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Full title: "Lostbelt No. 4 - Saṃsāra of Genesis and Terminus, Yugakshetra [The Final Dark God]".
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Moving Recap pages to the most simplified titles. This will also remove any issues with using very old fan translations for UR Ls (e.g. "Sacred Round Table Region"
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lb4chapterreleaseus.png]]
->''Pray to God. We do our best to live. Working hard, to live as good people. That’s why, God. God, please…… Guide us into the next Yuga as well.''
-->--'''Asha'''
Under Sion's directive, Chaldea must switch priorities from tackling Atlantis to India, as they need a ''very'' specific upgrade for the ''Shadow Border'' there with assistance from the Captain. Upon arrival and summoning the requisite Heroic Spirits as muscle, they find a fairly unremarkable village... with no knowledge of Indian heroes Rama and Karna. The arrival of the Kali to terrorize villagers only confirms Chaldea's suspicion that something sinister is at work to warp the timeline to this extent and thus begins their work to eliminate the fourth Lostbelt.
Watch the trailer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bBxDAkGIm4 here]].
----
!!Tropes found in this episode:
* ArcWord: Anyone who fails to meet Arjuna's standards of ''perfection'' is ''flawed'' and ''unnecessary'', therefore ''evil''. Expect to see these four words repeated a lot throughout the Lostbelt, usually on the same sentence.
* AlasPoorVillain: As God Arjuna dies, he finally realizes his own hypocritical existence, stating that "[he] can't even become that man [Karna] always anticipated."
* AndYourRewardIsClothes: One of the reward for clearing the chapter is Karna's Burning Garment of Three Gods as a cosmetic skin for him.
* {{Arcadia}}: The first seven days of the Yuga cycle are spent in a beautiful world blooming with flowers.
* BackForTheDead: Nezha reprises her supporting role from the previous Lostbelt -- only to be quickly and unceremoniously killed by her own Lostbelt version.
* CallBack: As the main allied Servants are Karna and Rama, both of whom appeared in E Pluribus Unum, it was inevitable at least a few from that singularity would show up.
** Karna once again tries to use Vasavi Shakti on a powerful enemy (Cu Alter, Aśvatthāman), but despite taking horrific damage they're able to survive thanks to a HealingFactor granted by a powerful source (the Holy Grail, God Arjuna's contract)
** Rama ends up needing to be piggy-backed by Jinako after he takes Aśvatthāman's {{Curse}} onto himself heavily weakening him, much like how Nightingale had to carry him around due to his horrific injuries. He even mentions that he feels like he's been in this situation before.
* CentralTheme: Flaws. This is a world ruled by a god regularly deleting anything with physical flaws, even if it's some simple thing as having a sprained ankle. He's ultimately defeated by the combined efforts Jinako, Lakshmi Bai and Ashwattaman (a useless member of society, a queen who failed to protect her people and a man who willingly choose to make his FatalFlaw the entire core of his current identity), bringing along Karna to point out Arjuna's own flaws to himself. Nezha, Asclepius and Tell were also all defeated due to having their characteristic "flaws" forcibly removed from them. And Peperoncino, the resident Crypter, is, in a mindset similar to Arjuna's, a man very resigned to his own flaws in a way that he can't consider himself to be a good person regardless of all his positive qualities.
* ClimaxBoss: The Indian Lostbelt King, God Arjuna, against Karna in his Burning Garment of Three Gods form.
* CoolChair: God Arjuna owns a massive throne that floats above his Lostbelt, giving him a full view of his world.
* CrapsaccharineWorld: Seven of its ten days in the cycle are spent in beautiful tranquility as flowers and crops flourish everywhere. The other three days are spent locked inside their homes, fervently praying that the Kali don't eat them and for their god to spare them from destruction. And because of [[MadGod its Lostbelt King]], it happens [[GroundhogDayLoop again, again, and again.]]
* DeaderThanDead: Even before their Lostbelt is erased, this is their fate if they get killed by the Kali, [[RetGone and no one can even remember them,]] shown with Asha, who doesn't know what happened to her mom, but infers that she had one given her own existence. Asha's Craft Essence, "Family Portrait", reveals that she was missing a lot more than just her mom.
