The glow of Excalibur dimmed.
The blinding radiance of the Promised Sword of Final Hope ebbed away, its towering form shrinking until only the familiar, regal blade remained—the one wielded by the King of Knights herself.
Ritsuka looked at it with a quiet smile, his eyes soft.
"It's been a while… AA. And Castoria."
The sword pulsed.
Light bloomed from its edge, spilling across the fractured battlefield—and in the next instant, two figures stood before him.
One in shining silver armor, eyes resolute yet warm—Artoria Avalon.
The other in flowing robes of azure and white, staff in hand, her gaze gentle yet unyielding—Artoria Caster.
Ritsuka's smile widened, boyish and unguarded.
"Welcome home. I'm your one and only weak Master."
For a heartbeat, both Artorias simply stared.
And then—
"Ritsuka—!!"
They spoke in perfect unison, voices trembling, before dashing toward him with terrifying speed.
"Wha—!?" Ritsuka barely had time to react before the impact hit like a Noble Phantasm.
The breath was knocked from his lungs as they collided, the three of them tumbling back across the broken ground.
Somehow, he managed to stay upright, arms instinctively wrapping around them. They were impossibly light—like holding the very concept of "home" in his grasp.
But there was… one problem.
"A–AA? Castoria? This is… really sudden! And… wait—you both smell way too nice. Did you just come out of a bath or something!?"
Two sharp voices snapped back at once—
"Stupid Ritsuka!" "Geez, you're really so stupid!"
Avalon's glare was fierce, though her voice shook.
Caster's cheeks puffed in frustration, but her eyes were shimmering.
"I was so, so worried!"
"Yet you just go and—ugh! Stupid! Stupid stupid!"
"Wow… you're really going for a new world record with that word. I can't even make excuses…" Ritsuka muttered awkwardly.
"You should have summoned us away before!" Avalon shot back.
"I didn't want to drag you both into any burdens," he replied softly, tightening his arms around them.
"Being with you is enough for us," Caster said firmly.
"Stop taking everything on yourself," Avalon added, her voice lowering. "I can't watch you suffer from the sidelines anymore. From now on… we face everything together."
Ritsuka froze for a moment, caught between their widened eyes and the warmth pressing into his chest.
His heart was pounding so fast it made his words stumble.
Finally, he exhaled, stepping back just enough to rest his hands on their shoulders, looking from one to the other.
"…I'm sorry for making you worry. But… you came back to me." His voice dropped to a near whisper. "That's… the best thing I could ask for."
He straightened, a flicker of determination replacing the exhaustion in his gaze.
"So… let's live anew. Let's start a new journey in this world. Together. And this time… I want to introduce you both to my friends."
Avalon's lips curved into the faintest smile.
Caster's eyes softened even further.
And for the first time since the battle began, Ritsuka felt like the world—whatever it had become—was a place worth walking forward in.
The air shuddered.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the endless white void—groaning, twisting, threatening to tear reality apart.
"Aa," Ritsuka murmured, watching the fractures spread.
Artoria Avalon's expression was sharp, her armored hand reaching for his.
"We need to get out. Now."
Castoria's brows furrowed, her voice tinged with unease.
"We… we don't have the right magecraft for long-range teleportation."
Ritsuka's lips curved into a faint, dangerous smile.
"With both of you here… I can summon someone who does."
Avalon's gaze softened.
"…I can help you, Ritsuka."
Caster glanced away, a flush creeping up her cheeks.
"Tch… I suppose it can't be helped. We'll need… our rival's help."
The void groaned again, each crack widening, spilling black nothingness into the battlefield. Time was bleeding away.
Without hesitation, Ritsuka knelt. His gloved palm pressed against the frigid surface beneath them.
From the shadows at his feet, something stirred—rising slowly like a heartbeat breaking the surface of water.
A fragment of the Cosmic Cube emerged, glowing with an otherworldly blue light, its surface rippling like liquid starlight.
The very air thickened.
Magic saturated every breath.
Castoria's staff lowered, her eyes narrowing as she felt it.
"…This magic… it's ancient."
Ritsuka's hand hovered over the Cube. His voice dropped to a steady murmur—calm, yet so heavy with intent that the fractured dimension itself seemed to hold its breath.
"Heed my words.
My will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny.
If you heed the world's call, then follow humanity's path… and answer me.
O Servants…
Who once walked with me through Hell and Heaven…
Come forth once more.
Walk with me again…
As Guardians of Humanity!"
The bond of Avalon and Castoria—fairies of paradise, connection effected the Cube's pulse, amplifying the connection, sharpening the path between worlds.
The fragment flared.
White-hot light erupted outward, distorting the void around them until the cracks warped into jagged spirals.
