"Even if this world can no longer see its future, there must still be people shining brilliantly for the sake of living. You must believe that their radiance can save this world wrapped in its end. No one has the right to destroy a world where people are still shining."
The Covenant Entrusted to the Hearts of All People
Rank: EX
Type: Anti-World Noble Phantasm
Before passing on, the Son bore the sins of humanity and ascended to Heaven. He was undeniably humanity's Savior.
The one who failed to become a spirit abandoned the path that only one person could walk. Before passing on, he used everything he had left to make a covenant with all people. Thus, he existed in the hearts of all people, together with all people, together with humanity itself, together with the good that all people sought to do.
In other words, no matter how terrifying an inhuman being or extraterrestrial entity might be, so long as even one person in the present world had not completely extinguished their pursuit of "good," he himself was "immortal." Though the agony of body and soul would be incomparable, his conviction would endure forever. Any concept that bestowed "death" would be utterly ineffective.
Adaptation Was Not Random Fabrication
The waters of the Mediterranean had not been that cold. He only listened to the surging and receding roar of the waves, until he could hear them no longer.
Then, the silver-haired youth who seemed to have been in an eternal world opened his eyes once more, his irises like a deep blue sea.
The world reflected in the eyes of the one awakened from "slumber" was Bucharest, the capital of Romania, in 2014.
Beyond the thick car window lay the streets of a major city. The sky was gray and overcast. Novia did not particularly like that color, nor did he like the conversation between the taxi driver in front and his phone—
"You're already thirty-seven. Are you really not planning to find someone? Your mother and I are worried. Your sister's teacher is one of the most famous people around there, and I heard he's pretty handsome. His ranking goes up every time. How about you go get to know him?"
"Oh... I almost forgot. You dropped out after only a week..."
"I only drive to kill time. We've been in Romania for so long, haven't we just been looking for someone suitable for you? Maybe one day I'll find you the prince on a white horse you've been dreaming about. Though princes who are thirty-seven aren't common. He might be a king uncle instead. Hahaha."
Was he talking to his child back home? Still, that was not something that could be forced. His tone sounded fairly harmonious, though. He was probably just teasing.
Novia thought to himself. He felt somewhat weak now, perhaps because Mystery had grown even thinner than it had been two thousand years ago. His soul needed time to adapt to the rules of the current world. It was the feeling of going from luxury to frugality.
After all, during the Roman era, he had never seemed to worry about Mystery. Ever since finding Albion, he had steadily moved toward places where Mystery was denser. In the end, Yahweh had directly peeled back the Texture in order to activate the Book of Revelation, allowing the Mystery He permitted to emerge.
It was also because of that that Novia had obtained authority over all Rome. Though in the end, it had done little besides allowing him to find Yahweh without entering Heaven's Gate. Yahweh had stripped it from him during the final battle. It was clear that this one and only God was still quite displeased with other pantheons...
"Um, are we stuck in traffic?"
He spoke in a hoarse voice, as though he had just awakened, and tentatively waved a hand. Although it was not good to interrupt someone's conversation with their family, Novia could not help being confused. He had already been about halfway to Rome, so in theory, he should have arrived by now.
Seeing Novia's movement through the rearview mirror, the man driving the car—his face deeply lined with wrinkles—removed his earpiece, slowly rolled down the window, and turned to glance at Novia, who was sweating profusely from his forehead.
"You're finally awake. I thought you'd suddenly fainted because you were sick, so I was planning to take you to a hospital."
"Thank you for your concern, but I merely took a nap. I'm fine now."
"All right, but don't go becoming impossible to wake again. This thing's been sitting around for a long time, so have it." After several seconds of silence, the man tossed an apple to Novia and turned his gaze back toward the road. "Come to think of it, you're probably a church believer, right? After all, only believers wear cross pendants, unless it was given to you by an elderly family member."
"...Hm?"
After taking two bites of the apple, Novia looked down at his chest in confusion. There really was a cross pendant there, faintly gleaming silver in the light. He could say with certainty that he had not had this thing on him before going to Rome...
Was this some kind of reward? With a thought from Novia, a system prompt window immediately appeared before his eyes.