* DespairEventHorizon: Flashbacks shown when God Arjuna sleeps reveal this as the ForWantOfANail moment in the Lostbelt's history. This Arjuna suffered a mental breakdown due to the [[WarIsHell catastrophic destruction]] that resulted from the war in the Mahabharata. Concluding that humanity is too flawed to ever create a truly peaceful world without suffering, he decides he must become [[StartOfDArkness a god to do so in their stead.]]
* DyingRace: Humanity itself is doomed to extinction in this Lostbelt. God Arjuna wants to purge the world of all he sees as evil, but because no one else could ever match his impossibly high standards, it's only a matter of time before he purges all of humanity from the world. What's worse, the cycles are causing glitches that slowly destroys its own Tree of Emptiness, making this doubly so.
* EnemyMine: The Lostbelt's Crypter, Scandinavia Peperoncino, disgusted by God Arjuna's madness and Ashiya Douman's sadistic cruelty, is forced to make an alliance with Chaldea to topple the MadGod. However, [[AffablyEvil he's just so friendly]] that Chaldea literally thinks that he's done a HeelFaceTurn, and hehas to remind them that it's still an alliance. Naturally, once [[ClimaxBoss God Arjuna goes down]], he and his Servant Ashwatthama serve as the FinalBoss along with the Lostbelt's Tree of Emptiness Spiral.
* FinalBoss: Unlike the first three Trees of Emptiness, Tree of Emptiness Spiral is faced ''with'' Pepe's Servant Ashwatthama, making it a DualBoss.
* FlatWhat: Gordolf gives one spelled as "Wat" in the English version in reaction to Koyanskaya's sheer audacity to ask for a ride in the Shadow Broker to escape the world reset.
* GroundhogDayLoop: Thanks to God Arjuna and Ashiya Douman, the Lostbelt is constantly being reset through the speeding of the Yuga cycles, with less and less humans being reincarnated within it. The reason Ashiya Douman is actually helping because he wants to see what lies beyond the Cycles.
* HeelFaceTurn: Tell and Asclepius go against God Arjuna after they've realized that something was taken away from them by the latter deeming the same to be "useless."
* HeroicSacrifice: Karna is forced to take the blow of God Arjuna's ''reality-destroying attack'' with his NighInvulnerable armor to protect the protagonist, and is seemingly wiped out for good... Until Ashwatthama uses the black cube to perform his own, bringing back Karna in his strongest form.
* HopelessBossFight:
** The first fight with God Arjuna is this. He has permanent Passives that [[NoSell render all damage done to him to zero]], make him Debuff Immune, allow him to ignore both Evasion and Invincibility buffs, and for the kicker, he doesn't actually attack until his NP charges, at which point he party-wipes you with his ''Extra Attack'', not the NP itself, and ends the fight there.
** The fight between [[DualBoss Ashwatthama and Karna]] to revive the latter ''looks'' like this at first, what with the fact that not only is Ashwatthama the only Servant allowed in this fight against an opponent with not only class advantage and two Break Bars but the fight forbids both Master Skills and Command Seals. However, it's {{inverted}} by the fact that Ashwatthama gets two permanent buffs for the fight: a max-HP Guts and a stackable Attack Damage Up buff each turn to deal with the class disadvantage, meaning he ''will'' win the fight eventually no matter what.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Arjuna's main three Lokapalas had Douman making them forget something essential to their motivation in order to make them agree with Arjuna's ideals. The other Lokapala, Ashwattaman was convinced through [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil much less kind methods]].
* MadGod: God Arjuna is completely insane, wishing to delete anything he sees as "evil," and is so bad that the Servants William Tell and Asclepius, who work for him, have to be brainwashed to do so.
* MoodWhiplash: Lakshmi Bai's RousingSpeech comes to an abrupt halt when she slips from atop the village wall and lands in a pit trap.
* {{Mordor}}: The Lostbelt turns from a lush green paradise to a barren wasteland in the last three days of the Yuga cycle.
