Chapter 345: Gaia

In a sunny, peaceful past, sunlight fell on the grass, where a small white round table held tea and cake.

"Aren't you going to show up?" Su Lin asked Kleine: "Surprising—you'd give up this chance."

"My nature clashes with yours; I'm a man who knows how to yield." Kleine watched silently as immortals and gods descended to crush the End-Day Beast. "If I could, I'd rather eat popcorn and watch a movie—how thrilling!"

As he spoke, the frigid entity wreathed in ice crystals—Aristotle of Uranus—stepped into the earth vein array arranged by Source Heaven Art, while a strange flame clinging to the earth vein's divine power shaped the Eight Trigrams array, burning the space itself.

"What if I insist you make an appearance?" Su Lin set down his teacup and smiled. "Your performance this month has already been overtaken by Lu Mingfei and Weigong Shilang."

Kleine felt on the other man a warmth of smile he hadn't sensed in a long time—the kind of a company supervisor's kindly grin.

"That's a bit too much to ask. Alright, alright." Kleine sighed, stood up, took the cane handed to him by "Xia Luoke Moriotia," and put on the hat offered by "Daen Tangtes."

"It's unreasonable—I, a diviner, am expected to compete alongside those monsters."

"By the way, Su Lin—"

"It's an open strategy, but I think you'd better greet Weigong Shilang first."

Dressed in a black evening suit, he tidied his attire and stepped out from different historical fissures, leading an army of Servants he had puppetized from past battlefields and brought into the historical rifts—including three Crown Servants.

Manipulating the dead was never his wish—but this was his way of fighting.

Letting these spirits from history fight Aristotle for the sake of Earth's life was a fitting end for them.

"Of course." Su Lin watched Kleine's figure fade into the mist of history and smiled:

"Before I act, I'll ask Weigong Shilang if he agrees."

"I'll only seek his opinion—after all, to us, he is the one who speaks for this world."

The origin vortex, where all phenomena begin.

Those who reach it may grasp the fundamental cause and law of all things in the world—in other words, to create a new world or destroy the old one.

Though all say those who once reached there never returned.

"But since we're here already, why not take a look?"

"I'll just feed Him a few Creation Golds as compensation—after all, that matter wasn't my fault; I couldn't hold it back."

The gray-white mist of history grew ever more hazy; in the empty historical glow, the tea table and pastries returned to their former state—things lost to history, unsupported by great power, leave not even a shadow.

The area near the Great Holy Grail was Su Lin's spawn point—the so-called crystal, the fountain in games.

All of them, as "players," spawned near the Great Holy Grail.

Forced into service, Kleine and his "Yuzhe Sect" had just stepped out of a historical fissure when he heard someone muttering nearby:

"Yuan Shi Tianzun, God, Dong Huang Taiyi, Azathoth, Yan Di, the Destroyer Star God."

He turned and saw the group from Chaldea who had appeared in the livestream.

What had these people just been saying?

"Think carefully—the beings on that list have already appeared several times," said Lord El-Melloi II, frowning.

"Even Hun Tian Di is included. In the Eastern Heaven's Ministry of War, there is indeed the legend of the Six Paths of Reincarnation—immortals who break heavenly law are said to enter the Six Paths to endure trials."

This worldline's Illyasviel and Weigong Shilang had indeed mentioned several key points: "friends met during travels through Parallel Worlds," "memories of past lives," "reincarnation."

Tenzan Lixiang asked: "Dr. Wang Jier, why aren't you acting?"

Gilgamesh rested his chin and said:

"I see—such an invitation is indeed worthy of the King's banquet."

"Don't go!" Tenzan Lixiang cried. "That place is hell!"

Didn't you forget you called them a "clown" before?!

That means all these beings were watching here at that moment! Re-summoning is so expensive!

"But why are Weigong Shilang and Illyasviel both reincarnated? Were they once immortals in heaven?" Mash suddenly recalled the TV drama Tenzan Lixiang had watched:

"Master Tai, isn't love forbidden among immortals in the Immortal Realm?! Could they have been reincarnated for committing the sin of love?"

Tai Gongwang: "Honestly, I've never seen the Hun Tian Di or Yan Di who appeared here—they're not the ones I remember. As for Mr. Weigong, I have no recollection of him."

