Chapter 95 - Human Order Correction Ritual.
After finishing his attack, Solomon didn't even bother to look at Shinji before he gathered mana on his feet and chased after him.
All the lasers and beams exploded behind him and created a huge flame flower in the air. The sparks and the light particles were flying behind Solomon as they made a shadow on his face. Despite the intense explosion, he only made a simple mana shield on his back before using the explosion strength to push himself further.
His speed broke the sound barrier easily as sonic booms filled the area before eyeing Shinji, who was flying away, and rushing towards him. Although teleportation is an available option, Solomon knows that it takes a split of a second to work and his opponent might be already ready to face it.
Shinji was flying at a very fast speed in the sky. The wind was blowing around him as its roar affected his hearing a little, but he quickly adjusted himself and opened his eyes.
His forehead was stinging because of Solomon's punch. That punch wasn't a joke because it was aimed at his brain. Presuming that he didn't use space and time to slow it down, he'll probably end up with a cracked skull if he was lucky.
Shinji moved his body in mid-air to stabilize his position. His speed decreased after a moment before the gleam in his eyes intensified. The eyes that looked like a flowing river, glowed before the flow around Shinji started to change.
Using his 'Flow' and reality marble, the wind became a platform on his feet like a flowing river, which allowed him to glide away before opening his hand and making a claw shape.
He didn't need to look in front to see Solomon, who was rushing with a burning fist, because the flow of his reality marble could detect him if he used mana or other attacks. The wind moved around Shinji's fingers like a serpent before he waved his hand in a vertical motion quickly.
*WHOOSH!!*
The flow of wind and time activated instantly as the calm and peaceful wind became terrifying blades like claws, rushing towards Solomon. This attack can cut any physical material in its path because the 'time' of the wind is different.
The clouds and buildings in the claws' way were severed cleanly while rushing towards Solomon.
Solomon didn't bother to look at the blades. His two fists glowed with an intense heat before moving quickly, yet accurately, and punching forward.
Solomon used a straight punch to crush two wind blades before he did a spin in the air. Using the momentum from the rotation, he backhanded blocked a wind blade before using another straight punch to crush the last one. Everything happened in a split of a second before the aftermath affected the area.
*BAAAAM!!**BAAAAM!!**BAAAAAM!!*
Every collision between the fists and the blades did a huge shockwave which cleared the area.
The upper half of the building raised up in the air before they were pushed away like dominos and started falling, however, Solomon passed through the wind without reducing his power.
His actions were like he knew the correct path to pass without even looking forward. Suddenly, the wind direction changed, which made Solomon's speed decrease. The buildings that were falling, raised again because of a hurricane that swiftly appeared.
Shinji, who launched the wind blades, didn't wait to see the result. Gliding back using the wind, he waved his hand in a circular motion. The wind around started to flow with Shinji's hand as it made a tornado. With each moment, the wind speed increased and the tornado grew up larger until it covered Solomon's vision.
The destructive vortex of violent winds advanced towards Solomon while clearing everything in its path. The buildings and rubble around were rotating with the tornado as they also launched themselves at Solomon.
Solomon stared at the hurricane in front of him as he rushed without slowing down. His actions followed a clear path in the air, a path that made the violent wind become a breeze and allow him to pass easily. However, that didn't last long before Solomon glanced at his surroundings.
Without knowing when, small water droplets were flying in the tornado. Each droplet had a different time axis, which makes it equivalent to a deadly bullet like those wind blades.
Shinji stepped on the wind as he shot himself upwards while electricity was flying around him and his Rubik cube. The cube was rotating and changing its formation like solving a puzzle before a magic-circle was made on one of its surfaces. When that happened, the water droplets changed their direction immediately and attacked Solomon.
The wind was roaring and howling. The violent wind was enough to destroy a city easily, which was obvious by the buildings that were actually flying with it. Solomon was in a tight situation as the water droplets accelerated towards him, but this didn't stop him.
At Solomon's temple, the Demon God pillars destroyed Shinji's cannons before they looked at the tornado in front of Solomon.
Their eyes started glowing before hundreds of lasers were shot at the droplets around Solomon. The lasers crossed the sky all the way from mount Endo, making the sky filled with red arcs of scorching heat.
Reaching the tornado, each laser hit a water droplet accurately as numerous explosions appeared in the tornado. Solomon's balance was broken slightly because the tornado was losing its form.