* NegativesAsAPositive: Fitting for a narrative about proving the value of flawed people, the heroes often find their worst traits proving essential to the plot's resolution. The key examples being Asvattaman using his own rage as his central defining feature that allowed him to resist Arjuna's control and ultimately assign himself the role of the rightful fury that would fight against the injustices his partner Pepe resigned himself to, and Jinako pulling off the Skyrock gambit because her tragic years as a hikikomori made her accustomed enough to isolation to be able to barely withstand the long wait.
* NotWhatItLooksLike: Upon hearing that Lakshmi Bai apparently houses inside her the goddess Sita is an avatar of, Rama wastes no time advancing towards her to find Sita, which results in Lakshmi Bai nearly crushing his skull because she naturally assumes that he's being perverted.
* PetTheDog: Even when brainwashed, Asclepius stops the battle to tend to an injured child.
* RedHerring:
** Scandinavia Peperoncino is shown for the banner of Yuga Kshetra, making it seem like he's got some big, dark secret like Akuta in S.I.N. Not really, only thing that is revealed is his true name (Aro Myorenji) and nationality (Japanese).
** The existence of a "black cube" may cause some to think that it's the [[VideoGame/FateEXTRA Moon Cell.]] They'd be both right ''and'' wrong, because it's actually a combination of Lakshmi Bai's and Jinako Carigiri's Noble Phantasms, sent back before the Yuga Cycles happen to allow for Karna to [[CameBackStrong be revived in his strongest form.]] Aśvatthāman speculates that Jinako picked the most impenetrable thing she could think of for its shape, hence its resemblance to the Moon Cell's core.
* RetGone:
** No one inside the Lostbelt can remember those killed by the Kali, [[RealityBreakingParadox causing glitches that slowly destroys its own Tree of Emptiness]].
** Arjuna also does this directly to whatever he deems flawed, ranging from injured survivors to people who lose faith in him ''because'' they realize their loved ones have been erased from existence.
* RogueAgent: Vitch [[AmbitionIsEvil reveals that she intends to become the New Nine Tailed Fox]], which in turn means becoming a '''Beast.'''
* SanitySlippage:
** Jinako Carigiri/Ganesha's mind warped due to spending [[TimeAbyss an uncountably long time]] in the black cube, forgetting all but the promise she made to Karna.
** A much more PlayedForLaughs version happens with Rama, with him becoming despondent and depressed by the lack of Sita, echoing the fanbase's disappointment for there being no Sita in an Indian setting. It gets so bad he thinks Lakshmi Bai is a reincarnation of Sita, due to her allegedly having the same goddess as her.
* SerialEscalation: Besides the ''obvious'' jump in enemy power levels, story ally Servants start sporting the "NPC Support Craft Essence" to make them more viable by giving them half of their NP gauge at the start of a fight and increasing their NP generation by 50%.
* TakingYouWithMe: Koyanskaya asks Chaldea for a ride in the Shadow Broker to escape the impending reset since she was too exhausted in her fight against Ashwattaman to escape the Lostbelt with her own powers. Chaldea is hesitant at first but they become more cooperative when she threatens to expend the last of her energy to blow up herself and the Chaldeans if they won't help her.
* ThrowTheDogABone: For Arjuna and Karna, their fated battle was interrupted back in the American Singularity thanks to Cú Chulainn (Alter) killing Karna. Here, they finally, ''finally'' face off against each other, with nothing holding them back.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[ArcVillain God Arjuna]] is revealed to have fused with the entire Hindu pantheon, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero including the ones who oversaw Mara]], allowing her to fuse with Kama and become Beast III/L and cause the Tokugawa's Labyrinth event.
* VillainousRescue: While trying to take down Asclepius, Arjuna suddenly appears and tries to crush them. He then leaves, and Asclepius prepares to finish them off, but Daybit Sem Void suddenly appears with his Servant to rescue them, destroying the regenerating undead. Turns out this was thanks to Koyanskaya, and before he leaves, he gives Pepe advice on how to beat God Arjuna.
* WhamLine: "Who's Vihan?"
