Vague, indistinct.
Both real and illusory.
Yet all beings could undoubtedly "hear"—or more accurately, "feel" it.
This sound did not come through their ears; rather, it reverberated deep within their souls.
It was as though it was the voice of the planet itself, or perhaps the collective wail of the human race. The humans and monsters alike couldn't help but cover their ears.
The only one unaffected was Altera, who looked around in confusion before turning to Shinji.
"Did something happen?"
"Ugh!"
Shinji didn't look well either. His face was pale, and blood was seeping from his nose and mouth, yet he still smiled as he explained, "I just did something many people have tried to do but failed—I completely screwed over the two great Counter Forces!"
As he spoke, his hands slowly loosened, and countless runes appeared out of thin air, tightly wrapping around the mass of spiritual particles before him.
Under the influence of the runes, the previously formless spiritual particles began to take shape.
A head, a torso, limbs—it was indeed a humanoid form.
Its height was about the same as Altera's current form, likely based on a human child as a template. Judging by the delicate lines, it was female.
At this point, Shinji hesitated for a moment.
"How should I design her appearance? I should've pre-designed her before shaping her. I don't have much experience with creating people from scratch... But if I miss this chance, I might not get another. So... I've got it! Since she's supposed to be Altera's sister, I'll use Altera as the template."
The hesitation lasted only a moment. Within seconds, the runes flowed from his hands again as he muttered to himself while sculpting the details of the humanoid form.
"Right, let's tweak the details a bit. The Earth's color is blue, so Gaia should have a blue color scheme. Hmm, I'll add a bit of Arcueid and Altrouge's features. As for Alaya... hmm, humanity's standards are a bit broad. Should I go with the Guardian style? That might clash with Altera's design. I've got it—flip it around! Turn dark skin into light skin, white hair into black hair. It fits perfectly with Asian standards..."
With a clap of his hands, the runes dispersed, and the spiritual particles condensed fully. What was once a mere outline now became a clear humanoid figure.
As Shinji had said, they looked remarkably similar to Altera, but due to differences in hair color, eye color, and clothing, it was easy to tell them apart.
On the left was a girl with blue hair and blue eyes, reminiscent of the ocean, dressed in a yellow outfit that bore some resemblance to the uniform of Tokiwadi Middle School Academy, evoking the Earth.
On the right was a girl with black hair and black eyes, her skin as white as snow. Her attire was strikingly similar to the uniform of Reien Girls' Academy.
Seeing the two girls he had created through his craftsmanship, Shinji nodded in satisfaction.
"Mm-hmm, not bad at all. Looks like I've got a knack for this—at least better than someone who couldn't even properly shape Ultimate One."
As soon as he said this, the girl on the left cast a sharp glance at him.
The girl on the right, however, spoke up and asked, "What... exactly did you do?"
"Just look and you'll understand. I forcibly manifested your wills and used Odin's method for creating Valkyries to give you bodies. You don't need me to name you—history has already done that. You're Gaia, and you're Alaya."
"Gaia? Alaya?"
The onlookers were dumbfounded. They knew exactly what those names meant. So, was the earlier wail truly from the planetary will and the collective unconsciousness of humanity?
"Did you manage to...?"
Aoko's jaw dropped, completely uncharacteristic of her usual demeanor.
"Impossible. There's not enough energy for that," Zelretch, though surprised, maintained a rational line of thought, as expected from a thousand-year-old sage.
"That's why you're the old master," Shinji praised and then explained, "The Counter Forces exist across the past, present, future, and all parallel worlds. Even if I drained the planet's life force, it would be impossible to fully manifest the Counter Forces. I've only extracted a portion of their consciousness."
With so many extraordinary beings gathered here—Outsiders, Beasts, Grand Servants, and Magicians—it was impossible for the two Counter Forces not to pay attention. Previously, they had been isolated by the magically created world, but now that the world had collapsed, the Counter Forces naturally turned their gaze here, and Shinji had caught them right in his trap.
"Even if it's just a small fraction of their consciousness, it's not something an ordinary body could handle. So you used the fragments of the giant," Zelretch analyzed.
Shinji confirmed his analysis.
"Exactly. To my knowledge, only Arcueid has ever borne the planetary will. To bear such a will, the vessel must be of a similar caliber. Fortunately, I had one ready. And I also knew about the origin of the Valkyries in Norse mythology. Since Great Odin had descended earlier, I took the opportunity to make use of it."
"But Valkyries aren't this small, nor are there so few of them," Touko, who had deep knowledge of the Norse pantheon, teased with a smirk.
Shinji maintained his composure.
"True, Odin mass-produced enough Valkyries to form an army back then. However, the giant was at its seventh stage at the time, with a body the size of the Himalayas. Right now, it's only at the second stage, barely enough to create two child-sized bodies. On top of that, the craftsmanship is different—Brynhildr, the eldest of the Valkyries, consumed far more energy and had far better performance than her younger sisters. To ensure quality, I had to scale down the size."
This wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either.
The craftsmanship was indeed top-tier, even superior to that used to create Brynhildr, as it involved the Third Magic, as well as Odin's experience gleaned from producing a large number of Valkyries.
And yes, the materials from the second-stage giant were a bit scarce, not enough to produce adult-sized bodies at Brynhildr's scale, though making adolescent bodies would've been feasible.
But there were two main reasons for creating loli-sized bodies.
First, due to the influence of various fanfictions from his past life, Shinji felt that Gaia and Alaya should be lolis, so he shaped them accordingly.
Second, he needed to reserve some of the spiritual particles for research purposes.
The giant's body wasn't made of ordinary spiritual particles, but rather a unique form of spiritual energy absorption material. It could absorb any magically processed energy and convert it into life force and armor.
This technique wasn't limited to magic but extended to all forms of technology, knowledge, and civilization. It was precisely this ability that allowed Sefar to sweep through the Earth in the past.
Although the information constructs created from the giant's remnants and the Valkyries born from it lacked this terrifying ability, researching it wouldn't hurt. Who knows—he might stumble upon something groundbreaking.
After all, he was currently unarmed and had nothing to fight with.
The first time he used the Third Magic, it required an extremely high level of purity for both soul and body. The original purpose of his Three Corpse Severing technique was to strip away external attachments and maintain his purity.
Tossing them into the World's Gap, the Seat of the Gods, or the Throne of Heroes—those were all afterthoughts.
PS: Loli is Justice!