Solomon wanted to use this chance to teleport towards Shinji, but then, the tornado formation changed. All the wind started to gather at one point in front of Solomon.
The violent wind became some sort of a cage, which was dragging Solomon towards the center that was heating up because of the friction between the wind.
Shinji in the sky gathered his palms together as the tornado started to close on its own, blocking all Solomon's escape paths. Without a moment of waiting, Shinji activated his 'Flow' and accelerated time on the wind.
The already violent wind became berserk as its speed passed the possible limits. The friction in the air began to generate heat, especially at the center. The wind was compressed fiercely at the center as Solomon saw a glow of light, which shows that wind started to turn into plasma.
In the air, Shinji raised his arm as the wind began to compress before it became plasma. Like throwing a spear, Shinji shot the plasma at Solomon, who was trapped in the wind cage, blocking all his escape routes while putting him in a very dangerous position.
Solomon didn't gaze at the plasma for long before he clenched his two fists. His body started glowing before a blinding light was released from him. The heat of the light destroyed the formation of the wind and broke it down before a huge explosion hit the area.
*BOOOOOOOM!!!*
A terrifying explosion demolished everything around it. The wave of heat melted all The buildings that were floating, even the plasma vanished.
Shinji, who was in the sky, saw the whole area burning. Like a sweeping motion, most of Fuyuki city in his reality marble burned as the black soot filled the sky.
Covering his face, Shinji felt the terrifying heat. He couldn't help but sweat a little. If his reality marble automatic defense didn't block the heat, then he'll become a burned corpse by now.
However, he didn't have the luxury to think because the attack wasn't over. From the black clouds of ashes, lasers shot towards Shinji from the Demon God pillars.
Shinji wanted to meet the attack, but then, his eyes became pinpoint before he desperately waved his hand.
He didn't know when Solomon teleported above him as a fist with a huge amount of heat was rushing towards him. Even the moisture in the air was vanishing as Shinji felt his lips dry because of the heat.
Waving his hand, the flow of the lasers changed as Shinji was able to deflect them towards Solomon above him.
Solomon was falling down from the sky at a very quick speed towards Shinji. His fist almost hit him before he changed his direction and hit the lasers.
*BOOOOOOOM!!!*
Another explosion happened in the sky as the black clouds were cleared and two figures were launched into different directions.
Solomon was blown away because of the explosion of his attack, which took him a moment before stabilizing himself in the sky.
On the ground, Shinji fell down as the wind was whistling around him before he rotated his body in mid-air. Landing on the ground, Shinji's feet dragged a long trail before he stopped and stared at Solomon in the sky.
{The true magic… It's rigid for him} Shinji lowered his hands as he released a breath after all that quick fight.
{His 'Flow' is limited to two…} Solomon squinted his eyes at Shinji's figure before the scorching mark on his hand began to heal.
Although this was a quick clash that didn't take more than 20 seconds, both of them didn't miss any detail about each other. Every move and action was analyzed in an attempt to find a weakness or a loophole.
To be honest, no matter how intense was the last collision, for magi, that was just a warm-up to analyze the situation further. At first, they found each other's abilities, and now, what they can do and what the limit of the said abilities.
Solomon tried to test the limit of Shinji's flow. He found that his flow can only work on two elements at a time. One belonged to Shinji and the other for his reality marble automatic defense.
At the last collision, Shinji was desperate to block one of the attacks because he knew that the automatic defense can't change the flow of two different attacks. This sold his limit instantly for Solomon.
Not only that, but Solomon also found that Shinji's Mystic Code, the Rubik cube, has magic-circles drawn on each surface. A part of each circle was on each block, which allows the cube to make a lot of combinations with each turn to support Shinji.
Solomon, as the king of magecraft, found those are magic-circles of alchemy that Shinji is using. A lot of combinations mean a lot of different spells, this makes Solomon have a hard time determining the type of spell because the cube keeps changing.
Shinji on the other hand, also found Solomon's weakness. His usage of the True magic is rigid, unlike his Noble Phantasm and magecraft.
Solomon isn't a real user of True magic, so his mystery of it is lacking, even if he tried to back it up with a huge amount of mana. During the battle, Shinji saw that he needed a moment or two to use the 2nd true magic without preparation, which limited him a lot in a quick battle.
