"You'll have to get used to it. That guy has probably found a new world to play in again."
Medea explained that Jiang You's disappearances were normal. With so many Worldlines, if they didn't have a specific way to contact him, they might never see him again unless he chose to reappear. Just like now—after dropping her off in this world, he hadn't come back for her. That idiot Jason is probably thrilled, she fumed. When I get back, I'll definitely teach him a proper lesson.
"He has the attention span of a goldfish for most things, always acting on a whim. I'm waiting for him to take me back too."
"If it's just about sending Miss Medea back," Prisma Illya offered, "I might be able to do that."
Prisma Illya paused to think. As a Miko of the Outer God, she had indeed gained some special abilities—like a weakened version of the Duel City Noble Phantasm and the power to transport people to "the Library."
"Who are you going to get to send me back?" Medea asked, swirling the blue liquid in her flask. The ability to traverse worlds wasn't just rare; it was practically one in a million. Besides Jiang You, the only other person she knew for certain who possessed such power was the Kaleidoscope. Medea highly doubted Prisma Illya had a way to contact him.
"Me, of course," Prisma Illya said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Wait... hold on! When did you learn the Second Magic?!"
Medea, who had been brewing a magic potion, nearly dropped the alchemical(?) flask in her hands.
"Parallel world travel isn't something simple! You couldn't do this two days ago, could you?"
Just a few days earlier, she had been training Prisma Illya herself. She had a rough idea of the girl's capabilities. While Prisma Illya retained some superhuman abilities from her time as a Lesser Grail vessel, she was nowhere near the level of True Magic. The gap between them was immense. Medea felt like she had missed several hundred chapters of the story.
"I did just learn it two days ago," Prisma Illya confirmed.
It was when she formed the contract with Jiang You and became his miko. "I'm the Miko of the Outer God now, right? This is one of the abilities he granted me."
Medea suddenly recalled Jiang You mentioning the other day that he had discovered his True Name: Azathoth. The name was outside her sphere of knowledge, so she had specifically looked up related legends. She found it was an alien god from modern science fiction—if it could even be called a god. Typically, such beings lacked sufficient legendary status and were unlikely to exist in reality. Even if one manifested as a Heroic Spirit for some reason, its power would be severely diminished. Yet, the extent of Jiang You's influence on the rules of reality was now comparable to Brahmastra. It seemed this "Azathoth" was terrifyingly real.
"This is... absurd," Medea murmured.
While it wasn't the full authority of the Second Magic (which could manipulate the power of parallel worlds), the ability to travel between worlds was still an incredibly rare and sought-after power. "Is Jiang You still looking for more mikos?"
Gaining such power seemed far too easy. If it were anyone else, Medea would have been wary of hidden consequences. But with Jiang You, they were already familiar. The guy was always blunt and straightforward when ordering people around, which ironically meant he wasn't one for scheming.
Prisma Illya considered the requirements for becoming a Miko of the Outer God. Medea definitely didn't qualify, but spelling out the reasons would make things awkward, so Prisma Illya could only offer a strained laugh in response.
Medea was no fool; she immediately understood Prisma Illya's unspoken meaning. She didn't press the issue. Following Jiang You had already allowed her to meet numerous legendary figures, even learn some Paradise Magic from Britain's Grand Candidate, not to mention collecting precious materials only obtainable in the Age of Gods. Meeting Jiang You had been a great opportunity for her. Speaking of which, she recalled, Jiang You mentioned Chaldea has a former Grand Caster, didn't he? I should pay them a visit sometime.
"Alright, in that case, could I trouble you to send me back, Miss Illya? I've been away for a while, and that guy is probably going to bankrupt my shop."
As Fuyuki's largest model and card shop, Medea's store had always struggled with revenue. She suspected it was her employees' fault. What will they do now that I, the backbone of the operation, am gone?
"What about you two?" she asked the others. "Will you stay here and wait for Jiang You to return, or come back with me?"
The other servants who had followed them from the Fifth Holy Grail War in Fuyuki were Medusa and White Lancer Artoria. The three of them usually operated together.
