On the other side, after passing through the Fourth Underworld, Tenkei Shiomi and Morgan followed the markers they had set along the way, guiding Storm Border and their companions while heading toward the cave beneath the withered Fantasy Tree.
"...What the hell is that thing?"
Shiomi closed the stone gate behind them and set up a Barrier that only his family could open.
"Seeds of the Fantasy Tree," Morgan said.
"Really?"
Shiomi looked surprised.
"ORT has fused with the Fantasy Tree. The so-called withered Fantasy Tree is rely its outer shell. Its true essence still remains. While ORT has been sleeping, it served as the foundation of the Fantasy Tree, continuing to grow for millions of years. By now it has reached the point where it can produce seeds."
Morgan walked ahead, observing the surroundings of the underground temple while calmly laying out her analysis.
"So those seeds can't take root or sprout, but they stay here to protect their source?"
Shiomi recalled the countless seeds floating around the Fantasy Tree.
They had no clear will of their own. Only vast Mana, and a combat style like an automatic defense chanism.
Although the two of them had destroyed every seed along the way, it had still cost them quite a bit of ti.
"That's about right," Morgan said. "My husband, look at these murals. They seem to depict the history of the Kingdom of Ka'an."
"They match up pretty well with the records Archetype ntioned."
Shiomi sighed as he studied the wall paintings.
"Too bad we're not in the mood to examine them carefully right now. Otherwise..."
"Otherwise it would make for a rather nice archaeological trip."
Morgan laughed softly.
"I rember the year after the Fourth Holy Grail War ended, you took the whole family to visit the Maya and Aztec ruins."
"Yeah. At first I thought I was the only one interested."
Shiomi clasped his hands behind his back.
"But not only you. Even Sakura and Caren were fascinated."
"My curiosity has always been strong."
Morgan tilted her head and looked back up the stairs toward Shiomi.
"They were still young back then. Of course their curiosity was strong too."
"Like family, like family."
Shiomi laughed.
Morgan was deliberately bringing up old mories to help him relax.
She could feel it. The closer Shiomi got to ORT's location, the more serious he beca without realizing it.
And what happened with Camazotz had shaken him more than a little.
If things had not already reached this point, Morgan had no doubt Shiomi would once again throw himself into danger alone and try to find a way to deal with ORT by himself.
Just like when he resolved Cernunnos and Chaos.
"Try to relax a little. Don't trap yourself in your own thoughts."
Morgan reminded him gently.
"ORT is just ahead. Right now I just want to make sure, together with you, that it won't be awakened."
"The problem is," Shiomi said, "the Fantasy Tree and ORT have already fused together. Cutting away the Lostbelt ans we would have to completely destroy ORT..."
"There will be a way."
Morgan's eyes shone with firm trust.
"After all, it's basically a stationary target lying there. Even if we have to chip away at it little by little..."
Before Morgan could finish proposing her plan, the entire underground temple suddenly shook violently.
Caught off guard, Morgan's slender heel slipped. Her body tilted toward the side of the stairs, where there was no railing at all, threatening to send her falling into the bottomless abyss.
"Morgan!"
Shiomi lunged forward, grabbing her and rushing down the steps.
Before they hit the ground, the two rged into the Unity God and landed safely.
"Such a fuss..."
Morgan said lightly.
"The Mana reaction is enormous. I can tell one side is U-Olga Marie, and the other is... Tlaloc? But her Spirit Origin reading seems unusually high."
"So in the end, my husband's mont of rcy turned into his own mistake?"
Morgan asked with concern.
"Maybe..."
Shiomi did not give a definite answer.
Clearly even he had not expected things to turn out like this.
Whether U-Olga Marie had clashed with Tezcatlipoca's group over ORT first, or whether sothing else had happened, there was no way to know yet.
"Stop overthinking it. We'll find out once we get down there."
Morgan rose onto her toes and leapt off the temple's high platform, descending deeper below.
Passing through the complicated spiral stairways, the Unity God moved at trendous speed across the temple's upper levels.
As they descended further underground, rivers of magma flowed between the rocks.
"Looks like we're a little late. The battle is already over."
The Unity God landed outside the temple at the lowest level, and Morgan separated from the fusion.
Looking at the nearly collapsed temple and the shattered stairways, she spoke.
"That figure is..."
Shiomi recognized the female Servant buried beneath the rubble, only half her body exposed.
Tenochtitlan.
Her form had changed.
Her Spirit Origin had also changed.
Shiomi did not know her true na, but he was certain it was no longer Tlaloc or Huitzilopochtli.
"You got here pretty fast... or maybe I should say too late."
Covered in wounds, Tenochtitlan looked weakly at the two of them.
"Looks like even if I held out longer, it wouldn't have ant anything."
Her body was drenched in blood. Her Spirit Origin was almost shattered, and her disappearance was already inevitable.
"Was it U-Olga Marie?"
Shiomi asked.
"...Who else would it be?"
Tenochtitlan muttered.
Morgan narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.
"So she did decide to carry out the original plan after all?"
"Probably not."
For so reason, Tenochtitlan felt she should tell them sothing they did not know.
"She only wanted to stop the god Tezcatlipoca. To interfere with the Crypter's plan... it seed like it was for soone's sake."
Shiomi froze when he heard that, falling silent.
"Only that?"
Morgan sounded skeptical.
But Tenochtitlan no longer wanted to say anything more.
She lowered her gaze, looking both frustrated and strangely satisfied, quietly waiting for her Spirit Origin to fade away.
"If U-Olga Marie won, then right now she should already be..."
Before Morgan could finish speaking, Shiomi suddenly grabbed her hand, wrapped an arm around her waist, and jumped.
They landed in front of the collapsed temple gate, which had barely enough space for two people to pass through.
To leave a path for their companions, Shiomi rather roughly restored the gate's structure with his authority, then pulled Morgan along as they rushed inside.
Explosions echoed from deep within the temple.
At the sa ti, U-Olga Marie's powerful Mana reaction surged from within.
What exactly was she trying to do? What was she thinking?
A path that would normally take several minutes even at full speed was crossed in just half a minute thanks to the Unity God's rapid movent.
Deep underground, illuminated by the glow of magma, U-Olga Marie was fighting.
Her opponents were none other than Iscari and Tezcatlipoca.
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