"…It's an unfamiliar ceiling."
Waking up naturally, Ritsuka Fujimaru let her eyes wander as she scanned her surroundings.
Beside her small bed—one that looked suspiciously like a hospital cot—lay the leader of Team A, who had introduced himself as 'Kirschtaria Wodime', and a man with a surprisingly gentle impression named 'Kadoc Zemlupus'.
"By the way… my body feels so light. Why is that?"
It had been a truly long time since she had woken up from a dreamless, comfortable sleep, and the sudden vitality left Ritsuka feeling bewildered.
She had spent days trekking across the entirety of France in the First Singularity; by all rights, her muscles should have been screaming in agony. Instead, she felt as refreshed as someone who had just returned from a four-day luxury spa retreat. With her fatigue vanished, her mind found a natural peace. Spotting Olga Marie walking past, Ritsuka called out in a bright voice.
"Director, long time no see! Anyway, how long was I out? I know wandering through France was exhausting, but I hope I wasn't out for too long… I'll start getting out of shape!"
"No, wait. France?"
"Hm? Don't tell me the second Singularity has already appeared? Oh, right, you said the Crypters would handle the Sub-Singularities within the last 100 years… Wodime and Kadoc are lying there too. Did they just come back from a Sub-Singularity?"
"…You don't remember?"
"Huh? Remember what?"
"Well… actually, it might be better if you just forget it entirely."
Olga Marie Animusphere instinctively recalled that horrific death metal she had heard ten hours ago.
The individuals close to the Three Magi—the ones presumed to have hidden access to the Root's records—had slipped away quietly before it started. From beyond the speakers, a voice so wretched it could be mistaken for a dragon's death throes had erupted without pause.
If Peperoncino, having manifested his Divine Ear, hadn't risked his life to cut the microphone, the entire Chaldea staff might have fallen into comas or suffered complete mental collapses. That such a voice dared to call itself an 'Idol' was a comedy of errors in every possible way.
"Oh, and we've gained new combat assets, so go ahead and introduce yourself."
"New assets? More power for Chaldea is always good… Who is it?"
"Elizabeth Bathory and Kiyohime. Even though they were corrupted by Demon God Pillars, they apparently retained their memories of that time. For the record, Kiyohime seems to have mistaken you for the reincarnation of Anchin…"
"Yikes, seriously?"
Seeing Ritsuka's troubled expression, Olga Marie spoke firmly.
"Handle it yourself. This is a vital opportunity to bolster your forces."
"…Uuuh, fine. I got it, Director."
*
While reinforcing the roster with two Servants was undeniably good news, it was also a curse for some.
Once Bathory realized that those 'Connected Ones'—including myself—had used their own respective methods to dodge her singing, she aggressively demanded Olga Marie force us to listen. In the end, backed by the majority of the staff who wanted to share the suffering, Manaka, Aoko-nee, and I were locked in a small room to endure Bathory's 'guerrilla concert' for two hours of auditory torture (physical).
Our warden was none other than Dr. Romani. When Aoko emerged with a gaunt, hollow face, the first thing she did was seize Romani by the collar.
"You bastard! Were you trying to kill us?!"
"Hu—Huhaha! Do you see now, Magus?! This is revenge from the Head of the Medical Staff whom you kept calling a 'chicken'!"
[Yo.u.sh.all.for.get.the.last.tw.o.hou.rs.of.mem.ory.]
Unable to withstand the song, Godword chose to preserve his sanity by forcibly purging his own memories. I had used the Asura Path to modify my physical ears into soundproof dead zones, dodging the worst of the sonic bombs. In the end, the only one who had to tank Bathory's music with pure, raw parameters was Aoko-nee—which explained why the two of them were currently engaged in a frantic brawl.
"A struggle between an immortal who has experienced resurrection and a Magus who reached the Mystery of the Fifth Magic… Is this not a duel that stirs the soul?"
"…Be quiet, Godword."
At that exact moment, Aoko-nee landed a perfect German Suplex on Romani. When Romani, now trapped in a Cobra Twist, began screaming for our help… I naturally ignored him. Why show mercy to the man who subjected us to that auditory nightmare?
"By the way, I'm curious why we even went to such a comedic Singularity. Wasn't it a disturbance that would have resolved itself even if we didn't retrieve the Holy Grail?"
"That's true, but I wanted some mental upkeep. In the end, the rest of the staff had their spirits restored, didn't they?"
"A results-oriented argument, but… I suppose it's an undeniable truth. Besides, the Grail is something that should be recovered whenever possible, so you aren't wrong."
"…Anyway, where did that brat Manaka run off to? She was the only one who managed to stay hidden when the rest of us were dragged off…"
"Hm? You didn't see? Ms. Manaka was the one handling the volume control and DJing."
…Excellent. That's another reason added to the list of why Manaka Sajyou must die.
"Regardless, the next Singularity is the real problem… Of all things, it's a war of attrition between legions."
"Does it trouble you?"
"I'm worried about what kind of madness the King of Demon Gods has unleashed there. In fact, that guy himself has manifested in that era."
