenuating circumstan

Naturally, neither Da Vinci nor I have discounted the risks in this course of action.

But right now, the most important thing by far is ensuring Fujimaru's safety.

All other considerations are secondary at best. Besides...

？！

Just look at him. Once he makes up his mind to trust someone, there's nothing any of us can say to persuade him otherwise.

Especially since he's the one out there doing all the heavy lifting.

Ugh, I thought we'd been over this already.

At this point, I'm just a single, powerless mage. I don't even have a Servant anymore.

I'd say that more than qualifies me as a prisoner, personally.

Hmm. A prisoner, huh... I do still regret how Kadoc Zemlupus ended up getting away...

If I look at this as another chance to gain some valuable information about the Crypters...

...maybe the reward is worth the risk?

...All right, I'll make a special exception just this once! But he's to be kept under tight security at all times!

Thank you, Director Goredolf!

...I've got the Border's rendezvous point coordinates! Let's get there as fast as we can, Master!

？！

Fou, fooou!

(Sheesh. I've finally got a chance to survive. All that's left now is one simple question...)

(...Will we make it in time...?)

Fo fo, fo...u...

Are you okay, Master!?

We're almost there. Just hang in there a little longOn second thought, now that we've come this far, I doubt anything else will try to attack us.

I'll carry you the rest of the way. You too, Fou!

Fooou!

A-are we at the rendezvous point yet!?

Damn. Even with all this distance between us, the pressure from Arjuna is only growing stronger.

I've never felt the air turn so stifling before, not even when Ravana nicked my throat with his sword, or Kumbhakarna the giant's foot was hovering above my head.

...This isn't normal. I'm not usually afraid of anything except losing Sita...

...but for some time now I have been getting chills all the way down to my Spirit Origin!

...

Calculating expected arrival time based on our current speed and distance. Setting estimated limits based on current observation results.

Putting those together, we get...

Well? What is it, man? Why aren't you saying anything? Oi!

...The only parameter we can adjust now is our speed. We'll just have to hurry as best we can.

If you happened to install a secret acceleration system while you were working on the Border, Captain, this is the moment to reveal it.

I didn't have time for that. All I did was make sure all the existing systems were working.

(We should just be able to rendezvous in time if we use all our resources and go at top speed. The real problem is...)

...I'll make as much headway on my end as I can. Please hurry, Da Vinci!

...

...It's done.

Extracting...unified divine power from...all divinities, condensing process...complete. Using the tenth...to control execution...

...

Deployment prepartion... Begin.

？！

Th-this is...!

...!

Ah, aah... This is it! We're done for! It's all over now!

I can tell too. It couldn't have been more clear. Whatever that was...it's something we absolutely have to evade.

Please...please hurry up, Da Vinci!

Sorry for the wait! Come on in guys, the hatch is wide-open!

Everyone on board!? Okay, shutting the hatch...now!

？！

Haha, hahaha! Well that wasn't so bad! You really had me going there, Holmes!

Couldn't resist having a bit of fun with us in lieu of Watson's absence, eh old

We're not out of the woods yet. The real problem is readying the Zero Sail!

What!?

It doesn't just happen automatically at the push of a button. I did everything I could to prepare in advance...

But even if we skip some of the checklist, go with the bare minimum, and turn a blind eye to everything else...

...it won't work. Even if we perform the operations as fast as possible...it's still not enough.

It's a difference of only five seconds, maybe even less, between the time we need and the time when Arjuna releases his Noble Phantasm...but those are five seconds we just don't have!

No...!

Hold it. Hold on just a damn minute!

Which one of you just went outside in their spirit form!?

That wave earlier... Now I see. I don't understand it, but I can sense it.

It's true. This world is going to be destroyed, then remade. If we are caught in that, we will disappear.

？！

We can't let you be erased, Master. So I'm going to do what I must to ensure you survive.

Karna... You don't mean...!

Five seconds? Leave it to me.

By setting everything I have ablaze and becoming the very radiance of the sun... Even this Arjuna will not be able to consume it all at once.

For at least these five seconds, I will make sure he knows who I am.

B-but, if you do that, you'll...!

...

C-come on, Karna, you can't do this! Be reasonable!

？！

There is no other way. Get ready to set sail.

.........Holmes!

I'm working on it! It'll just be a bit longer!

That's it. Any Servant would do the same. This is what I want. You need not worry about me.

？！

Don't you dare let his sacrifice be in vain! Now sit down and buckle up!

Tch... You didn't even talk to me before you left! You've got a lot of nerve going off on your own like that, Karna...

You are truly the great Hero of Benefaction, a warrior among warriors! As they say nowadays, you live up to the hype and then some!

I'll take care of things from here. You give him hell!

...Thank you.

Entering final phase of emergency dive preparations! Initiating countdown

H-how much time do we have until the attack hits us!?

So little that I'd rather not spend it answering that question!

Wait... You can't... This isn't...

Arjuna... This may go without saying, but there are few things I want more than to run you through.

I could even take advantage of this briefest of opportunities to try and do so now.

But...

At this moment, I am a Servant sworn to protect my Master.

I am not here to meekly accept this outcome, nor resign myself to my fate. I am here to stand before you with pride, so that you may ignore me with disdain.

So today, I will not be taking up my spear. Instead...

God...has cast his gaze downward.

These defects are unnecessary...and therefore...evil.

Begone, evil... You have no place in the new yuga...the new world.

I will now...wield the sword...of the god who ends all things.

I will cut off the world. From the rift in the world...made by the blade...clear purification will burst forth.

Terminus and Genesis...will cycle anew...

Sword of dissolution, let your blade fall. Mahāpralaya...

Behold... These are the shining armor and earring given to me by Surya, god of the sun.

But know this. Once I transform myself into the life's radiance, this gold will no longer be my armor.

It will merely be a sign that I am burning bright as the sun, here where you can see it.

Kavacha and Kundara!

Golden armor...

...!!!

He activated his defensive Noble Phantasm...! But, even with its protection...!

Karnaaaaaa!

It's all right... I don't know how I know you, but I know you well.

And though I can't explain it...I have every confidence that we will one day meet again.

So don't be sad. And please...take care of Master for me.

...!

There! Shadow Border, untether from reality. Void Space Dive, Zero Sail: unfurl!