Salter, who had been sitting on her knees not far from there, immediately raised her head. Her golden eyes hardened, holding back the storm of emotions raging in her chest.
"Sh... shut up," she muttered softly. Her voice trembled violently, sounding fragile as if she would cry at any moment.
Meanwhile, Ritsuka just stood frozen in silence. His head was bowed deeply, letting his bangs fall to cover both his dimming eyes.
All pairs of eyes in the room were fixated, waiting for the continuation of the light boy's words.
Even Oda Nobunaga, who was usually arrogant, was now staring intently, her curiosity completely consumed by the revelation. On the other hand, Zelretch remained silent with a dark expression. He looked at Ritsuka's back with full sympathy, because he already knew exactly what terrible sin was going to be exposed.
"Ah, that's right! If I'm not mistaken, his nickname is..." The light boy smiled widely. "The Destroyer of Worlds. The human who has slaughtered and erased billions of innocent lives in—"
"SHUT UP!!!"
That roar full of anger and despair thundered, shattering the room.
In a split second, Salter had broken her punishment and darted forward. Ignoring all rules, she swung her black sword with full force, slashing the light boy's body until it split in two.
Particles of light floated in the air. Salter stood frozen at the point of her slash, both her hands tightly gripping the hilt of Excalibur Morgan. Her breathing was heavy and rapid.
"It's not his fault at all!!!" shouted Salter with a hoarse voice, snapping at the remaining light particles in the air as well as everyone in the room.
"Master never wanted that to happen! He hated every second of it! He was only forced by circumstances to go through all that hell... alone!" screamed Salter, defending the only person most precious to her.
Amidst her panting breaths holding back her overflowing emotions, Salter suddenly gasped.
A very warm and familiar touch landed gently on her right shoulder. Salter slowly turned back, and found Ritsuka standing right by her side.
"Artoria..." Ritsuka called out in a soft voice.
Salter's golden eyes looked teary, holding back a pool of tears of despair that almost spilled over.
"Master... No, this is not your fault at all—"
Smack!
A light blow landed on top of Salter's head, forcefully cutting off her sentence of defense.
"When did I give you permission to stand up from your punishment?" Ritsuka reprimanded. Strangely, the young man actually showed a smile. "Now go back to that corner and sit on your knees like before."
"Eh? B-But, Master..." muttered Salter in confusion. Her anger and sadness were suddenly held back upon seeing the smile offered by her Master.
Ignoring his confused Servant, Ritsuka immediately turned to look at the other members of the Gathering.
"Well, everyone! Since this introduction session seems to be over, let's return to our respective worlds!" Ritsuka babbled with a sped-up and overly cheerful tone of voice. "I have to go home soon to keep an eye on my little sister. If left alone for too long, she might make the Director suffer even more!"
However, when the young man turned towards Nobu to ask her to go home, his movement was instantly halted. Dozens of long-barreled rifle muzzles were already pointing right at his face.
"Just so you know, Master... I am in a very, very annoyed state right now," hissed Nobu with her red eyes narrowing sharply. Her killing aura completely locked onto Ritsuka. "Quickly explain everything to me right now, or I will truly destroy your entire body until nothing is left!"
Ritsuka fell silent for a moment, swallowing hard. "Nobu, calm yourself down. My past is really nothing extraordinary. I am just an ordinary human," Ritsuka deflected, still trying hard to maintain his awkward smile.
"Oh? An ordinary human, you say?"
Koko's voice suddenly cut in. The woman looked at Ritsuka with a sharp gaze.
"If so, try to answer me," Koko demanded with a cold smile. "How is it possible that an 'ordinary human' like you can manipulate facial expressions that accurately? Deep in your eyes, you look terrified, broken, and burdened by something massive... yet at the same time, you can easily cover it all up using such a natural, casual smile."
Koko smirked faintly without humor.
"You are not normal at all, Ritsuka."
Hearing Koko's accurate words, Ritsuka jerked hard. The smile that he had maintained as a protective shield finally faded completely, leaving a facial expression that looked very tired and broken.
Seeing her Master cornered in such a way, Salter could no longer stay quiet. She intended to move and take forceful action to protect Ritsuka.
However, right before she could move her legs, an invisible pressure slammed into her body.
THUD!
Salter's knees and palms slammed hard onto the mirror floor.
Salter's golden eyes widened. She saw a giant magic circle with intricate patterns now glowing brightly right under her body. It was high-level gravity manipulation magic that pressed her body down to be many times heavier, making her muscles almost unmovable.
Realizing how massive and crazy the magic pressure pressing her down was, Salter immediately turned with a murderous glare to the only person capable of doing that: Zelretch.
"YOU...!!!"
