The sky was dark as ink. In this instant, the world's grievances gathered desperately toward Koyanskaya—so dense they were almost visible to the naked eye.
Today, she wore a simple, beautiful white dress, barefoot. She spread her arms with elegance, her expression suffused with something like holy intoxication—as if she wasn't absorbing hatred at all, but receiving a sacred baptism.
Standing before the tent, Izaya lifted his head. With a sense of empathy, he could clearly hear the sound within that raging torrent.
It was the wail of mammoths felled in the Ice Age; the fury of saber-toothed tigers pierced by mankind's first spears; the pain of countless creatures, trampled and crushed without mercy beneath the wheels of human civilization for tens of thousands of years.
These inhuman agonies had now become rungs on her ladder of ascension.
Across from her, the black-clad Koyanskaya—wrapped in black tights—was also greedily drinking in the storm of energy. Behind her, nine enormous tails slowly unfurled.
"Why do I always feel a chill on my back…?"
Watching from afar, Izaya suddenly felt a sharp palpitation—as if something had taken aim at him.
On this land, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call today's Izaya a Third Beast in everything but name… Empathy, magecraft, even his physical parameters—everything had been horrifyingly enhanced.
And at this moment, he could clearly sense that someone was watching him…
Yet when he scanned his surroundings, he saw no enemy.
"Your senses are different from an ordinary human magus."
"…Indeed. Are you also 'a part' of this land?"
A voice—very low—rang out in front of him without warning.
Izaya jerked his head up and saw two deep-navy flames in the dark night.
An old man, rugged as a mountain, slowly emerged from the darkness ahead.
He made no sound at all, yet each step felt as if it landed on the world's axis, perfectly in sync with the heavy tolling of a dusk bell.
At last, he came to Izaya—carrying a beheading sword suited to his height.
The Old Man of the Mountain—the First Hassan-i Sabbah.
Blue ghostfire blazed, the first to fall upon the distant Beast that was nearing godhood.
Then the skull mask turned, slowly, toward the young man.
Izaya stared at the elder before him, his chest trembling.
The man was plainly standing there—yet without Izaya's current intuition, it would have been difficult to detect his existence at all.
This man…
An Assassin?
But even an Assassin with perfect Presence Concealment shouldn't be able to become this imperceptible…
At last, the elder spoke.
His voice was like a death knell ringing through the night—heavy with judgment that could not be questioned.
"Izaya Sajyou is still young. We do not intend to become your enemies…
"However, the emergence of that 'Beast' is a great evil that shakes the very foundation of human reason. This is neither humanity's territory, nor a battlefield you should set foot upon."
The blue flame beneath the skull-faced armor angled again toward the faraway Beast, and the absolute weight of his denial made the air feel as if it might crack.
"You…"
"Stand down."
It was not a request, nor a suggestion.
It was a declaration.
Izaya's thoughts churned.
He did not wish to become an enemy of humanity's reason—yet he also wished, in the future, to coexist in harmony with Koyanskaya. Her ascension ritual could not be allowed to be destroyed… even if the one standing before him was a crowned hero.
The complete Beast's coronation had reached a critical stage. This land—this planet—every nonhuman being upon it had awakened its resentment, sensed his fierce will, and stood ready to be used at his command.
[Your Noble Phantasm "Scorched Earth (B)" has completed its final evolution.]
You have obtained the evolved Noble Phantasm → "Scorched Earth (EX)".
Even now, whether they were beasts that praised, beasts that loved to play, or even the restless dead of this land—everything here acknowledged the one standing upon it. No matter how overwhelming the Noble Phantasm's authority, he could devour it all.
The Old Man of the Mountain's voice lowered further as he began to step toward the catastrophe—toward the two figures at its center.
As he advanced, countless grievances gathered like water before Izaya's eyes.
Then, as if roused by some force, the entire Tunguska region erupted into an enraged roar.
Endless resentments surged into the sky—
In this moment, the final struggle of every nonhuman existence that had died in despair over hundreds of millions of years was laid bare.
Under Izaya's will, those grudges became a boundary. It multiplied, twisted, climbed—until a dark, deathly barrier formed over the entire region.
"But… sorry."
Izaya spoke calmly.
"The road ahead is forbidden."
"…Do you wish to witness death in a human body?" the Old Man asked after a long silence, his voice heavy and hoarse.
"They rely on me," Izaya said—steady, like an immortal oath.
"…And on this land."
