"No buts!"
Morgan cut off Artoria before she could say anything further.
As ORT launched another attack, Morgan shoved Scáthach and Artoria into the Water Mirror, sending them back near Storm Border.
But the moment of distraction allowed ORT's strike to land. The Unity God's right arm and shoulder were hit and instantly crystallized.
"Cut it off!"
At Shiomi's shout, Morgan didn't hesitate. She severed the crystallized shoulder and arm at once and shot upward, widening the distance between them.
The severed limb fell onto the drifting ruins below, shattering into powder the moment it landed. The fragments floated toward ORT's body and merged into it.
"What a monster. It can even turn our bodies into crystal at will."
Morgan rotated her newly regenerated shoulder and arm.
The clothing woven from Mana had disappeared, leaving her arm and shoulder bare.
But there was no time to worry about trivial things like that.
As long as she could still fight.
"That's destruction on a conceptual level, but..." Shiomi replied, looking at Morgan. "You understand now, don't you?"
"If I were facing it alone, I'd already be a lamb awaiting slaughter."
She tightened her grip on the Holy Lance.
"But my husband and I are one. So—!"
Countless emerald Mana spheres appeared at once, their surfaces covered in dense spiderweb-like patterns of crystal light.
They detonated in rapid succession.
Yet this time, none of the attacks could reach the Unity God. They were stopped outside her body by a conceptual defense.
"This is really troublesome..."
Morgan glanced back toward the Second Netherworld.
She couldn't see the others, but she knew exactly where Storm Border was.
The real issue was how long this collapse of Mictlan would last. That remained completely unknown.
And once the phenomenon ended, what kind of outcome would follow was equally uncertain.
After all, Tezcatlipoca had no intention of revealing anything.
Which meant that even just to confirm the answer, the Unity God had to remain here and face it head-on.
"Looks like ORT chose to attack us instead of heading for Chichen Itza," Shiomi said.
"Being a shield once in a while isn't so bad, husband. This time, you're not leaving me behind."
Morgan made sure to say that first.
"I'm not stupid. Without you here, I'd be dead for sure."
Shiomi let out a light chuckle.
Morgan answered with a knowing smile.
"Mm. In that case—"
"Take flight. Maximum speed!"
ORT swung its dozens-of-meters-long legs, launching a violent assault on the Unity God Morgan.
Despite its overwhelming strength, a cosmic lifeform that devoured all life and could even swallow gods, it was not completely invincible.
Speed was its weakness.
Even though ORT moved faster than most lifeforms on the planet, it still had its limits.
At least for now, ORT's attacks could not reach the body of the Unity God Morgan.
But...
"Is it too hard? Or... too soft?"
Even the continuous bombardment unleashed after releasing the Noble Phantasm's true name, [Roadless Camelot], did little more than stagger ORT and slow its movements.
The countless wounds covering its body began regenerating the instant they appeared.
There was no blood. No muscle tissue.
Its body was made of a strange substance that somehow possessed both extreme hardness and unsettling softness.
It looked like a constructed lifeform.
And yet, at the same time, it clearly possessed the physical body of a natural organism.
"ORT... what exactly is it? Proper Human History also records this thing. Why did it come to this planet?"
Shiomi raised the question he had asked before.
"Perhaps someone traded for it, or perhaps a god did. It's also possible the planet itself called it here."
Morgan replied while dealing with ORT's indiscriminate wide-area attacks.
"Just like how the existence of Beasts is tied to the self-destructive will of the primates, that thing might be..."
"The planet's own will to destroy itself."
Shiomi immediately understood what Morgan meant.
If they wanted a clear answer, Tezcatlipoca might know.
But even then, they would first have to use force to make Tezcatlipoca accept defeat and willingly reveal more.
"Behind you!" Shiomi suddenly warned.
"I see it!"
Morgan unleashed the strike she had prepared in advance, swinging back and cleanly severing one of ORT's walking legs.
Compared to the damage caused by Noble Phantasms, this was far more direct.
Severing a limb.
It served as retaliation for ORT's earlier attack, but it also provoked a fierce reaction.
A silent roar.
ORT seemed to lack vocal organs, or perhaps it simply had no need for them.
It was the supreme lifeform. The absolute predator.
No life, no existence was worthy of communicating with it.
Not even the gods of this planet.
Yet the further surge in Mana clearly revealed ORT's emotional state.
"Angry? I thought it was just a machine that only knew how to fight. Turns out it has its own emotions too."
Morgan endured currents of electricity comparable to Zeus's thunder while analyzing ORT's ecology.
If the behavior of a being like this could even be called an ecology.
"Even so, if it can't understand us and we can't communicate, then words are pointless."
Shiomi thought rapidly.
"Use the spear to interfere with its movement, then deploy that. How much effect it will have... we'll see."
"I understand!"
Morgan spread her arms wide, pushing her Mana output to maximum in an instant.
A result even more extreme than the destruction already unfolding around them.
"Reveal everything! [Chaotic Will]!"
In that instant, all phenomena froze.
Space began to fracture first.
Then time itself followed.
ORT stood directly before them. There was no longer any need to hold back.
Defeat here would be the same as death.
So they had to seize even the smallest chance of survival.
From the origin called Chaos, drag all phenomena into chaos itself, return them to nothingness, and allow them to be born again.
By doing so, everything before them would be destroyed and reborn according to the will of the Unity God.
It was power that led toward the path of creation.
Yet even now, only a portion of it had been released.
Chaos spread outward, swallowing ORT within it. Space and time vanished, leaving only endless darkness.
Then light returned to the world.
The Mictlan they knew reappeared once more.
Before they realized it, their battle with ORT had forced the Unity God Morgan all the way beyond Mexico City, now only moments away from the Second Netherworld.
But ORT's figure was nowhere to be seen.
"Did we win? Could it really be that easy?" Morgan asked, puzzled.
"No. Time ran out."
Shiomi immediately understood.
"The destruction Tezcatlipoca showed us was a predetermined future. He only temporarily replaced a moment from that future with the present and showed it to us."
"So all we destroyed was the phenomenon Tezcatlipoca displayed..."
Morgan did not feel discouraged.
If ORT could really be defeated so easily, then everything would actually be much simpler.
"Before that happened, Mexico City was already on the verge of destruction. For the time being, it won't threaten Chichen Itza."
In the end, Shiomi made a suggestion to Morgan.
She nodded in response.
"Let's head back first."