Salter shouted furiously, but strangely, no sound came out of her mouth at all. The old man calmly looked at Salter, apparently he had also cast a soundproof magic barrier in the area around the Servant so that she could no longer interrupt their conversation.
Seeing his Servant paralyzed unconditionally by his own teacher, Ritsuka stood stiffly silent. The young man knew very well that Zelretch did this intentionally to close off all his escape routes. There were no more fake smiles, no more changing the subject.
Ritsuka lowered his gaze, his mind roaring violently thinking whether he should keep avoiding it or tell it to the others.
A moment of silence. The young man then closed his eyes tightly and took a deep breath.
"Alright..." Ritsuka muttered softly. "I will tell you everything. About my past... and what actually happened to me until I ended up like this."
Ritsuka exhaled slowly, relaxing his clenched fists.
"Brace yourselves. This is going to be a very, very long story..."
. . .
"Sniff... sniff... No, Master. That wasn't your fault at all! This is all the fault of that cruel world!"
Suppressed sobs broke the silence. Salter now stood beside Ritsuka's chair. She bowed her face deeply, gripping Ritsuka's hand tightly with both her hands while tears continued to drip down her cheeks.
The setting of the mirror room had changed shape.
Now, an elegant round table had manifested in the middle of the room, surrounded by seven chairs. The chairs were occupied by Koko, Ritsuka, Balalaika, L, Kagaya, Shikama Doji, and Zelretch. Meanwhile, Amane, Nobu, Revy, and Valmet stood loyally in silence, guarding their positions behind their respective bosses' chairs.
Time felt like it had passed for so long. Ritsuka had recounted the entire sequence of his past that he could still remember clearly.
The young man told the story from ground zero. Starting from his first day setting foot in the Chaldea facility just as an ordinary substitute magus. Then, his tone of voice grew heavy as he recounted the horrific sabotage tragedy that crippled the entire facility, sacrificing many lives, leading up to the tragic death of Director Olga Marie who vanished right before his own eyes.
Then, the story continued to his journey of fixing human history. Ritsuka recounted his journey across the seven Singularities that he remembered.
He told of his encounters with various heroic historical figures, precious friends who fell, up to the legendary enemies and gods he had to face. For L, Kagaya, Balalaika, Koko, and the others, listening to the series of crazy events in those Singularities felt like listening to an epic adventure tale of pure heroism written in mythology books.
A brief silence enveloped the room after Ritsuka finished his summary of his crazy journey across various Singularity points in human history.
Nobu was the first to break the silence. She held her chin, looking at Ritsuka with a gaze full of interest.
"So, you crossed various Singularities, huh? Could it be... at one of those points in history we actually met?" Nobu muttered concluding. "No wonder, from the beginning I felt you were not unfamiliar at all, Master. And regarding that woman who was supposed to be dead... in the end you managed to save her, even if it's in another world."
In another corner, Balalaika snorted cynically, exhaling her cigarette smoke into the air after hearing the story about the first Singularity.
"France, huh..." Balalaika commented in a cold tone. "Not surprising at all when it comes to that country, no wonder they experienced that during the second world war. To be honest, it sounds like their own karma for betraying and burning the Holy Maiden at the stake."
"Wait, wait a minute!" Koko interrupted, her laughter almost bursting. "You mean... Nero Claudius is also a woman?! That famously crazy Emperor of Rome?! And worse yet, she has a habit of speaking by saying 'Umu!'?!"
"You sailed and fought blowing up a fleet of ships with real pirates?!" exclaimed Valmet in amazement, but her facial expression quickly turned to frustration. "But wait a minute... you mean the legendary Captain Francis Drake is also a woman?! What kind of crazy thing actually happened to the history books in your world?!"
"London in the industrial revolution era with deadly fog... I see," muttered L, "so dark, could it be you... I see, you didn't meet Sherlock Holmes." slightly resigned, he had hoped to hear about the hound of London.
However, the next second, that calm posture suddenly stiffened. "W-Wait a minute..." hissed L, his voice losing its absolute calmness. He bit his thumb hard. "So you mean... Jack The Ripper... that mysterious serial killer who once terrorized the entire city of London... is also a woman?!"
L stared at Ritsuka with a look as if he had just seen a ghost. "And her form is... that of a little girl?! W-What the hell is that?!"
"Mordred?! Wait a minute, you mean Mordred the Knight of Treachery of the Round Table is also a woman?!" shrieked Koko in disbelief. "The traitorous child who in the end killed..."
Koko's words were suddenly cut off. She swallowed hard nervously while glancing towards Artoria Alter. However, the Dark Knight merely closed her eyes and turned her face away, not caring about Koko's babbling at all.