The moment the words fell, countless vivid pink petals suddenly poured down from the air, without warning, like rain.
The petals swirled through the downpour, and a figure quietly condensed within them.
"I never thought a magus would help a Beast…
"I've seen countless humans from within the tower, but I've never seen anything quite so strange. This trip was certainly not wasted."
Izaya stared at the silver-haired man, who wore a dramatic, graceful smile.
"…Merlin."
So it was exactly as the Foreign God had said.
Both Counter Force had set their sights on the Beast, summoning their own forces to stop Koyanskaya's ascension.
But…
Was it really only two Grands?
Izaya looked closer and suddenly found a third person outside his barrier.
Taigong Wang.
He smiled at the black-haired man, helplessness in his tone.
"Sorry… but last time I already let you off the hook. This time I've received a kill order. You should give up."
"It might already be too late, but if it gets any later, it'll become a real headache—"
He didn't finish.
Boom!
A roar came from the edge of the heavens.
The sky shattered.
It wasn't physical destruction, but something more essential—more conceptual—like a veil being torn apart.
This world seemed to be forcibly ripped open by an invisible gigantic hand.
Then, within the dark curtain of rain, three massive stars quietly appeared.
They blazed like suns, branding their existence into this land with overwhelming intensity.
—Orion's Belt.
The next second, a meteor fell boldly from above.
Boom!!
The meteor did not trigger a destructive explosion.
It slammed into the frozen earth, releasing a shockwave brimming with the pulse of life.
The light faded. A figure stood upon the ground.
A giant that seemed to have stepped out of myth—bare-chested, animal hide tied around his waist. Wild hair and beard only made his savage nature harder to restrain.
On his shoulder was not a bow, but a primitive massive club carved from a giant tree.
Taigong Wang and Merlin's expressions turned solemn like never before…
Because they both sensed it—the man before them had been projected here by a Heroic Spirit with the spiritual foundation of a Grand: the Counter Force itself.
Super Orion.
The moment he landed, he didn't hesitate. With one hand, he lifted the colossal bow—that primitive tree-club—and hurled it toward Koyanskaya's direction.
"Beast…"
"Come down!"
With a roar that shook the earth, the gigantic bow shot straight into the sky at a speed beyond human comprehension.
Wherever it passed, the rainwater in the air evaporated instantly.
Izaya looked up.
"Give it to me…"
"Get lost!"
He poured every ounce of himself into the earth—mind and mana—triggering a violent resonance across the entire Tunguska region.
The grievance-boundary was no longer simply defense. Infused with seemingly endless life, it transformed into something like a spiderweb.
Boom!
The giant bow thrown with Orion's full strength became a pillar of golden light and slammed into the web.
An indescribable shockwave surged in all directions, centered on the impact point.
In that instant, Izaya even felt pain—as if he were being torn apart from the inside.
The strongest hunter wrapped in starlight turned his head, staring at the man in surprise.
"Oh? Oh?
"A human can stop my hunt? No wonder the Counter Force deliberately awakened me…"
Below, Merlin was already stunned by the terrifying blow.
"I didn't expect this man to come as well…
"This time the Counter Force is really going all-in…"
Then, shocked, he quickly looked toward the young man and spoke in a gentle voice.
"Izaya Sajyou… it's too late to go back."
Merlin spoke, his tone seductive.
"After all, a Beast is the enemy of human reason…
"Why do this?"
Izaya couldn't break the death-wall built of resentment. He could only expand it—covering Orion within it.
Of course he could leave.
But the question was—
If he left, what would they do?
They hated humans, but they would not destroy human reason completely—because if human reason were destroyed, they would also die.
The true enemy was an outsider god like Goetia—one plotting to eradicate humanity utterly.
—And yet the Foreign God was still secretly watching this whole play.
Izaya lifted his head. Through Merlin, he looked toward the pink-haired woman who was gradually sprouting wings.
Then he turned back to Merlin and asked the most fundamental question:
"A Beast…"
"How is it born?"
At those words, the ghostfire beneath the Old Man's skull mask flickered upward slightly—yet he remained silent, rare for him.
Merlin's smile deepened into something inscrutable.
Every Beast was a special existence derived from humanity's own evil.
Whether Koyanskaya or any other Beast—they were born this way.
If you turned that question back around…
Then, in this place, it truly made no sense.
Even so, the Counter Force enforced an unchanging order. Even Grands could do only what they could do to kill this budding Beast…
And if someone stood on her side, that person would die too.
