Nobody knows how to be a villain better than me.

"betray?"

Fujimaru Tachibana gently shook her head, her amber eyes radiating a depth beyond her years.

"No, we're just making the right choice, giving this doomed planet a glimmer of hope..."

Seeing the suspicious and wary looks on everyone's faces, Fujimaru Tachibana patted the alien god on the shoulder and spoke to him.

"It seems that reasoning with them won't work. According to the old rules, let them see that future before making a decision."

The alien god nodded subconsciously, opened his arms, and pushed the ball of light containing the galaxy into the void.

Clearly, she had completely forgotten about being fooled before.

"Buzz!"

At this moment, the halo exploded, scattering points of light across the entire area, creating ripples that spread throughout the void.

Suddenly, Samael and Mashu, who had looked up, felt a momentary dizziness, and in their eyes as they gazed at the starry sky, they saw a lifeless, grayish-white planet reflected in their eyes.

This is a dying star, in a world where life cannot survive.

The world's great source has long been polluted and depleted. Most of the continent is a cracked wasteland, the sky is covered with gray and turbid clouds, and the sea is filled with writhing chunks of flesh and various deformed limbs.

Food cannot be grown on the ground, and the atmosphere is no longer as suitable for animals to live in as it used to be.

Everything is dying.

Not just planets.

The whole world has come to an end.

Even the most tenacious survivors, who made it to the end and tried to escape this dead planet in search of a new home, found their struggles futile.

Because above the void, the remains of countless gods, the corpses of fairies, the bones of humans, and fragments of various flying machines are scattered everywhere...

Everything they left behind accumulated near the planet's orbit, forming a thick, hazy planetary ring in the sky.

The scene was like hell!

This is the death of the planet, and also the end of human reason.

——【Steel Land, Elegy for the Stars】.

They actually saw this result too!

As his thoughts returned, Samael's eyes filled with gloom; the problem he had been resisting facing was once again laid out before him.

If this is merely a prediction by Alaya and Gaia, it can be explained as a coincidence.

So, what about adding this god from another planet?

"Will humanity really be destroyed?"

Mashu, standing to the side, was equally struggling to process such a massive amount of information and such a cruel outcome. With bewildered eyes, she stared blankly at the person opposite her, seemingly yearning for and seeking an answer.

Fujimaru Tachibana sighed, looked up at the vast starry sky that appeared in the void, and murmured to himself.

“Mash, do you know? I was among the first to participate in the Chaldea Spirit Particle Transfer Experiment. Due to a mistake during one of the experiments, my consciousness was transferred to ten thousand years ago (Chapter 22 of Part 02 of ‘Understanding FGO Through Manga’). But in the end, I managed to reach the era before the transfer and rediscover myself…”

Samael's pupils contracted slightly upon hearing Fujimaru Tachibana's account.

This means that the experimenter persisted from ten thousand years ago to the era before the transfer, which means that the experimenter, in the form of a consciousness, wandered alone for ten thousand years!

Untouchable, uninterrupted, without fatigue, and without the concept of death, one can only passively watch, passively experience, and wait for time to slip away bit by bit.

This would be equivalent to an inescapable hell for any human being, or even any god.

Often, such consciousness will disintegrate and vanish into nothingness over time.

But the fact that Fujimaru Tachibana was standing alive and well in front of them, without going insane, proved that this woman had truly survived ten thousand years of time travel!

This is simply incredible resilience and an unbelievable miracle.

At this moment, Samael finally understood why Fujimaru Tachibana's tone and gaze carried an indescribable sense of vicissitude.

Ten thousand years is enough time to change every aspect of a person.

Of course, this also includes that original ideal.

Fujimaru Tachibana paused, the lingering feelings and emotions in her eyes fading somewhat, then she looked down at her hands, her eyes filled with感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a complex emotion encompassing both admiration and reflection).

"Over these ten thousand years, I have gradually come to understand a truth:"

Every day when I open my eyes, I can see the bright sun, breathe fresh air, smell the pleasant fragrance of flowers, feel my heart beating in my chest, and know that I am still alive...

These seemingly ordinary things are such a stroke of luck.

Humans are like this, and so is this planet…

The girl raised her right hand, her amber eyes peering through her fingers at the vast universe.

"Throughout these 46 billion years, Earth has constantly faced deadly threats from the universe, from asteroid impacts to gamma-ray bursts, from mass extinction events to supernova explosions. Each threat has made Earth appear small and fragile. The reason humanity has survived to this day is because Earth has been fortunate enough not to fall into endless darkness, and we are fortunate enough to still exist, continuing to pursue the unknown mysteries of the universe..."

Hearing that low, resentful sigh, Samael pursed his lips, feeling a sense of empathy.

The three storms of Mesopotamia, the celestial vanguards that landed in Atlantis, the predatory celestials that appeared in Persia, the giant spider lurking in the Crystal Selenium Valley, Cthulhu rising from the deep sea...

From its very beginning, this planet has faced the constant danger of collapse.

While I have won time and time again, there is an element of luck involved.

However, Fujimaru Tachibana then changed the subject and spoke softly.

"But since it is good fortune, it will inevitably have an unfortunate day sooner or later."

After all, chaos is the eternal essence of this universe, while prosperity is merely a fleeting moment.

You should have realized this long ago…

With such a simple and easy-to-understand explanation, even Mash could understand the meaning.

Samael, who had personally experienced various crises in the past, felt this even more deeply.

Just like back then, at the small stall, the former Roman regent and the legionary centurion savored focaccia bread while lamenting the great empire that had vanished with the wind and sand.

There are no dynasties that last forever, nor are there any glories that are absolutely immortal.

It now seems that this planet's good fortune is also running out.

Ascending to heaven in Kunlun, disappearing into the spirit mountain...

