Time passes quickly, and before I noticed, half a year since my arrival here had flown by. During this time, I dealt with almost all meters concerning the functioning of Camelot, leaving only the fieldwork to knights. Of course, I couldn't just sit in the office, especially due to a certain Pharaoh still regularly trying to provoke and defeat me, so I also entered the wasteland and the desert from time to time.
On that subject, I was able to understand some more details about this place, finding that it wasn't just some illusion, but a real place in a different timeline. But it was crumbling, which showed more and more as time passed, turning what was already a harsh desert previously into a wasteland outright hostile to life. This forced me to repair the crumbling space from time to time, and that, along with my regular claiming of countless souls not innocent enough for Holy Selection, started to exacerbate my curse.
The Holy Grail was able to make so I didn't receive the backlash from it, but the continued accumulation caused it to strengthen to the point where it could influence me in a normal state.
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Bestowal of Seven Sins (Wrath): D → A
The resentment of the guilty and sinful, washed in the blood of innocents, to create a curse capable of tarnishing even the holiest of beings. Acts as an alternative to Mad Enchantment, restricting the host's perception of right or wrong, strengthening the emotions felt. If pushed to the extreme, it can invert the Spirit Foundation, creating an Avenger or a Beast. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but sometimes the road to redemption is only found in the deepest abyss.
…
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Luckily, my Divine Core still had the same rank, so I was able to prevent the extreme situations from occurring, but even it was no longer able to stop it fully. But I felt that something was about to happen that would resolve my situation, and I learned to trust my intuition by now, as it was quite accurate due to my Cyclops' bloodline.
I was also helped by Servants who arrived in Camelot from outside, a Buddhist monk, Xuanzang Sanzang, and her disciple. They arrived here, stopping their journey for two months, often talking with me while helping me resist the curse. Xuanzang Sanzang was truly a positive person, not caring about the origin of the curse, just trying to help me resist it.
But this was just a small episode, as more of my attention was, of course, focused on my research and training. I didn't make much progress on my soul, but I was able to fully grasp the powers and usage of my Divine Core. It carried a power of Law, so using it wasn't hard for me, but some details still needed some tests that I had to make.
Law is a strange thing; many confuse it with justice or order, but to fully understand it, one needs to look past such notions. Law is a framework, a set of rules and regulations that ensures the functioning of some mechanism, be it society or reality itself. And so, to control the rules was to decide how the game is played, or if it can even be played at all.
But there are many kinds of Law: judicial law, law of physics, law of the jungle, etc. And I possess authority over them all, but said authority doesn't extend to the object that said laws govern. Meaning, I can, for example, change how electricity behaves by changing its Law, but I can't create it or manipulate it directly, only its properties. Of course, I still retained my absolute control over magic power and spirits, as well as the power to command the world.
Even with such issues, my authority was far more powerful than control over a singular aspect, such as Fire or War. And so its usage was even further restricted. The range and cost of the effects were proportional to each other, meaning that if I were to affect the whole world, I would need years, if not decades, to make even a small change, let alone something grand like rewriting the laws of physics.
This was why the Law of Laterano could be a source of such power, but it seemingly possesses no such abilities on its own. Its reality-morphing power could be seen in how it created Sankta and in how it could 'revive' some Saints to birth me, but it couldn't affect much further than the walls of the Holy City. That seed of power was given its true shape by Gaia and Holy Grail, unveiling its true potential.
I already had some more plans for my Divine Core in mind when I was suddenly called by the King to the throne room. When I walked inside, I was surprised to find all knights present, as they should be on their tasks outside.
-"My Justiciar."-Artoria greeted me.
-"King."
-"Outsiders have arrived in the desert."
-"Is that so? Then how does Your Majesty wish to deal with them?"
-"Leave them be. If they can prove to be stronger than us, then they can go on, fight for their idea of the future, but if they fail…"
-"It's impossible for them to defeat Your Majesty."-Some knight spoke, but everyone ignored him.
-"Then I'll just continue acting as before."
-"Good. The gathering of pure souls is almost complete."
-"Then there is nothing to fear."-I nodded.
