-"Sir Eno!"-Scream woke me up from my relaxed stupor.
I turned my head toward the source of the scream and was surprised to see a familiar Hippogriff carrying Black Rider and one of the Black Masters. I watched them land near me and waited to hear what they had to say.
-"We seek your assistance. Miss Jeanne sent us here."-Master of Black Archer explained quickly.
-"Jeanne? Why hadn't she contacted me directly?"
-"She is unable to do so due to the opponent she and others are facing."
-"Tell me the details."
-"Yes."-She nodded and started speaking.
She quickly narrated what had happened over the past hour or so in the Yggdmillennia Castle, mainly the Black Caster's betrayal that resulted in the death of their previous leader, Caster's Master, and Black Berserker, all to create a perfect golem. Now, both Red and Black Archers and Sabers are helping Jeanne to deal with it, without any success.
-"I understand."-After hearing the story, I started to move toward my tower.-"Can you contact your servant from here?"
-"No."-She shook her head.
-"Then we need to use some other method for communication. Rider, take this and return to the battlefield."-I gave a communication bracelet to him.-"Try to find a spot where you can still be connected to us that is close enough for your voice to be heard on the battlefield."
-"Sure!"
With that, he flew away.
-"I'll need your help."
-"What can I do for you?"-She followed me with her spider-like contraption.
-"You'll be responsible for cooperation and communication. I might need to focus on casting, so you'll need to step up."
-"I'll do my best."
-"Then do you need our help to?"-Rin asked as she approached with the rest of the girls.
-"Have you got used to commanding Ashes?"-I looked at them.
-"More or less."-Reines nodded.
-"Then be ready to use them to assist in combat."
-"You can count on us."-Luvia assured me with a smile.
-"I'll do so then."-I nodded and turned to Black Archer's Master.-"I hope you can cooperate with them even if your relationship with Clock Tower is not a good one."
-"I understand. I doubt you heard of me, so allow me to introduce myself. I'm Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillennia, the presumptive heir of Yggdmillennia."
-"It's a pleasure. You might recognize some of us, so we will skip our introductions, Miss Yggdmillennia."
-"Just call me Fiore."-She smiled slightly.
While they talked, I continued walking, quickly entering my tower. First, I checked the surroundings for signs of an anomaly, and it wasn't hard to find some issues. From the directions of Yggdmillennia Castle, a powerful and corrosive power started to spread everywhere. While not harmful, it returned everything to its pure and wild state.
For someone without an understanding of the repercussions of this happening, they might even think it was a positive, but purity and wildness have one thing that is antithetical to them: humanity. Purity and wildness are domains of Gaia, and so, only by destroying them can humans make a place for themselves. As such, the pure and wild world had no room for humans.
But what mattered to me was that forcefully returning the world to its primal state would certainly obstruct the continuation of the Holy Grail War, not to mention the fact that a Noble Phantasm like that broke many rules established to prevent the revealing and destruction of mystery. All that to say that I had to act before it got worse.
With a basic idea of the problem, I waited for some more information from the battlefield so that I could formulate a plan. And soon, I got the information I needed from Black Rider. He relayed what Black Archer learned during the fight, especially the perceived weaknesses and powers of the golem named Adam.
The main issue was the power to heal any damage it sustained, and with the energy reading I already had, I could safely assume that its power was connected to the reverse side of the world. If said power could be overcome, then destroying the core of the golem should be enough, but what the core was could prove even more troublesome than the healing.
Archer detected three elements that could be the cores, but the power radiation from them was far beyond what he could understand. In his eyes, it was the closest thing to a god he had ever seen, and as he had seen true gods before, I trusted his opinion on that. Because of that, I believe that the core must be the crystal I gave the Black Caster before. While this could act in my favor, as it created the possibility to take over the control of Adam, it also meant that the power available to the golem was of much higher rank than it would be otherwise.