Yet there were no prompts at all. Even the option for crossing worlds was dim, unlike before, when he could continue choosing it after returning. Perhaps it needed charging, or perhaps it simply had not refreshed properly.
"That's right. I'm a believer. The director of the orphanage that took me in gave this to me."
Novia did not deny it and merely found an excuse to brush the matter aside.
In this world, Novia had grown up in an orphanage. The reason he knew magecraft was because the director who had founded the orphanage had noticed his good aptitude and casually taught him...
Thinking of that, Novia could not help having a sudden thought. Could the director actually have been someone who failed to compete for a "name" within the Burial Agency?
"I see. Sorry about that."
The man casually observed the silver-haired youth in the back. When he recalled how enormous magical power had leaked from the youth in the final seconds before he fainted, without any attempt to conceal it, he knew that if his eldest daughter had not placed magecraft in his car to hide it, the mage families stationed here would likely have already taken it as a provocation.
Yet this youth truly seemed unaware of it. Could he have inherited some sort of Magic Crest? In any case, the man found it rather fascinating, so he raised another topic. He drove because he liked chatting with all kinds of people.
"By the way, you probably haven't seen that newest movie if you're a believer. But I heard it's quite popular among young people."
"A movie?"
Though this uncle was clearly trying to make conversation, Novia still went along with it. It was only chatting, after all. He did not see any problem with it. During the Roman era, he had long since become a chatterbox for the sake of preaching.
"That movie about how Novia, the first Pope of the Church, and Agrippina the Younger, mother of Emperor Nero, fell in love at first sight. Then, for all sorts of reasons, they loved and killed each other. In the end, devastated beyond all hope, he died at the hands of his beloved's child, Nero."
"..." Novia closed his eyes, drew in a breath, then let it out. After doing so, his somewhat awkward expression became slightly more peaceful. "...As long as someone likes it, that's fine. It's an adaptation, after all."
After all, he understood that myths and legends constantly changed as time passed.
"Really? The believers I met before all cursed it to high heaven..."
"I can understand how they feel. It's perfectly normal. But I don't think Novia himself would care."
The silver-haired youth shrugged indifferently. The man laughed, and a gentle atmosphere filled the space between them.
"I didn't expect you to be so open-minded. You're not as rigid as those Church people... All right, we're here."
After paying and getting out of the car, Novia saw the window slowly roll down again. The driver waved at him.
"My name is Sajyou Hiroki. You seem like a good kid, so leave me your number. We can meet again sometime. Remember to come, all right? Oh, I haven't asked your name yet. What was it again?"
"...Novia."
The Story After That
Once he learned that the driver was named Sajyou Hiroki, Novia found it easy to guess who Hiroki's thirty-seven-year-old daughter from that phone call had been, aside from feeling amazed.
In this modern age, where the Age of Gods had passed and Mystery had severely faded away, there was a princess connected to the Root from birth. An unmatched genius, the strongest human Master capable of using Age of Gods magecraft—
Sajyou Manaka.
Still, she was ultimately just someone living in the modern age. If she could get past Brunhild, that would already count as success.
Yet since she had lived safely to thirty-seven and both of her parents were alive, that meant she had not participated in the Holy Grail War and had even saved the mother who should have "died."
And since Sajyou Ayaka seemed to have become Lord El-Melloi II's student, while his bargain-bin partner Sigma had recently said he was heading to America for a cup war, this was probably a world line similar to the Himuro no Tenchi world line: "harmlessly slacking off," hoping to meet her ideal prince, and leaving a mountain of messes for her younger sister to handle.
Novia had a fairly good idea of what Sajyou Hiroki intended. He most likely wanted to set up seventeen-year-old Novia on a blind date with Sajyou Manaka, who was only twenty years older than him. As for whether it would be love at first sight?
That did not concern him. He had only heard of blond princes on white horses, not silver-haired ones... Well, there was one who barely fit the description and had also killed many people, but he had changed from blond to silver-haired, from a prince into a king.
Moreover, Sajyou Manaka absolutely would not be able to see through someone like Novia. But he was also nothing like the "prince on a white horse" she imagined. Even Old Sword had fallen just a little short of her standards of beauty...
If she really did fall in love at first sight, Novia felt that he should be able to calm her down...