However, Shinji also found another advantage for himself, which is Solomon's Clairvoyance. Apparently, Solomon can't see him with the Clairvoyance and only used the surroundings to determine his location.
*BOOOOM!!!!* *BOOOOM!!!*
When both of them were calculating the results, the rubble in the air and demolished buildings fell after the wind calmed down. Huge chunks of rocks made a huge noise when contacting the ground as some dust was rising in the air.
Ashes and soot filled the place, which made it look like the aftermath of a real war. Shinji wasn't bothered a lot by this before he said to Solomon " *Sigh* It seems that I spend a long time with magi, which made me forget how unreasonable the servants are"
Shinji tapped his head as his wound from Solomon's punch healed quickly before he said " However, aren't you worried about Beast VI detecting our location?"
"Your reality marble is using Avalon as a cornerstone, which almost makes it a different world" Solomon felt that Shinji is buying some time again, however, he didn't know why, so he is also taking this chance to analyze the data he got.
Shinji is using Avalon as a cornerstone for his reality marble, which gave it the power to contain Solomon's one in here. After all, only a world can contain a reality marble and Shinji's reality marble is almost reaching that quality.
Shinji flinched for a moment before he returned back to normal and said " Really? How unreasonable, I must say. For a person with the same goal, your actions are really… Unique"
"We are both aiming at the Evil of the World… Angra Mainyu" Shinji said those words as Solomon in the sky stared at him with his emotionless golden eyes.
" Although the Evil of the World is a disaster for most of the people, for us, it's just a mere tool" Shinji said as Solomon narrowed his eyes.
The Evil of the world is the Grail-alerted form of Angra Mainyu, the Avenger, who was summoned during the Third Holy Grail War.
Because he was very weak, even as a servant, Angra Mainyu was defeated first during the third war, but his soul didn't vanish like that. When servants are defeated, their soul will be absorbed by the Holy Grail to be used later to open the path to the Roots. However, Angra was a different story.
Angra Mainyu: All the world's Evil, is the curse and the ability of Avenger. It means putting all the world's evil on one person, however, it isn't really a useful ability.
Normally it would not affect anything, but the way the Great Grail is set up to take the Servant's souls means placing 'All the World's Evil' into a wish-granting machine.
After Avenger is absorbed during the Third Holy Grail War, the Grail is transformed into an incarnation of Angra Mainyu that materializes as black mud and later a large humanoid under certain conditions. The materialization of Angra Mainyu brought forth by truly opening the Holy Grail is an ichor that will consume every human being, 6 billion curses flowing out from the gate to hell.
Solomon and Shinji know this very well, but they aren't worried. Weak magi might be afraid of dealing with the black mud, but Solomon and Shinji are planning to use it as a sacrifice.
The World's Evil is dangerous, but with the right operation, something like that Evil can become the best sacrifice material for rituals.
'Evil' was always the target of the 'Good'. So, if they count themselves in a ritual as 'Good' and burn the 'Evil', the perfect sacrifice will be made to do earthshaking rituals.
"However, are you really serious about your plan?" Shinji grinned as he looked at the King chosen by God in the sky.
"....." Solomon chose to stay silent, but strangely, his eyes didn't leave Shinji at all.
"Human Order Correction Ritual, I believe this is the name of the spell you want to use… Do you think you deserve the name of king after this attempt?" Shinji said in a tone filled with irony, but he shook his head because he didn't see any reaction from Solomon.
"Although your spell is good and all, don't you think you're going too extreme about it?" Shinji words finally got a reaction from Solomon as he said " A sacrifice is a must for the sake of humanity"
"Hmmm…" Shinji hummed with a long tone before he said " 5 billion~5.5 billion lives is a 'necessary' sacrifice?"
Solomon didn't say anything, but his silence was the best answer.
Human Order Correction Ritual is a spell that allows the user to correct human history. This spell is made by Solomon as a protection for humanity as the king chosen by god.
Although it says correction, but the correction is up to the user, which in this case is Solomon, however, things have changed. Solomon met with Beast VI(Leo) and saw the end… The Land of Steel.
Regular correction isn't enough now and extreme measures need to be taken to assure the survival of humanity. Believe it or not, but the huge number of humanity now made them weaker.
The world operates with mystery and humans who became common as rocks on the ground have lost a huge amount of that mystery, especially with the advance of science.
