"So, where is that super-soldier from the future now?"
Waver adjusted his glasses, his heart far from calm.
Before coming here, he had thought things wouldn't be simple.
But he never imagined it would be this absurd.
The explosion that literally lit up half the Earth's night sky was actually the desperate self-destruction of a Beast... no matter how you heard it, it sounded ridiculous.
No wonder a figure like Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg only hurriedly left a few words before fleeing to a parallel world...
"She's out wandering around," Tohsaka Rin shrugged. "After all, you can't expect me to be able to control her, can you?"
"...Lord of the Tohsaka Family," Waver took a deep breath and looked at Tohsaka Rin. "May I ask, if I were to contact her, what strategy do you think I should use?"
Even though the other party was a youngster, there was no harm in being respectful in these matters; he still had to rely on her for intelligence.
"Just maintain respect," Tohsaka Rin thought for a moment before speaking. "Miss Firefly is actually quite easy to talk to."
"I have one more question," Waver said, looking toward the Chaldea duo. "Since the Einzbern family summoned Berserker, then what are these..."
"Them?" Tohsaka Rin hesitated for two seconds. "You'll have to ask about that yourself. It's not really convenient for me to..."
Before she could finish, the mansion doors opened once again.
Xia Yu walked in, pulling Illya along.
"Archer!" She looked at the master chef in the apron by the grill. "Prepare a grilled rib for me! A big one!"
"Illya, do you want one?"
"Just a small piece is fine," Illya also looked at Archer, her eyes filled with scrutiny.
At this, Archer instantly started sweating bullets, forced to turn his face away and pretend to be nonchalant.
Last night, Emiya Shirou had actually used a Noble Phantasm identical to his own... coupled with the fact that the two already looked very similar, and Archer had already outed himself as an Heroic Spirit from the future...
With so many factors overlapping, it was truly hard for people not to think in that direction.
It was just that last night's battle had been far too shocking, so for a time, no one had bothered to investigate.
However, Illya remembered everything clearly. Not to mention just now outside, he had been sold out completely by someone just to coax Illya into being happy.
Poor Archer didn't yet know he had fallen into a trap.
Meanwhile, Xia Yu let go of Illya—who was staring intensely at Archer—and walked toward Tohsaka Rin's group.
"Yo, El-Melloi II," she greeted with a smile. "By the looks of you, did you just finish overtime only to be dragged over here to work?"
"Tsk tsk tsk, look at those dark circles. Be careful of dying from overwork while you're young, or you'll be dragged off by those two unscrupulous bosses to do illegal labor."
"Miss Berserker seems to know me?" A sharp light flashed in Waver's eyes. "Then it is truly my honor."
"More than just 'know'," Xia Yu teased. "You don't have a Saint Graph on you. Hmm, it seems you aren't my old friend who works so much overtime he looks like he'll die at any second. Then again, the Counter Force wouldn't send him to find me."
"So you're the local El-Melloi II," she shook her head. "That's good too. Being a teacher safely at the Clock Tower is much better than dying of overwork at Chaldea."
"I can't just let those words slide," Fujimaru Ritsuka walked over and said righteously, "Our Chaldea isn't some black-hearted company! How could we let someone die of overwork?"
"How could it not be?" Xia Yu shrugged. "That place, Chaldea... tsk tsk tsk, you're the only one who thinks it's not a black-hearted company."
"You know, after you successfully save the world, the people you saved won't be that grateful to you. They'll sell Chaldea out the moment they get a chance—"
"What?!" At this, Fujimaru Ritsuka felt completely unwell.
"What do you mean Chaldea gets sold out?" Mash also looked like she couldn't accept it.
"After all, once the Animusphere family, the owners, are finished, someone has to take over, don't they?" Xia Yu smiled. "As for saving the world... for those people, their lives never changed. Who knows if what you're saying is true or false?"
"Even though that chubby director is pretty decent, I still feel it's not worth it for you, Ritsuka," she said, subtly trying to poach her. "If it were me, I definitely wouldn't work for something like the Clock Tower anymore."
At this point, she glanced at Waver. "Magi are just such mercenary people. I say, why don't you just raise the banner of rebellion? Emperors change every year; maybe this year it's your turn. With your connections, it wouldn't be impossible to overthrow the Mages' Association and establish a new orthodoxy!"
