"Ahaha, sorry, sorry for the wait, everyone. Waking up the 'original master' took a bit of effort just now. After all, everyone knows how dangerous she is when she's asleep…"
Swish!
The wooden door slid open. A man in a gorgeous white robe walked in, with long, fluffy, messy hair, an inhumanly handsome face, yet always giving off a frivolous, lazy vibe, the Mage of Flowers.
"Good morning, everyone. I'm your favorite big brother Merlin~"
"Sorry for calling you all here from Chaldea this time, but in order to let the 'master's story' continue, I'll have to ask you to keep working hard."
"Alright, everyone together..."
"Let's happily destroy Human Order today too!"
"..."
Merlin was in high spirits, but aside from Professor Moriarty giving a round of applause, everyone else just stared at him coldly without saying a word.
"Wow, you're all so indifferent… Alright then, let's get straight to the point. This time the target is, eh? Is there a new Servant this time?"
"Hello, I'm the Mage of Flowers, Merlin. From which land does your hero hail?" Merlin looked at Iori, his expression slightly puzzled.
Because he found Iori very unfamiliar and couldn't identify which Heroic Spirit from human history he was. That was rare for someone with 'Clairvoyance EX'.
"Well… my name is Iori. As for where I come from…" Iori thought it over for a moment and decided it was better not to make up a story. There was no way he could fool an old fox like Merlin.
"I am indeed one of the 'dead,' and I did accomplish feats of slaying monsters and banishing evil, but I appeared here for no clear reason, and I don't even know whether I count as a Servant or not."
"Oh, oh, that kind of thing happens from time to time." Merlin said casually. "After all, the Heroic Spirit summoning system is basically a pile of spaghetti code. Bugs popping up is perfectly normal. We've seen all kinds of weird Servants before."
As soon as he said that, the Servants in the room all nodded in agreement.
They hadn't just seen it, some of them were victims themselves…
"But as long as you've appeared here, you're our companion~
Let's happily create Singularities together!"
"Wait! Don't say something like that so lightly!"
Iori really couldn't hold it in anymore. "Heroic Spirits… or rather, Servants, aren't you supposed to protect the world?"
"You're a very upright hero, but you're mistaken. We are protecting the world."
At that moment, a mature and gentle voice rang out. Merlin smoothly stepped aside, and a long-haired figure full of bewitching charm walked in.
"Because the only way to save Human Order is to 'destroy' it!"
She had orange hair that reached her ankles, wore a simple black-and-white academy uniform, and looked very similar to the image in Iori's memory, yet far more striking, having grown from a girl into a mature woman.
When she entered, the Servants all nodded to her in greeting, clearly showing respect. Even though Iori tried to control his expression, his pupils couldn't help but shrink.
Fujimaru Ritsuka.
Or rather, Gudako, the female protagonist from the game… But why had she become like this?
Just what kind of worldline had he crossed into?
"You seem to know me… but I can't remember who you are. I'm very sorry."
Ritsuka tidied her long hair, knelt down by the kotatsu, and gestured for Iori to sit as well. A trace of apology showed in her gentle expression.
"There are many gaps in my memories. I've forgotten quite a few bonds with Heroic Spirits… but it's not too late to start again from now."
"Hello, Iori-kun. I am Fujimaru Ritsuka, humanity's last… no, the 'original Master.'"
"The knowledge infused by the summoning system is limited, and your method of summoning was abnormal. You must have many questions, right?"
"…Yes."
Iori took a deep breath and carefully looked around at everyone in the room. "Too many…"
"Then let's start from the beginning."
Ritsuka didn't mind at all, as if she were already used to this.
"I once saved the world as Chaldea's Master and became the 'Savior of Human Order'… It's a bit embarrassing to say that myself, but it's an undeniable fact."
"However, even after I successfully defeated Goetia, the world did not continue because of it. New crises still appeared."
"Together with my companions, I once again set out on a journey to save the world, experiencing many sacrifices and witnessing countless tragedies… and in the end, we paid a tremendous price to achieve victory."
"At first, I thought that was the final trial fate had given humanity, but clearly I was wrong… After that, all kinds of crises continued to emerge. To protect the continuation of Human Order, we rose up and fought again and again…"
"It was like a Mobius loop, with no end in sight."
"And in the process, many people we were familiar with… Sorry, I don't want to talk about this part."
"It's alright. I understand how you feel." Iori frowned slightly, his emotions complicated. After all, he too had once been Chaldea's Master, albeit in a game.
"We overcame all difficulties. In fact, later on, there really were no more threats like 'Beasts' or 'Foreign Gods' appearing."
"But regrettably, even so, Human Order inevitably weakened, and the world faced an irreversible, true end…"
Ritsuka clenched her fist. "And after that, I 'woke up' in another world!"
"Another world?!" Iori was shocked by this sudden turn. "What do you mean?"
"It was another Chaldea. I reverted to the state I was in when I first arrived there. Mash, the Doctor, Da Vinci, my companions were all still alive, as if everything before had been just a dream… But I knew that it absolutely wasn't an illusion. Those things truly happened."
Fujimaru Ritsuka paused, organised her thoughts, and continued. "After that, I went through 'Human Order Incineration' once again, and then, as expected, the subsequent 'Human Order Freezing'… like a replay of the previous world."
"This time I was more experienced and had an information advantage, so I changed many tragedies and let more companions survive, but the ending was the same!"
