Don't use Type-Moon references in Oregairu!

Artoria also assisted him with the blessing of the Wind King, while slowing their descent from the sky.

There was lava beneath our feet; there was nowhere to put our feet.

Shiyu gritted her teeth, a look of resentment on her face, and sighed repeatedly, "I didn't expect that after preparing the ritual to this point, it would still have to be used here first... Oh well. [Takamagaru Throne]! With the power of eight million gods, I bestow upon you a divine name, Yatagarasu no Mikoto! Come forth! Shikigami: Water Bear!"

A strange spirit with no eyes, no nose, no ears, and only a suction cup-shaped opening appeared at Shi Yu's call. It caught the six people with its plump white body, supported them with golden light, and then swam freely in the lava on its eight legs.

"To survive even in the purgatory of creation, you children of man, you are truly tenacious. The sight of you struggling pleases me."

227, Astronomical Secrets

A sea of ​​magma covers the plains; the Earth of primordial times, manifested in this very moment by the enemy Gaia through the planet's memories.

As the saying goes: There is no peace in the three realms, like a burning house, filled with all kinds of suffering, which is very frightening. There is always the worry of birth, old age, sickness and death. Such fire burns and never goes out.

The current situation is even more terrifying than the burning house of the three realms that Buddhism fears.

It is a place of extinction where all life can hardly survive, but it is also the origin of all life and the world we see today.

The ocean, with its temperature exceeding a thousand degrees Celsius, constantly emits toxic fumes. Even the Chaldea team, whose life forms have begun to emerge to some extent, can only be plunged into a doomed future at this moment.

But they still survive.

Kasumigaoka Utaha's ability [Takaten no Kaza] was derived from the ritual performed by most of the Shinto forces in Japan, which involved purifying and weakening the Sea of ​​Souls in Aokigahara.

With her elegant demeanor, she was regarded as a representative of the gods of Takamagahara. Thus, based on this belief, she combined the Yin-Yang arts that she had never fully explored and understood, and sublimated into a special ability.

That enhanced the abilities at the Yin-Yang level, and even touched upon the true mysteries possessed by Abe no Seimei, who in the Type-Moon world might have access to the Grand Ritual of Immortal Arts.

First, the summoned illusory image of Takamagahara can continuously accumulate magical power to drive various powerful rituals. In addition, it grants her two unique uses from her knowledge of Onmyoji arts:

Firstly, she has gained a preliminary understanding of the sacrificial rituals of gods and Buddhas such as the Lord of Mount Tai, which allows her to transform living beings who are not suitable to become shikigami into powerful spirits through the life-and-death process, and to borrow some of the power of the gods.

Secondly, it greatly enhances astronomical incantations, enabling the use of the heliocentric worldview hidden beneath the Takamagahara pantheon to drive the stars to perform grand rituals.

Therefore, since entering, she has been silently accumulating magic power. However, due to Gaia's terrifying ability to almost restore a small part of the world to its original state, she had no choice but to temporarily summon a shikigami from her preparations and give it the name of a god.

Her outstanding performance even prompted Gaia to exclaim in admiration: "Indeed, life always finds a way... Such a weak and frail creature was able to survive in such a harsh environment. By using the enhanced water bear as a shikigami and relying on it, combined with the power of Yatagarasu as the sun god's messenger, you actually managed to survive."

"But how long can you hold out?" she sneered.

She's right.

Tardigrades are ultimately too weak. Compared to the individual, they are terrifyingly powerful, but compared to a real calamity, they are just tiny individuals.

Although they collected a lot of spirits and tiny creatures to prepare as shikigami, in this situation, the tiny creatures like tardigrades were the only solution, but not entirely correct.

Maybe in three minutes, maybe in five minutes, they will be completely destroyed.

"Shouldn't I be saying that to you?" Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at Gaia, shaking her head and sighing at her naivety. "She didn't say a word, almost depleting her mana, and now she can only rely on lines to buy time to recover... Utaha!"

Kasumigaoka Utaha cast aside all thoughts, her mind entering a state of clear blankness, her hands already forming hand seals in sequence.

Although a lot of reserves were used up, a safe platform was temporarily formed.

But this is precisely the right time.

"The Azure Dragon wards off ten thousand soldiers, the White Tiger wards off misfortune, the Vermilion Bird wards off gossip, the Black Tortoise wards off ten thousand ghosts; the Four Symbols protect, the Twenty-Eight Mansions stand before! The Big Dipper's Three Platforms, the Five Planets of Astronomy! The celestial stars return to their positions!" (*Note)

The phantom of Takamagahara that appeared behind Kasumigaoka Utaha began to radiate infinite brilliance, just like the sun.

