Chapter 280: Chalk City Camelot
Of course, Romani did not say that last part aloud. He only kept it to himself.
Ritsuka smiled, but her gaze shifted toward Mashu, whose expression had dimmed.
"Mashu...?"
"Yes, Senpai!"
The pink haired Demi Servant straightened at once.
"You are still thinking about them, aren't you?"
"Mmm..."
Mashu nodded.
They had only just returned from the Seventh Singularity, from the age of Uruk in ancient Mesopotamia.
There, she had met the radiant King of Heroes, and also the people of that era, people whose names were never recorded in human history.
And it was precisely because they had built so many real bonds there that Mashu now felt this heaviness in her chest.
Because according to proper history, the end awaiting Uruk had never changed.
Those people, those ordinary people, would one day be buried beneath dust and ash.
And they would never meet again.
But...
"We remember them now, do we not?"
Ritsuka took Mashu's hand. The red haired girl smiled, but there was a quiet firmness in her eyes.
Mashu blinked.
Then she smiled too.
Yes.
At the very least, they remembered those names.
At the very least, they knew those people had truly existed.
Not as scenery behind some glorious king.
Not as a faceless crowd mentioned in passing in a dusty account.
But as living people.
People who breathed, laughed, feared, struggled, and lived.
And now they remained alive in memory.
That alone was already precious.
"Alright, you two only just got back, so go get some rest."
Romani Archaman waved a hand.
"And stop by the infirmary afterward. You have both grown a lot, but your physical condition still matters."
Chief physician of Chaldea.
That had been Romani's original job, before the collapse of almost everyone in Chaldea forced him to shoulder the burden of acting director.
So yes, he worried especially about Ritsuka and Mashu's condition.
Concerned, certainly.
But not overly worried.
Because the infirmary had already been handed over to someone far more suitable than him.
"Is Mr. Rowe still awake?"
Mashu asked.
"Do not worry, I already told him in advance. You can head straight to the infirmary."
Rowe, who had promised not to interfere too deeply in the correction of Singularities, was currently handling Chaldea's rear support.
Together with the Caster class Artoria.
By now, after everything they had experienced, Ritsuka and Mashu already knew exactly who that blonde girl really was.
After all, in the Sixth Singularity, they had already met and fought the true self of Artoria.
Artoria Pendragon.
The King of Camelot in the sixth century.
"Come to think of it, Mr. Rowe is actually the emperor of Camelot..."
"The First Adjutant of Rome, the emperor revered by Artoria, the adventurer worshipped by the sailors of Okeanos, the wisest man Holmes admires..."
"Mr. Rowe really does have countless identities, does he not?"
"Mmm. Mmm."
Walking behind Ritsuka as the other girl chattered on, Mashu could only nod in agreement.
Mr. Rowe really was an incredible person.
Anyone would think so.
After all, his traces stretched from Uruk all the way to the first century, and in the present age, his name as the Lord had spread across the world.
And yet for all that sacred weight in legend, when he appeared in daily life, he felt more ordinary than anyone else.
"Alright, I am going to make coffee."
Da Vinci watched the two girls disappear into the corridor outside and let out a long breath. She shook back her black curls and turned into the inner room to one side.
That left only Romani Archaman in the wide central control room.
He withdrew his gaze from the door and turned toward the enormous globe shaped human order observation device.
"Goetia..."
The orange haired man touched his smooth chin with his fingers.
The man who had called himself King Solomon was someone Ritsuka and Mashu had already encountered in the Fourth Singularity.
He claimed to be Solomon.
But in truth, he was Goetia, the aggregate of the Seventy Two Demon Gods.
Which meant...
"So the Incineration of Humanity began because of me?"
Romani lowered his head and looked at his hands.
These were once the hands of the King of Magecraft, the one who had held the last hope of a mystery that was constantly declining and collapsing.
He had always believed his choices were rational.
That they could preserve stability for humanity and the world alike.
But the truth he now knew told him something else.
Absolute rationality might not bring stability and continuation.
It might instead invite greater destruction.
"Solomon, you were wrong."
A deep and resonant voice echoed beside his ear.
Romani's head snapped up.
He looked forward.
