Chapter 697

"If I cannot start over, then at least, creating a new world—for the one entrusted with it, it must be truly exhausting."

The Dead Face was devouring Hakuno Kishinami violently, and she no longer hesitated, slowly advancing toward the core. "If the Moon Cell is normalized, I will disappear, decomposed into the smallest units as abnormal data."

"Whether it is my self or anything else, it will all vanish, or perhaps... maybe I will open my eyes as someone else."

"Just like that day looking up at the blue sky, everything will be lost...", a touch of sadness appeared on the girl's face.

But in the next instant, she suddenly widened her eyes—what is this? A level like this doesn't count for anything at all.

Brilliant white light engulfed Hakuno Kishinami, and a calm smile appeared on her face.

After all, it was something she had already experienced once before.

Hakuno Kishinami was originally dead, but because her living body still existed on Earth, and because her desire for life was incredibly intense, the Moon Cell judged her as a living person and successfully granted her wish!

As the Moon Cell rebooted, she wished for the world to be reborn, allowing the planet that had once been unable to sustain life to burst forth with new vitality once again.

But the lost civilization could not return; the few remaining humans would struggle to survive in the new world.

】

【Nero: "Praetor, the final echo ends here..."】

【Mash: "The story from a thousand years ago has finally come to an end after a thousand years. Woo, it's so moving, Senpai!"】

【GG-Bao: "Hiss... so familiar. A world like this... isn't this the world Goetia craves?!"】

【Abe no Seimei: "That is exactly so. The world Goetia craves is one starting from zero, but whether the energy from incinerating human history can recast a planet is unknown—yet here, it has truly been realized."】

【Orochimaru: "Correct, there is almost no difference between the two. Goetia wants to let rotten human history develop from the beginning, and while this is unconscious, the result is the same."】

【Merlin: "Goetia, stop playing dead! The world you want is here! Yours is an incomplete Human Order Incineration Plan, and this one is the same, eh!"】

【Gendo Ikari: "Human... Instrumentality Project!"】

【Misato Katsuragi: "Commander Ikari has gone mad."】

【Goetia: "... This is not the world I want; this is merely the gathering of material conditions."】

Fate World

In the Temple of Time

Goetia snorted coldly; a world destroyed and then resurrected by the Moon Cell was indeed the final result of his Human Order Incineration.

But that world still had many humans remaining; thoughts, civilization, and so on still persisted. In other words, the Human Order still existed!

Such a world would ultimately only walk the same path as before the Incineration; what meaning is there in saving it or not?

In the end, it is nothing more than repeating the same mistakes. There is nothing new under the sun.

And the world he wants to construct is one where the Human Order starts from zero!

No more pain, no more sorrow, no more confusion!

To make humanity... truly great! And to achieve this step, he must first make contact with Ritsuka Fujimaru!

Hmm... speaking of which, several Beasts have run off to Chaldea recently; why didn't they call him? Could it be that Ritsuka Fujimaru doesn't need him?

Goetia fell into deep thought.

【Hakuno Kishinami's Second Future Line—】

【

Before the Moon Cell core, the Buddha calmly watched the Hakuno Kishinami master-servant pair before him, making no move.

Unbeknownst to them, his Master, Twice, had already been heavily wounded!

It turned out that upon realizing the gap between enemy and ally was like a chasm, Hakuno Kishinami had bet on her only chance, using a Command Spell to have Nero assassinate Twice!

But it surely would have been blocked by the Buddha... What surprised Hakuno Kishinami was that the Buddha did not intervene!

And Twice was not angry that the Buddha hadn't intervened; perhaps he had already found the answer in his heart.

He looked toward the sky with sorrow, "I heard the sounds of war... although I miss it, no matter how many times I experience it, losing in battle is still painful."

"However, I have no regrets. Just as life revolves, battle also revolves; there is no end. You have proven this."

Even in defeat, Twice did not change in the slightest; his figure gradually became transparent as he staggered step by step toward Hakuno Kishinami.

"Go and connect with the Holy Grail; you will know everything there," Twice passed by Hakuno Kishinami, his body being devoured by the Dead Face.

His voice had no ripples, yet it was full of sorrow, "Our future, where life is used recklessly, where there is prosperity without purpose, and where we wither away like wildflowers by the roadside..."

"Decide."

Twice disappeared completely from this world.

Even though Twice had died, the Buddha remained in that same state, his Buddha-light solemn and his Buddha-voice vast.

