"Failed. Failed again. It actually failed again. Other than giving me a bit more power, it was completely useless. And this so-called divinity is utterly useless to me." Meruem frowned as he looked at his hands. Just now he had devoured the souls of Apsu and Mars, yet regrettably it provided no help whatsoever toward comprehending the Ninth Sense.
Other than increasing his power a little. And the War God divinity of Mars and the Dark God divinity of Apsu—two things that would seem priceless to outsiders—were casually tossed to his subordinates by Meruem.
"How do I reach the Ninth Sense?" Meruem had a faint premonition. Right now, in terms of power, he surpassed the gods of heaven and could even rival Kairos, the brother of the Creator God who stood above the entirety of Saint Seiya.
But in terms of realm, if he still hadn't reached the Ninth Sense and truly fought that being, the outcome would likely be fifty-fifty, and he might even end up at a disadvantage.
So whether he could reach the Ninth Sense was, in Meruem's view, a matter of critical importance.
He could do without divinity—that kind of thing was just icing on the cake to him; he could do without divine power—his "Source" was a tier higher in quality than Cosmo; he could do without God Cloth, because he had the Fiend Armor. But he had to reach the Ninth Sense.
"Host." Just as Meruem was worrying in silence, the System, which had not appeared for a very, very long time, spoke again.
But Meruem ignored it. Can't you see I'm annoyed right now? Read the room.
"Host." Clearly, the System didn't understand such things. Even when Meruem ignored it, it kept insisting.
"What is it?" Meruem replied helplessly.
"The Ninth Sense… maybe I have a way."
"?! What?!"
"Yes. Earlier, I discovered a marvelous world. In all other worlds, Gaia's consciousness of the earth and Alaya, the collective consciousness of humanity, are hostile to each other. But only in that world can the two consciousnesses coexist peacefully. That world is also a junction point connecting many different branch worlds. If the host wants to reach the Ninth Sense, going to that world might help."
"Why does that sound kind of familiar?" Meruem unconsciously rubbed his chin. "But I'm not done with this world yet. Can I go to that world?"
"You can. As long as the host's consciousness—or you could call it the soul—goes there. However, the host must consider one thing carefully: if only your consciousness goes, your power will be suppressed to an extremely low level. The specific level of power will depend on the mana provided by a mage of that world after you are summoned as a Heroic Spirit. The stronger the mana, the more power the host can display."
"Wait… that sounds like… FATE?" Hearing the System's words, Meruem suddenly thought of something. "But that world has nothing to do with the Ninth Sense, does it?"
"I'm sorry, host. I cannot answer that question. But according to calculations, if you can obtain final victory in something called the Holy Grail War, you will have a high probability of reaching the Ninth Sense."
"Hm. Then what about this world? If I go to that world, will time in this world be frozen?"
"I'm sorry, host. It will not. So the host must consider carefully."
"Within the next year or two, there shouldn't be anything major. Hades's Underworld Army isn't worth worrying about. The gods of heaven are being harassed by the Chimera monster army. Ninth Sense, Ninth Sense—let's do it."
"System, I want to go to that world!" After settling everything in the Saint Seiya world, Meruem said.
"Reminder again, host: in that world, the host's power will likely only be able to exert a fraction of your true strength. And once you die, you truly die."
"No matter. Even though the TYPE-MOON world is indeed a large world, if we're only talking about self-preservation, I still have some confidence."
"Understood, host. I will arrange it now, as you wish."
"Damn it, damn it, why… every time I can't stop this… from happening! Damn it!" In a pitch-black basement, only the dim candlelight from a candle set beside the table barely illuminated the surroundings. Faintly visible was a child of about seven or eight, furiously gripping a book like an old grimoire in his hand. From gripping too hard, his fingertips had turned pale. The child muttered words completely mismatched to his age. "Why? Even though every time I start from the beginning, why is it still… why, even though I know that damned old thing is going to do something so insane, why is it still… Could it be that without talent as a mage, I can only be as powerless as trash, watching history repeat itself over and over again?"
Drip, drip… Tears slid down the child's cheeks and clearly splashed onto the floor. An expression appeared on the child's face that even an adult could hardly imagine—numbness and despair.
"I just want to save Sakura… even if it's only once."
The child cried soundlessly. If it weren't for his shoulders trembling from time to time, an onlooker might even think he'd lost consciousness.
"I used to be a bastard—no, maybe I still am. But even someone like me wants to protect her smile."
"But I still failed. Me, without magic circuits… every time I can only flee like a defeated dog, wretched and pathetic. I don't want that. I really don't want that."
Where the child stood, you could faintly see that there seemed to be a strange pattern.
This pattern was called a magic circle. If a well-read mage were standing here, they could even recognize this magic circle as the Heroic Spirit summoning circle for the Holy Grail War, said to be held once every sixty years in a place called Fuyuki City. So long as the caster is a magus, at the moment the Holy Grail is about to open, they can use this circle to summon a Heroic Spirit—on the condition that the caster must have aptitude for magecraft.
Unfortunately, the child before them was not among those people.
"Why is it that even an ordinary man like Ryuunosuke Uryuu can summon Caster! Yet I, the direct eldest son of Makiri (Matou), can't find a way—after reading through all the Makiri family's ancient texts, I still can't cast even a single spell! I won't accept it! I won't accept it! There's no time! That old bastard is going to do something to Sakura tonight…"
The child slammed his body into a nearby bookshelf full of magecraft tomes. Those ancient texts—coveted even at the Clock Tower if they were placed outside—were no different from wastepaper in the child's eyes.
Thud. A strange-material ancient book fell in front of the child. The cover was wrinkled, but to the touch it felt unusually smooth.
That feeling was like human skin.
"Taboo of Flesh?" The child stared blankly at the large words on the cover.
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