"I really can't ignore that," Waver finally couldn't sit still. He knew, of course, that most of her words were jokes meant for him to hear. "Establishing a new Mages' Association... that's a bit frightening."
"Also, what organization is Chaldea?" He looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash. "I don't recall hearing about any organization under the Mages' Association with that name."
"Chaldea is the Organization for the Preservation of Human Order, led by the Animusphere family of the Mages' Association and co-funded by multiple countries," the Doctor's voice introduced via the communicator. "Our core function is to observe the Earth through a fusion of Magecraft and technology to prevent the extinction of humans due to historical Singularities."
"Our history can be traced back to 1950. We aren't some strange organization that just popped out of nowhere."
"But the Mages' Association has no information regarding your side," Waver frowned. "And I truly haven't heard of your organization's name."
"That's normal," the Doctor said breezily. "Since you're from the Clock Tower, you must know about the Second Magic, right?"
"Are you saying... a parallel world?" Waver understood immediately.
"Yes, a parallel world," the Doctor sighed. "There's no choice. On one hand, we have to save our own world, and on the other, we have to take on this side job of being a 'fuse'."
"Like I said, Human Order is not a good boss," Xia Yu said with a smile. "Don't care about it too much when the time comes."
"Wait, can you first explain what 'saving your own world' means?" Waver sharply caught the key point.
"Literally," Xia Yu shrugged and said. "The one talking to you now is Chaldea. The few dozen people in that doomsday bunker are the last humans in that world."
"Huh? Is the situation that severe?" Emiya Shirou, standing nearby, was stunned. "There are only a few dozen people left in the whole world?"
"Why else do you think I've been calling Ritsuka 'Savior'?" Xia Yu slung an arm over Ritsuka's shoulder. "She is entirely worthy of that title."
"If that's the case, then she is indeed a formidable figure," Waver looked deeply at Fujimaru Ritsuka. "Then, your side crossing worlds to come here is..."
"The Doctor just said it," Fujimaru Ritsuka sighed. "To be a fuse."
"The birth of a Beast is inevitable," she glanced at Xia Yu. "So we were thrown here. In case Miss Firefly couldn't hold out, a Grand Servant would emerge from my summoning circle to do the job. That's roughly what it means."
"A Beast..." Waver looked at the relaxed young girl beside him. A super-soldier from the future...
He had already heard the entire process from Tohsaka Rin.
In order to obtain the Holy Grail and cure her illness, she did not hesitate to feed the Beast with her own magical energy to catalyze its birth. At the same time, she contracted Caster and brazenly constructed the ritual to dismantle the Greater Grail right under the nose of All the World's Evil, forcing the born Beast to discard the Greater Grail; otherwise, this fatal weakness would be born along with it.
It was a choice the Beast was forced to make, because the super-soldier named Firefly was constantly flaunting her military might before its eyes as a form of invisible pressure, telling it that after its birth, a life-or-death battle was inevitable.
And the Greater Grail discarded by the Beast was naturally equivalent to being purified. She achieved her goal, and then within ten minutes, she destroyed the world-threatening Beast.
"Soloing an Evil of Humanity in ten minutes," he complimented. "Miss Firefly's strength is truly admirable."
"It was mostly just a trick," Xia Yu said without changing her expression. "Killing it on Earth wouldn't have been that easy. Fortunately, I'm long accustomed to fighting in space. As long as I take it outside the sphere of human civilization, things like that, whose Authority all comes from humans, are actually quite easy to kill."
Waver's mouth twitched.
It sounded simple, but very few people could manage even the first step.
Taking a Beast out past the atmosphere while it was completely helpless... that was simply too much to ask of anyone.
After all, a Beast isn't a corpse; it can move and resist.
"Actually, it's not that amazing," Xia Yu smiled and patted Fujimaru Ritsuka's shoulder. "Do you know why she's the only one I favor so much?"
She gave a thumbs-up to Ritsuka. "This sister here dared to take a knife and 'duel' a Beast holding the Principle of Regression all by herself, with just the body she has now."
"She even played boxing with another Beast and flattened that guy with one punch."
At this, Waver's pupils shook, and his eyes were filled with shock as he looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka.
