IBHJ 1367

Shirou followed Gaia back inside, watching her sink into her throne like she owned the universe. Which, he supposed, she kind of did.

A furious roar shattered the quiet.

"GAIA!"

The throne room doors exploded open. A blonde girl barreled through, her face twisted with rage that could've melted steel.

"Venus?" Shirou's eyebrows shot up.

She didn't even glance his way. Every ounce of her fury targeted Gaia, who looked about as concerned as someone watching paint dry.

"Well, well." Gaia's smile stretched wide and lazy. She propped her chin on one hand, studying Venus like an interesting bug. "Little sister decided to visit. How sweet."

"What the hell did you do to me?!" Venus's whole body shook.

"Gave you a cute new body." Gaia's tone dripped false innocence. "You should be thanking me."

"YOU DAMN BASTARD!" Venus exploded into motion. "Super Finisher—Golden Shockwave Fist!"

She closed the distance in two steps, her punch aimed straight at Gaia's smug face.

Gaia's palm shot up. The impact sent a shockwave through the throne room.

Venus's fist sat there, completely motionless against Gaia's open hand.

"That's it?" Gaia sighed, sounding genuinely disappointed.

Venus's eyes went wide. Then narrowed to slits.

"Ultra Super Finisher—Gaia Execution Meteor Barrage!"

She threw everything she had. Left hook, right cross, uppercut. Her fists hammered against Gaia's palms in rapid succession, each impact booming through the hall. Venus's feet dug into the floor as she put her whole body behind every strike.

Gaia caught them all with lazy swipes of her hands, like she was batting away flies. She even yawned mid-block.

"This is embarrassing," she said, blocking another dozen punches without breaking a sweat. "You're so pathetically weak. Good thing I'm patient enough to put up with you."

Venus's assault faltered. Then crumbled completely.

She crumpled in the corner, knees drawn up, muttering into her arms. "I'm trash... just complete trash..."

"So." He turned to Gaia. "This is what, exactly?"

Gaia shrugged, already looking bored. "Some girl crashed into me loaded with corrupted data. Mostly junk, but there were some interesting bits mixed in. I decided to experiment."

Of course she did. Shirou reminded himself that this Gaia wasn't just powerful—she was the type who'd redesign someone's entire existence because she was curious what would happen.

"What kind of data did the future Venus send you?" The question slipped out before he could stop it.

Gaia's smile turned sharp. "Nothing good, I can promise you that."

Shirou rubbed his temples, feeling a headache building. "Look, we need to focus. Didn't we already launch the starships? Shouldn't we be—"

"They haven't launched yet."

He stopped mid-sentence. "What?"

"The starships." Gaia's voice carried that same casual tone she'd use to discuss the weather. "They're still grounded."

"What?" Shirou's frown deepened. The whole plan hinged on hitting the Golden Universe while their two biggest threats were busy tearing each other apart. Gaia didn't scrap strategies without good reason.

More importantly, if they couldn't take out the Golden Emperor in this era, then everything fell apart. The Lord of Salvation would just summon that monster into their present, and game over.

"There was a miscalculation." Gaia's fingers drummed against the armrest of her throne—the first sign of real irritation he’d ever seen from her. "The Golden Universe is... harder to reach than anticipated."

"Is this about the energy costs?"

"Yes. It’s astronomical." She nodded. "The dimensional gap between our universes isn’t just distance—it’s like trying to power a city through a straw. Our starships would run dry before they even arrived."

Shirou felt his stomach drop.

“Worse, their reality operates under completely different rules. The energy absorption systems we built would be useless over there—we’d be sending our people to die in ships that can’t even recharge.”

Venus looked up from her corner, apparently following along despite her earlier breakdown.

Gaia spread her hands. "Now, if we had enough power to fuel an entire galaxy's worth of ships, or if we could establish a stable energy pipeline..." She shook her head. "The first option would require an operation so massive that the Golden Emperor would spot us coming from a solar system away. He and the Void Overlord might even call a temporary truce just to deal with us."

"And the second?" Shirou already knew the answer.

"Connection points." Gaia's voice turned grim. "I don't pretend to understand how those things channel that much energy, but if they're tied to the Lord of Salvation's birth..." She waved her hand. "I've had Moromaya shut down all stabilization experiments. Our fleet sits at the border now—ready to fight, but stuck."

The throne room suddenly felt smaller. All their preparation, all those ships, just sitting there like expensive paperweights.

"It's not entirely bad news," Gaia continued, reading his expression. "We've got a defensive wall now. Any surprise attack from their side hits our forces first. And with their golden vessel destroyed, the Golden Emperor can't just portal over and try to kill me."

Shirou nodded slowly. He didn't ask why they couldn't just send Origin Lifeforms instead—that would've been suicide. The Golden Universe specialized in erasing data-based life. The Golden Emperor especially, if Tethys and Gaia's fear meant anything.

According to Tethys, that thing might actually be a physical god. Not digital, not energy—pure destructive matter given consciousness.

Shirou looked up. "I'm going to the border."

Gaia didn't seem surprised. She studied his face for a long moment. "So that's your choice. Remember—you only get one shot with that Arrow of Akasha. Your current form might be impressive by your era's standards, maybe even rival some Outer Gods, but compared to what's waiting in the Golden Universe..." She shrugged. "Don't get cocky."

Shirou's grin felt sharper than it should. "Like you said—this is all a game. Can't win if I never see the board."

"I'm talking too much." Gaia waved her hand dismissively. "You've made up your mind anyway. There's a convoy heading to the frontier in a few hours—catch a ride with them."

"Thanks." he turned and walked out of the great hall.

Gaia watched until his footsteps faded completely. Then she slumped back in her throne. ‘Remember this favor, Fujimaru Shirou. When the future version of me needs help, you'd better come through.’

Her fingers curled around the throne's armrest. The answers she'd gotten from the present world hadn't been comforting. If anything, they'd made everything clearer—and that clarity felt like ice in her chest.

Time was running out.

She could feel it now, that weight of destiny pressing down on her shoulders. The same inevitability that had driven her to rebel against the Golden Universe in the first place. In the present world, Saturn called the shots among the Ultimate Ones, but here in the Origin Age, she was the one who had to make the hard choices.

Maybe that's why Saturn and the others went so easy on her future self.

‘What am I supposed to do with all this?’

Fear would've been normal. Anyone else might've raged against fate or tried to run. But she'd known this moment would come since the day she was born, since the first time she'd raised her fist against the golden tyrants.

Some things were just written in stone.

"Gaia!" Venus had apparently pulled herself together. She bounced to her feet, face flushed with renewed determination. "You tyrannical witch! Take this!"

Another punch, another casual catch.

"Still pathetically weak." Gaia didn't even look at her, too lost in her own thoughts. "If you want to overthrow me, you’ll need to do better than that."