Chapter 323: Past Catching Up… Literally

A cute kitten.

It is an adjective that was supposed to be the furthest from Kal'tsit. Her eternally cold expression and straight tone made her similar to" machines instead. Such was the burden carried by her over the course of two thousand years.

However, Kal'tsit is showing a completely different self right now.

Shiro noticed the originum crystal on her shoulder. It became noticeable in the midst of her naked body. She retained her unmoved looks, but a thin smile was drawn to her face. Her feline ears trembled ever-so-slightly near his face.

'What is this...'

Inwardly, he was filled with disbelief. It is not because of her personality change but the biggest gap moe he ever experienced. He couldn't believe that she is capable of these actions.

"Who's the flustered one right now?"

"Definitely not me."

That thought occurred in an instant. When Shiro recovered, he decided to ask her to dress up first.

"Put on some clothing first. If I hadn't put this barrier up..."

"What would you do?"

This time, her straight tone carried slight fluctuations.

"...I would've acted anyways. Don't underestimate my power."

"Then why didn't you react when I came out like this?" Kal'tsit asked curiously. "You could've dressed me up immediately, no?"

"Then I wouldn't have something to tease you after you revert to normal."

"..."

Kal'tsit fell silent.

"So that's how it is?" She mumbled before coming closer to him. With that, she kissed his lips. It didn't stop there as she used her tongue to intrude further. It ended up in a clumsy french kiss. Even Shiro couldn't believe what happened until a second later.

Unexpectedly, he went along her flow and fought back. He utilized his tongue to show how proficient he was in such kisses.

A thin line of their saliva connected their mouth.

When they separated, Kal'tsit felt slightly unsatisfied. She knew she wouldn't be able to boldly do such actions once she reverts to her normal self. She's already feeling behind the other girls who liked him.

Thus, this happened.

Suddenly, the mechanism behind her [Wisdom King: Raphael] kicked in. It prevented any permanent personality changes as it would often lead in adverse effects. That was one of the effects her UR-rated reward has.

Kal'tsit turned beet red in mere moments. Her face resembled a tomato due to the sheer amount of embarrassment that kicked in. She tried to keep a calm look, but she couldn't do so.

"S-shiro..."

Not only was she naked when she hugged him, she even took the initiative for a deep kiss. That was something she definitely wouldn't have done!

{Detecting uncontrollable rise of emotions. Administering a calming effect.}

Alas, even the calming effect couldn't wash it off. The two thousand year old cat fossil experienced love for the first time. She couldn't do so due to how she was made to be as the 'preservator' of Terra. It was due to Shiro's god-level charm that broke the limits and crawled to her heart.

Seeing this, Shiro flashed a thin smile. He snapped before Kal'tsit became clothed again. It is the same doctor's gown she wore most of the time.

"I didn't think you could be that cute."

"...Stop it."

Kal'tsit realized something. She hadn't separated herself from Shiro yet. She was still hugging him. In a fluster, she undone her hug.

"Don't spread this to others." She said with a calm look. Although, a hint of her blush is still there.

"Yes, yes. You could trust me on this one."

Shiro canceled his power. The cubic space of gray fog collapsed. They are now back in the temple of time.

"Romani?"

Kal'tsit looked at Romani.

"It's that fast? Anyways..."

He was about to ask the reason behind Kal'tsit's reddish face but chose not to do so with her death glare.

{Analyzing Components... Complete.}

{The target 'Temple of Time' has been virtually decomposed.}

{Insufficient power... Cannot proceed with the task. Solution: Huge amount of magicules in the sky}

"It's done. If you say the word, this temple will be destroyed."

"You heard her. What would you choose?" Romani asked Goetia. "If you are truly concerned about humanity, you can count on us. We know about Marisbury and the Alien God."

"..!"

The nail in the coffin has been placed.

Goetia made the rest of the [Demon God Pillar] stop attacking. Consequently, the chat group members stopped battling them.