Her aptitude as a magus was mediocre, but did she actually possess such formidable strength?
"Stop bragging about me," Fujimaru Ritsuka pressed down Xia Yu's thumb and rolled her eyes. "I didn't even know I was that amazing. In the last Singularity, I was chased around by a Demon God Pillar until I was scrambling."
"And you still haven't answered my question!" She reached back and grabbed Xia Yu's hand, pulling her to her face. "You told me so much... how much of it was true, and how much was false?"
"Regarding the parts about you, it's all true," Xia Yu thought about it, then tilted her head and said, "And as for the parts about me, it's all fake."
"Yes, I haven't participated in those magnificent battles of yours. Elio gave me a script; all that information was seen from the script."
"Script? Elio?" Hearing these two new pieces of information, Fujimaru Ritsuka's eyes lit up, and she quickly asked, "What's that now?"
"Before I answer, let me introduce myself again," Xia Yu let go of her hand and said with a smile, "I am Firefly, a former Iron Cavalry of Glamoth, and now a Stellaron Hunter."
"Elio is our boss. Others call him the Slave of Destiny because he is an Emanator of Terminus, a person who can see the future. He saw your story from my future."
"And what are Stellaron Hunters?" the Doctor asked hurriedly.
"Literally, people who hunt Stellarons," Xia Yu shrugged. Just then, Archer walked over carrying a plate of ribs. She took it gently, thanked him, and continued, "A Stellaron is a disaster that blights the cosmos. Just one is enough to plunge an entire planet into doomsday."
As she spoke, she found a table and sat down.
"In that case, you guys are the good guys?" Fujimaru Ritsuka reached out, took a rib from her plate, and sat across from her.
"On the contrary," Xia Yu shrugged, stuffed a rib into her mouth, and chewed it up in a few bites—the master chef's skill was indeed top-tier. She gave a thumbs-up to Archer.
"Stellaron Hunters are notorious wanted criminals in the universe," Xia Yu winked at Fujimaru Ritsuka. "Our total bounty exceeds thirty billion. Mine alone is 9.723 billion, enough to buy a living planet like Earth."
Well, she was talking nonsense. Xia Yu hadn't been to the Star Rail universe, so how would she know the price of a planet? But it didn't matter; the other side couldn't verify it anyway.
"But Miss Firefly is clearly so kind," Mash found it a bit hard to accept. "Why would you be wanted criminals?"
"Because we actually did it," Xia Yu smiled. "While Stellarons are a cosmic disaster, some advanced civilizations haven't failed to find ways to utilize their energy."
"Speaking of which, those people really dare to touch anything. They even dare to use the things spread by the Lord Ravagers..."
"What's a Lord Ravager?" Fujimaru Ritsuka raised her hand to ask.
"A madman of Destruction," Xia Yu clicked her tongue. "An Emanator under the Aeon of Destruction, Nanook."
"How should I describe it to you? Do you think I'm strong?"
"Ten-minute solo of an Evil of Humanity," Fujimaru Ritsuka gave her a thumbs-up. "Sister, you're the one."
"But someone like me... if I ran into a Lord Ravager, at most I could hold out for a few more moves," Xia Yu sighed.
"How is that possible!" Tohsaka Rin couldn't accept such a claim. The helplessness she felt facing that terrifying tin man last night was still deeply engraved in her mind.
"Nothing is impossible," Xia Yu shook her head. "The most powerful Lord Ravager, Zephyro, is practically a humanoid white hole. If he went all out, he could string all the planets in the Solar System together with the Sun like a candied hawthorn!"
"That's the top-tier combat power of the Antimatter Legion. Even the most basic grunts in the Legion are forged in war-furnaces with temperatures approaching a dying star. Any Voidranger can move freely in outer space, and their blades can cut through starship armor like butter."
"Their armor is composed of antimatter materials. If your technology isn't up to par, you won't be able to break their defense even if you exhaust the power of an entire civilization!"
"For example, on Earth before World War II, if you magi didn't intervene, a few Voidrangers would be enough to destroy civilization. Before nuclear bombs were developed, no human weapon could break their defense."
After all, for the most ordinary Voidrangers, they could still be defeated under the brilliance of a nuclear bomb.
But as for those high-level units...