The world's will could not be defied.
Thus, in a storm like this night, countless attacks rained down, one Noble Phantasm after another manifesting upon this land.
Koyanskaya seemed to sense something as well, but she had reached the most critical phase. She could only focus on ascending. The tails behind her were like immense rivers of light, carrying stars and laws within them.
Within each band of light, it was as if an independent ecosystem of ancient fantasy species was reflected.
Like nine laws dividing heaven and earth, they wrapped around her body and moved slowly in rhythm.
They were about to break through!
Merlin noticed too and murmured softly, "Clumsy as it is, for humanity's sake, don't blame us if we hit harder—or softer—than we should, Izaya Sajyou."
Izaya did not answer.
He felt the barrier he had built with mana and will begin to fracture, bit by bit, under the stormlike onslaught.
His consciousness gradually sank into darkness.
Seeing himself about to slip into coma, he forced his arm to move and took out a seed.
Quietly, he injected a thin thread of magecraft into it.
…
His awareness fell, as if into an abyss.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw only a vast, endless cosmos.
The Foreign God slowly opened golden eyes.
"You still remember our promise, Izaya."
"Of course. I won't break it."
Izaya grinned.
"When this is over, I'll give you ten years' worth of energy."
The Foreign God stared at him deeply, her gaze seeming to pierce the universe and fix upon Koyanskaya's direction.
"A human doing everything he can for a Beast…
"That was not among the 'possibilities' she first saw."
She looked at the young man and spoke slowly.
"It's inconvenient for me to reveal my true body, so for now I must borrow yours. Is that acceptable?"
"Yes."
Izaya did not hesitate.
"Good. Then the contract of our transaction shall formally take effect."
The Foreign God reached out and touched the man's palm. An incomparable, majestic voice echoed quietly across the boundless cosmos.
"Then from this moment onward—"
"Substitute."
…
Endless magecraft continued to batter the barrier built by the man's will and mana.
Bang!
At the very end, the barrier shattered.
The young man's body curled, like a shrimp clutching itself—how much humiliation and shame it held, no one could say.
Even if the land could supply magecraft without end, he still could not withstand the attacks of four Grands—or quasi-Grands.
Yet until the last instant before unconsciousness, Izaya had done everything he could to stop them.
"How truly pitiful…"
Merlin looked at the collapsed man with pity and spoke softly.
"But, brother, I don't dislike that stubborn personality."
"Where does a nightmare get the right to talk?" Taigong Wang muttered. "If you're a fake, cut the chatter. It's a bit disgusting."
Taigong Wang fell silent, glanced once at the man, then looked toward Koyanskaya nearby.
"We have to stop her—quickly."
Orion sighed.
"Our positions differ, but that was worthy of respect."
The Old Man of the Mountain gripped his beheading sword and said quietly.
"Let's go."
They turned to leave.
But in that moment, Merlin suddenly sensed something and stopped.
As if he'd seen a living ghost, he slowly turned back.
The man was clearly unconscious, his Magic Circuits damaged by overload…
Yet he was standing up.
From beneath the Old Man's armor came a voice with the faintest fluctuation.
"His breath…"
"Something is wrong."
Orion stared hard at the man, seized his enormous bow, and said in a low voice,
"There's no time. Decide—now."
"Wait!"
Merlin suddenly raised a hand to stop Orion.
He stared at the black-haired man with suspicion.
"This kid… something's off.
"I'll confirm with prophecy first. Maybe the Beast of Cherishment left some self-detonating backhand."
In his view, a cunning Beast would not be above planting a suicide bomb inside a human.
As he spoke, he lifted those galaxy-bright violet eyes and peered at the man.
Thump… thump…
For some reason, a powerful unease spread through Merlin's heart.
Why?
No matter how strong this teenage man was, he shouldn't have been able to threaten them.
So why did he—Nightmare himself—feel an unspeakable "palpitation" and "panic"?
The coronation ritual wasn't finished yet…
This unease shouldn't have anything to do with her.
…So why?
Thinking that, Merlin's clairvoyance reached toward Izaya.
And his pupils slowly dilated.
Watching the seconds bleed away, Orion finally opened his mouth.
"Optimistic—?"
Before he could finish, Merlin suddenly screamed. Blood streamed from his eyes.
He covered the injured eye. Under the terrified gazes of the Grands, his voice shook.
"Run…"
"Run—now!!"
…