A second sun flared to life in the daylight sky.
The Chaldea group, in the middle of retreating toward the Storm Border, froze where they stood.
When Olympus soldiers appeared at the island's temple, Sakura and the others who had evacuated first reported the situation to the Storm Border while moving at full speed. Since Chaldea's presence on the island had already been exposed, the only option was to withdraw immediately and make the Olympian gods lose their trail once again.
But Demeter's appearance, followed by her being forced back by Shiomi and Skadi, was an extremely bad sign.
After confirming Chaldea's location, Artemis immediately locked onto Hestia Island and loosed an arrow of overwhelming power.
"There's no time! The Storm Border can't enter Imaginary Submersion right now. Is there any way to—!"
Romani rapidly ran through the ship's systems, desperately searching for any means of withstanding Artemis's arrow.
"We're attempting to deploy a barrier Magecraft centered on the Storm Border, but the output is limited. It can't compare to one personally set up by Goddess Skadi… Estimated survival probability is only 27%!"
Da Vinci clenched her hand as she delivered the grim report.
Morgan, preparing to be the last to board, was already standing on the cliff at the edge of the village, staring straight ahead at the point of impact, now only seconds away.
Behind her stood the villagers of the island.
They had assumed the Olympian gods might show some restraint, given that their own people lived here.
Now it was clear Chaldea had been mistaken. To the gods, mortals on the ground were nothing more than expendable beings.
Yet there was one thing that sent a shiver down Morgan's spine.
Faced with destruction so close at hand, the villagers showed no fear. One by one, they set down whatever they were doing.
"Oh! Oh! The light of the gods! It's the light of the gods!"
"The gods have finally turned their eyes upon us!"
"Ahh…!"
Men and women, young and old alike, all wore expressions of unrestrained joy. To them, this was not destruction, but divine forgiveness and salvation.
As expected, the people of this Lostbelt were all deeply abnormal.
They were nothing like those restless, novelty-chasing fairies, yet on a more disturbing level, they shared a similarly warped set of values.
But—
"Unfortunately, we have no obligation to share your pleasure in what you call destruction."
Morgan slowly loosened her clenched fist and spread her arms toward the descending light.
"『Water Mirror』. Deploy at maximum scale."
Her voice was calm, steady, and confident.
This was a great Magecraft she had completed on her own after the beginning of the Queen's Era, when she ruled Britain as the Queen of Winter. It had been created to deal with potential catastrophes.
Disasters, even great calamities destined to occur at some point in the Queen's Era, could be sent to the distant Fairy Era, ideally to a time when such calamities had already happened.
Where exactly they would end up, however, was never something she could precisely control.
In the end, the Magecraft never found a chance to be used. By the four-hundredth year of the Queen's Era, the calamities that plagued Britain had been completely eradicated, and those before that had never grown severe enough to warrant such measures.
Now, it manifested in a place Morgan had never once anticipated.
This time, there was no need to send it into the past.
The Atlantis Lostbelt was vast and dull, ocean stretching in every direction. Sending it far enough away would be sufficient.
During the naval battle, Artemis had already revealed the sheer power of her arrows.
Morgan calculated the scale and range required to transfer the arrow using Water Mirror.
At that moment, she cast a distant glance toward the sea where the "Void Cavity" lay.
The Fantasy Tree was there as well.
…That would do.
With a trace of malicious amusement, Morgan unleashed Water Mirror at full power, without holding anything back.
Between the falling divine arrow and Hestia Island, poised on the brink of annihilation, a dark teal Water Mirror spread outward, expanding again and again.
It grew until it more than covered the entire island, blocking out the light of the sky like heavy clouds smothering the land.
As the divine radiance was cut off, the villagers' ecstatic smiles slowly faded, replaced by confusion and bewilderment.
"Why… why… who is it…?"
"Don't take away our chance to bathe in the divine radiance!"
"Stop this at once!"
The village erupted into unrest. Among the villagers who had been kneeling on the ground, people began to stand up one after another.
"Over there, east of the village!"
"A witch! It's a witch!"
"Kill her! Stop her from desecrating the gods!"
Their confusion and bewilderment twisted into fury at having their so-called "happiness" stolen, and into hatred born from the defilement of their absolute faith.
Several villagers raised their weapons and charged straight toward Morgan, who was in the midst of performing a Grand Magecraft.
At this moment, she had to devote all her concentration to controlling the Water Mirror. She had no attention to spare for these villagers, people she could have dispersed with a flick of her finger under normal circumstances.
Even with Shiomi's damage compensation, any disturbance would inevitably introduce a flaw into the Grand Magecraft.
However…
"Sorry, but I'm not alone."
Morgan spoke softly, not sparing the villagers so much as a glance.
Two streaks of light, one pure white and the other crimson, descended onto the villagers' path. Amid the rising dust, Scáthach and Artoria stood with weapons raised, blocking their advance.
"Stand down! If you take another step, your actions will be treated as hostile. Even if you are innocent civilians, I will not hold back!" Scáthach leveled her spear at the enraged villagers, her voice sharp and uncompromising.
Artoria gripped the Holy Sword with both hands, her expression cold. "I don't wish to create needless casualties, but we will not apologize for what we're doing now. This is a fight to stay alive."
The killing intent and oppressive presence radiating from the two were no less than that of gods themselves. Intimidated, the villagers froze, no longer daring to approach.
Morgan let out a quiet, amused breath.
'My husband, you don't need to come over,' she told Shiomi through telepathy.
Shiomi, who was in the middle of unfolding a transfer Magecraft, heard her voice. The spell would have taken only a few more seconds to complete, yet even those few seconds were too slow for the situation at hand.
"What do you need me to do?" Shiomi asked in a low voice.
'My mana's a bit short.'
"Then add mine to it. That's exactly what my formula was prepared for!"
With that, Shiomi sent his mana through their magical connection, supplying it directly to Morgan.
The rippling Water Mirror shuddered faintly in response.
Light spilled out from the edges of the mirror, but it never reached the ground of Hestia Island.
How long did this process last? No one knew.
In the end, when the Water Mirror suspended overhead slowly faded away and the clear blue sky returned, Artemis's arrow was already gone.
Morgan felt a sudden weakness, as though she had sprinted hundreds of meters like an ordinary person.
"We can't stay on this island. Let's go."
As her footing wavered, Shiomi rushed up from behind and caught her in his arms.
"Mm."
Relaxing at last, Morgan leaned into his embrace, finally at ease.