Chapter 221: Battle with Beast III
When Noah's Ark appeared together with a golden flood on the Digital Ocean, countless silver rays from the sky shot toward Ethan and Mash as they were falling!
When the Labyrinth collapsed, all the malicious programs were released.
They were also falling without end, and some of the flying malicious programs continuously hunted in the air, snatching up anything that was falling.
Among them, one program that looked like a jellyfish extended its long tentacles, preparing to seize Ethan and Mash mid-air.
"Whoosh————————!!"
Suddenly, a bolt of red lightning blasted from the sky and pierced through the jellyfish's body.
The powerful shockwave sent Ethan and Mash flying from the impact!
"Senpai, please hold onto my hand!!!"
Mash tightly grabbed Ethan, preparing to use her Noble Phantasm to cushion the impact upon landing.
Tonbi, the white owl, shot downward like an arrow, quickly wrapping Mash's shield with silver threads from its feathers.
"Chiu chiu————————!!"
As Tonbi let out a clear cry, a force from above suddenly pulled the two of them upward into the sky!
At that moment, Ethan was astonished to see other Servants being pulled upward by the same silver threads, all heading toward Noah's Ark floating in midair.
When he set foot on Noah's Ark once again, a familiar armored figure was waiting there.
"Yo, Mordred. Long time no see."
Ethan greeted her first.
"You're so slow, Master!!!"
Mordred hoisted the brilliantly glowing sword Clarent onto her shoulder and shouted angrily.
"If you weren't going to bring me along for the ride, fine, but why the hell did you take so long to send this damn boat to pick me up?! I was bored to death already."
"...There were some complications."
They had originally thought that once they reached London, Noah could activate her Noble Phantasm directly—but the whole group ended up getting separated.
They almost lost Noah too...
"Zzzzzzzzzzz———!!!"
While they were talking, a bolt of electricity suddenly shot toward them. Just as Mash was about to raise her shield—
A majestic figure appeared midair.
"Haaa, Hallelujah!!!"
A silver holy gauntlet blocked the lightning, followed by a heavy punch that shattered a malicious program shaped like a ball!!!
"Master, Mash, long time no see!"
Martha tucked a strand of long hair behind her ear and greeted Ethan and Mash.
"Martha-san! You came too?!"
Mash's face clearly showed her joy.
"Of course. Everyone in Chaldea gathered aboard this ship long ago, ready to rush to Master's side at any time."
Ethan looked around Noah's Ark. It seemed like everyone had already arrived—except for a certain white-haired succubus known for stirring up trouble, who was nowhere to be seen.
"Well, it's a rare opportunity to get out. Honestly, there's not even a proper afternoon tea in Chaldea."
A blonde girl with the aura of a noble lady walked over.
Accompanying her was a tired-looking man with black hair.
"Seems like things are pretty rough here too, Master. The tactical operations on this end will need to be strengthened further."
"Reines-san, Lord El-Melloi II!!!"
So even they had come!
"Hey! Are you blind or what?!"
A black spear suddenly embedded itself in the deck right in front of Ethan.
Jeanne Alter shouted at Ethan in fury.
"You were planning to storm the Singularities and didn't bring me along?! Even though I absolutely! Did not want to come! Even if you begged me, I wouldn't have gone! But then you just disappeared without a word, which pissed me off to the extreme—so pissed I can't even describe it!!!"
Her gaze seemed to spit fire, and she grinned with gritted teeth in an extremely dangerous manner.
"Might as well burn you to death—yeah, that's it, make you taste the blazing hellfire!!!"
"Jeanne Alter-san! Don't! You absolutely can't!!"
Mash frantically spread her arms in front of Ethan.
"Someone like you coming along would just get in the way."
Mordred stood nearby, speaking calmly.
"What the hell did you just say?!"
Jeanne Alter clearly didn't take that well.
"I can handle the fight just fine on my own! You excess baggage are just in the way!"
Mordred completely ignored Jeanne Alter.
"Who are you calling excess baggage?! You're the one who only thinks about going out to play!!"
Jeanne Alter refused to back down and snapped right back.
"Play? This is training, training, got it?! If you don't believe me, then let's fight it out—see who's the strongest Servant under Master's command?!"
"Great idea!!!"
The two of them suddenly switched topics bizarrely, then immediately charged at the malicious programs near the ship and started annihilating them at lightning speed.
"Senpai, is it really okay to just leave those two like that...?"
"...Umu, probably okay?"
After all, Jeanne Alter and Mordred had fought side by side many times before—most likely, they were just playing around... right?
"Master, long time no see."
Johanna, holding a silver priest's staff, walked over. Tonbi, perched on her shoulder, flapped its wings gently.
She gave a slight bow to Ethan.
"Oh! Johanna, it's thanks to your intervention just now that we got pulled back onto the ship."
"Not at all. If it weren't for Master's decision, we wouldn't have had the chance to appear at all."
Johanna smiled modestly.
"Chiu chiu——————!!"
Tonbi chirped as well.
"Master."
A large, muscular figure stepped in front of Ethan.
"Heracles?!"
Just confirming that The Carry was present on this ship made Ethan feel much more at ease.
His gaze was fixed intently on the massive core looming above.
"I sense an overwhelmingly sinister aura like nothing I've ever felt before—is this the threat from another world that doctor spoke of?"
"Looks like Doctor Romani is finally proving his worth."
Ethan couldn't help but feel a bit sentimental.
Ahem! "Of course I've been doing my job properly! Don't talk nonsense!!!"
Doctor Romani's nagging voice came through the communicator on their wrist.
"Doctor Romani?!"
A moment later, his image appeared as well.
"That's a relief, looks like things are stabilizing on your end. Just a while ago, Noah's Ark suddenly whoosh vanished from where it was anchored in Chaldea—I thought something had gone wrong..."