He lowered his eyes, "Things with life will inevitably perish; the suffering of all living things is in reincarnation."

"He who held a strong will to survive and wished to pioneer the path of enlightenment also harbored gods within his heart."

"There is not only one path, just as human good and evil have no value; human perception will not change the way the world exists."

"O King of Battle stained with blood, watch over the end of the world together with Nirvana; this is your final salvation."

As he finished speaking, a golden ring unfolded above the firmament, and the Buddha disappeared like a withering Sala flower.

Seeing the Buddha depart completely, Hakuno Kishinami finally let out a sigh of relief; the pressure this savior had given her was truly too great...

And she also understood that the Buddha had not lent his power to Twice, but had shown his compassion to Twice as a human.

】

【Shinji Matou: "Wh... What's going on? The Buddha just watched Twice die?! What an unqualified Servant! He's on par with the Rider in my house!"】

【Sanzang: "The Buddha does not care about the survival of humans."】

【Gintoki Sakata: "So after all that, he was just there to provide hospice care."】

【Kato Taka: "Humans are just butterflies dancing in the hellfire; hasn't the Buddha's Noble Phantasm already explained it well? 'One-ness Reincarnation' is the operation of resetting the surface civilization into a spiritron calculation device."】

【Tezcatlipoca: "The Buddha speaks of compassion for all living things, but the Buddha is the most ruthless and cruel of all. A Buddha who has truly let go of desire and attained purity of the six senses no longer understands anything about humans."】

【Randolph Carter: "That is a cosmic observer from that world who has transcended good and evil. His 'Wheel-Turning Saint King' pruning parallel worlds explains everything; he is an existence that will gently destroy the world."】

【DIO: "It's as natural as a gardener pruning dead branches. Would you feel sorrow for how many noodles you've eaten... or how many branches you've pruned?"】

【Madoka Kaname: "... How could it be like this?"】

【Homura Akemi: "Madoka, if we followed our normal world line, you would eventually become like that... ruthless and cruel, yet incredibly correct from a macro perspective. The only ones who can't accept it are us ordinary people who bear the misfortune. Madoka, promise me, no matter what, don't become an existence like that, okay?"】

【Kyubey: "Ordinary people can't rewrite the laws of the universe, Homura."】

【Homura Akemi: "Shut up, you piece of trash!"】

【Margaret: "So the root cause is the pain of reincarnation... Then... I have an idea."】

【Mercurius: "I support the Goddess's opinion unconditionally!"】

【Merlin: "Angra, come out and absorb some evil. Is it not enough? Is the evil of the entire world repeating its reincarnation enough?"】

【Angra Mainyu: "... Look at which hole on my body you can stuff it into, and just stuff it."】

Naruto World

Land of Fire

Just like pruning branches... even though he had long understood the logic of that world, Orochimaru couldn't stop trembling when he saw a world compared to a branch.

It was too terrifying; this contradictory relationship was enough to make one tremble. The person pruning the branches was clearly doing so for the trees to grow better, but for the branches, it was a disaster that destroyed them.

Orochimaru suddenly laughed out loud; he felt sorrow for his own insignificance.

Because he had seen the fragility of humans, he craved eternal life, he craved immortality.

But the world? The universe?

He was truly too insignificant.

Fate World

So that's how it is, the mages raised their eyebrows.

The Buddha is an existence that maintains the survival of primates, not one that protects individual civilizations.

The Buddha came in response to Twice's summoning, not because he wanted to intervene and save him, but to show mercy to Twice, this savior burdened with heavy sins.

If one truly wants the Buddha to intervene, one would likely have to meet one condition: primates completely losing the possibility of evolution.

After the Alien God invaded Earth, this Buddha never showed his face either. Perhaps... no, according to this line of thinking, the other party has definitely been watching Pan-Human History all along!

It is not that he is preparing to save humanity from fire and water in times of crisis, but that he is verifying that civilization must prove its own value to earn the qualification for survival.

Once Ritsuka Fujimaru and the others stop moving, the Buddha will personally prune their world line!

... It was even more cruel than they had imagined...

After figuring out what the Buddha really was, everyone felt cold sweat breaking out all over their bodies.

【

A long staircase descended from the Moon Cell core, the sea-blue stairs extending to Hakuno Kishinami's feet.

Hakuno Kishinami stood silently in place, pondering what kind of wish she should make.