111 Chapter 111: First Meeting

I am strong.

That's what I would like to think after observing my current state. The nigh-infinite amount of energy from the universe's conception is at the tip of my hands. It made me wonder how strong the 'whole' Philosopher's stone could be.

Shaking that thought off, I acted.

Shiing.

Hum-!

Buzz-!

The light of incineration wrapped around the entire world. The people would only see a blinding white light if they looked into the skies.

However, [Ein Sof]'s blue glimmer shot at it. It was very small at first, but it immediately contended with the white light. It spread out until the white light was fully covered by it.

Then, everything froze within its grasp. The magical energy suddenly was suddenly 'lost'. Its movement became null—completely frozen.

Click.

Click.

Click.

The ticking of time resounded in my ears. That one attack had strained my entire body. The dream organs are in a state of 'imperfection', with only the 'infinite conversion' keeping them active. It continuously regenerated these damages.

Hum.

By the time everything was nulled, a sharp whistling sound followed. It could be heard all throughout the world. That is the result of their 'collision'—their aftermath, to be exact.

Out of nowhere, several lights appeared to counteract them. They originated from Rameses Tentyris and Altair. Rhongomyniad's physical shell also blocked a portion of it before breaking.

"My King. I need your help one last time." I spoke. "I will tear open the place where Solomon's hiding."

"...You need my Divine Lance?"

She took a moment before replying.

"Your attack would suffice."

"I see."

She said before nodding.

"You… really grew powerful. It is fortunate that you encountered this chance."

"...Yes."

I captured a 'feedback' from the incineration light. That was all [Ein Sof] needed to 'track' down its target.

As a Sacrament based on the highest concept on Kaballah, it possessed all ten sephirots as well as the Chain That Ties, Seder Hishtalshelut. The highest being is far detached from the comprehensible, yet there lies something that ties Him to His creation—that is, the physical world and its inhabitants.

'Correspondence.'

All the details involved in Solomon's dwelling entered my mind. These were processed by my thought partitions.

'Huh?'

I didn't notice when, but it had increased to nine. From the 1.6 million thought processes, it went up to 387 million. The number of things I could 'process' increased.

It took me no time to find a way to create a hole straight to Solomon.

'No, it doesn't suffice.'

Just then, this line of thought appeared.

'I need more miracles if I'd face him. This is reckless.'

The thoughts of directly confronting Solomon disappeared. If he could freely use that nigh-infinite magical energy without any restrictions, I would've stepped into a huge landmine.

I stuck to my previous plan of striking from beyond.

Sticking my index and middle finger together, I made a slicing motion with my left arm. Instantly, countless stars greeted my sight. It is the same view as that of space.

Slowly, it transformed into another place. It was a pure white infrastructure with a weird atmosphere.

My mind caught onto some of the details of that place.

'I am right.'

The ring of light is present in that place. Forget firing it once, he could've fired it dozens of times. It'd be a stalemate at best. Worse, [Ein Sof] remains limited on time.

"It's time."

As I have reminded my King, a golden lance formed on her palm. A huge amount of magical energy was stuffed onto it—one that could easily destroy a continent at the very least.

Click-!

Fuzz-!

Sou-!

It made a sharp whistling sound as it headed towards the throne from beyond the portal.

I didn't hesitate any further.

'Miracle usage detected.'

'Purpose: To defeat a mighty foe'

'Confirm?'

'Confirm.'

Suddenly, the crystal blade lit up with an even stronger sheen of blue. Lightning arcs surrounded it.

Then—

"..!"

—I felt a gaze.

From beyond the portal—on the throne—sat a man. He has long white hair and tanned skin. The nine rings on his fingers emanated a sanctified aura—the same as Longinus and King David's Sword of Hangings.

Most importantly, I felt the surprise on his eyes.

BUZZ-!

I swung my sword down.

*****

'That thing..!'

"Solomon" remained sitting on his throne as his attention was completely preoccupied by the longsword Nobu held.

'How is this possible..?!'

He saw through the sword's 'true identity' with a glance. It was something made out of God's concept; a completely ridiculous creation by the mortals. Even the Atlas Institute wasn't able to come up with something of this magnitude!

'Why is His influence here?! Out of all times..!'

"Solomon" knew how the beings on the Reverse Side couldn't directly interfere with the outcome of this world. He had long given up from those powerful-yet-indifferent beings toward humanity

Yet, he felt His presence just now. The Lord that Solomon had served…

Swoosh-!

The full-powered Rhongomyniad went straight to his head.

Bam-!

Crack-!

It was blocked by the transparent shield that "Solomon" had always activated. However, cracks began building onto it as the Divine Construct started taking its durability.

Just then, another attack followed. It was a crescent blue light heading his way.

'..!'

"Solomon" reacted extremely quickly at its sight. He strengthened the previously damaged barrier magecraft he is using, which was then further enhanced by the nine rings on his fingers.

It is virtually impossible for any attack to pass through it, lest a special event occurs.

Nevertheless, the 'impossible' was broken by the dim blue light.

BAM-!

CRASH-!

CRACK-!

The barrier was nearly broken upon contact. Its composition was suddenly 'frozen' before it began losing its power.

'This is..!'

Once more, he acted decisively. The ring of light on the 'sky' incinerated the entire temple. It served as a curtain around him that counteracted the 'eternal freeze' embedded to the attack. However, it caused him self-damages in turn.

A moment later, "Solomon" was severely injured. Burn marks could be seen all over his arms while a gashing wound was present across his chest.

The incinerating light managed to nearly 'nullify' the sword's power at the cost of a huge energy reserve as well as self-inflicted injuries. Worse, it still managed to pass through his enhanced barrier and leave a large wound on his chest. It did not only affect the physical body—it directly affected his soul.

