"The President usually remains in the President's office. For certain reasons, she's not very inclined to move around."
After leading Shiomi and the others through the main entrance and into a vast lobby that resembled a Roman colosseum, PB offered its explanation.
"However, you are distinguished guests personally designated by the President. She has stated she will receive you here in the lobby. This is the central area of the NFF Headquarters lobby. The President will meet with you shortly. Please wait here for a moment. We sincerely hope that your discussion with the President will make the world's future brighter. Of course, I hold no personal opinions. With that, PB takes its leave."
With those words, PB vanished.
Only Shiomi and his group remained in the grand hall.
The windows arranged like spectator seats around an arena showed no gaze and no killing intent. The entire building felt as though it were simply closed for a holiday.
"A meeting, huh…" Shiomi folded his arms. "Do you think PB was speaking its own will, or Koyanskaya's?"
"Is that even a question?" Morgan replied. "This is the interior of Koyanskaya's Reality Marble. She can create whatever kin she pleases. A subordinate like that, dutifully playing its role, is hardly difficult to produce. Even its will would be something she shaped."
One hand on her hip, Morgan casually surveyed the structure of the hall.
Scáthach was observing as well, though her thoughts were elsewhere.
"Tunguska… I remember before we set out, Storm Border compiled the coordinates for this location."
"Yes," Artoria said, recalling the materials she had reviewed before departure. "About a hundred years ago, in 1908, there was an enormous explosion here of unknown cause. Nearly two thousand square kilometers of land were destroyed. Judging from the general position, this should be the very center of that blast, shouldn't it?"
Shiomi nodded.
"Taking that explosion from a century ago into account, it becomes rather interesting why Koyanskaya chose to manifest her Reality Marble here."
"Tenkei-dono's guess is correct," Taigong Wang said with a quiet smile. "It seems that by connecting with the Leylines here, you obtained information that would normally be difficult to access.
"After all, a Reality Marble is the materialization of one's inner landscape. It inevitably reveals the heart of its owner."
Shiomi nodded.
Iskandar's and Nameless's Reality Marbles were self-evidently the crystallization of their respective journeys as Heroic Spirits.
The Temple of Time, though a special space created from the corpse of the King of Magecraft, likewise reflected Goetia's arrogant judgment of human history and his pity toward humanity's fate at that time.
And Shiomi himself was no different.
Although his Reality Marble had evolved from something imitative into something genuine, its decisive core lay in the tragedy of Orkney.
As someone who had personally experienced it, who had taken Morgan's pain as his own and endured it all, the Reality Marble he obtained was an ice crystal forged from that very anguish.
"That's exactly why I hate enemies with no sense of boundaries," Koyanskaya's voice suddenly echoed through the hall. "It's like barging in on a woman in the bath and staring her up and down. I've never met a man more devoid of tact than you."
The moment her voice sounded, everyone immediately became alert and took up their stances.
Once again, Koyanskaya emerged as though she were truly stepping out to greet honored guests, parting the shadows at the doorway leading deeper into the building as she walked gracefully into view.
"How many times has this been?" Shiomi ignored Koyanskaya's complaint and looked at her coldly. "Not counting that attempt to snipe me in Britannia, this makes the fourth time you've shown up in front of me. You really do underestimate people. So, how do you want to die?"
"Starting with killing right away? Did you forget my kin said I wanted to talk?" Koyanskaya looked almost aggrieved.
"Talk?" Shiomi let out a short laugh. "This is the first time I've seen a Beast ask for a conversation. What, is the great arms dealer secretly a pacifist?"
"Precisely because I deal in arms, I understand how to weigh the gap between enemy and ally," Koyanskaya sighed. "Right now, the difference in combat power between us is as obvious as a balance sheet. I have no intention of dying from an internal collapse."
Shiomi glanced at Taigong Wang, but the latter only smiled quietly and said nothing.
It was as if this were Chaldea's stage, and everything should be decided by Chaldea alone.
A subtle realization dawned on Shiomi.
Taigong Wang's true task this time was not merely to subdue a Beast.
He was here as a witness. Or perhaps more accurately, as an arbiter.
Not in terms of Class, but as someone who had received Nuwa's decree to observe how Shiomi would handle Beast Koyanskaya.
"Besides, none of you here are human," Koyanskaya added. "There's no need for me to be so hostile."
"You really do hate humans," Scáthach said.
"Yes. I hate humans. Quite a lot. But I won't deny their value. Whatever they are inside, if what they accomplish is good, I'll offer the corresponding respect. PB is a kin created for that very purpose. Since you're capable of standing on equal footing with it, I should thank you."
She smiled faintly.
Morgan stepped forward.
"We may not be human, and I have no intention of speaking on humanity's behalf. But since my husband insists on standing as a human, I will stand with him."
"Yes, yes. Spare me the display of marital devotion. I already watched your grand drama in the Fairy Kingdom," Koyanskaya said flatly, like someone commenting on a film she had grown tired of. "Still, for a fairy to fall in love with a human… that truly is unprecedented."
"Precisely because humans understand what love is, and know how indispensable it is, that is one of their virtues," Scáthach said. "Love is like a flame. It can ignite ancient ashes or set even stagnant waters ablaze."
"Knowing how to love and be loved is indeed one of humanity's few virtues," Koyanskaya replied. "But those few virtues are not enough to conceal humanity's nature as primates. Monkeys who shifted from the cycle within their own survival sphere to a cycle of consumption… No, calling them monkeys would be an insult to monkeys."
"You were once a god among humans. Don't you think that to the other life on this planet, humanity is practically an alien species?"
"My mother once held similar thoughts," Shiomi said, spreading his hands. "But she chose to believe in humanity and watch over them. What about you, Koyanskaya?"
"You're asking something you already know," Koyanskaya replied. "You've delved deep enough into my inner world. You probably understand me better than I do myself. Do you still not know why I exist?"
Faced with Shiomi's pointed question, Koyanskaya smiled, her expression carrying a faint, teasing allure as she spoke words that were easy to misunderstand.