Destroying the balance alone wasn't enough to defeat Goetia.
Scáthach summoned her two crimson spears. As they floated at her side, they suddenly split into eighteen, each one infused with a Primordial Rune.
"Stop right there, Demon King! Pinning God-Killer Thorns!"
The sealing spell, constructed from eighteen Runes and unleashed through the cursed red spears, struck Goetia's body. The surging power bound him mercilessly, and he let out a distorted, furious roar.
"Uoooohhhhhhh—!!!"
The attack had clearly enraged him.
Despite bearing the power of all seventy-two Demon Pillars, he couldn't resist the restraint of the Primordial Runes. This result only came because Scáthach had seized an opening—but for Goetia, the process of failure was irrelevant.
One of his massive arms broke free and swung toward Scáthach, wreathed in overwhelming force.
"Too slow!"
His massive form dragged down his speed, though it was still difficult for most Servants to evade. Scáthach flipped onto the still-moving arm, trampled over the shifting eyes embedded in it, and charged toward his head.
"Damn it!"
Goetia raised his other hand. The eyes on the arm unleashed a barrage of Magecraft toward her. Explosions rang out one after another.
Yet Morgan and Artoria didn't stop. They circled around Goetia, launching strikes at his weak points whenever they saw an opening. Every blow landed effectively—but none could halt his advance.
In a flash, they realized that even under constant attack, they couldn't kill him. After tearing through all of Scáthach's restraints, Goetia brought his fists together and slammed them down with devastating force.
The impact was like a comet striking the earth. The resulting explosion shook the Temple of Time once more.
The already shattered terrain crumbled further, leaving only the area around Goetia's throne relatively intact as a floating island.
"This is bad! The Demon King plans to take us all down with him!" Artoria warned the others.
If he destroyed himself along with the Temple of Time, they could eventually return through Magecraft and rebuild the temple from the ground up. But the enemy before them would be gone forever.
Goetia wanted to annihilate the temple—just as he had once destroyed the planet—so it could be reborn through destruction. Next time, he would create a temple completely sealed off, where no one could ever reach him.
"But his regeneration's slowing down," Morgan pointed to the shoulder Scáthach had damaged. "Looks like this kind of destruction forces him to abandon his regenerative mana and focus all his power instead."
"Just curious—what's the plan?" Scáthach asked.
Morgan gripped her spear. "Isn't it obvious? We strike now with our Noble Phantasms, dig through this mass of rotten flesh, and expose the core."
"If we unleash our Noble Phantasms together, the Demon King who gave up regenerating won't be able to recover in time. He'll reveal the true form that embodies the fusion of the seventy-two Demon Gods," Artoria assessed sharply.
Then, a tremor shook the ground again, nearly knocking all three of them off the floating rock.
Shockwaves struck every few seconds.
Suddenly, a surge of mana burst forth, catching Morgan and Artoria off guard.
Leaning weakly against a piece of rock, unable to move, Shiomi passed the remaining mana from his two Command Spells to them—with Fou's help.
He had been closely monitoring the battlefield, accurately grasping the flow of combat.
There was no need for further discussion.
Artoria stood side by side with Morgan.
"Thirteen restraints, release! Beyond the skies, the far side of the earth. This is the wedge of light that stands at the ends of the world!" The King of Knights raised her Holy Lance high.
"'Tis a ruinous dream I cannot bear to see. No recompense, no salvation to be had. At the world's end, a bird sings of tomorrow. Let this be a sign—." Morgan pressed a hand to her heart.
Two surges of mana rose sharply. Though their Noble Phantasms were fundamentally incompatible, in this moment, they were unleashed with a shared goal.
Light flooded the dim temple like daylight. The torrent of mana shook the ground violently, and more of the floating island at the edge of Imaginary Space began to fall away.
"Rhongomyniad!"
"Roadless Camelot: The Now Unreachable Utopia!"
Scáthach gripped Gungnir tightly, silently observing the battle.
Noticing this, Goetia redirected the power of the light bands to strike back at the incoming Noble Phantasms. But concentrating all will into a single point had revealed an inevitable weakness—every judgment now depended on just one point of failure.
Before the light could converge, it was overwhelmed by the force of the two Noble Phantasms. Goetia's colossal upper body was driven forward, as if begging for forgiveness.
Of course, it was the crushing force that forced him into that position.
His body, formed from the fused Demon Pillars, began to crack and crumble. The fractures spread, cutting deep into his core.
When the Noble Phantasms' power finally faded, the true form of Goetia—the core—was exposed.
"Don't even think about it!"
Goetia's eyes snapped open as he tried to channel mana to regenerate.
"This is the final strike, offered to my beloved disciple. You beast who knows nothing of love—fall with the stars! Gungnir, Spear of Death!"
The crimson spear struck Goetia's body and instantly pinned him along with the space around him in place.
It was even more ruthless than the earlier restraint formed by the eighteen Primordial Runes.
But that was just the prelude.
This was the ultimate technique Scáthach had taught to only one disciple.
Now, using both her own crimson spear and the divine spear her disciple wielded, she wove them into a new Noble Phantasm.
Gungnir became a meteor and pierced straight through Goetia's Spirit Core.
Like the collapse of the first domino, the Demon Pillars that had formed Goetia's massive body began to crumble, vanish, and scatter...
Only Goetia remained, falling backward onto the ruins of his shattered throne.
Across the temple's center and the strongholds, life signals faded one after another. The defeat of the Demon King Goetia was now certain.
Feeling a bit drained, Scáthach took Morgan's hand and was pulled back to her feet.
Artoria had already lifted Shiomi into her arms.
He had exhausted the last of his strength and fallen into a deep coma. Fou followed at Artoria's feet, letting out a soothing cry, as if to reassure them that Shiomi was still alive.
"Beast I's Spirit Origin is confirmed to be dissipating. The Temple of Time is collapsing. Chaldea is preparing to leave this coordinate. Please regroup with the others immediately. Once you're all together, Rayshift return will initiate at once!"
Romani's voice came through the transmission.
Scáthach picked up Fou from the ground and exchanged glances with Morgan and Artoria.
"It's time."
As the four of them departed, the Temple of Time collapsed into the void.