In such a way, he had to carry that injury for a good period of time.

Blood trickled on his mouth as he hatefully looked at the man beyond the slit in space. He couldn't muster the power to launch a counterattack.

Suddenly, a dozen similar strikes appeared and targeted him. They are all weaker in intensity as the previous one. Still, it posed a problem to the current Solomon.

"Solomon" felt nothing but anger towards Nobu. He couldn't counterattack due to his diminished capabilities as well as him existing on a Singularity. If a huge amount of energy was consumed once more, he wouldn't have enough to enact his plan on time.

His three thousand years of preparation would be all for naught.

The portal closed immediately as he spoke:

"You will pay."

*****

"Fu…"

Swoosh-!

[Ein Sof] disappeared in motes of blue light before taking the form of a wristwatch. I could feel my fingers continuously trembling. Exhaustion started to fill my entire body—something impossible the moment I became a Magister.

"I am still inexperienced…"

Lord Nettesheim understood many things about the world. It far surpassed my current worldview. That's what a genius could achieve if he was given a thousand years.

Though, I don't need that long. Perhaps a few more years would suffice. The harvest on Atlas Institute would raise me up to another level once I apply them all.

Despite this exhaustion, I didn't falter my steps. The infinite conversion started mending all of them.

"It's done. The threat was taken care of."

"Are you alright?" My King asked.

"Yes. There's no need to worry. I will recover in no time."

A taste of iron appeared in my mouth. From it, I discovered that blood started trickling down my mouth.

'Suimei bled during the fight with Ten of Greed's leader, no?'

That was the first instance of him bleeding with infinite conversion. It was a manifestation of considerable damage. The next time was when he had his first encounter with another world's goddess.

I calmly wiped it off with my gloves.

'Are you really fine?'

This time, it was Lancelot who expressed her concern.

'Yes. I won't lie about my condition.'

The last time I did that was when I slept for half a year. I wouldn't do something like that again.

'If you say so.'

For once, I noticed that Lancelot is more expressive. I guessed she was the type to keep her emotions bottled up—something I'd seen from many introverts with Bocchi-chan as the first and foremost.

After this, I helped in organizing the aftermath. From stopping the ongoing 'fights' to contacting Ozymandias and my father, it took a while to complete.

By the time everything was over, I had everyone return to Altair. The relationship between the two sides are quite salty due to the recent fights. Although our King tried her best to mend it, it wouldn't be over within a day or two.

Nevertheless, it is our responsibility to inform them that everything's over—that the King reverted to her previous self. That's how I could tell they would bury the hatchet at some point in time.

"...Huh."

I sat in the central position of the airship's control room. It is something I dubbed the 'Commander's Seat' after creating this airship.

The control room's surroundings are currently filled with bright stars. The walls reflected the camera feeds outside Altair, thus projecting the night view here.

My attention turned to the wristwatch on my left arm. The Sacrament disappeared once the magic's duration was over. However, when I habitually touched Sora, a change occurred.

It disappeared and was replaced by a similar-looking wrist watch on my left arm. Unlike the plain black design from before, it has a mix of red and blue metal, with its strap being black. Its gears are visible to the naked eye as they move.

It reminded me of the wrist watch that I bought and modified to become a mystical item.

Red and blue…

Hephaestus and Artemis..?

Strangely enough, it emits an aura of time distortion. I also tried using its activation chant but to no avail.

'Frozen in time..?'

That was when it dawned on me. [Ein Sof] did disappear. It was only through its sheer power could it resist the correction of time. It froze time itself for it to remain with my possession.

Then again, it posed another problem.

How could I use it?

It didn't take much to reach the answer.

'My cheat…'

[Ein Sof]'s duration with my magic was five minutes. If I reversed its state to five minutes ago, it might come out of its frozen state and become usable. Once five minutes had passed, it would then revert to this frozen state.

It looks like my charges became more precious.

'Seven charges… It'll serve a good use.'

With the grail's current rate, it could now gather a charge within fifteen days. This change occurred when Galahad appeared once more.

Speaking of him…

I wasn't able to hear from him again.

'Where did he go..?'

*****

A peaceful night had passed.

"The airship… it's more than fifteen thousand feet above the ground?"

"Yawn… yeah. It should belong to either a magi organization or a Noble Phantasm. It should have an owner."

Unfortunately, it was not a "peaceful" night for Chaldea. The huge event that occurred within this singularity threatened to directly remove it from history. It would be turned into a 'bubble universe' before being pruned by Goetia's ring of light, Ars Almadel Salomonis. That way, his efforts of establishing this changed history and affecting the Pan-human history would be all for naught.

It is equivalent to Goetia sabotaging his own work… which confused Chaldea.

Why would he, out of all people, sabotage his own work?

Not only that, there are also the lights that shielded Earth from harm. From the conclusion, it could be seen that they were successful.

Thus, it covered this Singularity with enigmas.

"..!"

Davinci noticed something and brought out her explosives.

"Mash, get ready to carry Ritsuka away."

"Davinci-san?!"

The orange-haired Master yelped in surprise as she was carried by her kouhai.

"What's going—" Romani detected the disturbance occurring in front of them. "...I see. There's no need to worry, Davinci."

"Romani?"

"It's not an enemy."

Just as he spoke, a man appeared out of thin air. Blue particles surrounded him as he materialized midair.

Flap-!

The ends of his overcoat flew along the winds. The man easily landed on the ground softly. He demonstrated the phenomenon of subtly dispersing force to the ground.

His golden irises looked at Davinci and Ritsuka before stopping at Mash. Lastly, he looked at the hidden projection along with them.

Giving them a slight elegant bow, he spoke:

"Greetings, people of Chaldea. I heard you are looking for me?"