"Huff... viewers, welcome to Fuyuki City Television! Today is February... w—ahhh—!"
A hurried, tense voice, panting heavily.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Deafening explosions came in rapid succession. Viewers watching the Fuyuki City broadcast suddenly saw the screen violently flung upward, the image instantly losing focus as the camera frame visibly shook.
Very quickly, the image rose again and refocused.
"This is Fuyuki City Television. We interrupt with breaking news: Fuyuki City has suffered a war-level terrorist attack. According to eyewitness reports, a massive, colorful vortex resembling a spatial wormhole has appeared near the residential district in the city's northwest corner. Aliens have landed on Earth!!"
The words were delivered at incredible speed in one breath. Before the young female reporter—her uniform stained with dust, clutching a microphone, face pale with fear—could catch her breath and continue...
"Run—! Monsters!"
"Alien monsters! They're coming!!"
Cries for help, screams, and curses intertwined into a heart-wrenching chorus, merging with the explosions. The overwhelming noise drowned out the reporter's voice, turning the broadcast audio into a distorted crackle of static.
The next moment, a massive glowing blue fluid mass wrapped in arcs of electricity descended from the sky, crashing into the distant street already clogged with abandoned vehicles.
BOOM—!
Crackling plasma poured out, smoke billowed instantly, and flames engulfed everything. Wherever the shockwave reached, devastation followed—houses collapsed, and the roads turned into scorched wasteland.
The explosion was immense. Even the live broadcast image began to fracture. Mud and debris splattered everywhere, covering fleeing civilians—and the reporter herself—in filth.
But at this point, no one cared about appearances.
The broadcast camera, too heavy to carry, was abandoned by the cameraman and slammed onto the ground. The image became increasingly blurred and fragmented.
Though the host was gone and the angle was poor, viewers could clearly see thick smoke filling every corner of the screen.
The increasingly frantic crowd rushed past the camera, fleeing in all directions, until the shattered street became completely empty—silent except for distant explosions and the ever-approaching inhuman roars.
As the news spread, more and more people tuned in to Fuyuki City Television. They stared without blinking at the modern city descending into chaos within mere moments, subconsciously holding their breath.
Clang... drip...
Soon, several dark figures rose into view. Heavy impacts shook the ground, cracking it open. Violent shockwaves carried gravel and debris that struck the camera with sharp rattles. The alien war machines roaring past deeply shocked every viewer.
"ROAR!"
Accompanied by a beastly howl, a non-human foot stepped in front of the camera—two-toed, covered in brown, hardened keratin skin, layered with tight dark-blue armor.
The next moment, the camera shook, revealing a terrifying face with four-part lips.
Crack!
"Report to the commander—the expulsion operation is complete."
Sparks flickered as fragments of the broken camera slipped from the claws of the Sangheili field commander.
"Yes!"
Meanwhile, along the southern coast of Fuyuki City, Sangheili forces deployed Type-32 'Ghost' high-speed assault vehicles, Type-48 'Wraith' light artillery tanks, and Type-29 'Banshee' air support fighters streaking across the sky.
At Fuyuki Port, all docked coastal patrol vessels—and even some resupplying naval ships—were destroyed, as towering flames engulfed the harbor.
At this moment, a squad of Sangheili elites had already infiltrated the seabed, heading directly toward the submarine communication cables connecting Fuyuki City to the world's telephone and internet networks.
In the dim ocean depths, the blue blade of a Type-1 double-edged energy sword ignited, slicing through layers of seabed mud and coral to expose the buried communication cable beneath.
"This is the spot."
In the lead commander's hand was a syringe filled with a dense, eerie purple-red crystalline solution.
After piercing through the cable's outer armor and multiple inner layers, the Sangheili exchanged glances and drove their syringes into the fiber conduits—injecting.
Humm—!
In an instant, ominous purple-red luminescent patterns spread from the injection point, racing along the global communication network while simultaneously altering the surrounding underground ley line environment.
Clearly, this was a virus—an ultimate self-aware virus born from Selene's authority of erosion.
After incorporating aspects of the Authority of Reason, its capabilities far exceeded the technological limits of this world's 2004 timeline. Not only could it corrode planetary ley lines along its path, but it could also infect and control organisms, machines, networks, and signals.
With modern submarine cables transmitting data at roughly 500 Gbit per second, it would take only an instant for residents of Fuyuki and nearby cities to discover that all communication networks had completely collapsed.
Once spread, all global communication systems—satellites, signal stations, central internet servers, even secure military networks—would be compromised.
As for why this was done—it was simply Selene taking precautions against certain people in this era panicking and launching nuclear strikes the moment something beyond their control appeared.
After all, this was their stationed territory—the land of their "foolish son" that had already been bombed twice. What would a few more explosions matter to them?
With this in mind, Selene decided to clear the board first.
She had no intention of enjoying a peaceful moment—eating hot pot and singing—only to suddenly have several nuclear warheads dropped on her head while attacking Chaldea.
She had absolutely no doubt that those across the Pacific were capable of such actions.
It was only because Selene had been weakened by being converted into a Heroic Spirit and further constrained as a Servant that such measures were necessary.
If it were her true body, controlling and altering a planet's signal networks would be as simple as a single thought.
...
Chaldea Central Control Room.
"Thirteen Servants responded to the summoning immediately... unbelievable."
Looking at the screen in front of him, filled with Servant data, Romani Archaman let out a relieved smile and leaned back in his chair. He truly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thirteen in total—Saber Siegfried, Mordred; Archer Atalanta, Chiron; Lancer Karna, Vlad III; Rider Achilles, Astolfo; Caster William Shakespeare, Avicebron; Berserker Spartacus, Frankenstein; Assassin Semiramis..."
