On this day, the Black Sea receded from the land, restoring peace to the earth.
And yet, the scars of war remained.
The ground that had been burned to nothing by the black mud was left as barren, charred plains. How long it would take to return to its original state, no one could say.
Especially Uruk—after this battle, the city itself had almost become a complete ruin, and the land beyond it, scarred by Rozen's clash with Tiamat, looked like a wasteland after a volcanic eruption, dreadful and broken.
But at last, the battle was over.
Within Uruk, the familiars Rozen had summoned had all vanished, leaving only the Servants and the surviving soldiers.
At this time, all the soldiers had gathered at the Divine Tower, bringing out the citizens who had been hiding in the underground shelter.
The citizens, once again seeing the sun, looked upon the ruined Uruk. Though some were filled with sorrow, more felt the joy of surviving calamity.
Siduri was the first to emerge from the shelter. Looking at the crowd gathered before the Tower, her eyes welled with tears—she truly wept with relief and joy.
Everyone immersed themselves in the happiness of surviving the world's end, their cheers and sobs becoming the only sound across the land.
And yet, led by Gilgamesh, one question lingered among them.
"How exactly did you deal with Tiamat?"
Gilgamesh spoke the words that were in everyone's hearts.
According to the plan, after Tiamat's Saint Graph was weakened back to its initial state, Rozen would use the Rope of Shackles to seal her away again.
But even if the seal succeeded, the problem would not be solved.
Even if Tiamat were sealed once more, she could not die.
Since she could not die, even if she no longer moved herself, the Sea of Life emanating from her would still flood the land, endlessly producing Laḫmu, occupying the earth and annihilating all life.
That was her nature and instinct as an embodiment of the Evils of Humanity, something even she herself could not suppress.
So then, how did Rozen resolve it?
"Could it be you banished Mother to the Imaginary Number Space again?"
Ishtar asked curiously.
To banish Tiamat to the Imaginary Number Space was no easy task.
But everyone already knew—Rozen was a Magician, one who wielded Magic.
Though Cleansing still had limitations and could not achieve true omnipotence, if it was only to open a path to Imaginary Number Space, he should be capable of it.
In that case, perhaps Rozen had sealed Tiamat and then cast her away into Imaginary Number Space.
However—
"Tiamat had the Holy Grail in her hand. It was the Holy Grail that awakened her, that brought her back to this world. Even if I banished her to Imaginary Number Space, she could still return through its power."
Rozen shook his head, denying Ishtar's speculation—yet he also couldn't help but smile.
"Actually, I wouldn't say I defeated Tiamat. Rather, I saved her."
Saved her?
What did that mean?
No one could understand.
Seeing their confusion, Rozen smiled faintly, his mood light and sly, and said:
"Then let me show you. Don't be too shocked."
With that, Rozen called softly to his side.
"Come on out."
At his words, mist began to ripple beside him.
It was the familiar sign of a Servant shifting from spiritual form into material form, a sight everyone knew well.
Seeing this, they thought Rozen was summoning Altera.
But in the next instant, the figure that emerged made every pupil shrink and every face pale.
"Wha—!?"
"How could this be...!?"
"Impossible!"
Gilgamesh, Ishtar, Siduri, and the others all cried out in shock.
Even Mash and the Servants stood frozen, their eyes wide.
From the mist, that figure appeared—full of maternal love and compassion.
Fair and beautiful skin.
A graceful, curvaceous figure.
Majestic, powerful horns.
Eyes filled with the vastness of the stars.
The figure before them could only be Tiamat.
Just as when she first manifested, Tiamat had returned to the form of a goddess. Her arms and legs were bound by sealing ropes, her body floating in midair, with a black sea churning beneath her feet.
And yet, that sea was confined to only a meter around her, showing no signs of expansion. Nor did Tiamat's instincts drive her to corrode the earth—she only floated there quietly, gazing at the crowd as though they were pitiful, beloved children she longed to embrace but dared not. Her eyes were filled with sorrow and melancholy.
But when her gaze turned to Rozen, all that remained within was love and gentleness.
"Th... This..."
Seeing this scene, Gilgamesh and all the others were stunned, bewildered, lost, unable to believe or even react.
Of course Rozen had known they would be shocked beyond measure.
But this was the reality.
"From the beginning, I never wanted to destroy Tiamat. I only wanted her to return to her original self, to return as a goddess."
Rozen spoke.
"Of course, that alone wouldn't solve the problem. Even if sealed, even if restored to her goddess form, her nature and characteristics would still allow her power to erode the earth and overwrite the ecosystem. She couldn't suppress it herself."
But just because she couldn't suppress it didn't mean Rozen couldn't help her.
"I've told you all about the Absolute Contract, haven't I?" Rozen looked at them, smiling. "Once someone forms an Absolute Contract with me, no matter who they are, they are inscribed into my soul as pure record—and they can never disobey me."
Then the matter was simple.
"As long as I formed an Absolute Contract with Tiamat, the binding force of the contract would let me command her to suppress her instincts, turning her into a familiar absolutely loyal to me."
That was Rozen's plan.
He had never thought of killing Tiamat—only of binding her into an Absolute Contract, making her, like Altera, his familiar, granting her salvation.
"Of course, the condition for this contract is that the target must place me in their heart as their number one priority. Normally, Tiamat shouldn't meet this requirement. But for the restored goddess Tiamat, humanity is at once the target she must annihilate, and the ones she must love. Whether in kindness or cruelty, humanity has always been first in her heart. And because of everything that has happened, I should be even more special to her than ordinary humans."
That left him a chance.
Rozen had gambled.
Gambled on whether the condition for Absolute Contract could be satisfied.
And in the end, he won.
"The strength of the Absolute Contract is that once the conditions are met, even without the target's consent, the contract is still forged."
Thus, after sealing Tiamat with the Rope of Shackles and restoring her goddess form, Rozen immediately invoked the Absolute Contract, inscribing Tiamat as a record within his soul.
In other words—
"I have already subdued the Beast of Original Sin—the Evils of Humanity."
Rozen declared.
"And so, this is the end of humanity's crisis."
That was the truth.