Chapter 019 19

"After that, it is said that the Queen of Flowers died from the malice of the scorching sun and the yellow sand, and the purple-red Patisalans no longer bloomed in the oasis." On a night like any other, Merlin sat on a tree and told the story of the goddess of flowers, just as he had told the story of the king countless times in the past, looking up at the starry night sky, "The Lord of the Sky feared delusion and breakthrough, so he sent down the spike to repair the earth and destroyed the kingdom of mortals."

The control of the Eternal Oasis has long been transferred to Gilgamesh's hands. Once the oasis is buried by the yellow sand, the Eternal Oasis will emerge from underground into the sky, waiting for visitors from the future with time forever frozen above the former oasis. In order to avoid premature exposure to the pollution from the abyss and the sky, Solomon left the oasis tonight one step ahead of time, and is now following Chaldea's navigation to the corner of the desert where the Tree King first built the rainforest.

"How is the operating status of the frame?" Olgamari asked the magician below, and once again showed the same nervous expression as before the exploration of Anomaly F that year. "The data is normal, right?"

"No problem." Chaldea's original staff answered the second director's question, "Prepare to cut off Merlin's basket operation - can this plan really work!?"

"After all, we haven't tried it before, so we really don't know the success rate." Marinesberry watched the icon on the screen representing Merlin's basket dim, and connected to the summoning room. "Are you ready?"

"The ritual is complete."

The ones who entered the summoning room to make second-hand preparations were Fujimaru Ritsuka and Lancer Mello. The Holy Grail taken out from the warehouse was placed in the center of the summoning room as the core of the entire summoning ritual. Based on the characteristics of their own tuning magic, plus a lot of magical hints and guidance, they were able to use the Heroic Spirit Summoning System to drag the Demigod back to Chaldea directly when Merlin got lost while using the second method to return to Chaldea.

"...The paradise that lost a demon god was suddenly engulfed by disaster. Yellow sand filled the sky." In order to leave the oasis in an unnoticeable way, Solomon had already changed back to Roman's appearance. He carried his bag and walked towards the next destination just like he had just become a human. "Although I really want to say that it is best to travel at night in the desert... But I haven't walked such a long distance in many years."

"?" Kirshtalia, who was in charge of the connection, looked at the files in Chaldea that recorded the past of all members, blinked and asked Roman, "You don't mean--"

“Well, the overall distance may not be that long.” Roman turned around and stopped when he realized that he could no longer see the oasis. “After all, I used to be a battlefield doctor. I was often very busy in the camp. I also traveled around the world… although I was just anxious to observe this world at that time because of the future where humans were destroyed.”

"To be honest, the current situation looks a lot worse than that future - after all, that future is just the extinction of mankind, but the planet has always existed." Kirshtalia laughed and pulled out a window that predicted the possible impact range of the Sky Nail. "Dr. Roman, it's best to move 30° east-southeast..."

"Yes, it is true. After all, the entire world and the planet are gone now." Roman took out the sled he had used to rush from Chaldea to Port Triton many years ago. He flew over the yellow sand as if he were on a snowy field, avoiding the scattered oases and leaving the largest oasis behind completely. "Is the influence of that sky spike so wide?"

"...I sent the map of the parallel world's future Sumi." Kirshtalia's eyelids jumped, remembering the scene when he saw the amphibious off-road vehicle Shadow Border turned back into a container in the warehouse of Triton. "The future Sumi is half desert and half rainforest - ignoring the part bordering the northern ocean, which is the location of the original oasis..."

"Half of the remaining desert is affected by the spikes—centered around the large oasis."

“…I understand.” Roman was sitting on the sled flipping through the prophecy book in his hand, but he was thinking about the content mentioned in another text, “Legend has it that in order to create a deep forest in the sand, the god of trees first created a rain-making mechanism deep in the earth. Is this really something the god of plants should do? No, is this really a power that the god of plants can master!?”

“Regarding this, Chaldea’s current discussion has concluded that artificial rainfall technology can be used.” Kirshtalia calmly sent the relevant documents to Roman. “After all, the only thing humans cannot achieve is magic. And according to their development, even if they use technology, it can still be considered magic after thousands of years.”

Roman: "That makes perfect sense - can you give me a live broadcast of what's going on with Merlin and the others?"

In the shadow of the tree in the center of the oasis, the flower magician used his wand to outline a ritual circle to activate magic. The oldest king of mankind stood not far away, watching the flowers of the paradise fill the circle. The pink and white fluorescent light emanated from the magic circle, connecting to the dark universe outside the sky and the bottomless abyss beneath feet.

Before starting to go to Teyvat, the process of Merlin's return to Chaldea had already been determined.

