Fujimaru Ritsuka let out a huge sigh of relief now that the crisis was over. She glanced at the source of that earlier devastating attack—the colossal Demon God Pillar—and shuddered. Not from fear, but from pure disgust. Every time she looked at one of those things, she could feel her sanity meter plummeting.
Then her eyes shifted to the two unfamiliar figures standing beside Adam. She raised an eyebrow, clearly puzzled.
"Adam, did you just summon two more new Servants?"
"Who are they?"
Adam turned back and flashed her a mysterious little smile.
"I'll tell you later."
With that, his gaze locked back onto the Demon God Pillar.
...
Meanwhile, back at Chaldea.
"Huh? That's strange…"
Olga Marie stared at the readings on Chaldea's detection equipment, her brows furrowed in confusion. She figured it might be a glitch and gave the console a couple of old-fashioned whacks, but the results stayed exactly the same.
"This thing cost a fortune. How can it be malfunctioning like this?"
She rubbed her temples, clearly frustrated.
Click.
Romani walked in carrying a fresh cup of coffee, ready to take over the shift, only to find Olga Marie looking utterly miserable.
"What's wrong, Director?"
Olga Marie turned, then gestured helplessly at the monitor.
"It might be because that Demon God Pillar just appeared. The sensors could've taken some damage."
"But the equipment is picking up a Beast signature in the First Singularity."
Romani: "..."
He fell silent for a moment, then his mind instantly flashed back to the Beast he had seen sitting comfortably in Adam's lap during their last meal together.
Romani could only manage a weak reply.
"Director… I think… the equipment might actually be working fine…"
...
Back on Adam's side.
"Why… why isn't it moving?"
Jeanne stared at the towering Demon God Pillar with clear tension. Its earlier attack had left her on high alert—she had been bracing for another brutal fight.
So why had the thing suddenly stopped? It just stood there, completely motionless.
Saint Mash, Drake, and Ciel all had their eyes faintly glowing as they stared the Demon God Pillar down without blinking.
The Pillar felt those three gazes like icy needles crawling over its entire body. It froze solid on the spot.
Go ahead and ask it how it feels right now.
The longer the Demon God Pillar sensed their presences, the more wrong everything felt.
First was the purple eggplant-looking girl in front, holding that shield. She gave off the vibe of a pure defense-type Servant with decent but not overwhelming attack power. Yet the Pillar's instincts screamed that if a fight broke out, she would combo it straight into oblivion.
Next was the glowing blue-haired woman who shimmered like starlight. Her aura was completely unreadable, impossible to gauge. And the Demon God Pillar had fused the power of twelve of its kind—it still couldn't see through her. That alone told it exactly how terrifying she was. One punch from her and it would probably be game over.
If it had only been those two, the Demon God Pillar still might have tried to fight.
But the last one… that was the one that made it completely give up on resisting.
The final presence was the most shocking of all. The Demon God Pillar still couldn't believe what every single one of its countless eyes was seeing. It shouldn't have been possible!
That aura… it knew it all too well. Their own king carried a similar presence.
A Beast.
This was completely wrong!!!
The Demon God Pillar knew exactly what Chaldea was—an organization meant to protect Human Order!
At least on the surface, its whole purpose was to safeguard the continuity of humanity!
It wasn't surprised that Chaldea summoned Servants. But why in the world would they summon a Beast?!
This couldn't be right!
It made no sense. How could one of the Evils of Humanity exist inside an organization dedicated to preserving humanity?
No matter how it thought about it, it was impossible!
Was Chaldea deliberately keeping the Evils of Humanity contained so they wouldn't threaten Human Order… by letting them terrorize Chaldea instead?
"Hey~ What are you muttering about over there?"
The Demon God Pillar had been lost in stunned silence, but an impatient voice snapped it out of its thoughts. It directed its countless eyes downward.
There stood the Master of that reality-defying existence—Adam.
The Demon God Pillar watched Drake pressed tightly against Adam's side. It didn't look like simple exploitation. Not even close.
So the real question was: what kind of Master could actually tame a Beast?
Cold sweat—thick, viscous fluid—began oozing from every inch of the Pillar's body.
It had to admit it: it was panicking. It wanted to go home.
Because right now its opponents were:
An absurdly overpowered existence.
A Servant whose strength it couldn't even measure.
The Sixth Beast.
And the Master commanding all of them.
Facing a lineup like this, the Demon God Pillar was honestly impressed with itself.
Impressed that it was still alive.
But that wouldn't last much longer. It was about to die a little.
Adam slowly addressed the Demon God Pillar in front of him.
"Démon God Pillar, do you have any last words?"
Hearing that, the Demon God Pillar seemed to understand. It suddenly squeezed all its eyes shut, its massive body trembling slightly like it was taking one last deep breath.
Then it opened them again, looked straight at Adam, and asked in a small, helpless voice:
"Is it too late to say I'm actually still Mozart?"
"Hmph~"
Adam let out a soft chuckle, then waved a hand at the three behind him, signaling them to move.
Saint Mash, Ciel, and Drake sprang into action.
