"What... did you just say?!" Fujimaru's mouth hung open, his finger trembling as he pointed at the girl across from him. "You're saying... you are... [Me]?!"
"That's right. I am you, and you are me," Ritsuka smiled at the Demon King. "It's just that our journeys led to very different endings."
"Different endings?" Fujimaru looked at the Mash standing beside Ritsuka, then back at his own Mash. "...Mash, she... she didn't die?"
"Ohoho, of course not," Ritsuka's smile turned dangerously sharp. "Anyone who dares to hurt my precious underclassman—even if it's Goetia—has to die at least once."
"Saying something so terrifying with such a serious face... that female senior is something else..." Fujimaru's Mash was about to complain, but then she saw Fujimaru nodding in intense agreement. "Senior! Don't agree with that kind of logic!"
"Anyway... enough talk. The next thing to do is..." Ritsuka stretched her arms over her head, then looked at the Goetia standing beside her. "Go, Goetia! I choose you! Beat him up!"
"Am I some kind of pocket monster to you?" Goetia spat, but he didn't hesitate. He lunged straight at the Demon King. "You bastard! Killing Mash, forcing the King to self-destruct... take my 'Friendship Face-Breaking Punch'!"
The Demon King hurriedly blocked the strike. "Damn it! Why are you attacking me?! We are both Goetia! Our goals should be the same!"
"I used to think like you," Goetia spoke while raining down blows. "But after seeing the army of monsters Ritsuka brought home, my Chūnibyō (Middle School Syndrome) was cured instantly!"
"GUH!" The Demon King missed a block and was sent flying by Goetia's relentless "Ora Ora Ora" barrage. "Damn you... how dare you call our grand ideal Chūnibyō! You've surrendered to the weakness of humanity!"
"What's wrong with surrendering to the King's words and the raw power of a group of Beasts?! Should I have waited to be beaten to death instead?!" The internet-addicted Goetia was clearly a better trash-talker than the Demon King, and he fired back without mercy.
"The King? A group of Beasts?"
The information in Goetia's words left both Fujimaru and the Demon King completely baffled. "Just what exactly have you been through?!"
"Hmph," Goetia sneered. "Soon enough, you'll feel the same despair I felt back then."
As the Demon King stood there confused, the Ars Paulina beneath their feet began to shake violently, as if a colossal titan had just stepped onto the Temple.
"Ah, she's here," Goetia looked toward the distance with a smirk. Fujimaru and the others followed his gaze, only to see a massive shadow looming over them.
[Evils of Humanity - Manifestation] [Advent Beast — The Descent of the Beast]
"How is that possible?!" At the Chamber of Life, Ishtar and Ereshkigal stared at the gargantuan shadow in disbelief. "We already defeated Tiamat in the 7th Singularity!"
"Arrrrrrrrrr!"
The shadow stepping from the second Temple of Time onto Ars Paulina was indeed the mother of all life, the Beast II — Regression to the Age of Gods: Tiamat.
"What is going on?!" The Demon King looked at the Tiamat who shouldn't exist, starting to doubt if he was in a dream. "What have you done?! Why is Tiamat here?!"
Ritsuka didn't answer him. Instead, she shouted toward Tiamat, "Tia-mama! Start producing the monsters! Have them attack the Demon God Pillars! Please!"
"Arrrrrrrrrr!" Tiamat replied with a haunting, melodic cry. As the possessor of the [Potnia Theron] authority, she began to spawn an infinite army of demonic beasts. These creatures immediately lunged at the nearest Demon God Pillars, while others spread out to different sectors to aid the struggling Heroic Spirits.
The Servants in other areas, who had been bracing for a new wave of enemies, were stunned to see the demonic beasts ignoring them and tearing into the Demon God Pillars instead.
"What the hell?" El-Melloi II stared in confusion at the monsters fighting alongside them. "Reinforcements... from the monsters?"
"Isn't this perfect, Teacher?" Young Alexander laughed. "If it weren't for these reinforcements, even with Rome's help, we wouldn't have lasted much longer."
In Front of the Throne
The Demon King watched in utter shock as Ritsuka patted Tiamat's head, and the primordial beast actually looked happy. He felt like his entire worldview was collapsing.