But no matter what, from Novia's current perspective, he felt that this Sajyou Manaka was a good child. That was good.
After entering the apartment, Novia found no dust despite having been away for quite some time. His landlady, Fiore, seemed to be quite responsible. Though she had probably hired someone to clean, considering she used a wheelchair and there were no traces of magical power being used.
"I should see what happened afterward."
After organizing the contents of his suitcase and brewing a cup of instant coffee, Novia intended to see how the Roman Empire had developed after his departure. He felt that Nero should have fulfilled every plan he had left behind on that sheet of paper.
"Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, commonly known as Nero (December 15, 37–?), was honored by the people as the Great Emperor of Rome due to her many achievements. She was also the second Pope after Novia, and the only person in all of history to simultaneously hold the positions of Emperor and Pope—"
Though Novia was surprised that Nero had become Pope after him, upon further thought, he found it normal. Paul, Peter, and many other apostles had all been qualified to become the second Pope, but what they pursued was not glory for themselves, but shared happiness for all.
Therefore, as his publicly acknowledged disciple at the time, and as the Saintess recorded in the New Testament—"Titus of Rome was the Saintess after Martha of Bethany"—it was only natural that everyone had agreed to Nero's appointment.
Still, it was not hard to guess that being both Emperor and Pope was hardly a good tradition. Perhaps for that reason, the Roman emperors afterward had been restrained by rules Nero set in secret and by her incomparable influence.
After all, Nero had perfectly carried out every plan he had left behind. She invested heavily in Byzantium, firmly winning the hearts of the eastern Roman Empire through that region. Then, bolstered by the Christian faith sweeping through the entire Roman Empire, she enacted top-down reforms through "violence," leaving rivers of blood in her wake.
According to records, Nero's final fate was that she suddenly vanished one day. Some said she disappeared amid flames that arose from nowhere, while others said she had finally ascended to Heaven as she wished.
"But it is said that this emperor..."
Novia saw the final sentence in the document above, yet could not bring himself to speak for a long while.
That brief line seemed to hang suspended within the world beneath a sky that remained, as always, covered in blue—a dreamlike scene where no one knew how far that blue extended.
—But it is said that she had always awaited someone's arrival, always waited... for "the person who promised to return."
In a place beyond time, a person sat upon a decayed throne. Behind him lay a vista of blue skies and white clouds, along with an incredibly hazy circular halo that seemed to be forming. Around the steps stood broken pillars wrapped in moss.
"You've placed several Holy Grails already."
A voice rang out from nowhere, questioning the man on the throne with lofty authority. In an instant, the beautiful scenery transformed into a crimson sea churning madly.
"You have no right to know, nor should you speak to me in such a self-righteous tone." The man rose to his feet, revealing blood-red eyes. "Even if you are that person's disciple, you have fallen into this state. You and I are no more than allies now."
After that, neither spoke. Silence passed. Rather than having nothing to say, they were watching what their subordinates were doing.
Seventy-two pillars covered in countless eyes and a seven-headed dragon-like creature appeared. The air between them brimmed with an atmosphere in which conflict could erupt at any moment.
"I'll ask you once more. How much longer? A Heroic Spirit summoning system without even the slightest record of that person is nothing but trash!"
"...One year. Once the Holy Grails have been placed, the Demon God Pillars under my command will use them to sever the torrent of history. The foundation of human history will be shaken, and part of that torrent will be drawn here, weakening humanity's foundation. Then, through observation, the entirety of human history will be set ablaze."
Goetia rubbed the rings on his fingers as he spoke pointedly.
"In the end, whether I establish a new celestial body or you create a new world in which that person exists will depend solely on our respective abilities, Draco."
"Hehehe, I approve. It is merely—devouring the Human Order bite by bite." A small girl's figure appeared atop the seven-headed dragon, holding a golden cup. Blood-red markings stained her face as she smiled cruelly. "This rotten world has lasted two thousand years. I have no desire to remain here any longer."
I will spare no cost, only to see you once more—
At any cost, I will create a world where Teacher exists.
There Was Actually a Thirty-Seven-Year-Old Beautiful Girl in This World!?
"I refuse."
