What did it feel like to stand face to face with another self?
Olga Marie did not know.
But after deciding to follow Shiomi into the Third Netherworld, she had gone to ask Morgan, Pendragon and Caster, and also Scáthach and Skadi.
None of them had given quite the sa answer.
Strictly speaking, what they had encountered had not truly been another self, but other beings who rely resembled them.
Beings with completely different experiences and lives.
But the 'Alien God,' U-Olga Marie, was different. That was a being Chaldeas had created using the old body she had cast aside.
So they could not fully answer Olga Marie's question.
Even so, in the end, they all gave Olga Marie Animusphere sothing close to the sa answer.
"No matter how similar they are, even if they share the sa root, you are still yourself, irreplaceable and one of a kind in this world."
As they drew closer and closer to where the 'Alien God' was hiding, Olga Marie felt the fog filling her heart gradually clear away.
Noticing that uncertainty inside her, Shiomi quietly said to her as they stepped onto the small island in the middle of the lake where the 'Alien God' was hiding,
"Just do what you believe is right. I trust your answer. And I'll keep you safe, so you don't need to worry about anything else."
"Okay."
Olga Marie climbed down from Shiomi's arms and stood again on the slightly soft ground, which felt a little unfamiliar beneath her feet.
The Third Netherworld, Xoxoauhqui, was a desert.
But besides the many floating islands hanging in the sky, its central region also contained a completely different kind of oasis.
At the center of that oasis was a lake.
And in the middle of that lake was a small island.
The island was lush and overgrown, and from outside it was impossible to see what lay within. The only way was to climb up and look for themselves.
Holding Shiomi's hand, Olga Marie walked step by step along the rough path toward the center of the island.
The enormous Mana signature.
The suffocating pressure.
The closer she got, the more instinctive her fear beca.
This was the 'Alien God.'
As a lifeform, it possessed a presence that stood far above humanity. rely approaching it was overwhelming.
"I'm here."
Shiomi whispered by Olga Marie's ear.
Her heart grew warm, and she felt that mountain-like, sea-like pressure being pushed aside by so invisible force, making it no longer so difficult to move forward.
After parting the dense branches and leaves, Olga Marie and Shiomi finally saw the 'Alien God,' U-Olga Marie, in a small clearing deep within the forest.
"This really never ends... no, I should say, I knew you would co."
The 'Alien God' lifted her eyes to look at Shiomi.
That face, always full of arrogance and superiority, was now worn down by exhaustion and fatigue, as if sothing had tornted her so badly that she was on the verge of ntal collapse.
The Alien Apostles had neither the ability nor the need to do sothing like that.
And the envoys of the Indian gods were not the type to specialize in attacks on the mind.
Which ant the answer still had to lie within U herself.
Among the authority she had taken away was the record of Shiomi's existence.
Reading those records, and having them resonate against the body mories hidden behind her blocked perception, had been steadily wearing away at U's mind.
The endless repetition of doubting her own existence would have driven any ordinary person mad long ago.
But U-Olga Marie had endured it.
She had only lost the will to fight, reaching a point where she no longer wanted to do anything at all.
Even with a great enemy right before her, she could not even manage a proper guard.
"There's sothing I need to take back, so of course I ca," Shiomi said quietly as he looked at her.
Then Olga Marie released Shiomi's hand and stepped forward.
"Who's there?!"
U imdiately cried out in alarm and uncertainty.
A powerful force pushed Olga Marie backward. If Shiomi had not caught her, she would have fallen to the ground.
"You... can't see ?" Olga Marie said in shock. "Just like Gorgon couldn't see Anna."
"Tenkei Shiomi, who else is here besides you?" U demanded. "What trick is Chaldea using? How can you hide soone from my eyes?"
"We aren't doing anything. It's simply that... you can't perceive her existence," Shiomi answered calmly.
U-Olga Marie stared at him with wide eyes.
She could see Shiomi, but she could not see anything here besides him.
She could not recognize it, could not see it, and yet she clearly knew that sothing was here, right in front of her.
"Her? Who is she?"
"And who are you?" Shiomi asked.
"I am the 'Alien God,' U-Olga Marie, the one who will rule this planet... the Supre Leader of Earth."
Unlike when she first manifested at the orbital shrine of Olympus, her tone no longer carried that wild, overblown confidence.
Now there was uncertainty mixed into it.
"You don't sound very sure of yourself," Shiomi said, shaking his head. "Why?"
Then silence spread between them.
After a long while, U finally spoke hesitantly.
"I saw it... because when I tried to devour your authority, the mont I touched it, I saw the records inside."
U-Olga Marie wrapped her arms around herself.
"Even though I had never t you before Olympus, and only knew of your existence from the Apostles' reports, why... why would those records, those records that cannot be faked, contain..."
Her voice stopped abruptly.
The more she tried to say what she had seen, the more doubt about herself arose, preventing her from speaking the final part aloud.
"They contained the records of 'Olga Marie,'" Shiomi said for her.
U fell into even deeper silence.
At that point, Olga Marie stepped forward again.
"Because I spent years together with Teacher. Because with Teacher's support, I was able to stay alive, make it all the way here, and stand where I am now. Those mories are irreplaceable to . And to Teacher, they're precious mories too."
"..."
U-Olga Marie remained silent.
She did not know why Shiomi had suddenly stopped speaking, and she could not hear Olga Marie's voice either.
But deep inside, if what she possessed could even be called a heart, she clearly understood that so voiceless sound was telling her sothing.
Sothing she had to know, and yet could not know.
"A person is their history. Everything a person lives through ultimately shapes who they are. Even if the body is changed, as long as the soul and mories remain, that person's existence does not change. Even if, to you, those are only mories from who knows where, records that exist inside you for reasons you do not understand. If you stop rejecting them, and instead accept them..."
Olga Marie reached out and gently placed her hand on U-Olga Marie's face.
Even though she could not perceive the warmth of that touch, the 'Alien God' still felt sothing impossible to describe.
"What... am I, really...?"
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