"Is this really okay?"
Inside the windmill cottage, Zepia Eltnam Atlasia muttered to himself as his fingers moved rapidly, manipulating the floating crystal balls in the room like a keyboard—collecting data, then carefully adjusting countless parameters.
By "okay," he was wondering whether this would violate the Atlas Institute's contract.
After all, until it was certain that King Arthur could never be revived, the Institute was to keep lending out the "Logosreact."
Yet every one of his parallel thoughts concluded there was no issue. Even the usually strict "Number 6" only gave a warning: this could lead to severe damage to the Logosreact.
Zepia hadn't done anything—just kept watching, mentioned something about the village, and silently allowed it all to happen.
The Witch of Britannia. The Sage of the Land of Shadows.
"How marvelous... how exquisite!"
His words flowed like a song. There could be no more joyous a combination than this.
Then he gazed deeply into what hadn't yet occurred—what was just about to begin.
"I offer my deepest gratitude for your foolish, yet noble, actions."
...
Before Shiomi and the others could react,
a strange voice echoed through their minds.
[Code: Logosreact. Abnormal activation.]
[Distortion constant: B.]
[Extraction time: ■■■■■■■■■.]
[Anti-rationality system initializing. Commencing target conversion.]
[Full procedure complete (Clear). Commencing Atlas's ■■■■■ experiment.]
The clear voice was interwoven with static and garbled noise.
The masked girl with Gray's mother's face suddenly stood up. Morgan, reacting instinctively, swung her magical spear in an attempt to kill her.
But the girl's body turned fluid. The weapon passed straight through her harmlessly, and her form reassembled in midair before soaring above the temple.
"This is cleansing. This is disappearance. This... is 'death.'"
The girl spoke mechanically. Then, her blurred body collapsed in an instant, transforming into a blindingly bright crimson sand.
And not just her—the surrounding skeleton soldiers also turned to red sand in an instant. The sand spread rapidly, swelling in quantity to the point where it would soon engulf the entire temple.
"This... how is this possible? The Philosopher's Stone from the Atlas Institute has undergone a red transmutation?" El-Melloi II immediately grasped the situation. "Why is one of the seven great weapons of the Atlas Institute—'Logosreact'—here?"
"Oh, sorry. I guess I forgot to tell you." Shiomi finally scratched his head. "The Director asked me to keep it under wraps, so I didn't say anything."
El-Melloi II's expression twisted, and he spat out a crude word. "Shit!"
The Philosopher's Stone was one of the Atlas Institute's most revered research achievements—an ideal, ultimate memory medium capable of recording information virtually without limit. It was called the supreme tome.
And the Logosreact was a weapon crafted by shaping the Philosopher's Stone into a specific form.
Crimson sand. A boundless red world.
"Looks like the Logosreact understood the meaning of death when Aesc tried to erase Artoria's consciousness," Shiomi said, wrapping Aesc's cloak around his shoulders, then giving El-Melloi II and Gray a pat. "If you two stay in contact with this sand for too long, the data pool accumulated over thousands of years will tear you apart."
The two began to float slowly into the air, heading toward the temple's rooftop.
Flight magecraft.
At least up there, they could avoid it for a while.
"You could've just taken them and retreated. I'll handle things here," Aesc said. "It's not that difficult."
Shiomi stood beside her and summoned his crimson spear. "Even if the chance of failure is nearly zero, I'm not letting you face an unknown enemy alone."
"The Black Holy Grail really left its mark on you," Aesc said with a soft laugh.
Nine years ago, in the final moments, Aesc had almost been consumed by the Black Holy Grail.
Even if Shiomi had managed to resolve everything with Artoria and the others afterward, losing Aesc would've haunted him with endless regret.
From that moment on, Shiomi had resolved never to fight without her again.
As the two spoke, a massive shadow burst forth from the crimson sand.
It was Logosreact in a new form.
Once, it had been a tool used by the village to extract and replicate King Arthur's spirit.
Now, it had formed a new body, spread its enormous wings, and loomed overhead—gazing down at Shiomi and Aesc.
"That's..." Aesc couldn't help but whisper in awe.
"No doubt about it. That's the Bird of Hermes," Shiomi said.
Hermes—the name of the messenger god who protected merchants and travelers in Greek mythology. Over time, that name became fused with Thoth from Egyptian mythology and the alchemist Mercury, eventually becoming a symbol of alchemy itself.
It is both a man and a bird named Hermes, appearing in many different forms. And now, it suited this moment perfectly.
Having grasped the "Law of Logos Reaction" of death, it took the form of the Bird of Hermes—a fitting image for a guide to the underworld.
"You are my 'death,' fairy queen Morgan."
The red sacred bird, Hermes, projected its voice directly into the minds of everyone present.
"So I must kill you. In order to escape death, my actions are justified. I define them as right."
The sacred bird spread its massive crimson wings.
A deluge of red sand feathers poured down, each one brimming with overwhelming mana, potent enough to trigger explosions fiercer than any bomb.
After the bombardment, the ground buried under the red sand was left full of craters—every stone pillar had been obliterated.
Only the temple remained untouched. Gray, who had raised her arms to shield herself from the impact, lowered them alongside El-Melloi II, and both looked downward.
Shiomi stood in front of Aesc, extending a hand to intercept the attack.
Water materialized out of thin air, halting the spread of destruction.
The Thirteenth Primordial Rune—the Rune of Protection.
"Looks like it can't launch continuous attacks without pause. Even a weapon needs time to cool down," Aesc murmured as she slowly crouched. "Since my husband is defending, then the attack is up to the wife."
Mana gathered at her feet, and a magical spear formed from thirteen streams of concentrated mana appeared above them.
She fired without hesitation—but if it missed, the resulting explosions could collapse the entire cavern.
Directly above them was the swamp beside the village's northern cemetery. They had to prevent seawater from flooding in at all costs.
Shiomi placed his hand on her shoulder, casting an acceleration spell on Aesc.
"Then, let's bring this journey to a proper end."
With those words, Aesc launched herself at the red sacred bird. It unfurled its wings again, ready to release another storm of sand feathers.