Soon, I was out of the throne room, but before I could leave, Lancelot stopped me.
-"You…"
-"Enoch."-I interrupted him.-"If you don't want to call me by name, at least call me by name."
-"Good. Enoch, I want to lead the Holy Selection this time again."
I looked at him, knowing his thoughts well, but I didn't point them out.
-"You may."
-"Thank you."
-"No, it's I who should thank you."
With that, we went our separate ways, with me returning to my office.
-"Serenity."
-"Master?"-She appeared from my shadow.
-"Follow Lancelot, but don't act. If they encounter people of that Pharaoh, give them this."-I handed her a letter.
-"Yes, Master."
She then disappeared. I sighed to myself, my eyes looking out of the window, where my Spectral Hawk was already looking for the newly arrived heroes.
Finding them wasn't an issue; my Spectral Hawk found them engaged in combat with some Sphinxes, not even an hour since it started looking for them. I ordered it to monitor them, especially as I could recognize many of the people present there.
They quickly found that Pharaoh's sidekick, capturing her easily and gaining information from her. After that, they started to head toward the Pharaoh's domain, a sensible decision all things considered. My Spectral Hawk followed them to the city, but it didn't fly over it, as I didn't want to fight that Pharaoh one more time now. On their way there, they met some more travelers, but I ignored them as caravans were still not rare around.
I was about to continue looking around when I felt that the world started to crumble again, so I had to stand up and deal with it before more of it disappeared. Teleporting far from the desert, I arrived at the literal edge of the world. Around me, the ground shattered and crumbled, dissolving into a motes of light, that further disappeared after flying for a moment.
This was a consequence of Artoria manifesting the full power of her spear, the end of the world. This power shares a similar principle to my own Night, but there is one difference between them. My Night brings the end through oblivion, the absolute end by erasing all traces of memories and fate, while Artoria's spear is the ideal of the end, the figurative point in existence when everything returns to origin, when the illusory inner world and outer reality are once again joined into one. Two opposite concepts of the end, the nothingness and the singularity.
So to prevent this world from disappearing, I would often venture to its edge and med it by combining my current powers. First, I would erase the missing parts fully, using the Night to cease their existence, then I would reconstruct them with my Law and magic, creating them as a magical construct and giving them existence through my 'Decrees' .
For an outsider, it would look like I mended the world with my crystals that would then slowly turn into soil, trees, and all other missing elements. I was able to achieve this due to the fact that Originium Glintstone was both pure magical power and a perfect carrier of information. With my absolute control over it and ease of modifying information contained within, which I acquired from the meeting with my 'creator', I only need to make the one last push with the Law to achieve the required result.
But even then, this was an exhausting process, as it was basically a creation magic: creating parts of the world from pure magical energy. I could only achieve it thanks to my near-infinite magical reserves from the planet, though this was only a stopgap solution. When Artoria finishes her Holy Selection, returning the Camelot into the spear, the world would still mostly collapse due to it. With my current power, I would be able to preserve only a fraction of this space. But this didn't stop me from doing my best.
When I returned to Camelot, it was already evening, so I planned to stay in my tower, but I stopped in my tracks when I found Artoria waiting by my doors.
-"May I come inside?"
-"Of course."
We entered, and she sat on my chair while I created a second one from my crystal for myself.
-"My Justiciar, why do you try so hard?"
-"I'm just doing what I can."
She looked at me, her emotionless eyes looking into mine as if she tried to see into my soul. But she couldn't find whatever she was looking for, so she sighed.
-"I don't have anything that can match your efforts, but I wanted to bestow something upon you."-She placed her hand on mine, granting me a connection with her spear.-"I know that you arrived here because of it, so I hope that it can serve you well even beyond this space and time."
-"Your Majesty, this is…"
-"It's just a 'key' so that you can enter the true tower when the time comes. I know that you have your own plans, and I won't stop you. I just hope that you can make sure the me in your time can live a life filled with bliss and companionship."
I nodded, not knowing how to answer her.
