While sensing the power of faith, Alaric discovered a tremendous secret.
That secret was the birth of Alaya.
In the Type-Moon world, the emergence of Alaya is closely tied to the end of the Age of Gods.
It could be said that the departure of the gods left humanity's fate in its own hands, and thus, Alaya came into being.
As a suppressive force, Alaya is essentially the collective unconscious of humankind, the manifestation of humanity's will to survive and avoid extinction.
However, when humans had entrusted their fate to the gods, Alaya was extremely weak.
After all, when all of humanity is manipulated by divine hands, is human survival even something that requires human effort?
Even so, the collective unconscious does not cease to exist simply because humanity's fate rests in divine hands.
In fact, one could argue that Alaya came into existence roughly at the moment humans emerged as the supreme beings among all creatures.
In the world of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, there exists a place called the C World, also known as the Sea of Consciousness, a spatial manifestation of human minds and memories.
The powers known as Code and Geass operate by manipulating this C World, altering the hearts of others.
In that world, the ultimate goal of the final boss, Lelouch's father, Charles zi Britannia of the Holy Britannian Empire, through the Order was to use the divine artifact.
The Sword of Akasha, to slay the gods and fundamentally reshape humanity, eradicating lies and enabling mutual understanding among all people.
That so-called "god," in essence, was Alaya.
So where does the conflict between the gods and Alaya originate? Why can the gods suppress Alaya?
And why, in the Type-Moon world, is Alaya able to wield the power to determine the world's fate, much like Gaia?
After studying the power of faith, Alaric arrived at the answer.
The answer was inherent in the nature of the power itself.
It had been mentioned earlier that the materialization of the soul stems from its perpetual motion, and the perpetual motion of the soul originates from endless thought.
Thoughts and emotions themselves are a form of energy.
Based on this principle, Alaric concluded that this very energy is the source of Alaya.
After all, the Sea of Consciousness consists entirely of human thoughts and emotions, does it not?
In the Type-Moon world, there are two suppressive forces: Gaia, representing the survival of the Earth, and Alaya, representing the survival of humanity.
Comparing the two, Alaya strives to preserve the human world even if it must consume the entire planet; Gaia, however, cares little for humanity as long as the world itself remains intact.
The term "suppressive force" arises because both exist to prevent mages, or more precisely, magicians, from reaching the Root.
Alaya's suppressive power prevents humans from reaching the Root because it is a power they cannot attain.
Contact with the Root would trigger the suppressive force, since an omnipotent human would significantly increase the risk of an apocalypse.
Gaia's suppressive force limits human access to the Root purely because human actions could endanger celestial bodies.
Beyond this, due to the conflict between humanity and nature, Alaya also has certain contradictions with Gaia.
Then why is it that, although humans are children of the Earth, all other creatures belong entirely to Gaia, while only humans can generate a force called Alaya?
To understand this, one must grasp the unique nature of human beings.
Alaric concluded that it was human thought.
Unlike other creatures, the activity and responsibility of human thought is unmatched, this is why humanity, despite its frailty, has become the dominant species of the planet.
It is precisely the power of these thoughts and emotions that gave birth to Alaya, allowing it even to contend with Gaia.
Another piece of evidence comes from Heroic Spirits.
Although the Throne of Heroic Spirits exists outside the timeline as a high-dimensional record, akin to the Akashic Records, Heroic Spirits themselves are distinct.
As an elevation of humanity, Heroic Spirits are one aspect of Alaya.
Their creation involves human legends, fantasies, and worship; in the same way, Alaya embodies similar forces.
Compared to other worlds, Alaya in the Type-Moon world is unique.
Perhaps due to the existence of the Root, or some other reason, Type-Moon's Alaya transcends Alaya itself, miraculously acquiring a relatively independent power, much like the birth of Gaia as a planetary consciousness.
For the sake of the future, to prevent the apocalyptic "Steel Earth" from occurring, these two suppressive forces ensure the Type-Moon world continuously repeats, like an endless loop, seeking a future that can save everything.
Much like Doctor Strange repeatedly negotiating with Dormammu, endlessly searching for a way to defeat Thanos, the suppressive forces create infinite parallel worlds solely to seek a future that avoids ultimate destruction.
Such power is beyond the capabilities of ordinary Gaia and Alaya in any normal world.
Alaric considered that this Alaya could essentially be treated as a variant of a Heroic Spirit, composed of the collective thoughts of all humanity.
(Gaia's existence operates on a similar principle.)
One could even say that the rules of Heroic Spirits in the Type-Moon world enabled the existence of suppressive forces like Alaya and Gaia.
The energy of thought is also toxic; even gods can only harness the portions tied to "faith" and "worship."
The materialization of the soul indiscriminately converts all of this into pure energy, but still, it is only energy.
Alaya, however, combines all of it. Human joy and sorrow, love and hatred, even the so-called "All Evils of the World", are all part of Alaya.
This is why Alaya is powerful, yet also constrained by these very same forces.
For Heroic Spirits and gods, human faith and imagination are both a source of power and a limitation, an infirm Heroic Spirit cannot be infinitely strong, and a war god cannot use faith to make humans long for peace.
When humans place all their faith in and dependence on gods, Alaya is likewise restrained by the gods.
This was Alaric's research on Alaya.
So, could Alaya's power be controlled by a single person?
A force capable of influencing the world, creating countless parallel worlds, even resisting Gaia, could it be wielded by a human?
Perhaps this is worth pursuing.
Through his journey in Egypt, Alaric gradually uncovered many of the world's secrets.
From this arose a tremendous plan within him.
This plan would begin with the end of the Age of Gods.
"If I want to control Alaya, I must first create Alaya."
Alaric thought to himself.
"This time, Alaya will be born in my hands!"