Tenzan Lixiang asked: "But that was definitely a Great Tianzun, right?"

Tai Gongwang: "Hmm."

So those others were probably too.

Could it be some ancient secret? Or did we overlook some other factor?

Da Vinci: "Abigail, BB, Van Gogh, Katsushika Hokusai—what's going on with you all? Why do you all look so strange? Oh—! Alright, I'll give you my spot."

Da Vinci, as if seeing something terrifying, switched the screen—there appeared BB in a bat-shaped cloak, her eyes glowing with evil red light.

BB: "Master, that place looks interesting. Why not take me along too?"

BB: "I heard some strange names earlier—hahaha, I'm curious. Hmm. Never mind, I'll hold off for now. But BB-chan hopes you'll thoroughly explore this Anomaly—there'll be a reward when you return, chu."

Every name sounds strange—I don't know who you mean.

Abigail: "You know exactly who we mean, Master. Keep going."

"How can you hear my thoughts?! Didn't you hear what the Director and Tai Gong said? This worldline isn't an Anomaly anymore—please, just let me go back quickly!"

Hiding in a room, slacking off, eating cake and drinking coffee while watching TV dramas—that's life! Even demon training is better than staying here!

Tenzan Lixiang occasionally sensed terrifying energy bursts in this world—chaos, or light; sometimes a universe appeared, sometimes countless rains of light fell—the number of planetary-level spiritual bases detected by Chaldea dropped by two more.

Tenzan Lixiang whispered: "Master Kongming."

"I really want a cigarette to relieve the stress," Lord El-Melloi II complained. Then a cigar and lighter were handed to him from behind. "Thank you, but—"

He turned to refuse, only to find a group of people in varied attire standing behind him—he hadn't noticed a young man with a beard holding the cigar and lighter standing extremely close.

"No need to thank me. When under pressure, a cigar and a glass of whiskey are perfect."

The man's casual familiarity left Lord El-Melloi II silent for two seconds.

He took the cigar, lit it with his own lighter, inhaled deeply—and the wrinkles on his brow eased slightly. "Thanks."

"Let me introduce myself—I'm Xia Luoke Moriarty," Kleine's puppet maintained a graceful smile. "A detective."

Xia Luoke.

Moriarty

What kind of extreme CP head would come up with a name like this?

Far away at Chaldea, Professor Moriarty's lips twitched involuntarily.

"Hello, Mr. Xia Luoke," said Elmero II, exhaling a plume of smoke, his face still expressionless. "Did you just arrive here too?"

"That's right. My Lord, the Fool, guided us to this world," said Kleine. "I heard you just mentioning Yuanshi Tianzun, God, Donghuang Taiyi, and Azathoth."

"Correct," said Tenzan Lixiang, staring at the man who called himself Xia Luoke. "Do you know anything about them?"

Kleine asked: "What exactly is this list you're referring to?"

Tenzan Lixiang recounted the names he had heard from Dada Liya.

"Hmm," Kleine considered for a moment, then said:

"Several of these names don't exist—Destroyer Star God, Donghuang Taiyi, Azathoth. None of these beings were among those who traveled with my Lord before He ascended to godhood. Probably Lady Yi Liya got them mixed up."

"Reincarnation causes memory erosion; some heard-of entities become confused together."

Kleine of course knew the current situation.

By a twist of fate, due to various misunderstandings and jokes, plus those few fanatics who loved manifesting and showing off, it was now impossible to clear his name even if he jumped into the Yellow River.

If he told Chaldea right now that this was all just a joke, they'd likely think "Kleine" was the problem.

In fact, he was one of the main culprits behind this situation.

Since it was already like this, he merely summoned a few angels to lend some atmosphere.

Those Cthulhu-esque outer gods at Chaldea were troublesome; now was the time to avoid suspicion, offer timely guidance, and prevent chain reactions.

"Is that so?" the people of Chaldea were astonished.

"I am the angel who has followed my Lord the longest," said a man who seemed to be a wandering magician, walking over in a black robe and a more classical hat, smiling gently:

"I've been curious why names from human sci-fi fictional gods appeared."

"So that's how it is."