-"One more thing. I can see some things beyond the current timeline, so I can give you a little advice. Don't be afraid. Even if the sky comes crashing down, I'll hold it up for you, so you don't have to act with reserve or care. Whatever you wish to achieve, go and make it as grand as it can be."
This made me look at her seriously; my ideal plan was far beyond audacious. If it went wrong, both Alaya and Gaia might turn against me, but hearing her reassurance, I couldn't help but feel at ease. In the end, I nodded again and smiled for the first time in months.
-"Then I'll do it boldly."
-" Exactly."-She also showed a slight smile, surprising me immensely as I thought her to be incapable of feeling emotions.
She then stood up and left my room, leaving me alone with my thoughts and a few 'ghosts' . I stayed in silence for the whole night, thinking through my plans again and again, mulling over whether I should heed her words or not. When the morning sun rose again, I decided to change my plans.
She is Artoria after all, she should never give me advice that would harm me, nor would she give a promise she can't keep. She believes in me enough not to question me and give me free rein in her domain, so I'll give her the same amount of trust. But to do so, I needed to start making the real preparations.
My first step was to enter a ruin I found some time ago, but left untouched to focus on different matters. Those ruins were nothing like any other places present in this space; instead of an old Egyptian tomb or some ancient shrine, it was a futuristic underground laboratory, filled with magical tools and technological appliances. I could see hundreds of defense mechs, but I ignored them, walking past everything covered by Night Sorcery.
I didn't waste time on looking around, heading directly to the central room where a strange object, looking like three obelisks, stood in the center of the room. I once again bypassed the remaining defenses and placed my hand on it, letting my Originium Glintstone slowly crystalize it. As it did so, an enormous amount of data started to enter my mind, flooding me with all kinds of information.
Already somewhat experienced with such situations, I quickly separated said data from myself, acting only as a conduit for it to flow into my Originium Glintstone, where it was stored and categorized for further use. Due to this knowledge being pure data, absent of any emotional burden, I found it quite easy to operate on it, even though I couldn't comprehend everything from it on the spot.
The 'download' took quite a bit of time, as I only finished it two days later, and was not exactly surprised to find a bunch of spectators behind me. They observed me with a mix of happiness and worry, but none of them spoke. It was only when I turned around, my eyes filled with the glow of divinity that put some pressure on them, that one of them broke the silence.
-"My, never expected to meet such a being here. Are you an Angel? A god? Or something else?"-A gentlemanly looking man asked with professional interest.
-"All."-I answered curtly.
-"I see. Then, may I ask why you destroyed TRI-HERMES?"
-"It's not destroyed."-I shook my head and took my hand off it.
When I did so, the tree obelisks collapsed into fine Originium Glintstone dust. I subconsciously controlled it so that it didn't accidentally infect anyone present, letting it disappear into pure magic power.
-"I just took its contents, so it was no longer necessary."
-"Surprising, a god who's interested in human knowledge."
-"Let's not waste words, just tell me what you want to know."
He nodded and rattled some things. I found the relevant data and copied it to a piece of my crystal, giving it to him.
-"Thank you."
-"You're welcome."-I nodded and prepared to leave, but was stopped by the other people present.
-"Eno! Wait!"
I stopped and looked at Rin, who called out to me.
-"It's not a time for us to meet yet."
-"Why do you support the Lion King?!"-Atalanta screamed at me.-"Have you fallen so much?!"
I looked at her before sighing and answering calmly.
-"I have my own plans and values. I made a promise, and I will uphold it. I can assure you that I'm not your enemy, nor will I stop you from confronting Her Majesty."
-"You…"
-"Let him go."-Reines stopped them.-"He is right, it's not a time for a confrontation yet."
I nodded at her and started to leave once again.
-"Eno, can you tell us what the Lion King's plan is?"-Fiore asked me.
-"Her Majesty wished to choose five hundred souls deserving salvation and take them beyond the end of the world, preserving humanity."-I spoke without stopping.-"She does not see a future on the path you fight for, so she decided to create a safeguard herself. If you can prove yourself, she'll not stop you, but I advise you to move quickly, as only a few souls remain to be chosen."
With that, I left the ruins, leaving them with their thoughts and ignoring cries of certain white squirrel.