"You will attempt to pave another way?" Goetia asked as he looked at his creator.

Currently, humanity is presented with two choices.

Perish on Goetia's human order incineration. That way, everything ends there.

Succeed on thwarting Goetia's plans and proceed on the lostbelts.

If they chose the second option, they would be faced by two more choices:

Fight the traitors of the human order and collapse the lostbelts to prevent the bleaching of pan human history.

Let the lostbelt replace the pan human history, thus allowing the Alien God to succeed.

On the paper, it sounds good if humanity won against Goetia. That way, they could continue to exist. However, the future shows that it is actually the least evil of the choices. Collapsing lostbelts involve killing millions of its inhabitants; be it innocent ones or not. As for the bleaching, it could spell the end of humanity if one of the lostbelts replaced the pan human history.

Worse, humanity would suffer hundredfold before dying. What Goetia presented is the least painful among every other choices.

"I have to correct you. We have begun in doing so already. The history and trajectory of this world is different from the other futures you have seen." Romani said. "We also have the knowledge of the other timelines as well as the 'ideal' future this world is heading into."

"How..?"

"We have our ways."

Romani chose to divulge some of these knowledge to convince Goetia. In the first place, the latter is extremely adverse toward the Alien God, going as far as to spite the future Ritsukas as the "Chaldean"; that they struggled against his plan.

If there are better ways, Goetia would at least consider them.

"If you don't believe my words, use your [Clairvoyance]. The future might seem a bit messy, but that's how it is."

After hearing Romani's words, Goetia did as he was told. He used the [Clairvoyance] on Solomon's corpse to see the future.

"..."

Goetia couldn't believe what he saw.

A new future.

His [Clairvoyance] couldn't bring him farther due to a certain force, but he did saw a different future. It is a future that could potentially lead to humanity not being the world's tumor. At the same time, they were able to struggle against [The Spider] along with the other [Types] who will descend to their world.

With the power of the chat group, they possessed the ability to carve a new future.

Just as he was about to return, he saw something. It appeared within all the futures he saw. it's as if he saw something in each frame of an animation.

BAM-!

CRACK-!

RUMBLE-!

Suddenly, the sky was filled with distorted cracks. It is akin to a static television. The incoming projectile crashed on the temple of time. Instantly, their surroundings was distorted. Within the radius of the projectile, it is now nothing but gray distortions.

It's as if a shred of reality was torn apart.

"Solomon!"

Unlike before, Goetia wore a desperate look.

"...I know."

Romani: "Everyone. Beware."

Nobody did not reply. They were too preoccupied processing what happened just now.

As for Shiro...

"Shit."

Moments ago, chills were sent throughout his body. It is his primal fear kicking in; something he ought to have lost long ago.

He didn't know if it was because of his authorities or something else, but he simply knew.

Origin State.

Tail on.

He immediately used his strongest powers. He turned into the same form as when he visited the future. On top of that is <OR@#!N S@@!E>, a power that is a portion of <T$@ RO%&>. He immediately possessed the power of a <Beyond>.

"Shiro?!"

The first one who caught this change is none other than Kal'tsit.

Hum.

Before he could reply, he sent Mash and Ritsuka back to Chaldea.

"Romani, close off the temple."

"What... Alright."

Now, the temple of time is sealed off. As it exists within the imaginary number space, it is completely sealed.

"What's going on?" Kal'tsit asked.

"You'll see."

Right after saying that, some of the distortions cleared up as a result of the world's interference. It is trying to restore everything to 'normal'. Once the veil was lifted, everyone went silent.

"Ugh..!"

It is a man with thousands of magic circles behind his back. It formed a huge wing, signifying his great attainments. However, he was 'corrupted' by something.

Surprisingly—

"Shiro..?"

—the man looks similar to Shiro.

"Shit... I wondered how it was settled." He muttered. "That's how it went."

In the end, he had to clean up the mess from his past.