The eternal 'Void'.
An ocean of absolute nothingness where all of creation originated from.
Although at the moment, creation itself was about to be returned to the empty oblivion with the fall of Akasha.
Emiya Shirou was floating in the void of outer space above the artificial Gallifrey.
Zelretch had teleported him along with the makeshift band of Magic-alliance warriors above the planet to rescue the Doctor`s TARDIS hidden within the Dalek-mothership. The mothership that was ominously floating in the distance, piloted by the last surviving legions of Cybermen allied with the Doctor Alter.
"...I could breathe?" This was Shirou`s first thought, grimacing from his wounds from battling the Master a moment ago.
"An oxygen-based Magecraft spell, my dear boy." Zelretch answered as the other Magic-alliance warriors floated nearby too.
A ragtag band that was Akasha`s last hope. Emiya Shirou. Rin Tohsaka. Sakura Matou. Emiya Kiritsugu. Lord El-Melloi. All the Knights of the Round Table. Altrouge Brunestud. Morgan Le Fay. Ayaka Sajyou. Bazett Fraga McRemitz.
Shirou slowly looked down at the planet Gallifrey below, surprisingly calm despite this desperate crisis. It was as the Doctor himself taught to the boy...that fear makes companions of all.
"Time to go..." Zelretch gently carried the still unconscious Gray on him with surprising strength, casting another Magecraft spell to cause everyone to begin flying stealthily towards the distant Dalek-mothership.
"Er...Lord Zelretch?" Lord El-Melloi whispered anxiously as the mothership grew closer. "Our Magic-alliance has tried to approach this spacecraft before only to be shot down, what makes you think we could - ?"
"Oh, Miss Matou?" Zelretch addressed Sakura. "I think you would be of assistance here."
Sakura hesitated bewilderingly. "Who, me?"
"The Doctor explained to me before that this Dalek-mothership uses its advanced Scientific technology to detect any outside force approaching it...only what about a force that does not exist according to alien-Science?" Zelretch smiled encouragingly.
A look of understanding came upon Sakura. "I...I see!" The girl summoned her signature Magecraft, teleporting everyone into the supernatural dimension known as Imaginary Number Space.
At a place deep within the Dalek-mothership, the spacecraft`s defensive systems detected a small unidentifiable dimensional-distortion near its hull. A moment of Scientific computations later, the systems concluded it was merely a minor Magic-based temporal-shockwave from the Master`s battle on the surface of Gallifrey below. No alert necessary.
"Hush!" Zelretch whispered to everyone as the Magic-alliance teleported back, carefully landing on the top of the immense mothership in silence. "This spacecraft`s outsides are shielded from Magic-based attacks, we need infiltrate through the hull undetected."
"Trace...On!" Shirou knelt down, using Projection Magecraft on the hull only to hesitate. All this time, any advanced Scientific technology from the Doctor`s home-universe was still completely unreadable with Magecraft. The other magi around Shirou inspected the hull too, unable to think of a strategy to pierce through this adamantine steel.
Sir Bedivere watched Shirou`s failed experimentation before giving a sigh, looking at the other Knights of the Round Table. "I suppose we must do this without Magic then..."
Camelot`s noble protectors moved as one, stabbing with their blades towards a small location on the outside hull. Everyone else grimaced, silently acknowledging there was no other choice here. A long moment later, the blades of these knights finally pierced through to create a small hole leading to the mothership`s insides.
Zelretch hastily casted a Magecraft spell to stop an air-vacuum from appearing, indicating the alliance begin this rescue operation.
Emiya Kiritsugu was the first to enter the hole, landing within a dark metal corridor resembling the inside of the TARDIS only far more foreboding in nature.
"This place could use re-decoration...I don`t quite like it..." Zelretch observed to enter himself.
From this moment on, the forces of Magic are within an unknown landscape ruled by the absolute logic of alien-Science...
Gallifrey had become a battlefield looking worse than it did during the Last Great Time War.
The debris-covered landscape had become nearly covered in molten magma from the planetary chaos being wrought, an place barely resembling the majestic utopia it once was.
"Rather, the dream of the Doctor`s childhood has become a dystopia in the end..." Merlin observed solemnly, taking cover behind debris.
The rest of the surviving Magic-alliance had remained on the surface of Gallifrey to distract the Master in futile battle while the TARDIS was being rescued. Merlin. Arcueid Brunestud. Ryougi Shiki. Aoko Aozaki. Jeanne d` Arc Alter. The Saber-Class Emperor Nero. Enkidu. The Divine Spirit named Morrigan. The Magical Girl named Prisma Illya. The Magical Stick, Ruby. Chloe von Einzbern. Mashu Kyrielight. The Grand Servants of the Counter Force. Ado Edem.
The sound of a howling windstorm caused Merlin to look up in surprise.
A vortex of crow-feathers had gathered in the air, obscuring the landscape in darkness. The Divine Spirit of ancient Celtic legend named Morrigan floated at the heart of this vortex, launching the cloud of crow-feathers at the Master below like otherworldly arrows.