"Wait! Aren't we all attacking together?!"
Jeanne stared at Adam in shock, worried for his safety. She still thought it would be safer for everyone to go all-out together. What if something went wrong?
"Don't worry. Those three are more than enough."
Adam just gave her a mysterious smile.
While they spoke, Saint Mash's shield rapidly transformed. In moments it had become a massive cannon with a pointed tip.
Ciel and Drake left afterimages where they had been standing.
The next instant, they were right beside the Demon God Pillar.
They attacked at the same time.
Drake's strike sliced clean through the Pillar's dozens-of-meters-tall body, cutting it in half at the waist. She hadn't even used her Noble Phantasm—just a casual swing of her blade.
Ciel followed up immediately.
She spun rapidly in mid-air, blue flames igniting around her legs until she looked like a blazing blue wheel of fire.
Her kick slammed into the severed upper half of the Demon God Pillar. The moment she made contact, the Pillar felt an unstoppable force slam it straight into the ground, carving an enormous spider-web crater on top of the one already there.
The blue flames wrapped around Ciel's legs instantly set the half-body ablaze. In seconds it was burned to nothing—not even ash remained.
Ciel then glanced at Saint Mash, who understood instantly.
Their long history of fighting side by side had created perfect synergy.
Ciel threw a single punch that launched the remaining half of the Demon God Pillar straight into the clouds.
The Pillar kept soaring, leaving Earth's atmosphere and drifting out into space. If nothing interfered, it might have kept company with certain cosmic entities.
But the Demon God Pillar was secretly thrilled. As Earth grew smaller beneath it, it could barely hold back a laugh.
Surprise, suckers! This was my escape plan all along!
Once I'm in space, you'll think I'm finished, right?
You're underestimating a Demon God Pillar's vitality!
Its severed cross-section was already wriggling wildly, regenerating at high speed. At this rate it would be fully restored in minutes.
It just needed to wait for the other Demon God Pillars to come rescue it. After all, its body was a precious composite infused with the power of twelve others. It couldn't die here.
...
At the same time, back on Earth.
"Target locked."
Saint Mash held the massive cannon steady with one hand while fine-tuning its aim with the other.
The tip of the cannon glowed with a faint blue light—the core of the projectile. Golden energy swirled around it, making the blue glow brighter and brighter.
When the power reached its critical point, Saint Mash pulled the trigger.
"Lord Camelot—the Sword of Human Order That Proves Hope."
The moment she recited her Noble Phantasm's name, the cannon fired. The projectile streaked toward space with terrifying speed.
...
Out in the vacuum, the Demon God Pillar floated calmly. Extreme cold and the lack of air had no effect on it.
It seemed to be in the middle of a transmission.
"Yes, that's correct. I failed."
"Honestly, I don't think these guys are opponents we Demon God Pillars can handle."
"Even if we gathered every single one of us, I doubt it would be enough."
Suddenly it heard something it didn't like on the other end and grew agitated.
"I'm not scared! I'm telling the truth!"
"Ugh, forget it."
"Never mind that. I'm stuck out in space right now. Come pick me up."
Just then the Demon God Pillar felt a chill run through its entire body. It trembled violently and quickly turned the eyes on its back.
A glowing blue projectile shaped like a black hole—Saint Mash's Noble Phantasm—was hurtling straight toward it.
Demon God Pillar: "..."
It stared blankly at the incoming attack and fell completely silent. Its emotions were complicated. Quietly, it spoke into the transmission one last time.
"Never mind. You don't need to come get me."
Then it cut the call.
Was it angry? Resentful?
It didn't feel any of that…
All it felt was the helpless resignation of an egg smashing itself against a rock—knowing it would break, yet having no choice but to try.
The only thing it couldn't understand was why it had run into these people of all possible opponents.
Why was it so unlucky?
Why the hell did Chaldea have a Beast?!
Right up until the moment its body was annihilated, the Demon God Pillar still couldn't figure out how a supposedly half-destroyed, barely surviving Chaldea had become this ridiculously overpowered.
In the end, Saint Mash's Noble Phantasm—the black-hole-like attack—struck the Demon God Pillar dead center.
The instant it made contact, the projectile erupted with overwhelming energy, engulfing the entire Pillar. The Demon God Pillar felt its body being torn apart—not just shredded, but melted away, as if the attack carried a special anti-Human Order property.
Then the energy collapsed inward to a single point before exploding outward again.
Before the aftershock even faded, the Demon God Pillar had been completely vaporized. Not a single scrap remained. It didn't even get the chance to become space debris.
...
The flash from the explosion was visible from Earth, painting the entire sky a different color.
"No matter how many times I see it, it's still breathtaking."
Fujimaru Ritsuka stared in awe at Saint Mash's pose after releasing her Noble Phantasm, completely lost in the moment.
To her, every single time she watched Saint Mash unleash that power, it filled her with the same longing and awe she felt toward a fully maxed-out Servant.
"…I want a Mash like that too."
Fujimaru Ritsuka thought to herself, then quietly turned her head toward the Mash standing beside her.
***
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