----
->''Ahh... Right. That's right.\\
As I thought, I. Have forgotten something, definitely. I have always, had this, kind of feelings.\\
Hey, that's why, tell me. About the important thing that I have forgotten about.''
-->'''Asha''' ''(From "Family Portrait")''
->''Pray to God. We do our best to live. Working hard, to live as good people. That’s why, God. God, please…… Guide us into the next Yuga as well.''
-->--'''Asha'''
Under Sion's directive, Chaldea must switch priorities from tackling Atlantis to India, as they need a ''very'' specific upgrade for the ''Shadow Border'' there with assistance from the Captain. Upon arrival and summoning the requisite Heroic Spirits as muscle, they find a fairly unremarkable village... with no knowledge of Indian heroes Rama and Karna. The arrival of the Kali to terrorize villagers only confirms Chaldea's suspicion that something sinister is at work to warp the timeline to this extent and thus begins their work to eliminate the fourth Lostbelt.
Watch the trailer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bBxDAkGIm4 here]].
----
!!Tropes found in this episode:
* ArcWord: Anyone who fails to meet Arjuna's standards of ''perfection'' is ''flawed'' and ''unnecessary'', therefore ''evil''. Expect to see these four words repeated a lot throughout the Lostbelt, usually on the same sentence.
* AlasPoorVillain: As God Arjuna dies, he finally realizes his own hypocritical existence, stating that "[he] can't even become that man [Karna] always anticipated."
* AndYourRewardIsClothes: One of the reward for clearing the chapter is Karna's Burning Garment of Three Gods as a cosmetic skin for him.
* {{Arcadia}}: The first seven days of the Yuga cycle are spent in a beautiful world blooming with flowers.
* BackForTheDead: Nezha reprises her supporting role from the previous Lostbelt -- only to be quickly and unceremoniously killed by her own Lostbelt version.
* CallBack: As the main allied Servants are Karna and Rama, both of whom appeared in E Pluribus Unum, it was inevitable at least a few from that singularity would show up.
** Karna once again tries to use Vasavi Shakti on a powerful enemy (Cu Alter, Aśvatthāman), but despite taking horrific damage they're able to survive thanks to a HealingFactor granted by a powerful source (the Holy Grail, God Arjuna's contract)
** Rama ends up needing to be piggy-backed by Jinako after he takes Aśvatthāman's {{Curse}} onto himself heavily weakening him, much like how Nightingale had to carry him around due to his horrific injuries. He even mentions that he feels like he's been in this situation before.
* CentralTheme: Flaws. This is a world ruled by a god regularly deleting anything with physical flaws, even if it's some simple thing as having a sprained ankle. He's ultimately defeated by the combined efforts Jinako, Lakshmi Bai and Ashwattaman (a useless member of society, a queen who failed to protect her people and a man who willingly choose to make his FatalFlaw the entire core of his current identity), bringing along Karna to point out Arjuna's own flaws to himself. Nezha, Asclepius and Tell were also all defeated due to having their characteristic "flaws" forcibly removed from them. And Peperoncino, the resident Crypter, is, in a mindset similar to Arjuna's, a man very resigned to his own flaws in a way that he can't consider himself to be a good person regardless of all his positive qualities.
* ClimaxBoss: The Indian Lostbelt King, God Arjuna, against Karna in his Burning Garment of Three Gods form.
* CoolChair: God Arjuna owns a massive throne that floats above his Lostbelt, giving him a full view of his world.
* CrapsaccharineWorld: Seven of its ten days in the cycle are spent in beautiful tranquility as flowers and crops flourish everywhere. The other three days are spent locked inside their homes, fervently praying that the Kali don't eat them and for their god to spare them from destruction. And because of [[MadGod its Lostbelt King]], it happens [[GroundhogDayLoop again, again, and again.]]
* DeaderThanDead: Even before their Lostbelt is erased, this is their fate if they get killed by the Kali, [[RetGone and no one can even remember them,]] shown with Asha, who doesn't know what happened to her mom, but infers that she had one given her own existence. Asha's Craft Essence, "Family Portrait", reveals that she was missing a lot more than just her mom.