At this moment, the illusory stars, disturbed by gravity, seem to have finally found the center of the universe, no longer resembling a chaotic and disordered array of lines, and are beginning to return to their proper places.

An overwhelming sense of absurdity welled up in Gaia's mind.

As a half-spirit of a star soul, she is not actually in a complete state right now.

When she traveled from Chaldea, she had already begun the work of shaping the Throne of All Things, and she hasn't stopped even now—nor can she stop.

If one wants to use the Seat of All Things to control all things, then all things must be able to be attributed to the Seat in order to infinitely approach the truth.

Now, the dazzling array of illusory stars is being shaken by her.

The little girl in front of us, on the contrary, is able to use the grand ceremony that drives the stars to their rightful places to take advantage of the nascent throne of all things.

She only felt that the little bit of magic she had managed to recover was being drained away again.

Did I hit myself?

Gaia was stunned for a moment, and due to her lack of experience, she made a huge mistake at that moment.

Even Fujimaru Ritsuka and his group, who were on high alert, wore expressions of bewilderment and the glee of a fox successfully stealing a chicken.

The illusory stars in the sky returned to their correct positions, and compared to before, they appeared even more realistic, arrayed together. The Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise revealed their forms composed of starlight, guarding the Three Huan in the center.

The shifting gravity tore apart the toxic gas composed of mist and poisonous gas, and the cold starlight radiation from the zero-degree void descended, rapidly cooling the magma ocean at thousands of degrees.

Everything was accomplished almost instantly, in a blur.

But this is not the final result.

From the moment they stepped into this deepest space, they posed no threat to Gaia, constantly reacting to its moves.

Ultimately, it comes down to the difference in scale. The one before us possesses power akin to that of a god, terrifying magic, and devastating attacks that are difficult to withstand.

If Yukino hadn't performed exceptionally well, mitigating the initial attack, they would have had to expend even more energy to deal with that persistent beam of spiritual light.

If it weren't for the White Knight's invincible strike from the past, they would have fallen to the [Star's End], which possessed the power to kill any creature on the planet.

If Artoria hadn't temporarily abandoned her Holy Lance and, with the power of Yui Yuigahama's blessing, had expended all her magic to deliver a self-sacrificing blow, their journey might have ended with the [Primordial Earth-Moon Collision], a force powerful enough to seal the void and disrupt the stars.

Even now, with the opponent having expended a great deal of magic power, there is still no absolute certainty.

Then, let me, Kasumigaoka Utaha, create opportunities for everyone.

"The Nine Stars of the Big Dipper: Azure Dragon on the left, White Tiger on the right, Vermilion Bird in front, and Black Tortoise behind. Astronomical Secret Instruments: The Four Symbols, the Big Dipper, and the Great Art of Celestial Star Movement!"

The stars twinkled, and even in the vast ocean of consciousness, which is not as deep as the ultimate realm, blessings seemed to be conveyed through their light. Songs from all beings resounded, like millions singing together, like millions sighing, like millions celebrating.

Gaia felt an immense pressure on her back, with tearing forces from all directions acting on every part of her body. Her floating height unconsciously sank lower, and her back bent.

Starlight descended, falling upon all of Chaldea, and inscribing the secret seal of star protection onto the spiritual weapons belonging to the various Heroic Spirits on their bodies.

The shikigami water bear finally couldn't hold on any longer and shattered at that moment. But no one felt any discomfort.

Even though the cold starlight from the cosmos was still radiating, and the waves and chill that could extinguish all life were spreading unchecked, they felt as if they were basking in sunlight.

It was as if the light of a planet from beyond this world, in a time and space almost entirely different from their own, had coalesced into their current bodies.

With every breath, magic is continuously generated; with every thought, explosive power flows from the limbs.

They could even clearly feel that the starlight above the earth had pierced through the barriers of space and time, conveying the blessings of all sentient beings who were still struggling to survive.

"It's time for the second round, enemy Gaia!"

Gaia straightened up and looked at the spirited group. She also saw the pale-faced female primate who, despite being blessed by the stars, fell backward, yet had a smile on her face.

"Hmph... Ha, hahaha~~~ Really, this is too absurd, is it really me?"

In order to obtain the laws of the present world to shape the Throne of All Things, and at the same time to dominate the present world with the power of the Throne of All Things, she told herself the toy she chose in her sleepwalking how to open the void and reach the deepest part while she was still unconscious.

Therefore, she must now swallow the bitter pill of the power of the stars and humanity being transmitted through the connection between the two realms.