On the human order observation device, Chaldeas, that enormous globe, black and crimson light had already spread across nearly the entire sphere.
Normally, the Incineration of Humanity only engulfed one land, one region, one age.
But now the traces of that incineration had swallowed the whole era.
They had swallowed the entire Earth.
The entire world.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
At almost the same instant, the alarms within the human salvation organization located in the far polar heights began to ring.
Red and blue warning lights flashed violently throughout the room.
Da Vinci rushed out so fast that she overturned her coffee, not even caring that the spill soaked her clothes.
Romani, however, stood frozen in place.
Because he saw him.
The man who had once called himself King Solomon.
The one whose true identity was Goetia.
Disheveled black hair.
A tall and powerful dark body.
Ancient and luxurious royal robes.
It was...
Himself.
That figure stood projected before the globe that had been completely covered in scorched crimson and black.
He looked straight at Romani. His golden eyes were cold and indifferent.
"Your choice was wrong, Solomon. No... you are no longer worthy of that title."
Only Romani could hear that voice.
Only a true Solomon could hear the words spoken from the throne of the Demon God King who sat behind the scenes.
"Although you stopped the Incineration of Humanity throughout the seven previous Singularities, I have already accumulated enough energy."
"With that energy, I can destroy this world in one stroke."
"Destroy it."
"Then remake it."
"I shall put on the crown of a true god."
"World..."
"Be destroyed by my hand."
Romani's pupils trembled.
Da Vinci grabbed him repeatedly, but he still did not come back to himself.
Then Ritsuka and Mashu came running in.
"Doctor, Da Vinci chan, what happened?"
"Is it the Incineration again?"
"Mr. Rowe is gone too..."
They had gone to the infirmary only to find it empty, Rowe already nowhere to be seen.
That was why they had hurried back.
Romani shook his head violently, forcing himself free from the pounding in his chest.
Da Vinci looked grimly at the human order observation device, now scorched black and red.
What was that?
Ritsuka and Mashu also looked over.
Then both of them froze.
Their pupils contracted.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The alarm in the air grew harsher, changing from a low warning into a shrill scream. Then, after one final burst of sound, it came.
A tremendous roar.
With a violent explosion, the human order observation device itself detonated.
Dust and smoke surged through the room and swallowed everything.
Mashu dropped low and covered her head. The pupils of the slender girl in the black combat suit shook far more violently than before.
Because this explosion, and the shock wave born from it, was exactly the same as the bomb that had erupted in the central control room at the moment the Incineration of Humanity first began.
The explosion that had killed all but one of Chaldea's Masters, along with most of its staff.
The first omen of the end of the world.
Like the first trumpet blown by the archangel in the Book of Revelation.
And Mashu had been one of the first to be consumed by it.
If a Heroic Spirit had not possessed her in that instant, she never would have lived long enough to stand here now.
Though she survived, the nightmare of that moment still remained carved inside her.
Extreme pain.
Extreme fear.
Extreme despair.
"Mashu, are you alright?"
A hand gripped hers tightly.
The red haired girl beside her held on with all her strength. Her soft palm wrapped firmly around Mashu's trembling hand.
Mashu started, then slowly raised her head.
What she saw was her Senpai's fiery short hair.
Her fiery red eyes.
And above all, the resolve in that expression.
That was right.
All at once Mashu remembered.
Back then too, her Senpai had held her hand just like this and given her hope.
That was why she had been able to want to live again.
That was why she had been able to draw the possession of a Heroic Spirit.
Then.
And now.
Exactly the same.
"I am alright, Senpai!"
Mashu stood straight.
Her chest rose and fell once, and then she seized her great black shield in both hands.
"Galahad... please lend me your strength once more!"
This was the power of Galahad, one of the Knights of the Round Table, known as the purest of them all.
And the shield in Mashu's hands was itself a symbol of that Round Table.
She lifted it before her and locked it horizontally into place.
And then, in an instant, brilliance shone.
Ripples spread like waves.
A massive white city wall appeared at once, and a solid fortress expanded outward through the air, enclosing them from all sides before surging ahead.
"Lord Camelot."
The ideal city born from the human heart bloomed there.