The Master merely stood on the ground, slowing down time with the Sword of Gallifrey to gracefully maneuver away from the onslaught unscathed.
At this moment, Merlin was beginning to think nothing less than an Anti-Time Noble Phantasm would be able to stop the living immortal avatar of Gallifrey that the Master was. Although an otherworldly miracle like that has never appeared on planet Earth before. Rather, only those of Gallifreyan origin like the Doctor himself are able to theoretically manifest such an unearthly Noble Phantasm...
"Good grief...there has to be a strategy to weaken the Doctor`s archenemy." Ryougi Shiki appeared beside the Magus of Flowers. "I mean, Gray told us the TARDIS is needed to defeat the Master only what are we going to do when the time-machine is rescued?"
"I do not think the Master is going to give us time to search the inside of the TARDIS for a miracle that could end him too..." A weary Aoko Aozaki teleported from nowhere, having conducted healing Magecraft on the wounded.
Merlin hesitated, acknowledging this. "My...the thought of the Master breaking into the TARDIS console room to finally claim the time-machine for himself is certainly far too horrifying to think about...unless..."
"The console room is not the only room inside the Doctor`s TARDIS..." A girl`s voice spoke.
Everyone looked up as a bloody Arcueid Brunestud staggered into sight, barely alive from battling the Master earlier. No... At this moment, it was the Ultimate One of Earth named Archetype-Earth who was speaking through Arcueid`s body. The living avatar of the planet Earth itself, awakened to protect the Root of Akasha on this battlefield.
"...What?" Ryougi stared at Archetype-Earth while everyone else backed anxiously away from this almighty entity. "Er...we already know there are more rooms in the TARDIS, what are you - ?"
"The memories of my host Arcueid when she was a 'companion' of the nameless Doctor..." Archetype-Earth whispered weakly. "There was one room that fascinated me as Earth`s avatar...the place at the heart of the TARDIS..."
"The heart of the TARDIS?" Aoko remembered. "You mean the engine-room where the Eye of Harmony is located?"
The Archetype-Earth smiled despite everything. "It was a room containing the embodiment of Science itself...the antithesis to this beautiful world of Magic...that was the reason I remember it while sleeping within Arcueid`s subconscious."
Merlin stared at Arcueid. The TARDIS was considered to be the embodiment of alien-Science? This was quite fascinating to learn although why would the Archetype-Earth mention this when...
"The Doctor`s TARDIS...I could hear her crying for aid where she is hidden..." The Archetype-Earth looked skywards where the Dalek-mothership was in outer space. "The cry calling for all the universe to save her precious pilot...what a lonely little boy the nameless Doctor is to the end..."
"You could hear the TARDIS speak - !?" It was at this moment Merlin finally understood.
All this time, everyone had forgotten the TARDIS was sentient, therefore she could be considered a Heroic Spirit herself. The secret to theoretically defeating the Master...where that Anti-Time Noble Phantasm could be manifested...
An unearthly scream of agony shattered this epiphany.
The Master had used his temporal-manipulation Noble Phantasms to stop time itself, impaling Morrigan to cause the ancient Phantom Queen to collapse lifelessly onto the ground like a rag doll.
Everyone ran to aid the fallen Divine Spirit only for the Master to create a force-field barrier that stopped interference.
"I...curse you...bane of the Doctor..." Morrigan spoke, glaring with hatred at this 'abomination' of an alien-lifeform. "I promise as the ancient goddess of death...you shall fall disgracefully in battle, crying for a 'healer' to save you to the end...""
The Master mercilessly stabbed the Sword of Gallifrey into Morrigan`s head, causing the Divine Spirit to disintegrate into eternal oblivion.
"Oh? A universe without the Doctor is already an accursed one." the Master sighed to glare ominously where the other Magic-alliance warriors stood. "I assume you all understand this too, eh?"
"Regrettably, I do..." Merlin grimaced valiantly, the sentimental memories of all those lost on the Gallifreyan battlefield flooding into mind.
Heroic Spirits from the Throne of Heroes. Magi from throughout human history. The Mage`s Association. The Chaldea Security Organization. The Counter Force. Gaia/Alaya. Phantasmal Species. True Ancestors. Divine Spirits. The Beasts of Calamity. The planetary-Type Ultimate Ones.
All who had fallen to save the Root itself from the infinite darkness...
Although the worst was yet to come.
The once almighty Magic-alliance had already sacrificed everything to reach this moment, with the battle still far from over. Nothing born from Akasha in this multiverse of Magic would be able to defeat the Master. Therefore without the nameless healer around, the only outside entity remaining to counter this dreadful villain was the TARDIS itself.
The Doctor Alter with its Dalek-Master remain alive, still battling the Doctor within the unreachable Citadel of Gallifrey.
What worse had to be done to fulfill the promise of victory?
This was a question none are unable to answer.
There was merely one thought that Merlin could think of at this time.
A universe without the Doctor would certainly mean the death of all hope...