Chaldea.
In less than three short days, the entire place had been filled with an atmosphere of unbearable tension and urgency.
For the sake of this final battle, everyone in Chaldea poured all their effort into analyzing the seventh Holy Grail.
On the third day, the analysis was finally complete.
Chaldea had at last pinpointed the location of the Grail's creator.
In other words, they had found Solomon.
The whole of Chaldea erupted in a fervor.
"Everyone, assemble! The final strategy meeting is about to begin!"
As the director, Olga Marie issued the order, summoning everyone in Chaldea toward the Command Room.
That included the Servants, who had been spending these last few days adjusting their conditions.
Naturally, Mash was among them.
But before heading to the Command Room, Mash had to see Rozen first.
"Senpai!"
She hurried into Rozen's room as the automatic door slid open.
But the moment she called his name, Mash suddenly froze in place. Her body halted, her voice cut off, even her breathing stopped. She became utterly motionless.
The reason was simple.
Rozen was sitting cross-legged on his bed, eyes closed, radiating an aura of extraordinary transcendence.
That aura seemed capable of enveloping heaven and earth.
That transcendence seemed capable of breaking free from the very world itself.
With eyes closed and a serene expression unlike any he had worn before, Rozen sat there, surrounded by a flow of spiritual energy Mash had never once seen.
That aura was as divine as a god.
That aura was as radiant as a spirit.
Yet, if it were truly the aura of a god or a spirit, releasing such energy should have shaken the very heavens and earth.
But in Rozen's case, those rules and laws seemed unable to apply. Though the aura emanating from him was overwhelming, it was utterly calm, provoking no anomaly in the world around it.
It was as if the world itself could not withstand this power, could not even sense or perceive it. What manifested instead was a suffocating stillness—sacred, transcendent, unearthly.
Mash had never witnessed such a power before. She hadn't even known Rozen possessed it. Her breath caught, her heart raced in shock.
But then, within that sacred power, Mash sensed something faintly familiar.
"This feels like… the incomplete Foreign Mana Senpai had once barely managed to refine…?"
Yes.
From this power, Mash recognized a trace of that same essence.
Yet compared to back then, the difference was like heaven and earth.
Before, the Foreign Mana she sensed had been like fragile glass shards forcibly pieced together—weak, fractured, incomplete. Now, however, it was seamless, whole, eternal, as tranquil as the ancient cosmos itself. Though it caused no anomaly, it compelled awe, reverence, and fear.
Mash understood.
"Foreign Mana…"
This was true Foreign Mana.
A power that transcended the world's understanding, not born within it, but existing above its concepts—Foreign Mana.
Rozen had finally mastered it, refining it fully into his being.
At this moment, his ascension was complete. His very presence had become something transcendent, beyond ordinary comprehension.
His Magic Circuits, now able to contain Foreign Mana, had undergone a natural transformation. His body channeled all of his mana into Foreign Mana without obstruction.
Those Circuits, infused with Foreign Mana, continually absorbed and refined that power, transforming and evolving without end, until they seemed to generate infinite mana from nothing itself.
This mana, from the instant of its birth, was already Foreign Mana—requiring no refinement.
In that moment, the cosmic truth of the Infinite Chain Reaction dwelling within his Circuits finally awakened.
Rozen's Magic Circuits not only operated autonomously but generated an endless supply of mana.
In other words, Rozen had not only refined Foreign Mana but also achieved true infinite mana—limitless, inexhaustible.
This infinite mana kept transforming into Foreign Mana, amplifying the aura of transcendence, divinity, and serenity surrounding him.
"Se… Senpai?"
Mash called out weakly.
Under the weight of his transcendent aura, she felt as if Rozen would vanish in the very next moment, leaving her behind to walk into another realm.
That feeling of distance filled her with panic.
She didn't even realize that although Rozen had refined Foreign Mana, not a trace of it flowed into her, his familiar.
What she received instead was only the surplus mana generated during the process—ordinary mana, refined by his Circuits.
Though merely the "leftover" mana, it was still so vast that Mash felt she was receiving far more than Rozen had ever supplied before.
That alone showed just how immense his current reserves were.
As for Foreign Mana, that power, unrecognized by the world, would not flow into any other being without Rozen's consent.
After all, no one else had undergone the sublimation required to contain it, nor possessed the perfected Mind's Eye necessary to refine and control it. For anyone else, even perceiving it would be impossible.
This was a power only Rozen could possess and wield.
No one else.
It was unclear how much time had passed when finally, all of Rozen's mana had been transformed into Foreign Mana.
He opened his eyes. Within them glimmered an ancient, boundless depth, like the cosmos itself.
Rozen looked up at the girl standing there, holding her breath as she gazed at him.
Then, he smiled.
Calmly.
"They've found Solomon, haven't they?"
He asked softly.
"Y-Yes…" Mash answered almost reflexively.
"Good." Rozen nodded serenely, rose to his feet, and said, "Then let's head to the Command Room."
With that, he walked toward the door.
Mash blinked, then scrambled to follow.
"Senpai?" she asked quickly. "Y-You…"
She wanted to ask something, but no words came out.
Rozen merely smiled at her, as if nothing had happened.
That smile was calm.
Because Rozen was no longer the same as before.
Not only because of his newfound power, but because of his changed heart.
When he thought of that girl… and the child she now carried… his heart grew still, resolute.
"Come."
"Let's finish this."
There was no more time to waste.
What truly mattered was still waiting for him.