Chaldea Staff Cafeteria, Wandering Sea
A pleasant, creamy aroma of stew drifted around the area.
For people who had just gone through the hopeless, killing cold and apocalyptic war of Northern Europe, this kind of ordinary room temperature was probably the most luxurious reward imaginable.
"Um… is all of this really for me?"
Ophelia stared, a little overwhelmed, at the special dishes piled high before her. Besides the stew, there were freshly baked croissants, appetizing roast chicken, and even a delicate strawberry cake.
"Of course! This is a special welcome package Mr. Emiya prepared just for you!"
Holding her own tray, Mash sat down across from her with a bright smile. "Mr. Emiya said that after being stuck in a cold place for a long time, you need warm food like this to heat up both your body and your heart."
"And once you've joined Chaldea, this level of calorie intake is absolutely essential."
Sitting next to her, Kadoc spoke in a flat tone as he chewed on his bread, as if he had already experienced something like this himself. "In the end, that man Steve, and our new Director, are both extremely good at making people run around like lunatics."
"Without stamina, you won't last."
"…Kadoc."
Ophelia looked at her colleague, who had always worn such a gloomy face. Now he looked as if some great burden had been taken off his shoulders, and there was a complicated light in his eyes.
Despite his grumbling, Kadoc's plate was also heaped high with food.
Moreover, the sharpness and jealousy that had once flickered in his eyes whenever he looked at Mash and Ritsuka were gone—replaced by a quietude that could only be called trust.
"…I see."
Ophelia quietly picked up her spoon, scooped up a mouthful of stew, and put it into her mouth.
The hot, creamy flavor melted on her tongue. It was the taste of human civilization, lost for so very long.
"…It's delicious."
A single tear fell quietly into the white soup.
She had thought she would burn out, body and soul, in that ice-covered land for the sake of Lord Kirschtaria's ideal. She had never once imagined that, in the very end, what awaited her would be such a warm, overflowing feast.
…
Secret Conference Room, Olympus
In stark contrast to Chaldea's warm and cozy atmosphere, this place was filled with a suffocating silence and chill.
Around the huge round table, several holographic projections floated in the air, radiating an air of dignity and aloofness.
But the atmosphere in the room shifted completely after one man's report.
"With that, I conclude the full report regarding the drastic upheaval in the Northern European Lostbelt."
Kotomine Kirei—or to be exact, Grigori Rasputin—stood at one corner of the round table.
As always, he wore his trademark priest's cassock, and on his face was that familiar, unfathomable yet oddly lovable smile, as if he were savoring a glass of fine red wine.
"In obedience to the will of the Alien God, I attempted to rescue Ophelia Phamrsolone at the final moment. Yet, regrettably, I ended up returning her to the Lord's side—so to speak, to her execution…"
He spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness.
"However, at the very moment my Black Keys were about to touch her soul, a pink door—yes, a charming pink wooden door straight out of a fairy tale—suddenly appeared behind her and the Chaldea Master."
"Then, like some third-rate magic show, they vanished in the blink of an eye."
"Along with Mash Kyrielight, they disappeared completely from my perception."
"Such spatial transfer techniques were neither spiritron transfer nor the Second Magic. Rather… they were more akin to a simple, rough coordinate shift."
The priest paused for a moment, then let his smile deepen.
"And that's not all. Even more astonishing, at the exact moment they retreated, the entire Northern European Lostbelt—including Queen Scáthach-Skadi and the remaining ten thousand humans—was enveloped in blue light and instantly evaporated from the ground."
"That was not destruction, but relocation."
"Though I could not determine the precise coordinates, I can say for certain that, instead of being severed and destroyed as Lostbelts usually are, the Lostbelt was completely transferred to somewhere in the world and continues to exist there, just like the previous Russian Lostbelt."
Complete silence.
For several seconds, deathlike stillness enshrouded the conference room.
"…Hah… hahaha! What is this? What kind of pathetic joke is that supposed to be?"
The one to finally break the silence was a voice tinged with madness and tyranny.
Beryl Gut tapped his fingers irritably on the table, his face openly twisted with disgust and derision.
"So you're saying that woman Ophelia not only didn't die, she even wagged her tail and defected to Chaldea like that coward Kadoc? And on top of that, even her Lostbelt got saved?"