Arms crossed and index finger tapping her chin, even Da Vinci couldn't help but show a look of astonishment on her delicate face.
In the past, when Chaldea prepared Servant reinforcements for Ritsuka Fujimaru, they were always scrambling about with low efficiency. But this time, not only was the number of responders far beyond expectations, even their quality was astonishingly high.
"A dragon-slaying hero, a rebellious knight, a great hero of unmatched strength, the son of the sun god... all are exceptionally powerful figures."
"But why do they almost perfectly match the participants of the Romanian Holy Grail War that Ruler Jeanne mentioned...? And why is there only one Assassin?"
Da Vinci fell into thought.
"Spiritual resonance..."
Romani murmured softly.
"That foreign god participated in the Romanian Holy Grail War as a Rider. This time, her second descent manifests as Beast II—Tiamat, the Beast of Calamity—summoned by Lev. There must be a connection."
Originally, when Gilgamesh and Ishtar successfully descended, Romani had assumed that the next Servants responding to Chaldea's summons would be allies they had recently fought alongside—Merlin, Ana, Ushiwakamaru, Leonidas I, Benkei, Quetzalcoatl.
But from the current situation, Chaldea's Guardian Heroic Spirit Summoning System—FATE—seemed to be specifically targeting Selene. Still, that was fine. As long as the system continued functioning, Romani could prepare additional reinforcements.
BOOM—!
Just as Chaldea began to relax and carefully consider strategies against Selene—who now possessed both Avenger Gorgon and Beast II Tiamat Saint Graphs—Gilgamesh's mood was anything but pleasant.
"You foul-mouthed mongrel, I'll tear that filthy mouth of yours apart!!"
Even though they now had ample forces and could easily overwhelm her, the pride of a king made Gilgamesh disdain such tactics against this detestable woman.
After all, she dared to charge into enemy lines alone—was he supposed to cower? Such a thing was utterly intolerable to his pride.
Though he himself was dissatisfied with his past self—his so-called "Golden King" persona—he was still Gilgamesh, even as the Wise King!
Golden ripples appeared—shing shing!—
Violent explosions shook the entire building, the shockwaves nearly tearing off the roof as thick smoke filled every corner.
Clang! Clang!
With sweeping motions of her crimson-and-gold spear, Senti knocked aside the incoming Noble Phantasms and let out a disdainful snort.
"Heh, right back at you. There's an old saying in Shenzhou—children don't despise their mothers for being ugly, and dogs don't despise their homes for being poor. But you, Goldie... tsk tsk."
Unaware that the "Golden King" had already become the Wise King, Senti continued mocking Gilgamesh using his past humiliation from his battle with the Church.
Back then, upon sensing the divine aura from Senti and Fu Hua, Gilgamesh had immediately started hurling insults, ridiculing them endlessly. Naturally, Senti had also sensed the so-called divinity within him.
At the time, Gilgamesh loathed the gods—those who had killed his friend Enkidu and unleashed the Bull of Heaven upon the earth. His hatred extended even to anything bearing divinity.
That hatred ran so deep that his own Divinity had dropped from A+ to B.
Even so, as one who was "two-thirds divine and one-third human," his divinity was an unchangeable fact.
And Senti, of course, would never miss such a sore spot.
"You're the real mongrel here. You hate your own bloodline that much, and yet you still have the nerve to exist in this world?"
Holding her spear at an angle, one hand on her hip, Senti looked down at everyone before her with blatant disdain—her gaze filled with the same arrogant pity Gilgamesh himself often showed.
"Honestly, I feel sorry for your parents. They didn't do anything wrong, yet they ended up with a thankless wretch like you."
Gilgamesh froze.
In the next instant, veins bulged across his forehead, and his once peerless face twisted with fury.
At that moment, even as the Wise King, his emotions could no longer be contained.
"Woman... say that... again."
Each word was spoken slowly, his magical energy surging as golden armor materialized around him. His voice had never been colder.
"Your disrespect is enough to warrant your death a thousand times over. You mongrel—I will tear you to pieces!"
"Gilgamesh, calm down!"
Seeing an Archer preparing to charge into melee against someone who clearly resembled a Berserker, Ritsuka Fujimaru—protected behind Mash—quickly tried to stop him.
"Heh heh..."
Just as Gilgamesh teetered on the edge of losing control, the instigator suddenly flashed an infuriating crooked grin.
"Mad? Too bad—I'm not fighting you! Hahaha... I just love watching you get all worked up without being able to do anything about it."
With that, Senti glanced toward Mount Enzou, then leapt backward with a powerful jump, throwing her head back in laughter.
"Goldie, don't die too easily, alright?"
The moment her words fell, all Servants—including Gilgamesh—changed expression and instantly moved to shield Ritsuka Fujimaru.
The next moment—BOOM—!
As if responding to her words, a world-shaking explosion erupted. Mount Enzou—the highest point in eastern Fuyuki—burst apart entirely. Massive amounts of earth shot into the sky as if the land itself had overturned.
RIP—!
The binding barrier was torn apart. The dazzling crystal-like substance spreading with the explosion was like dye dropped into water, staining the sky a dim blood-red—painting it with the color of Honkai.
Under this natural disaster, there was no longer any room to stand idle. The newly summoned Servants immediately took action. Streams of magical energy shot forth, shattering the massive falling boulders like a meteor storm and firmly protecting the area.
As the even larger shadow of a god slowly rose, the Chaldea staff—who had only just calmed down—were once again thrown into panic.
"As expected... she's transforming—absorbing the mana of this era to strengthen herself."