Section 10: The False Sacred Lance (2/3)

All right, I think that should be just about enough scraps...

...but I can already tell from here that the automata and ghosts are getting uncomfortably close.

There certainly are a lot of them, aren't there. So what is it you're planning to do, Gray?

Well, like Mr. Babbage said, that Rhongomyniad is a fake.

Whoever's behind all this probably took the image of it from Fujimaru's memories...

...and fashioned it into an impenetrable stronghold to hide out in.

But since it's still based on an image of the real Rhongomyniad, I should be able to interfere with it at least a little.

Imitative magecraft. One of the basic principles of all magecraft is that like affects like.

Right! Okay, I'm going to use the magical energy from all the scraps we collected!

Heeheehee, we really gotta concentrate for this one!

She did it! The Rhongomyniad's outer shell has cracked, and there's a crystal staircase leading up to the top!

This was the best I could do on short notice, but we should still be able to use it to reach the interior.

In that case, I'd better go all out right from the start.

I don't see any point in holding back now that we've come this far, after all.

What about you, El-Melloi II?

I'm afraid this is as far as I go. Zhuge Liang's Spirit Origin still hasn't recovered, so I'd only slow the rest of you down.

But I have every confidence that my adoptive sister and apprentice will be just as capable in my stead, if not more so.

All right, Master, get going!

？！

I'm going to stay here and protect my people. Now is the time to make use of all the security devices I installed throughout my kingdom!

You're a strange man, Babbage.

You acknowledge that this impossible dream needs to be nipped in the bud, yet you're still determined to protect it to the very end.

Of course. This dream may be impossible, but the people living within it are very real.

Thus, as a Heroic Spirit sworn to keep humanity safe, it is my duty to protect them until the dream comes to an end.

Well said. I may not be much help in battle, but I'll offer my tactical expertise to assist you.

I'll help too.

Are you sure?

It's what my client wanted. ...Say, have we met before?

No, I'm quite sure we haven't. And, frankly, if we have, that is not important at the moment.

Yes, that is true. All right, tactician, I'll be counting on your help out there.

Monsters and dollies and ghosts, oh my!

Oh boy, so many friends to dismember!

Yay! It's like an all-you-can-squish buffet!

I like that! This is a truly golden party! I could do this all night!

I am surprised it is so quiet here. I would have thought there would be far more commotion, yet the partygoers are carrying on as if nothing is happening.

That is because these fine patchwork people know how best to live their lives!

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players!

There are only so many monsters making their way towards this patchwork. The two of us should be able to see to them quite readily.

Indeed.

Besides, the song I absolutely refuse to miss is just about to start!

I see. The repairs to that marionette M told us about must be finished, then.

I am told it will last but a moment, though that should be sufficient for the remaining life of this Singularity.

And what a beautiful song on which to close the curtain...!

This staircase is muuuch taller than it looks! Good thing I'm a Servant, or this would be rough.

I'm okay myself, but...

My, my. You look as though you're about to keel over, yet you somehow seem oddly accustomed to this.

I take it heights don't bother you? Even when up this high, where one misstep would spell your doom?

？！

Sorry, Master, you'll just have to deal with it. Whoever's behind all this is after you and your ability to supply magical energy, right?

So instead of trying and failing to hide, it's safer if you stick with us.

Though of course, there's still a very high risk of you getting caught in the cross fire and dying that way as well.

So, which will it be? Are you too scared to go on?

？！

What a lovely voice you have. You're clearly afraid, yet you haven't let your fears overwhelm you.

That's just the sort of ordinary goodness I like. People like you make protecting humans worthwhile.

On a different note, it seems the invasion on the ground has stopped. The Steam King and the tactician have it. Maybe Kerry pitched in too.

I'm sure there must be other people fighting on the ground as well...

...Huh!?

？！

Oh no!

Hey, this paper's different from the ones we've seen so far!

Shit! They must be getting desperate! They're trying to imprint a new false memory directly into the top of these stairs!

Stay close to me and Gray! No one messes with my pupil's memories on my watch!

Fujimaru! Gray! Wake up!

？！

I thought this was perhaps a place from your memories. I had the same strange dream you probably just did...

That was like...an image seared into space... You've been to a place like this before?

You've had some very unusual experiences for a human, haven't you?

Hmm. I don't sense anything living inside the temple...

So that's different from your memories? Maybe it's intentional...or maybe there's a limit to what our enemy can reproduce.

Although...what if there's a memory here, even an incomplete one, that could stop us in our tracks because of how devastating it is for you...?

I'm freezing to death just standing here. And not in the normal sense, it's...almost like there's no concept of temperature here...

I don't think anything living could survive here, let alone humans...

Well that's not a very nice thing to say. We were all born here...and we all live and die here, too.

Who are you!?

He must be from your memories...!

Hey there. I suppose this is where I say, "Long time no see"?

Then again, there's not much point in exchanging greetings, or catching up.

？！

Heeheeheeheeheehee! Heeheeheeheeheeheehee!

False? Fleeting? All fine and dandy! There's nothing real in this world to begin with!

I'm just an illusion! Even this Singularity is a fake! It was all a fabrication! All a dream! All for nothing!

Burn it! Incinerate it! Use three thousand years for kindling! Raze all of human history to the ground!

？！

What is that thing!? It's neither a Servant nor a Phantasmal!

