Chapter 259: Recreation

Each attack landed in a single space, forming a small point. Moments later, they imploded.

HUM-!

CRACK-!

BOOM-!

Huge tears are created in the birdcage, with the audience's overwhelming amount of 'acceptance' fixing it just as it is being destroyed. It is an attack that can deal with Creator-class beings, destroying their every hope of living, ever. The concept and information possessed by them will be obliterated into nothingness.

...Huh?

Under the veil of blinding white light, I checked out the situation through my kouhai's console. The acceptance that 'Madoka' and 'Tail White' have reached their peak. The highest amount that the others reached is around 993,090 while we reached more than 1.9 million and 2.1 million, respectively. All of them are helping our attacks work against Altair invisibly, making it so that even her plethora of powers are nullified.

But, this wasn't the portion that I want to see. Rather, it is the 'anomaly' that I found earlier. A few minutes ago, I discovered its existence through the console—rather, the bug I secretly placed in it. I found out that 'it' interfered with my kouhai's operation and activated their final trump card. At the same time, 'it' tried to delete the hidden plan inside it, which is Souta's plan of bringing Setsuna "back" to life.

After that, no traces of 'it' could be found. Even with my enhanced powers, I could not find her. This is why I waited to have staggering amounts of 'acceptance' to use it for my search.

Blue magic circles appeared on my fingertips. Touching the 'input' section and enabling me to temporarily have a 'universal search' ability, I tried finding her location.

"It's... here."

I see.

I see.

I see.

I see.

...

...

...

So this is what she's been after from the beginning.

Turning off that ability, I transferred most of my acceptance into an 'instant movement'. Unlike my extremely fast movement, it reversed cause and effect, bringing me to my destination at this moment.

All of this happened in less than a split second.

By the time the light died down and the others could react, I found a dozen swords piercing my body. My preset defense and acceptance which should have protected me from sudden attacks all failed.

In my sight, I saw the visage of our enemy—the strongest insurmountable foe that we have faced—meeting my gaze. Her previous luster is gone; what replaced it is dullness. It's as if she went from a passionate girl with a certain goal to someone tired of it all.

"...Let's do it, Nichiro."

Reaching out to the one inside my bracelet, I lost consciousness.

*****

"Die."

Disregarding everything, Altair launched an attack to her full power. It was a tad bit weaker due to the need to defend herself from that combined attack, but most of it was taken care of through her connection to the console itself. Now, she pulled no strings behind and is trying everything to achieve her so-called goal.

At first, it was only to punish the ones who wronged her creator, ultimately ending with another life claimed.

Bam.

She managed to easily lift the GN Sword that descended upon her. Even when the GN Particles are overloading, it did not make her move.

BAM-!

CRASH-!

She easily threw it to the ground like a toy. As if her previous state was a joke, she appeared right in front of Magus while summoning forth the exact copy of a treasured sword, Excalibur.

Realizing her plans, he deployed 'Infinity'. This time, it was not the prototype, but the full version. He removed the loopholes and weaknesses that it had, making it one of his strongest shields of his.

Still...

Sou-!

Crack-!

Crack-!

It easily pierced through it. The tip of the holy sword went through his back. His calm gaze met her empty pupils.

"...I see. It's a pity that... I would be 'killed' by this."

Magus burned with a resolute gaze, angry even, as copious amounts of magic circles appeared behind his back. They are the manifestation of all his life's wisdom, given a concrete form.

[History Reconstruction].

Adding Mysteries' power into the mix, he succeeded in drawing the power of the past. Stacked against an opponent who has despairing odds, he chose the same thing as before.

"History repeats itself."

A wondrous sight occurred. An immeasurable number of mirages flashed by. In the end, it formed an incomprehensible sight to the audience. Unbeknownst to them, it is the strongest attack that he could muster with his life in exchange. The reproduction of his sacrifice a thousand years ago. The time when he defeated 'Fenrir' and stopped the crazed plans of the origin of all things.

"Tsk. He got to make such a flashy exit."

Slowly, Fenrir began disappearing as well. His existence was tied to the 'history' that Magus had recreated. He was dead by that time, thus his disappearance is vital to its success.

"It can't be helped. Preparing for unexpected situations is our forte."

"I guess so."

A gust of wind passed by before he completely disappeared.

"I'm sorry... I will leave our meeting later." Skikikan mumbled as if he were talking to someone else.

Just as he was about to disappear, a girl appeared on his screen. Quanta, who has its [Quantum Burst Mode] nearly gone, could not react to it.

"She..."

Suddenly, four Sword Bits identical to his own appeared behind her back. They spun together, creating a portal through the distortion of physics.

The girl, Altair, mouthed a series of words to him.

"..?!"

Before he could further react, he was thrown into the portal along with Quanta.

She faced her 'adversaries' once more upon taking care of it. Expressionlessly, she waved her blade on top of her Ppsh-41 akin to playing the violin. She imbued the power of 'absolute' into her blades before sending it off to them.

A volley of cannonballs intercepted them, causing them to fall one by one. Even so, she wasn't bothered by it.

"Take Shiro away, Madoka."

"H-huh?! What are you talking about, Touka-nee?!"

"Get ready to leave this world. Right this instant." She replied with a grave face. "The others are nowhere to be seen and most of our means are gone. At this rate, this mission will be a failure."

A failure.

For the first time, Madoka saw the seriousness in Touka's casual looks. In all the times they were together, not once had she acted like this.

"I will wait for the others. This world... we can't save it."

"We... We're just leaving this world behind..?"

Her mind was shaken. Yes, the thought of not being able to save this world came across her mind several times, but to experience it was another matter altogether.

Touka stared at the spotless Altair. She knew that behind this seemingly invincible stance is a weakened Altair. Shiro explained that it'll be impossible for her to successively defend against their focused and well-timed attacks without any cost. Be it a Beyond Creator class, it would still affect them. Shiro knew this as someone who had reached that level before.

Even so, they are not in a state where they could continue fighting against the weakened her. Right now, it took Touka most of her powers just to prevent Altair's powers from directly affecting them. Once she drops this immunity, they could be "revised" by her, weakening them or outright killing them in one go.

"No. I will wait."

"Madoka, you—"

"I will trust in sensei."

"..."

Knowing how stubborn she could be, Touka gave up. Madoka was someone who could sacrifice herself for the sake of the world. That level of stubbornness isn't something that she could easily challenge.

"...Fine. Let's have hope that the others would come back." She replied. "It'd be a sight to see once Shiro knows that we are the ones protecting this time around."

With that, she was back to her usual self.

"I understand everything. Blinded with rage, you do not seek what our 'Master' sought. I am a fool to believe in you."

The clanking of metal rang across the battlefield. With most of the other creations pulled back by Meteora, she was the only one left that was not related to the chat group.

The King of Knights who once ruled with tyranny—

"...Also. You'll pay for hurting my wife."

—descends into the battlefield once more.

"<<Seal Thirteen, Decision Start.>>"

*****

A/N: For those who are wondering, that was how Artoria addressed her partner—a "wife". Since she ruled as a King, she was more accustomed to being a male. Hence, the reason why she calls her husband, "wife". As for her Excalibur, it canonically has seals. It is seen in Artoria's Interlude (The OG one) in Grand Order as well as the stay night visual novel.

Anyways, midterms is over. While I can't promise the daily updates yet, everyone can expect an update in every two days at most.

(They do be recreating attacks in the re:creators anime.)

Cheers~!