On the bleached planet.
After the intense battle, the Storm Border landed on the surface to rest and regroup.
"This is the first time I've witnessed a Lostbelt disappear from the outside," Kirschtaria said. "The final Storm Wall has vanished. All seven Lostbelts have now been cut away."
"Though one of them was handled by the 'Alien God,'" Kadoc added.
"But still, in the end U-Olga Marie entrusted everything she had to the Director in order to help us. Is it still too late to consider her one of our companions now?"
"But the real issue is this," Ophelia said with a grave expression. "If the information held by Kirschtaria-sama and Daybit is correct... then everything we have done so far... no, everything Chaldea has done until now has been within Director Marisbury's calculations?"
Daybit quietly watched the Storm Wall as it gradually faded away.
"That's right. Cutting away the seven Lostbelts was nothing more than answering the questions on the exam. If we want to restore the planet that was eroded by the Bleached World, we have to go to the South Pole."
"That doesn't matter right now! Teacher and Lady Morgan still haven't come back!" Olga Marie said, clutching her hands anxiously.
"No, they've already returned, Director," Kirschtaria said. "They are true gods. They wouldn't fall behind so easily."
With the Storm Wall gone, a pure white figure could be seen flying low across the horizon, rapidly approaching the Storm Border.
It was the Unity God.
The moment everyone confirmed the figure of Unity God Morgan, they finally let out a collective sigh of relief.
After reuniting with the group, Shiomi and Morgan separated from their fused state.
Morgan looked slightly exhausted, and Baobhan Sith and Sakura quickly stepped forward to support her.
Shiomi, on the other hand, appeared completely steady. Caren and Gray, who had intended to help, ended up just watching awkwardly since there was nothing for them to do.
Shiomi slowly walked forward until he stood before Kirschtaria and the others.
"Welcome back, Teacher," Kirschtaria began to say, but Shiomi raised a hand to stop him.
Only then did everyone notice that Shiomi had been staring at Daybit the entire time.
"Teacher Shiomi, if you have any complaints, you may speak them," Daybit said calmly. "If you intend to remove me from the roster and throw me off the Storm Border, I would not have any—"
Before he could finish, Shiomi's fist slammed into Daybit's face, knocking the tall young man to the ground.
"I understand your reasoning, and I know the concerns you had about Chaldeas and even Marisbury's schemes. But emotionally, I'm still furious about such reckless behavior."
Shiomi shook his hand lightly.
"This punch is your punishment."
"Heh..." Daybit let out a rare laugh. "That punishment is rather light."
"That's because this time we almost had to gamble Chaldea's last remaining combat strength," Shiomi said. "Anyone could have died. It was only because Kukulkan made her decision that we avoided large-scale casualties from a prolonged war of attrition against ORT repeatedly manifesting."
It was an undeniable fact, and Daybit knew it well.
The others also understood that Shiomi was not simply venting his anger.
What Daybit had done truly warranted consequences.
"I'm not planning to impose any unnecessary restrictions. Once the Storm Border finishes its maintenance, we will depart immediately for the original Chaldea site in Antarctica," Shiomi said. "None of us know what's waiting there, aside from Chaldeas disguised as a frozen sphere."
"But one thing is certain," Olga Marie said. "What we will face is not only the culprit behind the Bleached World, but also the Grand Order left behind by Father."
"New Chaldea will become the destroyer of the Animusphere Grand Order."
She had already sorted out the chain of cause and effect.
As a Magus, rejecting the mission her family had carried since before the Common Era was not something easily accepted.
But as a human being with a conscience, as a student of her teacher, and as someone who had come to understand what "love" truly meant, Olga Marie believed it was necessary to reject the plan her father had set in motion long ago.
"There is one thing I should make clear beforehand," Daybit said. "Marisbury activated Chaldeas in order to complete 'Human Order Preservation.' But now that the seven Lostbelts have all been removed, that means Human Order Preservation has already been achieved."
Morgan raised an eyebrow slightly.
"In other words, as the final location in Proper Human History that has not been bleached, the Human Order at the Antarctic Chaldea will become our enemy."
"Are you afraid?" Shiomi asked with a teasing smile as he looked at Morgan.
"How could I be? I was born a fairy of paradise within a Lostbelt. My feelings toward Proper Human History are tied entirely to my husband and my family."
Morgan gently stroked Sakura's hair.
"But what about the rest of you? Do you understand the worst possibility that might appear in Antarctica?"
She was not asking Shiomi. She was asking Kirschtaria and the others, Olga Marie, Ritsuka, and the surviving companions who had fought together with them until now.
"That's hard to say," Da Vinci replied. "If Human Order itself becomes something manipulated by Marisbury, then even if it qualifies as a proper compiled phenomenon, we still wouldn't bow our heads to it."
"And besides..."
Romani stepped down from the ship.
"Kirschtaria also explained something earlier. If Marisbury's plan succeeds, humanity will become the most infamous lifeform across the entire universe spanning 13.8 billion light-years."
"What kind of Human Order Preservation would make Marisbury willing to let humanity bear that kind of infamy...?"
It was a question Romani had been thinking about ever since the planet was bleached.
As more information came to light, and he realized how deeply everything was tied to his old friend who had long since died, Romani could not help feeling shocked and confused.
When he was Solomon, Marisbury had regarded him as a friend, and he had felt the same.
But Solomon had never investigated Marisbury's secrets. All he knew was that Marisbury was the kind of man who would sacrifice even his own life for the mission of a Magus.
"In fact, when I pointed a gun at Marisbury, he said, 'There's no need to choose between Chaldeas and my life,' and then he used the gun to end his own life."
Daybit revealed the final piece of information.
What had happened in the final moment before Olga Marie's father died.
It was an extremely typical Magus decision.
Compared to the results of Magecraft, even one's life was something that could be discarded at any moment.
"Antarctica..." Romani said quietly, looking toward Shiomi.
Shiomi was already looking toward the South Pole.
The others followed his gaze.
At that pole which still had not been bleached, at the former site of Chaldea.
The thing known as Chaldeas was waiting for them.
And New Chaldea would go there to stop it.