"I'll go back too," Medusa said, standing up. "I haven't been back to see Sakura in a long time. I'm worried about her."
"Actually, over there, you're the one she takes care of, aren't you?" Medea teased with a smile. Although Medusa looked more mature, she was actually the type to be easily led. In that regard, Sakura Matou was more like the elder, especially when it came to housework.
Medusa didn't reply, simply turning her head away. Back in Fuyuki, life now revolved around Duels. Most people stood no chance against Sakura Matou's Gorgon Sisters Deck. Medusa used to be summoned occasionally for Duels, but it had been days since she'd been called forth in card form. This meant that Medusa, originally Sakura's bodyguard, had even less to do. Admitting this herself was too embarrassing. Thankfully, her blindfold hid her expression from the others.
"I'll stay," White Lancer Artoria said, shaking her head. Jiang You had brought her along for the ride, so it didn't matter where she was. Besides, her strong sense of responsibility kicked in. "There are still two unstable individuals here. I need to keep an eye on them."
"You are indeed strong. Even with my territory fully prepared, I might not be your match."
Medea was a rather arrogant character—she was the type to tell modern mages they weren't even in the same dimension as her (only to be held off for ages by a high school student using Jewel Magic). For her to say this was already high praise.
"But against those two," she continued, "do you really stand a chance?"
Just Nero alone, while not even acting maliciously (probably), had nearly destroyed all of Fuyuki when she deployed her Noble Phantasm. The three Servants—Medea, Medusa, and White Lancer Artoria—had failed to subdue her even when they actively attacked. Thus, Medea was extremely pessimistic about what White Lancer Artoria could accomplish.
"But someone has to do it, right?" White Lancer Artoria replied with a smile. She had always been this stubborn. In essence, she was no different from her sword-wielding counterpart—even when she knew the path was impossible, she had to walk it.
"Hey, hey, why so gloomy? I'm still here, you know!"
Prisma Illya puffed out her flat chest. Jiang You had given her the authority to manage the two Praetors. If they misbehaved, she could just slap an Elder Sign on their heads—it was her Imperial Sword.
"Since everything's decided, let's get going."
Prisma Illya actually found her ability quite novel and wanted to use it from time to time. However, with her current magical power reserves, she couldn't use it many times a day—completely unlike Jiang You, who used it so casually it seemed he didn't need magical power at all.
"?"
Watching Prisma Illya take her hand, Medea had expected them to switch worlds in the blink of an eye, just like with Jiang You.
"Of course it's not as convenient as when he does it," Prisma Illya explained. "After all, I'm just borrowing his power. I still need a medium."
She patted the doorknob, then pushed the door open. "Alright, welcome to your world-hopping journey!"
Beyond the door wasn't the expected hallway, but a vast, open space. Countless bookshelves filled every inch of their vision. Upon closer inspection, many of them even defied gravity, floating suspended in the air.
"Honestly, this scene gives me a very bad feeling."
A Magus's unique intuition kicked in. Although the space resembled a library, Medea could tell at a glance that this area was functionally no different from a Magus's territory. Traces of spells she couldn't recognize permeated the entire space, making her think that even Merlin's Avalon might not be much more impressive than this.
"This space... is very similar to Nero's Noble Phantasm."
"They're both creations from the same pantheon, so it's normal for them to be similar."
Prisma Illya didn't think much of it. After all, she was already Jiang You's miko. Even other Outer Gods were practically allies.
"This Library is Jiang You's unique world," she explained. "From here, you can travel to any world he's visited before. Of course, you still need to check in with the administrator. Don't worry, the librarian sister here is very easy to talk to."
This time, Medea didn't refuse. Filled with curiosity, she stepped into the Library, a place brimming with irrationality.
"A separate world?"
Medea looked at the floating windows. They weren't attached to any walls but existed independently. Outside, the world was so vast and empty that only a lake's surface and a cloudless sky were visible.
"Creating a separate transit hub just for world-hopping... What an extravagance."
