After finishing their exploration of the control room, the group temporarily retreated to the church to rest and further organize the information they had gathered.
"When we came back, we checked out a few other spots too. Everything was basically spotless. Aside from the residual mana left after the Servants' battles, there was nothing," Shiomi said. "We searched this church as well—there wasn't a single thing out of place. It's clear someone cleaned up."
As he said this, he glanced at BB, making her look rather aggrieved.
"I did take over the church and turned it into a non-combat zone, immune to attacks from hostile programs or Servants, but I didn't clean anything," BB said with her hands on her hips. "It was probably done by whoever was originally in charge of this place when it was still managing the offshore oil field."
"In charge of the church?" Artoria looked surprised. "Wasn't this place created in the Spiritron World?"
BB shook her head. "Nope. Just like the control room and the Observatory, this church was originally part of the Seraphix offshore oil facility."
That was certainly unexpected—but thinking about it, it did make sense.
"Same with Chaldea," Shiomi said with a shrug. "There are plenty of non-Magus staff there, and many of them have religious beliefs. Chaldea just doesn't have the facilities to accommodate that. That's probably why Animusphere allowed Holy Church elements to be established within a Magus base."
Morgan gently stroked her palm. "Religious faith is an important emotional support for people in isolated communities. There were likely staff here responsible for mental health care, similar to Romani."
At those words, Shiomi's eyes suddenly narrowed.
He recalled that the lingering thoughts he'd encountered in the control room had also mentioned the presence of psychological therapists.
Could there be a connection?
"More importantly—Gawain, Tristan, Suzuka Gozen—did you notice anything strange while acting as 'Guardians'?" Shiomi asked.
"I'm ashamed to say, I never even saw my Master after being summoned. At some point, I just lost control and ended up as Lady Suzuka's subordinate," said Gawain.
Tristan's account was different. "I was gravely wounded in a battle involving several Servants and lost consciousness. I thought that was it for me, but my injuries healed, and when I came to, I was in the same situation as Gawain."
Everyone's attention naturally shifted to Suzuka, who looked clearly annoyed.
"I'd like to know too! These two just showed up out of nowhere, and then some broadcast said they were reinforcements for me…"
"Then why did you become a 'Guardian'? Was it that same broadcast that changed your authority?" Shiomi asked again.
"Of course it was…" Suzuka suddenly paused and instinctively touched her head. "Huh? That's weird… Why can't I remember how it happened?"
She had clear memories of being summoned and acting as a "Guardian" afterwards.
But the moment she became a "Guardian"... she couldn't recall it at all.
"It's impossible to figure out, no matter how hard you think. SE.RA.PH might look like a purely digital city hosting a fake Holy Grail War," BB said, "but its core has already fallen into the hands of a Beast who's been hiding its identity all along."
Shiomi shared a similar view. "Looks like the Beast went to great lengths to erase any trace of itself, ensuring a smooth transformation without any interference."
"Who exactly is this Beast...?" Shiomi couldn't help but dwell on the question.
But the Beast had seized the upper hand—sealing off SE.RA.PH in a short span of time, avoiding Mooncell's observation, and anticipating Chaldea's Rayshift and restoration efforts. Its response had been nearly flawless.
The church, the control room, and the celestial room—three places not yet converted into digital space—stood out as particularly important.
But then, why weren't those areas also transformed to match the rest of SE.RA.PH?
A trap?
The thought made Shiomi wary.
Then he sat up straight and looked at everyone.
"After the exploration of the control room and the intense battle, everyone's worn out. Especially those of you who were originally part of the 'Guardians'—even if Servants don't need sleep, you still need to rest."
The truth was, the pressure on them had been immense. Without Shiomi's intervention, they likely would've been wiped out in that fight.
Artoria had even faced the harsh choice of striking down her former comrades.
Even so, neither Gawain nor Tristan would have blamed their king.
"In six—no, eight hours, we'll follow the intel from Passionlip and look for the path to the celestial room," Shiomi continued. "If the Beast went so far as to hide the route, it means the place is critical. Even if we don't encounter the Beast directly, we should at least find some clues it left behind."
"No, we're not that—" Gawain tried to decline and offered to take watch outside with Tristan.
After all, with two Guardians lost already, the Beast pulling the strings behind this fake Holy Grail War wouldn't stay quiet.
"Gawain, Tristan, this is a command from the Master. You'd best follow it," Artoria reminded them. "Exhausted knights have no place on the battlefield. Or do you intend to stay behind and guard the church instead?"
Gawain was rendered speechless.
"In that case, we'll follow the will of the king and the Master and get some rest," Tristan said with a faint smile.
BB pointed to the back of the church. "There are plenty of empty rooms on the second floor. Everyone can go pick one."
"Ahh... I'm dead tired, I'm going to sleep!"
Suzuka Gozen vanished through the church doors first, followed by Gawain and Tristan.
"As expected of the King of Knights. Their loyalty to their king clearly outweighs their loyalty to Master," Scáthach teased.
"That's not true," Artoria quickly responded. "Besides—"
"Besides, I never made a temporary contract with them," Shiomi added, crossing his arms. "It's not about loyalty. We're just working together to fix the Singularity—same as we've done with every one before."
Morgan then asked, "Aren't you going to rest, Master?"
"...No. That last fight was just a warm-up." Shiomi shook his head with a smile. "And you don't have to call me 'Master' anymore. I thought we were in for a real Holy Grail War... guess I was wrong."
"Is that so? Personally, I think things are just fine as they are."
Scáthach's comment earned nods of agreement from the other two.