"The workings of fate are quite fascinating, aren't they? So, sons of man, what are you capable of? Can you defeat me in a complete and utter battle?"

Without further ado, the moment their eyes met, a battle powerful enough to tear the earth apart and cleave the sky began.

In that instant, a vast wave of magical power surged up from Gaia once again. Although it was not as powerful as it had been before, enough to shake the heavens and the earth, it was even more terrifying.

Because she concentrated all her magic power on her body surface, adding a viscous, liquid-like aura to herself.

Even though most of my mind was focused on shaping the Throne of All Things, and the power of the stars suppressed the natural products here, my enemy Gaia was still invincible in the world!

With a casual downward reach, the claws covered all directions, leaving heavy, irresistible blood-red claw marks that ripped through a distance of more than ten meters, fiercely grabbing the six-person Chaldea squad.

The claw marks, formed entirely from the accumulation of magic power within the body, underwent a qualitative change due to quantitative change, leaving a heavy mark on the curtain of space. If it were an ordinary spatial transfer, it would be completely sealed off.

In reality, this attack would have created a small river, and was almost guaranteed to hit. However, it was easily dodged. It only managed to cut through the cooled pumice and draw out the still-fluctuating magma below, leaving behind a riverbed several meters long without any other achievement.

Abigail, along with Artoria and the exhausted Utaha Kasumigaoka, appeared in the distance.

The starlight that filled all directions was the perfect medium. Even though space was completely sealed off, Abigail was still able to use her spatial teleportation ability smoothly with the support of the starlight.

Only three people?

Without thinking twice, following the instructions of instinct, Gaia did not retract her downward-attacking right hand. Instead, she rotated her waist and used her left hand to block the sword and blade thrusting from her blind spot.

"Even your greetings are so powerful and imposing, you're truly something else!"

Fujimaru Ritsuka and Yukino's sneak attack failed, but they didn't seem to care.

With the blessing of the astronomical instrument, Abigail is now able to teleport to multiple locations simultaneously.

In the air, where there was no foothold, Fujimaru Ritsuka and Yukino Yukinoshita stepped on starlight and attacked in perfect unison. The whirlwind of flesh formed by Tomokari Muramasa and Kentari slashed indiscriminately at every part of Gaia's body.

(There's another one...where is it?!)

The magic power that began to recover gathered in her hands and feet, and even when the two attacked in perfect unison, they were still unable to break through her relentless attacks.

The hands and feet, which appeared to be entirely flesh, clashed with the sword feet, which were sharper than any other sword, and with the Muramasa Tōmō-kariya, which could cut through iron like paper, producing the sound of steel clashing.

The burst of magical energy created turbulence due to the immense wind pressure. Even tens of meters in the air, the surging vacuum blades still managed to cut shocking cracks into the hard obsidian and igneous rock on the ground.

"Exhilarating! Exhilarating! Look, this is beauty! This is power! This is the joy of chaotic collisions!" Enemy Gaia revealed a bloodthirsty look, narrowing its eyes in utter enjoyment.

It really is a monster.

Although Fujimaru Ritsuka's face remained expressionless, focused solely on the next attack, a bitter smile crept into her heart.

He realized at the moment of the attack that if he put his current power on the ground, a single strike from the full-powered demon would be enough to flatten a small mountain.

However, the magic power that the starlight continuously replenishes can no longer keep up with the rate of consumption. If the consumption of magic power is abandoned, it may fall into a disadvantageous position in the battle, or even be exploited.

Can they seize this opportunity to win?

Silently, a strike formed from starlight arrived before Fujimaru Ritsuka just as Gaia briefly forced her back with a downward slash.

At this moment, the sound of barriers shattering came from the air several times in succession—it was an attack thrown by Artoria, who had not had time to retrieve the Holy Lance and was using only the power of starlight.

At this moment, Muramasa Tōmō-kariya and Kentari, who had been forced back, attacked from both sides like persistent ghosts, as if forcing her to choose between a shattered head or a ripped-open chest and back.

In the midst of the bloody battle, Gaia had no time to think. The magical aura covering her body surged up the instant her thoughts shifted, and a violent magical storm erupted instantly.

The immense power instantly repelled Fujimaru Ritsuka and Yukino Yukinoshita, who were attacking from both sides. The Starlight Spear was also shattered in the multi-layered spiral of magical storm. In the end, only a few fragments remained, but the prepared enemy Gaia turned his head to avoid them, cutting off only a few strands of hair.

However, the inexperienced Gaia still paid the price for her repeated use of powerful weapons.