The Inner Sea of the Planet.
Inside a garden overflowing with flowers—
"Oh my, what a rare guest. It's been a long time since anyone came here for an 'interview.' Didn't Vivian say this place was a prison no one could ever enter?"
Atop a high tower, the white-haired beauty known as Merlin slowly opened his eyes.
"It is a place no one can enter," the old man replied. "But I just so happen to no longer be human. Besides, I've visited Avalons in countless worlds. I still remember the way—add a bit of magecraft and getting in isn't difficult."
He spoke as he rummaged around inside his coat, his expression suggesting he was looking for something.
"After all, I can come and go from the Millennium Castle freely these days, can't I?"
Merlin raised an eyebrow, his gaze sharpening as it locked onto the visitor.
"About what happened at the Clock Tower… you did that on purpose, didn't you?"
It was phrased as a question, but the certainty in his tone left no room for denial.
"You mean my answer to that lemonhead from El-Melloi?" the old man said with a shrug. "What's so surprising about it? I simply gave him a bit of information he wanted."
He continued casually:
"This world is within my observation range. And that Holy Grail War system? My student built it. As an observer—Tohsaka Nagato's teacher—it's only natural I'd pay some attention."
"But compared to the cookie-cutter Grail Wars I've seen across other worlds… yours is something else entirely."
"This is the first time I've ever described a 'cup-grabbing game' with words like monsters and demons… and you people are playing way too big."
Merlin sighed, helpless.
"You're not wrong. Compared to the other worlds' Grail Wars—so repetitive I could recite them from memory—this one really has gone off the rails."
"You've staked the world itself—and the future of human order—on it."
"Everything about this worldline has become a mess."
Even someone who knew Merlin would've been shocked to see that expression on his face.
The old man nodded.
"Yes. Under normal circumstances, the 'proper' script goes like this: the first night Assassin strikes and fakes a death, Lancer and Saber duel, then you find a chance to blow up the building… lemonhead gets tricked to death by Kiritsugu Emiya…"
"Then the famous Banquet of Kings, Tokiomi Tohsaka gets backstabbed by Kirei Kotomine, Rider gets killed by Archer…"
"A story everyone has already 'appreciated' enough times."
"Sometimes special incidents tweak the plot a little, but it never strays too far."
"Only your side—your fate threads, your development—can only be called out of control."
He went on:
"I got curious, so I observed for a while. And honestly, it was worse than I expected. Whose Holy Grail War turns into this?"
"Your worldline has reset several times… and still there's no conclusion."
"And the boundary of this world is clearly cracking."
"That lemonhead—because of the loophole, and because his hatred and resolve were strong enough—managed to return with fragments of memories from the previous run. He's effectively 'save-scumming.'"
"So I interfered a little, to see if I could loosen the knot and change something."
As he spoke, the old man casually flicked two photographs out of his pocket and tossed them to Merlin.
"Look for yourself. This is your current situation."
"This time is the fifth."
"Five consecutive resets in a short span have pushed this already bubble-like world to the brink of shattering."
"The sixth is the limit."
"After that comes the end of everything."
"If you can't solve it completely in the last two runs, this Singularity will go fully out of control."
"And don't forget what else your world is facing right now…"
"I know," Merlin said, glancing at the photos and letting out a long sigh.
One photo showed the world's barrier—already damaged beyond repair, doomed to crumble completely before long, leaving the Singularity permanently unrecoverable.
The other captured a massive ring hanging beyond the sky: the band of fire created by the Incineration of Humanity, greedily burning human history to siphon energy—an even greater threat looming overhead.
Seeing those two disasters side by side, Merlin scratched at his hair, eyes filled with genuine confusion.
To be honest, he didn't understand how things had deteriorated to this point.
Holy Grail Wars were routine to him.
The Incineration of Humanity was something already "fated" to happen.
Both were troublesome—but they shouldn't have become this.
Yet reality didn't care.
The last Master of humanity—Ritsuka Fujimaru—had not survived this story.
Instead, he'd been blown up together with Team A by Lev—that wretch's "Ashes of Failure" act—then ended up on this timeline anyway, triggering cascading chain reactions and pushing everything further out of control.
And because of Ritsuka's disappearance, Chaldea hadn't focused on clearing the Singularity at the start—they'd been scrambling to retrieve him.
So the entire flow of events had jammed right here.
