After resting for four hours on the bleached earth and repairing the damage sustained in the decisive battle against the sea of Fantasy Trees, the Storm Border set off toward Antarctica.
According to Trisgistus's prediction, the ark would reach the Antarctic Circle after twenty-four hours of imaginary ti.
That was with the Storm Border already flying at a reduced speed.
After all, four hours of rest was still far too short, but staying behind for several more days would have created other problems.
According to Daybit, the Human Order Preservation that Marisbury had planned was already complete the mont all seven Lostbelts were cut away.
The longer they delayed, the worse it would be for New Chaldea.
"So you're here."
With only a short distance left before Antarctica, Shiomi stepped outside and stood on the deck to get so air.
Then he heard Romani's voice behind him.
"Why aren't you staying on the bridge? What are you doing out here?" Shiomi said, then suddenly narrowed his eyes at Romani. "Or rather, maybe you're not Romani at all. The real Romani is still on the bridge, and you're actually Goetia."
"That joke isn't funny at all," Romani said, looking thoroughly exasperated. "Especially when you take Goetia's existence into account."
"Well, that guy might really be watching us from sowhere even now," Shiomi said. "That's the trouble with Clairvoyance that can see both the past and the future."
"I can't even tell whether that was praise or an insult." Romani slumped his shoulders. "Forget it. I ca to talk to you about sothing else."
"About the alien Chaldeas?" Shiomi asked.
"After all, I'm one of the longest-serving people left in New Chaldea," Romani said.
In the attack on the Antarctic Chaldea, almost everyone with more seniority than Romani had already lost their lives.
And he was not bringing that up to boast about seniority. He ant it in another sense.
"You an you feel bad for not noticing what Chaldeas and Marisbury were really planning?" Shiomi asked.
"Sothing like that." Romani nodded.
At the ti, he had believed that as long as humanity could be saved from destruction, then a certain amount of sacrifice was acceptable.
Because of that, Romani had never voiced any objection to Marisbury's actions. All he had done was offer Mash so human compassion after everything she had gone through.
Romani knew that did not erase the cold-hearted side of it, but as a human being, it was the most he had been capable of doing.
"Then there's no reason to dwell on it. Chaldeas and Earth... that enormous replacent Magecraft swapped the 'fabric' on the surface of the two," Shiomi said. "If they wanted to hide it from you after you had already beco human, that would have been incredibly easy."
"I understand the logic of it," Romani said. "The difference in size between the celestial sphere and the planet doesn't matter. The key point is that the celestial sphere copied the planet's information volu and soul, then carried out the replacent without harming the planet."
"More importantly, if Goetia hadn't incinerated Human Order, then at the end of 2016 in real ti, Chaldeas should have begun bleaching the Earth."
"A burned planetary surface couldn't be swapped out," Romani said. "After all, the existence of the seven Singularities had already destabilized Human Order. So from the mont Singularity F was observed, Marisbury's plan had already been disrupted..."
"Was it really only Singularity F?" Shiomi murmured thoughtfully, then suddenly rembered sothing. "...Right. Did you ever tell Marisbury about where I ca from?"
He was referring to Solomon as he had manifested as Caster during the Fifth Holy Grail War.
"No, I didn't," Romani answered honestly. "Even Solomon himself didn't understand why, when he used Clairvoyance to look into your identity, he saw a reason for your birth that resembled Solomon's own."
"A sudden whim?" Shiomi raised a brow.
"Yes. Solomon envied you, soone born by the hand of a god yet still possessing human freedom. That's why he arranged that kind of decisive battle with Marisbury," Romani said, answering a question that had lingered for so ti. "At first, I only wanted to fight you."
That was a personal desire that Solomon had never once felt during his lifeti.
"So he didn't know my origins, but he definitely wanted to. That's why, when the Clock Tower sent into Chaldea as an observer, he didn't object." Shiomi continued thinking it through. "But unfortunately, his death interrupted the preparation for sothing."
"The Grand Command Spell," Romani said. "Marisbury must also have considered that the appearance of the Singularities could interfere with his plan, which is why he prepared the Grand Command Spell."
But Shiomi beca the only Master of the original A-Team who was never engraved with a Grand Command Spell.
As for Hinako Akuta, by blowing herself up and reviving, she had used her nature as an elental to free herself from the Grand Command Spell.
"Then we're back to the sa question as before. What was he doing all this for?" Shiomi asked. "Chaldeas existed for the sake of bleaching the Earth, but what was Marisbury's purpose in carrying out the bleaching?"
"What Goetia wanted was life and a planet without death."
"What Kirschtaria wanted was the advancent of humanity as a species."
"To reach the Root," Romani said. "Marisbury once said that the Animusphere would achieve that goal in its own way."
"The three founding families of Fuyuki, who established the Holy Grail War ritual, also each sought to reach the Root for their own reasons." Shiomi folded his arms. "Was this ant to bypass the interference of the primates' Counter Force?"
No one knew what would happen if soone actually reached the Root.
Would the Magus vanish? Would sothing happen to humanity as well? No one knew.
The Counter Force of the primates deed it harmful to humanity, and so it put obstacle after obstacle in the way, forcing generation after generation of Magi to exhaust themselves without ever reaching it.
"And then there's what Daybit said, about 'for the sake of humanity's honor,'" Romani said gloomily. "Marisbury's wish would benefit humanity, yet at the sa ti it would stain humanity's na as a species... It's just too contradictory."
"That man would feel genuine joy at humanity's prosperity, and he truly looked forward to the growth of knowledge. He was a very pure Magus," Shiomi said, repeating the general impression others had of Marisbury. "Otherwise, Solomon would never have answered his summons."
"So the real key is..."
Romani looked up at Shiomi.
His instincts told him that the man standing before him might be the key to breaking through this deadlock.
But Shiomi suddenly pressed a hand onto Romani's shoulder.
"There's a barrier. Brace for impact," Shiomi said, then spoke into the communicator. "Ignore the deck. Keep moving forward."
Once the bridge received Shiomi's response, they did not slow down.
Instead, the Storm Border drove straight into it.
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