A continent floated in the void. It was the place of Goetia's throne, the Grand Temple of Time.
Suddenly, the calm void rippled. Large sheets of space tore open, and Chaldea broke through from within.
Goetia, seated upon the throne, sensed Chaldea's arrival. The huge eye in his chest contracted slightly, and the whole form of Chaldea entered his sight.
"Chaldea. Again. You never fail to disappoint in how disappointing you are. All you had to do was wait quietly for death, so why do you always come here throwing your lives away?"
A powerful aura spread from Goetia. Ash and gravel on the ground blew outward under the pressure.
At that moment, the voices of many Demon God Pillars rose inside Goetia. They demanded that he release them so they could crush everyone from Chaldea.
"Be silent, you useless failures!" Goetia roared and forced down the voices of the seventy-two Demon God Pillars.
After King Solomon's death, the abandoned concept of the seventy-two Demon God Pillars took root inside Solomon's corpse. After long ages, Goetia was born wearing Solomon's skin. He could not summon Heroic Spirits or ordinary familiars, but when the targets were the seventy-two Demon God Pillars, he could freely summon them into the world.
The entity known as the Human Order Incineration Formula Goetia was a conscious form of Magecraft, woven to reach true wisdom and trying to use all of human history to arrive at the Root.
Because of that, it was easiest to understand Goetia as a converter lodged inside King Solomon's body, one capable of projecting the Demon God Pillars to the outside at will.
"Have your past stupid mistakes not been enough? This time, I will do it myself!" As Goetia spoke, he looked toward Chaldea. The expected Master did not appear. Instead, someone he did not recognize stepped out.
"Who is that? A Servant I do not know?"
While Goetia was still thinking, he sensed Wu Ling's unrestrained magical energy. That energy reminded him of Wu Ling's identity.
"I see. The savior from outside the world. Then let me test you!"
Wu Ling stepped onto the ground alone. He immediately saw Goetia's absurd magical energy. He raised a hand and waved behind him, then flew toward Goetia.
As he flew, Wu Ling kept part of his attention on the seventy-two Demon God Pillars that might appear. With his strength, he could easily kill several of them at once, but their conceptual immortality could still cause him some trouble. His original plan was either to end the fight quickly or cut his way through, since he did not have so many Heroic Spirits willing to help restrain them.
But the situation exceeded his expectations. Until he reached Goetia, not one Demon God Pillar tried to stop him. Only one being could have made that happen. Wu Ling raised his head and looked at Goetia on the throne.
In Wu Ling's eyes, Goetia looked terrifying, but in another way he was also handsome. Ominous, yet incomparably sacred. He truly looked like a demon god among demon gods.
"So you are the one the world sent to deal with me? You endured more than ten thousand bands of light, so you do possess the strength to be called a savior. Unfortunately, strength alone is not enough."
As Goetia spoke, he swept his hand. Several bands of light fired without hesitation toward Chaldea and the lower portion of the Grand Temple of Time.
Inside Chaldea, everyone detected the bands of light coming at them and hid the entire facility within the gap between space and time to avoid the attack. But the Grand Temple of Time was destroyed across most of its structure. Only the ground where Wu Ling and Goetia stood remained, along with a small portion of land below.
Between the Grand Temple of Time and Chaldea, a terrifying zone appeared. The immense magical energy of the bands of light had twisted space and time there. Chaldea would not be able to cross that region and approach the Grand Temple of Time in the short term.
In other words, Wu Ling was now isolated.
Goetia clenched his fist toward Wu Ling.
"Good. The people in the way will not come over. Come, then. Show me the power of a savior, then die with your helplessness."
Wu Ling's gaze kept drifting between Goetia's chest and his face. He was not sure whether he should speak to the face without eyes and mouth, or to the big sparkling eye that was staring at him the whole time.
But in Goetia's eyes, Wu Ling's action meant contempt. Only someone with absolute superiority would have the leisure to size up an enemy.
"Ora!"
Goetia punched toward Wu Ling's head. Wu Ling only raised one hand and blocked the blow. He looked unharmed, but the ground beneath his feet split apart from the force.
"Muda!"
After blocking Goetia's attack, Wu Ling threw a backhand punch toward that bright, glossy eye. Why did Wu Ling not use a Noble Phantasm? Because Goetia was not using one either.
Goetia, Solomon the Boxing King himself, had thrown away his own advantage and chosen hand-to-hand combat. In that case, Wu Ling naturally had to answer the enemy's intent.
"Ora, ora, ora, ora!"
"Muda, muda, muda, muda!"
One was one of the seven Evils of Humanity, the Beast that held the Principle of Pity. The other was the King of Heroic Spirits, able to connect freely to the Throne of Heroes and borrow its powers. Yet for now, the two of them tacitly used no abilities at all. They fought with the most primitive violence.
During the exchange, Goetia made one mistake, and Wu Ling tore off his right arm. Goetia immediately swung his other fist at Wu Ling. Wu Ling answered with his own punch. After a barrage of clashes, Goetia was the first to fail. He was knocked flying, but Wu Ling did not pursue.
Goetia steadied himself and looked at his missing arm. The next moment, vast magical energy surged from the severed point and formed an arm identical to the original.
Goetia waved the restored arm and said, "Your strength is real. But you should know that strength does not represent everything. After I cut you off from Chaldea, the outcome of this battle lost all uncertainty. I cannot die."
Seeing Goetia act as if victory was certain, Wu Ling let out a light laugh.
"Ha. Are you talking about Roman?"
Goetia was startled. "How do you know that?"
"Because of this."
After speaking, Wu Ling casually took out the golden ring he had obtained from Doctor Roman.