It looks more like a filthy demon imitation than anything!

A Demon God Pillar... As I recall, you said they were part of Goetia the King of Demon Gods...

At least the one behind all this was only able to copy a small portion of them...but it looks like they've still sunk enough resources into them to overwhelm us with numbers!

Activate. Activate. The nine pillars that govern Barbatos the Control Tower:

Paimon. Buer. Gusion. Sitri. Beleth. Leraje. Eligos. Caim.

We nine pillars assist with integration. We nine pillars maintain the terminals.

In the name of the Seventy-Two Demon Gods, nothing shall stop this integration...!

Whoa, whoa, whoa, come the hell on!

Shit, I knew it!

Now there are nine pillars popping up one after the other, with Barbatos in the middle!

One of the Seventy-Two Demon Gods: Demon God Barbatos. This is the form of our evil.

？！

So that's the connection! They were able to focus their resources by tying them to your memories of London!

And since Barbatos is the Demon God that can come and go between the past and the future...

...he must have been the right Demon God Pillar to reassess and manage their resources.

Just what kind of war have you been fighting, anyway!? Servants alone aren't nearly enough to take down an opponent like this!

We'll see about that! I'll take them all out without breaking a sweat!

But, there's nine of them, and only three of us...!

Oh? I see you don't understand my Authority very well then. These pillars should have known better than to pick a fight with us in space!

Here is my judgment! My treasury is this night sky; your sins as numerous as the stars!

The hour of judgment is upon thee. State thy name, and accept thy sentence. Custos Morum!

Meteors are striking them directly from outer space! What incredible power...

Astraea, stop! I know you're a Divine Spirit Pseudo-Servant, but if you keep using that much power with a Servant Spirit Origin

Oh, never mind that! The goddess of justice is wielding her scales the way they were MEANT to be wielded!

Besides, this is all just a poor copy of a bad dream.

Don't you have some way of handling things like that yourself?

Yeah... I guess I do...

There's still some magical energy left in the paper scraps Gray didn't use up. If I use them myself...!

Go on! Hurry!

Hey, pupil! Look at me! I'm going to touch your forehead!

I need you to think hard so I can extract your memories for my own Noble Phantasm!

？！

Isn't that obvious? The memories you have of fighting these Demon God Pillars...

They're so strong!

We finally got one! Their copied thoughts might be all over the place, but they're just as strong as the originals...

It's pointless. Everything you do is pointless! Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!

What? It wasn't healed or restored, it just...manifested again! Does this mean the entire temple is...

The way this is going...

I am immortal. We are inexhaustible. This entire space IS us!

Hmm. I take it that everything you're saying is a recreation of the past as well?

Who are you? If you think you can stop us now

You know, I thought I sensed some other intent at work ever since we noticed that they'd scattered those scraps of paper.

I'm guessing those scraps were a byproduct of reproducing these Demon God Pillars.

Whoever arranged all this probably prepared them in case things got dicey like this, but they clearly didn't think it through.

You've been getting sloppy since you started this repeat performance. This ability might be a powerful trump card, but it's not exactly cut out for combat.

What are you talking about!?

As it turns out, I've got an overwhelming advantage when it comes to trump cards like that! Right, Sima Yi?

It is. All the conditions for my Noble Phantasm are now in place. It should indeed work well, even under these somewhat unexpected circumstances.

After all, that is exactly what my Noble Phantasm was originally intended for.

？！

Contests need neither stratagem nor trump card. All that is required is flawless preparation and victory.

Unspoken Formation!

Ahh... AHHhhhHHH...!

Losing connection...to temple... Rebirth and...reversion...down seventy...percent...

The Demon God Pillars are going all...staticky...

Hehehe, these foes have been causing us a great deal of trouble!

So I decided to turn the tables and use their memory rewriting methods against them!

？！

Memories can become energy, and vast amounts of energy can be used to falsify memories, remember?

Since both this space and the Demon God Pillars are memories come to life, the same holds true for them.

On top of that, my Noble Phantasm's strength lies in destroying advantages and exposing weaknesses.

As long as the conditions are in place, it can even create weaknesses where none previously existed.

So, just like when your own memories were falsified...

...I used those scraps and my Noble Phantasm to introduce a new false memory into this space.

Specifically, I created a memory where these things have a glaringly fatal weakness.

？！

Oh come on, of course they do, you big dummy. Isn't it obvious?

It's you.

？！

You are the Demon God Pillars' weakness.

There has never been anyone else in human history who has slain as many Pillars as you. You're easily the world record holder.

With all that to your name, your prowess at slaying them is on par with a Heroic Spirit's special attack!

Remember that there are some Heroic Spirits out there who can be slain by a bit of cheese to the head, simply because that is part of their legend!

Imagine what sort of power recreating an event that genuinely happened must have! That's why I snuck data of you into these Demon God Pillar reproductions!

Now, just facing you is enough to make them feel like they're having a nightmare!

Tragic, isn't it? You just hate to see it!

？！

Hahaha! Yes, go on. Don't be shy with the praise!

There might still be a lot of them to deal with, but I'm pretty sure me, Astraea, and Gray can mow them all down now!

And if this temple and the Demon God Pillars are one and the same, defeating enough of the latter should make this whole space go away on its own!

Yes! I think this should work!

I trust that's all right with you, Fujimaru!?

？！