Boom!
Heracles's massive axe came crashing down, kicking up a dense cloud of dust that obscured everything from view.
No one could see what was happening inside that cloud, but no one believed that the supposedly "ordinary human" Ritsuka could have survived such a blow.
"It's possible… Fujimaru…?"
Selesia stared in disbelief at the spot where the weapon had fallen.
Saber, having sensed Selesia's loss of fighting spirit, stopped her own attack—she would never strike an opponent who had already been defeated.
"Wait, Selesia! Something's off!"
Meteora peered into the dust cloud. As it began to thin, her eyes went wide.
"What… what is this?!"
The dust slowly dispersed.
Ritsuka stood there unharmed, wearing a faintly mocking smile.
Heracles's enormous stone axe was frozen less than a meter above her head, blocked by something else—
a golden, ornately crafted battle axe.
This new weapon was unlike an ordinary axe—its blade was circular, allowing it to cut from any angle, with jagged spikes along the edge that would embed themselves into a target for a vicious second injury.
Following the golden axe back to its source, the group saw a blue portal open behind Ritsuka. The axe had emerged from there.
"ROOOOAAAR!!!"
A bestial roar echoed from within the portal, shaking the air.
The sound was oddly familiar to everyone present.
The owner of the roar soon emerged—
"No… way?!"
Illyasviel's eyes went wide in disbelief, and everyone else stared in shock.
The newcomer's physique was nearly identical to Heracles's, but his body was covered with crimson markings like tattoos. Around his chest hung an iron lion's head, bound in heavy chains.
It was another Heracles.
Heracles [Ascension: Stage Three] had entered the battlefield.

"Impossible?! Another Berserker?!"
Illyasviel shouted, almost shrieking.
"You fake! Knock-off! Berserker, kill him!"
"ROAR!!!"
Heracles obeyed, swinging his massive rock axe down toward the golden-axe-wielding Heracles who stood protectively before Ritsuka.
The two titans clashed, golden blade against stone, trading blows with no thought for anything else.
"What's going on? Another Heracles?"
Meteora's voice trembled.
"Is this like that fake Illya from before?!"
Ritsuka smiled.
"No, Meteora. These aren't artificially created imitations. They're the real Servants."
"Sorry I'm late!"
A sudden voice called from above. A barrage of magical blasts rained down, forcing the black-armored Berserker back several steps.
A petite figure landed lightly atop the golden-axe Heracles.
"Berserker! You were summoned here too?"
Illya beamed down at him.
"ROOOOAR!!!"
This normally mindless Berserker showed clear joy, lifting Illya onto his shoulder before turning to glare at the other Heracles and Illyasviel.
"Servant, Illyasviel von Einzbern—manifesting as Caster!"
Illya declared proudly, as if delivering a royal decree.
---
"That's the brat who beat me up last time!"
Mirokuji Yūya shouted, forcing Blitz Talker back before glancing toward Illya's side.
"I see…" Meteora sighed bitterly.
"So the mangaka didn't create an original fictional scenario—they drew something they already knew."
"Exactly. My works, Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night, weren't things I invented. I drew them based on the Servants' own accounts."
Ritsuka smirked as she explained.
"No! That's impossible! You're saying we're the fakes?!"
Illyasviel's voice cracked with rage.
"Don't try to fool me! My Berserker is the strongest!"
She ordered another furious attack, but her Berserker couldn't break through the golden Heracles and Illya's defenses.
Ritsuka's attention was suddenly drawn away—
Magane Chikujōin had slipped out of nowhere, a wicked grin on her face.
"Hey there, Creator—or should I say, god? Whatever you are, how about we fight, just the two of us?"
Her tone dripped with mockery.
"What's the matter? Afraid? Coward!"
Ritsuka gave her a pitying look, then simply jogged back behind Heracles.
---
As the skirmishes shifted, Alicetaria, Mamika, and Illyasviel regrouped with the Military Uniform Princess. Selesia and her side didn't pursue, holding their position instead.
"Disgusting."
Magane grit her teeth at Ritsuka, then made up her mind.
"Hey, uniform girl, I'm joining your side!"
Alicetaria was about to refuse, but—
"Accepted," the Military Uniform Princess cut in.
Magane happily crossed over to their ranks.
Only Emiya and Saber remained neutral—until Ritsuka spoke.
"Hey, Saber. You remember the Knights of the Round Table, right?"
Saber found the question strange, but answered:
"Of course."
"Then you must remember Merlin too?"
"Naturally."
Ritsuka's smile twisted into something cruel.
"Then… can you describe what they look like?"
Saber froze.
She knew she had memories of them… yet she couldn't recall their faces at all.
"W-what… is this?!" She clutched her head in pain.
"Just as I thought…"
Ritsuka sighed in mock disappointment.
"You're nothing but a fake, with only the memories I drew for you—and no real ones."
Saber's expression darkened.
Without another word, she raised her invisible holy sword and leveled it at Ritsuka. Emiya sighed and summoned Kanshō and Bakuya, ready to fight as well.
Ritsuka's smile widened—her plan had worked.
"Great… now they've got even more people than us!"
Selesia groaned.
"Looks like we've got the numbers advantage now."
Illyasviel smirked.
"If we're fakes, all we have to do is destroy the real ones—and then we'll be the genuine article."
"What do we do now, White-Haired Girl?!"
Mirokuji complained to Meteora.
"I'm not Doraemon! I've got no solution for this either—they're all stubborn fighters!"
Meteora was equally exasperated.
"Don't worry, Meteora."
Ritsuka's smile didn't falter.
"I'll give you a solution."
She stepped to the front of her group and shouted toward the sky:
"Doctor! If you don't come out now, I'm going to eat all the cake you've got hidden in the fridge!"
At that very moment, in a government control room—
"Chief! We've detected an extremely high anomalous energy spike at the combat site! And it's still climbing! Something huge is about to emerge!"
Kikuchihara quickly ordered an evacuation and perimeter lockdown, then called Meteora.
"We've picked up abnormal readings—something massive might appear. Please be careful—Meteora?!"
But Meteora was staring, stunned—
As was everyone else—
at the sky above them.
---
A massive rift had torn open in the heavens.
From within descended a gigantic dark mass…
No—
it was seven floating islands, bound together by countless red-black tendrils, six of them encircling a central temple.
Slowly, the colossal structure lowered into view.
"What the hell is that?!"
The Military Uniform Princess was the first to regain her voice, shouting at Ritsuka.
But Ritsuka ignored her, raising her voice in a chant:
"O glory of humanity, gather in the temple; shadow of the guardian, vanish into the snowy peaks—
This is…"
"The reclamation of our future!"
The Organization for the Preservation of Human Order—Chaldea—has arrived in this world!