This made the humans lose a lot of Alaya, Human Order, essence inside of them, which weakened the overall strength of humanity by a lot.
Solomon, who saw the Land of Steel from Leo's 3rd Noble Phantasm, began to think about the future and how humanity is going to survive the attack of Types.
A small number of humans is necessary. In the land of Steel, the small amount of humanity at that time was able to counter the types and even kill some of them, which show the power of humans if Alaya essence was concentrated in a small group rather than billions of them.
Also, a small number means less pollution and destruction to Gaia, the planet, which gives humanity more time to prepare.
Solomon isn't only preparing to fix the world, but he'll also 'lower' the number of humans to give them a better chance against the Land of Steel, which is an inescapable future.
To be honest, people like Shinji, Gilgamesh, Merlin, even Leo, don't see a problem in this plan. This is the best solution, even if it was just delaying the inevitable.
"A Beast won't get mad at you for killing humanity. The heck! They won't even care about what will happen, but you, in a way, angered a Beast" Shinji grinned as Solomon looked at him deeply.
{Hm? I'm getting a reaction here?} Shinji was normal from the outside, but on the inside, he was surprised because Solomon changed his expression.
"This is the second effect of your ritual, mister puppet… Who the hell do you think you are to determine other humans' choices?" Shinji said as Solomon flinched for a moment.
"Original sin removal, 'correcting' humanity shortcomings, and leading them towards your 'position'. This is the true form of your spell, right?" Shinji said as Solomon lowered his eyes for some reason.
Like God is guiding Solomon's action from his crowning day, the ritual has the same principle. Allowing Solomon to guide the humans according to his perfection, which is the king chosen by God. In Leo's words, let them become puppets like Solomon.
"Humanity has its flaws, and those are its sins, Original sins, if you prefer to call them. Something in the fundamental existence of humans, but you want to take it. Jeez, you're lucky this world doesn't allow Beast VI to chase after you like a maniac" Shinji waved with his hand as Solomon clenched his fist while his rings were glowing, except the cracked one.
Leo, as Beast VI, saw through Solomon's ritual essence and plan directly, which made him don't care about any plan and attack him directly.
Sins are humanity's flaws, which bring the worst in it, but at the same time, it's something that made them evolve and grow. Leo represents these sins as Beast VI, which can attribute to the Evil of humanity, but funny enough, and even if it was ridiculous, it also means freedom.
Sins made the humans have their thoughts, desires, goals, even life, and a soul. Every human is different from the other because of that. Taking those away from them will make them literally 'Inhuman'.
The best example of that is the man standing in front of Shinji, Solomon. He doesn't have free will because he follows divine guidance like a puppet, and now, he plans to make the whole humanity like him.
At that time, Leo snapped immediately as Beast VI because of that. His thoughts were 'Who the hell do you think yourself?! God?! Even if it's a curse, but it's also a freedom given by God!!'.
For something that was allowed to exist by God, something that represents Beast VI, yet Solomon, wants to deny it. This triggered Beast VI beyond the limits of rage.
Shinji can understand that the battle of yesterday wasn't for any gain, but it was a battle between Order and Chaos, or rather say, restrain and freedom.
"Tsk, tsk, you didn't only step on a landmine, but on the whole field!" Shinji shook his head as Solomon raised his head and looked at him again.
"Not to mention what you did when you were Romani Archman" Shinji said as Solomon clenched his fist.
"The cause of burning humanity, that's what happened" Shinji said with a grin before he heard a cold voice that made him widen his eyes.
"Shut up…" Solomon said those words in an icy voice that sent chills towards Shinji's spine.
For the first time from his summoning, Solomon showed a clear emotion, and it was anger. Shinji looked up to see eyes filled with anger and burning mana that was sending a scorching smell in the surrounding.
"Baal" Solomon said with the same cold voice before his temple trembled.
In the temple, a yellow Demon God manifested before he opened his eyes and looked to the sky.
Clouds, dark clouds filled the sky instantly as thunder and lightning were flashing above. In a few seconds, all the area in this reality marble was covered in thunder clouds, flashing with golden lightning.
Shinji didn't hesitate for a second before he raised his arm and controlled the flow of time and space to block the attack. At that moment, the judgment from heaven fell.
The lightning fell from the sky as it dyed the whole reality marble in a golden color.