Even Merlin had never seen something like this.
He couldn't help worrying:
Would the salvation of human order get stuck before it even truly began?
And time was exactly what they didn't have.
Human Order restoration needed to be fast.
The Demon God Pillars held massive "home-field advantage." The longer it dragged on, the more their momentum and advantages compounded—and the harder restoration became.
That was precisely why Merlin had stopped "laughing it off."
He'd considered helping Chaldea resolve the Singularity directly—but it was too difficult, and also too late.
That child's relationship with Morgan, and the tangled web of causal lines around him… had already wrapped too tightly.
This was no longer something Merlin could fix with a simple intervention.
The last time he intervened, Morgan noticed immediately and told Vivian—tightening the sealing of this closed tower even further.
Now Merlin could act at most one more time.
He needed to keep that move for a truly decisive moment.
A trump card had to be played where it could actually break the game.
But right now…
Even Merlin couldn't see a way out.
"Are you worried, Merlin?" the old man asked. "Worried this world really ends here?"
"A little," Merlin admitted. "This world is… one of my sources of entertainment, for one thing. And I've lived here for many years. I have memories."
"If it's destroyed, I'd still feel sad."
"So…"
He looked at the old man.
"What do you think?"
"What do you want to do? What will you do?"
"I don't know," the old man said, shaking his head. "I truly don't know how to meddle here anymore. One misstep and I could make it worse."
"Now it isn't just the Demon Gods behind the Incineration."
"There's also the world-appointed saviors—Chaldea."
"A witch who wants to shatter fixed fate completely."
"And a Descender struggling through repeated loops."
"Interesting… truly interesting."
"This world's development."
Then he squinted at Merlin again, tone sharpening with teasing intent.
"So what about you?"
"How do you plan to move?"
"You look like you can't sit still anymore—after all, you've already sent out that knight who wandered for 1,500 years with the Holy Sword."
"That means you're prepared to go all-in, yes?"
"Tsk tsk… the true Holy Sword of the Star, appearing together with Avalon as its sheath—this is a major event."
"You've basically prepared for the worst."
"But…"
"Merlin—can that little 'king' you raised really handle the situation now?"
"At this point in time, isn't she still lost and uncertain?"
"Having her wield the Holy Sword to subjugate calamity… I don't think she can do it."
"And you know that too, don't you?"
"You mean Lily…" Merlin muttered.
He rubbed his chin, thinking.
"As her guardian, hearing you belittle my student does annoy me."
"But this time you're right."
"This is far too much for Lily right now."
"She can't take part."
And I won't make her bear it."
"So I asked for some reinforcements."
"Oh?" The old man's interest rose. "Reinforcements, coming from you? That is worth anticipating."
Merlin's tone turned playful again.
"Then… how about we gamble on something?"
"A gamble?" Merlin blinked, surprised. "That's unfair to me."
"My Clairvoyance only shows the present. I can infer outcomes from it."
"But your parallel-world observation lets you directly see countless endings."
"But the worldline we're in is still the only one, isn't it?" the old man replied, gently shaking his head. "None of the parallel worlds I've seen have anything this absurd."
"So—let's bet."
He didn't ask Merlin whether he wanted to.
He simply set the topic like it was already decided.
Merlin didn't hesitate either.
"Fine. But I don't have anything valuable on me."
"So I'll bet one chance to construct a maximum-scale illusion."
"Though honestly, I have no idea how many times you've already tricked me into this in other worlds."
"As for you…"
"When I need it, I want you to step in and help this world."
"This world may need your power."
"Sounds great," the old man said, amused.
"If I win, I get to freeload one maximum illusion."
"If I lose, I get to save the world."
"Either way, it's profitable for me."
And he accepted instantly—so quickly it was obvious he'd been waiting for Merlin to offer it.
Merlin, noticing—and powerless anyway—could only smile helplessly.
"Deal!" the old man said, thinking it over for a moment. "As for what we bet on…"
"Let's wager on the ending of that witch… and that Master."
"You're bold enough to use her as the subject?" Merlin paused, then his strange eyes gleamed with a different light.
His smile curled into something meaningfully sharp.
"Dangerous… but…"
"That does sound fun."
"Then we'll bet on that!"
"Hah! Then it's settled," the old man laughed. "See you at the end of the Holy Grail War, Merlin."
After catching up with an old friend, he turned to leave.