"The spirit particle transfer cannot destroy the sky curtain and bring pollution to the inner world." Lanser Mello pointed to the three activated baskets in front of him and looked at Merlin. "But if we open a passage and break through from the inside of the world to the outside, we can destroy the sky curtain. The second magic can travel freely in any world. As long as you have clear coordinates, you can go to the designated world."

"But Merlin's second magic is a fantasy within a fantasy that can only be created in dreams..." After accepting his fate of entering Teyvat, Solomon calmly participated in the discussion about the mission, "Even if we are now thrown into the gap between worlds by the two restraining forces, we can achieve an effect similar to the second magic..."

"Well, actually, I now have the second magic in full swing." Merlin interrupted Solomon and told him the real situation. "But because the coordinates of Chaldea are uncertain, I've never used it. After all, I can't go out and then lose my way home."

"During the mission, Chaldea will establish a connection with this world and fix the coordinates." Lancer Mello pointed at Chaldeas, which was emitting a shimmering blue light. "If you get lost, there is a second plan here. The Holy Grail War system built by Mr. Merlin and Fuyuki's Yusan family is precisely preparing to use the path of the Heroic Spirits returning to the Throne of Heroes to build a road to the root."

"Chaldea has collected so many Holy Grails, they can always try to replicate this path and bring you back." Lancer-Melloi shrugged and spread his arms. "After all, the Spiritual Base Atlas temporarily replaces the function of the Throne of Heroes. So returning to the Throne of Heroes means returning to Chaldea."

"Well, anyway - I hope you have the best of luck in the future."

As Merlin disappeared in front of Gilgamesh through the passage of the second magic structure, a vast expanse of yellow sand appeared outside the oasis, and the stream inside the oasis suddenly stopped flowing.

"...Generally speaking, as long as there is enough water, it is almost impossible for such a large oasis to be swallowed up by the desert again."

One day in the past, the three were discussing Merlin's exit arrangements in the Eternal Oasis.

Solomon commented on the records provided by the world consciousness and memorized all the words in preparation for modifying the records in the world tree after Merlin left.

"But this is a land of mystery that never fades." Gilgamesh pointed to the map in front of the three people. "Just like Ishtar's family could be wiped out if they got angry, the oasis was born because spring water gushed out of the wound of the flower goddess and turned into a stream... and Merlin directly created a water source."

"The stream that created the oasis will dry up with Merlin's departure. Even if it doesn't dry up completely, the remaining part will no longer be able to support humans to build a settlement like this again."

“I think I know why we need such a high sand wall.” The sled had already stopped. Roman turned his head and saw a huge sandstorm in the distance. “There’s no need to wait for the trees to wither… A sandstorm this big could bury the entire oasis underground overnight.”

Merlin, who was walking in the passage and preparing to return to Chaldea, found that the passage to the second method was blocked by the sky. He stopped, drew the holy sword from his wand, and easily opened the pollution-isolating shield that covered the entire Teyvat, and then walked towards the coordinates of Chaldea.

"The sky has been damaged..." Gray looked at the numbers that kept jumping in front of her and said in a subtle tone, "It seems that the holy sword has cut it..."

“…King Gilgamesh and I shouldn’t need to do any extra work to repair the sky, right?” Seeing the starry sky gradually cracking beside Bright Moon, Roman stopped opening the water bag. “No, this level of damage can’t be considered as just a minor injury, right? This looks like it was caused by the Holy Sword—”

"No, he really used the holy sword to cut it open!?"

"...I'll ask Avalon Le Fay if he has a solution." Lansermero subtly picked out the Crown Chat Room built by Noah from various magic chat rooms and relayed the trouble that Merlin might cause. "Well, I believe the canopy built by the First Throne should have sufficient self-healing ability - I don't want any unplanned expenses."

"C.AG: Question, is there any way to repair the damage caused by the holy sword? Mr. Merlin might use the holy sword to directly tear down other people's worlds... It will probably turn out like this."

『R.N:...What did he do? 』

"S.ALF: Can we forge new weapons in time now?"

"C.AG: Let's forget it then."

In any case, the pollution successfully penetrated into Teyvat and fell into the ground of the oasis that had been swallowed by the yellow sand.

Roman watched as the sky began to wriggle and reconnect, transforming back into the sea of ​​stars as usual—and then he noticed an unusual blue light emanating from somewhere in the sky.

The spike was aimed at a huge oasis that was completely buried by yellow sand. As the spike fell, a vortex deep underground appeared with the past oasis as its center. A sandstorm rose at the edge of the vortex, completely blocking everything in the past. The Eternal Oasis that the three magicians had tried to protect beforehand stayed above the vortex, hidden by the never-ending sandstorm.