To put it in perspective, a magical energy used by Magi, no matter the amount, would always rank as an E. The energy utilized by mystical creatures would vary, but mostly exists in the range of D~C; only beings such as greater spirits would possess energy ranking as B. This also included the Divine Spirits of this world. Gaia and Alaya, along with a few beings of such power, would be categorized as an A, but even then, the quality of my magical power would be above them, either as A+ if not EX directly.
Quality in this context represents the ability to corrode and overpower lower-tier energy; an example of this is Originium, which can easily crystallize inside living beings. Another example is divinity manifested as Authority, which allows gods to wield powers far beyond what other energies can achieve. Byproduct of quality was an increase in power while using the same amount of energy, meaning that Adam, who was an A+ Noble Phantasm, was quite a tough nut to crack.
All that made fighting it head-on my last resort; as such, I began looking for creative workarounds. First, I looked into the control aspect. From what I was able to gather, while not entirely will-less, Adam possessed no ego, thus making it susceptible to being controlled. The idea was there, so now what was left was implementation.
I used the amplification of my tower to break through the aura Adam was passively creating, and made first contact. It, of course, wasn't a direct one, but rather a clash of spirits. Leveraging my Sankta's ability to feel, I slowly tried to influence Adam by providing feedback that linked our feelings and senses. And at first, it worked better than I expected.
I was able to steer Adam deeper into the forest, ensuring it didn't endanger others. After that, I started to test the limits of control I held over it. I could make Adam stop, but I was unable to prevent the world around it from being corroded. What was worse, no matter how much I tried, I couldn't change its prime directive: to return the world to Eden. This meant that any actions that directly or indirectly went against that mission were impossible to accomplish, including but not limited to: suicide, self-harm, weakening, and so on.
And so, my plan failed, so while I controlled Adam to stay in one place, I began to formulate other plans. I quickly found illusions and other deceptions to be useless, and after some consideration, sadly decided against trying to make Adam clash with the Red faction flying fortress due to the time of night and danger to innocent bystanders. I also ruled out plans that were proposed by other Servants and Masters due to their risk or outright bizarreness.
In the end, I decided to attempt to overload Adam's core. After controlling it for so long, I gathered many more details about its construction and capabilities, and I was able to uncover something that could be considered a fatal weakness. While Adam could utilize my magic power from the crystal, it couldn't contain it outside the crystal. This opened the possibility of overloading the core, destroying or crystallizing Adam in the process.
I started to pour my magic power into Adam, focusing it into the crystal, and Adam didn't resist this, as it wasn't anything harmful; more so, it assisted with its duties. Slowly, the amount of magical energy started to increase, making the crystal core grow. Adam finally noticed the error of his decision when more than half of his upper body was crystallized, drastically restricting its movements.
Adam instantly started trashing, trying to get rid of the crystal, but failed, though I lost my control over it somewhere in the middle. I tried to continue sending more magic power, but Adam resisted it, making it too wasteful to sustain. I watched the now crippler golem rage in the empty forest and decided that at this point, the direct attack should be the most efficient method. To make my life easier, I wanted to cooperate with other Servants, so they could contain and lure Adam into a better spot.
-"There is a problem."-Fiore spoke up suddenly.
-"What is it?"
-"I lost contact with Archer and Rider!"-She was panicked, but tried to stay calm.
-"Tell me more details."
-"A few minutes ago, some interruptions started to appear, so I had Astolfo move further away, but the issues intensified too fast... Now I can't even feel my connection to Archer; I'm unsure if he is still alive."
-"It would seem I miscalculated."-I quickly connected dots after thinking back on everything that happened.-"While my plan was successful in restricting Adam, it would seem that I empowered its power to the point that the previous aura and corrosion turned into real Reality Marble. We might be cut off from it now."
-"What?! Then what can we do now?"
-"Well... It's a blessing in disguise, to be honest. Now I don't need to worry about any destruction to the surroundings or risk of exposure to outsiders. Continue trying to connect with the Servants."
Fiore nodded while I left the room.
I flew above the tower, my eyes focused on the place where Adam should be. I needed to use magic to see into the Reality Marble, but magic was something I rarely lacked. I started to gather my power, using the tower underneath me as assistance, but while I was about to start casting a spell, my eyes clouded over with a sudden memory of a dream.
