"Tsk… these are all ancient seal script, archaic forms…"
Nono stood before the massive shadow-wall mural, brow furrowed, fingers tracing the cold surface of characters nearly impossible to decipher. In her hand, a perpetual lamp flickered with a faint violet hue, lighting only a small section—most of the mural remained shrouded in darkness.
She sighed. With no other way, she began to psychograph.
Pressing her hands—and even her temples—against the stone, the mural seemed to come alive, shifting into vivid motion within her mind.
The first image: countless black-clad workers hammering around an ancient shrine, chiseling entire painted walls free from limestone, transporting them elsewhere to form the shadow-walls.
But this was only surface memory—residue from those who moved it, not the meaning the mural's creator intended.
"Melusine, stay sharp."
"Mm. No enemies yet."
"Not just enemies. I'm going deep this time. If I start screaming or losing control—snap me out of it."
"…Got it."
Deep psychography was like diving beneath an ocean, drowning in chaotic torrents of data.
Her consciousness sank. She saw robed figures moving within a grand divine city, wide straight avenues, majestic halls raised with unbelievable techniques. Priests in white robes and jade crowns spoke in an unknown tongue—but she grasped their meaning.
Some warned that the god's corpse must never be unsealed, or disaster would come. Others argued that reviving the god would bless humanity with divine power. They revered and coveted the god, while also fearing and despairing at its indestructible remains.
Gradually, Nono saw the divide: one faction built a glorious palace to house the god, the other ringed it with binding seals. A palace, and a prison.
Szzzz…
The scene dissolved. Waters roared in her ears. The divine city crumbled, swallowed by floods.
Like Inception's dreamers lost in dreams within dreams, Nono floundered. She struggled against drowning, rushing toward the submerged city. Faint words echoed like static:
"The supreme mother god… entombed forever in Yomi… the Well of Hidden Corpses sealed… the path of Yomi forbidden…"
"Nono!"
Melusine's shout and hard shake ripped her out of it. The lamp still flickered dimly. Her ears throbbed—because something else was coming.
Boom!
Melusine yanked her back as fire tore through the floor where she'd stood.
A small figure burst forth, golden and wreathed in demon flame. Horns jutted from her head, clawed arms dark red and black. She tore a steel pillar free and hurled it like a toy, then ripped up the floor itself, flinging slabs like cannon shot.
Screeech—!
Melusine's light-sword wove a deadly web, slicing everything apart in midair.
"Not… enough!"
The oni girl roared, flames surging, smoke choking the chamber. In seconds the room was an inferno.
"Too dangerous for you to stay here," Melusine warned.
But Nono's eyes blazed with fury. The murals—burned to ash! All her effort wasted.
"Fine. We'll move—but hit her hard!"
Smash—
They shattered a window. Glass cascaded like a river of starlight as Melusine's dragon wings spread.
Inside, Berserker Ibaraki Dōji seethed, gathering a ball of raging fire to obliterate half the tower.
"Wait, Berserker."
Kazama Ruri stepped in, breathing heavily from Wang Jiang's cursed clapper control. The man's torture forced personality shifts on him until he staggered in pain.
"Our goal isn't them. Just make it look like it."
"…Really?" Ibaraki growled, hefting her giant blade.
"Yes. We'll say we nearly won, but they slipped away."
But she snarled, flames bursting higher.
"—The dragon's coming back!"
Boom!
Melusine dived like a supersonic jet, unleashing radiant blade-beams that tore through floors and pillars.
With a deafening crash, the entire Genji Heavy Industries tower split open at the 13th floor, a brilliant white line cleaving it in two!
—
Meanwhile, in the shadow-world Tokyo, Shirou and the others searched again for the source.
This time, instead of yokai hordes, they faced something else.
A colossal dragon coiled atop a bronze spire twice the height of Tokyo Tower. Its molten gold eyes burned with rage, guarding the mythic city sprawling below.
The city itself was alien—vast, metallic, palatial, nothing like Tokyo.
The dragon exuded not just miasma, but divine aura, curse, calamity. Not merely a beast, but a god-tainted monster.
"…A dragon?"
Mayu trembled, clutching her clothes. This was a Western fantasy wyrm come to life!
"Not certain." Chiyome frowned. Its aura reminded her of a great serpent—like Orochi.
"Dragon, or god—whatever it is…" Shirou raised his blades. "It's seen us."
The dragon descended. Its claw strike cratered the street, sheer godly force amplifying its might beyond reason.
Shirou and Chiyome pulled Eriyi and Mayu aside just in time. But the beast inhaled, fire gathering in its throat—
"Right!" Shirou shouted, leaping with Eriyi as Chiyome dodged the other way.
The blast erupted, a crimson torrent that vaporized entire blocks, firestorms devouring kilometers.
"Can… can we even fight this?"
Mayu's lips trembled. She remembered only Shirou's previous Noble Phantasm gave her courage.
"What is this dragon…?" Shirou wondered. Godliness on a dragon—it was unnatural.
"I'll try." Eriyi stepped forward, blade in hand, singing softly.
Her judgment stroke struck, rotting the dragon's claw—only for it to heal instantly, bones knitting, scales regrown.
Death's judgment had no effect!
(End of Chapter)
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