The frequent appearance of [beasts], the ever-rising [Great Old Ones]...

The fallen [Root of Imagination], from the [Alien God] of the void...

All of this proves this point.

The series of unexpected events made Samael feel increasingly overwhelmed.

Seemingly noticing the lingering wariness on Mash and Samael's faces, the alien god crossed his arms and arrogantly snorted mockingly.

"You intellectuals are wasting too many resources and developing blindly; it's really foolish."

This planet, too, forcibly nurtured so much life, its power scattered to this extent. Instead of thinking about how to hide itself, it actually actively exposed its location!

Hmph, let me tell you the truth, to the entire universe, you have become a piece of fat meat, and it won't be long before you are torn apart by the wolves that swarm up from the darkness.

Only when the tree of imagination grows and spreads its branches can its remaining shade possibly shelter this planet, concealing it and preventing that future.

However, if the Imaginary Tree is to have soil to take root and grow, the entire earth must be bleached.

You've been living comfortably for so long, it's time to end that good fortune...

Mashu looked thoughtfully at Olga Marie across from her, seemingly understanding but not quite.

"Chief, are you saying you did all this just to save us?"

"Who wants to save you idiots!"

The alien god seemed insulted, and coldly snorted and shook his head.

"Get this straight, I only came here because I heard the mournful cries of this planet!"

"Well, yes, yes!"

Fujimaru Tachibana, standing to the side, crossed her arms and nodded repeatedly in agreement with an air of seriousness.

A planet's lament? A thunderbolt struck Samael's mind, and a set of key points emerged from the fog of his thoughts.

The War of the Covenant, the Voice of the Protoss!

A thousand years ago, the main body of the predatory planet Wilpa descended. Gaia, the planet's inhibitory force, sensed that it was no match for it, so it sent out a mournful cry to the vast universe in advance to ask for help.

The giant spider, Oort, who possesses the ability to time travel, landed in South America 6600 million years ago.

Secondly, there is Yog-Sothoth, the One who brought all things together, who appeared in Dunwich, England during the witch hunts, and Cthulhu, the Lord of R'lyeh, who appeared in the Hundred Years' War beneath Bluebeard's Castle in France.

Then there's Arcueid, the Moon Princess of the Millennium City; Sabu Nicholas, the Black Goat of the Forest, the Mother of Life and Heresy; and Cthulhu, the Eternal Living Fire of Fomalhaut…

Finally, add Nyarlathotep, the "Crawling Chaos," and U-Olgamari, the "Alien God"...

It turns out that the seeds of this disaster were sown a thousand years ago.

In order to fight against Wilpa's predation, Gaia spared no effort in sending out distress signals, hoping to summon UOs from other planets to help in the battle.

The only giant spider, Ort, who used time warp to arrive early, was later awakened during the Covenant War and became the vanguard against Wilpa, playing a crucial role in the battle and ultimately leading to the perfect conclusion of the Covenant War.

Although Gaia won temporarily, its self-exposure was tantamount to deliberately standing in the spotlight in the dark forest of the universe, which would constantly attract the attention and descent of life forms from outside the domain.

The subsequent effects continue to this day.

Now, thanks to Gaia's cry for help, the entire Earth and even the solar system are no longer hidden or safe.

If things continue like this, perhaps sooner or later, Earth will be slapped into dust by some extraterrestrial life form that will descend into the void, leading to its annihilation.

As discussed in the Dark Forest Theory:

A hunter in a dark forest... suddenly sees... a location in the forest marked with words that all hunters can recognize... Suppose there are a million hunters in the forest (the number of civilizations existing among the hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way is likely hundreds of times greater), perhaps 900,000 will ignore this mark; among the remaining 100,000 hunters, perhaps 90,000 will probe that location, confirm that there is no life there, and then ignore it as well; then among the last 10,000 hunters, surely someone will make this choice: fire a shot at that location, because for a civilization that has advanced to a certain level of technology, attacking may be less effort and safer than probing, and if there really is nothing there, they will suffer no loss.

Whether it's an Undead from another planet, another civilization, or an ancient god in the vast universe...

These could all be hunters hiding in the darkness, waiting to hunt and seek prey.

Because of Gaia's outburst, they became the target of everyone's anger. This planet, which had attracted countless eyes, had become an amusement park that anyone could visit, with Damocles' swords hanging over their heads, ready to fall at any moment.

Even after years of painstaking efforts as a guardian on Earth, Samael was not confident that he could withstand repeated attacks from beyond the realm.

Earth is still too small and young compared to the entire universe.

No wonder the monks and nuns of Mount Ling ran away, no wonder the celestial beings of Kunlun ran even faster...

After all that, this place has become a heavily marked bombing zone.

Samael realized the root of all the problems and the culprit behind all the troubles. Filled with resentment, his face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

To resolve Wilpa's situation, the fate of Earth, and even the entire solar system, was at stake.

What a terrible idea!

It's like killing a thousand enemies while losing eight hundred of your own—no, it's like losing three thousand of your own!

Gaia, that idiot!

Chapter 53 The Enemy at Chaldea

After silently grumbling to himself for a while, Samael shook his head to dispel the distracting thoughts.

Now that things have come to this, there's no way he can drag Gaia out and beat him up on the spot.

The matter of remediation can only be discussed at a later time.

Let's deal with the current troubles as they come.

At this moment, the alien god's patience gradually wore thin. He arrogantly raised his chin, his black eyes gleaming with a cold light, and looked down at Samael and Mash in front of him.

“Master of Chaldea, as a courtesy that you were able to arrive here alone, I have given you enough time to think.”

Now, pledge your loyalty to me and become my apostle!

"To offer my loyalty to you?"

Samael shook his head and smiled, then quietly looked up at the alien god, his gaze penetrating and profound.

"Then what?