"An angel?!" Mathers was startled at first, but then thought: since Yuanshi Tianzun and God had already appeared, an angel wasn't that surprising:

"May I ask your name?"

"Merlin. Hermes," said Kleine, controlling the puppet's face without blinking or blushing. "Don't be surprised—it's just a codename, my friend."

It went without saying this wasn't his real name.

Unless someone had fused Merlin's spiritual base with Hermes's spiritual base.

Elmero II flicked ash from his cigarette and asked:

"Sir, when you speak of this journey, are you referring to the past lives of Weigong Shilang and Dada Liya?"

Kleine, with the reaction speed of a mythological being, delivered a fabricated, logically coherent explanation:

"It involves too distant a past to be explained in a moment. Simply put, it was an accident of fate."

"Mr. Merlin, time's up," said the puppet resembling Daun Tangtai. "It's time to set out and defeat Aristotle."

"Understood, Mr. Tangtai."

Kleine nodded, then politely removed his hat in farewell, leading the vast army of Heroic Spirits, grand and imposing, toward a corner of the sky.

Those Heroic Spirits had empty eyes, yet moved with perfect, synchronized precision, like an army long drilled in formation.

Yet none of these Heroic Spirits came from the same era—even some familiar faces from Chaldea were among them.

Long after, a resonant bell tone rang from immeasurable heights.

Everyone looked upward; gray-white mist emerged, and an ancient palace hovered above, faintly visible.

In this world where the stars held no horrors, the Rank-One King of Angels, Kleine, Lord of the "Source Fortress," revealed abilities befitting his station without restraint.

The surrounding space-time twisted instantly; the entire army of Heroic Spirits, including Aristotle from "Neptune," vanished without a trace.

Prototype Divine Realm: The Realm of Secrecy

Number of planetary-level spiritual bases: Now, aside from the three Aristotles bound by runes and rule-chains, only Altair remained fighting Odin; the Inhibitor had ceased sending Servants to descend into the world.

Meng Qi sealed one Aristotle into his sleeve's universe, while Ye Fan and Xiao Yan, with Su Lin's aid, bundled up the other two and took them away.

Su Lin glanced at the petrified "Taibai Jinxing," vaguely recalling it could transform into a golden-haired angel or grow into a World Tree; he'd have Zhongli remove the petrification later and take it along.

Kleine: "This thing has no spiritual thread… Pity."

Lu Mingfei: "I'm about to start throwing myself away! Do you believe I can raise a boss?!"

Su Lin: "How lame. Aren't you embarrassed?"

Lu Mingfei: "Odin's the one who looks foolish—I, Lu Mingfei, have nothing to fear!"

Lu Mingfei: "Why do you all show off fighting elite monsters, while I just hit this ceiling?! Why can't I get a cool debut and solve this myself?!"

Meng Qi: "I think you're already cool. Look at us—we've had no chance to shine."

Su Lin: "Yeah, yeah, the rest is all your scene now."

Lu Mingfei: "Damn."

Altair and Lu Mingfei fought endlessly; Altair's attacks barely landed on Lu Mingfei, while Lu Mingfei's spear could strike Altair but couldn't pierce his defense.

"Lu Mingze!"

Lu Mingfei decided to call for outside help. Due to past psychological trauma, he didn't bring that psycho old dragon this time—he chose instead to bring Yan Xiao Mo.

"You're pathetic, brother."

A disdainful voice echoed in Lu Mingfei's mind.

"Shut up!" Lu Mingfei leapt from his eight-legged celestial steed, raising the Eternal Spear as he shouted: "Something for nothing!"

Immediately behind the one-eyed deity, a bulge erupted—suddenly, colossal dragon wings blotted out the sky.

Layer upon layer of spacetime, like a kaleidoscope, formed a rainbow-colored visual feast.

Beneath the Great Grail, Weigong Shilang gazed up at the sky and could even see familiar people from those timelines, along with other versions of himself.

In that moment of his reverie, Zhongli stepped before Weigong Shilang and seized a pale hand.

She was a noble woman with golden long hair, crimson eyes, a unique aura, and exquisitely carved features.

"Arturia?" Su Lin stepped out from the air beside them and smiled: "Or should I call you—"

"Gaia."

archetype: earth (Primordial Earth)

(End of Chapter)