I saw myself standing in front of a centaur-like being, towering over me with huge antlers. There were three more people next to me, two men and one woman, their ears were long and pointed, with green hair and strong bodies. I felt a strong connection to them, but my focus was fully on the being before me, so I couldn't make more details about them.
The centaur spoke about nature, teaching the four of us the ways of the druids. But soon, one of the men left, and not long after, the woman also departed. The lessons continued, but I noticed that while I was able to learn everything he taught, there was always a certain barrier that prevented me from displaying the full power of the druidic arts.
Months turned into years, and finally, the last person who remained with me turned into a powerful druid, embarking on the journey to grow further, leaving me alone with the centaur. I looked to him for advice, but what he told me overturned my perception of the arts I had just comprehended.
-"Don't be fooled that nature is only about life and wilderness. The magnificent forests and powerful monsters often make people blind to what is hidden underneath. As much as there is life, death also must follow; no matter how much wildness exists, it all has to possess its own order. You possess a talent really seen among your people."
He walked deeper into the forest, motioning me to follow.
-"Like that girl, you are also beloved of the moon, but that love is shown differently for you. She is like a gentle moonlight, you are like the darkest night. From ancient times, night was not a time of peace, but fear, a time when dangers emerged, when spirits and ghosts appeared. Thin veil that separated death from life, an order in the wild."
The centaur stopped in front of a stone circle, older than any that I had seen, and more importantly, dedicated to beings other than all the shrines and altars I had seen up to that day.
-"Everything will one day meet its twilight; it's a natural outcome of life. I can only guide you this far, as I myself exist on the side of life, but with your talent, you can walk much further under better guidance. This circle can bring you into the weald, where you can learn more about death and respite."
I stepped into the circle and looked at him one last time.
-"Don't fear death, embrace it."
With that, the memory was finished.
When my mind returned to reality, I found myself casting a spell foreign to me just minutes before, but now it was more than familiar, as if inscribed upon my very soul. My words echoed around the silent forest like a song carried by the wind, rousing the calm nature into moving according to my will. Soon, bright sprites started to emerge from between the trees, flying toward me and surrounding me.
With each of them, I felt power filling me, my eyes glowing brightly. I slowly raised my left hand, extending it forward toward Adam. A moment later, I closed it, as if grasping the golem in my palm. For a second, everything stopped, as if the world staggered to a halt, and then, all the gathered energy left me, disappearing as if it never existed.
At first, everyone who saw the amount of power on me braced for impact, but nothing happened for so long that they started to wonder if something went wrong. Then someone pointed up. There, in the slowly dawning sky, a star started to grow and brighten. Before some could comprehend what was going on, the star fell down, piercing the world directly into the Reality Marble.
Be it the Servants still fighting there or Adam, none of them could react before it struck. Adam was instantly shattered. All the Servants were thrown away, looking horrified by the power of the attack. I remained floating where I was, looking at the crystallized landscape of the Reality Marble slowly returning to the real world. Confirming that danger was eliminated, I motioned to the sprites around me, making them fly toward the crystals left behind the star.
Like before, they slowly took the power sealed there, but this time, they didn't fly to me, but slowly returned to the forest that was now visibly withered. The crystals slowly disappeared along with the remaining corrosion left by Adam, becoming the fertilizer to the surroundings that I had overdrawn before. I watched over everything, making sure nothing went wrong.
The forest returned to its vibrancy, the sprites returned to nature, and with the sun now emerging from behind the horizon, the peace and tranquility returned. I felt a tear sliding down my cheek, but when I touched it with my hand, I noticed that it was blood. I couldn't help but smile slightly, knowing that I unknowingly overdrawn not only the forest around me, but also my own body.
And as if on cue, another shored memory appeared in my mind. There I was, gasping for air with blood seeping from my mouth onto the grass under me. I saw the woman from before approaching me with worry, helping me up, speaking something I couldn't hear.
It would seem that, be it now or in those dreamy memories, I never could take care of myself.