Beast.
Lust's Luxuria. Wrath's Ira. Envy's Invidia. Gluttony's Gula. Sloth's Acedia. Pride's Superbia. Greed's Avaritia.
It is Nero's unconsciousness, or you could say Nero's other personality. That is the difference from Mashin.
"We do not wish to fight you."
"Come with us."
"Come with us... We are the Evil of Humanity. We are the beast that devours cities. We will burn Rome (the city). We will burn Rome (the world). Rome (humanity), Rome (reason), Rome (palace), Rome (throne), Rome (mother), Rome (poison), Rome (all romance), all, all, all burn, and that Rome (Luoyang), with you..."
So...
"Move aside. I don't want to fight you either, you know? If you don't want to fight me, move aside. Or it might hurt a bit."
"..."
The Beasts do not clear the path. Then what will you do...
Tap!
"!?"
I just have to jump over and go forward. I dash forward at full speed, and the Beasts try to catch me.
"{Caladbolg} (Carving, Cutting, Dressing Knife)"
I throw Caladbolg and start auto-battle mode with daggers. Their power is slightly stronger than Mashin's. With Caladbolg using duplicates, it's enough to buy time.
Forward, forward, I run forward.
The place I arrive at is her collapsed theater. Nero's theater, which shouldn't exist in this era. The Domus Aurea, the theater she designed and built herself. At the center of the old, broken theater, she is crouching.
"Why have you come this far..."
"Let's go back, Nero."
I said, offering her my hand. She looked at my hand, then turned her head away.
"Go back."
"... Nero, you could have resisted. But... you didn't, did you?"
"....."
In the original, the main reason Nero's body was seized by the Beasts was because Locusta's poison meant to kill her instead strengthened her power. It's a bit different now.
"It's futile. I am, after all, merely the Evil of Humanity. What reason do you have to protect me... Defeat me, and become a more shining hero."
"I promised. To protect you."
"How can a hero of humanity protect humanity's enemy! If it were before the metamorphosis, the world might acknowledge it. But now..."
"Then why did you reach out your hand back then?"
"........"
"You want to go with me, don't you? Right?"
She bit her lip, turned her head towards me, and shouted.
"I am the Evil of Humanity! I only reached out because you offered your hand first."
"You subconsciously want to be with me. Don't you? If not, why are the Beasts still asking me to come with them? They are your desires, aren't they?"
"... It is an ugly desire. My love is such an ugly desire! My love is like that. My love (desire) is like a flame. Just like the Beasts that swallow everything! My love (desire) cannot be endured unless it takes everything in return for giving everything. I repay beautiful things, things that should be loved, with all my heart. I am such a flame. Not a flame that warms, but a flame that burns and consumes everything. My heart is different... I cannot understand or offer the gentle love of humans. It is because I gave such a flame to Rome that I have reached this point..."
Her heart was fundamentally different from others'. With a heart like a burning flame, she tried to embrace everything, but that heart did not reach Rome's people. To everyone, she was just a willful tyrant.
The emperor as beautiful as a rose was certain to burn and disappear by her own flame-like heart, an emperor who faced death after three suicide attempts in a world where Luoyang falls.
"If you take me... take me with you, you will surely be burned as well. I am a foolish emperor who does not know human hearts... different from my uncle, merely a flame..."
"A flame... that's good. It's like the flame of Vesta's temple, right? On the contrary, an unextinguishable flame is even better, isn't it? Nero."
"... Are you serious."
Vesta. The Greek Hestia, the goddess of the hearth. In Rome's Vesta temple that worships her, there is an unextinguishable flame, a sacred flame that must not go out. That flame, along with the tree planted by the god, is said to protect Rome.
Later, when Christianity was accepted, that flame was extinguished, and it is said that Rome fell because Vesta's fire went out. And indeed, Western Rome was destroyed by Altera. So much so, the unextinguishable flame was like Rome's guardian deity.
"I... love you."
"I see."
"A flame that burns everything. A love that offers and consumes everything to be burned... Accepting such me means you cannot escape from my love (evil). It means you will advance with the Evil of Humanity. A hero who wears one of the seven crowns that protect humanity... Everyone will blame you, and it will be dishonorable for you. Yet, you──"
"I have no interest in wealth or fame. It's fine if the whole world curses me. It's fine if they call me a monster, a devil. I became strong to protect those who love me. So, I'll say it again. Nero, come with me."
"..... Ah, of course."
"Hoo... hoo... As expected, it's tough."
"Give up. He can't bring her back anyway. A woman who has given up everything herself."
"... Do you know? At the point you're so confident... it's your defeat."
"What...!"
Beast Draco clutches her chest in sudden pain. Soon, her chest begins to glow... and a brilliant red light surges.
"Kyaaaaaa!!! Why, why...!? How can you make such a choice, Nero...!!!"
"Beasts... my duplicates. You are my duplicates yet do not know me well. No, I didn't know either. That I, this me... would blaze with love once more...!"
Staggering Beast Draco. Before her, the true emperor reveals herself.
"It is because I cannot refuse the man who wants me, time and again. Yes... so, I will take up the sword once more! Even if I am called evil!!!"
"Impossible... impossible...? That spirit, how...?"
"I am a beast yet not a beast. My awakening as a beast is different from you all... I am the Rose Emperor Nero! The Beast Emperor Nero! Worship and praise me, you who are merely another beast! Even if Rome does not love me, even if Rome denies me...! I am the emperor who loves Rome! The beast born of Rome!"
"Impossible...!!! The seat of Beast VI/S should be ours...? How is that possible...?"
"What... being me, do you not know that? This is my love! The form of a miracle achieved through infinite love... Yes, it is my ultimate form that has overcome the third Luoyang that should never have been reached in future eons... My steed, my rider... the path led by the man I love!"
Evil of Humanity Acclaim
"It cannot be... it cannot be...! To walk with humanity's hero while still being the Evil of Humanity!?"
"Are you jealous? If it's envy, it's ugly, me... But, I will forgive you. However, the seat of Beast VI/S is mine. Therefore, I will take it back."
"I won't acknowledge it... such a thing, I cannot acknowledge it!!!!"
"What will you do if you don't acknowledge it."
Fergus mac Róich stands beside the Rose Emperor, Beast Emperor Draco.
"The price of the betrayal you chose, we will pay it. I will not forsake the duty of the Grand Class. By defeating you, I will fulfill it."
The demon sword created by the god of war is aimed at Beast Draco, and the Rose Emperor aims the flame demon sword she made herself... from the fragment of Velber's lord (spaceship) that Sefar (the white giant) rode down.
"Well said."
And, a brilliant light descends from the sky. An intense divine light that presses down on Beast Draco. What appears with the light is Rome's great father.
"The choice of two Romes... I have seen it well."
"The god..."
"... You are shining, Nero. Rome (emperor) loved by Caligula. You too, are Rome."
"Is that so... Rome's god and founder says so... Huh, today is the best day of my life!"
"Will you join us? Lancer."
"Ah, since you have shown me... it is my turn to help you, Saber. What about you, Holy Sword User?"
Artoria, who thrust the holy spear before Camelot, walks forward, her cloak fluttering. The dragon god who was holding off the beast alone.
"What, it seems my holy sword is crying out to slay the beast. I think it's time to release the holy sword's restraints for the first time, don't you?"
"Don't make me laugh... We are the beasts that burn everything! We will burn this Rome (world)!!!"
A shining golden cup glows with an ominous red light, and black evil mud flows over the land.
"Before that, we will defeat you."
This is a fight to protect the world.