"Romani, this isn't the time to babble, is it?!"
Da Vinci's voice rang out immediately after.
"Ethan, Mash, I'll skip the excess words. Based on the observational data around your area, the MoonCell is currently undergoing massive transformation—it's safe to say that a form of Beast is starting to take shape inside."
"So it's come to that..."
Ethan looked up at the MoonCell, which was gradually turning pink, without any doubt.
After all, their opponent was Sesshouin Kiara.
The central core was continuously absorbing energy from the entire Digital Ocean—clearly, something terrifying was being conceived within.
"In short, Chaldea has already dispatched every Servant you've made contracts with. No matter what, you must prevent this Beast from fully awakening!!!"
"Right. If we use Noah's Ark, we could close the distance in one go."
Doctor Romani pointed out the current situation.
"Unfortunately, this Noah's Ark cannot approach that central core."
"————————?!"
Noah, dressed in her sailor uniform, walked over from the helm.
"Noah-san? Why is that?"
Mash asked urgently, confused.
"That Beast appears to have completely taken control of the MoonCell. The area around it is surrounded by an intense disruption layer. While Noah's Ark can forcibly close the distance, the moment a normal Servant comes into contact with it, they'll be instantly digitized."
Noah also raised her head to observe the massive abomination above.
"Another Beast... Master, I honestly don't know whether to call you lucky or unlucky."
"Either way, the emergence of a Beast in this place is definitely not a good thing."
A blue-haired boy stepped forward.
"Andersen, looks like you're okay too."
"Hmph, as long as that Beast still exists, how could I possibly retreat so easily!"
Andersen pulled a feather-clipped book from inside his coat and shouted toward the rear of the ship.
"You should pull yourself together soon too, former administrator of MoonCell."
"BB-chan just temporarily handed over MoonCell's management rights because she was a bit tired, that's all!"
BB placed her hands on her hips, clearly defensive in tone.
"After all your calculations, your authority still got snatched away by that woman. Bet that stings, huh?"
Andersen didn't hold back at all.
"If I were still the administrator, I'd immediately ban a damn account like yours!!!"
BB pouted, looking very unhappy.
"If you can wrestle the control back from her, I'd very much like you to do so. But until we reach that point, you'll probably still need my power."
"Andersen, do you have a plan?"
Ethan quickly picked up on the implication in Andersen's words.
"There's a connection between me and that woman. It seems that no matter which world it is, she is always my Master—so I've retained the related memories."
Andersen's expression turned serious.
"To put it bluntly, with her current state—having merged with the MoonCell—no matter how you attack, there's no way to defeat her. She came from another world, and she has already mastered the method of metamorphosis."
Ethan knew that very well.
In the CCC world, Kiara had already completed her metamorphosis and become a Beast. As long as she followed the same steps, she could once again manifest the essence of the "Evil of Humanity" in this world.
"But in the past, she was able to access the MoonCell thanks to my Noble Phantasm. So this time, I can use the same method to force her true body out from the core of the MoonCell."
"——————?!"
Ethan seemed to understand what Andersen was getting at.
He intended to use his Noble Phantasm to drag Kiara—the one who had fused with the MoonCell—out from the core.
"No! Absolutely not!!!"
BB immediately cut Andersen off.
"If that woman really has merged with the MoonCell, then your method will be seen as a direct attack! The moment you touch the core, not only will the MoonCell be destroyed, but your entire world will be instantly erased!!!"
BB's expression became extremely grave—just her tone alone conveyed the immense danger of the plan.
"That's exactly why we need to work together right now."
No one knew when, but Matou Sakura—with her hair now turned white—had appeared aboard Noah's Ark.
"Sakura-san————?!"
Everyone was shocked—no one had noticed her arrival.
"I'm sorry, everyone… It was because I failed to detect that woman's plan in time that the MoonCell made the wrong judgment."
White-haired Sakura bowed deeply to everyone.
Then she turned to BB, who was standing beside her.
"BB, I'm sorry for leaving everything for you to bear again."
"At this point, what are you even saying?! You're just going to blame me again for messing everything up, aren't you?! No matter what I do, I'm always wrong! An AI that has human emotions—something like that has no place in the MoonCell to begin with!!"
BB seemed to have given up entirely, falling into a state of self-destruction.
"It's true that everything you've done might be wrong."
Ethan—who had been listening silently all this time—finally spoke.
"See?! Even Senpai says I'm wrong!!!"
"But the fact that you placed your hopes in me—that was right."
"————————?!"
BB froze the moment she heard Ethan's words.
"Senpai… don't tell me you already knew all along…"
"Ever since we arrived in London, you've had countless chances to kill me. But I always felt… like you were silently guiding me here."
The more he thought about it, the more things didn't add up.
He could only conclude that BB never truly intended to kill him.
"Hmph, Senpai is so slow—it's just that I kept you around as a backup option!"
"Senpai, I'll work with BB to use our final administrative authority to isolate the MoonCell as much as possible—to create a new layer."
White-haired Sakura turned to Ethan.
"We're counting on you both!"
Ethan nodded to the two girls.
"It's us who should be saying that—we're counting on you, Senpai."
Sakura and BB exchanged glances. Then, both closed their eyes and tightly clasped each other's hands.
Cherry blossom petals spun between them, forming a pink staircase that extended endlessly, eventually reaching the core of the MoonCell.
"Times are good now..."
At the same time, Andersen raised his quill and began writing in his book.
"Allow me to pen the story of your life. I will call it..."
"Märchen Meines Lebens!!!!"
White lights began to blanket the top of the MoonCell, and it was clear that the blue core was beginning to separate.
"Let's go, everyone! Stop the metamorphosis of that Beast!!!"