Chapter 15: The Human Order Incineration Ritual, Goetia
As they finished the meal, Siduri looked at everyone and announced, "In addition, we have prepared butter cake for dessert; it is the highest-quality sweet we have to offer."
When the butter cake was served, the eyes of Gudako, Mash, and Ana all lit up uncontrollably. Ana cautiously took a small piece and put it in her mouth.
"Delicious...!" A light shimmered in the young girl's eyes.
Suddenly, Leonidas I kicked his chair away, stood up with a flushed face, and began to gesture wildly while shouting, "Warriors are mathematicians! After participating in about two hours of combat, one must take a 15-minute nap!"
Seeing this, Siduri exclaimed, "Who on earth poured ale for General Leonidas I!?"
Merlin watched this comical scene with a grin, holding his wine cup. "Well~ who knows, but this is good medicine for him too." Ushiwakamaru laughed. "After all, he hasn't been getting proper rest, despite what he claims."
"That said! Those young soldiers are truly hopeless! The only one who can remain decisive and clear-headed amidst the horde of Demonic Beasts is I, Leonidas!!" Leonidas I shouted one last time before collapsing onto the floor, falling into a sleep as deep as an infant's.
After the meal, the group gathered together.
"So, is Enkidu really dead, as the rumors suggest?" Gudako asked first.
"Yes," Siduri nodded. "The King saw him die with his own eyes and buried his remains in the Underworld. I have never seen anyone as beautiful and sorrowful as he was. Although he was a doll crafted by the gods, once he attained a heart, that very heart was shattered along with his being."
"To have attained a heart, only to have it shattered in the end..." Mash murmured.
"Does King Gilgamesh know about that Enkidu?" Gudako asked again. "He is not only impersonating his late friend but has also become an enemy."
Hearing this, Merlin smiled. "Of course he knows. Although they haven't met yet, his reaction has been extremely indifferent."
Siduri nodded in agreement. "Indeed. The King's reaction does not look like he is wary of us."
At this point, Shirou spoke up. "The true identity of that Enkidu is a child created by Tiamat. It is a weapon born based on the body of the god-forged mud puppet Enkidu, and can be considered a successor model. It was resurrected by the 'Demon God King' Goetia using the power of the Holy Grail and transferred into the body of the deceased Enkidu."
The group fell silent.
"'Demon God King' Goetia..." Gudako's expression turned solemn upon hearing the name.
Merlin stood up at this moment. "Alright, alright, let's discuss these matters tomorrow. For today, let's get some good rest. Look, even Ana has fallen asleep."
Following Merlin's gaze, the group looked toward the table, where the purple-haired girl was lying fast asleep. Through the gaps in her faint snoring, the girl's mumblings could be heard: "Merlin... actually hogged the corner room... so despicable... better kill him..."
Hearing this, Merlin offered an awkward, polite smile.
As everyone returned to their rooms to rest, Shirou went up to the roof. Under the moonlight, he gazed out at the distant mountains with a long, contemplative look.
"Goetia... could he really be the final enemy..."
Goetia is the collective of the seventy-two Demon Gods, not King Solomon himself. Goetia's goal is to become the sole existence on this planet.
Solomon, fully aware of the hopelessness and ugliness of humanity, did not choose to correct it, eventually accepting death. After King Solomon died, the seventy-two Demon Gods sealed within his corpse developed independent thoughts. Delusionally calling themselves Solomon (thus, from their perspective, they were the Mage King Solomon), they began to promote the project of converting all of humanity into energy.
However, their existence was in a state of dilemma. Though they asserted that humanity had no value, as Demon Gods, they could not exist unless used by humans. Despite being high-dimensional lifeforms, they were forced to be subordinate to the scum of humanity—the universe's only and greatest "waste"—which they felt deeply humiliated by.
Goetia refused to accept this contradiction and dishonesty, initiating a self-transformation. This was a reassessment of their purpose to serve humanity, absolutely proving that they were the highest existence on this planet, reaching a peak that even Solomon had failed to reach—the grand endeavor of becoming a god.
"All humans must be killed! It must be done! It must be incinerated! Not a single living soul can be left on the surface of this planet!"
Goetia dispatched the various Demon Gods into the future, planting several collapse points within the course of human history, causing it to crumble from within. Although wiping out all of humanity seemed to be his goal, it was at most a means, not the end. Goetia's purpose was to 'Reach the Peak.'
Humanity, the future—he no longer harbored any interest in them. What he sought was to rewind the 4.6 billion years since the birth of life on this planet in one go, experience the very moment the "celestial bodies" were born in this realm, and claim all the energy of that time for himself.
In other words, it was to become a 'New Celestial Body,' creating a new world without death. However, such a scale of time travel was beyond even Goetia's reach. What was indispensable for flying into the past was immense energy—mana.
For example, the total mana accumulated by a certain intelligent species that had flourished for 2,500 years. If all of human history from 1,000 B.C. to 2,016 A.D. were converted into mana, the resulting energy would be sufficient to leap to the beginning of the star.
The extermination—the incineration—of humanity served only this purpose. To Goetia, humans from the moment of his birth to 2016 were nothing more than the first-stage rocket fuel required to reach the origin of the sky.
—The Human Order Incineration Ritual, Goetia.
It was a magecraft woven to reach true wisdom, a magecraft with its own will that sought to use all of human history to reach the origin. It was a curse born from the lament and fury over the relationship between King Solomon and humanity, an attempt to overcome the "imperfection of humanity" that Solomon had always ignored.
"However, the Goetia from my memories... doesn't seem to be all that powerful."
Shirou murmured to himself as he recalled. Finding no conclusion, he stretched, turned around, and began to head back.
"Whatever, wild guessing is useless anyway. I'll find out when the time comes."
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