The brilliance was so intense that even Avalon turned her head, eyes narrowing against the glare.
Reality… broke.
From within the rift, a silhouette emerged—elegant, commanding, unmistakable.
The light faded, and there she stood—Morgan le Fay, Queen of the Fae, her regal presence cutting through the chaos like the edge of a blade.
Her eyes found Ritsuka first.
For an instant, all the storms in the void fell silent beneath that gaze, filled with warmth… and love.
But then she spotted Avalon and Castoria.
Her expression shifted, sharp as a sword's point.
"Husband," Morgan said, her voice cool but edged with possessive pride, "I understand. Leave this to your capable wife—unlike the boar clan fairy."
"…B-Boar!?" Castoria's face turned crimson, her voice pitching up in outrage.
Before she could launch a rebuttal, dark clouds burst from Morgan's fingertips, swallowing the collapsing void whole.
With a single sweep of her hand, the magic consumed them.
The shattered dimension fell away, the phoenix's battlefield dissolving into nothingness—
—and the three ...Artorias, Ritsuka, and Morgan vanished into the veil.
---
The Void Dimension—a realm without horizon, without up or down, where time was a suggestion and distance an illusion.
Here, the very notion of existence bent and trembled.
Six silhouettes stood in a perfect circle, though none cast shadows.
The Living Tribunal towered at the center, his three faces—Equity, Vengeance, Necessity—gazing into infinity.
To his right drifted Eternity, his form a swirling cosmos of stars and nebulae. Opposite him shimmered Infinity, her translucent outline filled with the endless sprawl of space.
Between them pulsed Death, robed in stillness.
Oblivion—more absence than figure—absorbed what little light dared touch him.
And standing like a jagged fracture between order and chaos was the In-Betweener.
For a time, there was no sound. Only the silent hum of the Void.
Then—
"...Someone killed Phoenix?"
The In-Betweener's voice cracked the stillness, sharp and unyielding. His mismatched eyes gleamed with suspicion.
"Killed Phoenix," he repeated, the word killed laced with a mix of disbelief and barely restrained anger.
The Tribunal did not look at him. His gaze seemed fixed on realities unseen.
When he finally spoke, his voice echoed with the weight of omnipotent judgment.
"Phoenix… has not truly died. Her egg rests in Universe 616. In time—years, perhaps—she will hatch. And she will seek… retribution."
The words rippled through the assembly.
Even among these titans, the notion of Phoenix being felled—even temporarily—was not an ordinary matter.
Eternity's voice resonated like a chorus of galaxies.
"Only a handful across all of creation could strike her down, even in part. Who possesses such force?"
The In-Betweener's gaze slid toward the formless figure at the edge of the circle.
"This reeks of your work," he said coldly. "Doesn't it… Oblivion?"
Eyes turned—if such beings could be said to have eyes—to the silent void-being.
Death's tone was calm, surgical.
"…Explain."
Oblivion remained as he always was—indistinct, unreadable, an absence where comprehension went to die.
The In-Betweener's lips curled.
"Do you want me to say it? Fine. I will." His words were venom.
"It's Oblivion doing. Or should I call him by his old human name… RITSUKA FUJIMARU."
The silence was no longer passive—it was suffocating.
Eternity and Infinity stirred, their cosmic forms shifting as they weighed the accusation.
The In-Betweener did not stop. His voice grew louder, sharper, accusing.
"He's hiding something. He Sent his clone—a fragment with the same annihilating potential he wields—to strike her down. This clone is another avatar of Oblivion, like the Chaos King before him. And both hail… from Japan. Seems he likes that damn place even now."
His mismatched eyes narrowed, full of grim certainty.
"This clone—Fujimaru—will not stop. He will destroy the Multiverse. I say we erase him now… and strip Oblivion of his freedom forever."
Every gaze turned to the figure of pure absence.
The embodiment of nothingness stood unmoving—until, at last, something flickered at the edges of his void form.
A whisper, like the sound of a dying star, left him.
" I'm Oblivion."
---
Note: actually those 3 chapters are one chapter but it was very long so I have cut into 3 chapters. Oblivion is Ritsuka counterpart of marvel version. It's just a backstory I created and this is the reason why they resemble eachother. I do not want to spoil more and don't ask me about this.
Ritsuka summon Castoria, AA and Morgan.
Few Og cast come to the story.
I promise you I will do my best to make good lovely dovely story between them.
And sadly I have to say you won't see any Fgo character for a very long time (expect 3 more heroines servants). So don't get your hopes high. And the reason I will reveal in next chapter which is the end of this arc.
Actually I planned to summon U-Olga but i thought she isn't necessary in this arc. But she will appear soon. She had huge role for this story. Yes, only she can do that role.