"Ah… You mean the one nicknamed 'Yagami-Kyubey-Kyaru-Nol'."
"…Have you been spending too much time with Ritsuka as well?"
Lev… No, Lev Lainur Flauros. I often called him 'Rafe Lainur' just to look down on him, but Ritsuka had gone several steps further, rebranding him as 'Yagami-Kyubey-Kyaru-Nol'—the ultimate fusion of traitor icons.
"The Servant lineup for the Second Singularity is just too bloated. There's a limit to how many Servants Ritsuka can maintain at once. Even if I step in, the moment it becomes a two-on-one scenario against Top-Servants, we'll be forced to focus entirely on escaping."
"What if we defeat the Servants individually before taking on Lev, just like before?"
"He's one of the 72 Demon God Pillars; he won't be that easy to handle."
"And we must account for the 'final trump card' he might summon."
The Roman Singularity, honestly, was the highest in difficulty—excluding the outlier Seventh Singularity and the Sixth Singularity, which had morphed into a literal Lostbelt-tier threat.
A flood of enemy Servants and the half-insane support character, 'Emperor Nero'… Considering that this world was already deviating in various ways from the knowledge I possessed, there was a high possibility this Singularity was twisted in the worst possible way.
"Godword, in your opinion, what's the worst-case scenario?"
"Mmm~ The rebel alliance led by Boudica is annihilated, and the Roman army is pushed back so far they're making a desperate final stand at the last wall? While the Emperor Alliance has the real Roman army surrounded and Lev Lainur prepares to summon the 'Ultimate Weapon'…?"
"No, that's just the 'worst' we hope for. The real worst-case is different."
"…Wait, wasn't that 'emergence' abandoned?"
"You know the Beasts operate in a chain reaction. Emperor Nero's nature is essentially that of a Beast larva. If she's provoked further…"
"It will become a nightmare."
My nightmare scenario was as follows:
Boudica's Britannian forces are in an absolute blood-feud with Nero's side, and Nero has awakened as a Beast. If those two conditions were met, our chances of victory would drop to a despairing low.
"Well, in the end, we won't know until we see it through to the finish."
"True. Who knows? Just like that pile of mud did, they might fabricate a false criminal or spout nonsense to induce corruption."
Just then, Romani's voice—presumably having escaped the Cobra Twist—rang out from the speakers in the command room.
[A Singularity has been detected. The era and location: Ancient Rome, Europe, 1st Century.]
"Phew, well, that's a relief."
"What is?"
"The fact that the order of the Singularities hasn't changed. If Tiamat suddenly appeared before us now, we wouldn't have a prayer of stopping her, would we?"
Indeed, while there were countless ways to restore a Singularity… the Absolute Demonic Front and the Temple of Time, where the only exceptions known as 'Beasts' resided, desperately required the help of allies. These were cases where one could never succeed alone; where the assistance of others was mandatory…
"Anyway, I'll head out with Ritsuka. I'm counting on you for the Proof of Existence, Godword."
"The feeling is mutual. I shall leave the field work in your hands."
Now then, let us slowly draw up a plan.
Knowing Lev, he likely played all sorts of tricks on the Singularity… turning all the soldiers into undead, perhaps, or turning Alexander into Iskandar and flanking him with Zhuge Liang—the 'Great Big Ben London Star.' Does it not count since Waver is here in Chaldea? Well, if he insists it's a Waver from a parallel world, it would be possible anyway.
'Ultimately, the key is to advance while mediating between Nero and Boudica to form an alliance. In terms of priority, the Roman side is higher… which means I have to charm that damn "Umu" Emperor.'
Other complex thoughts drifted before my eyes like they were swimming through my brain matter.
The hostile Servants summoned in the Second Singularity, the allies, the parameters, the people to take along… However, much to my regret, I had to scrap every single one of those plans less than ten minutes later.
"The state of the Singularity is incredibly unstable… If we Rayshift to a single point, Alaya will interpret the recoil as an antagonistic Servant summoning."
"That's ridiculous… An antagonistic entity to us would be…"
"Since we are of the Lawful Good alignment, they would likely be Chaotic Evil."
"Can't we just suppress them quickly?"
"You say that, but things like Gilles de Rais would start popping out everywhere. Seriously."
"…That was a slip of the tongue."
Romani enlarged the map of the Singularity and pointed out two locations.
"First, this area. It's the capital of Rome and a location where we detect a Magical Energy wavelength likely belonging to the most important individual. The other is a Northwest region in France—Brittany—where the Magical Energy is weaker, but a few Servants are present. To maintain the balance of the Singularity, two people must travel to these different locations simultaneously."
"No problem with meeting up later?"
"Probably. As long as you don't drop a meteor and rewrite history by massacring civilians or something."
"Whatever, where are the locations?"
As Olga Marie cut him off, Romani answered.
"The first is the capital of the Ancient Roman Empire… the second is Brittany, at the extreme edge of the Roman Empire. Who's going where?"
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