"The Round Table... I truly never expected you had to face the most renowned line of knights in human history directly," said Kagaya in his gentle tone. "I have indeed read some ancient literature regarding the legend of King Arthur and his knights. But... it is truly beyond reason that in your world, he could even transform into a Divine existence on the level of a Goddess just because of holding a holy lance."
On the other hand, Shikama Doji responded to the story of the Babylonia Singularity with a look full of dark interest.
"Babylonia... does that era have a connection to the history of the Tower of Babel?" muttered Shikama Doji softly. His eyes narrowed slightly. "But, that is truly nonsensical. An ordinary human king dared to unilaterally end the Age of Gods? Staging a blatant rebellion against the divine entities that created them? That king is truly very arrogant and crazy."
The atmosphere suddenly turned much heavier when Ritsuka recounted the end of his journey at the Temple of Time.
"That man... he is truly a very difficult person to understand," muttered Zelretch with a very heavy and melancholic voice. The Magician closed his eyes. "He only took action at the very last moment. Sacrificing his entire existence right when all of you at Chaldea still needed him the most."
"Hahahaha! Damn it, Kid! That series of adventures truly sounds very crazy and fun!" exclaimed Revy with eyes sparkling full of excitement. "Damn, if I knew there was a battlefield that exciting, I would have definitely demanded to come with you from the start!"
They all had listened to the entire epic sequence of Ritsuka's journey, throwing comments, amazement, and their views on that distorted history at each other.
However, after the Singularity story truly ended, Shikama Doji—who had been listening intently earlier about the Seventh Singularity and the Temple of Time Solomon—seemed very intrigued.
"It turns out there is another way to separate a world so that it is completely free from the surveillance and authority of God," muttered the Fallen Angel softly while leaning back in his chair.
His golden eyes then glanced back towards Ritsuka. "If so... is it possible I could utilize—"
"You better stop that dangerous line of thinking right now."
Shikama Doji's words were instantly cut off by an exceedingly cold reprimand from Zelretch. The Magician looked at him with a warning. "If you dare to step carelessly into his world, the thing you will encounter there is not hope for your salvation... but the toll of the death bell."
Shikama Doji tilted his head. His fake smile was still neatly carved. "Hmm? Will you intervene and kill me yourself if I dare to mess with your favorite disciple?"
Hearing that subtle challenge, Zelretch only snorted dismissively.
"Not me," Zelretch answered casually. "If you dare to step in there, then 'Death' itself is what will come to you and sever your head."
Zelretch smirked faintly, staring straight into Shikama Doji's golden eyes.
"Trust me. Right now, I am actually being kind enough to protect you from the wrath of a deadly 'Old Man'. He is someone who will never let his beloved 'grandson' be bothered by strangers."
"Your entire adventure earlier did sound incredibly exciting, Kid," Revy smirked. "But, there's one thing bothering me. Your lengthy story hasn't explained at all the reason why you ended up being nicknamed 'The Destroyer of Worlds'."
"Exactly," Balalaika chimed in. "From all your stories just now, all you did was fight to the death to fix the flow of human history. Not a single one of those heroic actions has any correlation with the destruction of a world. You only acted as a savior, not a destroyer."
Koko leaned her body forward, her eyes narrowing full of curiosity. "This story of yours is still not finished, right, Ritsuka? There is still a continuation, isn't there?" she pressed. Valmet, who stood upright behind her boss, also joined in staring at the youth.
By Ritsuka's side, Artoria Alter bowed her face deeply. Her body trembled violently.
She was very incapable of and did not want to hear the continuation of that story. Because she knew exactly... everything that happened in the Singularities Ritsuka recounted so far was nothing more than a sweet beginning. The true tragedy and sin that shattered her Master's mental state only began after that.
The Singularities were merely like a prologue in a story, and what came after was the main story.
Meanwhile, Ritsuka remained silently speechless. He looked at Nobu, L, Kagaya, and the other members who were still waiting for his answer in silence. The young man hesitated, should he really tell that part now?
However, before Ritsuka had the chance to open his mouth, an anomaly occurred.
Instantly, the bodies of all the Gathering members—without exception—glowed brightly with a blinding white light.
And in just the blink of an eye, they all vanished without a trace from the mirror room.
The room fell back into a dead silence, until a cheerful laughing voice broke the quietness.
"Ding! Ding! The gathering time is up for the storytelling session this time~!"
The voice of the 'Light Boy' echoed with a cheerful and annoying tone in the now empty air.
"The main story will only be continued later, when more new members join this Gathering! Oh, and as a warning! If you dare try to trick the system to find out the continuation of the story behind my back, I will not hesitate to permanently disband this Gathering! So, mind your manners well, okay~!"
The boy's laughter
grew louder.
"Please enjoy this agonizing cliffhanger, O members, viewers, and readers! Hahahaha!"