"I'd love to laze around somewhere quiet forever like you, but I need to go."
"My parallel-world observation doesn't show me what's happening outside your place."
"And honestly, rather than waiting in one spot for the result…"
"I'd much rather witness everything with my own eyes."
"Go on, then," Merlin waved him off. "Just don't forget what you promised me."
"I know, I know. Sit tight and wait for the outcome."
The old man didn't look back, only raised a hand in farewell as he walked away—his figure quickly vanishing into Avalon.
"...Sigh."
Only after he was gone did Merlin let his usual flippant expression fall away.
He released a long, heavy breath, and his gaze pierced the walls of starlight, crossed the continents, and finally landed on that distant land in the Far East.
—
Hm?
Some time later—
In a dim workshop, Morgan suddenly frowned.
That disgusting sensation—like being watched by a cockroach—made her slowly narrow her eyes.
As a great witch of the Age of Gods, she knew this feeling all too well.
Back in Britain, she'd been watched like this plenty of times by that incubus at her sister's side.
So the instant that gaze descended, she knew exactly who it was.
"Merlin, you unrecyclable piece of trash…"
"You still dare spy on me?"
Morgan sneered, lips curving into a vicious arc.
She turned slightly toward the source of the gaze—two pale, slender fingers already stirring with a strange blue magecraft.
"It's useless, you damned liar!"
Dark-blue magical power surged in an instant, blanketing the entire workshop's territory.
The next second, a magic mirror flashed into existence.
And within it, Merlin's face appeared—wide-eyed with pure terror.
"You've got to be kidding—!"
The scene changed violently. Merlin had clearly been startled.
Because just now, he'd actually made eye contact with Morgan across time and space.
But before he could even speak—
A bolt of dark-blue lightning struck the mirror.
BOOM—!!
"Wah—!!"
The electric surge tore through every appliance in Morgan's room in an instant.
At the same time, on the other side of the mirror, every household device in Merlin's tower room detonated almost simultaneously.
Even his streaming equipment—its screen blown through with a massive hole—sparked with magical fire, utterly destroyed.
"What… happened…?"
At Ryuudou Temple, drawn by the violent explosions and sensing the terrifying magical power erupting from Morgan's side, Ritsuka hurriedly shoved open her door.
What greeted him was a wrecked scene.
He looked at Morgan, worry flooding his voice.
"Are you alright, Your Majesty?!"
"I'm fine, Master," Morgan answered flatly. "Just a small mishap in my experiment."
She swept a glance over the mess she'd personally created. Emotionless.
The tools and electronics were things she'd bought casually.
She hadn't lived here long.
She didn't care.
If they broke, they broke.
What mattered to her far more was whether Ritsuka had seen what she'd just done.
"An experiment failure…?" Ritsuka echoed, hesitating, suspicion flickering.
Morgan was a great witch of the Age of Gods—how could she make such a low-level mistake?
But he could tell she didn't want to say more.
So he didn't press.
He only nodded calmly.
"Either way… as long as you're okay."
"Don't worry," Morgan said, turning to look at him, voice suddenly serious. "No matter what happens…"
"This time, I will accompany you to the end."
"…Yeah," Ritsuka nodded. "I believe you."
He didn't ask further.
Morgan's lips softened into a faint smile.
She rose to clean up the mess—and Ritsuka naturally stepped forward to help.
Meanwhile, far away beyond the world, Merlin stared at his devastated home, clutching his head in misery.
"As expected… she's already on guard."
"That workshop was built to defend against me."
"So I can't pull the kind of small tricks I used to."
"No," he muttered, shaking his head. "We can't go on like this."
"For now, all we can do is hope Sir Bedivere and Chaldea's staff can break this deadlock."
Merlin hated having to send Bedivere—a knight who had wandered with the Holy Sword for 1,500 years—out this early.
But at this point, there was no other way.
If they kept dragging it out, they'd only lose more time.
If they couldn't repair the Singularity in time and the Incineration of Humanity completed…
That would be a total checkmate.
At that point, forget returning the Holy Sword—
everything would become nothing.
So even knowing his choice was a gamble, he had no room left to hold back.
He could only pray that what came next wouldn't become too disastrous.
At this moment, there were two weeks left until the Holy Grail War began.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 80)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 80)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 80)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter50)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter50)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter50)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter50)
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