* DespairEventHorizon: Flashbacks shown when God Arjuna sleeps reveal this as the ForWantOfANail moment in the Lostbelt's history. This Arjuna suffered a mental breakdown due to the [[WarIsHell catastrophic destruction]] that resulted from the war in the Mahabharata. Concluding that humanity is too flawed to ever create a truly peaceful world without suffering, he decides he must become [[StartOfDArkness a god to do so in their stead.]]
* DyingRace: Humanity itself is doomed to extinction in this Lostbelt. God Arjuna wants to purge the world of all he sees as evil, but because no one else could ever match his impossibly high standards, it's only a matter of time before he purges all of humanity from the world. What's worse, the cycles are causing glitches that slowly destroys its own Tree of Emptiness, making this doubly so.
* EnemyMine: The Lostbelt's Crypter, Scandinavia Peperoncino, disgusted by God Arjuna's madness and Ashiya Douman's sadistic cruelty, is forced to make an alliance with Chaldea to topple the MadGod. However, [[AffablyEvil he's just so friendly]] that Chaldea literally thinks that he's done a HeelFaceTurn, and hehas to remind them that it's still an alliance. Naturally, once [[ClimaxBoss God Arjuna goes down]], he and his Servant Ashwatthama serve as the FinalBoss along with the Lostbelt's Tree of Emptiness Spiral.
* FinalBoss: Unlike the first three Trees of Emptiness, Tree of Emptiness Spiral is faced ''with'' Pepe's Servant Ashwatthama, making it a DualBoss.
* FlatWhat: Gordolf gives one spelled as "Wat" in the English version in reaction to Koyanskaya's sheer audacity to ask for a ride in the Shadow Broker to escape the world reset.
* GroundhogDayLoop: Thanks to God Arjuna and Ashiya Douman, the Lostbelt is constantly being reset through the speeding of the Yuga cycles, with less and less humans being reincarnated within it. The reason Ashiya Douman is actually helping because he wants to see what lies beyond the Cycles.
* HeelFaceTurn: Tell and Asclepius go against God Arjuna after they've realized that something was taken away from them by the latter deeming the same to be "useless."
* HeroicSacrifice: Karna is forced to take the blow of God Arjuna's ''reality-destroying attack'' with his NighInvulnerable armor to protect the protagonist, and is seemingly wiped out for good... Until Ashwatthama uses the black cube to perform his own, bringing back Karna in his strongest form.
* HopelessBossFight:
** The first fight with God Arjuna is this. He has permanent Passives that [[NoSell render all damage done to him to zero]], make him Debuff Immune, allow him to ignore both Evasion and Invincibility buffs, and for the kicker, he doesn't actually attack until his NP charges, at which point he party-wipes you with his ''Extra Attack'', not the NP itself, and ends the fight there.
** The fight between [[DualBoss Ashwatthama and Karna]] to revive the latter ''looks'' like this at first, what with the fact that not only is Ashwatthama the only Servant allowed in this fight against an opponent with not only class advantage and two Break Bars but the fight forbids both Master Skills and Command Seals. However, it's {{inverted}} by the fact that Ashwatthama gets two permanent buffs for the fight: a max-HP Guts and a stackable Attack Damage Up buff each turn to deal with the class disadvantage, meaning he ''will'' win the fight eventually no matter what.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Arjuna's main three Lokapalas had Douman making them forget something essential to their motivation in order to make them agree with Arjuna's ideals. The other Lokapala, Ashwattaman was convinced through [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil much less kind methods]].
* MadGod: God Arjuna is completely insane, wishing to delete anything he sees as "evil," and is so bad that the Servants William Tell and Asclepius, who work for him, have to be brainwashed to do so.
* MoodWhiplash: Lakshmi Bai's RousingSpeech comes to an abrupt halt when she slips from atop the village wall and lands in a pit trap.
* {{Mordor}}: The Lostbelt turns from a lush green paradise to a barren wasteland in the last three days of the Yuga cycle.