"Unbelievable... impossible... a human taming a Beast..." The Demon King forced himself to regain his composure. "But even with Tiamat, you cannot defeat [Me]! How did you lose, other [Me]?!"
"You think she only has one Tiamat?" Goetia snorted at the question. "Naive. Stupid. Of course Tiamat alone wouldn't be enough to beat me. But who told you she only has one Beast?"
"Everyone! Target the Demon God Pillars! CHARGE!" A thunderous roar from the distance interrupted the Demon King.
From the second Temple of Time, a massive army of Heroic Spirits appeared. Fujimaru recognized some, but many were strangers. He even saw the Old Man of the Mountain and... Solomon?!
"Senior, among those Heroic Spirits... there are multiple Grand Saint Graphs!" Mash whispered to Fujimaru, her voice trembling. "Multiple Grand Saint Graphs?!"
"That's not all..." Mash added another "bomb" to the conversation. "There are also multiple Beast reactions among them!"
The Demon King began to panic. "Multiple Grand Saint Graphs and Beast reactions... Impossible... how could anyone achieve this?!"
"That's right, it's exactly the 'impossible' you're thinking of," Goetia mocked him. "Why do you think she's called the Grand Master? It's because this girl has a collection hobby—she's tamed all Seven Crowns and Seven Beasts!"
"Destiny has arrived! The bell has tolled!" The Old Man of the Mountain suddenly appeared near a Demon God Pillar in the Chamber of Life. With a single swing of his greatsword, dozens of pillars were silenced forever.
"HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! Bring it on! Give me more!" A dark-skinned girl, wearing almost nothing, laughed wildly as she swung her weapons. Behind her, four additional golden-patterned arms brandished various tools of war, shredding every pillar that came near. Compared to the Demon God Pillars, she was the true demon. "These guys are way weaker than the enemies back at the Battle of Banquan! Do you really have the nerve to call yourselves 'Demon Gods'?!"
"Don't get too excited, Chiyou," the Horseman of Death walked past her, giving a brief reminder. "Master's order is to strike the Demon King. Hitting these infinite pillars won't end the fight."
"Tch, I know, I know. I'm going," the girl named Chiyou replied irritably, continuing her slaughter for a few more seconds before following the other Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
"Now, more, more!" The girl laughed arrogantly, pointing her weapon at the pillars. "You are now facing the leader of the Nine Li tribes, the Lord of War Chiyou!"
[Grand Berserker — Chiyou]
"Damn it! This is completely outside of our plan!" The Demon King gasped as his pillars were being suppressed across the board. "It's all because of you! If you hadn't appeared, our Great Work would be complete!"
"Hoh, even if we weren't here, those two would still have stopped you," Ritsuka said with a smug expression. "Your fate only has one path: Defeat."
"With just them? Don't be ridiculous! What can humans who are about to vanish even achieve?" The Demon King gnashed his teeth. Ritsuka didn't care, only saying calmly: "Looking down on humanity is a bad habit, right, [Doctor] over here?"
"Ah, I guess I've been found out," a lazy, relaxed voice reached their ears. Roman, wearing his medical staff uniform, scratched his head as he walked forward. "This is quite a surprise. Another Ritsuka, another Mash, and even... another Goetia."
"Romani Archaman?" Goetia spoke with shock and contempt. "A mere human, appearing here in the Throne?"
"No wait, you, that Saint Graph is—?!"
"Ah, I've already discarded the wish I made to the Holy Grail. From now on, I act as my original self," Roman smiled with extraordinary gentleness. "Goetia, you said before that you didn't need the position of [Solomon], right? Then, let me announce my name once more."
He removed his glove, revealing a golden ring shining on his finger. "My name is..."
"SOLOMON—" Two identical voices rang out at the same time. Even Roman looked in surprise toward the source the King of Magic, Solomon.
"My name is Solomon, though I also quite like the name Romani Archaman," the white-haired King of All-Wisdom floated slowly toward them, standing beside Ritsuka with a faint smile. "Hello, [Roman]."