He licked his lips, dangerous red light flaring in his eyes. "Disgusting. This is what they call an ally of justice? Teaming up when there's no chance of winning? Or did Chaldea turn into a prison camp or something?"
"That guy Steve… is he playing house? Treating the worlds we risk our lives to protect like some kind of collectible ornaments?"
"Oh my, Beryl, that's a bit mean."
The one who replied was a man with striking looks and a distinctive charisma—Scandinavia Peperoncino.
In stark contrast to Beryl's irritation, there was a barely concealed sense of relief in his tone.
"I think it's fine… Ophelia is such a serious, earnest girl. To just die like that out in the snow would be far too pitiful, don't you think?"
Pepe rested his hand under his chin, a gentle glimmer flickering in his eyes. "Defecting to the enemy is certainly nothing admirable, but as long as you're alive, it's still better than ending up a cold, lifeless corpse, isn't it?"
"And besides… the fact that they were even able to preserve the entire Lostbelt is no trivial feat."
"It seems our new friends from Chaldea are far more mild-mannered than we'd imagined."
"Kindness? That's the greatest insult they could offer us!"
Meanwhile, Akuta Hinako slapped her hand down on the table, unrest and irritation clouding her delicate features.
"Now that the Northern Europe chapter is over, what on earth is going to happen next…?!"
She bit at her nails, her voice tinted with barely hidden, tangled emotions. "That man… the one who manipulates space at will and can even pack away Lostbelts into storage… is he coming to my side?"
"Spatial displacement… does not only involve matter. It can also strip away concepts and spiritual factors."
"This requires complete analytical knowledge of planetary surface structures, as well as magical power that transcends the restraints of the Counter Force."
Having remained silent all this time, Daybit Sem Void finally spoke in a low voice.
His tone was utterly flat, as though he were merely stating physical laws.
"The Servant named Steve possesses a technological system that belongs neither to human history nor to any known Age of Gods."
"That door of his… is something that utterly denies the very concept of distance."
"If he wished, he could plant an explosive right beside one of our beds."
Hearing this, even Beryl's expression froze for a moment.
"So this is what you were getting at, Daybit? That we have to admit we're the ones at a disadvantage?"
Sitting upright in the main seat, Kirschtaria Wodime finally opened his eyes.
As Group A's captain and strongest magus, his expression remained calm, as if nothing he had just heard was capable of shaking his heart.
"No. This is not a disadvantage—it is a variable."
Kirschtaria's voice was calm yet powerful, echoing through the empty meeting room.
"Originally, this was a brutal competition for the right to survive."
"For the sake of preserving each of our Lostbelts, we must fight one another and sever the flow of Proper Human History. That is the law laid down by the Alien God."
"But that man… Steve is trying to rewrite the rules."
The captain let his gaze sweep across everyone present, then fixed his eyes on the empty air, as if confronting an unseen opponent across time and space.
"He does not destroy Lostbelts. He seals them away."
"By denying the Alien God, he is also denying the very tragic nature of our conflict."
"If what we are risking our lives to protect can be taken away by him as nothing more than data… then what does our resolve as crypters truly amount to?"
"Ophelia's survival, Kadoc's betrayal, and the disappearance of two Lostbelts… all of this proves a single point."
Kirschtaria stood up, and the astral stellar magic circuits behind him faintly shimmered.
"Humanity's grand counterattack upon all of history is far more… arrogant than we had anticipated."
"He is not saving the world. He is reconstructing it."
"Akuta Hinako."
He turned his gaze toward the True Ancestor who looked so visibly uneasy.
"Prepare yourself. The next battlefield will be your domain."
"For someone with power on that level, when he confronts the First Emperor who unified human intellect, he will surely reveal trump cards far more astonishing than these."
"Do not be fooled by his gentleness. He is the sort of man who can drag the entire world into his wake just by smiling…"
There was a gravity in Kirschtaria's eyes that had never been there before.
"He is the most dangerous monster of all."
"Heh heh heh… a monster, is he?"
Kotomine Kirei chuckled softly and closed the Bible in his hands.
"Saviors, so-called, are often only a hair's breadth away from being destroyers."
"It seems this drama of Humanity's Restoration is finally about to reach its true climax."
"Then let us all watch closely, shall we?"
"In that land where all human intellect has been fused into one, will the First Emperor's Eternity prevail… or will this Red Comet's Revolution… manage to work yet another miracle?"
…
…
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