Outside the Cursed Worm.
The southernmost part of the collapsed and ruined Britain.
*BZZZZT!*
Amidst a flash of white light, Aoko and her group, along with Morgan and her group, instantly appeared at that location.
After quickly looking around, Aoko sneered: "Tch, spatial exchange again? Where did Naoki send us?"
"It should be the southernmost part of Britain, near Londinium."
Morgan said while gazing into the distance. In her view, a city was slowly collapsing and crumbling.
She remembered that it was Londinium.
"Sending us all the way here in an instant, what is King Father thinking? By the way, where is he?" Mordred searched around several times, but didn't see Naoki anywhere.
All that could be seen was the ground slowly collapsing and falling toward the Cursed Worm, and the Cursed Worm devouring the ruined land.
From the distance, the Cursed Worm would reach their side in at most ten minutes.
[Naoki is most likely inside the Cursed Worm now.]
Merry's voice sounded in everyone's ears.
[In that situation, he probably only had time to send all of you away, while he himself didn't have time to leave the Cursed Worm's engulfment range and entered Naraku. Right now, he should be fighting Vortigern.]
"Then we have to go help the Department Head—"
[No, no need.]
Merry stopped Ritsuka's action.
[Even if we go, we might not be able to help him at all, and might even get in the way. Leave what's happening there to him—he won't be in trouble.]
Although she said that, in her heart, Merry had probably already confirmed Naoki's plan.
Naoki didn't fail to escape, but proactively chose to stay behind. Because Vortigern's biggest target was him, if he was swallowed by Naraku, Vortigern would naturally pursue him, whether to witness his death firsthand or to kill him with her own hands, Vortigern would return to the interior of the Cursed Worm.
And at that moment, those outside could move freely.
"Then what should we do now?"
Arcueid asked with a bit of anxiety.
"Just stand here and wait for Naoki to finish everything and come out? Until when? This island will be destroyed in ten more minutes. And then it will affect Proper Human History."
[Precisely, in one hour, Proper Human History will begin to collapse from Britain, and then spread globally. At the latest in twenty-four hours, the entire world will be destroyed.]
"Is there a solution? Merry-sensei?" Ritsuka asked urgently. "There must be a solution."
[Of course there is, and it's very simple—just defeat the Cursed Worm, and the collapse will stop. Although the ruined Britain cannot return to its original state, Proper Human History will not be affected. At most, the weather this year will be a bit abnormal.]
Defeat the Cursed Worm.
Everyone looked at the insect continuously devouring the island in the distance.
"How... do we defeat it?"
[Theoretically, as long as Vortigern, who is its core, is defeated and killed, the Cursed Worm will also disappear. However, even if a centipede dies, it doesn't stiffen. Even if Vortigern dies, the Cursed Worm will definitely remain active for a while.]
[So, all of us must start now and relentlessly attack the Cursed Worm, injuring its body as much as possible, accelerating its collapse after losing its core.]
The solution given by Merry relieved everyone.
"Then it's easy."
"Exactly, I like this simple and direct method. Besides, I'm annoyed by that big insect too!"
"Hey, Angelica, fire a Noble Phantasm to fly. Something that big must be approached by flying to reach it."
"..."
The group from Proper Human History began dividing tasks on their own. For those who participated in the Grand Temple of Time battle just half a year ago, what they had to do then and what they had to do now had no fundamental difference.
Defeat the enemy, and the world will be saved. As simple as that.
Seeing the situation there, Barghest couldn't help but turn to Morgan: "Your Majesty, we..."
"Go help, Gawain, Lancelot." Morgan said coldly. "But Baobhan and Lia stay here. For you two, this battle is still too dangerous. Staying by my side is the best."
"Ready to execute!"
"I understand."
After receiving Morgan's approval, the two Fairy Knights immediately joined the people from Proper Human History. Although Baobhan Sith and Artoria Caster felt a bit reluctant, seeing the gigantic Cursed Worm, a slight fear arose in both their hearts.
Different from the original cruel and heartless Fairy Knight Tristan and the Child of Prophecy who grew after the pilgrimage, the two now, in a certain sense, were still in factory settings. Naoki and Morgan protected them very well, but also deprived them of opportunities to grow.
"Miss Morgan."
At that moment, Ritsuka suddenly ran in front of Morgan, removing the communication device from her wrist: "Merry-sensei says there's something she wants to discuss with you."
"...."
Taking the communication device, Morgan asked: "What's wrong, Succubus."
[Britain is substantially destroyed, Morgan.]
Merry immediately uttered the sentence that made Morgan's emotions plummet.
[The island you wanted to save, as well as Naoki, is now equivalent to destroyed. There's no longer any possibility of saving it—based on my guess, if the Cursed Worm and Vortigern are successfully defeated, after everything ends, Naoki should still be by your side.]
No, not should be, but definitely will be.
Merry didn't think that just regaining the past would be enough to change Naoki's current mindset. After defeating Vortigern, Naoki would surely do something to save this collapsed and ruined island.
For example... discarding the Holy Sword again, signing a contract with the planet, in exchange for unlimited Mana to regenerate Britain and all the fairies—something like that.
[Naoki can definitely do it, but even so, it would only prolong the lifespan. It's impossible to truly save this island.]
"What do you want to say?"
[I have a way, or rather... a suggestion, that might change your Lostbelt's situation, fundamentally saving Britain, even... saving the entire Lostbelt. However, this means everything that exists now will completely disappear. Everything that happened from fourteen thousand years ago until now might vanish.]
Merry's words made Morgan fall silent for a moment.
Sacrificing the loss of everything now and in the past, to summon the opportunity to save Britain, even to save the Lostbelt?
"Tell me."
After a moment of silence, Morgan said so.