"A... Ahahaha," Roman froze for a second, then laughed. "I see, I see. Meeting another Goetia made me forget that there would obviously be another 'Me' as well. Hello, [Romani]."
"Doctor Roman, could it be... you are..." Fujimaru and Mash were stunned by this chain of revelations. "You are Solomon?!"
"That's right, I am the Solomon who became a [Human]," Roman smiled and patted their heads. "As the winner of the Holy Grail War alongside the previous Director, I made the wish to [Become a human]. Because as the Wise King [Solomon], I had no self I was merely a [Divine Machine]."
"But, just before I became human, my [Clairvoyant] eyes saw the Incineration of Humanity. It terrified me, so I spent the last ten years frantically learning everything I could. Looking back, that time was actually quite 'free' in its own way," Roman laughed, though Fujimaru and Mash could only imagine the hellish pressure he must have felt. "I never thought that at the end of it all, the enemy would be you... Goetia. It seems my death had a huge impact on you."
"You... had a wish? Impossible!" The Demon King couldn't accept the truth. "Heresy! Cold! Cruel! Heartless! As the man who was my original, how could you have a human wish?!"
"...Being called heartless by you actually hurts a little. You really hate me that much?" Roman looked at the Demon King with a wry smile. Just then, the Chaldean Goetia spoke up:
"Exactly! How is my King heartless? The King is clearly a shut-in who spends all day slacking off, addicted to internet idols, and failing his gacha pulls!"
"SHUT UP, GOETIA-AAAAAA!" Solomon wailed, rushing forward to cover Goetia's mouth. "What's wrong with being addicted to Magi☆Mari?! Mari is so cute, it's perfectly fine to be obsessed! And so what if my gacha luck is 'R' (Rare)? My original skin is dark, I'm already depressed enough! Why are you my familiar but have the luck of a 'European' player?!"
Ritsuka watched the two idiots bickering with a cold look, while Fujimaru and the Demon King were frozen in shock by the total collapse of Solomon's image. Roman, however, looked at the other Solomon with a look of intense agreement. "Exactly, Mari is the cutest."
"Alright, that's enough," Ritsuka said as the two fools finished their nonsense. "If things went normally, Roman, you would activate your Noble Phantasm to erase your own existence to destroy Goetia, right?"
Fujimaru turned sharply toward Roman. Roman looked at Fujimaru's questioning eyes and could only nod reluctantly.
"What?! You intend to activate THAT Noble Phantasm?!" The Demon King looked terrified. "Once used, that is a fate more horrifying than death! Your very existence will be erased, and you will go to the [Void]! Compared to that, even my light is a gentle thing!"
Roman shrugged. "What other choice is there? I only have that one move."
Suddenly, Fujimaru realized something and stared at Ritsuka. "If the Doctor in your world is still alive, then you must have a way to save our Doctor too, right?!"
Ritsuka sighed. "You can't really copy my method... Starting from the 2nd Singularity, I had a Beast and a Grand appear in every single one. I recruited them all to Chaldea. By the time I reached the Temple of Time, I had 6 Beasts and a full roster of Grands. I didn't need the Doctor to self-destruct; I just brute-forced Goetia into the ground. You guys don't even have Tiamat tamed yet—even if you did, she wouldn't be enough to win without the sacrifice."
"One Beast and one Grand per Singularity?!" Fujimaru's lip was twitching. "Your world... sounds like a nightmare... What kind of difficulty is that?! A single Tiamat in the 7th Singularity almost wiped us out, and you had one in every chapter... My condolences."
"Exactly, so you can't follow my path..." Ritsuka shrugged. "But don't worry! That's why we're here! To hell with the Doctor self-destructing! Go to hell, Goetia!"
Fujimaru, who had been depressed by the first half of her sentence, immediately brightened up. "Then... we're counting on you!"
"Of course, it's all in a day's work," Ritsuka's smile grew increasingly dangerous, making the Goetia who knew her well shiver. While he felt pity for the other Demon King, he was also itching to land a punch on his own face.
"Everyone! Assemble at the Throne!"
With Ritsuka's roar, the army of Heroic Spirits began their final march toward the heart of the Temple.