* NegativesAsAPositive: Fitting for a narrative about proving the value of flawed people, the heroes often find their worst traits proving essential to the plot's resolution. The key examples being Asvattaman using his own rage as his central defining feature that allowed him to resist Arjuna's control and ultimately assign himself the role of the rightful fury that would fight against the injustices his partner Pepe resigned himself to, and Jinako pulling off the Skyrock gambit because her tragic years as a hikikomori made her accustomed enough to isolation to be able to barely withstand the long wait.
* NotWhatItLooksLike: Upon hearing that Lakshmi Bai apparently houses inside her the goddess Sita is an avatar of, Rama wastes no time advancing towards her to find Sita, which results in Lakshmi Bai nearly crushing his skull because she naturally assumes that he's being perverted.
* PetTheDog: Even when brainwashed, Asclepius stops the battle to tend to an injured child.
* RedHerring:
** Scandinavia Peperoncino is shown for the banner of Yuga Kshetra, making it seem like he's got some big, dark secret like Akuta in S.I.N. Not really, only thing that is revealed is his true name (Aro Myorenji) and nationality (Japanese).
** The existence of a "black cube" may cause some to think that it's the [[VideoGame/FateEXTRA Moon Cell.]] They'd be both right ''and'' wrong, because it's actually a combination of Lakshmi Bai's and Jinako Carigiri's Noble Phantasms, sent back before the Yuga Cycles happen to allow for Karna to [[CameBackStrong be revived in his strongest form.]] Aśvatthāman speculates that Jinako picked the most impenetrable thing she could think of for its shape, hence its resemblance to the Moon Cell's core.
* RetGone:
** No one inside the Lostbelt can remember those killed by the Kali, [[RealityBreakingParadox causing glitches that slowly destroys its own Tree of Emptiness]].
** Arjuna also does this directly to whatever he deems flawed, ranging from injured survivors to people who lose faith in him ''because'' they realize their loved ones have been erased from existence.
* RogueAgent: Vitch [[AmbitionIsEvil reveals that she intends to become the New Nine Tailed Fox]], which in turn means becoming a '''Beast.'''
* SanitySlippage:
** Jinako Carigiri/Ganesha's mind warped due to spending [[TimeAbyss an uncountably long time]] in the black cube, forgetting all but the promise she made to Karna.
** A much more PlayedForLaughs version happens with Rama, with him becoming despondent and depressed by the lack of Sita, echoing the fanbase's disappointment for there being no Sita in an Indian setting. It gets so bad he thinks Lakshmi Bai is a reincarnation of Sita, due to her allegedly having the same goddess as her.
* SerialEscalation: Besides the ''obvious'' jump in enemy power levels, story ally Servants start sporting the "NPC Support Craft Essence" to make them more viable by giving them half of their NP gauge at the start of a fight and increasing their NP generation by 50%.
* TakingYouWithMe: Koyanskaya asks Chaldea for a ride in the Shadow Broker to escape the impending reset since she was too exhausted in her fight against Ashwattaman to escape the Lostbelt with her own powers. Chaldea is hesitant at first but they become more cooperative when she threatens to expend the last of her energy to blow up herself and the Chaldeans if they won't help her.
* ThrowTheDogABone: For Arjuna and Karna, their fated battle was interrupted back in the American Singularity thanks to Cú Chulainn (Alter) killing Karna. Here, they finally, ''finally'' face off against each other, with nothing holding them back.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[ArcVillain God Arjuna]] is revealed to have fused with the entire Hindu pantheon, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero including the ones who oversaw Mara]], allowing her to fuse with Kama and become Beast III/L and cause the Tokugawa's Labyrinth event.
* VillainousRescue: While trying to take down Asclepius, Arjuna suddenly appears and tries to crush them. He then leaves, and Asclepius prepares to finish them off, but Daybit Sem Void suddenly appears with his Servant to rescue them, destroying the regenerating undead. Turns out this was thanks to Koyanskaya, and before he leaves, he gives Pepe advice on how to beat God Arjuna.
* WhamLine: "Who's Vihan?"
----
->''Ahh... Right. That's right.\\
As I thought, I. Have forgotten something, definitely. I have always, had this, kind of feelings.\\
Hey, that's why, tell me. About the important thing that I have forgotten about.''
-->'''Asha''' ''(From "Family Portrait")''
