Aoko used Magic for the first time at the age of eighteen.
To save a friend dying before her eyes, she used magic to cast the fact of death into the far distant future.
That was the first miracle she performed with magic.
Though from her current perspective, her use of magic back then was crude, driven only by instinct and recklessness. But now, what Aoko aimed to do was the same as that first miracle.
The ribbon of light formed from the incineration of all human history—its essence was a fusion of hundreds of millions of light beams. Each beam carried heat equivalent to a True Name release of Excalibur, making it the ultimate light of destruction that surpassed all existence on Earth.
And now—Aoko had to dismantle it!
Not destroy, but dismantle.
It was impossible to destroy a ribbon of light containing such immense power. Even Naoki couldn't do it. Moreover, even if it could be destroyed, intervening with brute force might cause catastrophic consequences!
Thus, Aoko chose to dismantle it, unravel it, and separate it.
One by one, she would isolate each of the hundreds of millions of light beams from the whole, then cast them into the far future. Compared to the nearly infinite expanse of the future, hundreds of millions of beams were something that could be gradually cleared over time.
In simple terms, this was the act of disassembling a highly precise device.
This was something only Aoko could do—something only the Fifth Magic could achieve.
But it also required a great deal of time.
For each light beam she unraveled, Aoko had to layer herself with multiple versions of herself as shields to avoid evaporating on contact. And when choosing the future to cast the beam into, she had to select one not too far away.
This action consumed an immense amount of Mana. Thus, while performing it, Aoko couldn't spare a single ounce of energy—she could only stand rigidly in place.
(You really gave me a troublesome job… You'd better protect me well, Naoki!)
As Aoko thought this.
*CLANG!*
Excalibur and an iron fist collided fiercely in midair!
Gales, shockwaves, and flashes of light erupted at the center of the Temple of Time!
Goetia and Naoki grappled in close combat. Thanks to the planet's support, Naoki had the complete upper hand. After a brief stalemate, he managed to pin Goetia beneath him. Excalibur pressed down hard, slicing through Goetia's arm, then slashing across his body from the right shoulder!
*SLASH!*
The massive body was torn apart by the blade!
Yet Goetia felt no pain, completely ignoring the damage to his body. The severed arm instantly regenerated in midair and slammed down hard on Naoki's head!
*BAM!*
Under the powerful blow, both combatants were sent flying back to create distance. Even as he was repelled, Naoki planted his feet on the ground, spun his body, and immediately slashed, unleashing a torrent of light!
A slash equivalent to an anti-army Noble Phantasm cleaved Goetia in two!
"Pointless!"
His body recovered in the blink of an eye.
Goetia didn't press forward to grapple with Naoki again. Instead, he stood in place and calmly advised: "This is just a waste of time, Wielder of the Holy Sword of the Stars—Neither of us can kill the other. No matter how we attack, the outcome will only be like this."
There were no traces of Excalibur's slashes on Goetia's body.
There were no marks from Goetia's powerful strikes on Naoki's body.
Both were immortal—Goetia due to his nature as the collective consciousness of the Demon God Pillars and a magical ritual, and Naoki due to the infinite Mana from the planet's support and Avalon's protection.
As Goetia said, their fight here was meaningless beyond wasting time.
"Your desire will not come to pass, Wielder of the Holy Sword of the Stars."
"You cannot defeat me. The duel you've waited ten years for cannot end. The world you wish to save will never be saved by your hands!"
As he declared this, Goetia raised both arms.
"Let me slightly correct my words, Wielder of the Holy Sword of the Stars—It's not that we cannot kill each other. That only applies to your situation. I, on the other hand, can truly kill you."
*BUZZ!*
The atmosphere suddenly began to tremble.
Space itself began to tremble.
*CRACKLE!*
The ground, the sky… everything, under this vibration, gradually crumbled apart. As if pulled by a black hole, it slowly detached from its original structure and existence, floating upward.
No.
More precisely, floating toward the ribbon of light.
*SWISH!* *SWISH!* *SWISH!*
Terrifying heat and magical energy capable of incinerating a planet were released from the ribbon of light. A glowing vortex gathered at its center. All of human history and civilization, at this moment, was fully loaded into the Magazine (Ammunition Chamber).
(It's here.)
The thought flashed through Naoki's mind.
Goetia's third Noble Phantasm, Ars Almadel Salomonis (The Time of Birth Has Come, He Is the One Who Masters All).
It was as simple as that—using Mana capable of reversing time to the creation of the celestial bodies forty-six billion years ago, to attack.
But there was nothing in this world that could withstand such an attack. It was a world-destroying strike, far beyond what any individual could endure.
Mash's shield might be able to block it, but at the cost of her life.
Artoria's Avalon might also withstand it, but it could only protect one person. Even if Naoki used the sword's sheath to block the attack and stood in front of Aoko to shield her from a direct hit, the residual heat wave would instantly kill her.
With the means available, the attack could not be stopped at all.
This was what Goetia meant—the method that could truly kill Naoki, and the absolute difference in certain death between him and Naoki.
"Burn to ash like trash."
"Pathetic Wielder of the Holy Sword of the Stars."
"—Ars Almadel Salomonis"
Goetia uttered the True Name of the Noble Phantasm.
The aurora-like light gathered at the center of the ribbon exploded.
Without sound, without movement. The impact generated by this attack enveloped everything, annihilating everything.
The only thing Naoki could feel was the light filling his entire world.
And this was also the final scene in Aoko's eyes.
Naoki disappearing within the light, his back turned to her—this was the last image reflected in her eyes.
Then…
*BOOMMM!*
The explosion that shattered heaven and earth followed belatedly.