Dusk had arrived. On the seventh floor of an apartment building in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, a blonde girl looked down below. Her smooth, shining hair became even more eye-catching in the glow of sunset, while her eyes were pale and clear.
From where she stood, the countless streets looked like narrow channels, and the endless streams of people entering and leaving them looked like tiny insects.
In truth, to the real her, they were indeed no different from insects. The blonde girl was Sajyou Manaka.
At that moment, she was on a video call with her parents, who also lived in Bucharest but not with her. The reason they did not all live together in a large house like they had in Japan was that Sajyou Manaka had claimed that she and her sister were grown up and needed independent space of their own. The Sajyou couple, who loved both daughters dearly, had agreed.
"I think that young man your father mentioned sounds quite good. And he should be used to taking care of you, Manaka. Your father said that he wanted to date you with marriage in mind, after all."
"Yes, that's right. He really did say that. I even showed him your photo and told him he would have no problem taking care of you."
Sajyou Hiroki spoke with righteous seriousness, as if every word were true.
"No, no, I don't want to! If he's not a prince on a white horse, I don't want him. And based on what you said, Father, he only likes me because I'm pretty."
Manaka shook her head without the slightest concern for her image. After placing her phone on a stand, she crossed her hands in an X.
"Just hearing that name—Novia or whatever—makes him sound so incredibly... you know. He definitely has none of the qualities of a prince on a white horse. He looks like the kind of stubborn believer who's impossible to deal with. I'll be annoyed to death if I have to listen to him talk about this god and that god tomorrow."
Time seemed not to have left the slightest trace on this thirty-seven-year-old "beautiful girl." She looked exactly as she had at fourteen, unchanged in every way—except that her elegance had vanished with her inability to find someone she liked.
"But you're already thirty-seven. Your sister even got you her teacher's contact information before. He's known as Big Ben☆London Star and ranks first among male students in the Clock Tower popularity rankings..."
Sajyou Hiroki could not help interrupting from the other end of the call. Perhaps worried that his eldest daughter's mind would deteriorate from staying home too long, he added again.
"I remember you even went to that classroom when you were at the Clock Tower."
Sajyou Manaka had once gone to study at the Clock Tower, one of the Mage's Association's branches, but she had dropped out at nearly light speed. The reason was that there had not been a single suitable person in the entire Clock Tower, so there was no reason to remain. She could not have a sweet campus romance there.
Afterward, she traveled around the world. Her journey had now brought her to Romania, where her entire family had moved.
"Oh my, that person obviously looks unhealthy. And although he's been popular for a long time, he has no prince-like qualities at all. I don't know why he's so popular. I went to find him immediately, thinking he was the prince on a white horse I'd dreamed of... All right, I'm hanging up. I'm not going to meet him anyway~"
For some reason, perhaps because she had just discussed the topic of "a prince on a white horse" with her parents, the girl became melancholy for the first time in a long while. Though she was drinking tea and eating cake, she could not help lying directly on the floor and rolling around, completely unconcerned with her appearance.
The world was boring. In truth, she was merely "alive." The second hand of the clock had always ticked onward, and today became tomorrow. Everything around her remained nothing more than a boring mountain she understood inside and out. There was no surprise, no joy, and no anticipation.
Even on her journey to find a "prince on a white horse," she could not feel anticipation, because she could not see the slightest possibility that one existed.
Then why did the girl perform acts of "good" toward her family and the people she knew in this world that felt utterly devoid of warmth to her? Everything in the world was without warmth to Manaka, yet because of another kind of "coldness" within her, different from the "coldness" she knew, she instinctively acted that way.
Come to think of it, she could see this "coldness." It appeared most frequently in those strange, god-obsessed Church people. In other words, helping others was perhaps precisely why that "coldness" had brought her to where she was today.
"Oh no, I forgot to log into the game Sereni recommended. Good thing I remembered."
Only then did Manaka realize it. One hand played with the phone on the floor while the other propped up her chin, and her crossed legs swung lazily in the air.
Since her friend had enthusiastically recommended the game, Manaka casually played it every day when she had nothing to do. She was not obsessed with it like Sereni, who, according to what Manaka knew, had already spent one-tenth of her entire fortune as a mage on it—
Before you continue