"This world exists simply because he thought it was a reasonable idea," Bubble interjected with a smile, flipping through a book. "The reason he had for creating this world... I think you'd be quite surprised if you knew the truth."
"Since you've put it that way, I suppose we're not qualified to know the truth, are we?"
Medea found it dull. If you can't say it, don't bring it up. It only makes my curiosity run wild.
"You'll have the chance to know," Bubble said with a meaningful smile. "And that chance shouldn't be far off."
Meanwhile, Prisma Illya, acting as their guide, wandered through the Library and found her long-lost "sister."
"Kuro! I've been looking for you everywhere! So this is where you were! I should have guessed—you're a miko too, so you can come here. Do you have any idea how worried I was when I couldn't find you, Kuro?"
Since this version of Kuro hadn't caused her any trouble, Prisma Illya held no grudge against her. Instead, she felt a bit of sympathy. Plus, since they were essentially the same person, Prisma Illya felt a strong sense of kinship with Kuro and naturally took on the role of an older sister, concerned for her well-being.
At that moment, Chloe was playing video games on the sofa with Abby. Although officially registered with Chaldea, Abby lived here whenever she wasn't needed there. Being closer to her "Mother," Bubble, brought her great peace of mind.
"What do you want?"
Chloe didn't even look up, her eyes glued to the screen in front of her.
"Take this! And this! Alright, I win again!"
"Uu~"
Abby let out a frustrated whimper. As a Servant from the Middle Ages, she wasn't very good at these kinds of games.
"Besides," Kuro finally turned to face Prisma Illya, "shouldn't I be the original personality? Even if we're sisters, that would make me the older one."
"No, I'm the older sister!"
Children can be stubborn about such things, always wanting to claim seniority.
"You were born from me! That makes me the older one!"
"But wouldn't that usually be a mother-daughter relationship?" Abby raised her hand to speak. Being born from someone's body... that doesn't sound like sisters at all, does it?
"Stay out of this!"
Hit with a double rejection, Abby weakly retreated to a corner.
Prisma Illya decided not to dwell on the topic and shifted to what she really cared about. "Kuro, aren't you coming home with me?"
"That place... isn't really my home, is it?"
Chloe's expression darkened as well. Her memories were almost identical to Prisma Illya's; only their personalities differed. "Like you said, I'm just your former personality—the part that was sealed away and abandoned. Jiang You promised to take me in. This is his territory, so it's my home now."
Though Chloe was slightly annoyed that Jiang You hadn't paid much attention to her lately, Bubble had stepped in to fulfill his duties. The world of the Library was very simple—in other words, highly malleable. Bubble had created a special room just for her, nearly identical to Prisma Illya's own. So, Chloe didn't really have much to complain about.
"See? I can do whatever I want here. I can play games all day and don't even have to go to school."
"That does sound nice..."
Hearing "no school," Prisma Illya's expression briefly flickered with envy before shame quickly took over.
"That's not right! If you don't go to school, you'll become a delinquent! That's unacceptable!"
Abby felt as if she'd just been caught in the crossfire for no reason.
"Use your brain. In our condition, can we really hold down normal jobs?"
Chloe rolled her eyes. Logically, our abilities should be identical, so why does she seem so dense?
"School might be useful for you, but it's completely useless for me..."
"But you have to think about the future, right? Are you just going to spend the rest of your life here like this?"
Prisma Illya's mindset wasn't much different from a normal person's; she believed people always had to look forward.
"What's so bad about this?"
Even as she said it, Chloe thought it over. Her wish to act independently had been granted, but she hadn't really planned for the future. Just like Prisma Illya, Chloe changed the subject. "Anyway, what are you doing here?"
"Jiang You hasn't shown up in a long time, and we don't know which world he's in now. Miss Medea and Miss Medusa needed to go back to see someone, so I brought them here," Prisma Illya explained.
"Speaking of which, don't you guys find it strange?"
Chloe stroked her chin. This question had been bothering her for two days.
"Miss Librarian can send us to any Worldline, but Jiang You doesn't exist in any of them. As Jiang You's miko, we should be able to go to any place he's ever been. So the question is, where is he now?"