"Even without enemy threats, Human Order still weakened and ended, and even earlier than in the previous world!"
"Even though I had made every possible preparation, the result was even worse. I almost broke down… And then, after who knows how long in a blank world, in any case, I 'woke up' for the third time."
"Ugh!" Iori stared at the orange-haired Master in shock, a terrifying guess forming in his mind.
"This kind of loop… how many times have you experienced it?"
"After a hundred times, I stopped counting. Or rather, even if I wanted to remember, I couldn't anymore."
Ritsuka smiled faintly, as if she didn't care, but Iori was already stunned by the number. The other Servants in the room also wore grim expressions.
The orange-haired Master continued calmly. "Then I discovered a pattern."
"Human Order… the story always reaches its end when there are no 'enemies.'"
"Story?"
"Yes. If you compare Human Order to a manga or a game, it becomes easy to understand."
"A manga (human history) will only be serialized by the 'Cosmic Editorial Department' if it's full of possibilities and fun. Once it becomes formulaic and loses its potential, popularity drops, and in severe cases it gets axed, that is the 'Lostbelt Pruning Phenomenon.'"
"And only manga that remains interesting and full of imagination will continue serialization and become a pillar of the Cosmic Editorial Department. That is 'Proper Human History.'"
"But then a problem arises..."
"No story can go on forever. Elementary school students grow up, boys become Pirate Kings. No matter how many exciting plot points there are, over time they inevitably converge onto a fixed timeline, that is, the 'final ending.'"
"For the story itself, a 'happy ending' where all enemies are defeated is wonderful. But for the Cosmic Editorial Department, once the story's direction is fixed, it loses interest and thus value."
"So it will try to extend it… for example, adding 'Human Order Freezing' after 'Human Order Incineration.'"
"However, this method still cannot reverse the overall trend of timeline convergence, and in the end, the story must still reach its conclusion."
"At that point, the Cosmic Editorial Department will mercilessly classify it as a 'pruning target,' turning it from Proper Human History into an abandoned Lostbelt, and finally into nothingness."
"Now you understand, right? Why no matter how many times I looped, I was never able to change the tragedy of the world's end."
Ritsuka showed a helpless, self-mocking smile. "Because this is Fate!"
"…That really is a heavy story."
Iori let out a long breath. Even though he wasn't a firsthand witness, he still felt deeply weighed down.
"Then what are you all doing now?"
"I haven't given up~!"
Despite everything she had been through, Ritsuka's smile was still full of energy.
"Somewhere along the way, I gained the ability to observe other worldlines and see another 'me.'"
"And then I understood that Proper Human History has countless parallel worldlines. Each worldline has a Chaldea, and each has a 'Fujimaru Ritsuka.'"
"They also experience those events, but the choices they make at key points differ. Some succeed, some fail, and the Proper Human History they belong to continues or perishes accordingly."
"I, who endlessly loop, am just an anomaly. Most 'Fujimaru Ritsukas' don't get a second chance."
"So I came up with an idea."
"I'll become their 'enemy'!"
"I'll continuously create Singularities and Lostbelts, keeping their Human Order constantly in crisis, so that their stories can continue forever!"
"This is the only way I could think of to save the world… That even the Heroic Spirits would support such madness, really, I'm sorry to them…"
"..."
Iori was silent for a long time. Then he suddenly looked straight at Ritsuka and asked an abrupt question.
"Right now… what exactly are you?"
"I am Fujimaru Ritsuka, Chaldea's original Master."
She smiled mysteriously and gently. "And also an unofficial 'Beast', the first and also last Evil (Love) of Humanity."
"The Beast of Continuation."
"That really is… an identity that's unexpected, yet somehow makes perfect sense." Iori said with deep emotion, his eyes unconsciously showing a hint of regret.
Then he saw a slender arm reach out, covered in Command Spells and seemingly wrapped in karmic flames.
"Are you willing to 'destroy Human Order' together with me, this Evil of Humanity, Iori-kun?"
"I…"
Iori hesitated for a moment, then slowly raised his hand.
Iori agreed, but not completely.
From a personal standpoint, he wanted to stand on Ritsuka's side and lend a hand. Stirring up trouble everywhere would also let him farm more CGs, which aligned well with his own interests.
But aside from occasionally getting hot-headed in battle, Iori had always been someone who planned before acting. Faced with the current situation, he had to recall his original purpose.
He was here for a firepower reconnaissance. This trip across worlds was never meant to involve deep exploration.
And why was he being so cautious?
Because the Type-Moon setting ran too deep for him to grasp.
Next door, Akame ga Kill and Bleach both had very clear power ceilings and plot trajectories. Facing those known antagonists, Iori felt he had some confidence. But over here in Type-Moon… uncontrollable factors could pop up way too easily.
With Iori's current strength, even participating in an ordinary Holy Grail War required extreme caution, let alone dealing with this 'Beast of Continuation' and her multiverse-scale scenario…
Unlike those Servants who could repeatedly get back up after dying, he wasn't recorded on the Throne of Heroes. If he died, he'd be dead for real.
So verbally, Iori was very restrained. He was willing to cooperate with Gudako and provide whatever help he reasonably could.
But since he was a "phantasmal spirit," with no official slot on the Throne of Heroes and no chance to start over, he would not go to those utterly outrageous worldlines.
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